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Natural history

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"New-Holland Lark"
Artist: Port Jackson Painter
Created: [between 1788 and 1797]
Dimensions: 22.5 x 19.3 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 270

 
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Bird seen from a frontal view, with the body facing slightly to the right and its head turned in profile to the left. It is standing on a grey outcrop which projects from ground represented by a green wash. The underparts are bare paper overlaid with pale grey hatched lines, with darker striations on the throat. The back is brown with black markings, and the wing and tail are grey-brown overlaid with darker hatched lines. The drawing is framed by a pencil border and annotated in ink and pencil.

 
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  • Port Jackson Painter]
  • The drawing is annotated in ink at bottom "Natural size. It is the Lark of new south Wales, only seen in the Winter.".
  • The drawing is unsigned and undated.
  • The drawing is inscribed in ink at top right with the number "193.". This refers to the catalogue list compiled by John Latham c. 1801 which was acquired with the drawings, and is filed with them at the end of the Watling Drawings series.
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "New Holland Lark La. MS Male?". This has been copied in ink at lower left "New Holland Lark. Male. Latham MS". "Latham MS" refers to the manuscript catalogue list compiled by John Latham (see note above).
  • This bird was more recently identified as the Australasian Pipit, Anthus Novaeseelandiae in Hindwood K. A. (1970).
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "Lambert Drawing I. 44.". This refers to a related set of drawings from the collections of the 13th Earl of Derby, held in the Library at Knowsley Hall, Lancashire.
  • The author of this catalogue record is Suzanne Stenning.
  • By permission of the trustees of the Natural History Museum (London)
  • Two sets of transparencies held in the Natural History Museum (London) Zoology Library and Picture Library: Picture Library reference number 12270
  • James Lee of Kensington : purchased ; 1902
  • Data sheet available.
  • Hindwood K. A. 'The "Watling" drawings with incidental notes on the "Lambert" and the "Latham" drawings', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales for the years 1968-69 (1970).