Acer palmatum, although there are more than 100 species of maple worldwide, only one species (Acer campestre) is native to the UK.

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Natural history

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"New Holland Snipe"
Artist: Port Jackson Painter
Created: [between 1788 and 1797]
Dimensions: 18.4 x 17 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 313

 
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Bird shown in almost frontal view, with its body turned slightly to the right and the head in profile to the left. It is depicted standing in a landscape of grass and vegetation with a tree stump on the left and a river on the right, with the opposite river bank in the background. The bird's underparts are white, with brown markings towards the neck and throat. Its upper parts are brown overlaid with black hatched lines and markings, and white detail. 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 centre "Half the Natural size".
  • The drawing is unsigned and undated.
  • The drawing is inscribed in ink at top right with the number "241.". 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 Snipe Sup. ii-310". This has been copied at bottom right "New Holland Snipe. Latham Syn Suppt ii. p. 310.". The page reference is to Latham's Second Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds (1802).
  • This bird was more recently identified as the Japanese Snipe, Gallinago hardwickii in Hindwood K. A. (1970).
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "Lambert Drawing. III. 1". 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.
  • A separate label is attached to the mount beneath the drawing. It is inscribed in pencil "Type. GM."
  • 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 12313
  • James Lee of Kensington : purchased ; 1902
  • Data sheet available.
  • Latham, John. Supplement II to the General Synopsis of Birds. London: Leigh, Sotheby, 1802.
  • 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).