First Fleet artwork collection

Drawing of a bird standing on one leg on a rock, surrounded by water. The bird's body is pointing to the right and its head turned to the left, preening the feathers on its back. Its neck and underparts are predominantly coloured with horizontal black and white stripes, except for the throat which is grey, the top of the head which is brown with a white stripe above the eye, and a band of brown across its breast. The wing is brown overlaid with darker hatched lines and black markings, with black primaries barred with chestnut-brown. the rock is grey with some pink patches, and grey-green sea-weed. The water is blue, with a pink tinge towards the horizon, and overlaid with irregular grey horizontal lines, and the sky unpainted. The drawing is framed with a thick black ink line and a triple-banded border, the central band of which is coloured with a pink wash and contains the title, signature and date. Most of the outer band appears to have been lost through the drawing having been cropped.