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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"Great-headed Goatsucker"
Artist: Port Jackson Painter (probably Watling, Thomas)
Created: [between 1788 and 1797]
Dimensions: 27 x 24.2 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 296

 
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Bird in profile facing to the left. It is depicted on a branch which occupies the lower left hand corner of the sheet, against a plain background. The bird is painted predominantly in shades of brown overlaid with black markings and paler stippling, creating a mottled effect. The drawing is framed by a pencil border and annotated in ink and pencil.

 
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  • Port Jackson Painter]
  • The drawing is unsigned and undated, but the style of painting is very characteristic of Thomas Watling.
  • The drawing is inscribed in ink at top right with the number "221.". 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 "Great headed Goatsucker Syn Sup ii 262". This has been copied in ink at bottom centre "Great headed Goatsucker Latham Syn Suppt ii. p. 262.". The page reference is to Latham's Second Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds (1802).
  • This bird was more recently identified as the Tawny Frogmouth, Podargus strigoides in Hindwood K. A. (1970).
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "Lambert Drawing I. 68". 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 alongside the drawing. It is inscribed in pencil "Type".
  • 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 12296
  • 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).