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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"Melliverous Creeper", native name "Goo-gwar-ruck"
Artist: Watling, Thomas
Created: [between 1792 and 1797]
Dimensions: 19.2 x 20 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 183

 
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Bird in profile, facing to the right. It is perched on a tree stump with a landscape of water and distant hills behind. The bird is predominantly dark brown overlaid with black detail, and white flecks, spots and other markings over the head and back. the wing is brown with a chestnut brown bar. The drawing is framed by a pencil border and annotated in ink and pencil.

 
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  • Thomas Watling]
  • The drawing is annotated in ink at bottom "Native Name Goo-gwar-ruck, One Half the Natural Size".
  • The drawing is signed at lower right "Thos. Watling delt.", but is undated.
  • The drawing is inscribed in ink at top right with the number "104.". 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 "Melliverous Creeper Syn Sup ii 166". This has been copied in ink at bottom right, "Melliverous Creeper, Latham Syn Suppt ii. p. 166." The page reference is to Latham's Second Supplement to the General Synopsis of Birds (1802).
  • This bird was identified as the Little Wattle-bird, Anthochaera chrysoptera in Hindwood K. A. (1970).
  • The drawing is annotated in pencil at top "Lambert Drawing II. 76". 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.
  • There is a partial annotation on the reverse of the drawing which reads "They are often engaged with". (This appears to be part of the annotation on a separate sheet that is mounted with Watling Drawing LS15).
  • A separate label is attached to the mount alongside the drawing at lower right. 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 12183
  • 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).