Conoor is in the Nilgiri Hills, near Madras. Lear arrived here on 30 September 1874. Although this watercolour is not based on either of Lear's two 'eggs' (his nos. 93 and 94) their inscriptions show what Lear had in his mind 'Breadth of tropic shade and palms in clusters (cf. Locksley Hall) the same line as he illustrated in lot 172