Between 1808 and 1824 Turner and the Fawkes family were working on a book of studies of birds they called the Ornithological Collection. It included drawings and wood engravings of birds by Thomas Bewick, prints of their eggs, and feathers from their plumage. A quantity of watercolours and drawings were not used for the book but were possibly given to members of the Fawkes family, and it is likely that these three studies belong to this group. In 1852, shortly after the death of Turner, Ruskin wrote to his father listing the order of 'desirability of Purchase' for categories of drawings by Turner he most coveted. In class one, 'those which I would give any price for, if I had it to give', he listed four studies of birds belonging to Walter Fawkes