The drawings in unlikely to have been a preparatory drawing for the similar illustration in his book, Illustrations of the Family of PSITTACIDAE, since these early drawings were normally reverse images of the published plates. In this case the bird faces in the same direction as the published lithograph. However, Lear was in the habit of copying, or even tracing his own work when preparing a drawing to give away as a present.

The drawing of the Wren on the verso gives a date 23 Feb^y 1853. On February 12^th, 1853, Lear returned to London having spent the winter in Hastings. He was at Knowsley on March 12^th and 13^th, but there is no record of his having been in the North of England at the end of February. It is more likely that the dead bird was found in York by a young child who gave it to Sir Arthur Helps, who then passed it on to Lear