Lot Essay
Gould advised 'To see this species in a state of nature, the ornithologist must go down, during November and the three following months, to the embrouchure of the Thames, visit the inland waters of Southampton, the low salt marshes of Sussex, Suffolk and Norfolk...'
Gould thanked the Earl of Enniskillen for sending 'a fine pair of these birds from Ireland...for the furtherance of this work, and that I might have an opportunity of testing them as a viand, which I found juicy and excellent.'
The birds are depicted about three-quarters lifesize.
DISTRIBUTION: Breeds northern Holarctic. Winters British Isles, northwest Europe and on both coasts of North America.The watercolour shows the dark-bellied race of the Brent Goose B.b.bernicla, which breeds in central arctic Siberia and winters in northwest Europe, including Britain. In Britain they are mainly on the east and south coasts and increasing; peak numbers in 1991 were 125,000
Gould thanked the Earl of Enniskillen for sending 'a fine pair of these birds from Ireland...for the furtherance of this work, and that I might have an opportunity of testing them as a viand, which I found juicy and excellent.'
The birds are depicted about three-quarters lifesize.
DISTRIBUTION: Breeds northern Holarctic. Winters British Isles, northwest Europe and on both coasts of North America.The watercolour shows the dark-bellied race of the Brent Goose B.b.bernicla, which breeds in central arctic Siberia and winters in northwest Europe, including Britain. In Britain they are mainly on the east and south coasts and increasing; peak numbers in 1991 were 125,000