McGill Library
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H3A 0C9
Black Grouse [male] (Black-cock)
Black Grouse, male
Tetrao tetrix
Char.e Collins Fect. 1736/7;
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Charles Collins was an Irish painter, known for his portraits of animals and still-lifes. He achieved success in England painting exotic birds, game, dogs and dead game still-lifes. He was the painter for Robert Furber’s ‘Twelve Months of Fruit’ (1732). In 1736 he published in collaboration with John Lee a set of 12 large engravings, coloured by hand, of British birds in landscape and garden settings, entitled Icones avium cum nominibus anglicis. He then came to the attention of Taylor White, who engaged him to paint birds from his and others’ collections until 1743. Collins died in 1744, when he was described as ‘Bird Painter to the Royal Society.’
Drawing of a male Black Grouse from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe; Central and Northeast Asia].
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Black Grouse [male] (Black-cock) (Lyriurus tetrix) Char.e Collins Fect. 1736/7;
Manuscript note on back of drawing: The Heathcock Black game or Grous; Tetrao sive urogallus Minor W. 173
Scientific name: Tetrao tetrix
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Tetrix
Tetrao pedibus hirsutis, cauda
bifurca, remigibus secundariis
basin versus albis.
Habitat in Europae frigidae ericetis
Betuletis.
The
Black Cock
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Tetrix
Tetrao with shaggy feet, a forked
tail, and secondary wing feathers that are white
towards the base.
It lives on heather and birch in the colder areas of Europe.
The
Black Cock