McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
European Shag, Eurasian Cormorant, immature
Phalacrocorax aristotelis
Cha. Collins Fect. Decemer 1742;
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 an immature European Shag--also known as a Eurasian Cormorant--from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe and the Middle East].
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Cha. Collins Fect. Decemer 1742;
Manuscript note on back of drawing: [Sketch of specimen]
Scientific name: Phalacrocorax aristotelis
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Anseres Pelecanus
Maculatus.
9 Pelecanus rostro abido [albido] facie rubra
pedibus tetradactylis rubris.
magnitudo Bassano inferior
parte superiore abdomine & femoribus niger maculis
albis notatus in extremitatibus
plumarum.
parte inferiore Albo tamen pectus
nigro Maculatus.
The Specled Cormorant.
This Bird was sent me from
Lincolnshire where it setled on the
Ground in a severe Winter and could
not raise it self from the ground
No 30. It is a species intirely diferent from any
described by Lineus, & not a variety arising
from age or sex.
[Side note]: non serato [serrato] mandibula inferiora angulata ut in Laris.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Anseres Pelecanus
Maculatus.
9 Pelecanus with a white beak, red face
and red four-toed feet.
It is the size of the lesser Bassano;
with black upperparts, abdomen, and thighs,
and marked with white spots at the tips
of the feathers.
The underparts are white but the breast
is speckled with black.
The Spec[k]led Cormorant.
This Bird was sent me from
Lincolnshire where it setled on the
Ground in a severe Winter and could
not raise it self from the ground
No 30. It is a species intirely diferent from any
described by Lineus, & not a variety arising
from age or sex.
[Side note]: [the beak] is not serrated, with the lower
mandible angled as in the Laris.