McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
The Nest of the Bottle Sparrow
Item
1 drawing : colour ; 29.8 x 24.1 cm
Item consists of a colour drawing of a sparrow poised on a gum arabic tree branch next to a butterfly (eggfly or blue moon butterfly) in flight, with identification and description in pen in contemporary hand: "The Nest of the Bottle Sparrow on a Branch of the Baubul Tree with the Purpled Eyed Butterfly." Additional later pencil notes provide additional identification for the butterfly, "Hypolimnas bolina Linn [India])," and indicate that the image corresponds to Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, 1813, volume 1, page 48. Also contains additional annotations by Henry Mousley with citations and speculation as to the origin of the butterfly (New Zealand).
Contains extensive notes by Casey A. Wood and Henry Mousely on verso (1927 and 1932), regarding the attribution to James Forbes.
With stamp: Dr. Casey Wood, Author's Club, London, S. W. L. England.