Solan Geese Fishing (near Ailsa Craig)

Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn) (1823-1909),

1862

Plate 3, Birds Drawn from Nature (Internet Archive online version of a copy in the Getty Research Institute)

On the facing page Blackburn has added the following commentary: “This plate is from memoranda of what we have often observed on the Ayrshire coast nearly opposite Ailsa Craig, which is introduced in the distance. On that coast a number of Solan Geese may be seen pouring into a small spot of the sea, and then rising heavily from the water and circling round till they reach a sufficient height, when they dart head foremost down again into nearly the same place.”

“Bewick’s cut of this bird is a great warning not to trust to a stuffed ‘specimen.’”

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