The Mistle Thrush
Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn) (1823-1909)
1865
Unpublished
Courtesy of Rob Fairley
The artist's initials appear in the bottom center
Blackburn’s never-published 1865 watercolor of the Mistle Thrush, though incomplete, offers a skillful rendering of the bird species. The watercolor shows well the bird’s large dark eyes, yellowish-brown legs and feet, and dark spots on its off-white and pale yellow under parts that grow denser on its lower belly. The pencil drawing behind the bird includes a tree branch on which the bird perches and dense foliage likely to camouflage it from its many predators including The Tawny Owl, which Blackburn also exquisitely renders.
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