THE ELLIS BIRD DRAWINGS

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 10, Issue 2, 1 October 1977, Page 23

THE ELLIS BIRD DRAWINGS

David G. Medway

Introduction Charles Clerke in his final letter of 10 August 1779 to Sir Joseph Banks wrote that he ‘must beg leave to recommend to your notice Mr. Will. Ellis one of the Surgeon’s mates who will furnish you with some drawings and accounts of the various birds which will come to your possession’. 1 The Ellis bird paintings which thus went to Banks are now in the British Museum (Natural History) where they have been identified most recently by Lysaght (1959). 2 They consist of 90 water colour drawings of the whole bird with, in many cases, accurate life-size pen and ink sketches of the head of the bird depicted. One of them, Folio 57 of the White fronted Tern Sterna striata from New Zealand, is the type of the species illustrated ( Lysaght, 1959; Medway, 1976 3 ). The Alexander Turnbull Library collection of Ellis bird drawings consists of eight folios depicting fourteen species, all those identified being from the North Pacific area. Stresemann (1949, 1953) has indentified the birds seen in that area during Cook’s third voyage. 4 Unlike the London collection, the Wellington one contains only two drawings of the whole bird (Folios 38 and 40), the rest being drawings or line sketches of the head only or the head, feet and bill.

This small collection is nevertheless an important one for at least two reasons. Not only does it consist of original drawings executed ad vivum by Ellis in the North Pacific area in 1778 and 1779 during Cook’s third voyage; it also includes species not depicted among the more extensive collection of Ellis bird drawings in London and is thus a valuable supplement to that collection. I have not been able to compare these Ellis bird drawings with his drawings of the same species in the London collection. I have however, with the materials available to me, endeavoured to identify the species illustrated as accurately as possible. The identity of the bird in Folio 40 has, however, eluded me.

The Drawings folio 32 Three ink and wash drawings of birds’ heads with foot and bill detail. Inscribed in ink: ‘7l. Guillemot Colymbus N.W.C. of America and elsewhere’. ‘72. Brown Sheerwater N.W.C. of America’. ‘73. Fullmer, N.W.C. of America’. Numbered in pencil: 1.210. Watermark: Pro Patria. 31 X 19.8 cm.

71. Common Murre or Guillemot ( Uria aalge) This drawing of the head only with a line extending back from a ringed eye seems to represent the ‘bridled’ form of this species. The closely related Thick-billed Murre or Guillemot ( Uria lomvia arra) was figured by Ellis from a specimen taken at Unalaska in 1778 (Folio 50; Lysaght, 330). 72. Short-tailed Shearwater ( Puffinus tenuirostris ) Both the Sooty Shearwater Puffinus griseus and this species, brown shearwaters with dark bills, migrate into the North Pacific Ocean after breeding in the Australasian region. The rather shorter-looking bill of the bird illustrated indicates that it is most likely Puffinus tenuirostris, a species which is represented by Folio 40 of the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History) {Lysaght, 328). 73. Pacific Fulmar {Fulmaris glacialis rodgersii) This species is represented by Folios 41 and 42 of the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History) {Lysaght, 328, 329).

folio 33 Four pencil, ink and wash drawings of birds’ heads with foot and bill detail (see plate X). Inscribed in ink: ‘74. Tringa lobata, N.W.G. of America’. ‘75. Picus tridactylus. Norton’s Sound, N.W.C. of America’. ‘76. Gull N.W. Coast of America’. ‘77. Butcher bird, caught at Sea between Asia and America’. Numbered in pencil: 1.210. Watermarks: G. R 31 X 20 cm. 74. Red-necked or Northern Phalarope ( Lobipes lobatus) This species is represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History) by Folio 63 ( Lysaght, 332). 75. Alaskan Three-toed Woodpecker ( Picoides tridactylus fasciatus) This species is represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History) by Folio 20 ( Lysaght, 325). 76. Black-legged or Pacific Kittiwake ( Rissa tridactyla) This species is represented by Folio 51 of the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History) which is of a bird from Kamchatka ( Lysaght, 330). 77. Great Grey or Northern Shrike ( Lanius excubitor) This species is not represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History). folio 34 Two pencil, ink and wash drawings of birds’ heads with details of feet.

Inscribed in ink: 78. Gull, N.W.G. of America’. 79. Blue pettrell, N.W.C. of America’. Numbered in pencil: 1.210. Watermark: Pro Patria. 18.1 X 20 cm. 78. Herring Gull ( Larus argentatus) The yellowish bill and pinkish legs indicate an adult of this species but the red spot on the bill is absent. 79. Fork-tailed Petrel ( Oceanodroma furcata) On Cook’s voyages the name ‘Blue Petrel’ was commonly given to members of the genus Pachyptila, a genus which is, however, peculiar to the southern hemisphere. The bird illustrated in this line drawing of the head and feet has a sturdy, hooked bill with a conspicuous dorsal tube and hind toe represented by a minute claw. It seems clearly to be a Storm Petrel (Family Hydrobatidae) . Oceanodroma furcata, which is the lightest coloured storm petrel abundant in the northern Pacific where it breeds, is the species most likely to be called ‘Blue Pettrell’.

folio 35 Pencil and wash drawing of bird’s head. Numbered in pencil: 1.210. Watermark: none. 10.5 X 16.1 cm. Bonaparte’s Gull ( Larus Philadelphia) No locality or other data accompany this drawing but the dark head and bill with a white half circle behind the eye identify this species which is not represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History).

folio 38 Ink and wash drawing with pencil sketch of the head (see plate XI). Inscribed in ink: ‘37. The White-headed Eagle, of King George’s Sound, on the N.W. Coast of America. Falco Leucocephalus Linnai’ and in pencil at foot: ‘(Falco Leucocephalus Lin)’. Numbered in pencil: 1,210. Watermark: Pro Patria. 30.8 X 19.7 cm.

Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus) A species not represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History). It was recorded by Clerke as being very common at Nootka Sound in March-April, 1778. 5

folio 40 Detailed ink and watercolour drawing of a dead bird (see plate IX). Watermark: none. 37.8 X 24.8 cm. The general shape and colouration of this bird with short strong legs, long strong toes, short rounded wings and short tail all seem to indicate a member of the Rallidae (Rails). However I have not been able to identify the species illustrated and the drawing is reproduced here in the hope that someone may be able to determine its identity. It does not appear to be represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History).

folio 42 One pencil and one pencil and wash drawing of a duck’s head. Inscribed in ink: ‘BO. Head of the duck from Unalaschka. See No. 26’. Numbered in pencil: 11.243. Watermark: Pro Patria. 12.4 X 19.8 cm. American White-winged Scoter (Melanitta fusca deglandi) Identified by the broad-tipped shortish bill, with nostrils in the large culmen knob, and crescentic white patch under and at the back of the eyes. This species is not represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History).

folio 48 One ink and wash drawing of a duck’s head. Inscribed in ink: ‘Anas capite albo, sinceo. The Velvet headed Duck. Drawn at Kamtschatka. May 1779’. Numbered in pencil: 2.211. Watermark: none. 8.4 X 13.9 cm.

Pacific Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus pacificus) The general shape and all pale grey colouration of the bill, coupled with the statements that this duck was velvet and white headed, identify the duck in this drawing as the Pacific Harlequin Duck which breeds at Kamchatka. This species is represented in the Ellis paintings in the British Museum (Natural History) by Folio 34 ( Lysaght, 327).

NOTES 1 Cook, James. The journals . . .; 111, The voyage of the Resolution and Discovery 1776-1780. Edited by J. C. Beaglehole. 2 parts. Cambridge, 1967, p. 1543. 2 Lysaght, A., ‘Some Eighteenth Century bird paintings in the Library of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820)’, Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Hist. Ser. 1 (6), 1959, pp. 251-371. Subsequent references to this: Lysaght. 3 Medway, D. G., ‘Extant Types of New Zealand birds from Cook’s Voyages’, Notornis, 23, 1976, pp. 44-60, 120-37. 4 Stresemann, E., ‘Birds collected in the North Pacific area during Capt. James Cook’s last voyage (1778 and 1779)’, Ibis, 91, 1949, pp. 244-55; ‘Additions and correction to “Birds collected in the North Pacific area during Capt. James Cook’s last voyage” ’, Ibis, 95, 1953, p. 371. 5 Cook, op. cit., p. 1330.