Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10032
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‘The Yellow-winged Pye, and Greatest Locust’
Date
1761
Creator
George Edwards (1694 - 1773, British) , Ornithologist
Object type
Library reference
38029
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 288mm
width (print): 220mm
width (print): 220mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological study of what is perhaps the Epaulet Oriole Icterus cayanensis from South America, shown in the act of catching a fly. Together with a variety of locust which appears in side view in the foreground of the plate.
Plate 322 from chapter 112 of Gleanings of natural history, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants, &c..., by George Edwards, volume 3 (London, for the author, 1764). The author describes the creatures within the text: “The figures on this plate are both represented of their natural bigness. ..The Locust is remarkably ridged on the back; otherwise it differs little from the common Locust, which appear sometimes in clouds, and cause famine in the lands they visit. On the 4th of April 1748, we were alarmed by their appearance in the neighbourhood of London...The Bird is one of those taken by the present Earl Ferrers in a French prize...It is a Bird of Guinea in South America. ..it was the property of the late Mrs Barrington of Bath...preserved in a liquor...The Locust is now in the hands of my good friend Mr. Millan, Bookseller, near the Admiralty-Office...”
The plate is inscribed: “The yellow winged Pie, and the great Locust, boath Drawn from life of their natural Size by G. Edwards. March 2 1761.”
Plate 322 from chapter 112 of Gleanings of natural history, exhibiting figures of quadrupeds, birds, insects, plants, &c..., by George Edwards, volume 3 (London, for the author, 1764). The author describes the creatures within the text: “The figures on this plate are both represented of their natural bigness. ..The Locust is remarkably ridged on the back; otherwise it differs little from the common Locust, which appear sometimes in clouds, and cause famine in the lands they visit. On the 4th of April 1748, we were alarmed by their appearance in the neighbourhood of London...The Bird is one of those taken by the present Earl Ferrers in a French prize...It is a Bird of Guinea in South America. ..it was the property of the late Mrs Barrington of Bath...preserved in a liquor...The Locust is now in the hands of my good friend Mr. Millan, Bookseller, near the Admiralty-Office...”
The plate is inscribed: “The yellow winged Pie, and the great Locust, boath Drawn from life of their natural Size by G. Edwards. March 2 1761.”
Associated place