John Gould.

Otis Tarda [The Great Bustard].

21 x 14.5 inches

Hunted to extinction in the C19th, the Great Bustard is making a remarkable comeback in the current century under the patronage and encouragement of none other than King Charles III. It is estimated that there are now between 70 and 100 birds living on Salisbury Plain. Fascinatingly, the Great Bustard is one of the heaviest flying birds in the world with an adult male weighing in at around 18kg, nearly 2.5 times as much as an adult female!

John Gould, although an accomplished ornithological artist, never produced any of the lithographs himself. He did, however, obtain the specimens, execute many of the drawings, write all the text and then arrange for the publication and distribution of the books. There are, consequently, over 2900 large folio prints that have become known as 'Gould Birds.. His wife, Elizabeth Gould, was the first lithographer to work for A Century of Birds in the early 1830's. Later lithographers included Edward Lear, H. C. Richter, W. Hart and J. Wolf.