Skip to content

Historical bird plates

Gould, The Birds of Great Britain · Volume V, plate 37

Smew

Printed “Smew, or Nun”

Volume V, plate 37 of Gould's The Birds of Great Britain: Smew (Mergellus albellus) — Full resolutionSmithsonian Libraries and Archives, via the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

The whole sheet of volume V, plate 37, with its engraved caption — Full resolutionSmithsonian Libraries and Archives, via the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

Printed on the plate

“Smew, or Nun”

Mergus albellus

Engraved caption: MERGUS ALBELLUS.

Modern identification

Mergellus albellus

Certain
Checked against the engraved caption
Ducks, Geese, and Waterfowl · Anatidae

Why

Mergus albellus Linn. = Mergellus albellus, Smew; same species.

Sources

engraved caption; Gould's text; the plate; Birds of Europe plate 387

Who made the plate

J. Wolf and H. C. Richter, del. et lithWalter & Cohn, Imp.

Joseph Wolf drew and lithographed
Henry Constantine Richter drew and lithographed
Walter & Cohn printed

As the credit line gives it. More on who made these plates.

The scan at the Biodiversity Heritage Library

The same bird on other plates