Swan

Bewick’s Swan  

Plate 120 in “Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucian Bonaparte” by Captain Thomas Brown, published by Frazer and Co, Edinburgh, 1835. 

Alexander Wilson (1766 – 1813) was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator. Born in Paisley, Wilson is thought to be the greatest American ornithologist prior to Audubon.   

The Bewick’s Swan is depicted against a mountainous background. 

A copy of the “Illustrations of the American Ornithology” is held in the National Library of Scotland’s collections.