Description
A Group of Red Grouse
by Archibald Thorburn
Each print is hand numbered, accompanied by a certificate signed by the Master Printer and is numbered to match the print. The editions are limited to 1880 copies.
Paper Size: 24 x 32 ins / 60 x 81 cm
Image Size: 20 x 28 ins / 50 x 71 cm
The Latin name is lagopus lagopus scotica. Its plumage being reddish brown and not having a white winter plumage. The tail is black and the legs are white. There are white stripes on the under wing and red combs over the eye. Females are less reddish than the males and have less conspicuous combs. Young birds are duller and lack the red combs.
Grouse populations display periodic cycling where the population builds up to very high densities only to crash a few years later and then recover. The main driver of this cyclic pattern is thought to be the parasitic nematode worm.
Its typical habitat is upland heather moors, away from trees. It can also be found in some low lying bogs and birds may visit farmland during hard weather.
There is, in the United Kingdom, a season when the birds can be shot which, historically, always starts on the 12th August and is known to many as the “Glorious Twelfth”.
Grouse are often described as being somewhat partridge-like with rounded bodies, short broad wings and small heads with stout arched bills. The British population is estimated at about 250,000 pairs, with around 1,000 – 5,000 pairs in Ireland.
Artists biography
Archibald ThorburnArchibald Thorburn (31 May 1860 Viewfield House, Lasswade, Midlothian – 9 October 1935 Hascombe, Surrey) was a Scottish artist and bird illustrator, painting mostly in watercolour. He regularly visited Scotland to sketch birds in the wild, his favourite haunt being the Forest of Gaick near Kingussie in Invernesshire. His widely reproduced images of British wildlife, with their evocative and dramatic backgrounds, are enjoyed as much today as they were by sportsmen and bird lovers of a century ago
watermarks do not appear on actual prints
