Numenius arquata
The Curlew, known formally as the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), is the largest wading bird in Europe and one of the most instantly recognisable, distinguished by its long, downward-curving bill and haunting, bubbling call. This watercolour by Charles Collins forms part of the Taylor White Collection, a body of 18th Century natural history illustration notable for the close observational accuracy typical of ornithological art of the period.
Description of the Curlew
In appearance, the Eurasian Curlew is a large, mottled brown wader with long legs and a distinctively long bill that curves gently downwards along its length, a feature more pronounced in females than in males. Its plumage is streaked and speckled in shades of brown and buff, providing effective camouflage against the grasslands and mudflats it frequents. In flight, the bird shows a pale rump and finely barred underwing, and its call, a rising, fluting series of notes, is one of the most evocative sounds of the British countryside, often heard drifting across open moorland or estuary long before the bird itself comes into view.
The Range of the Curlew
Widespread across Europe, Asia and the coastal regions of Africa, the Eurasian Curlew shifts habitat through the year according to the demands of breeding and feeding. In spring and summer, it favours upland moorland, rough grassland and damp meadows, where it nests on the ground among low vegetation. Outside the breeding season, it moves to estuaries, mudflats and coastal wetlands, where its curved bill proves ideally suited to probing deep into soft mud and sand for worms, molluscs and crustaceans. Curlews are often seen foraging in loose flocks along the tideline, working the ground methodically as the tide recedes, and their calls carry clearly across open shorelines at dawn and dusk.
The Eurasian Curlew has declined significantly across parts of its breeding range in recent decades, principally as a result of habitat loss and changes in agricultural land management, and it is now considered a species of conservation concern in the United Kingdom. This gives historic depictions such as this one an added layer of significance beyond the purely artistic, standing as a record of a bird whose presence in the British landscape can no longer be taken for granted.
As part of the Taylor White Collection, this watercolour reflects the broader tradition of 18th Century natural history illustration, in which artists worked closely alongside naturalists and collectors to produce detailed, scientifically informed studies of birds, plants and animals. Charles Collins’s rendering of the Curlew sits within this tradition, combining artistic sensitivity with the observational precision expected of ornithological work of the period.
c.1680 - 1744
Charles Collins (c.1680-1744) was a painter of birds, mammals and still life, born in Dublin and trained in Ireland before establishing himself in London. He built his early reputation on still-life subjects, including a series of fruit studies for Robert Furber's Twelve Months of Fruit (1732), before turning increasingly to natural history illustration. From 1736, Collins worked alongside Peter Paillou to produce watercolours of British birds and mammals for the naturalist and collector Taylor White, contributing over 200 signed works to White's collection. His animal studies are noted for their lifelike composition, typically set against a grassy mound or tree stump rather than a plain background, and for the accuracy with which plumage and colouring were recorded from live or preserved specimens. Collins died in London in 1744, described at the time as Bird Painter to the Royal Society.
Credit: Taylor White Collection, Rare Books & Special Collections, McGill University Library.