Lagopus lagopus scotica
The Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) is a distinctive gamebird of the heather moorlands of England, Scotland and Ireland, painted here by Charles Collins in 1737 as part of the Taylor White Collection. This 18th Century watercolour captures the bird with the close observational detail characteristic of Collins’s natural history studies, painted during a period when British naturalists were beginning to systematically record the country’s native wildlife.
Description of the Red Grouse
A subspecies of the Willow Ptarmigan, the Red Grouse is unique among its relatives in retaining reddish brown plumage year round, rather than moulting to white in winter. The male is marked by a rich chestnut red body, a black tail and pure white legs, with a bold red comb above each eye used in territorial and courtship display. A striking white wing stripe is visible in flight, contrasting sharply against the darker plumage.
The Red Grouse’s Habitat
The species is closely tied to heather moorland, feeding almost exclusively on young heather shoots and relying on the plant for both food and cover. Its numbers can vary considerably from year to year, shaped by weather conditions and the health of the moorland habitat on which it depends. The Red Grouse also holds a notable place in British sporting tradition, with the start of the shooting season on 12th August, popularly known as the Glorious Twelfth, marking a long-established date in the country’s rural calendar.
This watercolour is one of a series of ornithological studies from the Taylor White Collection, an 18th Century archive of British bird illustrations held by McGill University Library, offering a valuable historical record of the country’s native bird life as it was documented over two and a half centuries ago.
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.