The Yule Days – Day 3 – ‘Three plovers’

The king sent his lady on the third Yule day,
Three plovers, three partridges, a papingo-aye;
Wha learns my carol and carries it away? 

John Gould (1804-1881) was an English ornithologist, most commonly known for his Birds of Australia. He also published The birds of Great Britain ([1862]-1873), consisting of 25 parts in five volumes.  The plates in this work depict scenes with more sophisticated subjects than Gould’s previous works, including nests, chicks, and eggs.

This hand-coloured lithograph depicts the common ringed plover. The design and arrangement was done by Gould, but the artist was William Matthew Hart (1830-1908), who by 1870 was Gould’s chief artist an lithographer.