
- Artist / Collection: Keulemans, John Gerrard
- Product Code: 25515
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Fine art print inspired by John Gerrard Keulemans.
Features male and female New Zealand Quail or Koreke (Coturnix novaezelandiae, extinct 1875).
Buller said:
"This handsome species, the only indigenous representative in New Zealand of the order Gallinæ, was “on the verge of extinction” when I published my former edition. It is probably now extinct, for no specimen has been heard of for at least twelve years. In the early days of the colony it was excessively abundant in all the open country, and especially on the grass-covered downs of the South Island. The first settlers, who carried with them from the old country their traditional love of sport, enjoyed some excellent Quail-shooting for several years; and it is matter of local history that Sir D. Monro and Major Richmond, in 1848, shot as many as forty-three brace "
Walter Buller KCMG (1838 - 1906) was a New Zealand lawyer and naturalist. His work, "A History of the Birds of New Zealand", was first published in 1873 and as an extended version in 1888. It is regarded as a classic of ornithology and New Zealand wildlife and describes several now extinct birds.
The artist who illustrated the birds was John Gerrard Keulemanns, regarded as one of the finest wildlife illustrators of all time.