American wood duck; Aix sponsa. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Edward Donovan from his own 鈥楴atural History of British Birds;' London; 1794-1819. Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was an Anglo-Irish amateur zoologist; writer; artist and engraver. He wrote and illustrated a series of volumes on birds; fish; shells and insects; opened his own museum of natural history in London; but later he fell on hard times and died penniless.