Sand martin; Riparia riparia; with nest and egg. Handcoloured copperplate drawn and engraved by Edward Donovan from his own 鈥楴atural History of British Birds' (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.