William Wells had been a Captain in the East India Company and then a shipbuilder before he retired to his house Redleaf. He was a very good sportsman and an ardent collector of pictures, as well as a keen gardener. He was obviously a genial host as well, and his house became almost the second home to Landseer in the 1830s and '40s, to judge from the correspondence that still exists between them, as well as for many other artists. He was a patron and friend to them all, and commissioned many important works. For him Landseer painted a large number of pictures, including a series of seven panels showing dead birds, of which the present picture forms a part; the others were also exhibited at the artist's retrospective exhibition at the Academy in 1874. A