A boy employed by a farmer as a bird-watcher (?) in a cornfield. Mezzotint by J. Ward, 1810.

Bird keeper's repast

He sits on a grassy bank in front of a big stook of corn. His dog lies on the left. Paraphernalia on the ground include a jug, a horn, and a mechanical device (bird trap?). OED currently records birdwatcher only in its 20th-century sense (a naturalist who studies birds). Is this bird-watcher employed to scare away birds and prevent them from eating crops?

Illustration of a passage in The farmer's boy, a very well-known poem by Robert Bloomfield published in 1800

[London] (Surrey Side Westminster Bridge) : Thomas Palser, Jan. 1st 1810.

1 print : mezzotint ; sheet 59.8 x 48 cm

The farmer's boy, attending to his duty, as a bird watcher. 'Twas thus with Giles: meek, fatherless & poor: / Labour his portion, but he felt no more: / No stripes, no tyranny his steps pursued: His life was constant, cheerrid servitude. ... Through every change stil varied his employ, Yet each new duty brought its share of joy. Vide Bloomfield's Farmer's boy. Painted & engraved by James Ward.

J. Chaloner Smith, British mezzotinto portraits, vol. 4, London 1883, p 1453, James Ward no. 44 (Birdkeeper's repast)

Wellcome Collection 674401i