Water colour painting of the Red-Winged Parrot by Syms Covington (1816-1861).
Covington was a fiddler and cabin boy on HMS Beagle and became an assistant to Charles Darwin
and appointed his personal servant in 1833.
At Sydney in 1836, Covington went insect hunting with Darwin. Between them they collected ninety-two different species,
thirty- one previously unknown. Darwin later noted that Covington had also ‘ shot and prepared nearly all the specimens I bought home”
Covington retuned to Australia and became Post- Master at Pambula NSW where he died’
