Aquatic Warbler on a Reed Stem, Antique Hand Colored Morris Plate, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "AQUATIC WARBLER." A single bird perches on a slender gray reed stem, facing right, its body angled with the dark tail pointing down to the lower left and the head held level. The crown is buff with a blackish stripe, the face pale with fine dark marks, and the back tawny and heavily streaked with black. The breast and belly are pale buff and the bill has a yellow base. A tall green blade rises behind the bird, and a cluster of green blades spreads around the foot of the stem.

The caption "AQUATIC WARBLER." is engraved in capitals in the lower margin. There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit can be read within it. The Aquatic Warbler is Acrocephalus paludicola.

A History of British Birds was written by the Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1810 to 1893), rector of Nunburnholme in Yorkshire. The wood blocks for the plates of the work were engraved by Benjamin Fawcett (1808 to 1893) of Driffield in Yorkshire. This plate comes from the fourth edition, issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo of London, and belongs to the third volume, whose title page is dated 1896 and states that the plates are colored by hand. Each plate combines an engraved black key block with a printed gray tint, finished by hand in watercolor.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.