Barred Warbler on a Leafy Twig, Antique Hand Colored Bird Plate, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "BARRED WARBLER." A single bird perches on a gray purple branch, facing right and leaning forward and down, with its long dark tail raised to the upper left. It is slate gray above, with darker wing feathers, a yellow eye and a dark pointed bill. The off white underparts are barred from throat to belly with gray crescents. Its pale legs grip the branch, and a twig above the bird carries two toothed leaves, one green and one yellow green.

The caption "BARRED 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 Barred Warbler is Curruca nisoria.

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.