Chiff Chaff on a Leafy Branch, Hand Colored Warbler Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "CHIFF CHAFF." A single small warbler perches on a gray branch that runs steeply up through the picture, its body level and its bill pointing to the right. The upperparts are olive green, the wing and tail feathers darker and finely engraved, with a buff eyebrow and buff wash on the face and breast. The underparts are whitish and the legs pale pinkish tan. Three toothed, strongly veined yellow-green leaves spring from the branch above the back, and a pair of leaves with a thin blade of grass grows below the feet.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "CHIFF CHAFF." as two words, with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The chiff chaff, now usually written chiffchaff, is the leaf warbler Phylloscopus collybita.

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 fourth edition was issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo, London, and this plate comes from 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.