Crossbill Pair on a Larch Branch, Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "CROSSBILL." Two crossbills climb a pale larch branch that rises from the lower left. The upper bird, red over the head and body with darker red on the back and dark brown wings and tail, grips the branch with its body curved to the right and its head bowed toward a single tan cone hanging at the upper left. The lower bird, olive green with a yellowish green breast and brown wings, clings to the branch head downward, its bill pointing toward the lower left. Short tufts of green larch needles sprout along the twigs.

The caption "CROSSBILL." is engraved in capitals below the picture, with a full stop. No plate number or engraver's credit appears on the plate. The Crossbill is Loxia curvirostra; the crossed tips of its bill, drawn clearly on both birds here, are used to pry apart the scales of conifer cones.

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