Dartford Warbler Clinging Head Down, Antique Hand Colored Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "DARTFORD WARBLER." A single bird clings head down to a pale gray stem, the bill pointing to the lower right and the long dark tail raised behind it toward the upper left. The head, back and tail are slate blue-gray, the crown finely scalloped darker, and some wing feathers are washed olive brown. The underparts are a dusky wine pink, the throat flecked with white and pink, and the orange eye sits in a red eye ring above a bill with a yellow base. Narrow toothed yellow-green leaves hang from the stem and from a second slender stem behind.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "DARTFORD WARBLER." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The long tail shown raised behind the bird is typical of the Dartford warbler.

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.