Desert Wheatear Looking Back on Sand, Hand Colored Bird Print, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "DESERT WHEATEAR." A single bird stands on a patch of sandy ground, its body turned to the right and its head looking back over the shoulder to the left. The face and throat are black, the crown and mantle pinkish rufous, and the breast and underparts creamy yellow buff, while the wings are black with white and pale feather edges. The tail is white at the base and black toward the tip. The ground is washed in pale pinkish sand with engraved grass tufts, and a low pale horizon runs behind.

The caption is engraved in spaced capitals below the picture: "DESERT WHEATEAR." There is no number or other lettering above the picture. The Desert Wheatear is Oenanthe deserti; the black throat shown here marks the adult male.

This 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, who wrote the text. The edition was issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo of London, and this 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.