Ring Ouzel on a Lichened Branch, Hand Colored Bird Plate, Morris, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "RING OUZEL." A single bird perches upright on a stout diagonal branch, facing the viewer with its head turned to the right so that the pale bill is seen in profile. The body is black, every feather edged in a scalloped pattern, and a broad cream white crescent crosses the breast below the throat. The long dark tail hangs straight down below the branch. The branch is washed in pale yellow green with engraved lichen and runs from upper left to lower right, with a short forked shoot at its right end.

The caption is engraved in spaced capitals below the picture: "RING OUZEL." There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit within it. The Ring Ouzel is Turdus torquatus, a thrush; the pale crescent across the breast is the ring of its name.

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.