Rock Dove Crouching on a Rocky Ledge, Hand Colored Pigeon Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "ROCK DOVE." A single pigeon crouches low on a buff rock ledge, facing right, with both wings raised and spread back from the body and the tail fanned behind. The plumage is blue gray, with two bold black bars across the wing and a broad dark band at the end of the tail. A cream white rump shows between the wings. The neck carries an iridescent patch of green and rose pink, and the eye is orange. Short green turf runs along the ground to the left of the rock.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "ROCK DOVE." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The rock dove is Columba livia, and the white rump and two black wing bars shown here are marks of the species.

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.