Rufous Warbler or Rufous Bush Robin, Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "RUFOUS WARBLER." A single bird is shown without a perch, its body tilted forward with the head to the left, both wings spread and the long tail fanned up to the upper right. The head, back and wings are plain olive brown, with a pale cream face and throat and a dark mark in front of the eye. The rump and tail are bright rufous orange, the outer tail feathers marked with black spots near their pale tips. Two tufts of pale green grass stand behind the bird.

The caption "RUFOUS WARBLER." is engraved in capitals in the lower margin. There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit can be read within it. The Rufous Warbler of the caption is the bird now called the Rufous Bush Robin, Cercotrichas galactotes.

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 plate comes from the fourth edition, issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo of London, and belongs to 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.