Savi's Warbler on a Fallen Log, Hand Colored Morris Bird Print, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "SAVI'S WARBLER." A single bird stands on a fallen gray log, facing right, its body held level and its long, broad, rounded tail stretched out to the left. It is warm brown above, with a finely marked darker crown, a pale gray area around the eye, a buff wash on the throat and breast and a yellow lower mandible. The folded wing shows dark brown feathers with pale edges. A slender climbing stem with pale green leaves rises behind the bird and winds beneath the log.

The caption "SAVI'S 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. Savi's Warbler is Locustella luscinioides.

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.