Stonechat on a Low Mound with Distant Trees, Antique Bird Print, Morris, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "STONECHAT." A single bird stands on a low mound, facing to the right with the head up. The head and throat are black, a white patch marks the side of the neck, and the breast and flanks are orange. The back and wings are dark brown with a white wing patch, and the tail is dark. Behind the mound a sandy bank falls away to a flat stretch washed in pale lilac and buff, and a far bank lined with bushes and a few taller trees runs along the horizon.

The caption is engraved in spaced capitals below the picture: "STONECHAT." There is no number or other lettering above the picture, and no engraver's credit within it. The Stonechat is Saxicola rubicola; the black head 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.