Thrush and Earthworm, Song Thrush Antique Bird Print, Morris, 1896

An original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "THRUSH." A single thrush stands on open ground in left profile, the body tipped forward and the head lowered, with the bill pointing toward a small pink earthworm lying on the ground at the far left. The upperparts are warm olive brown, the underparts cream and buff covered with dark arrowhead spots, and the legs pale pink. The ground is washed apple green with patches of buff orange earth and a few tufts of grass, under a thin pale blue line of distance.

The caption "THRUSH." is engraved in capitals below the picture, with a full stop. No plate number or engraver's credit appears on the plate. The bird is the Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos.

The 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. This edition was issued in six volumes by John C. Nimmo, London, and the 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.