Turtle Dove on a Mossy Bough, Antique Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "TURTLE DOVE." A slim dove perches facing right on a thick moss green bough that runs from the upper left to the lower right, with a small broken twig hanging below. The back and wing coverts are orange tan to cinnamon, each feather with a black center, over a blue gray panel on the folded wing. The head is pale blue gray with a red eye ring, and the side of the neck carries a patch barred black and white. The breast is pinkish buff and the feet pink. The tail is long and dark.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "TURTLE DOVE." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The turtle dove is Streptopelia turtur.

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.