Willow Warbler on a Leafy Stem, Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "WILLOW WARBLER." It shows a single willow warbler perched across a slender pale blue-gray stem, the body held level and the bill pointing to the right. The upperparts are olive green, with darker green wing and tail feathers, and a pale buff eyebrow runs above the orange-brown eye. The throat and underparts are cream to pale buff and the legs pale yellow. Below the feet a small cluster of toothed leaves spreads from the stem, one of them tinged pink and buff. The bird is set on the plain paper with no background scene.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "WILLOW WARBLER." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The willow warbler is the small leaf warbler known to science as Phylloscopus trochilus.

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.