Wren with Cocked Tail on a Green Stem, Hand Colored Bird Print, Morris, 1896

This is an original wood engraved bird plate, colored by hand, captioned "WREN." A single wren grips a slender green stem at the left, its body pitched forward and down with the bill pointing to the right and the short barred tail cocked sharply upward. The plumage is entirely in browns: the crown and back are warm brown, the wings and tail closely barred in darker brown, and a pale buff eyebrow runs above the eye. The throat and breast are a lighter buff brown, finely barred on the flanks. Toothed compound leaves spring from the stem above the tail and spread below the bird.

The engraved caption below the picture reads "WREN." with a full stop. There is no plate number above the picture and no engraver's credit on the sheet. The wren shown here is Troglodytes troglodytes, and the cocked tail is the attitude the species is known for.

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.