Audubon Aquatint, Bay Breasted Warbler

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Bay Breasted Warbler, Plate 69.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
39 1/4" x 26 1/4" sheet.

Comparables: Christie's, 5/26/2022 Reese Sale (Lot 112) - $9,450; Christie's, 2004 - $3,585.Provenance: John Vickers Painter's Deckled Collection, with full uncut margins.

"No sooner have these birds reared their young than they assemble in large loose parties of fifty or more, and return towards the south, throwing themselves amongst the Willows and Birch-trees that margin the streams, as well as into orchards and the scattered trees in cultivated fields. Its common note is a simple tweet, but the male, in spring and during the period of incubation, repeats at short intervals a soft and pleasing variety of notes, scarcely, however, deserving the name of song" - (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).