Audubon Aquatint Rock Grous

Audubon, John James (1785-1851).
Rock Grous, Plate 368.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
25 1/2" x 38" sheet.
Comparable: Guernsey's, 2012 - $3,050.
"They seldom appear at Bras d'Or until the last of the Wild Geese have
passed over, or before the cold has become intense, and the plains deeply
covered with snow. While about his house, they repair to the most elevated
hilltops, from which the violence of the winds has removed the snow. There
they feed on the mosses and lichens attached to the rocks, as well as on the
twigs and grasses scantily found in such places at that season. They keep in
great packs, and when disturbed are apt to fly to a considerable distance,
shifting from one hill to another often half a mile off."
- Audubon's ornithological biography, 1831.