Audubon Aquatint Sooty Tern

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Sooty Tern, Plate 235.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
25 1/2” x 38 3/8” sheet.
Comparable: Sotheby's, 2006 - $4,200.
"The Sooty Tern always lays three eggs as its full number, and in no instance, among thousands of the nests which were on the Bird Key, did I find one more when the female was sitting close. I was desirous of ascertaining whether the male and the female incubate alternately; but this I was unable to do, as the birds frequently left their eggs for half an hour or even three quarters at a time, but rarely longer." - Audubon's Ornithological Biography.