Audubon, Black Backed Gull, Plate 241

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Black Backed Gull, Plate 241.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
25" x 38 3/8" sheet.

Comparable: Christie's, 2001 - $6,250.

"The flight of the Great Black-backed Gull is firm, steady, at times elegant, rather swift, and long protracted. While travelling, it usually flies at the height of fifty or sixty yards, and proceeds in a direct course, with easy, regulated flappings. Should the weather prove tempestuous, this Gull, like most others, skims over the surface of the waters or the land within a few yards or even feet, meeting the gale, but not yielding to it, and forcing its way against the strongest wind. In calm weather and sunshine, at all seasons of the year, it is fond of soaring to a great height, where it flies about leisurely and with considerable elegance for half an hour or so, in the manner of Eagles, Vultures, and Ravens. Now and then, while pursuing a bird of its own species, or trying to escape from an enemy, it passes through the air with rapid boundings, which, however, do not continue long, and as soon as they are over it rises and slowly sails in circles" (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).