Audubon, Snowy Heron or White Egret, Plate 242

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Snowy Heron or White Egret, Plate 242.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
38 1/4" x 25 1/4" sheet, 44 1/4" x 32 1/2" framed.

Comparable: Arader Galleries, 2018 - $292,800; Arader Galleries, 2019 - $200,000; Christie's, 2004 - $153,100.

"They keep perfectly silent, and move at a height seldom exceeding a hundred yards. Their flight is light, undetermined as it were, yet well sustained, and performed by regular flappings, as in other birds of the tribe. When they have arrived at their destination, they often go to considerable distances to feed during the day, regularly returning at the approach of night to their roosts on the low trees and bushes bordering the marshes, swamps, and ponds" (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).