Audubon, White Crowned Pigeon, Plate 177

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
White Crowned Pigeon, Plate 177.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
25 3/4 " x 38 3/8 " sheet.

Comparable: Christie's, 2004 - $20,315; Neal Auction Co., 2010 - $6,100.

"Their shyness is but partially given up even during their love season, or while sitting on their eggs, for the moment they see you they get off slyly from the nest, walk on the branches for some distance, and take to wing without any noise, flying low along the edge of the mangroves, into which they throw themselves as soon as a place of safety offers itself, seldom on such occasions flying off to other keys. Their return to the nest is not immediate, the heat of these latitudes not requiring the same care in incubation as the comparative cold of more northern regions. I have waited their return sometimes as much as half an hour, without success. " (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).