Hayes Engraving of a Bittern

HAYES, William (1729 - 1799).
The Bittern or Mire-drum.
Engraving with original hand color, from Natural History of British Birds.
London, 1775.
20 1/2" x 27" sheet, 29 1/2" x 36" framed.

First edition and one of two large-scale plates from one of the most notable eighteenth-century English bird books. Hayes based most of his drawings on observations of live birds in Buckinghamshire.