Description
Icteria virens
Flora: possibly Rosa virginiana
Print size: 26 1/4" x 39 1/4"; image size: 20" x 24"
Princeton Audubon Limited Edition - produced 1985
Painted in New Jersey, June 7. 1829.
"I have presented you with several figures of this singular species," Audubon wrote of the painting from which this plate was engraved, "to shew you their positions when on the wing performing their antics in the love season as well as when alighted." This "performing," as he noted, involved "the strangest and most whimsical gesticulations."
The chat is the largest member of the New World family of wood warblers and prefers to live in tangled thickets and hedgerows along streams. It has been described by George Dock, Jr. as "one of the most talented clowns of the feathered kingdom, both with its voice and its droll antics in the air. Rising from his perch in some thick bush or briar patch, the male flops about in an awkward fashion, with its legs dangling, and performs parachute-like descents on uptilted wings while jerking his tail."
EHJ
Princeton Audubon prints are direct-camera facsimile lithographs of the Robert Havell Jr. (1793-1878) engravings for The Birds of America (1827-38). Princeton's Double elephant Folio prints are issued in limited editions of 500 or 1500 prints. All are numbered and have a seal in the bottom margin to demonstrate their authenticity.
Printed on heavy Mohawk paper that is recommended by the Library of Congress for archives, the paper is specially toned to match the average paper color of the antique originals.
Item Number:
1721
