Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Elephant folio Plate CXXVII) Fringilla ludoviciana

Engraving with etching, aquatint and hand-coloring on 1836 watermarked J. Whatman hand-made paper. Unusually wide, untrimmed margins showing the pulls from the binder's signatures on the left margin and the gilt to the top edge. "I closed my eyes, and was passing away into the world of dreaming existence, when suddenly there burst on my soul the serenade of the Rose-breasted bird, so rich, so mellow, so loud in the stillness of the night, that sleep fled from my eyelids. Never did I enjoy music more: it thrilled through my heart, and surrounded me with an atmosphere of bliss. One might easily have imagined that even the Owl, charmed by such delightful music, remained reverently silent. Long after the sounds ceased did I enjoy them, and when all had again become still, I stretched out my wearied limbs, and gave myself up to the luxury of repose." John James Audubon