AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
Yellow Crowned Heron, Plate 336.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
37 3/4" x 25 1/8" sheet, 44 3/4" x 32" framed.

Comparables: Christie's, 2004 - $47,800; Arader Galleries, 2017 - $31,250.

The Yellow-crowned Heron, which is one of the handsomest species of its tribe, is called "Cap-cap" by the Creoles of Lower Louisiana, in which country it is watched and shot with great eagerness, on account of the excellence of its flesh. It arrives about New Orleans toward the end of March, and departs in the middle of October. On arriving, they throw themselves among the thickets along the bayous, where they breed. Like the Night Heron, this species may be enticed near by imitating its cries, when it approaches, cutting many curious zigzags in the air, and alights close by. It is a curious circumstance that when massing over several gunners placed on the watch for them, they dive toward the ground if shot at and missed, and this they do several times in succession, according to the number of shots. - (Audubon's Ornithological Biography, 1831).