AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).
White Pelican, Plate 311.
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.
39 1/2 x 26 1/4 sheet, 50 x 37 framed.
Comparable: Christie's, 2004 - $175,000; Bonham's, 2015 - $173,000.
Audubon's Iconic bird of the American South
"This beautiful species,--for, reader, it is truly beautiful, and you would say so were you to pick it up in all the natural cleanness of its plumage, from the surface of the water,--carries its crest broadly expanded, as if divided into two parts from the centre of the head. The brightness of its eyes seemed to me to rival that of the purest diamond; and in the love-season, or the spring of the year, the orange-red colour of its legs and feet, as well as of the pouch and bill, is wonderfully enriched, being as represented in my plate, while during the autumnal months these parts are pale. Its flesh is rank, fishy, and nauseous, and therefore quite unfit for food, unless in cases of extreme necessity. The idea that these birds are easily caught when gorged with fish, is quite incorrect, for when approached, on such an occasion, they throw up their food, as Vultures are wont to do."