AUDUBON, John James (1785-1851), after. – HAVELL, Robert (1793-1878).

Great Auk (Plate CCCXLI)
Alca impennis

"This species became extinct by 1844 due to relentless persecution by professional hunters ... Audubon wrote that he had never seen the bird, but that Robert Havell told him that his brother, Henry, on his way to New York prior to 1838, hooked a Great Auk on the banks of Newfoundland. The bird walked around the deck for a while and was then released. The annual migration of this bird was legendary ... [a] flock was observed [off Cape Fear, North Carolina] by ornithologists 86 days after it had left Iceland. It was a distance of 3000 miles, or 34.6 miles a day" (Low, p. 173ff). Audubon must have painted these birds from specimens in a British museum.

Engraving with hand-coloring, etching, and aquatint, on watermarked J Whatman paper dated 1836. 650 x 974mm sheet size, 25 1/4 x 38 inches. (Edge toning; a few spots including to sky at upper left and near wing of floating bird; light chipping at top edge.) Matted and framed.