"Pinnated Grous, Tetrao Cupido", Audubon, J. J.

This is Plate CLXXXVI (186) from the double-elephant folio Amsterdam edition of Audubon’s great work on American ornithology. The Audubon Amsterdam Edition was the first complete reproduction of John James Audubon’s original (1826-38) Birds of America Havell Edition. The reproductions were produced using color offset lithography and printed on watermarked 100% cotton rag acid-free paper. Only 250 complete sets of this limited edition were produced. This lively engraving depicts two males fighting over a female (center) in a lovely meadow with a stalk of Michigan Lily to the right. Currently known as Greater Prairie-Chicken, this species is greatly reduced today, with a small eastern population known as the Heath Hen becoming extinct in 1932, and now only the western population surviving. The full sheet measures 39-1/4 x 26-3/8". Watermark reads "G. Schut & Zonen [JR Monogram] Audubon [OT Monogram]."

References: Low, p. 117.

Condition: A+