"Washington Sea Eagle": An Original Audubon Hand-Colored Lithograph, 1856

Description

This is an original John James Audubon hand-colored royal octavo lithograph entitled "Washington Sea Eagle", No. 3, Plate 13, from … more This is an original John James Audubon hand-colored royal octavo lithograph entitled "Washington Sea Eagle", No. 3, Plate 13, from Audubon's "Birds of America". It was lithographed, printed and colored by J. T. Bowen and published in Philadelphia between 1856-1871. It depicts an adult male sea eagle perched on a rock.

There are a few tiny spots, two faint thin linear areas of discoloration in the lower margin and mild irregularity of the left edge of the sheet, where it was bound in Audubon's publication. This original hand-colored Audubon lithograph is otherwise in very good condition. The sheet measures 10.5" high by 6.75" wide. The original descriptive text pages, 53-56 from Audubon's book are included.

This is an excerpt from Audubon's own description of this magnificent eagle, which includes how he came up with the name "Washington Sea Eagle":
"The name which I have chosen for this new species of Eagle, “The Bird of Washington,” may, by some, be considered as preposterous and unfit; but as it is indisputably the noblest bird of its genus that has yet been discovered in the United States, I trust I shall be allowed to honour it with the name of one yet nobler, who was the saviour of his country, and whose name will ever be dear, to it. To those who may be curious to know my reasons, I can only say, that, as the new world gave me birth and liberty, the great man who ensured its independence is next to my heart. He had a nobility of mind, and a generosity of soul, such as are seldom possessed. He was brave, so is the Eagle; like it, too, he was the terror of his foes; and his fame, extending from pole to pole, resembles the majestic soarings of the mightiest of the feathered tribe. If America has reason to be proud of her Washington, so has she to be proud of her great Eagle.
In the month of January following, I saw a pair of these Eagles flying over the Falls of the Ohio, one in pursuit of the other. The next day I saw them again. The female had relaxed her severity, had laid aside her coyness, and to a favourite tree they continually resorted. I pursued them unsuccessfully for several days, when they forsook the place.
The flight of this bird is very different from that of the White-headed Eagle. The former encircles a greater space, whilst sailing keeps nearer to the land and the surface of the water, and when about to dive for fish falls in a spiral manner, as if with the intention of checking any retreating movement which its prey might attempt, darting upon it only when a few yards distant. The Fish Hawk often does the same. When rising with a fish, the Bird of Washington flies to a considerable distance, forming, in its line of course, a very acute angle with the surface line of the water. My last opportunity of seeing this bird was on the 15th of November, 1821, a few miles above the mouth of the Ohio, when two passed over our boat, moving down the river with a gentle motion. In a letter from a kind relative, Mr. W. BAKEWELL, dated, “Falls of the Ohio, July 1819,” and containing particulars relative to the Swallow-tailed Hawk (Falco furcatus), that gentleman says:– “Yesterday, for the first time, I had an opportunity of viewing one of those magnificent birds which you call the Sea-Eagle, as it passed low over me, whilst fishing. I shall be really glad when I can again have the pleasure of seeing your drawing of it.” less