The American Goldfinch
Princeton Audubon Double Elephant Edition •Double elephant (life size - 26 1/4 x 39 1/4) •Limited edition of 1500. •Pencil-numbered and embossed with the Princeton Audubon Limited seal. •Up to 11 color plates used. •Specially developed fade-proof inks. Absolute color fidelity to the actual original. •Printed on a 300 line. •Very heavy archival paper which is recommended by the Library of Congress for archives and is specially toned to match the actual color of the antique originals. •Registered to purchaser. •As permanently displayed at The Royal Society of London, to which Audubon belonged as a Fellow.
About the image itself ...
This print is based on a composition probably painted in August 1824 in New York State, for Audubon wrote: "In ascending along the shores of the Mohawk river, in the month of August, I have met more of these pretty birds in the course of a day's walk than anywhere else, and whenever a thistle was to be seen along either bank of the New York Canal, it was ornamented with one or more Goldfinches."
The goldfinch, a joy to even the most casual observer, is common from ocean to ocean, and its flight call as it dips through the air, per-chic-o-ree, per-chic-o-ree, is as sweet as that of any caged canary. Dr. Frank M. Chapman, in his Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, says that "their song is delivered with an ecstasy and abandon which carries them off their feet, they circle over the field sowing the air with music."
