The Hooded Merganser
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 ...
Based on a composition painted in New Orleans in 1821. Of the male, at left, Audubon wrote: "Its broad and rounded crest of pure white, with an edging of jetty black, and which it closes or spreads out at pleasure, renders the male of this species conspicuous on the waters to which it resorts. The activity of its motions, the rapidity of its flight, and its other habits, contribute to render it a pleasing object to the student of nature..."
Edward Howe Forbush considered the hooded merganser the most beautiful of its family. He wrote: "Vivacious, active, elegant in form, graceful in carriage, its presence adds a peculiar charm to the little ponds and streams on which it delights to disport...One who has seen a small flock of this species placing on the dark waters of a tiny shaded pool with two or three beautiful males darting about among the others, opening and closing their fan-like crests and throwing the sparkling drops in showers over their glistening plumage, will rarely find anywhere a finer and more animated picture of bird life."
