Tab. XXXVII. Wilde Ente. [Mallard. Nest and eggs].

Nürnberg, Adam Ludwig Wirsing, [1770-]1772. Large, printed sheet (40.0 x 24.8 cm). Engraved and originally hand-coloured plate, numbered and captioned. = Two fine plates from possibly the first but certainly one of the most beautiful hand-coloured nidological works ever, and almost never found complete - even individual plates, such as these are rare. These show the nest and eggs of the mallard or wild duck, "a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. ...This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domestic ducks" (Wikipedia). It is also one of the most hunted duck species. The image is exceptionally large. The first author, Adam Ludwig Wirsing (1734-1798) was a versatile German engraver with a keen interest in natural history. The German medical doctor and naturalist (principally ornithologist) Friedrich Christian Günther (1726-1774) was responsible for the descriptive text. Uncut. With the widest possible margins. The colouring bright and accurate. Tiny spot in the outer margin near the left edge; otherwise an excellent, wide-margined and clean copy. Anker, 537; Nissen IVB, 1002; Sitwell, Fine Bird Books, 157. Not in Zimmer.