London, Henry Sotheran, 1885. Folio. Single lithographed and finely hand-coloured plate. In wooden frame. Visible print size: 35.0 x 50.0 cm; frame size: 55.2 x 71.0 cm.

A fine plate showing a most beautiful hummingbird species sitting on a flowering orchid. This plate, by John Gould himself, comes from the supplement part which was published between 1880-1887. The main work was published between 1849-1861. John Gould died in 1881, leaving most of the plates, and some of the text unpublished. The work was finished by the British ornithologist R. Bowdler Sharpe. The bird, known as Talamanca hummingbird, occurs in Costa Rica and Panamá. Slight wear to the frame, otherwise in very good condition. Anker, 182; Nissen IVB, 380; Sitwell Fine Bird Books, p. 102; Waterhouse, The Dates of Publication of Some of the Zoological Works of the Late John Gould, F.R.S., p. 48; Zimmer, pp. 258, 263-264.