[HAWKS]. Two original lithographs from the Zoology / Ornithology section of the "Reports of explorations and surveys to ascertain the most practicable and economic route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean

Washington DC: War Department, 1860. First Edition. Very good. Together two chromolithographs (287 x 212 mm), loose in mylar L-sleeve (plate XVI with short marginal tear at top, not affecting image). Our prints have VERY LITTLE offsetting which almost invarably spoils the illustrations of this publication and is SUITABLE FOR FRAMING. The are original prints, NOT reproductions! AN EXCELLENT PAIR OF AMERICAN HAWK CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS from the famed "Pacific Railroad Surveys" of 1853-1855.

"The ornithological studies produced from the Railroad Surveys were of such outstanding quality that they were republished in 1860 under the aegis of the Smithsonian Institution. Entitled 'The Birds of North America,' the illustrations and text by Spencer Baird are still considered to be among the best of the early ornithological works on American birds." (Brown University, The Robert S. and Margaret A. Ames Collection of Illustrated Books, online).

The plates here are:

Vol. XII, Book 2, Plate XI: Falco Nigricepsl (Duck Hawk, or Peregrine Falcon);
Vol. XII, Book 2, Plate XVI: Cooper Hawk, or "California Hawk.