BLUE-WINGED TEAL (PLATE CCCXIII)

Anas discors JW 37 fine, fresh impression, minor soiling, faint, unobtrusive foxing, two small tears in the upper margin 14 3/4 by 20 5/8 in.; 376 by 522 mm. Based on a composition painted in New Orleans in February, 1822. The Blue-winged Teal is much scarcer today than during Audubon's lifetime. "I myself," he wrote "saw a friend of mine kill eighty-four by pulling together the triggers of his double-barrelled gun!"... "so tender and savoury is its flesh, that it would quickly put the merits of the widely celebrated Canvass-backed Duck in the shade.".