Prideaux John Selby

These plates of pigeons and doves come from The Natural History of Pigeons, written for the Naturalist's Library in 1835 by ...

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These plates of pigeons and doves come from The Natural History of Pigeons, written for the Naturalist's Library in 1835 by Prideaux John Selby, the English naturalist and bird artist who lived from 1788 to 1867, with work by Edward Lear among the illustrations. They range well beyond familiar British birds, from varieties of the rock dove, Columba livia, to turtle doves, the fruit pigeons of Carpophaga and Ptilinopus, and the passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratoria. Crests, wing markings, tail shapes and iridescent plumage give each bird its character, and most of the plates keep their original hand colouring.

These plates of pigeons and doves come from The Natural History of Pigeons, written for the Naturalist's Library in 1835 by Prideaux John Selby, the English naturalist and bird artist who lived from 1788 to 1867, with work by Edward Lear among the illustrations. They range well beyond familiar British birds, from varieties of the rock dove, Columba livia, to turtle doves, the fruit pigeons of Carpophaga and Ptilinopus, and the passenger pigeon, Ectopistes migratoria. Crests, wing markings, tail shapes and iridescent plumage give each bird its character, and most of the plates keep their original hand colouring.

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