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This is a print showing a bird diving towards water with its wings and tail spread out. The bird has a thin pink beak and pink feet, a black patch on the top of its head, a white throat and tail, and a gray body and wings. The background shows a gray-blue sky with heavy clouds and a blue, slightly wavy ocean below. The print is surrounded by a border of off-white paper, and there are some lines of text below it.
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This is a print showing a bird diving towards water with its wings and tail spread out. The bird has a thin pink beak and pink feet, a black patch on the top of its head, a white throat and tail, and a gray body and wings. The background shows a gray-blue sky with heavy clouds and a blue, slightly wavy ocean below. The print is surrounded by a border of off-white paper, and there are some lines of text below it.

National Gallery of Art · Print

Arctic Tern

Robert Havell after John James Audubon

Date
1835
Medium
hand-colored engraving and aquatint on Whatman wove paper
Classification
Print
Accession number
1945.8.250
Credit line
Gift of Mrs. Walter B. James
Time span
1826 to 1850
Department
CG-W
Original NGA record Wikidata

Portfolio and series

Series
The Birds of America: Plate CCL

Subjects and terms

  • American
  • etching
  • aquatint
  • bird
  • animal
  • Sea
  • Sky

NGA object ID 32391. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.