John James Audubon. Canada Goose. 1827.

AUDUBON, John James (1785 - 1851).Canada Goose, Plate 201.Aquatint engraving with original hand color.London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838.25 1/4" x 38 1/4" sheet, 49 1/2" x 37" framed.Comparables: Arader Galleries, 2020 - $73,200; Arader Galleries, 2023 - $60,000.The big, black-necked Canada Goose with its signature white chinstrap mark is a familiar and widespread bird of fields and parks. Thousands of “honkers” migrate north and south each year, filling the sky with long V-formations."It is extremely amusing to witness the courtship of the Canada Goose in all its stages; and let me assure you, reader, that although a Gander does not strut before his beloved with the pomposity of a Turkey, or the grace of a Dove, his ways are quite as agreeable to the female of his choice. I can imagine before me one who has just accomplished the defeat of another male after a struggle of half an hour or more. He advances gallantly towards the object of contention, his head scarcely raised an inch from t