An apex predator with a smile

One of the first illustrations of a Bald Eagle, published prior to the bird being adopted as the symbol of the United States of America (1782) and its appearance in Audubon's 'Birds of America (1820). It appeared in Manetti's 'La Storia Naturale degli Uccelli' (1767-76), the greatest ornithological work published in Italy in the eighteenth century. It depicts the bird standing on the ground, showing its back and white tail, with its head turned so one beady eye is fixed on the viewer. 'The Natural History of Birds' was a monumental, five-volume work, containing 600 finely-coloured engravings of birds in the collection of Marchese Giovanni Gerini, drawn by Abbot Lorenzo Lorenzi and Violante Vanni. Their work is renowned for the odd, almost human poses the birds are given, which is perhaps accounted for by the fact that many of the models were stuffed. This eagle certainly has an evil smile.