'Alala, or Hawaiian Crow, double art # 1 T-Shirt

'Alala, or Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis). Their ancestral lineage is traced to approximately 7,500,000 years ago. This was during the Totonian Age, a prehistoric window of Time between 11,608,005/000 - 7,246,000 years ago. The Tortonian Age was the fifth of 6 Stages of the greater Miocene Epoch; a tremendous era of geologic, oceanographic, biological and botanic changes across our planet, from 23,300,000 - 5,332,005/000 years ago. Somewhere between the years 400 - 500 C.E., the first Polynesian marine exploration groups discovered an archipelago of 8 principal islands and 128 smaller islets, coral atolls, shoals and cays. The Polynesians called their new realm Havaiki; their word for Homeland. More than that, Havaiki is the distant place beyond memory where all Polynesians believe they came from, and where they return when they die. Among numerous endemic birds of the islands, one species stood out from all others, to the eyes of Hawaii's original settlers. With a dark, nocturnal feathered sheen like the night sky, this perceptive, intelligent bird carried a most distinctive call: 'Alala, 'alala, 'alala. They bravely defended their nests and adjacent territories. They united in small flocks to avert perceived danger from the 'Io, or Hawaiian Hawk (Buteo solitarius). Cadres of Hawaiian warrior chiefs used the beautiful black bird's forest call for their battle chants. The 'Alala was revered, highly respected and protected throughout the islands. Their status was secure in the Kingdom of Hawaii. In my other 2 posts for the fine bird, I discuss their proven intelligence and tragically, beginning in the 1890's, outside forces beyond their control that almost caused their extinction. Today, their decimated populations recover slowly, thanks to intensified government measures to save the birds. ** The artwork by Frederick William Frohawk is from a book, more than 120 years old. Published in an edition of 250 copies, many of the described birds were accompanied by full page, full colour, assigned, numbered plates, printed on fine grain paper. A team of artists were commissioned to hand-colour the plates. They used watercolors, ink tints and chromatic pencils. As individual artists completed each picture, it became evident that no 2 examples of the same book plates were exactly alike. Featured birds were shown as true to nature, but other details varied. Coloration for stones, sand, plants, trees and horizons revealed lesser or greater shades. Light or shadows might be more or less pronounced. Hours of the day were suggested, and clouds carried differing tints. For your consideration, I have 2 copies of this artwork. Here, lighting suggests the hours between 6:00 - 7:00 am. The graphic work is on the front and reverse side. For another t-shirt, the image is also shown twice but it's a sunset sky. A third t-shirt has the lighter picture once, on the front. For all 3 garments, I added the bird's name, age and gender to the lower border. I carefully let words and letter size compliment the portrait; not disrupt the harmony. You can always have this design for a greeting card, playing cards, a poster or magnet, towels or a warm fleece blanket, a sweatshirt, puzzle, drinking mug and more. Zazzle makes it possible.