Rare bird art up for auction

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

The International Crane Foundation hopes to raise $2 million from next month's auction of rare bird art and books it inherited from a Chicago philanthropist.

Brooks McCormick, chief executive officer of International Harvester Co., willed one of the nation's most significant collections of ornithology to the Baraboo, Wis., nonprofit when he died last year.

The auction will occur on Oct. 5 and will feature works by John James Audubon and Darwin. Highlights from the collection of prints, books and manuscripts will appear at Sotheby's Chicago Sept. 20-21 and at Sotheby's New York Sept. 29-Oct. 4. You can browse a catalog of the auction's lots here.