A late 19th-century French automated singing bird housed in a silver-mounted polished horn box. The brass going-barrel movement is keywound through the base, with a small bellows and piston mechanism supplying air to a variable whistle, operated by cams and levers to mimic birdsong.

The bird, covered in multi-coloured plumage with iridescent highlights on its bib and wings, rises into view when the silver lateral slide on the front of the box is moved, opening the engraved oval lid and lifting the bird through a chased and pierced gilt grille. While the song plays, the automaton moves its bone beak, flaps its wings, and turns from side to side in time with the music.

The unusual box has polished horn panels on the top and all four sides, secured within a frame of engraved and engine-turned silver mounts. The plain silver base is marked “Sterling,” and the slide to actuate the mechanism is cast in the form of a silver bird.