On June 13, 1989, Vatican City issued a series of eight stamps featuring images of birds. The images are reproductions of original engravings by Eleazar Albin that are featured in "Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux," published at The Hague in 1750 and preserved in the library of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. The values and subjects are as follows:
100-lire - Parrot
150-lire - Green Woodpecker or Woodspite
200-lire - Crested Wren and Common Wren
350-lire - Kingfisher
500-lire - Red Gross Beak of Virginia
700-lire - Bullfinch
1,500-lire - Lapwing Plover
3,000-lire - French Teal
The name of the bird appears in Latin, French, and English along the right side of each stamp (except for the 200- and 500-lire stamps, where French is omitted). The value and the words POSTE VATICANE appear in the upper left corner and along the bottom, respectively.
Helio Courvoisier S.A. of Switzerland printed 450,000 complete series. The stamps are vertical in format, measure 28.6 x 39.2 mm, and have a perforation of 11 3/4. The firm produced the stamps, which were issued in sheets of twenty, by rotogravure on white chalky paper.
Crimando, Thomas I. "Ecological Issue." Vatican Notes 38, no. 3 (November 1989): 5.