Noble Hunter shows off the "white line" attribute of wood engraving extremely well. Remember, this is relief printmaking. The blank surface of the block will print black. When a line is incised into the surface, it is a white line. If you want a black line to show, you must cut the white line on either side. As this is a real pain, it is easier to draw with white lines. The eyes are fooled into thinking they are seeing black lines, but if you look closer (especially in the area of the hawk's back, wing and breast) you will see that the image is formed with a series of white- not black- lines.