Ornithological biography, Vol. 1 (of 5)

by John James Audubon

Turtle-Doves of Carolina. (Plate 17.) It is quite impossible to treat this subject with greater truth or delicacy of conception, than it has here received. In a thicket of the beautiful Stuartia Malacodendron, (whose white blossoms are emblematic, like the dove, of chasteness and purity), a pair of turtles have built their nest. The female is sitting, and, their union being consummated, she is receiving the caresses of the male. Above is another pair their love is in its infancy. The male, seated on the same branch with his intended partner, is eagerly pressing forwards to reach a "stolen kiss," but the head of the female is coyly turned. Her secret satisfaction is, however, expressed by the agitation of her wings and tail. If the artist had never painted any picture but this, it would secure him the highest meed of praise, as long as truth and nature continued the same.

Mocking Birds defending their nest from a Rattlesnake. (Plate 21.) The same poetic sentiment and masterly execution characterizes this picture. The formidable reptile has driven the female bird from her eggs, which he intends to suck. Unable to defend them while sitting, she clings to the side, and, "with outstretched wings and forward breast," seems prepared to strike her bill into the very jaws of her enemy. Her cries have brought two others of her race to the spot; but these, not feeling a parent's solicitude, "come not boldly" to the attack. On the courage of the male bird the fate of the conflict seems to depend. He is close to the serpent, aiming a deadly stroke at its eye, while his own is lighted up with a determination and courage, which seem to bespeak anticipated victory. Every part of the story is told with exquisite feeling, the artist has thrown his greatest skill in the figure of the female bird, and it is uncommonly fine.

It will depend on the powerful and the wealthy, whether Britain shall have the honour of fostering such a magnificent undertaking. It will be a lasting monument, not only to the memory of its author, but to those who employ their wealth in patronizing genius, and in supporting the national credit. If any publication deserves such a distinction, it is surely this, inasmuch as it exhibits a perfection in the higher attributes of zoological painting, never before attempted. To represent the passions and the feelings of birds, might, until now, have been well deemed chimerical. Rarely, indeed, do we see their outward forms represented with any thing like nature. In my estimation, not more than three painters ever lived who could draw a bird. Of these the lamented Barrabaud, of whom France may be justly proud, was the chief. He has long passed away; but his mantle has, at length, been recovered in the forests of America.

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FOOTNOTES

[1] In America, the term mast is not confined to the fruit of the beech, but is used as a general name for all kinds of forest fruits, including even grapes and berries.

[2] The peculiarities in the structure of the plumage of different species of birds might, if duly attended to, prove of essential service to the systematic ornithologist, as conducing, along with other circumstances, to the elucidation of the natural affinities of birds. On this subject, I would refer the system-makers to the valuable observations of Mr Macgillivray in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for 1828.

[3] After the summer showers, the ground is seen covered with multitudes of very small frogs, of a brownish-black colour, which many of the inhabitants foolishly suppose to have descended from the clouds. Some of these I have occasionally found in the stomach of the Black-billed Cuckoo.