Ornithological biography, Vol. 1 (of 5)

by John James Audubon

There are persons whose desire of obtaining celebrity induces them to suppress the knowledge of the assistance which they have received in the composition of their works. In many cases, in fact, the real author of the drawings or the descriptions in books on Natural History is not so much as mentioned, while the pretended author assumes to himself all the merit which the world is willing to allow him. This want of candour I never could endure. On the contrary, I feel pleasure in here acknowledging the assistance which I have received from a friend, Mr William Macgillivray, who being possessed of a liberal education and a strong taste for the study of the Natural Sciences, has aided me, not in drawing the figures of my Illustrations, nor in writing the book now in your hand, although fully competent for both tasks, but in completing the scientific details, and smoothing down the asperities of my Ornithological Biographies.

I do not present to you the objects of which my work consists in the order adopted by systematic writers. Indeed, I can scarcely believe that yourself, good-natured reader, could wish that I should do so; for although you and I, and all the world besides, are well aware that a grand connected chain does exist in the Creator's sublime system, the subjects of it have been left at liberty to disperse in quest of the food best adapted for them, or the comforts that have been so abundantly scattered for each of them over the globe, and are not in the habit of following each other, as if marching in regular procession to a funeral or a merry-making. He who would write a general ornithology of the world, and is possessed of knowledge adequate to such a task, is the only one by whom the ordination of birds could be made truly useful. When this work is completed, and when the results of my observations have been duly weighed and arranged, I shall reduce the whole to an order corresponding with the improvements recently made in ornithological science, and present to you a Synopsis of the Birds of the United States, including the ordinal, generic and specific characters, with the distinctive habits of each species, and references to the descriptions of other writers.

I shall therefore simply offer you the results of my own observation with respect to each of the species, in the order in which I have published the representations of them. Nor do I intend to annoy you with long descriptions, including the number and shape of the feathers, particularly in cases where the species are well known. Tables of synonyms I have also judged superfluous. Indeed, the technical descriptions and references you will find as appendages to the more generally interesting descriptions of the habits of each species; so that you may read them or not, just as you please. Yet, should you be inclined to enter into these matters, I trust you will find in these appendages descriptions constructed according to the strictest rules of science.

Should you, good-natured reader, be a botanist, I hope you will find pleasure while looking at the flowers, the herbs, the shrubs, and the trees, which I have represented; the more so, I imagine, if you have seen them in their native woods. Should you not, the sight of them in my Illustrations may, for aught I know, tempt you to go and partake of the hospitality of our brethren the Aborigines of America.

Permit me now to address a few words to the Critic, who I fervently hope is a good-natured reader too. This I do with much deference. He has seen my Illustrations, and has judged favourably of them; he has passed his keen eye over this page; he knows the very moderate strength of my talents; and I have only to add, with my compliments, that ever since I have known that such a person as himself exists, I have laboured harder, with more patience and with more care, to gain his good will, indulgence, and support.

JOHN J. AUDUBON.

Edinburgh,	}
March 1831.	}

TABLE OF CONTENTS

	Page
The Wild Turkey,	Meleagris Gallopavo,	[1]
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo,	Coccyzus Americanus,	[18]
The Prothonotary Warbler,	Sylvia Protonotarius,	[22]
The Purple Finch,	Fringilla purpurea,	[24]
Bonaparte's Fly-catcher,	Muscicapa Bonapartii,	[27]
The Ohio,		[29]
The Wild Turkey. Female,	Meleagris Gallopavo,	[33]
The Purple Grakle or Common Crow-Black-bird,	Quiscalus versicolor,	[35]
The White-throated Sparrow,	Fringilla pennsylvanica,	[42]
Selby's Flycatcher,	Muscicapa Selbii,	[46]
The Brown Titlark,	Anthus Spinoletta,	[49]
The Great Pine Swamp,		[52]
The Bird of Washington,	Falco Washingtonii,	[58]
The Baltimore Oriole,	Icterus Baltimore,	[66]
The Snow Bird,	Fringilla hyemalis,	[72]
The Prairie Warbler,	Sylvia discolor,	[76]
The Blue Yellow-backed Warbler,	Sylvia americana,	[78]
The Prairie,		[81]
The Great-footed Hawk,	Falco peregrinus,	[85]
The Carolina Turtle Dove,	Columba carolinensis,	[91]
Bewick's Wren,	Troglodytes Bewickii,	[96]
The Louisiana Water Thrush,	Turdus ludovicianus,	[99]
The Blue-winged Yellow Warbler,	Sylvia solitaria,	[102]
The Regulators,		[ 105]
The Mocking Bird,	Turdus polyglottus,	[108]
The Purple Martin,	Hirundo purpurea,	[115]
The Yellow-breasted Warbler, or Maryland Yellow-throat,	Sylvia Trichas,	[121]
Roscoe's Yellow-throat,	Sylvia Roscoe,	[124]
The Song Sparrow,	Fringilla melodia,	[126]
Improvements in the Navigation of the Mississippi,		[130]
The Carolina Parrot,	Psittacus carolinensis,	[135]
The Red-headed Woodpecker,	Picus erythrocephalus,	[141]
The Solitary Fly-catcher, or Vireo,	Vireo solitarius,	[147]
The Towhe Bunting,	Fringilla erythrophthalma,	[150]
Vigors's Warbler,	Sylvia Vigorsii,	[153]
A Flood,		[155]
The White-headed Eagle,	Falco leucocephalus,	[160]
The Black-billed Cuckoo,	Coccyzus erythrophthalmus,	[170]
The American Goldfinch,	Fringilla tristis,	[172]
The Worm-eating Warbler,	Sylvia vermivora,	[177]
Children's Warbler,	Sylvia Childrenii,	[180]
Meadville,		[182]
The Stanley Hawk,	Falco Stanleii,	[186]
The Golden-winged Woodpecker,	Picus auratus,	[191]
The Kentucky Warbler,	Sylvia formosa,	[196]
The Crested Titmouse,	Parus bicolor,	[199]
The American Redstart,	Muscicapa Ruticilla,	[202]
The Cougar,		[205]
The Ruffed Grouse,	Tetrao Umbellus,	[211]
The Orchard Oriole,	Icterus spurius,	[221]
The Cedar Bird,	Bombycilla carolinensis,	[227]
The Summer Red Bird,	Tanagra æstiva,	[232]
Traill's Fly-catcher,	Muscicapa Traillii,	[236]
The Earthquake,		[239]
The Barred Owl,	Strix nebulosa,	[242]
The Ruby-throated Humming Bird,	Trochilus colubris,	[248]
The Azure Warbler,	Sylvia azurea,	[255]
The Blue-green Warbler,	Sylvia rara,	[258]
The Black-and-yellow Warbler,	Sylvia maculosa,	[260]
The Hurricane,		[262]
The Red-tailed Hawk,	Falco borealis,	[265]
Chuckwill's Widow,	Caprimulgus carolinensis,	[273]
The Painted Finch,	Fringilla ciris,	[279]
The Rice Bird,	Icterus agripennis,	[283]
Cuvier's Regulus,	Regulus Cuvierii,	[288]
Kentucky Sports,		[290]
The Red-shouldered Hawk,	Falco lineatus,	[296]
The Loggerhead Shrike,	Lanius ludovicianus,	[300]
The Hermit Thrush,	Turdus minor,	[303]
The Chestnut-sided Warbler,	Sylvia icterocephala,	[306]
The Carbonated Warbler,	Sylvia carbonata,	[308]
The Traveller and the Pole-cat,		[310]
The Great Horned Owl,	Strix virginiana,	[313]
The Passenger Pigeon,	Columba migratoria,	[319]
The White-eyed Flycatcher, or Vireo,	Vireo noveboracensis,	[328]
The Swamp Sparrow,	Fringilla palustris,	[331]
The Rathbone Warbler,	Sylvia Rathbonia,	[333]
Deer Hunting,		[335]
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker,	Picus principalis,	[341]
The Red-winged Starling, or Marsh Blackbird,	Icterus phœniceus,	[348]
The Republican, or Cliff Swallow,	Hirundo fulva,	[353]
The Bay-breasted Warbler,	Sylvia castanea,	[358]
Henslow's Bunting,	Emberiza Henslowii,	[360]
Niagara,		[362]
The Winter Hawk,	Falco hyemalis,	[364]
The Swallow-tailed Hawk,	Falco furcatus,	[368]
The Wood Thrush,	Turdus mustelinus,	[372]
The Indigo Bird,	Fringilla cyanea,	[377]
Le Petit Caporal,	Falco temerarius,	[381]
Hospitality in the Woods,		[383]
The Virginian Partridge,	Perdix virginiana,	[388]
The Belted Kingsfisher,	Alcedo Alcyon,	[394]
The Great Carolina Wren,	Troglodytes ludovicianus,	[399]
The Tyrant Fly-catcher,	Muscicapa tyrannus,	[403]
The Prairie Titlark,	Anthus pipiens,	[408]
The Original Painter,		[410]
The Fish Hawk or Osprey,	Falco Haliaetus,	[415]
Whip-poor-will,	Caprimulgus vociferus,	[422]
The House Wren,	Troglodytes ædon,	[427]
The Blue-grey Fly-catcher,	Muscicapa cærulea,	[431]
The Yellow-throated Warbler,	Sylvia pensilis,	[434]
Louisville in Kentucky,		[437]
The Black Warrior,	Falco Harlani,	[441]
The Florida Jay,	Corvus floridanus,	[444]
The Autumnal Warbler,	Sylvia autumnalis,	[447]
The Nashville Warbler,	Sylvia rubricapilla,	[450]
The Black-and-white Creeper,	Certhia varia,	[452]
The Eccentric Naturalist,		[455]
The Broad-winged Hawk,	Falco pennsylvanicus,	[461]
The Pigeon Hawk,	Falco columbarius,	[466]
The Sea-side Finch,	Fringilla maritima,	[470]
The Grass Finch or Bay-winged Bunting,	Fringilla graminea,	[473]
The Yellow-poll Warbler,	Sylvia æstiva,	[476]
Scipio and the Bear,		[479]
The Columbian Jay,	Corvus Bullockii,	[483]
The Little Screech Owl,	Strix Asio,	[486]
The White-bellied Swallow,	Hirundo bicolor,	[491]
The Cow-pen Bird,	Icterus pecoris,	[493]
The Marsh Wren,	Troglodytes palustris,	[500]
Colonel Boon,		[503]