Audubon^ s lairds of America, 49 



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. 



Purple Martins huildhig their Nest in a Gourd, (PL 22.) — 

 M. Audubon seems to delight in attitudes which would set 

 every other ornithological painter at defiance. How inimit- 

 able is the foreshortening of the upper left hand figure ! the 

 mouth appears actually open. The female bird, pluming her 

 wing, shows the ease with which his pencil can master the 

 greatest difficulties. 



Song Sparrows, (PL 25.) — I look on the attitude of the 

 male, as one of the most difficult that can well be imagined. 

 It is a complete front view of a bird, with half-expanded 

 wings, in the act of seizing a spider immediately above its 

 head. The ease and gracefulness of the pencilling are very 

 striking. 



Carolina Parrots. (PL 26.) — This is a most extraordinary 

 picture. It represents a flock of these birds, busily engaged 

 in devouring the seeds of the cuckle-bur. These parrots 

 must be great favourites with the painter, or he would not 

 have introduced them so profusely; there are no less than 

 seven figures placed in the most varied attitudes, and all the 

 size of life. Although not charged as such, the colouring of 

 this plate must have cost three times the price of the others. 

 Yet a painter would not be wholly pleased with it. Not, 

 indeed, from any defect in the artist, but from the im- 

 possibility of keeping down the superabundant vividness of 

 the golden and red heads of these birds. The colours in 

 nature are so brilliant, that they defy all attempts at harmo- 

 nising. 



The last plate I shall dwell upon is, A Family of Red- 

 headed Woodpeckers. (PL 27.) This is a peculiarly picturesque 

 composition. The ground-work is the decayed trunk of a 

 tree, perforated by insects, in the hollow of which the old 

 birds have reared their young; one of the latter, hearing 

 the arrival of the parents from a foraging party, has emerged 



Vol. I. — No. 1. e 



