194 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Artists have sometimes frowned upon this combina- 

 tion of aquatint with other forms of engraving, especial- 

 ly when executed with the burin, for "like the perma- 

 nent misery of a quarrelling married couple, they may 

 ruin everything with discord"; but any such lack of har- 

 mony, when not overcome by Havell's skill, was usu- 

 ally completely subdued by the color which was subse- 

 quently applied to the printed sheet. This is seen by 

 a comparison of the plain proof of such an elaborate 

 plate as that of the rattlesnake attacking the mocking 

 birds (Plate xxi) with the result attained in the finished 

 impression. In replying to a criticism of Havell's work 

 in 1830, Audubon expressed his conviction that "no birds 

 were ever so beautifully and softly represented on cop- 

 per," and any hardness, which his plates rarely showed, 

 was not due to aquatinting, the inherent quality of which 

 is softness. To quote our authority again: 



In Havell's hands aquatint gave the essential structure of 

 forms by a judicious use of the process called "feathering." 

 This he often did upon the bare copper plate without a ground, 

 allowing the acid to bite its own granular surface. In this 

 way he produced the soft gradations and telling accents so 

 necessary to the portrayal of birds, but by a further judicious 

 use of line the accurate forms of both bird and plant life were 

 given with great force and delicacy. 



When Audubon first proposed to present the Congres- 

 sional Library at Washington with a copy of his Birds, 

 he asked Havell to do all the coloring himself; Havell 



colored his prints in the usual manner by flowing washes of 

 pure water-color tints over the monochrome proof which was 

 printed from the copper plate. In this phase of the process 

 the great charm of his genuine talent for water-color painting 



