306 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



the bird was eventually shown on a branch against the 

 sky. 



In many instances towards the end of his work, 

 Audubon furnished Havell with drawings of the birds 

 only, with directions to supply "an old rotten stick" for 

 perch, or to "amend this rascally sky and water"; as we 

 have already seen, he often depended upon him to com- 

 bine several detached pictures into one plate, but not 

 always with happy results. The following note was 

 written on a drawing of the Carolina Parrot, repro- 

 duced in a very striking plate (No. xxvi) , in which seven 

 gaudy individuals of this nearly extinct species are rep- 

 resented feeding on a favorite weed, the cockle-bur: 

 "The upper specimen was shot near Bayou Sarah, and 

 appeared as very uncommon having 14 Tail feathers all 

 very distinct uniformly affixed in 14 distinct recep- 

 tacles that I drew it more to exhibit one of those aston- 

 ishing fits of nature than anything else it was a female. 

 The Green headed is also a Singular although not so 

 uncommon a variety as the above one. Louisiana- 

 December (1821?) J. J. Audubon." The upper bird, 

 which is here referred to, is noticed in his "Biography" 

 of the species as "a kind of occasional variety." 



On the drawing of the Swamp Sparrow (Plate Ixiv) , 

 which was published in 1829, Audubon wrote, evidently 

 with the wish of having his wife's name appear: "Drawn 

 from Nature by Lucy Audubon, Mr. Havell will please 

 have Lucy Audubon name on this plate instead of 

 mine . . !" 



Vandalism is always short-sighted, but seldom has its 

 vision been more myopic and sinister than in the case of 

 the copper plates of The Birds of America, most of 

 which were sold for old metal and converted into copper 

 bars. Had they been preserved to this day, their value 



