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 



