Audubon the Hunter
Because his name is now widely associated with the conservation of American birds and their natural habitats, some may find it surprising to learn that Audubon’s work depended heavily on hunting and killing birds. Our contemporary idea of “bird watching” – with binoculars and field guides for identification – did not exist in the 19th century; for Audubon and his contemporaries, shooting and collecting specimens was considered the best way to allow close and careful examination of individual birds. Audubon’s scientific curiosity was not at odds with his enthusiasm for the sport of hunting—he writes frequently of spirited hunting parities amassing large quantities of specimens (in the case of small song birds, individuals might be so badly damaged by gunfire that many had to be gathered before an example suitable as a model for drawing had been acquired). Audubon references the violence of collecting specimens in several plates in his Birds of America, including among his illustrations examples of birds wounded by gunshots. Additionally, a hunter—a unique instance of a human figure in the more than four hundred plates in the series—can be seen in the middle distance of his illustration of the White Egret. Hunting birds—for sport or science or as a food source—devastated several American species in this period. Birds of America illustrates species hunted to extinction in the 19th century including the Passenger Pigeon and the Carolina Parrot, both of which were famously abundant in Audubon’s time.
On View: Volume III (Copy 2): Plate CCXLI (241) Greater Black Backed Gull & Volume III (Copy 1): Plate CCXLII (242) – Snowy Heron, or White Egret.
Snowy Heron, or White Egret
From Ornithological Biography, or, An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America, by John James Audubon, 1831
Their motions are generally quick and elegant, and, while pursuing small fishes, they run swiftly through the shallows, throwing up their wings. Twenty or thirty seen at once along the margins of a marsh or a river, while engaged in procuring their food, form a most agreeable sight. In autumn and early spring, they are fond of resorting to the ditches of the rice-fields, not unfrequently in company with the Blue Herons. When, on being wounded in the wing one falls into the water, it swims off towards the nearest shore, and runs to hide itself by the side of some log, or towards a tree which if possible it climbs, ascending to its very top. When seized, they peck at you with great spirit, and are capable of inflicting a severe wound. READ Audubon’s complete text at Audubon.org.
Black Backed Gull
From Ornithological Biography, or, An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America, by John James Audubon, 1831
This Gull is excessively shy and vigilant, so that even at Labrador we found it difficult to procure it, nor did we succeed in obtaining more than about a dozen old birds, and that only by stratagem. They watched our movements with so much care as never to fly past a rock behind which one of the party might be likely to lie concealed. None were shot near the nests when they were sitting on their eggs, and only one female attempted to rescue her young, and was shot as she accidentally flew within distance. The time to surprise them was during violent gales, for then they flew close to the tops of the highest rocks, where we took care to conceal ourselves for the purpose. When we approached the rocky islets on which they bred, they left the place as soon as they became aware of our intentions, cackled and barked loudly, and when we returned, followed us at a distance more than a mile. READ Audubon’s complete text at Audubon.org.