Marsh Wren. Troglodytes palustris [current name: Marsh Wren. Cistothorus palustris], from "The Birds of America," plate 98 [misnumbered, should be 100] [later C]
Not on view
This print from Audubon's The Birds of America represents a male and two females with their nest formed of dried grasses woven amongst the stems and leaves of marsh plants. The male perches at right near the nest's rounded top and looks left. One female perches opposite, turning her head, with another is supported on a twig above. The feathers of their backs are dark brown, the male alone having a patch of black and white stripes. The tails are barred with dark brown and a white line extends over the eye and down the neck, the latter mottled light brown and grey. The breasts are greyish white. The females have less strong coloring overall. In related text Audubon describes the nest as: "nearly of the size and shape of a cocoa-nut...with a small aperture, just large enough to admit the birds... generally on the south-west side." This is a first variant of engraved text, before the plate number changed from 98 [an error] to C. Audubon's related painting is inscribed "New Jersey June 22," and was made in 1829 when the artist spent the summer painting in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Audubon placed the birds in his prints amongst plants native to their habitats, a significant departure from traditional natural history drawing practice. Also innovative was to often show birds in movement and, when more than one appear, from different points of view to display more of their plumage. Engraved text below gives English vernacular names for the birds followed by Latin, with plants identified in the same way. Full sets of The Birds of America contain 435 life-sized depictions. Over thirteen years, subscribers periodically received sets of five prints (each set containing images of two small, one medium sized and one large bird species). Engraved numbers at upper left and right identify the set number and individual plate number. Double elephant-folio sized sheets of paper were used, no matter the size of the printing plate, to allow the sets to be bound together once complete. Fewer than two hundred full sets were produced. When later divided, previous owners of individual prints often trimmed the margins. This work retains its original margins.
