Pewee or Pewit Flycatcher. Muscicapa fusca [current name: Eastern Phoebe. Sayornis phoebe], from "The Birds of America," plate CXX

This print from Audubon's The Birds of America represents an adult male and female perched on a branch of Upland Cotton, the male with an open beak, above, the female below with a closed one. The male has a tuft on its head, dark brown and striped green body feathers with white below. The female is seen from below with pale brown patches along its cheeks (these are dark in the male) and below its wings. Audubon does not mention collecting or painting this bird in surviving documents but probably painted it about 1825 in Louisiana.


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.