White Throated Sparrow. Fringilla Pennsylvanica [current name: White-throated Sparrow. Zonotrichia albicollis], from "The Birds of America," 1827–38, plate VIII
Not on view
This print comes from an initial group of ten made for Audubon's "The Birds of America." In the fall of 1826, the artist employed the firm of William Lizars in Edinburgh to make prints after watercolors of birds. When Lizars' colorists went on strike, howerver, Audubon was forced to make new arrangements. He next employed the London engraver and printer Robert Havell, Sr., who soon was joined by his son Robert Havell, Jr., an expert etcher and aquatinter. They retouched some of Lizars' plates, then set to work on the remainder of the set that eventually numbered 435. After Robert Havell, Sr.'s retirement on June 20, 1828, his son led the project. Sheets of "Double Elephant Folio" sized paper were used to allow all of the birds to be represented life-size.
Here, a male sparrow below, and female or immature bird above, perch on Flowering Dogwood branches. Audubon collected and first drew the related birds in Natchez, Mississippi in 1822.
