Ferruginous Thrush (Turdus Rufus, Linn.), Volume 2, Plate 116

Painted in 1829.

Like others in Birds of America, this plate purports to be a transcript of a scene Audubon actually witnessed. Audubon’s volumes are full of stories showing birds in adverse situations; this one ended well, with the death of the intruding black snake. Also represented is a black oak tree. In the essay, Audubon, usually the killer of birds, casts himself in the role of a savior, doing his share against the snake in the garden: warming a nearly expired bird (the limp female hanging from the snake’s coil at the bottom of the plate) in his hands, he successfully revives her. The composition allows for a view inside the nest; though the eggs are still there, the empty space anticipates their eventual loss.

From John James Audubon’s Ornithological Biography

Reader, look attentively at the plate before you, and say if such a scene as that which I have attempted to portray, is not calculated to excite the compassion of any one who is an admirer of woodland melody, or who sympathizes with the courageous spirit which the male bird shews, as he defends his nest, and exerts all his powers to extricate his beloved mate from the coils of the vile snake which has already nearly deprived her of life. Another male of the same species, answering the call of despair from his “fellow creature,” comes swiftly downwards to rescue the sufferers. With open bill he is already prepared to strike a vengeful blow at the reptile, his bright eye glancing hatred at his foe. See a third grappling with the snake, and with all its might tearing the skin from its body! Should this alliance of noble spirits prove victorious, will it not remind you that innocence, although beset with difficulties, may, with the aid of friendship, extricate herself with honour?

The birds in the case represented were greatly the sufferers: their nest was upset, their eggs lost, and the life of the female in imminent danger. But the snake was finally conquered, and a jubilee held over its carcass by a crowd of thrushes and other birds, until the woods resounded with their notes of exultation. I was happy in contributing my share to the general joy, for, on taking the almost expiring bird into my hand for a few minutes, she recovered in some degree, and I restored her to her anxious mate.