Mocking Bird
Turdus polyglottus [now Mimus polyglottos]
Folio edition, plate 21
In A Summer of Birds, Danny Heitman discusses the controversy that Audubon’s depiction of this rattlesnake attacking a mockingbird’s nest aroused, noting that “the picture is mesmerizing†but it is “open to debate whether Audubon’s eye-popping portrayal . . . was grounded in his field observations.â€ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ
Audubon’s great affection for these birds is evident in his ebullient description of them in Ornithological Biography, which includes this assertion of their musical superiority among birds: “The musical powers of this bird have often been taken notice of by European naturalists. . . . Some of these persons have described the notes of the Nightingale as occasionally fully equal to those of our bird. I have frequently heard both species in confinement, and in the wild state, and without prejudice, have not hesitation in pronouncing the notes of the European Philomel equal to those of a soubrette [a soprano who sings supporting roles in comic opera] of taste, which, could she study under a MOZART, might perhaps in time become very interesting in her way. But to compare her essays to the finished talent of the Mocking Bird, is, in my opinion, quite absurd.â€ÂÂÂÂ
Danny Heitman, A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House (Baton Rouge, LA: LSU Press, 2008), p. 46.
John James Audubon, Ornithological Biography, or An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America (Edinburgh: A. Black [et al.], 1831), vol. 1, p. 112-113.
View bird in National Audubon Society Guide to North American Birds.
A specimen of this species, collected by Audubon, is housed within the collections of the Natural History Museum in London.
