Yellow-Billed Cuckoo [Pl. 2]

Book Description

London: 1829. Hand-coloured engraving with etching by W. H. Lizars, retouched and aquatint added by R. Havell, Jr., 1829, paper watermarked "J. Whatman/1833". 25 ¼ x 33 3/8 inches. From the first edition of "The Birds of America." One of Audubon's finest and most lively images from the very early days of the production of his masterpiece. The legend "No.1" in the top left of the plate indicates that the first issue of this image was included in the first of the periodic parts that were to appear between 1827 and 1838. This image was first issued by Lizars of Edinburgh, the plate was then transferred to Havell in London who added aquatint and re- issued it. There were two variants issued by Lizars and two by Havell, the present copy with the "Z" in "Coccyzus" and Havell mentioned in the imprint is the second variant of the second issue. "This bird is not abundant anywhere, and yet is found very far north. I have met with it in all the low grounds and damp places in Massachusetts, along the line of Upper Canada, pretty high on the Mississippi and Arkansas, and in every state between these boundary lines. Its appearance in the State of New York seldom takes place before the beginning of May, and at Green Bay not until the middle of that month...They feed on insects...as well as berries of many kinds, evincing a special predilection for the mulberry. In the autumn they eat many grapes, and I have seen them supporting themselves by a momentary motion of their wings opposite a bunch, as if selecting the ripest, when they would seize it and return to a branch, repeating their visits in this manner until satiated" (J. J. Audubon, The Birds of America, New York & Philadelphia: 1840-1844, vol. IV, pp.294-295). "Old World cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. New World cuckoos do not...Cuckoos are slender...birds, more often heard than seen...Country people, believing that their vocalizations signaled rain, once called them 'rain crows.' In this spirited composition, one of his finest, Audubon has shown a pair of yellow-billed cuckoos in a fruiting paw-paw. One has caught a tiger swallowtail...One of Audubon's correspondents noted that cuckoos are much more numerous some years than others, a fact that has been confirmed fully since then. It is believed that cyclic outbreaks of tent caterpillars coincide with these fluctuations" (R. T. & V. M. Peterson, Audubon's Birds of America, London: 1981, no. 232). Susanne M. Low, A Guide to Audubon's Birds of America, New Haven & New York: 2002, p.29 (fourth variant of four).

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