The Mocking Bird
1827
About this artwork
This is Plate 21 from John James Audubon's monumental four-volume work, "The Birds of America". It is a hand-colored engraving depicting three Northern Mockingbirds fiercely defending their nest and eggs from a coiled Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake amidst yellow Carolina Jessamine flowers.
Did you know?
John James Audubon's "The Birds of America" is renowned not only for its artistic detail but also for its ambitious scale, with each print measuring "double elephant folio" size to depict birds life-size. This particular plate, "The Mocking Bird," captures a powerful moment of instinctual parental defense, a theme Audubon often explored to convey the raw beauty and struggles of the natural world, often drawn directly from his observations in the American wilderness.
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The Mocking Bird
John James Audubon, 1827
