Note: Although not very evident here,
this print has an interesting watercolor element surrounding the bird being
attacked. Perhaps Havell's colorists added it to depict the 'dust of battle.'
The Nonpareil, as this bird is sometimes called, is
one of the most brilliantly colored birds of America. Audubon commented both on its
peerless plumage and what he considered its pugnacity. In this composition painted
in April 1821, five birds are perched on a sprig of a chickasaw plum
sketched in by Joseph Mason. The
female at the top carries nesting material, and the two mature and two
immature males are engaged in a territorial squabble. While the
males wear a crazy quilt of colors, the females are merely inconspicuous
little green finches.
In Mexico, the painted bunting is quite a favorite
cage bird; thus, Americans along the border are apt to speak of it as the Mexican
canary. Reportedly, its bright, pleasing voice loses none of its quality in a cage,
but the varied hues of its plumage diminish with time.
EHJ
