Bewick's Wren Fine Art Bird Print by John James Audubon

An archival premium Quality art Print of Bewick's Wren by John James Audubon for sale by Brandywine General Store. This long tailed wren is shown setting in the branch of an iron wood tree which Mr. Audubon describes as a type of elm with very hard wood with a close texture. Usually Audubon paired a female with a male specimen of these smaller song birds, however in this picture he shows only a male bird. This is a non descript bird, with not much color, mostly brown and white. The long tailed wren was plate or picture number 18 in Audubon's epic ornithological masterpiece The Birds of America, the 1st Havell edition. Troglydytes Bewickii - Mr. Audubon describes the Bewick's wren thus "In shape, colour and movements, it nearly resembles the Great Carolina Wren, and the House Wren. It has not, however, the quickness of motion, nor the liveliness, of either of these birds. For the following observations regarding this species I am indebted to my friend Dr. BACHMAN. “In the month of July 1835, when on a visit to the mountains of Virginia, I heard at the Salt Sulphur Springs the note of a Wren that I did not recognise as that of any of our known species. On procuring the bird I ascertained it to be the Bewick’s Wren. There were a pair, accompanied by four or five young, nearly full grown. The notes bore some resemblance to those of the Winter Wren, scarcely louder and more connected. It possessed all the restless habits of the other species, creeping actively between the rails of fences and among logs and stumps. One of them ascended an oak nearly to its top in the manner of a Creeper. I found the young several times during the morning entering a hole in the limb of a fallen tree a few feet from the ground, and conjectured that they had been bred in that situation. I was unable to see the nest. During a residence of a few weeks in the neighbourhood of the Virginia springs I saw several of these birds every day, and ascertained that this was the only species of Wren common in the mountains. The Troglodytes aedon was abundant in all the low country of Virginia, to the foot of the Alleghanies. The T. ludovicianus was sparingly seen in the valleys and along the water-courses, but the present species seemed particularly attached to the highest ridges, preferring grounds that had once been cleared, but now partially overgrown. It did not appear to be a shy bird, but, from its active restless habits, was procured with difficulty. It probably sleeps in hollows during the night, as I saw two or three issuing from the hole of a tree at day-light one morning. The stomachs of those which I examined were principally filled with small spiders, minute caterpillars, and the larvae of insects. A specimen of this bird was sent me from Columbia in South Carolina, procured by Dr. GIBBS, and I have no doubt it will be found on the whole range of our southern mountains....” Audubon bird print #18