Blue Bird by John James Audubon art print

An archival premium quality art print of Blue Birds by John James Audubon in 1831 for his  ornithology book, The Birds of America for sale by Brandywine General Store. The small colorful songbirds, also known as Eastern Bluebirds, were plate or picture number 113 in the first Havell edition of said book. The picture shows a male, female and young bird, with the mother feeding a caterpillar to her baby, both of these are setting in mullein bushes, the dark blue male is hovering over top of both in mid air. Sylvia Sialis - Audubon says the following of the Blue Bird "The song of the Blue-bird is a soft agreeable warble, often repeated during the love-season, when it seldom sings without a gentle quivering of the wings. When the period of migration arrives, its voice consists merely of a tender and plaintive note, perhaps denoting the reluctance with which it contemplates the approach of winter. In November most of the individuals that have resided during the summer in the Northern and Middle Districts, are seen high in the air moving southward along with their families, or alighting to seek for food and enjoy repose. But many are seen in winter, whenever a few days of fine weather occur, so fond are they of their old haunts, and so easily can birds possessing powers of flight like theirs, move from one place to another. Their return takes place early in February or March, when they appear in parties of eight or ten of both sexes. When they alight at this season, the joyous carols of the males are heard from the tops of the early-blooming sassafras and maple. During winter, they are extremely abundant in all the Southern States, and more especially in the Floridas, where I found hundreds of them on all the plantations that I visited. The species becomes rare in Maine, still more so in Nova Scotia, and in Newfoundland and Labrador none were seen by our exploring party...." Audubon bird print #113