Red Headed Duck by John James Audubon art print

An archival premium Quality art Print of the Red Headed Duck by John James Audubon for sale by Brandywine General Store. This colorful duck was plate or picture #322 in the first Havell edition of Birds of America, the great ornithology work by Audubon in the first third of the 19th century. In this painting, Audubon shows a male and female pair of these water birds. The female is mostly brown and white in color while the male is a gray and white with the addition of a cinnamon red colored head. They are shown on a bank of a wet marshy area with water behind them and tall mountains are in the background.. Fuligula Ferina - Mr. Audubon describes the Red Headed Duck in Birds of America thus: "At New Orleans, this bird is commonly known by the name of "Dos Gris." It arrives there in great flocks, about the first of November, and departs late in April, or in the beginning of May. On the lakes Borgne, St. John, and Ponchartrain, it is very abundant, keeping in large flocks, separate from the other species. In that part of the country its food consists of small fishes, in pursuit of which it is seen constantly diving. It is caught in different sorts of nets, and easily kept in confinement, feeding greedily on Indian corn, whether entire or crushed by the millstone. In 1816, many thousands of these Ducks as well as others of different species, were caught in nets by a Frenchman, who usually sent them alive to market in cages from the narrows of the Lakes, especially from those called "La pointe aux herbes," and the "Isle aux pins." So many of them, however, were procured by this man, that he after awhile gave up sending them alive, on account of the great difficulty he encountered in procuring a sufficient number of cages for their accommodation. Although Dr. RICHARDSON informs us that this species breeds "In all parts of the Fur Countries, from the fiftieth parallel to their most northern limits," I saw none of these birds during the spring and summer months which I spent on the coast of Labrador. I was equally unsuccessful in my search for it in Newfoundland. Indeed, I have never observed it eastward of the State of Massachusetts, although from thence it is more and more abundant the farther south you proceed, until you reach the tributaries of the Mississippi. Beyond the mouths of that river, these birds are rarely seen; and when I was there in April 1837, none were observed by my party or myself after we had left the South-west Pass on our way westward. In Texas none were even heard of. From these circumstances I have inferred that, along with several other species, the Red-headed Duck reaches the Middle and Southern States by passing overland or following our great streams, such as the Ohio, Missouri, and Mississippi, westward, and the North river, and others eastward, both in its vernal and autumnal migrations. This I am the more inclined to believe, on account of the great numbers which on such occasions I have seen in ponds in the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky...." Audubon Birds art print #322