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The History Institute Edition of Audubon Prints John James Audubon gained worldwide fame for The Birds of America. The 435 life-size, full-color paintings of 489 species of North American Birds was published in elephant folio size (39 1/2" x 29 1/2") in London beginning in 1827 and took 11 years to complete. This superb edition of hand-colored copperplate etchings was reproduced by special permission of The American Museum of Natural History, New York City and published by The History Institute of America, Inc., 787 Park Avenue, New York City, New York in 1937. The original plates from which these prints were struck are owned by the American Museum of Natural History. Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Plate 66 The Ivory-billed
Woodpecker Campephilius principalis measuring 20 inches was the
largest woodpecker in North America. It is thought to be extinct, the
last definite record in the United States was in 1943 at the Singer
Tract, near Tallulah in northeast Louisiana. Snowy Heron /White Egret. Plate 242 Now known as the Snowy
Egret Egretta thula this white heron is easily recognized by
its yellow feet or "golden slippers". The Snowy Egret has graceful
plumes on its head, neck and back in breeding plumage.
Cardinal Grosbeak. Plate 159 This familiar bird is known
today as the Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis. Both
sexes sing their loud whistling song almost year-round.
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Large tracts of
old-growth river forest and dead and dying trees provided nesting
sites ands its chief food, the larvae of wood-boring beetles. Habitat
destruction during the late 19th and early 20th centuries was probably
responsible for its extinction.
It was nearly hunted to
extinction in the late 1800's for its plumes used to decorate womens
hats. In protest to the slaughter of herons and egrets the Audubon
Society was founded in 1900.
A
non-migratory species, the Cardinal has expanded its range northward
during the 20th century into the maritimes of Canada.