Printed on the plate
“Yellow-Billed Magpie, Stellers Jay, Ultramarine Jay, Clark's Crow”
1. Yellow-billed Magpie. | 2. Stellers Jay. | 3. Ultramarine Jay. | 4. 5. Clarks Crow. | Plant, Platanus racemosus. Nuttall. | Acorn of Quercus macrocarpa. Mich.
Modern identification
Figure 1.
Printed “Yellow-billed Magpie”
Pica nuttalli
- Certain
- Crows, Jays, and Magpies · Corvidae
Why
Audubon's “Yellow-billed Magpie” (Corvus nuttallii, fig. 1) is today's Yellow-billed Magpie
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; New-York Historical Society; Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Figure 2.
Printed “Stellers Jay”
Cyanocitta stelleri
- Certain
- Crows, Jays, and Magpies · Corvidae
Why
Audubon's “Stellers Jay” (Corvus stelleri, fig. 2) is today's Steller's Jay
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; New-York Historical Society; Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Figure 3.
Printed “Ultramarine Jay”
Aphelocoma californica
- Certain
- Crows, Jays, and Magpies · Corvidae
Why
Audubon's “Ultramarine Jay” (Corvus ultramarinus, fig. 3) is today's California Scrub-Jay: the text's birds are Nuttall's from Fort Vancouver on the Columbia, not Bonaparte's Mexican ultramarinus, and Ridgway lists the plate under A. californica
Sources
engraved legend; Audubon, Ornithological Biography iv (1838); New-York Historical Society; Ridgway, Birds of North and Middle America iii (1904); Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Figure 4. 5.
Printed “Clark's Crow”
Nucifraga columbiana
- Certain
- Crows, Jays, and Magpies · Corvidae
Why
Audubon's “Clark's Crow” (Corvus columbianus, figs. 4–5) is today's Clark's Nutcracker
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; New-York Historical Society; Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Who made the plate
Drawn from Nature by J. J. Audubon, F. R. S. F. L. SEngraved. Printed and Coloured by R. Havell. 1837.
- John James Audubon drew
- Robert Havell Jr. engraved, printed and coloured
As the credit line gives it. More on who made these plates.
