Printed on the plate
“Lark Finch, Prairie Finch, Brown Song Sparrow”
Lark Finch, Male, 1. | Prairie Finch, 2. Male. 3. Female. | Brown Song Sparrow, 4. Male.
Modern identification
Figure Male, 1.
Printed “Lark Finch”
Chondestes grammacus
- Certain
- New World Sparrows · Passerellidae
Why
Audubon's “Lark Finch” (Fringilla grammaca, fig. 1) is today's Lark Sparrow
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; New-York Historical Society; Wikimedia Commons
Figure 2. Male. 3. Female.
Printed “Prairie Finch”
Calamospiza melanocorys
- Certain
- New World Sparrows · Passerellidae
Why
Audubon's “Prairie Finch” (Fringilla bicolor, figs. 2–3) is today's Lark Bunting
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; New-York Historical Society; Wikimedia Commons; Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Figure 4. Male.
Printed “Brown Song Sparrow”
Melospiza melodia
- Certain
- Shown as a subspecies
- New World Sparrows · Passerellidae
Why
Audubon's “Brown Song Sparrow” (Fringilla cinerea, fig. 4), from the Columbia River, is the Rusty Song Sparrow, M. m. morphna, a race of today's Song Sparrow; Gmelin's cinerea is a different (Aleutian) race, misapplied. Its main plate is 25
Sources
engraved legend; Audubon, Ornithological Biography v (1839); Ridgway, Birds of North and Middle America i (1901); New-York Historical Society; Wikimedia Commons; Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Who made the plate
Drawn from Nature. by J. J. Audubon, F. R. S. F. L. S.Engraved. 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.
