Printed on the plate
“Lazuli Finch, Clay-coloured Finch, Oregon Snow Finch”
Lazuli Finch, 1. Male Spring Plumage. | Clay Coloured Finch, 2. Male. | Oregon Snow Finch, 3. Male. 4. Female. | Plant. Liberty Bush. Azalea Nudiflora.
Modern identification
Figure 1. Male Spring Plumage.
Printed “Lazuli Finch”
Passerina amoena
- Certain
- Cardinals and Allies · Cardinalidae
Why
Audubon's “Lazuli Finch” (Fringilla amoena, fig. 1) is today's Lazuli Bunting; the unnumbered brown bird with a blue rump and tail at upper right looks like a young one
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; New-York Historical Society; Wikimedia Commons; the plate
Figure 2. Male.
Printed “Clay-coloured Finch”
Spizella breweri
- Judged
- New World Sparrows · Passerellidae
Why
Audubon's “Clay-coloured Finch” (Emberiza pallida, fig. 2) is a Brewer's Sparrow: finely streaked crown with no pale central stripe, plain face, no grey collar, and the text's birds are Townsend's from the Rocky Mountains, June 1834. Ridgway lists the plate under S. breweri; NYHS keeps Clay-colored
Sources
Audubon, Ornithological Biography v (1839); Ridgway, Birds of North and Middle America i (1901); the plate
Figure 3. Male. 4. Female.
Printed “Oregon Snow Finch”
Junco hyemalis
- Certain
- Shown as a subspecies
- New World Sparrows · Passerellidae
Why
Audubon's “Oregon Snow Finch” (Fringilla oregona, figs. 3–4) is the Oregon form of today's Dark-eyed Junco, J. h. oreganus; the eastern Snow Bird is plate 13
Sources
engraved legend; 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.
