Printed on the plate
“Little Tyrant Flycatcher, Small-headed Flycatcher, Blue Mountain Warbler, Bartram's Vireo, Short-legged Pewee, Rocky Mountain Fly-catcher”
Small-headed Fly-catcher, Male, 2. | Blue Mountain Warbler, 3. Male. | Bartram's Vireo, 4. Male. | Short-legged Pewee, 5. Male. | Rocky Mountain Flycatcher, 6. Male.
Modern identification
Figure 1.
Printed “Little Tyrant Fly-catcher”
Empidonax minimus
- Judged
- Tyrant Flycatchers · Tyrannidae
Why
Audubon's “Little Tyrant Fly-catcher” (Tyrannula pusilla, fig. 1) is a Least Flycatcher: his measurements of the figured male (wing 2 5/12 in, tail 2 1½/12 in, bill 5/12 in) fall in the Least's range and below the Willow's, Alder's and Hammond's, and the plate shows its white eye-ring and pale lower mandible. His text mixes in other birds, Nuttall's from the Columbia and his own Labrador nest with spotted eggs, and Ridgway queried it under both Traill's and Least
Sources
engraved legend; Audubon, Ornithological Biography v (1839); Ridgway, Birds of North and Middle America iv (1907); New-York Historical Society; the plate
Figure 5. Male.
Printed “Short-legged Pewee”
Contopus sordidulus
- Certain
- Tyrant Flycatchers · Tyrannidae
Why
Audubon's “Short-legged Pewee” (fig. 5; Muscicapa phoebe on the plate, Swainson's M. richardsonii in the text) is today's Western Wood-Pewee
Sources
Audubon, Ornithological Biography v (1839); Ridgway, Birds of North and Middle America iv (1907); New-York Historical Society; Boston Public Library (Digital Commonwealth)
Figure 6. Male.
Printed “Rocky Mountain Fly-catcher”
Sayornis nigricans
- Certain
- Tyrant Flycatchers · Tyrannidae
Why
Audubon's “Rocky Mountain Fly-catcher” (Tyrannula nigricans, fig. 6), Nuttall's skin from northern California, is today's Black Phoebe
Sources
Featherframe havell.yaml; plate title from audubon.org; Audubon, Ornithological Biography v (1839); 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 Robt. Havell. 1838.
- John James Audubon drew
- Robert Havell Jr. engraved, printed and coloured
As the credit line gives it. More on who made these plates.
