Plate 153
Havell CXCVIII
Swainson's Warbler
(Limnothlypis swainsonii)
This “original Audubon” was painted by Audubon’s son John, with flowers and butterflies by Maria Martin. The bird was discovered near Charleston, South Carolina, in the spring of 1832. Audubon himself added to this work only marginally; he sketched the details at lower left. The pencil sketches show the bill and toe of a worm-eating warbler above those of Swainson’s warbler, for the sake of contrasting the differences in the features. Audubon added this bird, named for the English naturalist William Swainson, to a lengthy list of newly discovered species. The branch on which the warbler stands is a flame azalea.
Source: The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon. Copyright 1966 by American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc.
Learn more about this print on the National Audubon Society's website.