Plate 285
Havell CXXVIII
Catbird
(Dumetella carolinensis)
“The vulgar name which this species bears,” Audubon wrote, “has probably rendered it more conspicuous than it would otherwise be, and has also served to bring it into some degree of contempt with persons not the best judges of the benefits it confers on the husbandman in early spring, when, with industrious care, it cleanses his fruit-trees of thousands of larvae and insects. Yet, the farmer shoots it to save a pear, and the gardener to save a raspberry; some hate it, not knowing why: in a word, excepting the poor, nearly extirpated crow, I know no bird more generally despised and tormented than this charming songster.” The catbird (named for its mewing call) probably painted by Audubon in Louisiana or Mississippi in 1822, with the assistance of Joseph Mason. The blackberry suggests the species Rubus argutus.
Source: The Original Water-Color Paintings by John James Audubon. Copyright 1966 by American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc.
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