We turned the giant pages to Plate XXI, which features a dramatic scene of four mockingbirds attacking a rattlesnake that had invaded the nest. Do rattlesnakes climb trees? According to Curator of Vertebrate Zoology Tim Matson (pictured here), mockingbirds tend to build their nests in lower places, so the snake may not have had very far to climb. Another possibility is that Audubon took some creative license in his depiction of the mockingbirds. You can read Audubon's own description of mockingbirds in his Ornithological Biography, the text which accompanies the Birds of America plates.Photo by Laura Dempsey, 2011
The University of Pittsburgh has digitized its complete sets of Audubon's Birds of America and Ornithological Biography, and made them available on their website. What a wonderful resource for everyone!