RUFF-NECKED HUMMING-BIRD (PLATE CCCLXXIX)

Rufous Hummingbird, "Selasphorus rufus" Flora: spider-flower, "Cleome houtteana" JW 38 fine, fresh impression, slight soiling, slight offprint showing through on the recto 19 3/4 by 12 1/4 in.; 503 by 310 mm. Based on a composition painted in Charleston in the winter of 1836- -37. Audubon was sent the specimens from the West by Thomas Nuttall, the botanist and ornithologist. Nuttall described the male bird as "a breathing gem, or magic carbuncle of glowing fire stretching out its gorgeous ruff, as if to emulate the sun itself in splendor".