Plate 314
Havell CCCXLVII
Smew
(Mergellus albellus)
Although ornithologists consider the smew a possible “accidental” visitor to America, it is, strictly speaking, an Old World species, and it would seem unlikely that Audubon drew this pair (the male is above) in America. He wrote in his text that the female was drawn from a specimen he shot on “Lake Barataria” near New Orleans in 1819—yet that report is generally discounted. He probably made this drawing from specimens in Great Britain in 1834 or 1835.
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.