Plate 7
Havell CDVI
Trumpeter Swan
(Olor buccinator)
Havell’s engraving of this trumpeter swan, one of the largest of American waterfowl, shows the bird swimming through the water and reaching for an insect floating nearby. Executed on paper with a watermark date of 1836, Audubon’s painting was probably done in that year or in 1837. Audubon wrote, “You must observe them when they are not aware of your proximity, and as they glide over the waters of some secluded inland pond… Imagine, Reader, that a flock of fifty swans are sporting before you, as they have more than once been in my sight, and you will feel, as I have felt, more happy and void of care than I can describe.”
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.