The Indigo Bunting and Painted Bunting were painted in the c.1733 portfolio in both their immature and mature male forms. Each species appears in Volume Three of A Natural History of Uncommon Birds with an interesting commentary by Edwards. The buntings pictured here are distinctly two different species, the Indigo Bunting in the mature male form, and the Painted Bunting in the immature male form. There is clear disagreement in Edwards’ descriptions between he, Mark Catesby (1683–1749), and Eleazar Albin (1690–1742), however, about whether these were one species or two,

“The Right Honourable Lady Anson obliged me with the Sight of a Cage of these Birds, having a great Variety of Changes of Colour, which in Shape, Action, and Note, appear’d all to be the same. They were brought from la Vera Cruz, in New Spain, by the Honourable Admiral Knowles. Dr. Monro has confirmed to me the Truth of these Birds changing from Blue to their perct Colour. Mr. Catesby has figured these two Birds as different Species distinct from each other, not having then discover’d their Identity: See his Painted Finch, and his Blue Linnet, Vol. I P. 44 and 45 of his Natural History of Carolina, & c. Albin has also figured this Bird in his History of Birds, Vol. I.P. 64. but is widely mistaken in its native Place: He calls it the China Bull-Finch. Mr. Catesby says, they breed in Carolina, and generally build in Orange-Trees, but they leave that Country in Winter. The Spaniards call the Bird (in its perfect State) Mariposa-Pintada, or Painted Butterfly.”

In this case, Catesby, who had spent considerable time in the Carolinas, is correct.

Indigo Bunting
George Edwards England, 1733
Watercolor on paper
Lenhardt Collection of
George Edwards
Watercolors at Drayton Hall

Painted Bunting
George Edwards England, 1733
Watercolor on paper
Lenhardt Collection of
George Edwards
Watercolors at Drayton Hall

The third bird in this grouping is the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which does not appear in any of Edwards’ volumes, but is an excellent example of Edwards’ attention to detail of coloration and form.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
George EdwardsEngland, 1733
Watercolor on paper
Lenhardt Collection of
George Edwards
Watercolors at Drayton Hall

Two of the distinctive South American birds from the c.1733 portfolio are a trio of hummingbirds and the easily recognizable Toucan. The hummingbirds are Black Metaltail Hummingbirds of Peru, though Edwards refers to them as “The Black-Belly’D Green Huming Birds.” The Black-bellied Green Hummingbird species have tailfeathers with white tips, whereas the birds in the painting have all black tailfeathers indicating that they are instead Black Metaltail Hummingbirds. Edwards wrote in Volume One about the Black-Belly’D Green Humingbirds of which there were two on one plate,

Black Metaltail Hummingbirds
George Edwards England, 1733
Watercolor on paper
Lenhardt Collection of
George Edwards
Watercolors at Drayton Hall

“The first Bird was lent to me by James Theobald, Esq; the other by Taylor White, Esq; From what particular Part they came, I could not be informed; but we know that America only produces these Birds, and chiefly between the Tropicks, they being rarely met with far without the Tropicks, and not at all in Winter. Near the Equinoctial they continue all the Year, as I have been informed.”

The White-throated Toucan, referred to by Edwards as “the Toucan, or Brasilian Pye” in Volume One is a vibrant bird of South America, generally in the area of Brazil. Edwards writes,

“This Bird I met with by good Fortune alive at Mr. Concanen’s, the King’s Attorney-General for the Island of Jamaica, from which Place he brought it to England, it came from some Part of the Spanish Main Land.”

At the end of the passage he also makes an interesting note,

“After this Bird was dead, the Colours in the Bill were wholly lost and obscur’d, and the bare Space round the Eye turn’d black.”

White-throated Toucan
George Edwards England, 1733
Watercolor on paper
Lenhardt Collection of
George Edwards
Watercolors at Drayton Hall

This is part of a special online exhibit titled, Flights of Fancy: An Exploration of Uncommon Birds.  To view more please visit:

Flights of Fancy

Plantation Economy

Extinction

Falconry

Continental Africa

South East Asia

To view an interactive map showcasing all 47 watercolors, please visit:

George Edwards A Global View