ALSO BY WILLIAM SOUDER
A Plague of Frogs
On a Farther Shore
© 2004, Text by William Souder
© 2014, Cover art by John James Audubon
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415.
(800) 520-6455
Published 2014 by Milkweed Editions
Cover design by Mary Austin Speaker
Cover art by John James Audubon
Author photo by Dani Werner
14 15 16 17 18 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from the Bush Foundation; the Jerome Foundation; the Lindquist & Vennum Foundation; the McKnight Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit www.milkweed.org.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published and unpublished material: Lines from “Sleepless night” by Octavio Paz, translated by Eliot Weinberger, from The Collected Poems 1957–1987, copyright © 1986 by Octavio Paz and Eliot Weinberger. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.
The author also wishes to thank the American Philosophical Society for permission to quote from various unpublished manuscripts, and from The Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson by Clark Hunter, copyright © 1983 by the American Philosophical Society for its Memoirs series, volume 154.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Souder, William, 1949–
Under a wild sky : John James Audubon and the making of the Birds of America / William Souder.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-57131-923-4 (ebook)
1. Audubon, John James, 1785-1851. 2. Ornithologists—United States—Biography. 3. Audubon, John James, 1785–1851. Birds of America. I. Title.
QL31.A9S68 2014
598.092—dc23
[B]
2014013774
Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world’s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. Under A Wild Sky was printed on acid-free 100% postconsumer-waste paper by Edwards Brothers Malloy.
For Joe, Martha, Tom, and Elizabeth
CONTENTS
3. A Name for Every Living Thing
8. Mr. Wilson’s Decade
PART II: THE BIRDS OF AMERICA
9. At the Red Banks
10. Kentucky Home
11. Legions of the Air
12. Ever Since a Boy
13. Edinburgh
14. Dearest Friend
15. My Great Work
16. After
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
The living are alive
walking flying ripening bursting
the dead are alive
oh bones still hot
wind shakes and scatters them
—Octavio Paz
Tanagra rubra: The Scarlet Tanager
You have now before you representations of one of the most richly coloured of our birds, and one whose history is in some degree peculiar.
—Ornithological Biography
On a fine spring afternoon in 1824, the daily coach from Pittsburgh swayed down the turnpike toward Philadelphia, the team moving easily on the smooth, macadamized lane. The road ran beneath forested hillsides, dropping steadily as it came alongside the Schuylkill River near the city. The woods were green and alive with birds, which flushed at the oncoming hoofbeats and sped off through tunnels of sunlight and shadow. From far away came the bleat of geese flying in wedges high above the horizon, and closer by was the