Jays 1

Jays 1

Plate 18 in Illustrations of the American Ornithology of Alexander Wilson and Charles Lucian Bonaparte by Captain Thomas Brown, published by Frazer and Co, Edinburgh, 1835. 

Alexander Wilson (1766 – 1813) was a Scottish-American poet, ornithologist, naturalist, and illustrator. Born in Paisley, Wilson is thought to be the greatest American ornithologist prior to Audubon.   

The jays in the print are a Stellers jay, a blue jay, a Florida jay and a Canada jay, pictured against a background of magnolia and yellow birch and several butterflies. 

A copy of the Illustrations of the American Ornithology is held in the National Library of Scotland’s collections.