John Syme, John James Audubon, 1826Oil on canvas, 35 x 27 in., White House Collection, Washington, D.C.

Seeing and Shooting: Audubon, Guns, and the “desired Effect”

John Syme, John James Audubon, 1826, detailOil on canvas, 35 x 27 in., White House Collection, Washington, D.C.

Audubon, Mississippi River Journal

Fri., Nov. 10, 1820: “saw a fine Black Hawk Falco niger—& Black Gull,—Shott Two Ducks”

Wed., Dec. 6, 1820: “saw 2 Large White Cranes with Black Tips—too shy to get in shooting distance”

Wed., Dec. 20, 1820: “Cummings Shot at an Ivory Billed Wood Pecker Picus Principallis broke his Wing and When he Went to take it up it Jump up and Claimed a tree, as fast as Squirel to the Very Top, he gave it up having but a few Loads of Shot—Joseph Came and Saw it—Shot at it and brought him down”

Thurs., Dec. 21, 1820: “Saw in the Afternoon a Black Hawk, a flock of Pelicans at which I shot at about 200 yards as near as I could approach, without effect”

Fri., Dec. 22, 1820: “saw Three Black Hawks, Shot at this Twice…”

Sun., Aug. 12, 1821: “I Eyed it particularly and saw it Moved, I Shot at it … Arrived at the Swamp and then saw a great Number of Small Birds; Shot a beautifull new species of Fly Catcher … I had the pleasure of seing Two that appeared Much alike, they were quarelling when I Shot at them”

Audubon, Missouri River Journals

Thurs., May 4, 1843: “Bell shot a Gray Squirrel which I believe to be the same as our Sciurus Carolinensis. Friend Harris shot two or three birds, which we have not yet fully established, andBell shot one Lincoln’s Finch … We saw Cerulean Warblers, Hooded Flycatchers, KentuckyWarblers, [proceeds to list many more species] … Here we killed and saw all that is enumerated above.”

Sat. May 6, 1843: “We took our guns and went off, but the wind was so high we saw but little; I shot a Wild Pigeon and a Whippoorwill, female, that gave me great trouble, as I never saw one so remarkably wild before. Bell shot two Gray Squirrels and several Vireos, and Sprague,a Kentucky Warbler. Traces of Turkeys and of Deer were seen. We also saw three White Pelicans. … We also procured a White-eyed and a Warbling Vireo, and shot a male Wild Pigeon. Saw a Gopher throwing out the dirt with his fore feet and not from his pouches. I was within four or five feet of it. Shot a Humming-bird, saw a Mourning Warbler, and Cedar birds.”

Tues., May 23, 1843: “Harris shot a common Rabbit and one Lark Finch. Bell and Sprague saw several Meadow-larks, which I trust will prove new, as these birds have quite different notes and songs from those of our eastern birds.”

John James Audubon, Roseate Tern, 1834Hand-colored engraving with etching and aquatint, 19 ½ x 12 ¼ in.,

from The Birds of America, pl. 240

Audubon, “Roseate Tern,” Ornithological Biography, 3:297-98:

“While in search of prey, they carry the bill in the manner of the Common Tern, that is perpendicularly downward, plunge like a shot, with wings nearly closed, so as to immerse part of the body, and immediately reascend.”

Audubon, “Common Loon,” Ornithological Biography, 4:43:

“Calculate, if you can, the speed of its flight, as it shoots across the sky …”

Robert Havell after John James Audubon, Common Loon, 1830

Hand-colored engraving on paper, 41 ½ x 28 ½ in., from The Birds of America

Audubon, “Golden Eagle,” Ornithological Biography:

“Although possessed of a powerful flight, it has not the speed of many Hawks, nor even of the White-headed Eagle. It cannot, like the latter, pursue and seize on the wing the prey it longs for, but is obliged to glide down through the air for a certain height to insure the success of its enterprise. The keenness of its eye, however, makes up for this defect, and enables it to spy, at a great distance, the objects on which it preys; and it seldom misses its aim, as it falls with the swiftness of a meteor towards the spot on which they are concealed.”

John James Audubon, Golden Eagle, 1833Watercolor, pastel, graphite, and selective glazing on paper, 38 x 25 ½ in.,

The New-York Historical Society

John James Audubon, Golden Eagle, 1833Watercolor, pastel, graphite, and selective glazing on paper, 38 x 25 ½ in.,

The New-York Historical Society

Unidentified artist, Leonid Meteor Shower over Niagara Falls, November 13, 1833, published in E. Weiß,

Bilderatlas der Sternenwelt, 1888

John James Audubon, Golden Eagle, 1833Watercolor, pastel, graphite, and selective glazing on paper, 38 x 25 ½ in.,

The New-York Historical Society

Unidentified artist, “A View of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry,” engraving, 1814

Audubon, Missouri River Journals, April 25, 1843:

“ … antelopes are beautiful small animals and run like the wind, but not so fast as a rifle-ball.”

J. T. Bowen after John Woodhouse Audubon, Prong-horned Antelope, 1845

Hand-colored lithograph, 22 x 28in., from The Vivaparous Quadrupeds of North America, pl. 77

John James Audubon, Mocking Bird , 1825Hand-colored engraving with etching and aquatint, 33 ¼ x 23 ¾ in,

from The Birds of America, pl. 21

Audubon, 1826 Journal, Edinburgh, October 27, 1826, Friday:

“Now that I found the Steam was High, that perhaps some explosion might be produced, I exibited the Rattlesnake attackd by the Mocking Birds—this had the desired Effect—the Lady was pleased & I was satisfied that She drew well = Mr P. said that Mr Selby never would publish another Bird was he to see mine = We parted all friends; I having begged of each of them to bring or send any of their Friends to View my Work any morning from 10 untill 12 = * * *”

John James Audubon, Mocking Bird (Northern Mockingbird), 1825, detailHand-colored engraving with etching and aquatint, 33 ¼ x 23 ¾ in, from The Birds of America, pl. 21

Robert Havell after John James Audubon, Carolina Parakeet, 1832, and detailHand-colored engraving, 33 ¼ x 23 ½ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 26

Havell after Audubon, Carolina Parakeet, 1832, detailHand-colored engraving, 33 ¼ x 23 ½ in., from The Birds of America, pl. 26

William Dunlap, History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States (1834)

Wilhelm Wundt, spherical representation of the visual fieldPublished in Grundzüge der physiologischen psychologie (Leipzig, 1880), 2:87

Charles Schreyvogel, Breaking Through the Line, 1903Oil on canvas, 39 x 52 in., Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa

Charles Schreyvogel, Breaking Through the Line, 1903Oil on canvas, 39 x 52 in., Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa

Edwin S. Porter, The Great Train Robbery, 1903Edison Pictures, New York

Étienne-Jules Marey, Fusil photographique, 1882

Étienne-Jules Marey, Pelican in Flight, 1882

“Hunting with a Camera—A Snap-shot at a Moose,”Engraved illustration, Harper’s Weekly, October 2, 1897

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989)

snap-shot, n.

1.a. A quick or hurried shot taken without deliberate aim, esp. one at a rising bird or quickly moving animal.

1808 P. HAWKER Diary (1893) I. 11 Almost every pheasant I fired at was a snap shot among the high cover.

1846 GREENER Sci. Gunnery 164 Were a bird to spring in a situation where we could get only a snap shot.

2. a. An instantaneous photograph, esp. one taken with a hand-camera. Also transf. and fig.

[1860 HERSCHEL in Photogr. News 11 May 13 The possibility of taking a photograph, as it were by a snap-shot of securing a picture in a tenth of a second of time.]

1890 Rev. Reviews II. 489/2 The annexed snap-shots were taken with a hand camera.

1903 ‘O. HENRY’ in Everybody's Mag. Aug. 194/1 You see a man doing nothing but loafing around making snapshots.

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989)

shot, n.

7e. transf.    (b) A snapshot (cf. SHOOT v. 22f); a picture (or sequence of pictures) continuously shot by a single film or television camera; the action or process of taking such a picture.

1889 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. XXXVI. 605/2, I developed some instantaneous shots.

1895 Outing XXVI. 33/2, I must have a camera shot at this.

1923 ‘B. M. BOWER’ Parowan Bonanza xxvi. 303 Bill and Tommy were both below examining the effect of their ‘shots’ of the evening before.

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989)

load, v. 5. a. To put the charge into (a firearm); also absol. to be loaded: (of a body of men) to have their arms charged.

1626 CAPT. SMITH Accid. Yng. Seamen 32 To loade a peece.

1688 SHADWELL Sqr. Alsatia v. Wks. 1720 IV. 105 [She snaps a pistol at Belfond] Belfond. Thank you, Madam; are you not a Devil? 'twas loaden.

1799 Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813) 271 The same principle of reserving the fire with the front line, till the rear support is loaded.

1804 W. TAYLOR in Ann. Rev. II. 262 Several pieces of heavy ordnance, loaden with grape-shot.

1841 THACKERAY Drum II. xlv, They load and fire.

b. To insert a photographic film or plate in (a camera); also with the film as object.

1902 Year Bk. Photogr. 13 (Advt.), The ‘Roll Film’ Automan will be preferred by many on account of the ease with which it may be loaded and unloaded in daylight.

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989)

sniper, n.

1. One who snipes, or shoots from concealment, etc.; a sharp-shooter.

1824 E. India Mil. Cal. II. 541 Several sepoys were killed and wounded by the enemy's snipers.

1897 Daily News 30 July 5/2 It is impossible to see the snipers, who generally stalk the sentries from behind stones.

1900 Daily Telegr. 27 Feb. 9/3 The artillery keep the Boer snipers down.

2. A snipe-shooter.

1840 E. NAPIER Scenes & Sp. Foreign Lands II. v. 140 With his brandy flask by his side, and his well filled bag, the sniper still wanders through his old haunts.

John James Audubon, Daniel Boone, after c. 1810Oil on canvas, 36 x 31 cm., Audubon Center, Henderson, KY

John James Audubon, “Colonel Boon,” in Ornithological Biography, 1832, vol. 1, pp. 503-6

Thomas Cole, Daniel Boone at His Cabin at Great Osage Lake, 1826Oil on canvas, 38 ¼ x 42 5/8 in., Mead Art Museum, Amherst College

Cole, Daniel Boone at His Cabin …, 1826, detailOil on canvas, 38 ¼ x 42 5/8 in., Mead Art Museum, Amherst College

Victor G. and John W. Audubon, John James Audubon, 1841

Oil on canvas, 44 x 60 in., American Museum of Natural History, New York

John James Audubon, Snowy Egret, 1835Watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paper, 29 ¼ x 21 5/16 in., New-York Historical Society

Winslow Homer, Right and Left, 1909Oil on canvas, 28 x 48 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Winslow Homer, Right and Left, 1909Oil on canvas, 28 x 48 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Winslow Homer, Right and Left, 1909Oil on canvas, 28 x 48 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

John James Audubon, Snowy Egret, 1835Watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paper, 29 ¼ x 21 5/16 in.,

New-York Historical Society

John James Audubon, Golden Eye Duck, c.1832-34Watercolor, graphite, and pastel on paper, 21 3/16 x 29 5/8 in.,

New-York Historical Society

Winslow Homer, Right and Left, 1909Oil on canvas, 28 x 48 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Winslow Homer, A Good Shot, Adirondacks, 1892Watercolor on paper, 15 x 21 7/16 in., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Winslow Homer, Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg, 1864Oil on panel, 12 x 18 in., Detroit Institute of Arts

Winslow Homer, Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg, 1864, detail

Winslow Homer, The Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, 1862Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in., Portland Museum of Art

Winslow Homer, The Army of the Potomac—A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty, 1862Harper’s Weekly, 15 November 1862

Homer, Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg, 1864, detailHomer, The Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, 1862

Winslow Homer, drawing in letter to George Briggs, 1896Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

J. J. Audubon, Snowy Egret, 1835Watercolor, graphite, and gouache on paper, 29 ¼ x

21 5/16 in., New-York Historical Society

Winslow Homer, Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg, 1864Oil on panel, 12 x 18 in., Detroit Institute of Arts

George Caleb Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri River, 1845Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 ½ in., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

George Caleb Bingham, Shooting for the Beef, 1850Oil on canvas, 33 3/8 x 49 in., Brooklyn Museum, New York

Alexander Cope, The Trumpeter Swan, 1900Oil on canvas, 57 x 44 ½ n., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Charles Deas, The Death Struggle, 1845Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 in., Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont

Edwin Landseer, Man Proposes—God Disposes, 1864Oil on canvas, 44 x 104 in., Royal Holloway Collection, London

François Rude, La Marseillaise, 1833-36Stone, 42 ft. high, Arc de Triomphe, Paris