Passenger Pigeon

Robert Havell after John James Audubon

National Gallery of Art

In this print, two pigeons are perched on tree branches. One pigeon is perched above the other and bends its head downward. The bird on the bottom lifts its head up to meet the higher bird. The birds are interacting, with the closed beak of the higher bird inside the open beak of the lower bird. The pigeon on the bottom has a reddish breast, a sky-blue head and body, and blue wings with black and gray tips, and it stands on a dark a branch covered in light blue lichen. The other pigeon has earth-toned brown and soft blue plumage with black markings, and it perches on a lighter brown branch with light red lichen. Dried brown leaves hang from the upper branch, and the background is plain paper.