Louis Agassiz Fuertes (American, 1874-1927) watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper depicting two birds perched on branches overlooking a wooded area; one bird holds a mouse in its claws. The sheet also includes pencil sketches in the right margin of two additional birds (one in flight, the other on a branch). Signed in pencil lower right of watercolor image and inscribed lower left "To my old friend 'Buck' Sept. 5, '04". Unframed. Sheet: 11 1/2" H x 9 1/2" W. Provenance: Private Middle Tennessee collection. Biography: Born in New York and inspired as a child by John Audubon's Birds of America, Louis Fuertes became a prominent American ornithologist, illustrator, and artist. His bird paintings and sketches were based on studies in nature and details from fresh specimens across America, Mexico, Colombia, Europe, and Africa. Fuertes was educated at Cornell and went on to illustrate numerous books and articles including for National Geographic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and his three-volume Birds of Massachusetts, and in 1899 he accompanied the Harriman Expedition to Alaska as a biological surveyor. His name is commemorated in two species, including an oriole he helped discover while on a collecting expedition with Frank Chapman, curator of the American Museum of Natural History. Fuertes was killed in a tragic car-train accident at the age of 53. The Wilson Ornithological Society instituted an award in his memory in 1947.

Toning; 1 spot of foxing upper right; tiny chip at upper left edge, overall good condition.