RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD (PLATE XXV. FIG. 1)

In this position, chosen by himself, my hand warmed the little body until it ceased to live.

—Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, text by Howard Jones, illustrations by Virginia Jones, 1879-1886

Hours to measure

            the scale of nest to leaf;

to frill each shingle of lichen;

            to wind each strand of web

around the branches.

            None of it enough      

to comprehend

            the palm-sized nest

or death.

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GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER (PLATE LXL. FIG. 2)

—Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, text by Howard Jones, illustrations by Virginia Jones, 1879-1886

Virginia does not know this bird
            nor wish to see
the ghost of golden crown and wings

alight on the nest.
            It’s enough to picture
the damp warmth of leaf litter,

the birch leaf curled like a lid
            over eggs still lit from within.
She reads the raised lines of petioles                      

like braille, translates ridges
            of grapevine into wax.
Her fingers can barely detect

the pinprick holes
            out of which the blush
of yolk and albumen

leaked.
            Another blanched shell,
while the mother’s marks—

wreaths of Vandyke and bistre flecks
            born of her blood—
remain.

__

Both poems are from a series about Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio (1879-1186), a book begun by Genevieve Jones and completed by her family after her death from typhoid at 32. Before beginning work on the project, Genevieve's mother Virginia had no experience with scientific illustration or creating lithographs. You can view scans of the plates [here] and [here].