拍品專文
A gigantic nest seen during the expedition to Dirck Hartog Island described by the naturalist Quoy: 'Le lendemain 14, nous nous dirigeâmes vers le Cap de l'Inscription ... Nous vîmes au sommet une espèce de tourelle ronde, haute de six pieds; c'étoit le nid d'un autour à ventre blanc et à dos gris, construit assez règuliérement avec des tranches mortes de mimosa (voyez pl.13) ... nous y trouvâmes un seul oeuf ovalaire, de couleur favre, avec des plaques brunes, et de la grosseur de celui d'une poule. Au bas du rocher, le sol étoit couvert d'ossemens de quadrupèdes et de débris de poissons, de reptiles, de crustacés, &c. &c. Le genre d'existence de ces oiseaux voraces les force en quelque sorte à vivre solitaires: ils consomment en effet une si grande quantité d'alimens, que plusieurs de leurs familles, réunies sur la même lieu, auroient beaucoup de peine à s'y procurer une nourriture suffisante.' (Historique, I, ii, p.456)
Freycinet instructed a change in the portrait of Arago (seated to the right of the nest in his drawing), possibly because of his attire: 'You would have laughed at the singularity of my accoutrement. A straw hat, with a flopped brim and terminating in a point like Robinson Crusoe's, shaded my head: a soldier's musket and bayonet gave me the appearance of a buccaneer ...' (Arago). The engraver's drawing moves Arago to the left of the nest and smartens up his attire. The published plate by Aubert credits the drawing to A.Taunay, probably incorrectly, unless Taunay furnished another intermediate drawing with the new portrait of Arago standing to the left of the nest.
Freycinet instructed a change in the portrait of Arago (seated to the right of the nest in his drawing), possibly because of his attire: 'You would have laughed at the singularity of my accoutrement. A straw hat, with a flopped brim and terminating in a point like Robinson Crusoe's, shaded my head: a soldier's musket and bayonet gave me the appearance of a buccaneer ...' (Arago). The engraver's drawing moves Arago to the left of the nest and smartens up his attire. The published plate by Aubert credits the drawing to A.Taunay, probably incorrectly, unless Taunay furnished another intermediate drawing with the new portrait of Arago standing to the left of the nest.