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Audubon, John James, 1780-1851

Ornithologist; born in New Orleans, May 4, 1780; was the son of a French admiral. Educated at Paris, he acquired much skill as an artist

John James Audubon.

under the instruction of the celebrated David. At the age of seventeen years he began to make a collection of drawings of the birds of America, and became a most devoted student of the feathered tribes of our country. So early as 1810 he went down the Ohio River with his wife and child in an open boat. to a congenial spot for a forest home. He visited almost every region of the United States. In some of his Western excursions, Wilson, the ornithologist, was his companion. In 1826 he went to Europe to secure subscriptions to his great work, The birds of America. It was issued in numbers, each containing five plates, the subjects drawn and colored the size and tints of life. It was completed in 4 volumes, in 1838. Of the 170 subscribers to the work, at $1,000 each, nearly one-half came from England and France. He also prepared a work entitled Ornithological Biographics, and had partly completed a work entitled Quadrupcds of America, when he died. His two sons who inherited his tastes and much of his genius, finished this work, which was published in 1850. His residence, in the latter years of his life, was on the banks of the Hudson, not far from Washinington Heights. He died in New York City. Jan. 27. 1851.

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