JOHN WOODHOUSE AUDUBON 412 From the miniature by F. Cruikshank, 1838. AUDUBON 454 From the portrait by John Woodhouse Audubon (about 1841). COLUMBA PASSERINA (NOW COLUMBIGALLINA PASSERINA TERRESTRIS), GROUND DOVE 474 From the unpublished drawing by J. J. Audubon, 1838. FACSIMILE OF A PAGE OF THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNAL 510 Reduced one third. VIEW ON THE MISSOURI RIVER, ABOVE GREAT BEND 516 From a water-color drawing by Isaac Sprague. INDIAN HATCHET PIPE 532 Carried by Audubon during many of his journeys. AUDUBON INTRODUCTION In the brief biography of Audubon which follows, I have given, I believe, the only correct account that has been written, and as such I present it. I am not competent to give an opinion as to the merits of his work, nor is it necessary. His place as naturalist, woodsman, artist, author, has long since been accorded him, and he himself says: "My enemies have been few, and my friends numerous." I have tried only to put Audubon _the man_ before my readers, and in his own words so far as possible, that they may know what he was, not what others _thought_ he was. M. R. A. AUDUBON The village of Mandeville in the parish of St. Tammany, Louisiana, is about twenty miles from New Orleans on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain. Here, on the plantation of the same name, owned by the Marquis de Mandeville de Marigny, John James Laforest Audubon[1] was born, the Marquis having lent his home, in the generous southern fashion, to his friend Admiral Jean Audubon, who, with his Spanish Creole wife, lived here some months. In the same house, towards the close of the last century, Louis Philippe found refuge for a time with the ever hospitable Marigny family, and he named the beautiful plantation home "Fontainebleau." Since then changes innumerable have come, the estate has other owners, the house has gone, those who once dwelt there are long dead, their descendants scattered, the old landmarks obliterated.