AUDUBON, JOHN JAMES (1785-1851), American nat uralist, was born at Les Cayes, Santo Domingo, now Haiti, April 26, 1785. By his father, Lieut. John Audubon, a French naval officer and planter, the boy was taken to the United States and then to France. Even in his petted boyhood he was fond of nature and began making collections. He attended a military school for a time, and for a brief period studied drawing in Paris. His chief preparation for his future work, however, came when he spent a year on his father's farm near Philadelphia, and some months after his return, in France, hunting and drawing birds. The loss of his father's property in the West Indies and the unsettled conditions in France caused Audubon to engage in business in the new world. After he had made various unsuccess ful ventures in the west, his loyal wife, Lucy Bakewell Audubon, insisted that his avocation become a vocation and practically as sumed the support of the family while Audubon devoted himself to his great work, The Birds of America (1827-38). This impos ing series contained 435 hand-coloured plates with 1,065 life-sized figures of 489 supposedly distinct species of birds. In spite of the later criticisms of his drawing, Audubon's service in making known in so handsome a fashion the birds of the new world is of inestimable value. When his pictures were exhibited at the Royal Institution of Edinburgh, they became the talk of the town; and in many writers traces may be found of the deep influence the productions of the "American woodsman" exerted upon his contemporaries. Audubon was a pioneer in reproducing birds in their natural poses. His work, which was carried on by sub scriptions, supplemented by his income from painting, teaching, etc., became in time a family affair, his son John assisting him in his collecting and drawing, and his son Victor taking charge of business affairs. While the volumes were going through the press, Audubon divided his time between England and America, gathering new specimens, making drawings, and supervising pub lication. After the publication of the descriptive matter, Ornitho logical Biography (1831-39), in which William Macgillivray assisted him, and of A Synopsis of the Birds of North America (1839), the naturalist returned permanently to his adopted coun try. Immediately after his settlement in New York he threw himself energetically into two new tasks—the revision in "minia ture" or octavo form of The Birds of America (1840-44) and the production of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America on which he collaborated with his faithful friend, the Rev. John Bachman, the father-in-law of his two sons. The folio plates of the Quadrupeds appeared in parts from 1842 to 1846, but Audubon lived to see only one volume of the text finished. In spite of his wonderful vitality, both mind and health failed before his death, Jan. 27, 1851. The house which he built by the Hudson still stands in New York City, near Riverside Drive and 158th Street.