John James Audubon (1785-1851), French-US naturalist. Audubon was brought up in Paris, where he studied art. In 1804 he was sent to manage his father's property in the USA, but by 1820 was bankrupt. He then began travelling along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, painting the birds that he saw. In 1827, his comprehensive catalogue The Birds of America was published in Britain. It contained 1065 life-sized colour illustrations of birds. From 1840-1844 he produced a seven-volume summary which became widely popular. Audubon also ringed birds' legs and found that migrating individuals return to the same area each year. This photograph, from a glass negative, dates to between 1855 and 1865. It is from the Brady-Handy Collection.