Stephen Lewis Detail from the color plate of the bridled weasel, also known as the long-tailed weasel, from Audubon’s book of mammals. Stephen Lewis Detail from the color plate of John James ...

John James Audubon was an American artist and naturalist best known for his detailed paintings of North American birds. Audubon’s color-plate book The Birds of America (1827–1839), is widely acclaimed ...

John James Audubon, the pre-eminent 19th-century painter of birds, considered the snowy egret to be one of America’s surpassingly beautiful species. The egret, he noted, was also abundant.