For most Americans, the name John James Audubon conjures up images of birds and issues of conservation. Audubon's best-known publication, The Birds of North America, occupies a treasured place in the pantheon of natural-history literature.   Unfortunately, this rich volume has largely overshadowed his last book, The Viviparaus Quadrupeds of North America, published from 1845 to 1848. Although less well known to modern readers, the latter work, the first devoted exclusively to North American mammals, proved a worthy capstone to the artist's stellar career.

      Foreword

   B. Byron Price 7

      Preface

  Sarah E. Boehme 8

 "My Style of Drawing"

Audubon and His Artistic Milieu

   Annette Blaugrund

        11

 Omega: John James Audubon's

  Final Artistic Journey

   Sarah E. Boehme

       35

Audubon and Bachman:

A Collaboration in Science

 Robert Mc Cracken Peck

       71

The Publication of The Viviparous

  Quadrupeds of North America

     Ron Tyler

       119

    Notes 183

   Chronology 191

  Bibliography 193

     Index 196

Photograph Credits 200