SOURCE: "In Search of the Real Mr. Audubon," in Audubon, Vol. 87, No. 3, May, 1985, pp. 58-119.

Durant is a novelist and natural historian and Harwood is an environmental journalist. In the following excerpt, they examine Audubon's origins, the reaction of contemporaries to his works, and his attitudes toward the environment.

More than half a century passed before many key elements of [Audubon's] life became known, and this was due in large measure to Audubon himself. He hid facts, left behind distracting trails of false information, and erected a handsome public image of himself.

Audubon freely gave interviews to journalists. He sent friends lengthy reports of his expeditions, which then were published in newspapers or periodicals. In the introductions to the five volumes of the Ornithological Biography he wrote about himself and his labors. The first three volumes were leavened at regular intervals by what Audubon called "Episodes." These were...