"Naturalist Kenn Kaufman examines the scientific discoveries of John James Audubon and his artistic and ornithologist peers to show how what they saw (and what they missed) reflects how we perceive and understand the natural world"-- Provided by publisher.

Prologue: A song in Labrador -- The undescribed world -- Names and numbers -- Channeling the illustrator : when the dream came -- A thicket of thrushes -- Channeling the illustrator : the feather problem -- Hidden identities -- Feuding in Philadelphia -- Channeling the illustrator : double vision -- The fugitive warblers -- Channeling the illustrator : all those plants -- Florida on the edge -- Channeling the illustrator : the size of the challenge -- Strangers on the shore -- Channeling the illustrator : materials and methods -- Lost in Texas -- Abundant life -- The big (small) do-over -- A shifting horizon -- Channeling the illustrator : vision impossible -- The search never ends.