BIRTH AND PARENTAGE 61 



bon, lieutenant of a frigate of the Republic, and of Anne Moinet, 

 his legitimate wife, who being present bear witness that the 

 adoption of the said Fougere, made by ( them, is in accordance 

 with the present act. 



[Signed] TARDIVEAU, priest of Saint- 

 Similien, of the town of Nantes. 



The act of adoption was drawn at a time when Cap- 

 tain Audubon could have had little leisure to consult 

 records had he been disposed to do so, but the dates 

 of birth which he then gave for these two children were 

 correct both as to the year and month. Fougere, how- 

 ever, was born on the twenty-sixth, instead of the twen- 

 ty-second of April, and Muguet, on the twenty-ninth, 

 instead of the twenty-sixth, of that month. Audubon's 

 mother's name is indicated in numerous legal documents 

 of later date, and, as will appear, in every instance her 

 son's identity is clearly established. 



Young Audubon, who disliked the names of Fougere 

 and Rabin, and naturally wished to be rid of their early 

 associations, adopted the fanciful name of "La For- 

 est," J1 but used it only sporadically and for a short time. 

 Some of his drawings of birds made at Nantes or Coue- 

 ron as early as 1805, and in New York in 1806 and 1807, 

 and possibly others of slightly later date, are signed 

 "J. L. F. A.," or "J. J. L. Audubon." 12 



Jean Audubon and his wife are said to have settled 



"An English writer once gave the name of Audubon's mother as 

 Mile. La Foret. 



13 Audubon's signature underwent frequent variations during the first 

 twenty-five years of his life, but after 1820 he almost invariably signed 

 himself "John J.," or "J. J. Audubon." In the record of the civil 

 marriage of his sister, at Coueron in 1805, his name appears as "J. J. L. 

 Audubon;" in the "Articles of Association" with Ferdinand Rozier, signed 

 at Nantes in 1806, it is "Jean Audubon," and in the release given on the 

 dissolution of this partnership, at Ste. Genevieve, in 1811, the English 

 form, "John Audubon," appears. 



