Best known as the author of the pioneering Key to North American Birds, Elliott Coues (1842-99) was one of America's most renowned but least understood ornithologists and historians–as well as a naturalist, anatomist, taxonomist, writer and editor, Army surgeon on the American frontier, occultist, and the youngest person ever to become a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Now available in paperback, this comprehensive biography of a brilliant, ambitious, and phenomenally productive man ranks as the definitive life of Elliott Coues.   "[A] lively and informative account of one of the great ornithologists of the nineteenth century. . . . [The] authors not only portray the life of a fascinating, inquisitive, and exacting scientist but also give a vivid account of American life from 1840 to the turn of the century. . . . Superbly written, this book should be on the required reading list of anyone interested in the development of science and natural history of America." Jeffrey L. Malter, Science Books and Films "Coues was a fascinating man. . . . It is all here: travels, discoveries, brushes with the Indians, loves, feuds, failures, triumphs, honors. Coues was the giant of the last half of the nineteenth century." American Birds "[This] account of [Coues's] life will do much to bring him back into the public eye. . . . Capturing Coues in all his diversity, this book is for everyone; it is easy reading, yet informative and not least entertaining." Clayton M. White, Nature "There are three great subjects here: Elliott Coues, the American West, and North American birds. This is the kind of biography that delights the scholar a study of an active, intelligent, controversial character who left his mark and came close to being a Renaissance man." Donald Jackson, editor of Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition