This edition has 65 new images, making a total of 500. The original configurations were altered so that there is only one species per plate. The text is a revision of the Ornithological Biography, rearranged according to Audubon's Synopsis of the Birds of North America (1839).

Including the red-winged blackbird, painted bunting, wood duck, great blue heron, ruby-throated hummingbird, purple finch, and blue jay, 46 different species of birds from all parts of the United States are included in this book. The pictures have been faithfully redrawn by Paul E. Kennedy from originals by John James Aububon (1785-1851), the most famous American painter-naturalist. For each species, the caption supplies the modern common and scientific names and the current range (by general region). No distinction is made between breeding range and winter range. Only the area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii, is considered. The birds shown are usually adult males when the caption does not give the information on age and sex. Audubon's original plates, numbered to correspond to the pages of the book, have been reproduced in color on the covers. If you follow them, you will not only have a great deal of coloring pleasure, but you will also learn how to identify many important birds.

"A precocious little girl named Renee and her wily father go to the Audubon Zoo. Renee has a great time, but the animals are a little less active and little more sleepy than she expected. Her father tells her that when the people go home, the animals come out of their cages and have fantastic festivities that keep them up all night. By the time the zoo opens, the animals are all tuckered out. Renee doesn't buy her dad's ridiculous story, but dads have a way of being right about these things"--Dust jacket flap.

This book emphasizes the plants that John James Audubon frequently illustrated along with his animals.