The Preface

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Now because elegant and accurate Figures do much illustrate and facilitate the understanding of Descriptions, in order to the Engraving such Figures for this Work, Mr. Willughby made a Collection of as many Pictures drawn in colours by the life as he could procure. First, He purchased of one Leonard Baltner, a Fisherman of Strasburgh, a Volume containing the Pictures of all the Water-fowl frequenting the Rhene near that City, as also all the Fish and Water-Insects found there, drawn with great curiosity and exactness by an excellent hand. The which Fowl, Fishes, and Insects the said Baltner had himself taken, described, and at his own proper costs and charges caused to be drawn. Which curiosity is much to be admired and commended in a Person of his Condition and Education. For my part, I must needs acknowledge that I have received much light and information from the Work of this poor man, and have been thereby inabled to clear many difficulties, and rectifie some mistakes in Gesner. Secondly, At Nurenberg in Germany he bought a large Volume of Pictures of Birds drawn in colours. Thirdly, He caused divers Species, as well seen in England as beyond the Seas, to be drawn by good Artists. Besides what he left, the deservedly famous Sir Thomas Brown, Professor of Physick in the City of Norwich, frankly communicated the Draughts of several rare Birds, with some brief notes and descriptions of them. Out of these, and the Printed Figures of Aldrovandus, and Pet. Olina, an Italian Author, we culled out those we thought most natural, and resembling the life, for the Gravers to imitate, adding also all but one or two of Marggravius's, and some out of Clusius his Exotics, Piso his Natural History of the West Indies, and Bontius his of the East.

The Gravers we employed, though they were very good Workmen, yet in many Sculps they have not satisfied me. For I being at a great di­stance from London, and all advices and directions necessarily passing by Letter, sometimes through haste mistook in my directions, sometimes through weariness and impatience of long Writing sent not so clear and full instructions as was requisite; and they as often neglected their instructions, or mistook my meaning. Notwithstanding the Figures, such as they are, take them all together, they are the best and truest, that is, most like the live Birds, of any hitherto engraven in Brass.

It is requisite now that we inform the Reader what compendious ways we sought to avoid unnecessary expences in graving of Figures. 1. Of the same Species of Bird when more Figures than one occurred either in divers Authors, or our own Papers, or both, we caused only one, which we judged to be the best to be engraven. 2. We have for the most part contented our selves with the figure of one Sex only, and that the Male. 3. We have omitted all such dubious Icons as we knew not whether they were of true birds or not, or could not certainly determine of what Species they were. 4. Of such as differ only in bigness, or if otherwise in such accidents as cannot be expressed in Sculpture, we have given only the Figure of the greater. Of this kind are the greater and lesser Curlew, the common Snipe, and Jack-Snipe, or Judcock. And yet some Birds we have caused to be graven twice when the first time the Gravers mist their aim, and shot too wide of their mark: Such are the red-leg'd Partridge, The common Swallow, the Swift, the common Blackbird, the House-Dove, the Royston Crow, the Witwall, and the Dottrel. I might add hereto the Canada Goose in the seventieth Plate, for I now persuade my self that the Bird graven in Plate 71. is the same with it. The lain Sheldrake was through mistake twice figured in Plates 70. and 71. so was the Auk or Rozor-bill in Plates 64. and 65. The figures of the Rock Ouzel, Bittern, and Stone-Curlew first graven, though they were passable enough, yet having afterwards gotten very exact Figures of those Birds, we caused them also to be Engraven.

The whole Work we have divided into three Books. In the first we treat of Birds in general; in the second of Land-fowl; in the third of Water-Fowl. The second Book we have divided into two parts: The first whereof contains Birds of crooked Beak and Talons; The second, such whose Bills and Claws are more streight. The third Book is tripartite: The first part takes in all Birds that wade in the waters, or frequent watery places, but swim not; The second, such as are of a middle nature between swimmers and waders, or rather that partake of both kinds, some whereof are cloven-footed, and yet swim; others whole-footed, but yet very long-leg'd like the waders: The third is of whole-footed, or fin-toed Birds, that swim in the water.

As for fabulous Birds, such as are confessedly so, viz. Phenixes, Griffins, Harpyes, Ruk, and the like, I have omitted them, as being no part of our sub­ject, and all that can be said of them having been more than once written already. I have also omitted some that I only suspected for fictitious, as the Scythian Bird, the Aquila Heteropus, &c. Yet because I would not rely too much upon my own judgment, I have put in the Appendix the descriptions of some of that nature out of Hernandez, which I refer to the Readers censure.

It remains that I make a grateful mention of such of our learned and wor­thy Friends, as have given us any considerable information or assistance; as well to do them right, as to acquaint the Reader whom we mean by some names recorded in this Work. Those were Sir Thomas Brown of Norwich before remembred: Francis Jessop Esq of Broom-hall in Sheffield Parish, Yorkshire, who sent us the Descriptions and Cases of many rare Birds, and discovered and gave us notice of many Species thereabout, which we knew not before to be native of England: Sir Philip Skippon of Wrentham near Bliborough in the County of Suffolk, Knight, who communicated the Pictures of several Birds we wanted: And Mr. Ralph Johnson of Brignal near Greta Bridge in Yorkshire, a Person of singular skill in Zoology, especially the History of Birds, who besides the Descriptions and Pictures of divers uncommon, and some undescribed both Land and Water-fowl, communicated to us his Method of Birds, whereby we were in some particulars informed, in many others confirmed, his judgment concurring with ours in the divisions and Characteristic notes of the Genera.

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Among the whole-footed Water-fowl we omitted the Recurvirostra or Avosetta Italorum, which in Winter-time often frequents our coasts, the Shear-water of Sir Thomas Brown, and the Mergulus melanoleucos rostro acute brevi of the same.