mentioned, and first among them Rzaczynski, who in 1721 brought
out at Sandomirsk the Historia naturalis curiosa regni Poloniae, to
which an Auctuarium was posthumously published at Danzig in
1742. This also may be perhaps the most proper place to notice
the Historia avium Hungariae of Grossinger, published at Posen in
1793. In 1734 J. L. Frisch began the long series of works on the
birds of Germany with which the literature of ornithology is enriched,
by his Vorstellung der Vögel Teutschlands, which was only
completed in 1763, and, its coloured plates proving very attractive,
was again issued at Berlin in 1817. The little fly-sheet of Zorn[1]—for
it is scarcely more—on the birds of the Hercynian Forest made
its appearance at Pappenheim in 1745. In 1756 Kramer published
at Vienna a modest Elenchus of the plants and animals of Lower
Austria, and J. D. Petersen produced at Altona in 1766 a Verzeichniss
balthischer Vögel; while in 1791 J. B. Fischer's Versuch einer
Naturgeschichte von Livland appeared at Königsberg, next year
Beseke brought out at Mitau his Beytrag zur Naturgeschichte der
Vögel Kurlands, and in 1794 Siemssen's Handbuch of the birds of
Mecklenburg was published at Rostock. But these works, locally
useful as they may have been, did not occupy the whole attention
of German ornithologists, for in 1791 Bechstein reached the second
volume of his Gemeinnützige Naturgeschichte Deutschlands, treating
of the birds of that country, which ended with the fourth in 1795.
Of this an abridged edition by the name of Ornithologisches Taschenbuch
appeared in 1802 and 1803, with a supplement in 1812; while
between 1805 and 1809 a fuller edition of the original was issued.
Moreover in 1795 J. A. Naumann humbly began at Cöthen a treatise
on the birds of the principality of Anhalt, which on its completion
in 1804 was found to have swollen into an ornithology of northern
Germany and the neighbouring countries. Eight supplements were
successively published between 1805 and 1817, and in 1822 a new
edition was required. This Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands,
being almost wholly rewritten by his son J. F. Naumann, is by far
the best thing of the kind as yet produced in any country. The
fulness and accuracy of the text, combined with the neat beauty
of its coloured plates, have gone far to promote the study of ornithology
in Germany, and while essentially a popular work, since it is
suited to the comprehension of all readers, it is throughout written
with a simple dignity that commends it to the serious and scientific.
Its twelfth and last volume was published in 1844—by no means
too long a period for so arduous and honest a performance, and a
supplement was begun in 1847; but, the editor—or author as he
may be fairly called—dying in 1857, this continuation was finished
in 1860 by the joint efforts of J. H. Blasius and Dr Baldamus. In
1800 Borkhausen with others commenced at Darmstadt a Teutsche
Ornithologie in folio which appeared at intervals till 1812, and remains
unfinished, though a reissue of the portion published took place
between 1837 and 1841.
Other European countries, though not quite so prolific as Germany, bore some ornithological fruit at this period; but in all southern Europe only four faunistic products can be named: the Saggio di storia naturale Bresciana of Pilati, published at Brescia in 1769; the Ornitologia dell' Europa meridionale of Bernini, published at Parma between 1772 and 1776; the Uccelli di Sardegna of Cetti, published at Sassari in 1776; and the Romana ornithologia of Gilius, published at Rome in 1781—the last being in great part devoted to pigeons and poultry. More appeared in the North, for in 1770 Amsterdam sent forth the beginning of Nozeman's Nederlandsche Vogelen, a fairly illustrated work in folio, but only completed by Houttuyn in 1829, and in Scandinavia most of all was done. In 1746 the great Linnaeus had produced a Fauna Svecica, of which a second edition appeared in 1761, and a third, revised by Retzius, in 1800. In 1764 Brünnich published at Copenhagen his Ornithologia borealis, a compendious sketch of the birds of all the countries then subject to the Danish crown. At the same place appeared in 1767 Leem's work, De Lapponibus Finmarchiae, to which Gunnerus contributed some good notes on the ornithology of northern Norway, and at Copenhagen and Leipzig was published in 1780 the Fauna Groenlandica of Otho Fabricius.
Of strictly American origin can here be cited only W. Bartram's Travels through North and South Carolina and B. S. Barton's Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania,[2] both printed at Philadelphia, one in 1791, the other in 1799; but J. R. Forster published a Catalogue of the Animals of North America in London in 1771, and the following year described in the Philosophical Transactions a few birds from Hudson Bay.[3] A greater undertaking was Pennant's Arctic Zoology, published in 1785, with a supplement in 1787. The scope of this work was originally intended to be limited to North America, but circumstances induced him to include all the species of Northern Europe and Northern Asia, and though not free from errors it is a praiseworthy performance. A second edition appeared in 1792.
The ornithology of Britain naturally demands greater attention. The earliest list of British birds we possess is that given by Merrett in his Pinax rerum naturalium Britannicarum, printed in London in 1667.[4] In 1677 Plot published his Natural History of Oxfordshire, which reached a second edition in 1705, and in 1686 that of Staffordshire. A similar work on Lancashire, Cheshire and the Peak was sent out in 1700 by Leigh, and one on Cornwall by Borlase in 1758—all these four being printed at Oxford. In 1766 appeared Pennant's British Zoology, a well-illustrated folio, of which a second edition in octavo was published in 1768, and considerable additions (forming the nominally third edition) in 1770, while in 1777 there were two issues, one in octavo, the other in quarto, each called the fourth edition. In 1812, long after the author's death, another edition was printed, of which his son-in-law Hanmer was the reputed editor, but he received much assistance from Latham, and through carelessness many of the additions herein made have often been ascribed to Pennant. In 1769 Berkenhout gave to the world his Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland, which reappeared under the title of Synopsis of the same in 1795. Tunstall's Ornithologia Britannica which appeared in 1771, is little more than a list of names.[5] Hayes's Natural History of British Birds, a folio with forty plates, appeared between 1771 and 1775, but was of no scientific value. In 1781 Nash's Worcestershire included a few ornithological notices; and Walcott in 1789 published an illustrated Synopsis of British Birds, coloured copies of which are rare. Simultaneously William Lewin began his seven quarto volumes on the Birds of Great Britain, a reissue in eight volumes following between 1795 and 1801. In 1791 J. Heysham added to Hutchins's Cumberland a list of birds of that county, whilst in the same year began Thomas Lord's valueless Entire New System of Ornithology, the text of which was written or corrected by Dr Dupree, and in 1794 Donovan began Donovan. a History of British Birds which was only finished in 1819—the earlier portion being reissued about the same time. Bolton's Harmonia ruralis, an account of British song-birds, first appeared between 1794 and 1796, but subsequent editions appeared up to 1846.
All the foregoing publications yield in importance to two that remain to be mentioned, a notice of which will fitly conclude this part of our subject. In 1767 Pennant, several of whose works have already been named, entered into correspondence with Gilbert White, receiving from him much information, almost wholly drawn from his own observation, for the succeeding editions of the British Zoology. In 1769 White began exchanging letters of a similar character with Barrington. The epistolary intercourse with the former continued until 1780 and with the latter until 1787. In 1789 White's share of the correspondence, together with some miscellaneous matter, was published as The Natural History of Selborne—from the name of the village in which he lived. Observations on birds form the principal though by no means the whole theme of this book, which may be safely said to have done more to promote a love of ornithology in England than any other work that has been written, nay more than all the other works (except one next to be mentioned) put together. It has passed through a far greater number of editions than any other work on natural history in the whole world, and has become emphatically an English classic—the graceful simplicity of its style, the elevating tone of its spirit, and the sympathetic chords it strikes recommending it to every lover of Nature, while the severely scientific reader can scarcely find an error in any statement it contains, whether of matter of fact or opinion. It is almost certain that more than half the zoologists of the British Islands for many years past have been infected with their love of the study of Gilbert White; and it can hardly be supposed that his influence will cease.
The other work to the importance of which on ornithology in England allusion has been made is Bewick's History of British Birds. The first volume of this, containing the land-birds, appeared in 1797[6]—the text being, it is understood, by Beilby—the second, containing the water-birds, in 1804. The woodcuts illustrating this work are generally of surpassing excellence, and it takes rank in the category of artistic publications. Fully admitting the extraordinary execution of the engravings, every ornithologist may perceive that as portraits of the birds they are of very unequal merit. Some of the figures were drawn from stuffed specimens, and accordingly perpetuate all the imperfections of the original; others represent species with the appearance of which the artist was not
- ↑ His earlier work under the title of Petinotheologie can hardly be deemed scientific.
- ↑ This extremely rare book has been reprinted by the Willughby Society.
- ↑ Both of these treatises have also been reprinted by the Willughby Society
- ↑ In this year there were two issues of this book; one, nominally a second edition, only differs from the first in having a new title-page. No real second edition ever appeared, but in anticipation of it Sir Thomas Browne prepared in or about 1671 (?) his “Account of Birds found in Norfolk,” of which the draft, now in the British Museum, was printed in his collected works by Wilkin in 1835. If a fair copy was ever made its resting-place is unknown.
- ↑ It has been republished by the Willughby Society.
- ↑ There were two issues—virtually two editions—of this with the same date on the title-page, though one of them is said not to have been published till the following year. Among several other indicia this may be recognized by the woodcut of the “sea eagle” at page 11, bearing at its base the inscription “Wycliffe, 1791,” and by the additional misprint on page 145 of Sahaeniclus for Schaeniclus.
