ADVERTISEMENT. 



Mr Low's merits, as a laborious and accurate observer of Nature, were, it 

 is believed, scarcely known beyond the narrow circle of his particular friends ; and 

 it is to be regretted, that a recent historian* has not scrupled to avail himself of 

 the advantages which this obscurity offered to a plagiary. It having been the Edi- 

 tor's fortune to procure the MS, Fauna Orcadensis of Mr Low, he now begs 

 leave to lay it before the public, in the form in which it was left by its Reverend 

 Author. It appears to have been revised by the late Mr Pennant, as it contains 

 a few corrections in that gentleman's handwriting. The Editor trusts that it will 

 be found to afford an interesting and valuable addition to the Natural History of 

 the British Islands, and prove far more useful than the closet compilations of some 

 modern zoologists. 



It may not be uninteresting to relate the few facts which the Editor has been 

 enabled to collect-t-, respecting the author of the following pages. Mr Low was 

 born, in 174G, in the parish of Edzel, in Forfarshire. After prosecuting his studies 

 at the Colleges of Aberdeen and St Andrew's, he became tutor in the family of a 

 gentleman of the name of Graham, at Stromness, in Orkney. While he remain- 

 ed at this place. Sir Joseph (then Mr) Banks and Dr Solander touched at 

 the islands, on their return from the last and ill-fated voyage of discovery, in which 

 Captain Cooke fell. Mr Low having early acquired a taste for Natural History, 

 was much noticed by these distinguished philosophers, and was requested to ac- 

 company them in their excursions through the Orkneys, and also to the Shetland 

 Islands, which he did. 



On the 14th of December 1774, Mr Low was ordained minister of Birsay and 

 Haray, a parish in Pomona, or the Mainland of Orkney. The duties of this 

 charge he continued to fulfil throughout the remainder of his life. 



• The Rev. George Barry, D. D. in his History of Orkney, 4to. 1005. 



t For these particulars tlie Editor is indebted to Patrick Neill, Esq. author of a Tour in Orkney and 

 Shetland, whose ardour in the pursuits of science is too well known to require any praise iu this place, and 

 to Mr Hugh Moare at Bitsay, an intimate friend of Mr Low's, 



