INTRODUCTION 3 



observations in illustration of his general remarks (which are to a con- 

 siderable extent physiological or bearing on the subject of reproduction) 

 than of an attempt at a connected account of Birds. Some of these 

 observations are so meagre as to have given plenty of occupation to his 

 many commentators, "who with varying success have for more than three 

 hundred years been endeavouring to determine what were the Birds of 

 Avhich he wrote ; and the admittedly corrupt state of the text adds to 

 their difficulties. One of the most recent of these commentators, the late 

 Prof. Sundevall — equally proficient in classical as in ornithological know- 

 ledge — was, in 1863, compelled to leave more than a score of the Birds 

 unrecognized. Yet it is not to be supposed that in what survives of the 

 great philosopher's writings we have more than a fragment of the know- 

 ledge possessed by him, though the hope of recovering his ZwiKa or his 

 'Avaro/itKa, in which he seems to have given fuller descriptions of the 

 animals he knew, can be hardly now entertained. A Latin translation 

 by Gaza of Aristotle's existing zoological work was printed at Venice in 

 1503. Another version, by Scaliger, was subsequently published. Two 

 wretched English translations have appeared.^ 



Next in order of date, though at a long interval, comes Gaius Plinius 

 Secundus, commonly known as Pliny the Elder, who died A.D. 79, author 

 of a general and very discursive Historia Naturalis in thirty-seven books, of 

 which most of Book X. is devoted to Birds. A considerable portion of 

 Pliny's work may be traced to his great predecessor, of whose information 

 he freely and avowedly availed himself, while the additions thereto made 

 cannot be said to be, on the whole, improvements. Neither of these 

 authors attempted to classify the Birds known to them beyond a very 

 rough and for the most part obvious grouping. Aristotle seems to 

 recognize eight principal groups : — (1) Gampsomjches, approximately 

 equivalent to the Accipitres of Linnseus ; (2) Scolecophaga, containing most 

 of what would now be called Oscmes, excepting indeed the (3) Acantho- 

 phaga, composed of the Goldfinch, Siskin and a few othors ; (4) Scnipo- 

 phaga, the Woodpeckers ; (5) Peristeroide, or Pigeons ; (6) Schizopoda, (7) 

 Steganopoda and (8) Barea, nearly the same respectively as the Linnsean 

 Grallx, Anseres and Gallinx. Pliny, relying wholly on characters taken 

 from the feet, limits himself to three groups — without assigning names to 

 them — those which have " hooked tallons, as Hawkes ; or round long 

 clawes, as Hennes ; or else they be broad, flat, and whole-footed, as Geese 

 and all the sort in manner of water-foule " — to use the words of Philemon 

 Holland, who, in 1601, published a quaint and, though condensed, yet 

 fairly faithful English translation of Pliny's work.^ 



About a century later came jElian, who died about a.d. 140, and 

 compiled in Greek (though he was an Italian by birth) a number of 

 miscellaneous observations on the peculiarities of animals. His work is ' 

 a kind of commonplace book kept without scientific discrimination. A 



1 By Thomas Taylor in 1809, and Cresswell in 1862. 



- The French translation by Ajasson de Grandsagne, with notes by Cuvier (Paris : 

 1830), is very good for the time. An English translation by Bostock and Riley 

 appeared between 1855 and 1857. Sillig's edition of the original text (Gotha : 1851- 

 1853) seems to be the best. 



