56 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross, 1 vol. folio, Edinburgh, 1710 

 (pp. 46-49), and The description of the Isles of Orknay and 

 Zetland, 1 vol. folio, Edinburgh, 1711 (p]i. 8, 24, &c.). 



Want of space forbids us to give but the barest details 

 of Sibbald's life. The curious may read them at length in 

 Vol. XX. (IX. of the Ornithological section) of Sir William 

 Jardine's Naturalist's Library, 40 vols., 12 mo., Edinburgh 

 1833-43, where a list of his Avorks, some thirtj^-two* in number, 

 may also be found. The portrait of Sibbald here given 

 (plate II.) is reproduced from the frontispiece in the volume 

 mentioned ; its original is in the Royal College of Physicians, 

 Edinburgh. Sibbald was born, according to the account in his 

 Autobiography ,-f at the head of Blackfriars WjTid, Edinburgh, 

 on 15th April, 1641. In 1650 his parents being resident 

 in Fife he attended the village school at Cupar, and afterwards 

 pursued his studies at the High School and University of 

 Edinburgh. In 1660 he went to Lej^den, where he took the 

 degree of M.D. He afterwards studied at Paris and Angers, 

 and returning to London remained there three months, and 

 then settled down in his native city. His attention having 

 been turned to the study of natural history by his friend Dr. 

 Andrew Balfour (1630-94), about the year 1667 they together 

 instituted a botanical garden in Edinburgh for the purpose 

 of studying the medicinal properties of the various jjlants and 

 herbs ; the scheme received general support, and the collection 

 grew to a considerable size. In 1681 , chiefly through Sibbald's 

 exertions, the Royal College of Phj^sicians was foimded in 

 Edinburgh and a charter obtained from Charles II. In 1682 

 he was aj^pointed by Charles II. Geographer Royal for Scotland 

 and one of the Royal Physicians, and in the same j^ear he 

 received the honour of knighthood from the hands of the Duke 

 of York. Owing to religious persecution, he having turned 



* The Dictionary of Nat. Biography computes the number as twenty-, 

 one. 



t The MS. of this is in the Advocates tiibrary, Edinburgh, 



