INTRODUCTION. 



§.i. 



XlIE first ten pages of the following Fbagments will, probably, be thought the moat interesting part of this 

 little work. They exhibit a rude and imperfect sketch of the Natural History-Picture in the neighbourhood of Phi- 

 ladelphia : a pictiu-e which, if it were drawn by an able hand, coidd not fail to prove interesting to the lovers of 

 science, in every part of the world. Each of these pages is divided into five columns. The first respects the day 

 of the month when the birds mentioned in the second column arrived, or •wem first seen, in the vicinity of Philadel- 

 phia. In the second column, I have given what may be called the scientific Latin name of each bird. In this part 

 of my subject, I have always preferred the name of Linnaeus, when I could discover that the bird had been described 

 by this great naturalist. But several of the birds, which are here mentioned, were not known to Linnseus : at 

 least, I do not find that they have a place in any of the editions of his immortal work, the Sj/stema Nattira. I have, 

 therefore, been obliged to adopt other names, and, in a few instances, to impose them myself. I have often 

 adopted the names of Professor Gmelin, the laborious, and often successful, editor of the new edition of the Systemu 

 Natures.* "When this is the case, I have affixed to the scientific name, the letter G, thus (G.) I have in this co- 

 lumn', sometimes made use of the scientific names of my ingenious and good friend, Mr. William Bartram, a 

 gentleman who has contributed much to our knowledge of the natural productions of North-America. To the 

 names which I myself have imposed, I have affixed the word (mihi). But I by no moans pretend to assert, that all 

 the birds thus marked are new, or have not been described by naturalists. 



§. II. 



In the third column, I have given the English scientific and the English pro^ iucial names. The former are chiefly 

 taken fi'om the Arctic Zooloyy t of my excellent friend Mr. Pennant, because this is a work of such extensive merit, 

 that I presume it is in the hands of almost every naturalist ; and because the names imposed by this gentleman are, 

 with a very few exceptions, just and significant. By the English provincial names, I mean the names by which these 

 birds are best known in Pennsylvania, and in various other parts of the United-States. These provincial names are 

 always enclosed within a parenthesis, as in the instances (Pewe), (Turtle-Dove), &c. They are designated in the 

 same manner in the list of Resident Birds, &c. in Section III. The gTeater number of these names are used in 

 Pennsylvania. 



§• HI. 



The fourth column relates to the " Progress of Vegetation." The greater number of the vegetables which I have 

 here enumerated are natives of Pennsylvania. Some, which are not natives of this state, are natives of other parts 

 of the United-States ; whilst others have not, hitherto, been found to grow spontaneously in any part of America. 

 In general, the plants are designated by their Linnsean names. In a few instances, I have adopted the names of the 

 late Mr. Alton, in his Hortus Ketvensis ; those of Marshall, and other botanists. All the plants which I have men- 

 tioned are found, either wUd, or growing in gardens, in the neighbom-hood of Philadelphia, where the remarks on 

 the time of their flowering and leafing have been made. 



§. IV. 



The fifth and last column contains " Miscellaneous Observations." In this part of my Sketches, I have done 

 but very little. Wont of time has prevented me from throwing into this column, manj' interesting facts, some of 

 which will be presented, perhaps to greater advantage, to the public, in my future publications. The few Ther- 



* Printed at Leipsic, in 1788. t The second edition. Loudon: 1792. 



