FRANCIS WILLUGHBY. 1 1 1 



to follow your advice, in adding to the ornitho- 

 logy, an account of the ordering of birds for 

 singing, also something of falconry, and besides, 

 an epitome of the art of fowling. For this pur 

 pose, I sent for the books you minded me of 

 about those subjects." These discourses will, 

 perhaps, seem to most readers of the present 

 day, as "german to the matter" of ornithology, 

 as dissertations on cookery, tailoring, and dress- 

 making, would be at the end of a system of 

 anatomy or physiology. Having given Mr Ray's 

 account of the ornithology, and having distin- 

 guished Mr Willughby's share in its composition 

 and merits, and also Mr Ray's, it seems now 

 advisable to state the nature of its contents, at 

 determined by subsequent writers, and to exhibit 

 Mr Willughby's ornithological system as drawn 

 out by one who is well qualified for such an under- 

 taking. The portion, then, of the book which is 

 really to be ascribed to Mr Willughby, " consists 

 chiefly of dissertations on the form and external 

 structure of birds, and their organization or 

 internal structure, generation, age, shape, bigness, 

 colour, natural instincts, manners, &c. 



Then follow twenty-four queries, the answers 

 to which, if founded on fact, and drawn up with 

 judgment, would not fail to contribute greatly to 

 the advancement of ornithology. 



The author then institutes his leading distinc- 

 tions derived from the form of the bill and feet, 

 and would doubtless have accomplished a com- 

 plete arrangement, had he uniformly adhered to 



