78 SOME EARLY ENGLISH NATURALISTS 



Aristotle and Pliny, but its whole value lies in the 

 observations made in England. " It is not too much to 

 say" (we quote from Mr. Evans) "that almost every 

 page bears witness to a personal know^ledge of the 

 subject, which would be distinctly creditable even to a 

 modern ornithologist." The following passages, quoted 

 from Mr. Evans' translation, show Turner at his best : — 



" There is a certain bird which Englishmen call 

 Creeper, that is Climber, for it always climbs about on 

 trees : this I believe to be the Certhia. It is a little 

 bigger than the Regulus, having a whitish breast, the 

 other parts dull brown, but varied with black spots ; its 

 note is sharp, its beak is slender and is slightly hooked 

 towards the tip ; it never rests, but is for ever climbing 

 up the trunks of trees after the manner of the Wood- 

 peckers, and it eats grubs, picking them from the bark." 



" I know two sorts of Kites, the greater and the less ; 

 the greater is in colour nearly rufous, and in England is 

 abundant and remarkably rapacious. This kind is wont 

 to snatch food out of children's hands, in our cities and 

 towns. The other kind is smaller, blacker, and more 

 rarely haunts cities. This I do not remember to have 

 seen in England, though in Germany most frequently." 



JOHN GERARD 

 1545-1612 



Herball, or Generall History of Plantes. Fol. Lond. 1 597. 



The memory of Gerard, the English botanist of the 

 period who is most read and quoted, is tarnished by 

 unscrupulous borrowing. His Herball was re-edited by 

 Thomas Johnson, a London apothecary, who greatly 

 extended and improved it, insomuch that Kay called 



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