INTRODUCTION. 11 



of that science, in which these gentlemen so much delighted, 

 and for which they have done so much. 



From the writers of our own country the author has derived 

 but little advantage. The first considerable list of our birds 

 was published in 1787, by Mr. Jefferson, in his celebrated 

 " Notes on Virginia," and contains the names of 109 species, 

 with the designations of Linnaeus and Catesby, and references 

 to Buffon. The next, and by far the most complete that has 

 yet appeared, was published in 1791, by Mr. William Bartram, 

 in his " Travels through North and South Carolina," &c. in 

 which two hundred and fifteen different species are enumerated, 

 and concise descriptions and characteristics of each added, in 

 Latin and English. Dr. Barton, in his "Fragments of the Na- 

 tural History of Pennsylvania," has favoured us with a number 

 of remarks on this subject; and Dr. Belknap, in his " History 

 of New Hampshire," as well as Dr. Williams, in that of Ver- 

 mont, have each enumerated a few of our birds. But these, 

 from the nature of the publications in which they have been 

 introduced, can be considered only as catalogues of names, 

 without the detail of specific particulars, or the figured and co- 

 loured representations of the birds themselves. This task, the 

 hardest of all, has been reserved for one of far inferior abilities, 

 but not of less zeal. With the example of many solitary indi- 

 viduals, in other countries, who have succeeded in such an en- 

 terprise, he has cheerfully engaged in the undertaking, trusting 

 for encouragement solely to the fidelity with which it will be 

 conducted. 



