592 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX. 1796-1799 [26 



1796. CARVER, J. Continued. 



A list of about 40 species, with formal notice of half as many, most of which 

 are identifiable. Here, as in some other works of the period, appears the cele- 

 brated "Wakon bird" (p. 314), an object of superstition among the Indians, 

 which has taxed the guessing faculty of ornithologists to no avail. Parts of 

 the description suit Milvulus ; but the bird is probably fictitious, the account 

 being drawn from " made-up " specimens used for religious or ornamental pur- 

 poses. See earlier eds., 1773, 1781. 



1796. HEAKNE, S. A | Journey | from | Prince of Wales's Fort, | in Hudson's 



Bay, | to | the Northern Ocean. | Undertaken | by order of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company. | For the discovery of | copper mines, a north 

 west passage, &c. | In the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, & 1772. | | By 

 Samuel Hearne. | | Dublin : | Printed for P. Byrne, No. 108, and 

 J. Rice, No. Ill, | Grafton-street. | | 1796. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. i-1, 

 1-459, 1 p., 9 maps and plans. 



See the orig. ed., 1795. In the present ed., the bird-matter is at pp. 399-450. 

 Same as the original, excepting in form. There is said to be another ed., 1807. 



1797. Bosc, L. A. G. Description des objets nouveaux d'Histoire Naturelle 



trouve's dans une traverse'e de Bordeaux a Charlestown [S. Car.]. 

 < Bull. Soc. Philom., 1797, p. 9. 



Not seen. 



1799. BARTON, B. S. Fragments | of the | Natural History | of | Pennsyl- 

 vania. | | By Benjamin Smith Barton, M. D. | Correspondent- 

 Member of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland ; Member | of 

 the American Philosophical Society ; Fellow of the American Acad- 

 emy | of Arts and Sciences of Boston ; Corresponding Member of 

 the | Massachusetts Historical Society ; Member of the Phy- | sical 

 Society of Jena ; one of the Foreign Members | of the Linnaean 

 Society of London ; | and | Professor of Materia Medica, Natural 

 History and Botany, | in the | University of Pennsylvania. | | 

 Part First. | | Neglecta, sparsa colligit, utilia seligit . | Bag- 

 livi. | Quae Prasenti Opusculo desunt suppleat ^Etas. | Quintilian. , 

 | Philadelphia : | Printed, for the author, by Way & Groff, | No. 

 48, North Third-Street. | 1799. Folio. Paper- cover title; other title, 

 dedication, introduction, = pp. i-xviii ; and pp. 1-24 of main text. 



No more published. Very scarce. Copy in Congressional Library, formerly 

 presented to the National Institute of Washington by the author's son, Thomas 

 Pennant Barton. This tract, a mere "fragment", as the author says, is one of 

 the most notable special treatises on North American ornithology of the last cen- 

 tury. The author had every qualification of a great naturalist except success, 

 his actual achievements being far from commensurate with his eminent ability 

 and erudition. Ho seems to have lacked the faculty of utilizing what he knew ; 

 like a saturated solution wanting some slight circumstance to crystallize, the 

 result was never realized. Had Barton reaped what he sowed, the fatherhood of 

 American ornithology would be put back of "Wilaon. As it is, his work remains 

 about on a par with that of Bartram in present significance, and its author is to- 

 day chiefly known in ornithology by having proposed for the Barn Swallow the 

 name Hirundo horreorum, which has been current since Baird revived it in 1858. 



The whole tract is ornithological a bird-picture drawn in the vicinity of Penn- 

 sylvania. The ' ' Introduction ' ', in effect, is chiefly an essay on migration, alleged 

 torpidity, etc., based on extensive personal observation, set forth with elegance, 

 erudition, and veracity. The main text consists, for the most part, of a calendary 

 enumeration of the migratory birds of Pennsylvania, collated with the progress 

 of vegetation and various meteorological and miscellaneous observations. The 

 birds are treated in two categories: Sect I. The Spring and Summer Birds of 



