1 70 MEMOIR OF THOMAS BEWICK. 



Nature ; no regard having been paid, at that time, 

 to fix the former in their proper attitudes, nor to 

 place the different series of the feathers so as to 

 fall properly upon each other. It has always 

 given me a great deal of trouble to get at the 

 markings of the dishevelled plumage ; and, when 

 done with every pains, I never felt satisfied with 

 them. I was on this account driven to wait for 

 birds newly shot, or brought to me alive, and in 

 the intervals employed my time in designing and 

 engraving tail-pieces, or vignettes. My sporting 

 friends, however, supplied me with birds as fast as 

 they could ; but none more so than my kind friend 

 the late Major H. F. Gibson, of the 4th Dragoons.* 

 Lieut.-Col. Dalton, Major Shore, Captain (now 

 General) Dalbiac, and other officers of the same 

 regiment, also shewed great attention to our grow- 

 ing work. George Strickland, Esq., of Ripon, also 

 interested himself in his contributions for the same 

 work. Besides these, many birds were sent to 

 me by friends from various parts of the Kingdom, 

 but the obligations I owe are mostly acknowledged 

 in their proper place in the work. After working 

 many a late hour upon the cuts, the first volume 

 of the book was at length finished at press in 

 September, 1797!. Our friend Solomon Hodgson 



* Major Henry Forster Gibson died of a fever. 



[f The first volume of the " Birds" (" Land Birds") was published 

 in 1797. It contained 117 figures and 91 tail-pieces. The second 

 volume ("Water Birds") came out in 1804; and contained 101 

 figures and 139 tail-pieces. In the text of this the Rev. Mr. Cotes 

 of Bedlington assisted. Large additions were made in subsequent 

 issues. In the eighth edition, 1847, the nomenclature and arrange- 

 ment of Temminck were adopted; and a synoptical table of the 

 classification was added. This table was the work of Mr. John 

 Hancock, a distinguished Newcastle naturalist.] 



