SOME EARLY BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS. 228 



the Men ; which has given ground of suspicion that they have 

 some Government amongst them, and that this is their Prince, 

 that is so much concern'd for its Subjects. And 'tis further 

 observed that when there is great plenty of them, the Lent- 

 Corn of the Country is so much the better, and so the Corn- 

 pastures too, by reason they pick up all the worms, and the 

 Fern-fly es, which though bred in the Fern, yet nip and feed 

 on' the young corn and grass, and hinder their growth." 



Robert Plot, as we are informed in " a short account of the 

 Author " appended to the Second Edition of the " Natural 

 History of Oxfordshire," was the son of Captain Robert Plot, 

 of Borden in Kent, and was born in 1641 at Sutton-Barn 

 in the said parish. He was educated at Magdalene Hall in 

 the University of Oxford, and afterwards at University College 

 there. In the year 1683 he was appointed first Keeper of 

 the Ashmolean Museum, and about the same time was made 

 Professor of Chemistry to the University. In 1694 he was 

 nominated Mowbray Herald, by Henry, Duke of Norfolk, 

 and died at his house, Sutton-Barn, April 30th, 1696. A 

 monument to his memory stands in the Parish Church at 

 Borden. 



In the year 1700* Charles Leigh (1662—1701), "Doctor of 

 Physick," published in imitation of Plot's works a worthless 

 " Natural History of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak in 

 Derbyshire," the full title of the book being as follows : — 



The / Natural History of / Lancashire, Cheshire, / and the / 

 Peak, / in Derbyshire : / with an / Account / of the / British, 

 Phoenician, Armenian, Gr. and Rom. Antiquities / in those / 

 Parts. / By Charles Leigh, / Doctor of Physick. / Oxford : / 

 Printed for the Author, and to be had at Mr. George West's,/ 

 and Mr. Henry Clement's, Booksellers there : Mr. Edward 

 E vet's / at the Green-Dragon, in St. Paul's Church-yard ; 

 and Mr. John / Nicholson, at the King's Arms in Little- Britain, 

 London. MDCC. 



1 Vol. foho. 



* In 1684 appeared the " Scotia illustrata sive Prodomus Historiae 

 Naturalis," Edinburgh, 1 vol. folio, of Robert Sibald (1641—1722) 

 which contained some short notes on the birds of Scotland, 



