154 RAY. 



swimmings while others betake themselves to the 

 water. 



Of the former some are large, as the crane; others 

 of smaller size. The latter either live on fish, as 

 the heron, spoonbill, stork, ibis, ho,., or search for 

 insects in the mud, as the oyster-catcher, plover, 

 sandpiper, &c. 



Of the swimming water-birds some have the toes 

 separated, as the coot and water-hen ; w^hile in 

 others they are united by membranes. The web- 

 footed birds are either long-legged, as \\\efla7ningo 

 and avocet, or furnished with short legs. Of the lat- 

 ter some have three toes, as the penguin, auk, &c. ; 

 others have four. The four-toed aquatic birds 

 either have all the toes webbed, as the pelican, 

 gannet, cormorant, &c., or have the hind toe loose. 

 Of the latter some have a narrow bill, which is 

 hooked at the tip in the merganser and albatross, 

 or acute and straight in the divers and gulls. 

 Others have the bill broad, as geese and ducks. 



Of the figures which accompany the descriptions 

 there certainly are not ten that bear a tolerably ac- 

 curate resemblance to their originals ; but, in criti- 

 cizing ornithological plates, we are apt to forget that 

 it was not until Audubon displayed his drawings 

 that artists began to see how well nature might be 

 imitated. 



Mr Willughby's sons having been withdrawn from 

 Mr Ray's inspection, in 1675, he left Middleton 

 Hall where he had resided, and removed with his 

 wife to Sutton Cofield, about four miles distant, 

 wiiere he continued till Michaelmas 1677^ when 

 he went to Falborne Hall in Essex, near his native 

 place. In the course of his residence there his 



