(4^2) 
Having paid this firall Tribute to the merit of this Generous 
Lady, I fhali now proceed to take notice of the Work it felf; 
and Firjl, of the defign thereof,, which is not to give Pandedis of 
Birds, or to collca indifcriminately.what hath b^een already pub- 
lifli.d, whether true or falfe, on thisfubjeft^ but to illuftrate 
and put into good order the Hiftory of V>\xds,partly hy defcribing 
the Birds themfelves upon Ocular infpeflion, partly by borrowing 
the defcription of thofepf v;hich the Author and Publifiier them- 
felves could not get a (ight/rcnithebeft Writers upon this Argu- 
ment: Endeavouring principally, to defcribeand difference all 
theknownJ^^^/>Jof Birds, and to reduce them to their feveral 
chffeSf and thereby to take away that confufion and obfcurity, 
which this Hiftory hath hitherto laboured under. 
Secondly, The Work it felf is divided into three Books; where- 
of ihejirji treats of Birds in general • the feeond , of Land-fowl $ 
and the //Er/r^sf, of Water-fowl* _ 
Concerning the jzry?, in it are defcpbe^cTthe principal both Out- 
ward arid Inward Pairts of Birds,fuch.as are either peculiar to them, 
or fliew a peculiar ilruftureand ufe in them., the external parrs, 
the Author obferves, among other particulars, that the Femoral 
Mufcles in Birds arethethickeff and ftrongeft of all , fcrving for 
the motion of their Wings that reqt^ire great flrrength ; whereas in 
Man, the Crural Mufcles arc ftronger than thofe of his Arms^ 
whence, if F/ying were either pofTibledr firfor Man, his legSjfur- 
nifh't with a y^^r^^^;?^^^ to wings for comprefGng and beadngthe 
Air, would fervehim better for that purpofe, than his Arms. 
In the internal parts^ he notes, among many other things, thecon- 
fiderablc difference there is between the Erain of Birds a&d that 
of Man and Quadrupeds ; adapted in Birds more for the exercife 
of the Locomotive faculty, than for Imagination and Memory. 
Dlfcourfing in this Part of the Generation of Birds, he judgeth it 
highly probable, that their Females have in them , from the time 
of their being firft born, all the Eggs or the Primordials of Eggs, 
that they fhall lay as long as they live : which he thinks to be true 
of Human and all other Females ; making th^e Inculcation of the Eggs 
of Fowl to be equivalent to the Gejlation or Bearing, of other A- 
nimals ; and calling the Ovum an Uterus expoftu^ , forafmuch as it 
minifters aliment to ihtfcetm of thofe that are commonly calS'd O- 
viparou^, in like manner as the Womb doth in the Viviparous. 
Treadng 
