INTRO DU CTION, 
The following wbrk is fubmitted to the judgment of a candid public, with that diffidence, which 
is natural to the human mind, confcious of its imperfe£lion ; but not without a certain portion of 
flattering expe£lation in its fuccefs. The plan, on which it is formed, is, in many refpefts original, 
and is calculated to fupply thofe defefts Which have been fo proihitient in other fyftems of ornitho- 
logy. The work is publilhed in numbers, of which each contains three plates, four and five birds 
alternately, with their neft and eggs. All the biirds; which the plate can admit, are reprefented as 
large as life, and copied with a minute and fcrupulous accuracy from the original paintings, exe- 
cuted by the author, and now in his pofleffion. Delineations of nature, fo exa£l and faithful, will 
fuperfede the neceffity of laboured and voluminous defcription. Hence, under each portrait is given 
a fimple and concife natural hillory of the lineage, chara£ler, and property of each birdi 
This difpofition, it is obvious to remark, holds out confiderable advantages • for the piflure being 
prefented to the eye, and a (hort philofophical explanation of the fubjeft being annexed, the me- 
mory retains it without much application, and without the labour of that reading which muft be en- 
countered to digeft the excellent treatifes of an Ariftotle, a BufTon, a Derham, a Ray, a Briffon, and 
a Pennant ; writers, whofe deep refearches into the operations of nature, have improved fcience, and 
have widely diffufed the knowledge of animal life. In former works of this kind, the defcription has 
been tedious and elaborate, while the portraits have been inconfiderable, and thinly fcattered. 
But here, to an accurate account is prefixed, an exaft delineation of every bird, which of itfelf pro- 
duces a perfeft pifture ; and each number having no communication nor dependance upon that which 
precedes, and that which is to follow, muft be eiteemed intrinfically completed and finilhed. Ob- 
jeflions may, perhaps, be made to the brilliancy of the colouring, but let it be obferved (and let 
the reader carry this obfervation with him through the work) that the author always draws the bird 
at that particular period, when the plumage is in its full luflre ; a dircumftance which does not take 
place before the third year, and is chiefly confpicuous in the breeding feafon. 
Such are the outlines of that Oecumenical Hiftory of Britilh Birds, to which the Author now 
foliciu the attention of the public : an hiftory which men of tafte, and all the lovers of natural 
fcience have long and eagerly wilhed to behold. From the reprefentation of its originality and ufe- 
fulnefs thus briefly ftated, fliall he be pardoned if he prefumes to indulge an ardent hope of 
patronage 
