HAYES] 
BRITISH ORNITHOLOGY 
287 
we learn that he had been for some time in great distress, as 
his income scarcely ever exceeded £90 per annum, while he 
had had to support twenty-one children, ten of whom were 
then living. Hayes tells us in the Advt. above referred to 
that the drawings from the Osterley Menagerie (Child’s, the 
banker’s) “ were made under the patronage of the late 
Robert Child, Esq., and honoured with a place in his library, 
at Upton in Warwickshire,” that the publication was to 
provide for his family in the event of his death, and as an 
advertisement of their talents ; and that the drawings were 
the work of himself and seven of his pupils ( i.e . children). 
His Natural History of British Birds would, however, be 
entirely his own work. It comprises only a selection of 
47 species, mostly the brighter plumaged ones, and these 
include several non-indigenous, such as pheasants, etc. 
Coues said of it, “ His text is worthless. The plates are far 
from being as bad as some I have seen.” He gives the 
number of plates as 47, but this is an error. 
The Osterley Menagerie contains some interesting records 
of British birds, notably the Great Bustard, described as 
frequently met with on Salisbury Plain, “ sometimes in 
troups of fifty or more,” and the Spoonbill, of which “ a 
whole flock was seen in the marshes near Yarmouth, in the 
month of April, 1774.” 
[1771 ?]— 1775. A | Natural History | of | British Birds, | &c. | With their f 
Portraits | Accurately drawn, and beautifully coloured from 
Nature, | By Mr. Hayes. | London : | Printed for S. Hooper, No. 
25, Ludgate-Ilill, | m.dcc.lxxv. 
Collation — 1 vol. imp. fol. pp. 2 un. +pp. 24, with 40 pi. (fig. 47 
birds). Appears to have been published in parts, 1771-75. 
*1782. Bare | and | Curious Birds. | Accurately Drawn and Beautifully 
Coloured, | from | Specimens in the Menagery, | at | Osterley 
Park. | By | W. Hayes, and Family. | 1782. 
Collation — 1 vol. folio, 66 col. pi. with names and title-page 
in MS. and sigs. W. & A. Hayes. (In Libr. Zool. Soc.) 
*1794. Portraits | of | Bare and Curious Birds, | with their | descriptions, 
| from the | Menagery of Osterley Park, | in the county of 
Middlesex, | By W. Hayes, and family. | London : | Printed by 
W. Bulmer & Co. | [etc.] | 1794. 
