XV111 
P II E F A C E. 
of London, which may ferve as a Standard to refer to and compare with, to try the 
SC ruth of the Colouring , in cafe the Plates Jhould outlive me, and any Jhould quefion 
the Authority of the Colouring . I had thought when I firf fet out on this Work to 
have graved One hundred Plates of new Birds, but found I was under a necejfity to 
leave off at Fifty, not being able to procure any more but fuch as have been defcribed by 
many others. Seeing it is now known that I have done ithefe, and am willing to go on, 
if 1 can procure any more of curious Gentlemen, 1 hope fuch Gentlemen ofFafie this way, 
who have at any time Birds new and curious, will pleafe to give me notice , that I may 
wait on them to take Drawings, which Favours I fhall always gratefully acknowledge. 
It is now my Duty to acknowledge, with all poffble Gratitude, the Affftance I have 
received from many curious Gentlemen, and give my publick Fhanks in general for the 
many and great Favours I have received from thefe my honourable and worthy Patrons 
and Friends, who from time to time have given me free Accefs to their Houfes, and in- 
t rufie d me in their Cabinets of Curiofities, and have oftentimes lent me very valuable and 
curious Fhings in order to forward me in my Purfuits: Yet in the Courfe of thefe De¬ 
fer iptions I for my own Reputation [in order to prove the Being of the Birds here repre- 
fented) have mentioned the Names in particular of my Patrons, Friends, and others, 
who were the Poffeffors of thefe Fhings, that I might have no Opportunity to impofe 
Faljhood on the World, without being contradicted by living WitneJJ'es » 
I have made the Drawings of thefe Birds direCtly from Nature, and have, for Va¬ 
riety's Sake, given them as many different Furns and Attitudes as I could invent: Fhis 
I chofe the rather to do, becaufe I know great Complaint hath been made, that a late 
Writer on Birds had given his Birds no variety of Pofiure, but that they were direSi 
Profiles fianding in the fame Pofition, which famenefs is difagreeable. I obferved alfo 
in his Frees, Stumps, and Grounds, a poornefs of Invention j therefore to amend that 
Part in mine, I have taken the Counfel and Affiance of fome Painters my particular 
Friends, in order to make the Work not only as natural and agreeable as I could in the 
fubjeCl Matter, but to decorate the Birds with airy Grounds, having fome little Inven¬ 
tion in them: Fhe better to fet off the whole, I have in a few Plates, where the Birds 
were very fin all, addedfeme foreign InfeCls to fill up the naked Spaces in the Plates ; 
thefe 
