ORNITHOLOGY. 703 
the moil important particulars with precision and neat- 
nefs, and concluding with an account of peculiar habits. 
Ray, in his Synopfis Avium, follows, with a few ex¬ 
ceptions, the method of his friend, referring at the fame 
time to the tail-feathers, and fome parts of the internal 
conformation. The latter, we need fcarcely remark, can¬ 
not with any propriety be adopted as generic or fpecific 
characters. 
The new method of claffing birds propofed by Mon- 
fieur Barrere in 1745, implies either a total ignorance or 
blamable negleCf of the writings of Willoughby and 
Ray. As its only tendency was to confufe and perplex, 
we forbear noticing its details. Suffice it to remark, that 
it includes the peacock and man-of-war bird in the fame 
family, and ranks the yellow-hammer between the buftard 
and the oftrich. In his-Effay on the Natural Hiftory of 
Guiana, the fame author enumerates the birds in alpha¬ 
betical order; but his catalogue has been more than 
doubled by fubfequent travellers. 
Jacob Theodore Klein, member of feveral learned aca¬ 
demies, publilhed at Lubeck, in 1750, a quarto volume, 
entitled u Hiftorise Avium Prodromus, cum Prasfatione 
de Ordine Animalium in genere.” In this work he di¬ 
vides birds into families, orders, and tribes. His eight 
families are diftinguiflied by the conformation of the feet; 
his orders by the form of the bill ; and his tribes, fome- 
times by the form and proportions of the head, fometimes 
by accidental differences of the bill, and fometimes by the 
•author’s own fanciful ideas. From too great an anxiety 
to Amplify, this naturalift is generally too brief, and adds 
to his obfcurity by an affedlation of learned phrafeology. 
This laft-mentioned quality likewife disfigures the 
fcientific catalogue of Mashring, phyfician to the prince 
of Anhalt, which appeared in 1752. His claffes, orders, 
and genera, are founded on the formation of the feet and 
bill; and his defcriptions of birds examined by himfelf 
are ufually accurate ; but he is often milled by the errors 
of others, and the method which he propofes is complex 
and incommodious. 
In this fummary of celebrated fyftematic ornithologifts, 
we may affign to Linnaeus the date of 1766, when he pub¬ 
lilhed the twelfth edition of his Syltema Naturae. In fo 
far as that aftonifhing body of arrangement refpefts the 
feathered tribes, it certainly manifefts at once the extent 
and minutenefs of the author's difcriminating powers. 
As the fame nomenclature and divifions, fomewhat im¬ 
proved by Gnielin in the 13th edition of the Syftema, 
publilhed (after Linnaeus’s death) in 1788, are followed 
in this work, and will be given in the fequel, we need not 
give any explanation of it at prefent. 
Monfi Salerne, a phyfician at Orleans, left behind him 
a MS. treatife on Ornithology, which was publilhed by 
his friends in 1767. His method is that of Ray. The 
hiftorical part is from the pen of Salerne himfelf; but the 
body of the text is a promifcuous and clumfy compila¬ 
tion. The typography is executed with neatnefs and 
elegance; and the plates, which are thirty-one in num¬ 
ber, are engraved with uncommon Ikill 5 though the 
larger birds are for the molt part reprefented on too fmall 
a fcale. 
M. Briffon, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, pub¬ 
lilhed, in 1760, A Syftem of Ornithology, in Latin 
and French, in fix quarto volumes. He diltributes birds 
into 26 orders, inftituted from the form of the feet, bill, 
&c. 115 genera, which are determined by the peculiari¬ 
ties of the bill or mandibles, and about 1300 fpecies. 
Each article is preceded by a numerous and accurate lilt 
of references and figures; many fpecies, till then unde- 
fcribed, are particularized ; and the work is illultrated by 
•upwards of 220 excellent engravings. The principal me¬ 
rit of Briffon’s plan confilts in the adoption of external 
and permanent characters, which enable the Itudent to 
affign the name and ftation of a bird which he fees for the 
ffrit time. The defcriptions are equally accurate with 
thofe of Willoughby, and more copious. Though not 
exempt from errors and defeats, this work ltill holds a 
refpedtable rank in the library of the ornithologill. 
The Natural Hiftory of Birds, by the Comte de Buf- 
fon and his learned affociates, is too generally known to 
require our analyfis or criticifm. Its great defeat is want 
of fcientific arrangement, a want which is fcarcely re¬ 
deemed even by the popular, luminous, and elegant, ftyle 
of the defcriptions, combined with the highly-finilhed 
execution of the coloured plates. With the exception, 
however, to which we have juft alluded, we feel no hefi- 
tation in adopting the language of the Englilh tranfla- 
tor. “ The hiftory of birds poffeffes every quality that 
could recommend it to the public s it exhibits a clear and 
comprehenfive view of the knowledge acquired in orni¬ 
thology, fcattered through a multiplicity of volumes, and 
in various languages 5 it difcufles and elucidates with cri¬ 
tical accuracy the numerous controverted points; it re¬ 
duces the whole to fimplicity, order, and elegance; and, 
by large additions of valuable matter, it greatly extends 
the bounds of the fcience.” Although the whole work 
commonly goes under the name of Buffon, he derived 
very important aid from friends and affiftants. The cor- 
refpondents of the king’s cabinet tranfmitted inceffant 
communications and fpecimens from all parts of the 
world. Above eighty artifts were, under the direftion of 
the younger M. Daubenton, employed five years in the 
drawing, engraving, and colouring, of upwards of a 
thoufand birds. But the commencement of the work 
which thefe were intended to illuftrate was delayed two 
years, by reafon of a fevere and tedious indifpofition, 
which affli< 5 ted the excellent naturalift : and, after he had 
recovered his health, he refle£ted that, at his advanced 
period of life, he could not .reafonably expeft to be able to 
accomplilh the hiftory of birds, and alio that of mine¬ 
rals, in which he had already made fome advances. He 
judged it expedient, therefore, to have recourfe to a co¬ 
adjutor; arnd he was peculiarly fortunate in the choice of 
the learned and eloquent M. Gueneau de Montbeillard, 
who cheerfully undertook the laborious talk, and com- 
pofed the greateft part of the two firft volumes of the Hif¬ 
tory of Birds, which appeared in 1771, under the name 
however of M. de Buffon. In his complexion of thought 
and mode of expreffion, M. de Montbeillard followed fo 
clofely his illuftrious affociate, that the public could not 
perceive any change. It was now proper to throw off the 
malk ; and, in the publication of the four fubfequent vo¬ 
lumes, each author prefixed his name to his own articles. 
The third volume was nearly printed when new affiftance 
was received from the communications of James Bruce, 
efq. of Kinnaird. That accomplilhed and adventurous 
traveller, in his return from Abyflinia, paffed fome days 
with M. de Buffon at Paris. The count was filled with 
admiration on feeing the numerous and elegant drawings 
which Mr. Bruce had made of natural objects 5 and, on 
feveral occafions, he mentions the explorer of the fource 
of the Nile in terms the molt flattering and refpeftful. 
After the publication of the fixth volume, in 1781, M. de 
Montbeillard was defirous of devoting the whole of his 
leifure in cumpufing the Hiflory of Infects, which had be¬ 
come his favourite ftudy. The three remaining volumes 
were therefore written by M. de Buffon himfelf; though 
he acknowledges that the Abbe Bexon had collected the 
nomenclature, formed molt of the defcriptions, and com¬ 
municated feveral important hints. The work was com¬ 
pleted in 1783 ; and, as only a few copies of the coloured 
plates were on file, and thefe extremely coftly, a fmall 
let of engravings was made, to accommodate ordinary 
purchafers. 
Sonnini’s recent edition of Buffon’s Natural Hiftory 
contains many valuable additions; and forms, perhaps, 
one of the moft complete works of the kind that has yet 
appeared. In the department of ornithology, it prefents 
U3 with defcriptions and figures of every bird to which 
the 
