Each species entry begins on a new page; any spaces at the ends of entries are filled with tail-pieces, small, often humorous woodcuts of country life. British Birds remains in print, and has attracted the attention of authors such as Jenny Uglow. Critics note Bewick's skill as a naturalist as well as an engraver.
The preface states that "while one of the editors [ Thomas Bewick ] of this work was engaged in preparing the cuts, which are faithfully drawn from Nature, and engraved upon wood , the compilation of the descriptions.. Bewick's friend and his wife's godfather Thomas Hornby heard of this, and informed Bewick. An informal trade panel met to judge the matter, and the preface was the result; and Beilby's name did not appear on the title page. Each species of bird is presented in a few pages generally between two and four; occasionally, as with the mallard or "Common Wild Duck", a few more.
First is a woodcut of the bird, always either perched or standing on the ground, even in the case of water birds — such as the smew — that as winter visitors do not nest in Britain, and consequently are rarely seen away from water there.
The text begins by stating the size of the bird. Bewick then describes the bird, typically in one paragraph, naming any notable features such as the colour of the eyes " irides " , the bill, the legs, and plumage on each part of the body. Next, the origin and distribution of the species are discussed, with notes or quotations from authorities such as John Ray , Gilbert White and Buffon.
Bewick then mentions any other facts of interest about the bird; in the case of the musk duck, this concerns its "musky smell, which arises from the liquor secreted in the glands on the rump". If the bird hybridizes with other species, this is described, along with whether the hybrids are fertile "productive".
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Finally, Bewick acknowledges anyone who helped. The musk duck is stated to have been drawn from a "living specimen" which was however "excepting the head, entirely white", unlike the "general appearance" shown in the woodcut; the bird "was lent to this work by William Losh , Esq. Losh, one of Bewick's many collaborators, was a wealthy partner in Losh, Wilson and Bell , manufacturers of chemicals and iron.
For example, for the Sabine's snipe, "The author was favoured by N.
A History of British Birds - Wikipedia
The grouping of species gave Bewick difficulty, [12] as the scientific sources of the time did not agree on how to arrange the species in families, or on a sequence or grouping of those families. Bewick for example uses family groups like "Of the Falcon", in which he includes buzzards and sparrowhawks as well as what are now called falcons. The families of land birds are further grouped into birds of prey, omnivorous birds, insectivorous birds, and granivorous birds, while the families of water birds are simply listed, with what seemed to be related families, such as "Of the Anas" ducks and "Of the Mergus" sawbill ducks , side by side.
In this way the book takes the form of, and sets a precedent for, modern field guides. Each account is closed with a miniature woodcut known from its position in the text as a tail-piece.
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The tail-piece for Sabine's snipe, a gamebird , shows a hunter firing, and a small bird falling to the ground. There is no exclusion of human life from the images: The first volume "containing the History and Description of Land Birds" begins with a preface, an introduction, and a list of technical terms illustrated with Bewick's woodcuts.
In no part of the animal creation are the wisdom, the goodness, and the bounty of Providence displayed in a more lively manner than in the structure, formation, and various endowments of the feathered tribes. The birds are divided into granivorous grain eating and carnivorous groups, which are explained in some detail. The speed, senses, flight, migration , pairing behaviour and feeding of birds are then discussed, with observations from Spallanzani and Gilbert White , whose Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne was published in The pleasure of watching birds is mentioned:.
To the practical ornithologist there arises a considerable gratification in being able to ascertain the distinguishing characters of birds as they appear at a distance, whether at rest, or during their flight; for not only every genus has something peculiar to itself, but each species has its own appropriate marks, by which a judicious observer may discriminate almost with certainty. Bewick also mentions conservation , in the context of the probable local extinction of a valuable resource:. The edition, revised with additional woodcuts and descriptions, is organized as follows, with the species grouped into families such as the shrikes:.
The second volume "containing the History and Description of Water Birds" begins with its own preface, and its own introduction.
Bewick discusses the question of where many seabirds go to breed, revisits the subject of migration, and concludes with reflections on "an all-wise Providence" as shown in Nature. The edition is organized as follows: The 'foreign birds' are not grouped but just listed directly as species, from Bearded Vulture to Mino. Fifteen birds are included, with no description, and despite their placement in the table of contents, they appear at the front of the volume as an 'Appendix'.
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In , the British Critic wrote that it was "superfluous to expatiate much on the merits of a work" that everyone liked because of "the aptness of its descriptions, the accuracy of its figures, the spirit of its wood engravings, and the ingenious variety of its vignettes. Ibis , reviewing the Memoir of Thomas Bewick, written by himself in , compares the effect of Bewick and Gilbert White, writing "It was the pages of Gilbert White and the woodcuts of Bewick which first beguiled the English schoolboy to the observation of our feathered friends", and "how few of our living naturalists but must gratefully acknowledge their early debt to White's 'History' and to the life-like woodcuts of Bewick!
White was what Bewick never was, a man of science; but, if no naturalist, Bewick was a lover of nature, a careful observer, and a faithful copier of her ever-varying forms. In this, and in this alone, lies his charm. British Birds , reviewing a "lavishly illustrated" British Library book on Bewick, writes that "No ornithologist will ever regard Thomas Bewick, known primarily for The History of British Birds — , as a naturalist of the same standing as contemporaries such as Edward Donovan , John Latham and James Bolton ", noting however that Bewick helped to define "a certain English Romantic sensibility".
More directly, the review notes that "Bewick was aware that his role was to offer a modest guide to birds that the common man not only could afford but would also want to possess. The book's text was written by "failed author" Ralph Beilby, but the text is "almost extraneous" given Bewick's masterpiece. The Tate Gallery writes that Bewick's " best illustrations The History of British Birds 2 vols, Newcastle upon Tyne, — reveals Bewick's gifts as a naturalist as well as an engraver the artist was responsible for the text as well as the illustrations in the second volume.
In later years these miniature scenes came to be more highly regarded than the figures they accompany. Dissenting from the general tone of praise for Bewick, Jacob Kainen cites claims that "many of the best tailpieces in the History of British birds were drawn by Robert Johnson", and that "the greater number of those contained in the second volume were engraved by Clennell.
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Granted that the outlook and the engraving style were Bewick's, and that these were notable contributions, the fact that the results were so close to his own points more to an effective method of illustration than to the outpourings of genius. The Linnean Society writes that the History "shows that he was also an excellent naturalist, a meticulous observer of birds and animals in their habitats.
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The University of Maryland writes that "The Birds is specific to those species indigenous to Britain and is incredibly accurate due to Bewick's personal knowledge of the habits of birds in the wild acquired during his frequent bird-watching expeditions. Jenny Uglow , writing in The Guardian , notes that "An added delight was the way he filled the blank spaces with 'tail-pieces', tiny, witty, vivid scenes of ordinary life.
To Bewick, nature was the source of joy, challenge and perpetual consolation. In his woodcuts of birds and animals as well as his brilliant tail-pieces, we can still feel this today. Hilary Spurling, reviewing Uglow's biography of Bewick in The Observer , writes that when Birds appeared, people all over Britain "became his pupils". Spurling cites Charles Kingsley 's story of his father's hunting friends from the New Forest mocking him for buying "a book 'about dicky-birds", until, astonished, they saw the book and discovered "things they had known all their lives and never even noticed".
John Brewer, writing in the London Review of Books , says that for his Birds , "Bewick had acquired national renown as the artist who most truthfully depicted the flora and fauna of the British countryside.
His engravings of British birds, which represent his work at its finest, are almost all rendered with the precision of the ornithologist: Thus the ploughboy in the distant field pulls our gaze past the yellow wagtail John Reed throws the History of British Birds at Jane when she is ten; Jane uses the book as a place to which to escape, away from the painful Reed household; and Jane also bases her artwork on Bewick's illustrations.
Jane and Mr Rochester use bird names for each other, including linnet , dove , skylark , eagle , and falcon. Mr Geoff Ward rated it really liked it Nov 03, John Moore rated it liked it Mar 06, Debbie Poston rated it liked it Aug 25, Denise rated it really liked it Mar 23, Levent Mollamustafaoglu rated it liked it Aug 30, Mary Tutor rated it it was amazing Jun 17, Nolan Nissen rated it it was amazing Dec 07, JD Brigance rated it really liked it Sep 30, Merrie rated it really liked it Nov 21, Steve Closs rated it it was amazing Jul 29, Mrs Stephanie Addie rated it liked it Mar 26, Brian Williams rated it liked it Feb 19, Benedetto rated it liked it Oct 08, Tmoerlein rated it it was amazing Mar 14, Wayne M Danis rated it really liked it Jan 23, Dragan rated it it was amazing Dec 05, Donna Ferrara rated it it was amazing Aug 29, Carol rated it liked it Oct 02, Kathy Wilson rated it liked it Apr 15, Tim Eviston rated it really liked it Dec 01, Ben Tucker rated it it was amazing Jun 26, Bestboy rated it it was amazing Nov 01, Tristan rated it it was amazing Nov 05, Robin Dilks rated it it was amazing Jul 13, Wolf Ladyhawk rated it liked it Oct 03, Sarah Bailey rated it it was ok Mar 01, Stacy rated it liked it Jan 18, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
In light of Hume's central role in the Scottish Enlightenment, and in the history of Western philosophy, Bryan Magee judged him as a philosopher "widely regarded as the greatest who has ever written in the English language. He wrote The History of England which became a bestseller, and it became the standard history of England in its day.
His empirical approach places him with John Locke, George Berkeley, and a handful of others at the time as a British Empiricist. Beginning with his A Treatise of Human Nature , Hume strove to create a total naturalistic "science of man" that examined the psychological basis of human nature.