2 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
founder of modern zoology. He edited the famous Ornithology,
the work of his friend Willoughby, and later translated it from
Latin into English. This contained a list of English birds.
In spite of the appearance of such works as Albin's Natural
History of Birds from 1731-38, G. Edwards' Natural History of
Birds, and Gleanings from 1743-64, Pennant's British Zoology
in 1766, Berkenhout's Outlines of the Natural History of Great
Britain and Ireland from 1769-71 and Hayes' Natural History
of British Birds in 1775, ornithology progressed slowly until
about the beginning of the nineteenth century. From this time,
probably as the result of the stimulus given by two famous works,
Gilbert White's Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne,
published in 1789, and T. Bewick's History of British Birds,
published in 1797-1804, the study gripped the mind of the
people and made rapid strides. By reason of its scarcity in-
formation relating to British ornithology prior to this time
possesses a heightened value. Scraps of knowledge, which under
different circumstances would have been disregarded, are
prized and valued. We regard eagerly any matter which
relates to what may be described as pre-ornithology. It permits
us to have a glance, a fleeting glimpse, behind the veil, so that
we may draw to our minds an image of the ornithology of earlier
days. Such information, which is the subject of this paper, has
come to us at times fortuitously, but much is the result of
organised search and has been derived from sources with a wide
variation of date and nature. Some of the facts with which we
have to deal are not only pre-ornithological but pre-historical.
The value and nature of these ancient records vary considerably;
in some cases the evidence is direct but more often it is inferential
and frequently indefinite. Although the book is not confined
to British ornithology, yet J. H. Gurney's Early Annals of Or-
nithology may be used to give examples of the sources from
which we have obtained such ornithological data. As examples
of pre-historic sources may be mentioned the remains, which
include the bones of the Great Auk, Razorbill, Guillemot, Cor-
morant, Shag, Swan, Wild Goose, Merganser, Gull, Tern and
Water-Rail, found in the Mesolithic shell-mound of Oransay.
A source of another type, although I have no knowledge that
anything of this nature has been found in Britain, is the drawings
of birds found in caves in Spain. Most of the information on