A reprint of a classical work in the Cambridge Library Collection.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-88), was a French mathematician who was considered one of the leading naturalists of the Enlightenment. An acquaintance of Voltaire and other intellectuals, he worked as Keeper at the Jardin du Roi from 1739, and this inspired him to research and publish a vast encyclopaedia and survey of natural history, the ground-breaking Histoire Naturelle, which he published in forty-four volumes between 1749 and 1804.
These volumes, first published between 1770 and 1783 and translated into English in 1793, contain Buffon's survey and descriptions of birds from the Histoire Naturelle. Based on recorded observations of birds both in France and in other countries, these volumes provide detailed descriptions of various bird species, their habitats and behaviours and were the first publications to present a comprehensive account of eighteenth-century ornithology.
Volume 1: Preface; 1. On the nature of birds; 2. Explanation of technical terms; Birds of Prey: 4. The eagles; 5. The golden eagle; 6. The ring-tail eagle; 7. The rough-footed eagle; 8. The erne; 9. The osprey; 10. The sea-eagle; 11. The white john; 12. The vultures; 13. The alpine vulture; 14. The fulvous vulture; 15. The cinereous vulture; 16. The hare vulture; 17. The ash-coloured vulture; 18. The condor; 19. The kite and the buzzards; 20. The buzzard; 21. The honey buzzard; 22. The bird Saint Martin; 23. The soubuse; 24. The harpy; 25. The moor buzzard; 26. The sparrow-hawk; 27. The gos-hawk; 28. The jer-falcon; 29. The lanner; 30. The sacre; 31. The common falcon; 32. The hobby; 33. The kestrel; 34. The stone-falcon; 35. The merlin; 36. The shrikes; 37. The great cinereous shrike; 38. The woodchat; 39. The red-backed shrike; 40. The nocturnal birds of prey; 41. The great-eared owl; 42. The long-eared owl; 43. The scops-eared owl; 44. The aluco owl; 45. The tawny owl; 46. The #white owl; 47. The brown owl; 48. The little owl; 49. Birds which have not the power of flying; 50. The ostrich; 51. The touyou; 52. The galeated cassowary; 53. The hooded dodo; 54. The solitary dodo, and Nazarene dodo. Volume 2: 1. Great bustard; 2. Little bustard; 3. The cock; 4. The turkey; 5. The guinea pintado; 5. The wood grouse; 6. The black grouse; 7. The black grouse; 8. Broad-tailed black grouse; 9. The black grouse with variable plumage; 10. The hazel grouse; 11. The scotch hazel grouse; 12. The pin-tailed grouse; 13. The red grouse; 14. The white attagas; 15. The ptarmigan; 16. Hudson's-bay ptarmigan; 17. The peacock; 18. The common pheasant; 19. The hoccos; 20. The partridge; 21. The red partridge; 22. The quail; 23. The pigeon domestica; 24. The ring pigeon; 25. The common turtle. Volume 3: 1. The red-legged crow; 2. The hermit crow; 3. The raven; 4. The jackdaws; 5. The alpine daw; 6. The magpie; 7. The jay; 8. The nutcracker; 9. The rollers; 10. The Chinese roll; 11. The grivert, or Cayenne rolle; 12. The garrulous roller; 13. Variety of rollers; 14. The greater bird of paradise; 15. The manucode; 16. The magnificent bird of paradise; 17. The black manucode of New Guinea, called the superb; 18. The sifilet, or manucode with six filaments; 19. The calybe of New Guinea; 20. The ox-pecker; 21. The common stare; 22. Varieties of the stare; 23. The troupiales; 24. The troupiale; 25. The aeolchi of Seba; 26. The ring-tailed oriole; 27. The japacani; 28. The xochotol and the costotol; 29. The tocolin; 30. The commander; 31. The black troupiale; 32. The little black troupiale; 33. The black-capped troupiale; 34. The spotted troupiale of Cayenne; 35. The olive troupiale of Cayenne; 36. The weaver oriole; 37. The whistler; 38. The baltimore; 39. The bastard baltimore; 40. The yellow caffique of Brazil, or the yapou; 41. Variety of the yapou; 42. The carouge; 43. The lesser bonana; 44. The yellow-headed oriole; 45. The olive carouge of Louisiana; 46. The kink; 47. The loriot; 48. Varieties of the loriot; 49. The thrushes; 50. The throstle; 51. Variety of the missel thrush; 52. The fieldfare; 53. Variety of the fieldfare; 54. The mocking birds; 55. The blackbird; 56. The ring ouzel; 57. Varieties of the ring ouzel; 58. The rose-coloured ouzel; 59. The rock blackbird; 60. The blue ouzel; 61. The solitary ouzel; 60. The grisin of Cayenne; 61. The verdin of Cochin China; 62. The azurin; 63. The short tail; 64. The mainate of the East-Indies; 65. The goulin; 66. The paradise Grakle; 67. The chatterer; 68. The grosbeak; 69. The crossbill; 70. The house sparrow; 71. The tree sparrow; 72. The ring sparrow. Volume 4: 1. The canary finch; 2. The habesh of Syria; 3. The linnet; 4. The minister; 5. The bengals, and the senegals; 6. The chaffinch; 7. The brambling; 8. The widows; 9. The greenfinch; 10. The goldfinch; 11. The lesser redpoll; 12. The siskin; 13. The tanagres; 14. Th