page_title: A History of British Birds
section_title: Water birds
hierarchical_section_title: A History of British Birds / Outline / Water birds
caption_attribution_description: English: Woodcut by Thomas Bewick in History of British Birds 1797-1804
context_page_description: A History of British Birds is a natural history book by Thomas Bewick, published in two volumes. Volume 1, Land Birds, appeared in 1797. Volume 2, Water Birds, appeared in 1804. A supplement was published in 1821. The text in Land Birds was written by Ralph Beilby, while Bewick took over the text for the second volume. The book is admired mainly for the beauty and clarity of Bewick's wood-engravings, which are widely considered his finest work, and among the finest in that medium.
  British Birds has been compared to works of poetry and literature. It plays a recurring role in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre. William Wordsworth praised Bewick in the first lines of his poem "The Two Thieves": "Oh now that the genius of Bewick were mine, And the skill which he learned on the banks of the Tyne."
  The book was effectively the first "field guide" for non-specialists. Bewick provides an accurate illustration of each species, from life if possible, or from skins. The common and scientific name are listed, citing the naming authorities. The bird is described, with its distribution and behaviour, often with extensive quotations from printed sources or correspondents.
context_section_description: 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 1847 edition is organized as follows:
  Of the Oyster Catcher
  Of the Plover
  Of the Heron
  Of the Avoset (1 sp.)
  Of the Spoonbill (1 sp.)
  Of the Ibis (1 sp.)
  Of the Curlew
  Of the Sandpiper
  Of the Godwit
  Of the Snipe
  Of the Rail
  Of the Gallinule
  Of the Coot
  Of the Phalarope
  Of the Grebes
  Of the Terns
  Of the Gull
  Of the Predatory Gulls (the skuas)
  Of the Petrel
  Of the Anas (ducks, geese and swans)
  Of the Mergus (sawbill ducks)
  Of the Cormorant
  Of the Gannet (1 sp.)
  Of the Divers
  Of the Guillemot
  Of the Auk
  Foreign Birds
  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'.
caption: Bird's eggs from sea-cliffs: uncaptioned tail-piece in Volume 2: Water Birds. Bewick has chosen a seabird theme, but humans are closely involved, and the birds are a useful resource.
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