I know of no _Juncus_ which would answer the description. Professor
Newton reminds me__ that "Junco" was a common name for "a bird that
inhabited reeds," and was loosely applied, some old authors taking
it to be the Reed Thrush (_i.e._, the Great Reed-Warbler of these
days), and others, the Reed-Sparrow or Bunting. But bearing in mind
Browne's practice of referring to Jonston, it seems possible that
the latter's _Junco_ may be here intended, and that, as the figure
(pl. 53) shows, is a small Sandpiper, almost certainly the Dunlin.
It is lettered "Junco Bellonii," but this he must have taken
second-hand from Aldrovandus, since Belon never used the word
"Junco" in this connexion, but called it "Schoeniclus" or
"Alouette-de-mer"--terms rendered _Junco_ by Aldrovandus (iii. p.
487). Charleton took the same view in his "Onomasticon" (p. 108),
published in 1668 (the year assigned as that of this letter),
stating that it was so-called because "in juncis libenter degat,"
and identifying it with the _Alouette-de-mer_ of the French, and
the English "Stint, or Sparr, or Perr." Gilbert White appears to
have thus applied the term (_cf._ "Life" by Rashleigh Holt-White,
i. pp. 186, 194, 250). In one place he says, "No. five is Ray's
_Junco_ and the _Turdus arundinaceus_ of Linn." That "Junco" is the
name of a bird is absolutely certain, but the context, "very white
when fresh," does not seem to admit of explanation.
Also the draught of a sea fowle called a sherewater [_see Note 17_]
billed like a cormorant, feirce & snapping like it upon any touch. I
kept 2 of them aliue 5 weekes cramming them with fish refusing of
themselues to feed on anything & wearied with cramming them they liued
17 dayes without food. They often fly about fishing [ves _crossed out_]
shipps when they cleans their fish & throwe away the offell. so that it
may bee referred to the Lari as Larus niger gutture albido rostro
adunco.
Gossander videtur esse puphini species [_Pinax_, p. 184]. worthy Sr that
wch we call a gossander [_see Note 19_] & is no rare fowle among us is a
large well colourd & marked diuing fowle most answering the [mer
_crossed out_] Merganser. it may bee like the puffin in fattnesse and
[Ranknesse _crossed out_] Ranknesse butt no fowle is I think like the
puffin differenced from all others by a peculiar kind of bill
[_Fol 43 verso._] Barganders [_see Note 18_] not so rare as Turn
[Turner] makes them co[=m]on in Norfolk so abounding in vast & spatious
warrens.
If you haue not yet putt in Larus minor or a sterne [_see Note 13_] it
would not bee omitted, co[=m]on about broad waters and plashes not
farre from the sea.
Haue you a Yarwhelp, Barker, or Latrator [_see Note 39_] a marsh bird
about the bignesse of a Godwitt
Haue you Dentalia [_see Note 83_] which are small vniualue testacea
whereof sometimes wee find some on the seashoare
Haue you putt in nerites another little Testaceum which wee haue [_see
Note 83_].
Haue you an Apiaster a small bird calld a Beebird.[117]
[117] Probably the Spotted Flycatcher is here referred to, the
prefix not being used in a technical sense; it is known here as the
Beam-bird, either of which names may be a corruption of the other.
Another Norfolk name for this bird is the Wall-bird.
Haue you morinellus marinus or the sea Dotterell better colourd then the
other & somewhat lesse [_see Note 28_].
I send you a draught of 2 small birds the bigger called a Chipper or
Betulae Carptor [_see Note 48_] cropping the first sproutings of the
Birch trees & comes early in the spring. The other a very small bird
lesse than the certhya or ox eyecreeper called a whinne bird
I send you the draught of a fish taken sometimes in our seas [_see Note
69_]. pray compare it with Draco minor Johnstoni. this draught was taken
from the fish dried & so the prickly finnes less discernible.
There is a very small kind of smelt [_see Note 71_] butt in shape &
smell like the other taken in good plenty about [wh _crossed out_] Lynne
& called Primmes.
Though Scombri Or Makerells [_see Note 73_] bee a co[=m]on fish yet [in
_crossed out_] our seas afford sometimes strange & large ones as I haue
heard from fishermen & others. & this yeare 1668 one was taken at
Lestoffe an ell long by measure & presented to a Gentleman a friend of
myne.
Musca Tuliparum moschata is a small beelike flye [_see Note 108_] of an
excellent fragrant odour which I haue often found at the bottom of the
flowers of Tuleps.
[_Fol. 44._] In the little box I send a peece of vesicaria or seminaria
marina [yo _crossed out_] cutt of from a good full one found on the sea
shoare [_see Note 91_].
Wee haue [_two or three words smeared out here_] also an eiectment of
the sea very co[=m]on which is fanago [_see Note 91_] whereof some very
large.
I thank you for communicating the account of Thunder & lightening some
strange effects thereof I haue found heere butt this last yeere wee had
litle or no Thunder & lightening. [_No signature._]
No. V.
DR. BROWNE TO MERRETT.
[This letter which was originally printed in the "Posthumous
Works," will be found in MS. Sloane 1911-13, fol. 106, where it
is headed in pencil as addressed to Sir Wm. Dugdale, but it was
restored to its proper place by Wilkin in the 1836 Edition of
the Works, i., p. 404.]
Honoured Sir
[_Fol. 106._] I am sorry I have had [diuersions _above_] of such
necessitie, as to hinder my more sudden salute since I receiued your
last. I thank you for the sight of the _Sperma Ceti_, and such kind of
effects from [Lightning & Thunder _written above_] I have known and
about 4 yeares ago about this towne when I with many others saw
fire-balls fly & go of when they met with resistance, and one carried
away the tiles and boards of a leucomb Window of my owne howse, being
higher then the neighbour howses & breaking agaynst it with a report
like a good canon. I set downe that occurrence in this citty & country,
& haue it somewhere [in _crossed out_] amongst my papers, and fragments
of a woman's hat that was shiuered into pieces of the bignesse of a
groat. I haue still by mee a little of the spermaceti of our whale, as
also the oyle & balsome wch I made with the oyle & spermaceti. Our whale
was worth 500 lib. my Apothecarie got about fiftie pounds in one sale of
a quantitie of sperm [_see Note 51_].
I made enumeration of the excretions of the oake which might bee
obserued in england [_see Note 112_], because I conceived they would bee
most obseruable if you set them downe together, not minding whether
there were any addition by excrementum fungosum vermiculis scatens I
only meant an vsuall excretion, soft & fungous at first & pale &
sometimes couered in part with a fresh red growing close vnto the
sprouts. first full of maggots in little woodden cells which afterwards
turne into little reddish browne or bay flies. of the tubera indica
vermiculis scatentia I send you a peece, they are as bigg as good
Tennis-balls & ligneous.
The little elegant fucus [_see Note 114_] may come in as a difference of
the abies, being somewhat like it, as also unto the 4 corrallium in
Gerard of the sprouts whereof I could never find any sprouts wings Or
leaves as in the abies whether fallen of I knowe not, though I call'd it
icthyorachius or pisciculi spinam referens yet pray do you call it how
you please I send you now the figure of a quercus mar. [inus] or alga
which I found by the seashoare differing from the co[=m]on [_see Note
114_] as being denticulated & in one place there seemes to bee the
beginning of some flower pod or seedvessell.
[_Fol 106. verso._] A draught of the morinellus marinus or sea doterell I
now send you. the bill should not have been so black & the leggs more
red, [_see Note 28_] & [the _crossed out_] a greater eye of dark red in
the feathers of wing and back: it is lesse & differently colourd from
the co[=m]on dotterell, wch [wee haue _crossed out_] cometh to us about
March & September. these sea-dotterells are often shot near the sea.
A yarewhelp or barker [_some words smeared out_] [_see Note 39_] a
marsh-bird the bill 2 inches long the legges about that length the bird
of a brown or russet colour.
That which is knowne by the name of a bee-bird [_see Note 117_] is a
litle dark gray bird I hope to get one for you.
That whch I call'd a betulae carptor & should rather have calld it Alni
carptor [_see Note 48_] whereof I sent a rude draught. it feeds upon
alder [budds mucaments or _written above_] seeds which grow plentifully
heere & they fly in little flocks.
That [calld by some a _written above_] whin-bird is a kind of ox eye
butt the shining yellow spot on the back of the head [_see Note 48_] is
scarce to bee well imitated by a pensill.
I confess for such litle birds I am much unsatisfied on the names giuen
to many by countrymen, and vncertaine what to giue them myself, or to
what classes of authors cleerly to reduce them. surely there are many
found among us whch are not described; & therefore such whch you cannot
well reduce may (if at all) bee set downe after the exacter nomination
of small birds as yet of uncertain classe or knowledge.
I present you with a draught of a water-fowl not co[=m]on & none of our
fowlers can name it [_see_ p. 79 _infra_] the bill could not bee exactly
expressed by a coale or black chalk, whereby the litle incuruitie [at
the end _written above_] of the upper bill & small recurvitie of the
lower is not discerned. the wings are very short, & it is finne footed.
the bill is strong & sharp, if you name it not I am uncertaine what to
call it pray consider this Anatula or mergulus melanoleucus rostro
acuto.
[_Fol. 107._] I send you also the heads of mustela or mergus mustelaris
mas. et faemina [_see Note 21_] called a wesel from some resemblance in
the head especially of the female wch is brown or russet not black &
white like the male. & from their praying quality upon small fish. I
have found small eeles small perches & small muscles in their stomacks.
Have you a sea phaysant [_see Note 22_] so co[=m]only calld from
resemblance of an hen phaisant in the head & eyes & spotted marks on the
wings & back. & wth a small bluish flat bill, tayle longer than other
ducks, long winges crossing over the tayle like those of a long winged
hawke.
Have you taken notice of a breed of porci solidi pedes.[118] I first
obserued them above xx yeares ago & they are still among us. [See also
p. 80 _infra_.]
[118] Mr. Darwin writes ("Anim. and Plants under Domestication,"
i., p. 78), that from the time of Aristotle to the present day,
Solid-hoofed Swine have been occasionally observed in various parts
of the world. Dr. Coues also says that this variety seems to be
persistent in a Texas breed. See also Professor Struthers in the
"Edin. New Phil. Journal," April, 1863. The two distal phalanges of
the two great toes, both front and back, in the examples described
by Professor Struthers, were joined together, forming a single
hoof-bearing bone. The next two phalanges were separate, and
sometimes kept widely apart from each other by the introduction of
a special ossicle. I have been told that about the year 1827, a
breed of solid-footed swine existed at or near Upwell. By some it
was thought that their flesh was not good for food because they
were "uncloven." Dr. Wren, in a note to Browne's _Pseudodoxia_
(book vi., chap. x.), says, "About Aug., 1625, at a farm 4 miles
from Winchester, I beheld with wonder a great heard of swine,
whole-footed, and taller than any other that ever I sawe."
Our nerites or neritae are litle ones [_see Note 83_].
I queried whether you had dentalia [_see Note 83_] becaus probably you
might haue met with them in england. I neuer found any on our shoare
butt one brought mee a few small ones with smooth with [_sic_] small
shells from the shoare. I shall inquire further after them.
Urtica marina minor Johnst. tab. xviii. [_see Note 90_] haue found more
than once by the sea side.
The hobby and the merlin would not bee omitted among hawkes the first
coming to us in the spring the other about the autumn. Beside the ospray
wee have a larger kind of agle, calld an erne [_see Note 3_]. I haue had
many of them.
Worthy deare Sr, if I can do anything farther wch may bee seruiceable
unto you you shall ever readily co[=m]and my endeauours; who am, Sr,
Your humble & very respectfull seruant,
THO. BROWNE.
_Febr 6 [1668-9.]_
_Norwich._
No. VI.
[MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. MS. SLOANE 1847, FOL. 198.]
[This volume contains a Miscellaneous collection, mostly letters
to his son Edward, and some to "Tom." The following (as all in
the volume) is on letter-sized paper, 7-1/2 x 6 in.]
Worthy Sr
[_Fol. 198._] Though I writ vnto you last monday. yet hauing omitted
some few things wch I thought to have mentioned I am bold to giue you
this trouble so soone agayne haue you putt in a sea fish calld a bleak
[_see Note 74_] a fish like an herring often taken with us and eat butt
a more lanck & thinne & drye fish.
The wild swanne or elk [_see Note 8_] would not bee omitted, [here
_crossed out_] being co[=m]on in hard winters & differenced from [the
_crossed out_] our River swanns by the Aspera Arteria. [See also pp. 80
and 83 _infra_.]
Fulica and cotta Anglorum [_see Note 23_] are different birds though
good resemblance between them, so some doubt may bee made whether it bee
to bee made a coote except you set it downe fulica nostras. & cotta
Anglorum I pray consider whether that waterbird whose draught I sent in
the last box & thought it might bee named Anatula or mergulus
melanoleucos may not bee some gallinula. it hath some resemblance with
gallina hypoleucos of Johnst Tab 32 [31] butt myne hath shorter wings by
much & the bill not so long [_Fol. 198 verso_] & slender & shorter leggs
& lesser & so may ether be calld gallina Aquatica hypoleucos nostras or
hypoleucos or melanoleucos Anatula or mergulus nostras.[119]
[119] The "draught" of this bird sent to Merrett is not
forthcoming. Professor Newton has been kind enough to send me the
following note on this puzzling passage. "Jonston's figure (tab.
31) of _Gallina hypoleucos_, to which Browne says it bore some
resemblance, undoubtedly represents what we know as the Common
Sandpiper, _Totanus hypoleucus_ or _Actitis hypoleuca_, the
_Fysterlin_ of the Germans of Jonston's time (p. 160), and
_Fisterlein_ or _Pfisterlein_ of modern days. But there seems to be
some strange confusion that cannot now be cleared, between this
bird and Browne's _Anatula_ or _Mergulus melanoleucos_ [_see_ p. 76
_ante_], of which some years later, he sent a drawing, under the
latter name, to Willughby, in whose work it is described and
figured (Lat. Ed. p. 261, Engl. 343, tab. lix.), for this most
certainly is the Rotche or Little Auk, _Mergulus alle_ of modern
ornithology." In the next letter (p. 81), Browne mentions that he
encloses the draft of "Ralla aquatica" here referred to.
Tis much there should be no Icon of Rallus or Ralla Aquatica I haue a
draught of one & they are found among us
Feb xii 1668.
The vesicaria I sent is like that you mention [_see Note 91_] if not the
same the co[=m]on fanago resembleth the husk of peas this of [Part
_crossed out_] Barly when the flower is mouldred away. [See also p. 89
_infra_, where Merrett aptly compares the latter to the flowers of the
Grape Hyacinth.]
No. VII.
[BIBLIOTHECA BODLEIANA. MS. RAWLINSON D. cviii. SR THO BROWN TO DR.
MERRETT.]
[_Fol. 105._] Sr I craue your pardon for this delayed returne unto your
last, whose courteus acceptance & worthy entertaynment [?] deserued [a
speed _blotted out_] even a speedier reply. The small plant may fitly
come in among the corallines upon the [diff _crossed out_] account of
articulation Icthyorachius [_see Note 114_] I think will bee a good
Diference [?]. whether you will subexpand [?] the word I referre it to
yourself. certhia may best bee vertice aureo [_word blotted out_] or
vertice aureo penicello vix imitando. morinellus marinus [_see Note 28_]
I think rather then Aquaticus becuse it is seen most about the sea
coast. Anas alis oculatis[120] rather then Anser for it is not
altogether so longe as a wild duck. of porci solidipedes [_see Note
118_] there are still in this country in some places. and I am promised
a pigge by a Gentleman that hath still a boar and sow of that kind. I
tooke notice of them 26 years ago & having not lately [met with _crossed
out_] met with any thought the race had been worne out butt I perceue it
is not--they are whole footed in the forfeet & have [only _crossed out_]
a seame only in the hinder. so they are animalia duplici nomine
i[=m]unda. The wild swans or elk [_see Note 8_] in [very _crossed out_]
lasting cold winters are most plentifull. It is larger then the River
swan somewhat gray & of a lowder note & [differenced call _crossed
out_] a recuruation of the Aspera arteria in the sternon as I noted in
the margin long agoe in vulgar errors. the blicca marina [_see Note 74_]
may well be named Harengiformis. [_several words smeared out_] I have
the draught of that an Herring & a pilcher in one paper upon that
account [Fol. 104 _verso_] I belieue [?] you were well informd of the
cotta [_see_ p. 79] & fulica of our Ralla Aquatica I enclose a draught.
[120] Possibly the Pintail, _Dafila acuta_ (Linn.), _see_ p. 77.
Of porci solidipedes there are diuers still in the country in some
places I am promised a pigge by a friend who cherisheth that [new
_crossed out_] breed. I tooke notice of them 26 yeares ago, & hauing not
lately minded them thought they had been worn out butt I perceiue they
are not--some are more plainly wholefooted then others & especially in
the fore feet & in the rest there is no thorough fissure butt at most a
superficiall seame, so they are [No. 3 cap 27 _above_] Quadrupedia
duplici nomine i[=m]unda.
[This last paragraph seems to have been written by way of emendation of
what appears above on the same subject. A photograph of a portion of the
above letter will, by the courtesy of the Bodleian Librarian, be found
as a frontispiece to this volume. Mr. Jenkinson, the Librarian of the
University of Cambridge, and through him, Mr. G. F. Warner and Mr.
Kenyon, of the Department of Manuscripts of the British Museum, have
kindly interested themselves in the transcript of this letter, which was
very difficult to decipher.]
No. VIII.
BIBLIOTHECA BODLEIANA (MS. RAWL. D. cviii.)
[Draft of a letter from Sir Thomas Browne, described in the
Catalogue of the Rawlinson MSS. as to the Secretary of the Royal
Society, but from its contents evidently written to Merrett,
whose letter, dated 8th May, 1669, is in part a reply to it.]
[_Fol 58._] Honord Sr I humbly thank you for your care of my sonnes
paper & the Royll Societie for their acceptance of it. If hee bee in
health I knowe hee is mindfull of their co[=m]ands receiued aboue 2
months ago by a letter from Mr. Oldenburg.[121] I haue not heard from
him of late the last I receiued was from Komorn[R] in Lower Hungary and
hee was then going to the mine countryes. I think the Rowd may bee calld
Rutilus ventre magis compresso[122] w^{ch} is the first discoverable
difference to the eye. The weazelling [_see Note 60_] is as you see in
the draught a long fish figura ad teretem vergente. somewhat of the
shape butt differing in the head from the _mustela viuipara_ of
Schoneueld. butt not lozenged on the back though the back bee much
darker then the other parts. I send you the figure of the head of a
cristated wild duck. it is black blackish [_sic_] in the greater part of
the body some white on the brest & wings blewish legges & bill & seems
to bee of the Latirostrous tribe perhaps you haue it not. it may bee
called _Anas macrolophos_ [Fol. 59] as excelling in that kind.[123]
there is also a draught of one sort of _mergus cristatus_ resembling
that of Aldrovandus or Johnstonus where there is only the figure of the
head only this is also ruffus butt the head sad red.[124] wee haue a
kind of teale which some fowlers call crackling teale from the noyse it
maketh[125] it is almost of the bignesse of a duck coming late of the
yeare & latest going away hath a russet head & neck with a dark yellow
stroak about a quarter of an inch broad from the crowne to the bill
winged like a teale a white streake through the middle of the wings and
edges thereof the tale blackish. it may be calld Querquedula maior
serotina. I send you the figure in litle of a pristis[126] w^{ch} I
receaued from a yarmouth seaman. you may please to compare it w^{th}
yours. the asper you mention is much like our Rough or Aspredo.
[121] Henry Oldenburg (1615-1677) was born at Bremen. Came to
England about 1640, where he remained eight years. In 1653 he was
sent to England from Bremen on a diplomatic mission to Cromwell. He
returned to England a third time in 1660. He was an original Member
of the Royal Society, and became one of its first Secretaries. A
half-length portrait is in the possession of the Royal Society.
[R] A well-known town on the Danube, forty-seven miles west of
Buda-Pesth, probably the Comorra of E. Browne's letter to his
father, _cf._ Wilkin, i., p. 159.
[122] The Rudd (_Leuciscus erythrophthalmus_, Will.) is known in
Norfolk as the Roud. Browne seems to treat it as a variety of the
Roach (_Rutilus_, Willugh.), and Merrett in his second letter
remarks with approval "you have very well named the Rutilus."
[123] _Fuligula cristata_ (Linnaeus), the Tufted Duck.
[124] Professor Newton suggests that Browne intended to write
_Mergus cirratus_. Aldrovandus figures the head, iii., p. 283, and
that of _M. longirostris_ in the preceding page. This last is
copied by Jonston (fol. 47). Both birds seem to be female or
immature Goosanders. Neither author has a _M. cristatus_.
[125] The above description certainly applies to the Common Teal,
which was well-known to Browne (_vide supra_, p. 14), and that
species is with us all the year; I cannot help thinking, however,
that he had in his mind the Garganey, or Summer Teal, so called
from the season of its visit to us. This species is known to the
Norfolk gunners as the "Cricket Teal," and being slightly larger
than the common species it might well be called by him
"_Querquedula major serotina_."
[126] _See Note 55_, p. 36. It will be noticed that both this and
the _Centriscus_ mentioned at p. 41 were given to Browne by a
"seaman of these seas," but may possibly have been brought home as
curiosities from a foreign voyage; the Saw-fish, however, mentioned
at p. 36, is distinctly stated to have been "taken about Lynn." It
is a matter of intense regret that the numerous drawings mentioned
in these letters should have been lost.
I forgot in my last to signifie that an oter [an other?] Elk or wild
swan was headed like a goose that is without any knobb at the bottome of
the bill. [_See_ p. 80 and _Note 8_.]
Haue you had the duck called Clangula in Ald. [drovandus] & Johnst.[127]
wee haue one heere w^{ch} answereth their descriptions exactly butt
[_i.e._, except] only in the colour of their leggs & feet.
[127] Aldrovandus's figure of "Clangula" (head only, iii., p. 224)
is too indefinite for determination. He says the feet are yellow,
but Jonston, who refers to it under the name of _Anas platyrhincus_
describes it fairly well (p. 145). _Clangula ab alarum clangore_,
Aldrov., _i.e._, "Rattlewings," an old name by which the Golden-eye
was known to the Norfolk gunners.
Haue you a willock a sea fowl like a rook or crowe.[128]
[128] A local name for the Guillemot. Merrett says, in a letter
dated 8th May, 1669, "The Clangula I know no more of than reading
hath informed mee; [_see Note 127_] a willock I have seen brought
from Greenland,[S] where they are said exceedingly to abound, but
never thought either of them was found in England, and having not
taken sufficient notice of the latter, crave your description of
both."
[S] The Greenland of those days was Spitsbergen, where they would
be met with by the Whalers, but in that case the bird would be
Bruennich's Guillemot, a species not then differentiated.
No. IX.
[MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. MS. SLOANE 1847, FOL. 182.]