National Bird Day: Ornithologia

The 5th January is National Bird Day! Birds are a very important historic topic at Middleton Hall and in 2026 they are especially so because it is also the 350th anniversary of the first publication of Francis Willughby’s Ornithologia.

In 1672, John Ray made a deathbed promise to Francis Willughby to finish Willughby’s work on natural history. With the publication of Ornithologia (Ornithology), which he compiled whilst still at Middleton Hall, Ray fulfilled part of his promise. However, when Ray had actually asked Willughby whether he had wanted his work on birds to be published, Willughby had replied that it was not worthy of it. This was because, although Willughby had completed his method of classification, he believed that his descriptions were still insufficient.

Nevertheless, Ray thought that Willughby’s work was worthy of publication and, in 1676, Ornithologia became the first published book anywhere in the world in which birds were scientifically classified. Moreover, its system and layout have been replicated in almost every subsequent published encyclopaedia on birds. Ornithologia is thus often regarded as the birth of the scientific study of birds and it still remains one of the most fundamental texts in the field of ornithology. The primary reason why this book is not widely known about today is purely because it is pre-Linnaeus. As a result, many of the names of the species provided in Ornithologia are not the names used today.

Ornithologia on display at Middleton Hall, 2013. Photograph taken by Debbie Jordan.

Unusually for its era, Ornithologia contains a lot of images of birds, 380 to be precise. However, in Ornithologia, Ray wrote that, even though the engravers were very good, not all of the images were as he would have wished. This was because, although some of the images were reproductions of existing prints, Ray had been required to describe many of the images, at distance and by means of letters, to the engravers who had never seen the species and had not quite understood his descriptions.

Ornithologia was first published by Ray in Latin. In 1676, English was not a widely known language beyond England itself and the principal language of academia was Latin. After Ornithologia’s publication, Ray’s friend, Dr Martin Lister, suggested that Ray should produce an English edition because he thought that it would have wider appeal. Ray took his friend’s advice and the first English edition of Ornithologia was published in 1678.

When Ornithologia was published, ornithology was an extremely rare interest. Those that were interested were primarily only interested for practical purposes or were interested in just one or two species. However, Lister was correct about the appeal of the English edition, which also included an additional chapter on falconry. It became a very popular book to the extent that it spurred a completely new hobby of bird-watching. Hence, it can consequently tentatively be claimed that Middleton Hall is the home of bird-watching!

Author - Debbie Jordan, Middleton Hall Volunteer.

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