Birds.- Olina (Giovanni Pietro) Uccelliera overo discorso della natura, second edition, engraved title and 66 full-page illustrations, light water-stain to lower corner of some leaves, 18th-century mottled calf, gilt by A[lexander]. Milne of Forres (with ticket), spine with red morocco label, [Anker 380; Nissen IVB 693; Schwerdt II, 49; Zimmer p.475], 4to, Rome, Angelo de Rossi, 1684.

⁂ The second and according to Schwerdt superior edition. The first edition appeared in 1622. "...a book on bird catching delightful chiefly owing to Tempesta's spirited illustrations of the methods employed by fowlers in the beginning of the 17th century. Olina was not, however, the originator of this work, which was an adaptation of an earlier publication entitled 'il canto degl' avgelli', written by Valli da Todi, and printed at Rome in 1601... and it is curious that Olina could have issued his 'Uccelliera' within twenty years of its appearance without making any reference to the original author and yet have escaped detection" (Schwerdt II p. 48). In addition to the different bird species the work deals with various methods of catching birds and the art of keeping them in captivity, as well as their diseases.