In the early eighteenth century the English naturalist Mark Catesby made two extended expeditions to the British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America in order to document the indigenous flora and fauna. His resulting work, the first on its subject, was 'The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands', issued in parts between 1729 and 1747. It is an extraordinary visual record of the plants, mammals, lizards, snakes, insects, corals, fish and birds that Catesby found on his travels. Catesby identified eight different species of woodpecker while he was in America. The Larger red-crested woodpecker shown here has its long tongue extended, and is perched on a live, or evergreen oak. This unique copy of Catesby's 'Natural History' was purchased by King George III in 1768. It originally contained Catesby's collection of preparatory drawings for his publication. These have now been removed, conserved and mounted. They have been replaced in the volumes by facsimiles, recently made by Alecto Historical Editions.