Mateusz Cyganski

He was from a noble family bearing the Prus I coat of arms and probably moved from to Poland and was a friend of Stephen Báthory, to whom his book was dedicated.

Some of the woodcuts are thought to have been drawn from mounted specimens, indicating the taxidermy techniques of the period.

Cyganski used the term "bird peoples" to refer to species and some of the descriptions are in the form of verse.

He indicated in the book that swallows migrated and noted that cuckoos laid eggs in the nests of other birds that raised the young.

[4] The book was published by Jakub Siebeneycher and copies were reprinted in 1840 by Kazimierz Stronczyński, in 1842 by Antoni Waga and in 1914 by Józef Rostafiński.