Little is known of Albin’s early life, though he was probably born in Germany to a family named Weiss. By 1708 he had changed his surname to Albin and was living in London with his family. His profession of art teacher led him to the close observation of the natural world, reinforced by painting work which he undertook for the naturalist Joseph Dandridge (1665–1747), who collected insects and observed their metamorphosis from egg to fly. He also drew natural-history subjects for Sir Hans Sloane.

This work contains his depictions of birds. It was one of the most significant 'bird books' of the early eighteenth century. Like his history of insects (see RCIN 1057018), each of the coloured plates was dedicated to a patron or a subscriber to the work. Several species included in the work had never been described before, subsequently being used by Carl Linnaeus in his new binomial system.