Thomas Pennant was a Welsh antiquarian and naturalist whose works were very popular in the eighteenth century. His reputation was built on his important natural history survey British Zoology, first printed in 1766, and his accounts of two tours of Scotland undertaken in 1769 and 1772.

Following the success of the second edition of British Zoology and his Arctic Zoology, in 1769, Pennant decided to make a tour of the Highlands of Scotland in order to study its natural history. The Highlands remained unknown to many naturalists outside Scotland, the naturalist William Bingley later retorting that the region was 'almost as little known to its southern bretheren as Kamschatka', and Pennant used a novel method to gather information prior to his travels. He circulated a series of questions on the area’s natural history to local gentlemen and clergy, hoping that by using the responses he would be able to give a fuller account. The book was published in 1771 to a positive reception and the following year Pennant returned to Scotland for a more thorough tour accompanied by Dr John Lightfoot, naturalist to the Dowager Countess of Devonshire (see Flora Scotica, 1777, RCINs 1055212-3). This tour also took in the Hebrides and Pennant also brought along the Gaelic scholar John Stuart to provide Gaelic names of local plants. The account of the tour was published at Chester in 1774 and was dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, whose description of Staffa, made during his tour to Iceland in 1772, was used by Pennant.

Pennant made further tours in Wales and in England between 1773 and 1787 and his popularity among amateur naturalists and antiquarians resulted in the development of a comprehensive network of correspondents, many of whom supplied him with additional information that he added to subsequent editions of his works.