94 Dr Scot on the Deror of the Hebrew Scriptures, 



with the idea of a bird uncontrolled. It s\gx{](ies freedom ox free, 

 which is a term very appropriate to the wild dove, as opposed 

 to the tame. The tame dove is generally found near the habi- 

 tations of men, and makes short excursions when it goes abroad. 

 On this account, it is, with great propriety, called yer'istera hatoi- 

 hidea, or house dove. The wild dove, on the contrary, though 

 it does not altogether avoid the residence of men, and, according 

 to Varro, occasionally resorts to turrets, spires, and pinnacles ; 

 yet it is much about the fields, and, on that account, may be 

 called Columha agrestis, or field-pigeon. 



Men would be ready to call wild doves deror, or unrestrained, 

 when they observed them flying at will over a vast range of ter- 

 ritory, though they might not forsake it during the whole year ; 

 or, from sagacity or instinct, visiting, without interference, other 

 countries in the spring or autumn. 



The swallow, we may be told, deserves the epithet of free, be- 

 cause it is a bird of passage ; and is remarkable for its rapid and 

 easy turns in flying while it remains in a country ; and in the 

 spring and autumn leaves one country and goes to another, 

 without any other impulse but that of mere instinct. 



On this ground, all other birds may be called free, who are 

 not confined to a cage, and allowed the use of their wings : they 

 acknowledge no master, but flutter from tree to tree during the 

 day, and roost in any branch during the night. 



At the same time, it cannot be denied, that this epithet is 

 more suitable to swallows than other birds, the dove excepted, 

 because there are some that haunt the woods, and may be called 

 wood swallows, in opposition to the house ones, or those that 

 frequent houses. 



This distinction at least is agreeable to Ovid : 



quarum petit altera sylvas ; 



Altera tecta subit. Metamcyrph. lib. vi. fab. 8. 



are his clear but comprehensive words. But while he makes 

 one, we know there are two species of house-swallow ; and, if all 

 the other species are to be included in the house-swallow, there 

 are at least nine of these species. He might lay claim to high 

 merit as a poet, but he never pretended to be a systematic natu- 

 ralist, and far less to anticipate the classification of posterity. 



But if there be house swallows and wood swallows, there are 

 no tame swallows, as contrasted with wild swallows. All of 



