OF SELBORNE. 95 
of your fen-salicaria shot near Revesby. Mr. Ray 
has given an excellent characteristic of it when he 
says, “ Rostrum et pedes in hdc aviculd multo majores 
sunt qudm pro corporis ratione.””* 
I have got you the egg of an @dicnemus, or stone 
curlew, which was picked up in a fallow on the 
naked ground; there were two, but the finder inad- 
vertently crushed one with his foot before he saw 
them. i 
A gentleman sent me lately a fine specimen of 
the danius minor cinerascens cum maculd in scapulis 
alba, Raii, which is a bird that, at the time of your 
publishing your two first volumes of British Zoolo- 
gy, | find you had not seen. You have described it 
well from Edward’s drawing. 
LETTER XXVI. 
Selborne, Dec. 8, 1769. 
Dear Sir,—I was much gratified by your com. 
municative letter on your return from Scotland, 
where you spent, I find, some considerable time, and 
gave yourself good room to examine the natural cu- 
riosities of that extensive kingdom, both those of the 
islands as well as those of the Highlands. The 
usual bane of such expeditions is hurry, because 
men seldom allot themselves half the time they 
should do; but, fixing on a day for their return, 
post from place to place rather as if they were ona 
journey that required despatch, than as philosophers 
* The beak and feet in this little bird are much too large in 
proportion to the body, 
