110 NATURAL HISTORY 
“ definitio hirundinis riparia Linnai huic quoque con- 
venit, * he in some measure invalidates all he has 
said; at least he shows at once that he compares 
them to these species merely from memory ; for I 
have compared the birds themselves, and find they 
differ widely in every circumstance of shape, size, 
and colour. However, as you will have a speci- 
men, I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is 
in the matter. 
Whether my brother is forestalled in his nonde- 
script or not, he will have the credit of first discov. 
ering that they spend their winters under the warm 
and sheltery shores of Gibraltar and Barbary. 
Scopoli’s characters of his ordines and genera 
are clear, just, and expressive, and much in the 
spirit of Linnzeus. ‘These few remarks are the re- 
sult of my first perusal of Scopoli’s Annus Primus. 
The bane of our science is the comparing one 
animal to the other by memory. For want of cau- 
tion in this particular, Scopoli falls into errors. He 
is not so full with regard to the manners of his in. 
digenous birds as might be wished, as you justly 
observe: his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive, 
and very superior to Kramer’s.t 
I am pleased to see that my description of the 
moose corresponds so well with yours. 
* The definition agrees with that of Linnzus’s hirundo riparia, 
t See his Elenchus Vegetabilium et Animalium per Austriam ine 
feriorem, gc. 
