MIOKATIOir. 143 



several other small birds, but cannot bring tbem to any 

 criterion. 



As I have often remarked that redwings are some of the 

 first birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no 

 wonder at all that they retreat from Scandinavian winters ; 

 and much more the ordo of grallcs, who all, to a bird, forsake 

 the northern -parts of Europe at the approach of winter. 

 " GrallcB tanquam conjuratcB unanimiter in fug am se conji- 

 ciunt ; ne earum unicam quideni inter nos Jiabitantem invenire 

 possimus ; ut enim cBstate in australibus degere nequeunt 6b 

 defectum lumhricorum, terramque siccam ; ita nee in fngidis 

 oh eandeni causam'' " The grallae, as if by agreement, take 

 flight, nor can we find one residing here ; for as, during 

 summer, the deficiency of earth-worms and the hardness of 

 the ground prevents them from abiding in hot countries ; so 

 neither can they dwell in cold climes, for the same reason," 

 says Ekmarck, the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise 

 called Migrationes Avium, which, by all means, you ought to 

 read, while your thoughts run on the subject of migration. — 

 See Amoenitates Academicce, vol. iv. p. 565. 



Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate 

 in one country, and not in another; but the gr all (B (which 

 procure their food from marshes and boggy ground,) must, 

 in winter, forsake the more northerly parts of Europe, or 

 perish for want of food. 



I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus con- 

 cerning the woodcock ; it is expected of him that he should 

 be able to account for the motions and manner of life of the 

 animals of his own Fauna. 



Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare 

 descriptions, and a few synonymes : the reason is plain, 

 because all that may be done at home in a man's study ; 

 but the investigation of the life and conversation of animals 

 is a concern of much more trouble and difficulty, and is not 

 to be attained but by the active and inquisitive, ax.d by those 

 that reside much in the country. 



Foreign systematists are, I observe, much too vague m 

 their specific differences ; which are almost universally con- 

 stituted by one or two particular marks, the rest of the 

 description running in general terms. But our countryman, 

 the excellent ^Ix. Eay, is the only describer that conveys 



