90 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
latere interno; pedes nudi, nigri; rostrum nigrum, remiges 
obscuriores quam plume@ dorsales ; rectrices remigibus concolores ; 
caudad emarginatd, nec forcipatd ;” agrees very well withthe bird in 
question: but when he comes to advance that it is “ statura 
hivundinis urbice,” and that “definitio hirundinis riparie Linnei 
hutc guogue conveniit,’ 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 specimen, I 
shall be glad to hear what your judgment is in the matter.* 
Whether my brother is forestalled in his nondescript or not, he 
will have the credit of first discovering 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 result 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 caution in this particular Scopoli falls into 
errors: he is not so full with regard to the manners of his indigenous 
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. I am, &c. 
There is little doubt that the bird in question was the H. rufestrés of Linnzus. In 
the correspondence of Linnzus published in ‘‘Contributions” for 1849, he frequently 
refers to this bird by name in reply to questions put by Mr. White’s brother, who had 
evidently written to Linnzeus about it under that appellation. John White was, in fact, 
Linnzus’s authority for this swallow, and first communicated specimens to him from 
Gibraltar ; Linnzeus says, ‘‘ H. rufestris, mihi antea ignota; vere distincta.” 
t See his ‘‘ Elenchus Vegetabilium et Animalium per Austriam Inferiorem, &c.” 
