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744 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 
nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim @state in australibus 
degere negueunt ob defectum lumbricorum, terramgue siccam, tta 
nec in frigidis ob eandem causam,” 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 “ Amcenitates Academice,’’ vol. iv., p. 565. 
Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in one 
country, and not in another: but the gva//@ (which procure their 
food from marshy and boggy grounds), must in winter forsake the 
more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want of food. 
I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnzus concerning 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 descrip- 
tions, and a few synonyms: 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, and by those that reside much in the country. 
Foreign systematics are, I observe, much too vague in their 
specific differences ; which are almost universally constituted by 
one or two particular marks, the rest of the description running in 
general terms. But our countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the 
only describer that conveys some precise idea in every term or word, 
maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators in spite 
of the advantage of fresh discoveries and modern information. 
At this distance of years it is not in my power to recollect at 
what period woodcocks used to be sluggish or alert when I was a 
sportsman : but, upon my mentioning this circumstance to a friend, 
he thinks he has observed them to be remarkably listless against 
snowy foul weather ; if this should be the case, then the inaptitude 
for flying arises only from an eagerness for food; as sheep are 
observed to be very intent on grazing against stormy wet evenings. 
I am, &c. &c. 
