98 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



colores ; cauda emarginatd, nee forripatd, ; " agrees very well with 

 the bird in question : but when he comes to advance that it is 

 "statiira hirundinis urbiccz" and that " definitio hirundinis 

 riparitz Linnai huic quoque converiiit" he in some measure invali- 

 dates 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 circum- 

 stance of shape, size, and colour. However, as you will have a 

 specimen, I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is in tii2 

 matter. 



Whether my brother is forestalled in his non-descript or not, 

 he will have the credit of first discovering that they spend their 

 winters under the warm and sheltry shores of Gibraltar and 

 Barbary. 



Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera are clear, just, 

 and expressive, and much in the spirit of Linnaeus. These few 

 remarks are the result of my first perusal of Scopoli's " AniAis 

 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.* 



I am pleased to see that my description of the moose corresponds 

 so well with yours. 



I am, etc. 



LETTER XXXIII. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 2.6th, 1770. 



DEAR SIR, I was much pleased to see, among the collection of 

 birds from Gibraltar, some of those short-winged English summer 

 birds of passage, concerning whose departure we have made so 

 * See his "Elenchus Vegetabilium et Animalium per Austriam Inferiorem, 

 etc." 



