128 SCOPOLl's WORKS. 



for, though some parts of this work are exceptionable, 

 and he may advance some mistaken observations, yet 

 the ornithology of so distant a country as Carniola is 

 very curious. Men that undertake only one district, 

 are much more likely to advance natural knowledge, 

 than those that grasp at more than they can possibly 

 be acquainted with. Every kingdom, every province, 

 should have its own monographer. 



The reason perhaps, why he mentions nothing of 

 Ray's Ornithology, may be the extreme poverty and 

 distance of his country, into which the works of our 

 great naturalists may have never yet found their way. 

 You have doubts, I know, whether this Ornithology 

 is genuine, and really the work of Scopoli : as to my- 

 self, I think I discover strong tokens of authenticity ; 

 the style corresponds with that of his Entomology ; 

 and his characters of his Ordines and Genera are 

 many of them new, expressive, and masterly. He 

 has ventured to alter some of the Linneean genera, 

 with sufficient show of reason. 



It might, perhaps, be mere accident that you saw 

 so many swifts and no swallows at Staines ; because, 

 in my long observation of those birds, I never could 

 discover the least degree of rivalry or hostility be- 

 tween the species. 



Ray remarks, that birds of the galling order, as 

 cocks and hens, partridges and pheasants, &c., are 

 pulveratrices, such as dust themselves, using that me- 

 thod of cleansing their feathers, and ridding them- 

 selves of their vermin. As far as I can observe, 

 many birds that dust themselves never wash ; and I 

 once thought that those birds that wash themselves 

 would never dust : but here I find myself mistaken ; 

 for common house-sparrows are great pulveratrices, 

 being frequently seen grovelling and wallowing in 

 dusty roads; and yet they are great washers. Does 

 not the skylark dust ? 



