SCOPOLl's ANNUS PRIMUS. 135 



huic quoque convenit" 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 me- 

 mory ; 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 spe- 

 cimen, I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is 

 in the matter. 



Whether my brother is forestalled in his nonde- 

 script or not, he will have the credit of first disco- 

 vering 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 

 Linnseus. These few remarks are the result of my 

 first perusal of Scopoli's Annus Primus. 



The bane of our science is the comparing one ani- 

 mal 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 indi- 

 genous birds as might be wished, as you justly ob- 

 serve : his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive, 

 and very superior to Kramer's*. 



LETTER XL. 

 TO THE SAME. 



SELBORNE, Nov. 26, 1770. 

 DEAR SIR, 



I WAS much pleased to see, among the collec- 

 tion of birds from Gibraltar, some of those short- 



* See his Elenclms vegetabilium et animalium per Austriam 

 inferiorem, fyc., " Summary of Vegetables and Animals in 

 Lower Austria." 



