110 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



degrees may pave the way to an universal correct natural 

 history. Not that Scopoli is so circumstantial and attentive 

 to the life and conversation of his birds as I could wish : he 

 advances some false facts ; as when he says of the Hirundo 

 urbica that " it does not feed its young after it leaves the 

 nest : " " pullos extra nidum non uutrit." This assertion I 

 know to be wrong from repeated observation this summer ; for 

 house-martins do feed their young flying, though it must be 

 acknowledged not so commonly as the house-swallow ; and the 

 feat is done in so quick a manner as not to be perceptible to 

 indifferent observers. He also advances some (I was going to 

 say) improbable facts ; as when he says of the woodcock that, 

 " as it flies from its enemies, it carries its young in its beak : " 

 " pullos rostro portat fugiens ab hoste." But candour forbids 

 me to say absolutely that any fact is false because I have never 

 been witness to such a fact. I have only to remark, that the 

 long unwieldy bill of the woodcock is perhaps the worst adapted 

 of any among the winged creation for such a feat of natural 

 affection. 



SF.LBORNE, Sept. 14, 1770. 



RING-OUSEL'S EGG. 



