116 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



Scopoli seems to me to have found the Hirundo melba, the 

 great Gibraltar swift, in Tyrol, without knowing it. For what is 

 his Hirundo alpina but the afore-mentioned bird in other words ? 

 Says he, "It has all the qualities of the preceding, save that 

 the breast is white ; it is a little larger than the former ; " 

 " Omnia prioris" (meaning the swift) ; "sed pectus album; paido 

 major priore." I do not suppose this to be a new species. It 

 is true also of the melba, that " it builds on the lofty Alpine 

 cliffs ;" " nidificat in excelsis Alpium rupibus." Vide "Annum 

 1'rimum." 



My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, but 

 no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the stone-curlew 

 (oedicnemus), sends me the following account : " In looking 

 over my ' Naturalist's Journal ' for the month of April, I find 

 the stone-curlews are first mentioned on the 17th and 18th, 

 which dates seems to me rather late. They live with us all 

 the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn pre- 

 pare to take leave by getting together in flocks. They seem 

 to me a bird of passage that may travel into some dry hilly 

 country south of us, probably Spain, because of the abundance 

 of sheep-walks in that country; for they spend their summers 

 with us in such districts. This conjecture I hazard, as I have 

 never met with any one that has seen them in England in the 

 winter. I believe they are not fond of going near the water, 

 but feed on earthworms, that are common on sheep-walks and 

 downs. They breed on fallows and lay-fields abounding with 

 grey mossy flints, which much resemble their young in colour ; 

 among which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make 

 no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing in 

 common but two at a time. There is reason to think their 

 young run soon after they are hatched ; and that the old ones 

 do not feed them, but only lead them about at the time of feeding, 

 which, for the most part, is in the night." Thus far my friend. 



In the manners of this bird you see there is something very 

 analogous to the bustard, whom it also somewhat resembles in 

 aspect and make, and in the structure of its feet. 



For a long time I have desired my relation to look out for 

 these birds in Andalusia ; and now he writes me word that, for 



