123 THE NATURAL HISTORY [LETT. 



swift, and of several other small birds, but cannot bring them to 

 any criterion. 



As I have often remarked that redwings are some of the first 

 birds that suffer with us in severe weather, it is no wonder at 

 all that they retreat from Scandinavian winters : and much 

 more the ordo of grallcc which, all to a bird, forsake the northern 

 parts of Europe at the approach of winter. " Grallre tanquam 

 conjuratse unanimiter in fugam se conjiciunt ; ne earum unicam 

 quidem inter nos habitantem invenire possimus ; ut enim sestate 

 in australibus degere nequeunt ob defectum lumbricorum, ter- 

 ramque siccam ; ita nee in frigidis ob eandem causam," says 

 Ekmarck the Swede, in his ingenious little treatise called " Migra- 

 tiones Avium," which by all means you ought to read while your 

 thoughts run on the subject of migration. "The grallce, as 

 though they had conspired, take themselves to flight in an un- 

 mannerly fashion ; nor can we find even one dwelling amongst 

 us ; for as they cannot live in the south during summer because 

 of the dryness of the ground, so neither can they live in the 

 cold countries of the north in winter for the contrary reason." 



Birds may be so circumstanced as to be obliged to migrate in 

 one country and not in another : but the grallcc (which procure 

 their food from marshes and boggy grounds) must in winter 

 forsake the more northerly parts of Europe, or perish for want 

 of food. 



I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus concerning 

 the woodcock : it is expected of him that he should be able to 

 account for the motions and manner of life of the animals of 

 his own " Fauna." 



Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare 

 descriptions and a few synonyms : the reason is plain ; because 

 all that may be done at home in a man's study, but the investi- 

 gation of the life and conversation of animals is a concern of 

 much more trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but 

 by the active and inquisitive, and by those that reside much in 

 the country. 



Foreign systematics are, I observe, much too vague in their 

 specific differences ; which are almost universally constituted 

 by one or two particular marks, the rest of the description 



