86 NATURAL HISTORY 



LETTER XXXII. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, October 29, 1770. 

 DEAR SIR, 



AFTER an ineffectual search in Linnceus, Brisson, &c. I begin 

 to suspect that I discern my brother's hirundo hyberna in 

 ScopoWs new discovered hirundo rupestris, p. 167. His 

 description of " Supra murina, subtus albida ; rectrices macula 

 " ovali alba in latere interno ; pedes nudes, nigri ; rostrum ni- 

 " grum; remiges obscuriores quam plumcv dor sales; rectrices 

 " remigibus concolores ; caudd emarginatd, nee forcipatd;" 

 agrees very well with the bird in question ; but when he 

 comes to advance that it is " statura hirundinis urbicce" and 

 that " definitio hirundinis riparice Linncei huic quoque conve- 

 " nit" he in some measure invalidates all he has said ; at least 

 he shews at once that he compares them to these species 

 merely from memory : for I have compared the birds them- 

 selves, and find they differ widely in every circumstance of 

 shape, size, and colour. However, as you will have a speci- 

 men, I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is in the 

 matter. 



the truth of Scopoli's assertion, that there can now be no doubt of the 

 fact. Besides other authorities, Yarrell mentions no fewer than half a 

 dozen instances of its occurrence ; but the manner in which the feat is 

 effected has been very diversely described, one person stating that the 

 parent bird carried the chick in her beak, another in her claws, and a third 

 between her feet. Very many years ago, Mr. John Hancock, of New- 

 castle, and others since that, have observed accurately the means em- 

 ployed for this object; but the best and clearest account which I have 

 seen is in the following brief note, with which I have been favoured by 

 Professor Newton: " That the bill assists materially in carrying off and 

 particularly in steadying the young bird while being carried, seems to be 

 established; but the most efficient instruments are the parent's thighs, 

 between which the chick is grasped, while the head and bill are recurved 

 beneath." Mr. Hancock's words are, " between the legs of the parent 

 bird, and pressed close up to its breast." T. B.] 



