OF SELBORNE. 87 



Whether my brother is forestalled in his non-descript or not, 

 he will have the credit of first discovering that they spend 

 their winters under the warm and sheltery shores of Gibraltar 

 and Barbary. 



ScopoWs characters of his ordines and genera are clean, 

 just, and expressive, and much in the spirit of Linnaeus. These 

 few remarks are the result of my first perusal of Scopolis 

 Annus Primus. 



The bane of our science is the comparing one animal 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 indigenous birds as might be wished, as you 

 justly observe : his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive, 

 and very superior to Kramer s? 



I am pleased to see that my description of the moose cor- 

 responds so well with yours. 



I am, &c. 



LETTER XXXIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, Nov. 26, 1770. 

 DEAR SIR, 



I WAS much pleased to see, among the collection of birds from 

 Gibraltar , some of those short-winged English summer birds 

 of passage, concerning whose departure we have made so much 

 inquiry. Now if these birds are found in Andalusia to mi- 

 grate to and from Barbary, it may easily be supposed that 

 those that come to us may migrate back to the continent, and 

 spend their winters in some of the warmer parts of Europe. 

 This is certain, that many soft-billed birds that come to Gi- 

 braltar appear there only in spring and autumn, seeming to 

 advance in pairs towards the northward, for the sake of breed- 

 ini; during the summer months; and retiring in parties and 



n See his Elenchus vegetdbilium et animalium per Austriam inferi- 



