SCOPOLl's ANNUS PRIMUS. 93 



rundinis urbica" and that " definitio hirundinis riparice Linnai 

 huic quoque convenit," he in some measure invalidates all he has 

 said ; at least he shows at once that he compares them to these 

 species merely from memory : for I have compared the birds 

 themselves, and find they differ widely in every circumstance of 

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

 I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is in the matter. 



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 sheltry shores of Gibraltar and 

 Barbary. 



Scopoli's 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 Scopoli's 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 corre- 

 sponds so well with yours. I am, &c. 



LETTER XXXIII. To T. PENNANT, ESQ. 



DEAR SIR, Selborne, Nov. 26, 1770. 



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 

 enquiry. Now if these birds are found in Andalusia to migrate 

 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 Gibraltar appear there 

 only in spring and autumn, seeming to advance in pairs towards 

 the northward, for the sake of breeding during the summer 

 months ; and retiring in parties and broods towards the south at 

 the decline of the year : so that the rock of Gibraltar is the 



* See his Elenchus vegetMlium et animal turn per Austrian* iiiferiorem, &c. 



