90 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



latere inferno; pedes nudi, nigrij rostrum nigrumj remiges 

 obscuriores quam plum<z dor s ales ; rectrices remigibiis conco lores j 

 caudd emarginatd, necforcipatd j " 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 Linncri 

 huic quoque conveniit] ' 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 nondescript 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. 



Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera are clear, 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. f 



I am pleased to see that my description of the moose corresponds 

 so well with yours. I am, c. 



There is little doubt that the bird in question was the H ' . rnpestrfs of Linnaeus. In 

 the correspondence of Linnaeus published in "Contributions " for 1849, he frequently 

 refers to this bird by name in reply to questions put by Mr. White's brother, who had 

 evidently written to Linnaeus about it under that appellation. John White was, in fact, 

 Linnaeus's authority for this swallow, and first communicated specimens to him from 

 Gibraltar; Linnaeus says, " H. rnpestris, mihi antea ignota ; vere distincta." 

 t See his " Elenchus Vegetabilium et Animalium per Austrian! Inferiorem, &c." 



