OF SELBORNE 71 



LETTER XXXII. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, October 29, 1770. 

 DEAR SIR, 



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

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

 new discovered hirundo rupesttis, p. 167. His description of 

 " Supra murina, subtus albida ; rectrices maculd ovali albd in latere 

 " interno ; pedes nudi, ?iigri ; rostrum nigrum ; remiges obscuriores 

 " quam plumes dorsales ; rectrices remigibus concolores ; caudd emar- 

 " ginald, 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 

 "hide quoque convenit," 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 themselves, and find they differ widely in every circum- 

 stance 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 sheltery 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 

 Kramers. 1 



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

 sponds so well with yours. 



I am, &c. 



1 See his Elenchvs -vegetabilium et animalium per Austriam inferiorem, &c. 



