of Selborne 



77 



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 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 oi'dbies and genera are clear, 

 just, and expressive, and much in the spirit of Lin?ireus. 

 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 

 corresponds so well with yours. 



I am, etc. 



LETTER XXXIII 



TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQUIRE 



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 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 cer- 

 tain, that many soft-billed birds that come to Gibraltar 



^ See his Elenchtis vegetabiliiim et animalium per Aitstriam 

 inferiorem, etc. 



