78 The Natural History 



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 decUne of 

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

 rendezvous, and place of observation, from whence they 

 take their departure each way towards Europe or Africa. 

 It is therefore no mean discovery, I think, to find that 

 our small short-winged summer birds of passage are to be 

 seen spring and autumn on the very skirts of Europe ; it 

 is a presumptive proof of their emigrations. 



Scopoli seems to me to have found the hirufido tnelba^ 

 the great Gibraltar swift, in Tirol, without knowing it. 

 For what is his hirimdo alpina but the afore-mentioned 

 bird in other words ? Says he, ^''Omnia prioris " (meaning 

 the swift ;) " sed pectus album ; paulo major pHo re. '' I do 

 not suppose this to be a new species. It is true also of 

 the 7nelba^ that '''' 7iidifi<:at in excel sis Alpium rupibus" 

 Fid. Annum Primu7n. 



My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, 

 but no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the 

 stone curlew, oedicnemus^ sends me the following account : 

 '' In looking over my Naturalist's Journal for the month 

 of April, I find the stone curlews are first mentioned on 

 the seventeenth and eighteenth, which date seems to me 

 rather late. They live with us all the spring and summer 

 and at the beginning of autumn prepare to take leave by 

 getting together in flocks. They seem to me a bird of 

 passage that may travel into some dry hilly country south 

 of us, probably Spain, because of the abundance of 

 sheep-walks in that country ; for they spend their summers 

 with us in such districts. This conjecture I hazard, as I 

 have never met with anyone that has seen them in 

 England in the winter. I believe they are not fond 

 of going near the water, but feed on earth-worms, that are 

 common on sheep-walks and downs. They breed on 

 fallows and lay-fields abounding with grey mossy flints, 

 which much resemble their young in colour ; among 

 which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make 

 no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing 



