of Selborne 1 15 



LETTER VII 



rO THE HONOURABLE DAINES RARRINGTON 



Ringmer, near Lewes, Oct 8, 1770. 



Dear Sir, 

 I am glad to hear that Kuckalm is to furnish you with 

 the birds of Jamaica ; a sight of the hinmdi7ies of that 

 hot and distant island would be great entertainment to 

 me. 



The Anni of Scopoli are now in my possession ; and I 

 have read the Amuts Priinus with satisfaction : for thougii 

 some parts of this work are exceptionable, and he may 

 advance some mistaken observations ; yet the ornithology 

 of so distant a country as Carniola is very curious. Men 

 that undertake only one district are much more likely to 

 advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at more 

 than they can possibly be acquainted with : every 

 kingdom, every province, should have its own mono- 

 grapher. 



The reason perhaps why he mentions nothing of Ray's 

 Ornithology may be the extreme poverty and distance of 

 his country, into which the works of our great naturalist 

 may have never yet found their way. You have doubts, 

 I know, whether this Ornithology is genuine, and really 

 the work of Scopoli : as to myself, I think I discover 

 strong tokens of authenticity ; the style corresponds with 

 that of his Entomology ; and his characters of his 

 Ordines and Genera are many of them new, expressive, 

 and masterly. He has ventured to alter some of the 

 Linnsean genera with sufficient show of reason. 



It might perhaps be mere accident that you saw so 

 many swifts and no swallows at Staines ; because, in my 

 long observation of those birds, I never could discover 

 the least degree of rivalry or hostility between the 

 species. 



Ray remarks that birds of the gallina; order, as cocks 

 and hens, partridges, and pheasants, etc., are pulveratiices 



