SUMMER BIRDS OF PASSAGE. 101 



I am pleased to see that my description of the 

 moose corresponds so well with yours. 



XXXIII. 



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 mi- 

 grate to and from Barbary, it may easily be sup- 

 posed 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 certain, 

 that many soft-billed birds that come to Gibraltar 

 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 decline of the year : so that the rock of Gib- 

 raltar is the great rendezvous and place of observa- 

 tion, 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 emi- 

 grations. 



Scopoli seems to me to have found the hirundo 

 melba, the great Gibraltar swift, in Tyrol, without 

 knowing it. For what is his hirundo alpina, but 

 the aforementioned bird in other words ? Says 

 he, " Omnia prior is, (meaning the swift,) sed 

 pectus album; paulo major priore." I do not 

 suppose this to be a new species. It is true also 



