SCOPGLI'S ANNUS PRIMUS. 151 



VII. 



I AM glad to hear that Kuekalm is to furnish you 

 with the birds of Jamaica. A sight of the hirundines 

 of that hot and distant island would be a great en- 

 tertainment to me. 



The Anni of Scopoli are now in my possession ; 

 and I have read the Annus Primus with satisfac- 

 tion ; for, though 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 monographer. 



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 naturalists 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 sw r allows at Staines ; be- 

 cause, in my long observation of those birds, I never 

 could discover the least degree of rivalry or hos- 

 tility between the species. 



