ive, 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 be- 

 tween the species. 



Ray remarks that birds of the Gallince order, as 

 cocks and hens, partridges and pheasants, &c., are 

 pulveratrices, such as dust themselves, using that 

 method of cleansing their feathers and ridding them- 

 selves of their vermin. As far as I can observe, 

 many birds that dust themselves never wash : and I 

 once thought that those birds that wash themselves 

 would never dust; but here I find myself mistaken; 

 for common house-sparrows are great pulveratrices, 

 being frequently seen grovelling and wallowing in 

 dusty roads ; and yet they are great washers. Does 

 not the skylark dust ? 



Query. — Might not Mahomet and his followers 

 take one method of purification from these piilve- 

 ratrices? because I find, from travellers of credit, 

 that if a strict Mussulman is journeying in a sandy 

 desert where no water is to be found, at stated 

 hours he strips off his clothes, and most scrupulously 

 rubs his body over with sand or dust. 



A countryman told me he had found a young 



fern-owl in the nest of a small bird on the ground ; 



and that it was fed by the little bird. I went to see 



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