concolores, cauda emarginata, nee forcipata ; " * 

 agrees very well with the bird in question; but when 

 he comes to advance that it is *' statura hirundinis 

 urbicas," and that '' the definition given of the bank- 

 martin suits this bird also," — '' definitio hirundinis 

 riparias Linnasi huic quoque convenit," he in sr5me 

 measure invalidates all he has said ; at least he shows 

 at once that he compares them to these species mere- 

 ly from memory : for I have compared the birds 

 themselves, and find they differ widely in every cir- 

 cumstance of shape, size, and colour. However, as 

 you will have a specimen, I shall be glad to hear 

 what your judgment is in the matter. 



Whether my brother is forestalled in his nonde- 

 script or not, he will have the credit of first discov- 

 ering that they spend their winters under the warm 

 and sheltery shores of Gibraltar and Barbary. 



Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera are 

 clear, just, and expressive, and much in the spirit of 

 Linnaeus. These few remarks are the result of my 

 first perusal of Scopoli's "Annus Primus." 



The bane of our science is the comparing one ani- 

 mal to the other by memory : for want of caution in 

 this particular Scopoli falls into errors : he is not so 

 full with regard to the manners of his indigenous 



* "Above it is mouse-colour, below whitish, the guiding feathers with 

 an oval white spot on the inner side, the feet bare and black, the beak 

 black, the wing feathers darker than the dorsal ones, the guiders of the 

 same colour as the wings, the tail well defined, not forked." 



148 



