102 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



LETTEE VII. 



TO THE SAME. 



RINGMER, near LEWES, Oct. 8th, 1770. 



DEAR SIR, I am glad to hear that Kuckalm is to furnish you with 

 the birds of Jamaica ; a sight of the hirundines of that hot and distant 

 island would be a great entertainment to me.* 



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

 Annus Primus with satisfaction; 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 Eay'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 gallince order, as cocks and hens, 

 partridges, and pheasants, &c., are pulveratrices, such as dust them- 

 selves, using that method of cleansing their feathers, and ridding 

 themselves of their vermin. As far as I can observe, many birds that 

 dust themselves never wash ; and I once thought that those birds that 



" Of either sex, each various grace 

 You might behold with joy, 

 As well might seem the lovely face 

 Boyish in girl, or girlish in a boy." OVID. 



" While nature doubtful stands 

 A male or female to compose, 

 Beneath her forming hands 



Almost a girl, the beauteous boy arose." AUSON. 



* T. Kuckalm is the author of a very good paper on " The preservation of Dead 

 Birds," published in 1770, in Transactions of the Philosophical Society, LX p 303 

 Abridgement, XIII., p. 50. 



The "hirundines" of Jamaica are only six or seven in number, their habits 

 are very interesting, but scarcely bear upon those of any of our British species. 

 Some are migratory there, retiring southward or tropically during the winter ; but 

 a true swallow, allied to Hirundofulva of North America, but thought by Mr. Gosse 

 to be distinct, is not migratory, at least in whole, and may be seen during the entire 

 year. It builds in caverns and over-hanging rocks, gregariously, and with pellets 

 of mud. 



