OF SELBOllNE. 223 



every province, should have its own mono- 

 grapher. 



The reason, perhaps, w^hy he mentions 

 nothing of Rai/'s Ornithology may be the 

 extreme poverty and distance of his coun- 

 try, into which the works of our great na- 

 turalist may have never yet found their way. 

 You have doubts, I know, whether thi& 

 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 Ge- 

 nera are many of them new, expressive and 

 masterly. He has ventured to alter some 

 of the Linncean 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 



