[ ' 8 7 ] 



Monf. Adanfon, in another part of his voyage % defcribes a 

 Roller, which he fuppofes to migrate fometimes to the Southern 

 parts of Europe. 



This circumftance mews that he could not have looked much 

 into books of natural hiftory, becaufe the principal fynonym of 

 this bird is Garrulus Argent or at enjis b ; and Linnaeus informs us 

 that it is found even in Sweden c . 



The jftrong characlerifhic mark of the Roller is the outermoft 

 feathers of the tail, which able naturalifts del cribe as three fourths 

 of an inch longer than the reft d . Monf. Adanfon, however, com- 

 pares their length, not with the other feathers of the tail, but 

 with the length of the bird's body, which is by no means the 

 natural or proper ftandard of comparifon. 



The reafon of my taking notice of thefe more minute inaccu- 

 racies in Monf. Adanfon's account of birds, arifes from Mr. Col- 

 linfon's relying upon his obfervations with regard to fwallows 

 being fo abfolutely decilive, becaufe he is reprefented to be fo able 

 a natural ift. 



I mail now ftate (very minutely) under what circum fiances 

 thefe fwallows were caught, and what feems to be the true infe- 

 rence from his own account. 



He informs us, that four fwallows fettled upon the mip, not 

 50 leagues from the coaft of Senegal, on the 6th of October; that 



That raoft able natcralirt Monf. de Buffon, from having feen fome 

 cock linnets which had thus moulted off, or perhaps fome hen linnets 

 (which have not a red breaft) confiders them as a diftincT: fpecies, and 

 compares their breeding together in an aviary to that of a Canary bird 

 and Goldfinch. Ornith. p. xxn. 



3 P. 16. 



b Or of Strasburgh. Ray's Synopfis. 

 c Faun. Suec. 94. 



* Willoughby, p. 131. Br. Zool. Vol.11, in Append. 



Bb 2 thefe 



