[ *«5 1 



citation, that a woodcock was not alluded to by the latter name 

 for can any one fay that the flavour of the two birds d hath the 

 leaft, refemblance : 



" Quid refert ?J £ fapor idetn cjlV 



The truth of the matter is, that as the woodcock hath been 

 called fcolopax from the time of Ariftotle, and as Linnaeus hath 

 made it a diftinct genus by that name, the woodcock fhould have 

 taken the lead, and the others of the fame genus be diftinguimed 

 by fpecific appellations. 



The next expreffion in this fhort citation from Linnaeus, that 

 I mall take notice of, is " in appropriates locis ;" which I conceive 

 to be no word of claffical Latinity ; but fuppoiing it to be fo, 

 what is the reader to underftand by it ? Can the ornithologift 

 mean that it frequents peculiar places ? or if he does mean fo, is 

 not this applicable to almoft every other bird ? 



But the citation proceeds, " volitans per noftes quafi viam 

 " JlridliJJimam in ipfo aere." What is again to be inferred from 

 thefe expreffions, and more particularly viam JiridiiJJimam ? if a 

 Jfrait road is intended, was the term JiriSla ever ufed in that 

 fenfe ? and do not many other birds fly in a direcl line from point 

 to point ? 



For another example of the fame fort I (hall here fubjdiri part 

 of what Linnaeus obferves with regard to the horfe, " animal 

 " generofum, fuperbum, aptiffimum equitafido, curfu furens, 

 " lylvis dele.ftatur, pojleriora curat, cauda conopes tabanosque abi- 

 *' git, alteram fcaipit, pullum injuriae obnoxium repomt, &c." 



d The reading, in fome editions of Martial : 



" Ruftica fwn perdix," 

 *s clearly erroneous. 



M m , Though 



