110 
THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT. 
degrees may pave the way to an universal correct natural 
history. ISTot that Scopoli is so circumstantial and attentive 
to the life and conversation of his birds as I could wish : he 
advances some false facts ; as when he says of the Ilirundo 
urhica that " it does not feed its young after it leaves the 
nest : " " pullos extra nidum non nutrit." This assertion I 
know to be wrong from repeated observation this summer; for 
house-martins do feed their young ilying, though it must be 
acknowledged not so commonly as the house-swallow ; and the 
feat is done in so quick a manner as not to be perceptible to 
indifferent observers. He also advances some (I was going to 
say) improbable facts ; as when he says of the woodcock that, 
" as it flies from its enemies, it carries its young in its beak : " 
" pullos rostro portat fugiens ab hoste." But candour forbids 
me to say absolutely that any fact is false because I have never 
been witness to such a fact. I have only to remark, that the 
long unwieldy bill of the woodcock is perhaps the worst adapted 
of any among the winged creation for such a feat of natural 
affection. 
Selborne, Sejpt 14, 1770. 
ring-ouzel's ego. 
