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THE NATURAL HISTORY 
[LETT 
Scopoli seems to me to have found the Hirundo melha, the 
great Gibraltar swift, in Tyrol, without knowing it. For what is 
his Hirundo alpina but the afore-mentioned bird in other words ? 
Says he, " It has all the qualities of the preceding, save that 
the breast is white ; it is a little larger than the former ; " 
" Omnia prioris" (meaning the swift) ; "sed pectus album; paulo 
major priore." I do not suppose this to be a new species. It 
is true also of the mcIha, that " it builds on the lofty Alpine 
cliffs ;" " nidificat in excelsis Alpium rupibus," Vide "Annum 
Primum." 
My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, but 
no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the stone-curlew 
{pedicncmus), sends me the following account : — " In looking 
over my ' jSTaturalist's Journal' for the month of April, I find 
the stoue-curlews are first mentioned on the 17th and 18th, 
which dates seems to me rather late. They live with us all 
the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn pre- 
pare to take leave by getting together in flocks. They seem 
to me a bird of passage that may travel into some dry hilly 
country south of us, probably Spain, because of the abundance 
of sheep-walks in that country; for they spend their summers 
with us in such districts. 'Jliis conjecture I hazard, as I have 
never met with any one that has seen them in England in the 
winter. I believe they are not fond of going near the water, 
but feed on earthworms, that are common on sheep-walks and 
doAvns. They breed on fallows and lay-fields abounding with 
grey mossy flints, which much resemble their young in colour ; 
among which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make 
no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing in 
common but two at a time. There is reason to think their 
young run soon after they are hatched ; and that the old ones 
do not feed them, but only lead them about at the time of feeding, 
which, for the most part, is in the night." Thus far my friend. 
In the manners of this bird you see there is something very 
analogous to the bustard, whom it also somewhat resembles in 
aspect and make, and in the structure of its feet. 
For a long time I have desired my relation to look out for 
these bii'ds in Andalusia; and now he \Arites me word that, for 
