A F R I C A. tt 
It is to this unbending perfeverance I owe 
the advantages of poffeffing almoft every fpecies 
of bird belonging to that part of Africa over 
which I travelled. I ufe the word almoft, be- 
paufe there are certainly events that exceed the 
limits of our power. Who does not know, for 
inftance, how much the changes of feafon are 
calculated to drive from the hunter, or bring 
within his reach, fpecies of birds,, which he can 
then derive only from chance ? It is thus with 
birds of paflage. In countries fubjed: to heavy 
rains, to long droughts, or confidcrable varie- 
ties of atmofphere, fuch birds no doubt come 
and go much oftener than in Europe, where 
we e>^perience no alternative but that of heat 
and cold ; and no fportfman, however dextrous, 
ought to exped any thing more than to obtain 
a coHedion that fhall bear fome degree of pro- 
portion to the variety of fpecies : to difcover all 
that exift of this kind, the life of man would 
|)e infufficient. 
My days were ufef&lly and almoft wholly 
occupied in claffing my treafures, keeping my 
cabinet in order, and thinking upon the means 
pf fupplying its deficiences, in order to form a 
complete fyftem, that fhould one day, under 
the infirmities of age, confole me for the inca- 
' P^city 
