SCOPOLI^S ANNUS PRIMUS. 
93 
rundinis urbicce,'^ and that " definitio hirundinis riparice Linncei 
hiiic quoque convenit,'' he in some measure invaUdates all he has 
said ; at least he shows at once that he compares them to these 
species merely from memory : for I have compared the birds 
themselves, and find they differ widely in every circumstance of 
shape, size, and colour. However, as you will have a specimen, 
I shall be glad to hear what your judgment is in the matter. 
Whether my brother is forestalled in his non-descript or not, 
he will have the credit of first discovering that they spend their 
winters under the warm and sheltry shores of Gibraltar and 
Barbary. 
Scopoli^s characters of his ordines and genera are clean, just, 
and expressive, and much in the spirit of Linnaeus. These few 
remarks are the result of my first perusal of Scopoli^s Annus 
Primus. 
The bane of our science is the comparing one animal to the 
other by memory : for want of caution in this particular Scopoli 
falls into errors : he is not so full with regard to the manners of 
his indigenous birds as might be wished, as you justly observe : 
his Latin is easy, elegant, and expressive, and very superior to 
Kramer's.* 
I am pleased to see that my description of the moose corre- 
sponds so well with yours. I am, &c. 
LETTER XXXin. To T. PENNANT, Esa. 
DEAR SIR, Selborne, Nov. 26, 1770. 
I w^AS much pleased to see, among the collection of birds from 
Gibraltar, some of those short-winged Enghsh summer-birds of 
passage, concerning whose departure we have made so much 
enquiry. Now if these birds are found in Andalusia to migrate 
to and from Barbary, it may easily be supposed that those that 
come to us may migrate back to the continent, and spend their 
winters in some of the warmer parts of Europe. This is certain, 
that many soft-billed birds that come to Gibraltar appear there 
only in spring and autumn, seeming to advance in pairs towards 
the northward, for the sake of breeding during the summer 
months ; and retiring in parties and broods towards the south at 
the decline of the year: so that the rock of Gibraltar is the 
* See his Elenchus vegetubilium et animalium per Austriam inferioremf &c. 
