OF SELBORNE. 
As to the quotations, it is difficult to fay precifely which fpecies 
of hirundo Firgil might intend in the lines in queftion, fince the 
ancients did not attend to fpecific differences like modern natu- 
ralifts : yet fomewhat may be gathered, enough to incline me to 
fuppofe that in the two paffages quoted the poet had his eye on 
the fwallow. 
In the firft place the eTp'whet garrula fuits the fwallozu well, who 
IS a great fongfter ; and not the martin, which is rather a mMte bird ; 
and when it fmgs is fo inward as fcarce to be heard. Belides, If 
t'lgnum in that place fignifies a rafter rather than a beam, as it feems. 
to me to do, then I think it muft be the fwallow that is alluded to, 
and not the martin ; fince the former does frequently h\x\\d- within 
the roo/' againft the rafters ; while the latter always, as far as I have 
been able to obferve, builds without the roof againif eaves and 
cornices. 
As to the f.mile, too much flrefs mufl not be laid on it : yet the 
epithet nigra fpeaks plainly in favour of the fwallow, whofe back 
and wings are very black ; while the rump of the martin is milk- 
white, it's back ajid wings blue, and all it's under part vyhite as 
fnow. Nor can the clumfy motions (comparatively clumfy) of the 
martin well reprefent the fudden and artful evolutions and quick 
turns which Jiiturna gave to her brother's chariot, fo as to elude the 
eager purfuit of the enraged jEneas. The verb fonat alfo feems to 
imply a bird that is fomewhat loquacious 
'* S Ni^ra velut magnas domini cum divitis a:des 
" Pervolat, et pennis alta atiia luilrat hirundo, 
Pabula parva legens, nidifque loquacibus efcas : 
Et nunc portiobus vacuis, nunc humida circum 
Stagna jonat " — — 
