C 283 3 
to fhew that he hath himfelf confounded this fpecies 
with the martin. 
“ Prenons un fenl oifeau, par exemple, l’hiron- 
ts delle, celle que tout le monde connoit, qui paroit 
ct au printems, difparoit en automne, & fait fon nid 
<c avec de la terre contre les fenetres, ou dans les 
" cheminees.” p. 23. 
It is very clear that the defign in this period is to 
fpecify a particular bird in fuch a manner that no 
doubt could remain with any one about the fpecies 
referred to ; and from other paffages which follow, 
it is as clear that Monf. de Buffon means to allude to 
the fwallow kxt ijv. 
Though this was certainly the intention of this 
moft ingenious naturalift, it is to me very evident 
that the martin, and not the fwallow, was in his con- 
templation, becaufe he firft fpeaks of the bird’s build- 
ing againft windows, before he mentions chimneys# 
and therefore fuppofes that either place is indifferent j 
which is not the cafe, becaufe the fwallow feldom 
builds on the fides of windows, or the martin in 
chimneys. 
There are perhaps three or four martins to one 
fwallow in all parts ; and from their being the more 
common bird of the two, as well as from the cir- 
cumftance of their building at the corner of windows 
(and confequently being eternally in our fight), nine- 
of the Royal Society, by the directors of the Hudfon’s Bay 
company. 
Thefe long feathers would be very inconvenient to the hen 
during incubation ; and they are likewife confined to the cock 
widow-bird , as, from their more extraordinary length, they would 
be ftill more fo. 
O O 2 
teen 
