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As we find, from thefe citations, that fo many 
different forts of birds have learned to fpeak, and 
as I have fliewn that a fparrow may be taught to 
Ovid, therefore, fpeaking of the perdix, fays, 
“ ponitque in fepibus ova d ,” 
where the common partridge is feldom known to build. 
Pliny again informs us, “ perdices fpina & frutice fie mu- 
“ niunt receptaculum, ut contra feras abunde valentur e ”, as 
alfo in the 52d chapter of his tenth book, that the perdix lays white 
eggs, whi;h is not true of the common partridge. 
But there are not wanting other proofs of the conje&ure I 
have here made. 
Ariftotle, fpeaking of this fame bird, fays, TW piv rs/xhxu*, 
fxcv xaxxa£i^xcnif, ot Js TfUta’i 
Now, the word xcsxxaSi^Wi is clearly formed from the call of 
the bird alluded to, which does not at all refemble that of the 
common partridge. 
Thus alfo the author of the Elegy on the Nightingale, who 
is fuppofed by fome to be Ovid, hath the following line : 
“ Caccabat hinc perdix, hinc gratitat improbus anfer.” 
fo that the call of the bird mud have had fomething very par- 
ticular, and have anfwered nearly, to the words xxxxxGi^t and 
caccabat. 
I find, indeed, that M. de BufFon contends s that the 
of Ariftotle does not mean the common partridge, but the bar- 
tavel, with regard to which, I fhall not enter into any difeuf- 
fion, but only obferve, that moft of his references are inaccurate, 
and that he entirely miftakes the materials of which the neft is 
compofed, according to Ariftotle’s fixth book, and firft chapter. 
d Ovid. Met. lib. viii. 1 . 258. I lhall alfo refer to 1 . 237, of the 
fame book : 
“ Garrula ramofa profpexit ab ilice perdix 
as it is well known that the common partridge never perches upon a 
tree. 
e Lib. x. c. 23. 1 Lib. iv. c. 9. * Orn. T, II. p. 422. 
ling 
