SELBORNE, _October 29th_, 1770.
Dear Sir,--After an ineffectual search in Linnaeus, Brisson, etc., I
begin to suspect that I discern my brother's _hirundo hyberna_ in
Scopoli's new discovered _hirundo rupestris_, p. 167. His description of
"_Supra murina_, _subtus albida_; _rectrices macula ovali alba in latere
interno_; _pedes nudi_, _nigri_; _rostrum nigrum_; _remiges obscuriores
quam plumae dorsales_; _rectrices remigibus concolores_; _cauda
emarginata_, _nec forcipata_," agrees very well with the bird in
question: but when he comes to advance that it is "_statura hirundinis
urbicae_," and that "_definitio hirundinis ripariae Linnaei huic quoque
conveniit_," he in some measure invalidates 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 nondescript 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 clear, 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 corresponds so well
with yours.