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FTER an ineffectual search in Linnæus and Brisson, I begin to suspect that I discern my brother's hirundo hyberna in Scopoli's new discovered hirundo rupestris. His description of "Supra murina, subtus albida; rectrices macula ovali albâ in latere interno; pedes nudi, nigri; rostrum nigrum; remiges obscuriores quam plumæ dorsales; rectrices remigibus concolores, cauda emarginatâ, nec forcipatâ;" agrees very well with the bird in question; but when he comes to advance that it is "statura hirundinis urbicæ," and that "the definition given of the bank-martin suits this bird also;" "definitio hirundinis riparia Linnæi huic quoque convenit," 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,

"Above it is mouse-colour, below whitish, the guiding feathers with an oval white spot on the inner side, the feet bare and black, the beak black, the wing feathers darker than the dorsal ones, the guiders of the same colour as the wings, the tail well defined, not forked."

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 sheltery shores of Gibraltar and Barbary. Scopoli's characters of his ordines and genera are clear, just, and expressive, and much in the spirit of Linnæus. 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 "Elenchus vegetabilium et animalium per Austriam inferiorem."

I am pleased to see that my description of the moose corresponds so well with yours.

SELBORNE, Oct. 29, 1770.

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WAS much pleased to see, among the collection of birds from Gibraltar, some of those short-winged English summer birds of passage, concerning whose departure we have made so much inquiry. 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 great rendezvous, and place of observation, from whence they take their departure each way towards Europe or Africa. It is therefore no mean discovery, I think, to find that our small short-winged summer birds of passage are to be seen spring and autumn on the very skirts of Europe; it is a presumptive proof of their emigra

Scopoli seems to me to have found the hirundo melba, the great Gibraltar swift, in Tyrol, without knowing it. For what is his hirundo alpina but the aforementioned bird in other words? Says he, "It has all the qualities of the preceding, save that the breast is white; it is a little larger than the former;" "Omnia prioris" (meaning the swift ;) sed pectus album; paulo major priore." I do not suppose this to be a new species. It is true also of the melba, that "it builds on the lofty Alpine cliffs ;""nidificat in excelsis Alpium rupibus." Vid. "Annum Primum."

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My Sussex friend, a man of observation and good sense, but no naturalist, to whom I applied on account of the stone-curlew, (oedicnemus), sends me the following account: "In looking over my 'Naturalist's Journal' for the month of April, I find the stonecurlews are first mentioned on the seventeenth and eighteenth, which date seems to me rather late. They live with us all the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn prepare to take leave by getting together in flocks. They seem to me a bird passage that may travel into some dry hilly country south of us, probably Spain, because of the abundance of sheep-walks in that country; for they spend their summers with us in such districts. This conjecture I hazard, as I have never met with any one that has seen them in England in the winter. I believe they are not fond of going near the water, but feed on earth-worms, that are common on sheepwalks and downs. They breed on fallows and layfields abounding with grey mossy flints, which much resemble their young in colour; among which they skulk and conceal themselves. They make no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare ground, producing in

common but two at a time. There is reason to think their young run soon after they are hatched; and that the old ones do not feed them, but only lead them about at the time of feeding, which, for the most part, is in the night." Thus far my friend. In the manners of this bird you see there is something very analogous to the bustard, whom it also somewhat resembles in aspect and make, and in the structure of its feet.

For a long time I have desired my relation to look out for these birds in Andalusia; and now he writes me word that, for the first time, he saw one dead in the market on the third of September.

When the stone curlew (oedicnemus) flies it stretches out its legs straight behind, like an heron.

SELBORNE, Nov. 26, 1770.

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