Volume I Part 7 (2/2)
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 sh.o.r.es 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.
I am, etc.
LETTER x.x.xIII.
SELBORNE, _Nov. 26th_, 1770.
Dear Sir,--I was much pleased to see, among the collection of birds from Gibraltar, some of those short-winged English summer birds of pa.s.sage, 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 pa.s.sage are to be seen spring and autumn on the very skirts of Europe; it is presumptive proof of their emigrations.
Scopoli seems to me to have found the _hirundo melba_, the great Gibraltar swift, in Tirol, without knowing it. For what is his _hirundo alpina_ but the afore-mentioned bird in other words? Says he, ”_Omnia prioris_” (meaning the swift); ”_sed pectus alb.u.m_; _paulo major priore_.” I do not suppose this to be a new species. It is true also of the _melba_, that ”_nidificat in excelsis Alpium rupibus_.” _Vid. Annum Primum_.
My Suss.e.x 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 stone-curlews 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 of pa.s.sage 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 sheep-walks and downs. They breed on fallows and lay-fields 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 a.n.a.logous 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 3rd September.
When the _oedicnemus_ flies it stretches out its legs straight behind, like a heron.
I am, etc.
LETTER x.x.xIV.
SELBORNE, _March 30th_, 1771.
Dear Sir,--There is an insect with us, especially on chalky districts, which is very troublesome and teasing all the latter end of the summer, getting into people's skins, especially those of women and children, and raising tumours which itch intolerably. This animal (which we call a harvest bug) is very minute, scarce discernible to the naked eye, of a bright scarlet colour, and of the genus of Acarus. They are to be met with in gardens on kidney-beans, or any legumens, but prevail only in the hot months of summer. Warreners, as some have a.s.sured me, are much infested by them on chalky downs, where these insects swarm sometimes to so infinite a degree as to discolour their nets, and to give them a reddish cast, while the men are so bitten as to be thrown into fevers.
There is a small, long, s.h.i.+ning fly in these parts very troublesome to the housewife, by getting into the chimneys, and laying its eggs in the bacon while it is drying; these eggs produce maggots called jumpers, which, harbouring in the gammons and best parts of the hogs, eat down to the bone, and make great waste. This fly I suspect to be a variety of the _musca putris_ of Linnaeus; it is to be seen in the summer in farm-kitchens on the bacon-racks and about the mantel-pieces, and on the ceilings.
The insect that infests turnips and many crops in the garden (destroying often whole fields while in their seedling leaves) is an animal that wants to be better known. The country people here call it the turnip-fly and black-dolphin; but I know it to be one of the _coleoptera_; the ”_chrysomela oleracea_, _saltatoria_, _femoribus posticis cra.s.sissimis_.”
In very hot summers they abound to an amazing degree, and, as you walk in a field or in a garden, make a pattering like rain, by jumping on the leaves of the turnips or cabbages.
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