--HOR.
Letter VII
To The Honourable Daines Barrington
Ringmer, near Lewes, Oct. 8, 1770.
Dear Sir,
I am glad to hear that Kuckalm is to furnish you with the birds of
Jamaica; a sight of the hirundines of that hot and distant island
would be great entertainment to me.
The Anni of Scopoli are now in my possession; and I have read the
Annus Primus with satisfaction: for though some parts of this work
are exceptionable, and he may advance some mistaken
observations; yet the ornithology of so distant a country as Carniola
is very curious. Men that undertake only one district are much
more likely to advance natural knowledge than those that grasp at
more than they can possibly be acquainted with: every kingdom,
every province, should have its own monographer.
The reason perhaps why he mentions nothing of Ray's Ornithology
may be the extreme poverty and distance of his country, into which
the works of our great naturalist may have never yet found their
way. You have doubts, I know, whether this Ornithology is
genuine, and really the work of Scopoli: as to myself, I think I
discover strong tokens of authenticity; the style corresponds with
that of his Entomology: and his characters of his Ordines and
Genera are many of them new, expressive, and masterly.
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