I am glad you are making inquiries from Linnaeus concerning the
woodcock: it is expected of him that he should be able to account
for the motions and manner of life of the animals of his own Fauna.
Faunists, as you observe, are too apt to acquiesce in bare
descriptions, and a few synonyms: the reason is plain; because all
that may be done at home in a man's study, but the investigation of
the life and conversation of animals, is a concern of much more
trouble and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the active
and inquisitive, and by those that reside much in the country.
Foreign systematics are, I observe, much too vague in their specific
differences; which are almost universally constituted by one or two
particular marks, the rest of the description running in general
terms. But our countryman, the excellent Mr. Ray, is the only
describer that conveys some precise idea in every term or word,
maintaining his superiority over his followers and imitators in spite
of the advantage of fresh discoveries and modern information.
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