172 N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y
bably the fame, pair, built their neft in die conch, and laid their
eggs.
The owl and the conch make a ftrange grotefque appearance,,
and are not the leaft curious fpecimens in. that wonderful colledtion
of art and naturef..
Thus is inftindt in animals, taken the lead; out of it’s way, an.
'undiftinguilhing, limited faculty; and blind to every circumftance
that does not immediately refpedt felf-prefervation, or lead at once,
to the propagation or fupport of their fpecies..
I am;
With all refpedt, &c. &e..
L E T T E R XIX.
TO T H E S A M E .
D E A R SIR, SstBORNE, Feb. 14, 1774,
I r e c e i v e d your favour of the eighth, and am pleafed to find'
that you read my little hiftory of the fwallow wdh your ufual
candour: nor was I the lefs pleafed to find that you made objections
where you faw reafoir.
f Sir AJbton L ever's Mufæum.
O F S E L B O R N E . 173
■ As to the quotations, it is difficult to fay precifely which fpecies
of hirundo Virgil might intend in the lines in queftion, fince the
ancients did not attend to. fpecific differences like modern natu-
ralifts: yet fomewhat may be gathered, enough to incline me to.
fuppofe that in. the two. paflages quoted the poet had his eye on
the fwallow.
In the firft place the epithet garrula fuits the fwallow well-, who.
is a great fongfter ; and not the martin-, which is rather, a mute bird;
and when it fings is fo inward as fearce to be heard. Befides, if.
tignum in that place fignifies a rafter,rather than, a beam, as it feems.
to me to do, then I think it muft be the fwallow that is. alluded to,
and not the martin; fince the former does, frequently build within,
the roof againft the rafters; while the latter always, as far as I have
been able to obferve, builds, without the roof againft eaves and.
cornices. j . . ,
As to the fimile, too much ftrefs muft not be laid on i t : yet the
epithet nigra fpeaks plainly in favour of the fwallow, whofe back
and wings are very black; while the rump of the martin is milk-
white; it’s back and wings blue, and all it’s under part white as
fnow. Nor can the clumfy motions (comparatively clumfy) of the
martin well reprefent the fudden and artful evolutions and quick
turns which Juturna gave to her brother’s chariot, fo as to elude the
eager purfuit of the enraged JEneas. The verb fonat alfo feems to,
imply a bird that is fomewhat loquacious e.
<1 g Nigra velut magnas domini cum divitis sedes
“ Pervolat, et pennis alta atria iullrat hirundo,
it Pabula parva legens, nidilqiie loquacibus efcas:
Et nunc porticibus vacuis, nunc humida circum
Stagna Jo fiat" ■ " ; *"*