PAIRING OF SALMON. 55 



also the rabbit. I recollect no other quadruped, 

 wild or tame, that does so ; at least, if a few do, by 

 far the greater part do not. With regard to the lat- 

 ter, the case is very different ; the laws of nature, 

 hidden as they are from us, appear to be capricious 

 and confused ; but we must say with the poet, 



" All discord's harmony not understood, " 



and proceed to view her stupendous operations as 

 they are, with admiration and with gratitude. It ap- 

 pears to me, that most of those birds, whose young 

 depend upon the joint efforts of the male and female 

 for support, and which build nests, do all pair, whe- 

 ther of the rapacious, or the pye kind, or any of the 

 numerous species of the small bird race ; and I be- 

 lieve this is mostly the case with the wild aquatic 

 birds. The wild swan, goose, and duck pair ; but 

 all three, in a state of servitude, are polygamous, 

 though they all proceed from the wild stock. The 

 partridge pairs, but the quail, which so strongly 

 resembles it, does not; nor does the pheasant, or the 

 cuckoo ; but the heron pairs, and yet the bittern 

 does not. On the present occasion, there is no 

 use in extending this enquiry,- because the instances 

 mentioned are sufficient to show, that nature does 

 not furnish us with any rules by which we can 

 reason, from the natural propensities of one object 

 of the creation to those of another, why some 

 should pair, and why others should not ; nor do I 

 recollect that any reasons are assigned or even 



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