STUDY X. 361 



not be confounded among themfelves, (he exhi- 

 bits them in contrails. We fhall fee, in the fol- 

 lowing Study, for what particular reafon (lie has 

 beftowed upon herbs a green hue, in preference to 

 every other colour. In general (he has made herbs 

 green, to detach them from the earth ; and then 

 (he has given the colour of the earth to animals 

 which live on herbage, to diftinguilh them, in 

 their turn, from the ground over which they ftray. 

 This general contraft may be remarked in the her- 

 bivorous quadrupeds, fuch as the domeftic ani- 

 mals, the yellow beads of the forefts, and in all the 

 granivorous birds, which live among herbage, or 

 in the foliage of trees, as the hen, the partridge, 

 the quail, the lark, the fparrow, and many others, 

 which are of earthy colours, becaufe they live 

 among verdure. But thofe, on the contrary, who 

 live on dingy grounds are clad in brilliant colours, 

 as the bluilh tom-tit, and the wood-pecker, which 

 fcramble along the rind of trees in purfuit of in- 

 fedts, and many others. 



Nature univerfally oppofes the colour of the 

 animal to that of the ground on which it is def- 

 tined to live. This mofb admirable Law admits 

 not of a fmgle exception. I fhall here produce a 

 few examples of it, to put my Reader in the way 

 of obferving thofe delightful harmonies, of which 



he 



