STUDY X. 363 



able till the evening, fays Father Du Tertre*, 

 " as in a ftate of profound forrow, with the head 

 " drooping, from the weight of his long bill, and 

 '' eyes fixed on the agitated Ocean, as motionlefs 

 " as a flatue of marble." On the dulTcy ftrand of 

 thofe feas may frequently be diftinguifhed herons 

 white as fnow, and in the azure plains of the fky, 

 the paillencu of a filvery white, fkimming through 

 it almofl out of fight : he is fometimes glazed 

 over with a bright red, having likewife the two 

 long feathers of his tail the colour of fire, as that 

 of the South-Seas, 



In many cafes, the deeper that the ground is, 

 the more brilliant are the colours in which the 

 animal, deftined to live upon it, is arrayed. We 

 have not, perhaps, in Europe, any infeft with 

 richer and gayer clothing than the ftercoraceous 

 fcarab, and the fly which bears the fame epithet. 

 This lafl: is brighter than burniflied gold and 

 fteel ; the other, of a hemifpherical form, is of a 

 fine blue, inclining to purple : and, in order to 

 render the contrail complete, he exhales a fl:rong 

 and agreeable odour of mufk. 



Nature feems, fometimes, to deviate from this 

 Law, but then it is from other reafons of confor- 



* Hiftory of the Antilles. 



mity, 



