STUDY X. 375 



Another confequence, eqiially important, may 

 be deduced from thefe obfervations ; it is this, 

 that all thefe harmonies are contrived for the ufe of 

 Man. A blue-coloured fowl, on the azure ground 

 of the fky, or on the furface of the waters, would 

 elude our fight. Nature, befides, has referved the 

 rich and agreeable colours only for the birds which 

 live in our vicinity. This is fo indubitably cer- 

 tain, that though the Sun ads between the Tro- 

 pics with the whole energy of his rays, on the 

 fowls whofe refidence is the wide Ocean, there is 

 not a fingle one of them arrayed in a beautifully 

 coloured plumage, whereas thofe which inhabit the 

 (hores of the Seas, and of the rivers, are frequently 

 drelTed in the moH gorgeous attire. The fla- 

 mingo, a tall bird, which lives in the fwampy 

 (hores of the South-Seas, has a white plumage 

 charged with carmine. The toucan, on the fame 

 flrands, has an enormous bill of the mod lively 

 red ; and when he retires from the bofom of the 

 humid fands, where he finds his food, you would 

 be tempted to fay, that he has jull filhed out of 

 them a ftump of coral. There is another fpecies 

 of toucan, whofe beak is white and black, as finely 

 poliflied as if it confided of ebon and ivory. The 

 pintada, with fpeckled plumage, the peacock, 

 the duck, the king-fiflier, and a multitude of oiher 

 river-birds, embellilh, by the enamel of their co- 

 B b 4 lours, 



