PREFACE. VU 



taste, have made me desirous of communicating it 

 to others, by relating a few well-authenticated 

 facts of the exact coincidence of the instinctive 

 powers with the necessities of the animal. My 

 friends, aware of my intention, increased the 

 stock of my materials by several curious commu- 

 nications, which I thought more likely to arrest 

 the attention of the young, when combined in 

 the form of letters, than a long string of detached 

 anecdotes, following each other like horses in a 

 team. 



My motive has been to excite attention to the 

 propensities of animals, as a powerful antidote to 

 treating them with cruelty or neglect, so often 

 practised by the ignorant and thoughtless from 

 inconsideration. Who can observe, without ad- 

 miring them ? Who can admire, without ador- 

 ing that Power that has so eminently displayed 

 his wisdom and goodness, in the endowments of 

 every inhabitant of this globe, from man to the 

 most minute insect that our microscopes discover ; 

 — each created for a certain portion of enjoyment, 

 adapted to its nature ; with organs and disposi- 

 tions so exactly fitted to procure this peculiar 



