300 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 
First Cause, that the farther we push our discover- 
ies, the more clearly are the divine perfections ex- 
hibited. It is not merely true, that on a superficial 
view we perceive the necessity of believing that a 
limited and changing world, such as that in which 
we dwell, could neither exist without being pro- 
duced, nor be the author of its own existence; and 
that there must therefore be, beyond the range of 
our senses, an independent and uncreated Essence, 
without beginning, without bounds, incapable of 
change, intelligent, ever active, all pervading; but 
it it is also certain that these prima facie views, as 
they may be called, are not only uncontradicted, but 
fully established by the most minute survey of the 
objects within the sphere of our vision; so that he 
who penetrates the deepest into the secrets of na- 
ture, only multiplies proufs of that most sublime 
and most. animating truth, that ‘ Verily there is a 
God, who made and rules the universe.’ ’’* 
The study of ornithology, in all its aspects, af- 
fords numerous illustrations of the truth of these 
observations. Whether we consider the external 
form and anatomical structure of birds, or examine 
their faculties and habits, or compare them among 
themselves or with each other, or turn our attention 
to the admirable adaptation of their whole frame 
and constitution to the circumstances of external 
nature in the particular locality which they are des- 
tined to inhabit, or regard them with reference to 
other animals, either in their bodily powers or their 
instinctive impulses, or their mental qualities; in 
every light in which it is possible to view the sub- 
ject, the conclusion which irresistibly forces itself 
on the mind is always the same. Contrivance in- 
exhaustible, intelligence vast and comprehensive, 
still infinitely beyond the grasp of the human intel- 
lect, combined with a power which never fails to 
* Bushman’s Introduction to the Study of Nature, London, 
34. 
