252 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



in a summer's day. Bulk, therefore, is generally- 

 connected with peculiarity of motion ; and both are 

 highly characteristic of natural groups or types. 



(176.) The unusual developement of any par- 

 ticular part of the body, unconnected with those we 

 shall hereafter touch upon, comes under the general 

 head of form or contour, and will be found of much 

 importance in definitions. We never find, for in- 

 stance, that animals, whose muzzle or face is greatly 

 prolonged, are naturally grouped with such as have 

 these parts short and very obtuse. Among quadru- 

 peds, there are many striking instances of this law 

 of nature. The muzzle of all the ant-eaters is so ex- 

 cessively lengthened, that it seems pulled out, as it 

 were, into the shape of a rostrum or beak, such as 

 we see among the curlews : we trace this pecu- 

 liarity, again, through the whole family of shrew 

 mice, and in the moles, and hedgehogs ; and, as 

 if nature resolved that this type should not be lost 

 even in the ungulated order, she preserves it 

 clearly in the common pig. Among birds, we trace 

 the same analogy of structure under a different 

 modification. The muzzle of birds is, in fact, their 

 bill ; and the excessive length of this part is one of 

 the chief characters of the whole order of Gralla- 

 tores, or waders. Look to all the types of this order, 

 scattered in the rest of the feathered creation, and 

 we find there are always some which have a more 

 curved and lengthened bill than any of their com- 

 panions : but the analogy does not rest here : great 

 elongation of muzzle is always accompanied (for 

 what reason has not yet been explained) with small 

 eyes ; and these are placed very far back on the 



