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 primd 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 proofs 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, 

 1834. 



