THE GOODNESS OF GOD. 145 



teaches it to avoid danger, and in man reason 

 is brought into action for his self-defence. A 

 moor-hen, whose nest among rushes had been 

 frequently destroyed by a sudden rising of the 

 water in a neighbouring pond, built a nest in a 

 spruce-fir tree near it, at a height of twenty feet 

 from the ground, instinct teaching her that there 

 it would be safe. A similar instance occurred 

 in my own neighbourhood in Richmond Park, 

 where there were some Cape geese. These laid 

 their eggs on an island in the middle of the 

 pond, but they were constantly fed upon by 

 water-rats. Finding this to be the case, the 

 geese made their nests in some oak pollard trees 

 near the water, where they laid their eggs and 

 hatched their brood in safety. They then took 

 their young, one by one, in their bills to the 

 pond. I have known a swan, just previous to a 

 sudden rise of a river, add a quantity of mate- 

 rials to her nest, assisted by her mate, so as to 

 raise it above the flood-mark at least two feet, 

 and thus prevented her eggs being chilled. 

 Creative Wisdom could alone have endowed the 

 swan with this extraordinary instinct of fore- 

 seeing a flood and guarding against its conse- 

 quences. 



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