3i6 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book IV. 



What mrikes (o regular an economy neceflary in the bees and ants, 

 is that thofe animals cannot find provifions in the winter, and there- 

 fore they mufl: lay up ftores for that feafon, during the fummer. 

 But all the brutes of every kind are by their in(lin£l dire(Sled to do 

 every thing that is neceflary for the prefervation of the individual 

 and the continuation of the kind. For thefe purpofes they live in 

 the way mofl: proper, and the beft fuiteJ to their nature and to the 

 climate and country in which they are placed : And I have never 

 heard of any man, who pretended to devife a more proper way, in 

 which they could live and bring up their young. 



This lafl. thing that I have mentioned is particularly to be attended 

 to in the operations of the brute, as by it the continuation of the 

 fpecies, which is a mofl important article in the animal fyftem, is 

 provided for. It is mod remarkable in the birds, and is to be 

 feen by us, while we fit in our rooms, where we obferve in our 

 windows the fwallows building their nefts and bringing forth and 

 rearing their offspring. For this purpofe they couple, and by their 

 joint labours bring up their young : It is a kind of marriage for a 

 feafon, and ferves the purpofe wonderfully well of bringing up the 

 offspring ; for which end the couple co-operate mofl: perfedly with 

 each other, fome of them fitting alternately upon the eggs, the male 

 fometimes in place of the female, for fome reafon no doubt, though 

 we know it not ; but we know certainly that nothing in nature 

 happens without a reafon. In this way the eggs are hatched ; and 

 while the one bird fits upon the eggs, the other brings it food. 



Such is the manner in which the birds, that is the animals who live 

 in the air, propagate their kind. As to the beads who inhabit this earth, 

 they take the fame care of the propagation of their race. I fhall men- 

 tion only one fpecies of them, and it is that fpecies with which we 

 Are better acquainted than with any other ; I mean the dogs whom 



we 



