HARMONIES OF VEGETATION. 281 



Thus the large family of grasses is the grand support of the most 

 numerous and most valuable animals to man, as the sheep which 

 jieldshim food, the cow which furnishes him with milk, and the 

 horse which labours and contributes to his comforts. So again, do 

 the birds of the air, thrive upon the benevolence and profusion of 

 the vegetable kingdom. 



18. We have observed, in a preceding part, that 

 vegetables are distinguished from the ground by their 

 green colour ; so are animals, which live among the her- 

 bage, detached from it, in their turn, by their colours. 



Those which live on the dusky bark of trees, or other dark 

 grounds, are clothed with brilliant colours, and sometimes with 

 green, while such as inhabit the green and herbaceous parts are 

 usually of a brown or dusky nature. So, accordingly, with several 

 species of the birds of India, which reside among the foliage of the 

 trees, as the greatest part of the parrots, many of the humming 

 birds, and even of the turtle doves, are of the most beautiful green : 

 but independently of the spots and marbling, white, blue, and red, 

 which distinguish their different tribes, and which render them per- 

 ceptible at a great distance in the trees, the brilliant green of their 

 plumage distinguishes them to great advantage from the dull and 

 embrowned verdure of these southern forests. 



19. Nature appears to have associated the species of 

 animals invested with the most pleasing colours, with 

 the species of plants whose flowers are the least vivid, 

 as if, by way of compensation. 



There are much fewer brilliant flowers between the tropics than 

 in the temperate zones ; but to make amends, the insects, the birds, 

 and even quadrupeds, as various species of monkeys and of lizards, 

 have the most lively colours. When they rest on the vegetables pe- 

 culiar to themselves, they form the most beautiful contrasts, and the 

 most delightful harmonies. 



20. The vegetable and animal kingdom do not bear 



B B 2 



