&5G LETTER XLI. 



ed equally in both. We have observed the different 

 kinds of quadrupeds, distinguished by the various 

 characteristics of beauty, strength, and utility, and 

 shall now contemplate in the feathered tribes, the 

 same creative energy of nature, or to speak with 

 greater precision, of the God of nature, whose plastic 

 hand has embellished them with so great a variety of 

 colours, given them such a diversity of instincts, suit- 

 able to their modes of lite ; and furnished them in so 

 admirable a manner, with a conformation of body 

 perfectly corresponding with their habits and disposi- 

 tions. 



Quadrupeds, living on the earth like man, and, in a 

 great measure on the same kinds of food, bear a con- 

 siderable resemblance to him in their general confor- 

 mation; but the structure of birds is totally different 

 from both. Instead of those characteristics of strength, 

 observable in the-formation of the generality of qua- 

 drupeds, the volatile tribes seem peculiarly calculated 

 for escape, and every part of their organization, ana- 

 tomically considered, proves the completeness of 

 their mechanism. Their whole frame is wisely cal- 

 culated to facilitate their motion through the yielding 

 air. Every part is formed for lightness ami buoy- 

 ancy. The position of their feathers all lying one- 

 way, and generally pointing backwards, and folding 

 over one another in exact and regular order, not only 

 causes them to glide easily through the air, but, toge- 

 ther with the soft down next their bodies, protects 

 them from the piercing cold of ihe atmosphere, to 

 which they would, without this fence, be more than 

 any other creatures exposed. 



Their wings are constructed in the most wonderful 

 manner, and, although made of the lightest materials, 

 are furnished with such a degree of power as to imp*: 1 

 their bodies forward with astonishing rapidity. In 

 some birds the strength of wing is almost inconceiv- 

 able, and, were it not verified by observation and ex- 

 periment, would appear incredible. The swan, with 

 a flap of his wing, is able to break a man's leg, and it 

 is said that a similar stroke from an eagle has been 



