168 HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



or suffer a temporary death. These annual changes in trees, 

 &c., have some resemblance to those of animals, which pro- 

 duce at certain stated seasons only. 



This distribution of life to an immensity of successive indi- 

 viduals, seems to be another intention of Nature in changing 

 forms, and in the dissolution of her productions. Were the 

 existence of individuals perpetual, or were it prolonged for 

 ten times the periods now established, life would be denied to 

 myriads of animated beings, which enjoy their present limited 

 portion of happiness. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OF THE HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



MANY animals, beside those of the human species, have the 

 faculty of constructing proper habitations for concealing 

 themselves, for defending themselves against the attacks of 

 their enemies, for sheltering and cherishing their young, and 

 for protecting them from the injuries of the weather. AU 

 those of the same species, when not restrained by accidental 

 causes, uniformly build in the same style, and use the same 

 materials. From this general rule man is to be excepted. 

 Possessed of superior faculties and understanding, he can 

 build in any style, and employ such materials as his taste, his 

 fancy, or the purposes for which the fabric is intended, shall 

 direct him. A cottage and a palace are equally within the 

 reach of his powers. In treating of this subject, we mean not 

 to trace the progress of human architecture, which, in the 

 earlier stages of society, is extremely rude, but to confine our 

 selves to that of the inferior tribes of animated beings. 



With regard to quadrupeds, many of them employ no kind 

 of architecture, but live continually, and bring forth their 

 young, in the open air. When not under the immediate pro- 

 tection of man, these species, in rough or stormy weather, 

 shelter themselves among trees or bushes, retire under the 

 coverture of projecting rocks, or the sides of hills opposite to 

 those from which the wind proceeds. Beside these arts of 

 defence, to which they are prompted by instinct and experi- 

 ence, nature furnishes them, during the winter months, with a 



