HOSTILITIES OF ANIMALS. 



ral, one of the most prolific classes of animals, are attacked 

 and devoured by numerous hostile bands. No species, how- 

 ever, is ever exhausted. The balance between gain and loss 

 is perpetually preserved. The earth, the seas, the atmosphere, 

 may be considered as an immense and variegated pasture. In 

 this view it is most judiciously cultivated and stocked by the 

 numerous animated beings which it is destined to support. 

 Every animal and every vegetable furnish subsistence to par- 

 ticular species. Thus, nothing of value is lost ; and every 

 species is abundantly supplied with food. 



That the general balance of animation is constantly pre- 

 served, we learn from daily experience. The reader, how- 

 ever, I presume, will not be displeased to have some examples 

 of the modes employed by nature to accomplish this effect, 

 suggested to him. 



After an inundation of the Nile, the lower parts of Egypt 

 are greatly infested with serpents, frogs, mice, and other ver- 

 min. At that period, the storks resort thither in immense 

 multitudes, and devour the serpents, frogs, and mice, which, 

 without this dreadful carnage, would be highly noxious to the 

 inhabitants. Belon, a most ingenious and faithful French 

 naturalist, remarks, that in many places the land could not be 

 inhabited, if the storks did not destroy the amazing numbers 

 of mice which frequently appear in Palestine, and other parts 

 of the East bordering upon Egypt. The Egyptian vulture, 

 says Hasselquist, is of singular benefit to that country. It 

 eats up all the dung and offals in the towns, and the carcass- 

 es of camels, horses, asses, &c., in the fields, which, if not 

 quickly devoured, would, in that warm climate, by their pu- 

 trescency, be productive of disease and death to the inhab- 

 itants. Putrid carcasses, in all countries, are both offensive 

 to the nostrils and hurtful to health. But Nature, by various 

 instruments, soon removes the evil. An animal no sooner 

 dies, than, in a very short time, he is consumed by bears, 

 wolves, foxes, dogs, and ravens. In situations where these 

 animals dare not approach, as in the vicinity of towns and vil- 

 lages, a dead horse, in a few days, is devoured by myriads of 

 maggots. In the uncultivated parts of America, serpents and 

 snakes of different kinds abound. After it was discovered 

 that swine greedily devoured serpents, hogs were uniformly 

 kept by all new settlers. Caterpillars are destructive to the 

 leaves and fruits of plants. Their numbers and varieties are 

 immense. But their devastations are checked by many ene- 

 mies. Without a profusion of caterpillars, most of the smaller 



