191 



haste, and brings forth one, two, or three young 

 ones. It is well she is full fed ; for she is to support 

 these with her milk, till they can crawl out, without 

 having any supply herself. She is round and fleshy 

 when she retires tor this purpose, but a mere skeleton 

 when she comes out. She crawls as well as she can, 

 to the part where she left off feeding, and her young 

 follow her. Nor will she touch any thing in the 

 way, however both her hunger and laziness may prompt 

 her to it. * 



It is the most timorous of all creatures. And with 

 reason : for it can neither fight nor fly. While it is 

 journeying on the ground, the tread of a human foot 

 shakes the earth enough to put it into terrors. It 

 trembles : the head is turned about every way, and 

 the mouth is open to cry like a young kitten. 



Insignificant as this creature is, there is a special 

 Providence in the formation and care of it. Not de- 

 signed for walking, its claws enable it to climb, and 

 then to hold fast in its station. Helpless as it is, the 

 universal Provider has assigned it a place of safety, 

 where it finds plenty of food ; and as it cannot easily 

 seek for drink, it has no need of any. To render it 

 the less obnoxious to pursuit, its colour secures it 

 even from view : and its amazing instinct of feeding 

 from the top to the bottom, proves a designing and 

 directing Hand. 



Before I proceed to some general reflections upon 

 beasts, I beg leave to take notice of one circumstance, 

 relating to several species of them, which is very 



strange, though very common. The horns of many 



animals fall olf every year, and new ones come in 

 theirplace. Our deer drop them in March, and the 

 new horns are full grown by the July following. We 

 may justly rank this, among the most wonderful phe. 

 nomeua of nature, which yields nothing analogous to 

 the growth of such hard solid bodies, of so great a 

 bulk, in so short a time. Many idle opinions have 

 been maintained, concerning the cause of their falling 



