136 BIRDS. 



city, and utility, yet in most of these respects they exceed 

 the other classes. The general character of birds is, that 

 they are feathered, two-legged, two-winged, have a hard 

 bony bill, and that the females are oviparous. 



This beautiful race is formed to embellish the most se- 

 questered retreats of nature, to cheer with their melody, 

 and to captivate by their innocence. From none of them 

 has man any thing to fear, and very few of them are pre- 

 judicial to his interest; he therefore participates in their 

 pleasures, their instincts, and desires, and feels his own 

 enjoyments enhanced by their happiness. 



Though all ranks and orders of animals are admirably 

 adapted for their respective situations, none is more ap- 

 parently so than birds. They share the produce of the 

 earth in common with quadrupeds; and, to compensate 

 for their want of strength, they are endowed with the qua- 

 lity of ascending the region of air, where they are secure 

 from annoyance. 



In proportion as animals attain greater perfection, the 

 fewer are the species. Man, the most noble of the crea- 

 tion, is diversified only by climate, or other accidental va- 

 riations ; quadrupeds, as has been already seen, are pretty 

 numerous ; birds are vastly more so ; fishes are still more 

 various; and, descending to the lower classes of insects 

 and worms, the species are so multifarious, that the most 

 active and inquisitive observer cannot enumerate them all. 



Quadrupeds are observed to bear some distant resem- 

 blance, in their internal structure, to man; but that of 

 birds is entirely dissimilar. Formed chiefly to move or 

 tloat in air, all their parts are wonderfully adapted to their 

 destination. Being light and sharp before, they cleave 

 that fluid element with the greatest facility ; and, swelling 

 gradually in the middle, they again terminate in expansive 

 tails, which preserve the buoyancy and direction of the 

 body, while the fore parts are cutting their way. Hence 

 they have been compared to a vessel in the sea; the trunk 

 of the animal's body answering to the hold, the head to the 

 prow, the tail to the rudder, and the wings to the oars. 



