4 INTRODUCTION. 



run over with avidity the vast volume that lies before us, of 

 tastes and customs, and manners, and propensities, and pas- 

 sions, and consummate instinct. Few studies can be more 

 attractive and more beneficial, to the youthful mind, than 

 the study of Natural History : for the study of it will impress 

 upon the mind the incontrovertible fact, that nothing is low, 

 nothing little, nothing in itself unworthy, in the eyes of the 

 great Creator ; that nothing lies beyond the reach of His 

 benevolence, or the shadow of his protection. God alike 

 finds every living creature food, in rocks, and in wildernesses, 

 in the bowels of the earth, and in the depth of the ocean. 

 He gives reason where reason is wanted, instinct where u> 

 stinct is wanted, cunning where cunning is found necessary* 

 and wariness where wariness is demanded. He has furnished 

 rapidity of foot, or fin, or wing, where such qualities appear 

 expedient ; and where might is of moment, he has given it 

 the most terrible. To examine all their qualities and to im- 

 press them indelibly upon the youthful mind, is the design of 

 the following pages. We wish to lead the mind from fancy 

 to realities, and restrain it from the wild vagaries of the im- 

 agination, to the contemplation of those facts as they are 

 found all around us, that there is a Creator who makes, 

 superintends, and controls all things as it seems best to Him. 

 We wish to furnish the mind with that from which it can 

 draw means of usefulness in the various departments of life, 

 especially in that of agriculture, to which a knowledge of the 

 animal kingdom adds very much. With these remarks we 

 submit to the public the second volume of the " NATURAL 

 HISTORY." 



