BIRDS. 



CHAP. I. 



OF BIRDS IN GENERAL. 



WE are now come to a beautiful and loquacious race 

 of animals, that embellish our forests, amuse our walks, 

 and exclude solitude from our most gloomy retreats : 

 from these mankind have nothing to fear ; their plea- 

 sures, their desires, and even their animosities, only 

 serve to enliven the general picture of Nature, and give 

 Meditation an additional pleasure and delight. 



No part of Nature appears destitute of inhabitants-: 

 the woods, the waters, the depths of the earth, all have 

 their respective tenants ; while the yielding air, and 

 those tracts of space where men never can ascend, are 

 also passed through by multitudes of the most beauti- 

 ful beings in creation, whilst Providence, with a di- 

 recting hand, adapts them all for their peculiar sphere. 



The bird seems entirely calculated for a life of escape ; 

 and every part examined anatomically proves how com- 

 pletely they are formed : the shape of their body is 

 sharp before, for the purpose of piercing and making 

 their way through the air ; it then rises, by a gentle 

 swelling, to its bulk, and falls off in an expansive tail, 

 that helps to keep it buoyant, while the fore parts are 

 cleaving the air by their sharpness : from this con- 

 formation they have often been compared to a ship 

 making its way through water ; the trunk of the body 

 answers to the hold, the head to the prow, the tail to 

 the rudder, and the wings* to the oars. 



What we are next called upon to admire in the ex- 

 ternal formation of birds, is the neat. position of the 



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