206 NATURAL THEOLOaY. 



In this part of the case, the variety of resources, expedi' 

 ents, and materials which animals of the same species are 

 said to have recourse to under different circumstances, and 

 when differently supplied, makes nothing against the doc- 

 trine of instincts. The thing which we want to account for 

 is the propensity. The propensity being there, it is probable 

 iiiough that it may put the animal upon different actions 

 according to different exigencies. And this adaptation of 

 resources may look like the effect of art and consideration 

 rather than of instinct ; but still the propensity is instinctive. 

 For instance, suppose what is related of the woodpecker to be 

 true, that in Europe she deposits her eggs in cavities which 

 she scoops out in the trunks of soft or decayed trees, and in 

 which cavities the eggs lie concealed from the eye, and iu 

 some sort safe from the hand of man ; but that in the forests 

 of Guinea and the Brazils, which man seldom frequents, the 

 same bird hangs her nest on the twigs of tall trees, thereby 

 placing them out of the resich. o[ mo?ike?js and snakes; that 

 is, that in each situation she prepares against the danger 

 which she has most occasion to apprehend. Suppose, I say, 

 this to be true, and to be alleged, on the part of the bird 

 that builds these nests, as evidence of a reasoning and dis- 

 tinguishing precaution; still the question returns, whence 

 the propensity to build at all ? 



Nor does parental afiection accompany generation by any 

 universal law of animal organization, if such a thing were 

 intelligible. Some animals cherish their progeny with the 

 most ardent fondness and the most assiduous attention ; others 

 entirely neglect them ; and this distinction always meets the 

 constitution of the young animal with respect to its wants 

 and capacities. In many, the parental care extends to the 

 young animal ; in others, as in all oviparous fish, it is con- 

 fined to the Qg^, and even as to that, to the disposal of it in 

 its proper element. Also, as there is generation Avithout 

 parental affection, so is there parental instinct, or what ex- 

 actly resembles it, without generation. In the bee trib(!, the 



