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VARIETY OF CHARACTER. 



cravings of hunger ; some are constitutionally 

 brave, as the boar, buffalo, and bear ; whilst 

 others, such as the hyena and most of the feline 

 class, are cowardly. Some are pugnacious, as 

 the rhinoceros, jungle-cock, and spider ; and 



'* others harmless by nature, and peacefully inclined, 

 as the elephant and deer, except when excited by 

 jealousy. Some are naturally solitary, only seek- 

 ing each other during " the season of love," 

 which comprises all the rapacious order of beasts or 

 birds ; others live in families, as the elephant ; or 

 in herds, as bison, deer, and antelope. Some 

 associate only for the purposes of hunting, as 

 wolves, jackals, wild dogs, and vultures ; or pre- 

 vious to migrating, as swallows, snipe, and wood- 

 cock ; whilst others live permanently together, as 



( monkeys, parrots, rabbits, crows, pigeons, prairie 

 dogs, and the society bird.* In some animals 



* In Central Africa, I have come across the habitations of 

 the society birds, which at first sight I imagined to have 

 been constructed by man ; for they live in hundreds together 

 in a kind of mud and thatch-house, impervious to wet, having 



