ANIMALS. 175 



vermin kind, choose some hiding place in the 

 neighbourhood of man. Some dig holes in the 

 ground ; some choose the hollow of a tree ; and 

 all the amphibious kinds bring up their young 

 near the water, and accustom them betimes to 

 their proper element. 



Thus nature seems kindly careful for the pro- 

 tection of the meanest of her creatures : but there 

 is one class of quadrupeds that seems entirely left 

 to chance, that no parent stands forth to protect, 

 nor no instructor leads, to teach the arts of sub- 

 sistence. These are the quadrupeds that are 

 brought forth from the egg, such as the lizard, 

 the tortoise, and the crocodile. The fecundity of 

 all other animals compared with these is sterility 

 itself. These bring forth above two hundred at 

 a time ; but as the offspring is more numerous, 

 the parental care is less exerted. Thus the nume- 

 rous brood of eggs are, without farther solicitude, 

 buried in the warm sands of the shore, and the 

 heat of the sun alone is left to bring them to per- 

 fection. To this perfection they arrive almost as 

 soon as disengaged from the shell. Most of them, 

 without any other guide than instinct, immediate- 

 ly make to the water. In their passage thither, 

 they have numberless enemies to fear. The birds 

 of prey that haunt the shore, the beasts that acci- 

 dentally come that way, and even the animals that 

 give them birth, are known, with a strange rapa- 

 city, to thin their numbers as well as the rest. 



But it is kindly ordered by Providence that 

 these animals, which are mostly noxious, should 

 thus have many destroyers : were it not for this, 



