34-2 HISTORY OF 



Thus the curlew, the woodcock, and the snipe, 

 are ever seen in plashy brakes, and under cover- 

 ed hedges, assiduously employed in seeking out 

 insects in their worm state ; and it seems, from 

 their fatness, that they find a plentiful supply. 

 Nature, indeed, has furnished them with very 

 convenient instruments for procuring their food. 

 Their bills are made sufficiently long for search- 

 ing; but still more, they are endowed with an 

 exquisite sensibility at the point for feeling their 

 provision. They are furnished with no less than 

 three pair of nerves, equal almost to the optic 

 nerves in thickness, which pass from the roof of 

 the mouth, and run along the upper chap to the 

 point. 



Nor are those birds with shorter bills, and des- 

 titute of such convenient instruments, without a 

 proper provision made for their subsistence. The 

 lapwing, the sandpiper, and the red-shank, run 

 with surprising rapidity along the surface of the 

 marsh, or the sea-shore, quarter their ground with 

 great dexterity, and leave nothing of the insect 

 kind that happens to lie on the surface. These, 

 however, are neither so fat nor so delicate as the 

 former: as they are obliged to toil more for a 

 subsistence, they are easily satisfied with what- 

 ever offers ; and their flesh often contracts a relish 

 from what has been their latest or their principal 

 food. 



Most of the birds formerly described have stat- 

 ed seasons for feeding and rest the eagle kind 

 prowl by day, and at evening repose ; the owl by 

 night, and keeps unseen in the day-time. But 



