INTRODUCTION. 9 



care and defence of their young ones, as long as 

 they require their attention. " The mother, 

 seated the livelong day upon her eggs, forgets 

 all the necessities of nature. Her natural cha- 

 racter undergoes a complete change, and fling- 

 ing off the timidity which usually characterises 

 her, she braves every danger, and dares the 

 most unequal conflicts for the safety of her 

 young. Some birds never quit their nests with- 

 out plucking feathers from their own breasts to 

 cover their eggs; others cover them with dry 

 leaves; and among some species, the male 

 hatches in his turn, or brings food to the female. 

 So much tenderness and trouble, lavished with- 

 out compensation; such a sublime and generous 

 self-devotion in the most urgent dangers, proves 

 that this natural and amiable sentiment is 

 not the result of any mechanical connexion of 

 ideas and sensations, but of a law altogether 

 divine. The swallow, precipitating itself into an 

 edifice in flames to rescue its young; the hen, 

 which hesitates not to brave death in defence of 

 her chickens; the timid lark, presenting herself 

 to the fowler, to divert him from her nest ; in 

 fine, all these touching evidences of affection 

 for the helpless, in animals so light and volatile, 

 clearly indicate the sacred impulse communicated 

 to all that breathe, by the Mighty Being who 



