572 REPRODUCTIVE POWER OF BIRDS. 



their senses, their sagacity in foreseeing changes 

 of weather, in the construction of their nests, and 

 in providing for their wants. Hence also their 

 delightful genius for music, the social and almost 

 human affections of some, including the faculty of 

 articulating words, together with all those beau- 

 tiful instincts which many have regarded as a 

 species of inspiration. But although in a very few 

 of them the brain is larger in proportion to the size 

 of the body than in man, its convolutions are less 

 numerous, and its frontal portions less developed, 

 coinciding with the activity, yet limited range 

 of their intelligence. Nor is it unworthy of pass- 

 ing notice, that the pigeon, sparrow, and some 

 other among the smaller species of the feathered 

 races, rear from six to eight broods of young every 

 season in the middle latitudes, all of which attain 

 their growth in a few weeks ; while it is known 

 that the common fowl often affords one hundred 

 eggs annually, if well nourished and protected 

 from the inclemency of the weather, or even one 

 hundred and fifty in a few cases, according to 

 Buffon. 



Again ; those mammalia in which the organs 

 of respiration are most fully developed, possess 

 the highest degrees of vital energy. For example, 

 the chest of the dog, wolf, fox, goat, deer, horse, 

 ox, sheep, hare, rabbit, and some other species of 

 quadrupeds, is larger, in proportion to the size of 

 the body, than that of man, and their temperature 



