312 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



habitants, and in reference to all these elements, the 

 peculiarities with which the Creator has distinguished 

 the various tribes is amazing, whether we consider 

 the wisdom and beneficence of the contrivances in 

 themselves, or the consummate skill with which they 

 are suited to the respective situation in which these 

 tribes are intended to exist. Consider, for example, 

 the productive powers and the corresponding instincts 

 by which Providence has secured the preservation of 

 the respective species. The egg is itself an admi- 

 rable production ; and how mysteriously is the chick 

 developed, till it bursts its own shell at the appointed 

 and appropriate moment, rejoicing in its new ex- 

 istence ! The nest too, sometimes so artificially 

 formed by the mother-bird, and her tedious and self- 

 denying period of incubation, as well as her maternal 

 care of the callow brood when hatched, are instances 

 so full of intelligence and forethought, that it. seems 

 as if the hand of the Deity himself were visibly dis- 

 played tenderly guiding her unconscious path. 



Nor is it possible to overlook the means and 

 adaptations by which the life thus mysteriously be- 

 stowed continues to be preserved. To all the species, 

 however diversified, food of some kind is necessary; 

 and therefore all are furnished with organs of swal- 

 lowing and digesting suited to their respective wants. 

 But these organs would be altogether useless were 

 not two considerations superadded an instinct to 

 desire and select the proper food, and a locality in 

 which that food is to be obtained. It is curious and 

 edifying to observe with what discrimination the 

 young of these animals, without experience and 

 without instruction, instinctively seize on the parti- 

 cular kind of food adapted to their digestive organs, 

 rejecting all other kinds, however palatable and nu- 

 tritive to creatures of a different species. Nor is it 

 less worthy of remark that there is scarcely a vege- 



