THE 



Jlaturaltsrs Cafcmet 



CHAP. L 



Ye birds 



That, singing, up to Heaven's gate ascend 

 Beacon your wings, and in your notes His praise." 



OF BIRDS IN GENERAL. 



Introductory remarks. 



THERE is no division of animated nature in 

 which the wisdom of our Creator, various in its 

 plans, and matchless in its execution, shines 

 forth more conspicuously than in the different 

 feathered tribes. Their formation, and habits of 

 life, art admirably adapted to the various func- 

 tions they have to 'perform. In their structure 

 every part seems formed for traversing the aerial 

 regions : some launch away in repeated springs, 

 and advance as it were, by successive boundings/ 

 while others glide smoothly through the atmos- 

 phere, and cleave it with an equal and uniform 

 progress. The former skim over the surface 

 A 2 



