OF NATURAL HISTORY, 4^| 



The amazing fize and ftrength of the whale, one fliould 

 imagine, would fecure it from the infults of every other ani- 

 mal. But, befide the annual depredations made by man upon 

 the cetaceous tribes, they are often attacked and killed by 

 the fword-fifh. The fnout of this comparatively fmall ani- 

 mal is armed with a long, hard, proje^lion of bone, each 

 edge of which is furnifhed with a number of ftrong, flat, and 

 iharp points, or teeth, fome of which, efpecialiy near thjg 

 fnout, are an inch and a half in length. With this inftru- 

 ment the fword-fifh boldly attacks the whale* I have often 

 had the pleafure, fays Pere Labat*, of feeing their combats. 

 The whale has no other defence but its tail, with which it 

 endeavours to ftrike its antagonift. But, as the fword-fiflx 

 is more active and nimble than the whale, he eafily parries 

 the blow by fpringing into the air, and renewing the attack 

 with his faw-like inftrument. AVhenever he fucceeds, the 

 fea is dyed red with the blood ifluing from the wound. The 

 fury of the whale appears from the vehemence with which 

 it lafhes the waters, each ftroke refounding like the report 

 of a cannon. 



Many fmall birds, and particularly the wren and the tit» 

 moufe, may be feen, during the wanter-feafon, pecking at 

 the buds and branches of trees in our gardens. To thefe 

 little animals Nature has entrufled the charge of preventing 

 the noxious multiplication of thofe worms which feed upon 

 fruits. Nature, as far as we are able to trace her opera- 

 tions, does nothing in vain, or without fome valuable inten- 

 tion. No animals exift which are not ufeful, either by af- 

 fording nourifhment to, or preventing the hurtful increafe of 

 other fpecies. 



Upon the whole, every animated being that inhabits this 

 globe feems to be deflined by Nature, not for its own indi- 

 vidual exiftence and happinefs alone, but likewife for the ex- 



* NouY, Voyage, torn, 6. page 150- 



