OF NATURAL HISTORY. 4 IS 



a(fi: thefe artifices, Nature has endowed the fmaller and more 

 innocent fpecies of birds with many arts of defence. When 

 a hawk appears, the fmall birds, if they find it convenient, 

 conceal themfelves in the hedges of brufh-wood. When 

 deprived of this opportunity, they often, in great numbers, 

 feem to follow the hawk, and to expofe themfelves unnecef- 

 farily to danger, while, in faft, by their numbers, their per- 

 petual changes or direction, and their uniform endeavours to 

 rife above him, they perplex the hawk to fuch a degree, that 

 he is unable to fix upon a fingle object ; and, after exerting 

 all his art arid addrefs, he is frequently obliged to relinquifh 

 the purfuit. When in the extremity of danger, and after 

 employing every other artifice in vain, fmall birds have been 

 often known to fly to men for prote<5lion. This is a plain 

 indication that thefe animals, though they in general avoid 

 the human race, are by no means fo much afraid of man as 

 of rapacious birds. 



The ravens often frequent the fea-fhores in queft of food. 

 When they find their inability to break the fhells of muf- 

 cles, &c. to accomplifh this purpofe they ufe a very ingeni- 

 ous ftratagem : They carry a mufcle, or other fhelUfifli, 

 high up in the air, and then dafli it down upon a rock, by 

 which means the fhell is broken, and they obtain the end 

 they had in view. 



The wood-pecker is furnifhed with a very long and volu- 

 ble tongue. It feeds upon ants and other fmall infects. Na- 

 ture has endowed this bird with a Angular infiiiniSb. It knows 

 how to procure food without feeing its prey. It attaches it- 

 felf to the trunks of branches of decayed trees ; and, where- 

 ever it perceives a hole or crevice, it darts in its long tongue, 

 and brings it out loaded with infe6ls of different kinds. This 

 operation is certainly infi:in£live •, but the inftindl is aflifted 

 by the inftruclion of the parents ; for the young are no foon- 

 er able to fly, than the parents, by the force of example, 



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