INTRODUCTION. XV 



exhibited in the situations she has intended them to live in. 

 The eagle, placed amidst lone and remote solitudes upon the 

 mountain ; the goldcrest, in the inland and sheltered planta- 

 tion ; the dunlin, upon the bleak and barren extent of shore; 

 and the seagull, floating securely upon that element where it 

 obtains subsistence, each form is pregnant with meaning : 

 the hooked bill and sharp talons of the merlin ; the wide 

 mouth and great extent of wings of the swift; the long, 

 curved beak and corresponding length of tarsi of the curlew ; 

 and the broad, mud-sifting bill of the mallard, have each 

 their history; there is no intricacy or attempt at conceal- 

 ment ; Nature has hidden nothing, but has placed all things 

 before our understanding, with the intention of displaying 

 those manifold forms which have been created by the Al- 

 mighty to minister to our wants and pleasures. 



