THE GOLDEN PLOVEE. 109 



tudes, which appear to influence all nature ; and we must be 

 careful that the partial theories which we form of birds or of 

 any other class of beings, do not run counter to, or violate, 

 those general analogies. 



Now it appears to be a general analogy in all animated 

 nature, that thicker clothing, and clothing of a paler tint, is 

 produced, even upon the same animal, when removed from a 

 warmer climate to a colder. 



With quadrupeds that is the case. The change of Captain 

 Sabiiie's dog, in the Arctic regions, is equally well known 

 and remarkable. When that animal was first exposed to the 

 intense cold of the north, he felt greatly incommoded, and 

 crept almost into the fire ; but, after a time, the roots of his 

 hair became so thickly matted with fur, and the hair over 

 that so long, that he was proof against all temperatures, 

 whether the extreme of cold or of heat. To the former he was 

 exposed without any experiment ; but when tried, he bore 

 the latter equally well, and the men used to amuse them- 

 selves by tumbling hot cinders on him, to which he was per- 

 fectly indifferent, even though they burned holes to a con- 

 siderable depth in his coat. From that, as well as from many 

 other instances, we must conclude that the local distribution 

 of any animal depends chiefly upon its food ; and that where 

 the proper food for it can be found, it would in time accom- 

 modate itself to the climate. No doubt there must be a 

 limit to that accommodating power, and perhaps that limit 

 may be sooner arrived at in the case of cold-blooded than 

 in that of warm-blooded animals, and that birds, as being 

 warmer than quadrupeds, can more speedily adapt themselves 

 to climates. 



In these northern climates, quadrupeds have two sets of 

 clothing upon them during the winter months, and most of the 

 trees have two sets of leaves till the summer be so far advanced 



