i4 ON- THk STUDY OP NATURE. 



gorous season. Insects themselves, unable to bear 

 the extreme cold, generally lie hidden within their 

 cases, from whence, at the approach of Spring, they 

 burst, and fly forth. Some animals, as the Beaver, 

 Squirrel'^, ^c. that feed on such vegetables as can 

 be preserved through the winter, do not sleep, but 

 live in their retreats on those provisions which Nature 

 has kindly taught them to store up in the Summer. 

 The preservation of the young of all animals is not 

 less wonderful than this. However savage may be the 

 natural disposition of the parents, they are remarka- 

 bly aflectionate to their offspring, and provide every 

 thing necessary for them with the utmost tenderness. 

 However powerful their enemies may be, the dam 

 will stand forward in their defence, and frequently 

 die rather than yield them up. In no more than 

 abclit three species, of all that our books have men- 

 tioned, are we able to trace any want of affection in 

 the female parents, to whose care the young gene- 

 rally devolve ; and even these may have arisen from 

 the misapprehensions of the writers, for Nature seems 

 so uniform in this neces'^ary and pleasing operation, 

 that we cannot allow, without superabundant proof, 

 even of exceptions. Quadrupeds, when they bring 

 forth tiicir young, have, secreted in receptacles pro- 

 vided for the purpose^ a liquor which we call milk. 

 With tliis, which i^peculiarly easy of digestion, the 

 young are nourii^li-ed, till their stomachs are able to 

 Liear, and their teeth to chew, more solid food. 

 Birds are destitute of this ; their offspring there- 

 fore are able, as soon as hatched, to take into their 

 stomachs such food as the parents collect for them. 



