NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



CHAPTER I. 



" Ye birds, 



That singing up to heaven-gate ascend, 



Bear on your wings, and in your notes, His praise. 



Milton. 



IN giving a description of the volatile race, there is opened an 

 extensive field for observation and amusement, in which, as m 

 every other part of the creation, we see displayed the same cre- 

 ative energy of Nature, or to speak with greater precision, of the 

 God of Nature, whose plastic hand has embellished them with so 

 great a variety of colours, given them such a diversity of in- 

 stincts, suitable to their modes of life ; and furnished them in so 

 admirable a manner, with a conformation of body perfectly cor 

 responding with their habits and dispositions. 



Quadrupeds, living on the earth like man, and in a great 

 measure on the same kinds of food, bear a considerable resem 

 blance to him in their general conformation ; but the structure 

 of birds is totally different from both. 



Instead of those characteristics of strength observable in the 

 formation of the generality of quadrupeds, the volatile tribes 

 seem peculiarly calculated for escape, and every part of their 

 organization, anatomically considered, proves the completeness 

 of their mechanism. Their whole frame is wisely calculated to 

 facilitate their motion through the yielding air. Every part is 

 formed for lightness and buoyancy. The position of their feathers, 

 all lying one way, and generally pointing backwards, and folding 

 over one another in exact and regular order, not only causes 

 them to glide easily through the air, but, together with the soft 

 down next their bodies, protects them from the piercing cold of 

 the atmosphere, to which they would, without this defence, be 

 more than any other creatures exposed. 



Their wings are constructed in the most wonderful manner, 

 and, although made of the lightest materials, are furnished with 

 such a degree of power as to impel their bodies forward with 

 astonishing rapidity. In some birds the strength of wing is al- 

 most inconceivable, and, were it not verified by observation and 

 experiment, would appear incredible. The swan with a flap of 

 his wing is able to break a man's leg, and it is said that a similar 

 stroke from an eagle has been known to kill a man instants 

 2 " B 



