ORDER ACCIPITRES. 131 



friendship ; in providing shelter and food for their offspring, 

 and attending by every means to their comfort and education. 

 A truly philoso[)hic mind sees more in all this than meets the 

 eye ; it is raised to the contemplation of that informing soul 

 which breathes throughout all the works of nature — 



" What is this mighty breath, ye sages say, 

 Which, in a powerful lang-uag-e, felt not heard, 

 Instructs the fowls of heaven, and tlinnigli their breast 

 These arts of love diflFuses ? What but God ? 

 Inspiring God ! who, boundless spirit all. 

 And unremitting energy, pervades. 

 Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. 

 He ceaseless works alone, and yet alone 

 Seems not to work : with such perfection frain'd 

 Is this complex stupendous scheme of things." 



Every species having an instinct and an industry peculiar to 

 itself, constructs its nest in its own peculiar way. The palmi- 

 pedes place theirs either on the ground, or among the reeds 

 in the neighbourhood of waters. The grallae fix theirs near 

 marshy places, or conceal them on the ground among the tufted 

 plants. The gallinaceous birds, in the furrows of the fields, or 

 on the gentle declivities of the lesser hills. But all these fowls 

 being polygamous, and the males abandoning the care of the 

 eggs, which are usually very numerous, entirely to the females, 

 they cannot be, with strict propriety, said to construct any 

 nest, contenting themselves with little heaps of straw, &c. to 

 deposit their eggs in. The ostrich and cassowary expose 

 theirs on the naked sand, leaving them in a great measure to 

 be hatched by the influence of the sun. But the tadorna, a 

 species of duck, some penguins and sphenisci, deposit their 

 eggs in a sort of burrow, which they dig like rabbits. Other 

 water-fowl suspend their nests in rushes at the surface of the 

 water, as the colymbi. Some construct theirs in the clefts of 

 rocks, or in little hillocks, like the cormorant and the sea-mew. 

 The flamingo builds its nest in a sort of clay island in the 



K 2 



