ORDER ORALLY. 533 



succeeding genus, the Avosets, were not the feet palmated 

 ahnost entirely. 



Buffon, considering the apparent disproportion of the limbs 

 of this bird, which so ill support its little body, placed at 

 such a distance from the resting point ; and the shortness of 

 its toes, so ill-calculated to afford a resting place ; could see 

 in the himantopus only a relic of the first productions, in 

 which nature roughly sketched out the plan of animal con- 

 formation. But Mauduyt, with much propriety, does not 

 approve of this method of reasoning, concerning the works of 

 creation, and thinks it more suitable to the dignity of the Su- 

 preme Being to conclude that he saw, thought, and executed 

 every thing, in one and the same instant, without making 

 those experiments, which would lower him to our standard. 

 We may, however, remark, that the conjecture of Buffon 

 is of the nature of those to be found in Pliny, who calls the 

 convolvulus^ " Naturag rudimentum lilia facere condiscentis." 

 Furthermore, we may say, without any derogation from the 

 divine dignity, that Mauduyt's notion of the instantaneous 

 production of all things, is partially inconsistent with the lights 

 which subsequent discoveries have thrown on science. 



To others, indeed, what Buffon thought monstrous, appeared 

 one of the admirable works of nature. According to M. 

 Descourtilz, the conformation of the Himantopus or Long- 

 legged Plover, is a proof that this all-providing mother, even 

 in the minutest details of her labours, has modified the frame- 

 work of animated beings, according to the nature of their 

 daily Avants. Had this bird, says he, been destined to seek 

 its subsistence on a dry and arid soil, then indeed its propor- 

 tions would have been defective. But it usually frequents 

 the shores of the sea, and inundated lands. There the length 

 of its legs and neck allows it to enter, and plunge its bill into 

 the water to draw out the worms and insects, or larvae, which 



