ASCRIBED TO THE RATTLE-SNAKE. lOQ 



It is a well known faft, that among fome fpecies of birds, Fafts and ob- 

 the female, ajt a certain period, is accuftomed to compel the fpe^jnTth^g * 

 young ones to leave the neft; that is, when the young have power of fafci- 

 acquired fo much ftrength that they are no longer entitled ^o^f^^^^^^^''^'^ 

 all her care. But they fliil claim fome of her care. Their 

 flights are awkward, and foon broken by fatigue. They fall 

 to the ground, where they are frequently expofed to the 

 attacks of the ferpent, which attempts to devour them. In 

 this fituation of affairs, the mother will place herfelf upon a 

 branch of a tree, orbufh, in the vicinity of the ferpent. She 

 will dart upon the ferpent, in order (o prevent the deftrudion 

 of her young : but fear, the inftinft of felf-prefervation, will 

 compel her to retire. She leaves the ferpent, however, but 

 for a fl)ort time, and then returns again. Oftentimes, flie 

 prevents the deftrudlion of her young, attacking the fnake, 

 with her wing, her beak, or her claws. Should the reptile 

 fucceed in capturing the young, the mother is expofed to lefs 

 danger. For, whilft engaged in fwallowing them, he has 

 neither inclination nor power to feize upon the old one. But 

 the appetite of the ferpent-tribe is great : the capacity of their 

 ftomachs is not lefs fo. The danger of the mother is at hand, 

 when the young are devoured. The fnake feizes upon her ; 

 and this is the cataftrophe, which crowns the tale of faf- 

 cination ! 



An attachment to our offspring is not peculiar to the human 

 kind alone. It is an inftind which pervades the univerfe of 

 animals. It is a fpark of the divinity that a6tuates the 

 greater number of living exigences. It is a pallion which, 

 in my mind, at leaft, declares, in language moft emphatic, 

 theexiftence, the fuperintendance, the benevolence, ofafirft 

 great caufe, who regards with partial and parental, if not 

 with equal eyes the falling of a fparrowand the falling of an 

 empire. 



Among the greater number of the fpecies of birds, the at- 

 tachment of the parent to the young is remarkably ftrong. 

 We have daily inftances of this attachment among our domeftic 

 birds, and I believe, it is ftronger among thefe birds in their 

 wild Hate : for there are fome reafons for fufpefting, that 

 this amiable inftinft is diminithed and weakened by culture *. 



• This queftion will be examined in my memoirs upon theftorge, 

 or affcftionS} of animals. 



The 



