NATURAL HISTORY. 49 



killing animals that are hurtful ; but they are such as are agreeable to 

 people in general, therefore are allowed to live. Such are the swallow, 

 the owl, all the smaller birds that live upon worms, such as larks, — 

 indeed all those of the spear-bill class. Now these animals have 

 nothing in them that is disagreeable to the sight. Indeed many, I 

 think, of our first class [mole, hedgehog, &c] are agreeable : but any- 

 thing that is disagreeable in them is from a notion that they are hurt- 

 ful. The viper indeed is so ; but, I believe, seldom save when they 

 are meddled with. However, we could dispense with the vipers if all 

 the others were saved ; indeed, not only saved, but cultivated. Instead 

 of rewards offered by every parish to those that bring such and such 

 beasts, rewards should be offered to those that form places of residence 

 for them. The notion that hedgehogs eat fruit and suck cows is 

 entirely without foundation 1 . 



Many of the above-mentioned [insectivorous] animals would be of 

 vast importance in gardens ; such as the lizards, frogs, especially the 

 green frog, the [harmless] snakes, and hedgehogs : the mole might be 

 hurtful by forming niole -hills. Hedgehogs have been found of great 

 service in magazines in devouring the mice. 



The mole, the shrew, the hedgehog, &c, although animals of prey, 

 or living upon other animals, yet are not animals of offence or defence : 

 they do not attack any animal that can make resistance. 



Of the Sociability of Man and of Animals. 



The mixing [or associating together] the different tribes of men is much 

 more difficult than that of other animals. Men's minds are linked 

 together by a much greater variety of circumstances than other animals 

 are : men become attached to systems, to peculiarities ; and, in propor- 

 tion to the attachment to their own, they despise those of others. 

 Animals confine their connexions to acquaintance only. 



The instinctive principle in animals to associate with each other may 

 be classed under the following heads, each head having its degree of 

 power ; viz. acquaintance simply, tribe, genus, species, sex, and, last of 

 all, family [in the sense in which we use the term in common life, 

 meaning the parents and offspring]. However, I believe the instinctive 

 principle of family to associate beyond the first, or acquaintance, is only 

 in those cases where the family is large, more especially where each is 



1 [Except the necessity that cow-boys, &c. have to account for the empty 

 udder. The slaves of Virginia charge the absence of the looked-for supply, when 

 the cows are driven home to be milked, upon the snakes.] 



E 



