BIRDS. 
363 
young feed themselves from their birth, have some- 
times eighteen or twenty in a brood, and sometimes 
more. Of this last kind are quails, pheasants, par- 
tridges, and hens. The Creator, who has regulated 
all things for the best, has wisely ordered this. The 
dam who charges herself with the care of seeking 
provisions, has but an inconsiderable brood : were 
it large, both the parents would be slaves, and the 
young but indifferently accommodated ; while the 
mother who marches in the van of her progeny, 
without nourishing them, can conduct twenty as 
well as four. The following instance of the bounty 
of Providence relates to ourselves in particular. 
Those birds who are detrimental to us, and those 
with whose existence we can easily dispense, are the 
species who multiply the least: on the contrary, 
those whose flesh is most salutary, and whose eggs 
afford the best nourishment, are fruitful to a prodigy. 
When the eggs are hatched, and the young have 
made their appearance, the parents become charged 
with new cares, till the brood are capable of sub- 
sisting without them. Provision must be prepared 
for eight instead of two. The linnet and the night- 
ingale labour then like the rest ; they are up before 
the sun in quest of provision, sometimes one, some- 
times the other, and sometimes both together. 
They distribute the food with great equality, giving 
each its portion in its turn, and never feeding the 
same bird twice. This tenderness of the mothers 
for their young, operates to a degree that even 
changes their natural disposition, and new duties pro- 
