Book IV. Office of Incubation. But of these Matters in a

more proper Place (x).

2. When the young ones are produced, not only with what Care do they feed and nurse them, but with what furprizing Courage do all or moft Creatures defend them! It is fomewhat ftrange to fee. timid Creatures (y), who at other Times are cowardly, to be full of Courage, and undaunted at that. Time; to fee them furiously and boldly encounter their Enemy, inftead of flying from him; and expose, themselves to every Danger, rather than hazard and forfake their Young:

With this earnest Concern of the irrational Animals for their Young, we may join in the

V. And laft Place, Their Faculty and Sagacity of feeding them. About which I fhall take notice of three Things..

1. The Faculty of fuckling the Young, is an excellent Provifion the Creator hath made for those helpless Creatures. And here the Agreeableness and Suitableness of that Food to young Creatures, deferves particular Obfervation, as alfo their Delight in it, and Defire and Endeavours after it, even as foon as born (z), together with the Willingness of

(x) See Book VII. Chap. 4.

(y) Volucribus Natura novam quandam, Pullos educandi, rationem excogitavit: ipfis enim præcipuum quendam amorem in ea que procrearent, ingeneravit, quo impulfu bellum pro pullis cum ferocibus animalibus, que ante declinârunt, intrepidè fufcipiunt, vitúmque ipfis convenientem fuppeditant. Galen. de Ús. Part. 1. 14. C. 4.

.

(z) In iis animantibus qua latte aluntur, omnis ferè cibus mairum lactefcere incipit: eaque, qua paulo antè nata funt, fine magiftro, duce naturâ, mammas appetunt, earumque ubertate faturantur. Atque ut intelligamus nihil horum esse fortui tum, hac omnia effe provida, folertifque natura, qua multiplices foetus procreant, ut Sues, ut Canes, his Mammarum data eft multitudo; quas eafdem paucas habent ea bestia, que pausa gignunt. Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1. 2. c. 51. Confule quoque Galen de Uf. Part. 1. 14. c. 4. 1. 15. c. 7.

all,

all, even the moft favage and fierce Animals, to part with it, and to adminifter it to their Young, yea, to teach and institute them in the Art of taking it.

And lastly, to name no more, the curious Apparatus which is made for this Service in the divers Species of Animals, by a due Number of Breafts, proportionable to the Occafions of each Animal, by curious Glands in those Breafts, to separate that nutritive Juice, the Milk, by Arteries and Veins to convey it to them, and proper Rivulets and Chanels to convey it from them, with Dugs and Nipples, 'placed in the most convenient Part of the Body (aa) of each Animal, to adminifter it to their Young; all thefe Things, I fay, do manifeftly proclaim the Care and Wisdom of the great Creator.

2. As for fuch Animals as do in another manner breed up their Young, by finding out Food, and putting it into their Mouth, the Provision made in them for this Service, to ftrike, catch, to pouch

and

(aa), Animalia folidipeda, & ruminantia, vel cornigera, inter femora Mammas habent, quorum Fœtus ftatim a partu pedibus infiftunt, quòd matres inter lactandum non decumbant, ut Equa, Afina, &c. Animalia digitata & multipara in medio ventre, fcil. fpatio ab inguine ad pectus (in Cuniculo ufque ad jugulum) duplicem mammarum feriem fortita funt, qua omnia decumbentia ubera fœtibus admovent, ut Urfa, Leana, &c. Si verò hac in folo inguine Mammas gererent, propria cura inter decumbendum foetus acceffum ad mammas nonnihil prapedirent. Mulieribus Mamma bina funt, ut & Papilla, nimirum ut latus lateri conformiter refpondeat, ut alternatim infans à latere in latus inter fugendum tranferatur, ne corpus ejus uni lateri nimis affuefcens quoquo modo incurvetur. Simia, homo Sylveftris, &c. Blaf. Anat. Animal. Par. 1. Cap. 6. de Cane ex Whartono. See here what Pliny hath alfo, L. II. Cap. 40.

Book IV. and convey their Prey and Food to their Young (bb), is very confiderable. And fo is also their Sagacity. in equally diftributing it among them, that among many, all shall be duly, equally, and in good Order, fed.

3. There is yet another Inftinct remaining, of fuch Animals as can neither adminifter Suck to their Young, neither lay them in Places affording Food, nor can convey and bring them Food, but do with

In the Elephant, the Nipples are near the Breaft, by Reafon the old one is forced to fuck her felf, and by the help of her Trunk conveys the Milk into the Mouth of her Young. Vid. Phil. Trans, No. 336.

(bb) For an Exemplification, I might name many, Animals, particularly Birds, whofe Parts are compleatly fuited to this Service. They are Characteristicks of rapacious Birds, to have aduncous Bills and Talons to hold and tear, and ftrong brawny Thighs to ftrike and carry their Prey, as well as a fharp piercing Sight to fpy it afar off. Raii Synopf. Method. Av. p. I. The Pelecane alfo might be here named, for its prodigious Bag under its Bill and Throat, big enough to contain thirty Pints. Id. ibid. p. 122. And to name no more, the common Heron hath its moft remarkable Parts adapted to this Service; long Legs for wading, and a long Neck anfwerable thereto to reach Prey, a wide, extenfive Throat to pouch it; long Toes, with ftrong hooked Talons, (one of which is remarkably ferrate on the Edge) the better to hold their Prey; a long harp Bill to ftrike their Prey, and ferrate towards the Point, with fharp hooked Beards standing backward, to hold their Prey faft when ftruck; and lastly, large, broad, concave Wings (in Appearance much too large, heavy and cumbersome for fo fmall a Body, but) of greatest Use to enable them to carry the greater Load to their Nefts at feveral Miles Diftance; as I have feen them do from feveral Miles beyond me, to a large Heronry above three Miles diftant from me. In which I have feen Plaife, and other Fish, fome Inches long, lying under the high Trees in which they build; and the curious and ingenious Owner thereof, D'Acre Barret, Efq; hath feen a large Eel convey'd by them, notwithstanding the great Annoyance it gave them in their Flight, by its twifting this Way and that Way about their Bodies.

their Eggs, lay up Provifions for their future Young. Somewhat of this is reported of fome Birds (cc); but I have my felf with Pleasure, frequently feen fome of the Species of Infects to carry ample Provifions into their dry and barren Cells, where they have feal'd them carefully and cautioufly up with their Eggs, partly, 'tis like, for Incubation fake, and partly as an eafy Bed to lodge their Young; but chiefly for future Provifion for their Young, in their Nympha-State, when they ftand in need of Food (dd).

(cc) This is reported of the American Oftrich, mentioned by Acarette, in Phil. Tranf. No. 89. Of which fee Book VII. Chap. 4. Note (e).

(dd) Hornets, Wafps, and all the Kinds of Bees provide Honey; and many of the Pfeudofpheca, and Ichneumon Wafps and Flies, carry Maggots, Spiders, &c. into their Nefts; of which fee above, Note (c) Chap. 13.

CHA P. XVI.

The Conclufion.

HUSI have, as briefly as well I could (and Tmuch more briefly than the Matters deferved) dispatched the Decad of Things I propofed in common to the fenfitive Creatures. And now let us pause a little, and reflect. And upon the whole Matter, what lefs can be concluded than that there is a Being infinitely Wife, Potent, and Kind, who is able to contrive and make this glorious Scene of Things, which I have thus given only a Glance of? For what less than Infinite, could ftock fo vast a Globe with fuch a noble Set of Animals? All fo contrived, as to minister to one another's Help fome

Way

Book IV. Way or other, and most of them ferviceable to Man peculiarly, the Top of this lower World, and who was made, as it were, on purpose to observe, and furvey, and fet forth the Glory of the infinite Creator, manifefted in his Works! Who! What but the Great GOD could fo admirably provide for the whole Animal World every Thing ferviceable to it, or that can be wifhed for, either to conferve its Species, or to minifter to the Being or Well-being of Individuals! Particularly, who could Feed fo fpacious a World, who could please fo large a Number of Palates, or fuit so many Palates to fo great a Variety of Food, but the infinite Conservator of the World! And who but the fame great HE, could provide fuch commodious Cloathing for every Animal; fuch proper Houfes, Nefts and Habitations; fuch fuitable Armature and Weapons; fuch Subtilty, Artifice and Sagacity, as every Creature is more or lefs armed and furnished with, to fence off the Injuries of the Weather, to refcue it felf from Dangers, to preferve it felf from the Annoyances of its Enemies; and, in a word, to conferve its Self, and its Species! What but an infinite fuperintending Power could fo equally balance the feveral Species of Animals, and conferve the Numbers of the Individuals of every Species fo even, as not to over or under-people the terraqueous Globe! Who, but the infinite wife Lord of the World, could allot every Creature its most suitable Place to live in, the moft fuitable Element to breath, and move, and act in. And who but HE could make fo admirable a Set of Organs, as thofe of Refpiration are, both in Land and Water-Animals! Who could contrive fo curious a Set of Limbs, Joynts, Bones, Muscles, and Nerves, to give to every Animal the most commodious Motion to its State and Occafions! And to name no more, what Anatomift, Mathematician, Workman, yea Angel, could contrive and make fo curious, fo commodious, and every way fo exquifite

a Set