i

the Sun, fhould produce the Young; but 'tis very odd and wonderful that any one Species fhould vary from all the reft of the Tribe. But above all, 2. The fingular Care of the Creator, in this Cafe, is very remarkable, in fupplying fome other Waythe Want of the Parent-Animals Care and Erogyn (e), fo that the 'Young fhould notwithstanding be bred up in thofe large and barren Defarts of Arabia and Africa, and fuch like Places where thofe Birds dwell, the moft unlikely and unfitting (in all human Opinion), to afford Suftenance to young helpless Creatures; but the fittest therefore to give Demonftrations of the Wisdom, Care, and efpecial. Providence of the infinite Creator and Confervator of the World. 3. The laft Thing I fhall remark is, That the Inftincts of Irrational Animals, at leaft of this specified in the Text, is attributed to GoD. For the Reason the Text gives why the Ofrich is hardened against her Young Ones, as though they were not hers, is, Because GOD bath deprived her of Wisdom, and not imparted Under: Standing to her i. e. he hath denied her that Wifdom, he hath not imparted that Understanding, that rog, that natural Inftinct to provide for, and nurfe up her Young, that most other Creatures of the fame, and other Tribes are endowed with.

(e) The Eggs of the Ostrich being buried in the Sand, are cherished only by the Heat of the Sun, till the Young be exclu-' ded. For the Writers of Natural Hiftory do generally agree, that the old Birds, after they have laid and covered their Eggs in the Sand, forfake them, and take no more Care of them. Willugh: Ornith. L. 2. c. 8. §. I..

But there is another Oftrich [of America] which Acaret tells us of, that takes more Care of her Young, by carrying four of her Eggs, a little before the hatcheth, to four Parts of her Neft, there to breed Worms for Food for her Young. Acaret's Dife. in Philof. Tranf. No. 89.

Thus

Thus I have difpatched what I intend to infift upon concerning the State of this Set of Animals; of which, as alfo of their admirable Inftincts, a great deal more might deferve our efpecial Obfervation; particularly the admirable Curiosity, Art, and, Variety of Nidification (f), used among the the various Species of Birds; the great Sagacity, and many Artifices ufed by them in the Inveftigation and Capture of their Prey, (g),, the due Proportion of the more and lefs ufeful, the Scarcity of the Voracious and Pernicious, and the Plenty, of the Manfuete and Ufeful (b). Alfo the Variety of their Motion and Flight might deferve Confideration, the Swiftness of fuch whofe Food is to be fought in far diftant Places, and different Seafons (i); the flower Motion and fhort Flights of others more domeftick; and even the Aukwardness of fome others to Flight, whofe Food is near at hand, and to be gotten without any great Occafion of Flight (k). These and divers other fuch like Things as thefe, I fay, I might have spoken more largely unto, but I fhall pafs them by with only a bare Mention, having already taken notice of them in the Company of other Matters of the like Nature, and manifefled them to be Acts of excellent Defign, Wisdom, and Providence, in the great Creator.

(f) See Book IV. ch. 13.

(g) See Book IV. ch. 11. and 14.(b) See Book IV. ch. 10. beginn.

(i) See Book IV. ch. 8.

(k) The Colymbi, or Douckers, having their Food near at hand in the Waters, are remarkably made for Diving therein. Their Heads are fmall, Bills fharp-pointed, Wings fmall, Legs flat and broad, and placed backward, and nearer the Tail than in other Birds; and laftly, their Feet; fome are whole footed, fome cloven-footed, but withal fin-toed." Vid, Willugh, Ornith, L. 3. §. 5. СНАР.

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A

CHAP. V.

The CONCLUSION.

ND now, if we reflect upon the whole Matter, we shall here find another large Tribe of the Creation, abundantly fetting forth the Wif dom and Glory of their great Creator. We praise the Ingenuity and Invention of Man, for the Contrivance of various pneumatick Engines; we think them witty, even for their unfuccefsful Attempts to fwim in, and fail through that fubtle Element the Air; and the curious Mechanism of that Artift is had in Remembrance, and praised to this Day, who made a Dove, or an Eagle (a) to fly but a fhort Space. And is not therefore all imaginable Honour and Praife due to that infinite Artift, that hath so admirably contrived and made, all the noble Variety of Birds; that hath with fuch incomparable Curiofity and Art, formed their Bodies from Head to Tail, without and within, that not fo much as any Muscle, or Bone, no, not even a Feather (b) is unartificially made, mifplaced, redundant, or defective, in all the feveral Families of this large Tribe? But every Thing is fo incomparably performed, fo nicely fitted up for Flight, as to furpass even the Imitation of the molt ingenious Artificer among mortal rational Beings.

(a) Vid. Book V. ch. 1. Note (aa).

(b) Deus non folùm Angelum, & Hominem, fed nec exigui contemptibilis animantis vifcera, nec Avis pennulam, nec Herba flofculum, nec Arboris folium fine fuarum partium convenientiá dereliquit. Augustin, de Civ. Dei, L. 5. c. II.

BOOK

H

CHAP. I.

Of INSECTS in general.

AVING difpatch'd that Part of the animal World, which used to be accounted the more perfect, thofe Animals styled

lefs perfect or imperfect, will next deserve a Place in our Survey, because when strictly enquired into, we shall find them to be so far from deferving to be accounted mean and despicable Parts of the Creation, owing their Original and Production to Putrefactions, &c. as fome have thought, that we fhall find them, I fay, noble, and most admirable Works of GoD. For, as the famous Natural Hiftorian, Pliny (a), prefaceth his Treatife of Infects, to prevent the Reproach of condefcending (as might be thought) to fo mean a Subject: In great Bodies, faith he, Nature had a large and eafy Shop to work upon obfequious Matter. Whereas, faith he, in thefe fo fmall, and as it were no Bodies, what Footsteps of Reason, what Power, what

(a) In magnis fiquidem corporibus, &c. Plin. Nat. Hist. L. 11. c. 2.

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great

great Perfection is there? Of this having given an Inftance or two of the exquifite Senfes, and curious Make of fome Infects (b), he then goes on, We admire, faith he, turrigerous Shoulders of Elephants, the lofty Necks and Crefts of others; but, faith he, the Nature of Things is never more compleat than in the leaft Things For which Reafon he intreats his Readers (as I do mine) that because they flighted many of the Things themselves which be took notice of, they would not therefore difdainfully condemn his Accounts of them, fince, faith he, in the Contemplation of Nature, nothing ought to feem fuperfluous.

Thus that eminent Naturalift hath made his own, and my Excufe too; the Force and Verity the Force a whereof will farther appear, by what I fhall fay of these Animals which (as defpicable as they have been, or perhaps may be thought) we shall find as exquifitely contrived, and curiously made for that Place and Station they bear in the World, as as any other Part of the Animal World. For if we confider the innumerable Variety of their Species, the prodigious Numbers of Individuals, the Shape and Make of their little Bodies, and every

(b) Ubi tot fenfus collocavit in Culice? Et funt alia dictu minora. Sed ubi Vifum in eo praten dit: Ubi Guftatum applicavit? Ubi Odoratum inferuit? Ubi verò truculentam illam & portione maximam vocem ingeneravit? Quà fubtilitate Peanas adnexuit? pralongavit Pedum crura? Difpofuit jejunam Caveam, uti Alvum? Avidam Sanguinis, & potiffimum humani, fitim, accendit? Telum verò perfodiendo tergori, quo fpiculavit ingenio? Atque ut in capaci, cùm cerni non poffit exilitas, ita reciproca geminavit arte, ut fodiendo acuminatum pariter forbendoque fiftulofum effet. Quos Teredini ad perforanda Robora cum fono tefte dentes affixit? Potiffimumque è ligno cibatum fecit: Sed turrigeros Elephantorum miramur humeros, Taurorumque colla, & truces in fublime jactus, Tigrium rapinas, Leonum jubas, cùm rerum natura nufquam magis quàm in minimis, tota fit. Plin ibid.

Part