REMARKABLE THINGS-REINDEER-WHALES-HERRINGS-SALMON-SAND PIPERS-LAPWINGS-SNIPES-WOODCOCKS-CURLEWS-LAND-RAIL-FLA MINGO DUCKS-GEESE-SWANS-GULLS-PELICANS-PENGUINS-PETE RELS-PUFFIN AUKS-ALBATROSSES-NORTHERN DIVER. EDWARD. Father, I wish you would tell me some more remarkable things; you mentioned one yesterday about eyes, which was a little curious. MR. PERCY. What was it? Why, you said, that insects and animals which can move their eyes, have but two; but those who do not, usually have more. Is not this the case with the hen and chickens we have just passed, while the fly and the spider have many eyes? It is so, Edward. The eyes of the hen are very remarkable: they are so microscopic, that she can readily find the smallest seeds among the earth or gravel; and they are so telescopic (if I may use such a term) that she can quickly discern a bird of prey at an immense height, and when, to the human vision, it appears only as a little dark speck in the clouds. Is not this remarkable? She calls her little ones to her in a peculiar tone; nor will she rest till she has gathered them all under her wings. I have seen her do so many times. The places where different plants and animals are found, are remarkable. The reindeer of Lapland may be adduced as a striking example. Why it would not be of so much use in any other place; and it could not find the moss on which it feeds anywhere but in the northern parts of the world. I question if the animal could exist anywhere else. All the attempts which have been made to naturalize it in England and Scotland, have signally failed; and the poor Laplander would be absolutely ruined with out them; they constitute his entire riches, and are necessary even to his existence. The whale is another instance of the same kind. Their native haunt is within the arctic and antarctic seas; though now and then one has been taken within the tropics, and in a low degree of latitude. But why, sir, do they frequent those seas the most? There may be many reasons; the most probable one is, that the Creator has placed there the largest supply of suitable food. For the same cause the elephant has been placed in the midst of the forests of Africa and India, because the luxuriance of vegetation readily yields the vast quantity of food which is necessary to their sustenance. Vultures are most numerous in hot climates; and why? Because it is there that dead carcasses soonest become putrid, and would create infection if they were not speedily devoured. Hence in Egypt, where carrion and putridity abound, there are immense multitudes of vultures, for which the inhabitants ought to be very thankful. Our Lord has told us, you know, that "where the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together." When we were looking at the beautiful humming birds, and their pretty nests, which uncle John brought from South America, you said that they could not live in our climate on account of its cold ness. True; South America is more suited to its delicate nature, on account of the greater warmth of the climate, and the abundance of its flowers, from the honey of which it derives its nourishment. What a striking display is there in these facts of the manifold wisdom of the adorable Creator! It is impossible, Edward, without giving credit to the grossest absurdities, to suppose that animals were located in the positions they occupy by blind chance. You know, sir, our Lord says, that not "a sparrow falleth to the ground without your heavenly Father;" then we may be sure, if he cares for sparrows, he also cares for all the works of his hands; may we not? * We may, Edward, and the thought is most delightful. The fecundity of animals may justly be reckoned among the most remarkable things with which we are acquainted. A few days since, I opened the volumes of a French naturalist, who, speaking of the herring, says, that twenty millions of them have been taken in one fishing excursion on the coast of Norway; and that there are but few seasons in which the Norwegians do not catch four hundred millions. Seven hundred millions are often caught in a season in the neighbourhood of Gottenburgh alone. He thinks, that, on the lowest computation, full one thousand millions of these fish are annually gathered from the ocean for the sustenance of man! This is indeed remarkable. The fecundity of the oyster is not less wonderful. It has been affirmed by a good naturalist, that a single oyster will bring forth one million, two hundred thousand eggs. According to this calculation, one * Lacepede. |