FOOTNOTES:
[a] Curiosa res est, scire, quàm exacte hoc genus avium, [Gruum] quontannis observet tempora sui reditûs ad nos. Anno 1667. primæ Grues comparuerunt in campestribus Pisæ 20 Feb. &c. F. Redi Exp. Nat. p. 100. ubi plura.
[] From יעד indixit, constituit, scil locum, vel tempus, ubi vel quando aliquid fieri debet. Buxt. in verb.
De voluntate suâ certiorem reddidit. Con. Kircher concordant. Pars. 1. Col. 1846. מועד Generaliter pro re aliguâ certà, artestatâ, & definitâ accipitur. 1. Pro tempore certo & constituto. 2. Deinde pro sesto seu Solennitate, quæ certo & stato tempore celebratur. 3. Pro loco certo constituto. Id. ibid. Col. 1847.
[c] Quis non cum admiratione videat ordinem & politiam peregrinantium Avium, in itinere, turmatim volantium, per longos terrarum & maris tractus absque Acu marinâ?——Quis eas certum iter in aëris mutabili regione docuit? Quis præteritæ signa, & futuræ viæ indicia; quis eas ducit, nutrit, & vitæ necessaria ministrat? Quis insulas & hospitia, illa, in quibus victum reperiant, indicavat; modumque ejusmodi loca in peregrinationibus suis inveniendi? Hæc sanè superant hominum captum & industriam, qui non nisi longis experientiis, multis itinerariis, chartis geographicis,——& acûs magneticæ beneficio,——ejusmodi marium & terrarum tractus conficere tentant & audent. Lud. de Beaufort. Cosmop. divina Sect. 5. c. 1.
[d] I instance particularly in Ægypt, because Mr. Willughby thinks Swallows fly thither, and into Æthiopia, &c. and that they do nor lurk in Holes, or under Water, as Olaus Magnus Reports. Vid. Ornith. L. 2. c. 3. But Etmuller puts the Matter out of doubt; who saith, Memini me plures, quàm quas Medimnus caperit, Hirundines arcte coacervatas intra Piscinæ cannas, sub glacie prorsus ad sensum exanimes pulsantes tamen, reperiisse. Etmuller Dissert. 2. c. 10. §. 5. This as it is like what Ol. Magnus saith, so is a Confirmation of it. The Archbishop’s Account is, In Septentrionalibus aquis sæpius casu Piscatoris extrahuntur Hirundines, in modum conglemeratæ massæ, quæ ore ad os, & alâ ad alam, & pede ad pedem post principium autumni sese inter cannas descensuræ colligârunt.——Massa autem illa per imperitos adolescentes——extracta, atque in æstuaria portata, caloris accessu Hirundines resolutæ, volare quidem incipiunt, sed exiguo tempore durant. Ol. Mag. Hist. L. 19. c. 20.
Since my penning this Note, we had, at a Meeting of the Royal-Society, Feb. 12. 1712-13. a farther Confirmation of Swallows retiring under Water in Winter, from Dr. Golas, a Person very curious in these Matters; who speaking of their Way of Fishing in the northern Parts, by breaking Holes, and drawing their Nets under the Ice, saith, that he saw sixteen Swallows so drawn out of the Lake of Samrodt, and about Thirty out of the King’s great Pond in Rosineilen; and that at Schlebitten, near an House of the Earl of Dohna, he saw two Swallows just come out of the Waters, that could scarce stand, being very wet and weak, with their Wings hanging on the Ground: And that he hath observ’d the Swallows to be often weak for some Days after their Appearance.
[e] As Swallows are well accommodated for long Flights, by their long Wings, so are Quails by the Strength of their pectoral Muscles, by the Breadth of their Wings, &c. For Quails have but short Wings for the Weight of their Body; and yet they fly from us into warmer Parts, against Winter, and to us in Spring, crossing our Seas. So divers Travellers tell us they cross the Mediterranean twice a Year, flying from Europe to Africa, and back again: Thus Bellonius in Mr. Willughby, saith, When we sail’d from Rhodes to Alexandria of Ægypt, many Quails flying from the North towards the South, were taken in our Ship; whence I am verily persuaded, that they shift Places: For formerly also, when I sail’d out of the Isle of Zant to Morea, or Negropont, in the Spring Time, I had observ’d Quails flying the contrary Way, from South to North, that they might abide there all Summer. At which Time also, there were a great many taken in our Ship. Ornith. p. 170.
CHAP. IV.
Of the Incubation of Birds.
Another Thing relating to the State of this Tribe of Animals, is their Incubation.
And first, the Egg it self deserves our Notice. Its Parts within, and its crusty Coat without, are admirably well fitted for the Business of Incubation. That there should be one Part provided for the Formation of the Body[a], before its Exit into the World, and another for its Nourishment, after it is come into the World, till the Bird is able to shift for, and help it self; and that these Parts should be so accurately brac’d, and kept in due Place[], is certainly a design’d, as well as curious Piece of Workmanship.
And then as to the Act it self, of Incubation, What a prodigious Instinct is it in all, or almost all the several Species of Birds, that they, and only they, of all Creatures, should betake themselves to this very Way of Generation? How should they be aware that their Eggs contain their Young, and that their Production is in their Power[c]? What should move them to betake themselves to their Nests, and there with Delight and Patience to abide the due Number of Days? And when their Young are gotten into the World, I have already shewn how admirable their Art, their Care, and Στοργὴ is in bringing them up until, and only until, they are able to shift for themselves.
And lastly, when almost the whole Tribe of Birds, do thus by Incubation, produce their Young, it is a wonderful Deviation, that some few Families only, should do it in a more novercal Way[d], without any Care or Trouble at all, only by laying their Eggs in the Sand, exposed to the Heat and Incubation of the Sun. Of this the Holy Scripture it self gives us an Instance in the Ostrich: Of which we have an Hint, Lam. iv. 3. The Daughter of my People is become cruel, like the Ostriches in the Wilderness. This is more plainly expressed in Job xxxix. 14, 15, 16, 17. [The Ostrich] leaveth her Eggs in the Earth, and warmeth them in the Dust, and forgetteth that the Foot may crush them, or that the Wild-Beast may break them. She is hardened against her Young ones, as though they were not hers: Her Labour is in vain, without Fear. Because God hath deprived her of Wisdom, neither hath he imparted unto her Understanding. In which Words I shall take notice of three Things, 1. Of this anomalous Way of Generation. It is not very strange, that no other Incubation but that of the Sun, should produce the Young; but ’tis very odd and wonderful that any one Species should vary from all the rest of the Tribe. But above all, 2. The singular Care of the Creator, in this Case, is very remarkable, in supplying some other Way the Want of the Parent-Animals Care and Στοργὴ[e], so that the Young should notwithstanding be bred up in those large and barren Desarts of Arabia and Africa, and such like Places where those Birds dwell, the most unlikely and unfitting (in all human Opinion) to afford Sustenance to young helpless Creatures; but the fittest therefore to give Demonstrations of the Wisdom, Care, and especial Providence of the infinite Creator and Conservator of the World. 3. The last Thing I shall remark is, That the Instincts of Irrational Animals, at least of this specified in the Text, is attributed to God. For the Reason the Text gives why the Ostrich is hardened against her young Ones, as though they were not hers, is, Because GOD hath deprived her of Wisdom, and not imparted Understanding to her; i.e. he hath denied her that Wisdom, he hath not imparted that Understanding, that Στοργὴ, that natural Instinct to provide for, and nurse up her Young, that most other Creatures of the same, and other Tribes are endowed with.
Thus I have dispatched what I intend to insist upon concerning the State of this Set of Animals; of which, as also of their admirable Instincts, a great deal more might deserve our especial Observation; particularly the admirable Curiosity, Art, and Variety of Nidification[f], used among the various Species of Birds; the great Sagacity, and many Artifices used by them in the Investigation and Capture of their Prey[g], the due Proportion of the more and less useful, the Scarcity of the Voracious and Pernicious, and the Plenty of the Mansuete and Useful[h]. Also the Variety of their Motion and Flight might deserve Consideration, the Swiftness of such whose Food is to be sought in far distant Places, and different Seasons[]; the slower Motion and short Flights of others more domestick; and even the Aukwardness of some others to Flight, whose Food is near at hand, and to be gotten without any great Occasion of Flight[k]. These and divers other such like Things as these, I say, I might have spoken more largely unto; but I shall pass them by with only a bare Mention, having already taken notice of them in the Company of other Matters of the like Nature, and manifested them to be Acts of excellent Design, Wisdom, and Providence, in the great Creator.