then fearch about with the dogs. When they fall in with him, he immediately makes for his hole. But, when he comes up to it, he is met with a difcharge from the gun. If the fhot miffes him, he flies off with full speed, takes a wide circuit, and returns again to the hole, where he is fired upon a fecond time; but when he discovers the entrance is fhut, he darts away straight forward, with the intention of never revifiting his former habitation. He is next purfued by the hounds, whom he feldom fails to fatigue; because, with much cunning, he paffes through the thickest part of the foreft, or places of the moft difficult accefs, where the dogs are hardly able to follow him; and, when he takes to the plains, he runs straight out, without either stopping or doubling. But the most effectual way of destroying foxes is to lay fnares baited wth live pigeons, fowls, &c. The fox is an exceedingly voracious animal. Befides all kinds of flesh and fishes, he devours, with equal avidity, eggs, milk, cheese, fruits, and particularly grapes. He is fo extremely fond of honey, that he attacks the nefts of wild bees. They at first put him to flight by numberlefs ftings; but he retires for the fole purpose of rolling himself on the ground, and of crushing the bees. He returns to the charge fo often, that he obliges them to abandon the hive, which he foon uncovers, and devours both the honey and the wax. Some time before the female brings forth, fhe retires, and feldom leaves her hole, where the prepares a bed for her young. When he perceives that her retreat is difcovered, and that her young have been difturbed, the carries them off, one by one, into a new habitation. The fox fleeps in a round form, like the dog; but, when he only repofes himself, he lies on his belly with his hind-legs extended. It is in this fituation that he eyes the birds on the hedges and

trees. The birds have fuch an au tipathy against him, that they no fooner perceive him than they fend forth fhrill cries to advertise their neighbours of the enemy's approach. The jays and blackbirds, in particu lar, follow the fox from tree to tree, fometimes two or three hundred paces, often repeating the watch-cries. The Count de Buffon kept two young foxes, which, when at liberty, attacked the poultry; but, after they were chained, they never attempted to touch a fingle fowl. A living hen was fixed near them for whole nights; and, though destitute of victuals for many hours, in spite of hunger and of opportunity, they never forgot that they were chained, and gave the hen no disturbance.

In Kamtfchatka, the animals called gluttons employ a fingular firatagem for killing the fallow-deer. They climb up a tree, and carry with them a quantity of that fpecies of mofs of which the deer are very fond. When a deer approaches near a tree, the glutton throws down the mofs. If the deer tops to eat the mofs, the glutton inftantly darts down upon its back, and, after fixing himself firmly between the horns, tears out its eyes, which torments the animal to fuch a degree, that, whether to put an end to its torments, or to get rid of its cruel ene my, it ftrikes its head against the trees till it falls down dead. The glutton divides the flesh of the deer into convenient portions, and conceals them in the earth to ferve for future provifions. The gluttons oạ the river Lena kill horfes in the fame manner.

There are feveral fpecies of rats in Kamtfchatka. The most remarkable kind is called tegulchitch by the natives. Thefe rats make neat and fpacious nefts underground. They are lined with turf, and divided into different apartments, in which thẹ rats depofit ftores of provisions for

fupporting

fupporting them during the winter. It is worthy of remark, that the rats of this country never touch the provifions laid up for the winter, except when they cannot procure nourishment any where elfe. Thefe rats, like the Tartars, change their habitations. Sometimes they totally abandon Kamtfchatka for several years, and their retreat greatly alarms the inhabitants, which they confider as a prefage of a rainy feafon, and of a bad year for hunting. The return of these animals is, of courfe, looked upon as a good omen. Whenever they appear, the happy news is foon fpread over all parts of the country. They always take their departure in the fpring, when they affem ble in prodigious numbers, and traverse rivers, lakes, and over arms of the fea. After they have made a long voyage, they frequently lie motion lefs on the fhore, as if they were dead. When they recover their ftrength they recommence their march. The inhabitants of Kamtfchatka are very folicitous for the preservation of thefe animals. They never do the rats any injury, but give them every affiftance when they lie weakened and extended on the ground. They generally return to Kamtfchatka about the month of October; and they are fometimes met with in fuch prodigious numbers, that travellers are oblig. ed to top two hours till the whole troop paffes. The track of ground they travel in a fingle fummer is not lefs wonderful than the regularity they obferve in their march, and that inctinctive impulfe which enables them to forefee, with certainty, the changes of times and of feafons.

With regard to Birds, their arti fices are not lefs numerous nor lefs furprifing than thofe of quadrupeds. The eagle and hawk kinds are remarkable for the fharpness of their fight and the arts they employ in catching their prey. Their movements are rapid or flow, according

to their intentions, and the fituation of the animals they wish to devour. Rapacious birds uniformly endeavour to rife higher in the air than their prey, that they may have an opportu nity of darting forcibly down upon it with their pounces. To counteract thefe artifices Nature has endowed the smaller and more innocent fpecies of birds with many arts of defence. When a hawk appears, the small birds, if they find it convenient, conceal themselves in hedges or brushwood. When deprived of this opportunity, they, often, in great numbers, feem to follow the hawk, and to expofe themfelves unneceffarily to danger, while, in fact, by their numbers, their prepetual changes of direction, and their uniform endeavours to rife above him, they perplex the hawk to fuch a degree, that he is unable to fix upon a single object; and, after exerting all his art and address, he is frequently obliged to relinquish the purfuit. When in the extremity of danger, and after employing eve ry other artifice in vain, fmall birds have been often known to fly to men for protection. This is a plain indication that thefe animals, though they in general avoid the human race, are by no means fo much afraid of men as of rapacious birds.

The ravens often frequent the fea fhores in queft of food. When they find their inability to break the thells of muffels, &c. to accomplish this purpofe they ufe a very ingenious tratagem. They carry a muffel, or other fhell-fifh, high up in the air, and then dafh it down upon a rock, by which means the fhell is broken, and they obtain the end they had in view.

The wood-pecker is furnished with a very long and voluble tongue. It feeds upon ants and other fmall infects. Nature has endowed this bird with a fingular inftinct. It knows how to procure food without feeing its prey. It attaches itself to the

trunks

trunks or branches of decayed trees: and, wherever it perceives a hole or crevice, it darts in its long tongue, and brings it out loaded with infects of different kinds. This operation is certainly inflinctive; but the inftinct is affifted by the inftruction of the parents; for the young are no fooner able to fly, than the parents, by the force of example, teach them to refort to trees, and to infert their tongues indifcriminately into every hole or fiffure.

Of the oeconomy of Fishes, as formerly remarked, our knowledge is extremely limited. But, as the ocean exhibits a perpetual and a general scene of attack and defence, the arts of affault and of evafion must, of course, be exceedingly various. For the prefervation of fome fpecies of fifhes, Nature has armed them with ftrong and sharp pikes. Others, as the perch-kind, are defended with ftrong bony rays in their fins. O thers, as the univalve fhell fish, retire into their fhells upon the approach of danger. The bivalves and multivalves, when attacked, instantly fhut their fhells, which, in general, is a fufficient protection to them. Some univalves, as the limpet-kind, attach themselves fo firmly, by excluding the air, to rocks and stones, that, unlefs quickly furprifed, no force inferior to that of breaking the shell can remove them. The flying-fish, when pursued, darts out of the water, and takes refuge in the air, in which it is for fome time fupported by the operation of its large and pliable fins. The torpedo is furnished with a remarkable apparatus for felf-prefervation: It repels every hoftile attempt by an electrical ftroke, which confounds and intimidates its enemies. Several fishes, and particularly the falmon kind, when about to generate, *leave the ocean, afcend the rivers, depofit their eggs in the fand, and, after making a proper nidus for their VOL. XI. No. 63.

Y

future progeny, return to the ocean from whence they came. Others, as the herring kind, though they feldom go up rivers, affemble in myriads from all quarters, and approach the fhores, or afcend arms of the sea, for the purpofe of propagating the fpecies, and cherifhing their offspring. When that operation is performed, they leave the coafts and difperfe in the ocean, till the fame instinctive im pulfe forces them to obferve a fimilar conduct next feafon. This migration of falmons, herrings, and many other fishes, from the ocean to the rivers or fhores, is of infinite advantage to mankind. They fupply us occafionally, and in fome countries, as Great Britain, and particularly Scotland, with abundance of nourishing and luxurious food; and, if our fisheries were once put upon a proper foot→ ing, they would foon conftitute one of the most powerful incentives to induftry, and become a great and im portant fource of national ftrength and profperity.

The infed tribes, though comparatively diminutive, are not deficient in artifice and addrefs. With much art the spider fpins his web. It ferves him the double purpofe of an habitation, and of a machine for catching his food. With incredible patience and perfeverance he lies in the center of his web for days, and fometimes for weeks, before an ill-fated fly happens to be entangled. One fpecies of fpider, which is fmall, of a blackish colour, and frequents cottages or out-houses, I have known to live during the whole winter months without almost the poffibility of receiving any nourishment; for, during that period, not a fly of any kind could be discovered in the apartment. If they had been fixed in a torpid ftate, like fome other animals, the wonder of their furviving the want of food fo long would not have been fo great. But, in the feverest weather,

and

and through the whole courfe of the winter, they were perfectly active and lively. Neither did they feem to be in the leaft emaciated.

The formica-leo, or ant-lion, is a fmall infect, fomewhat refembling a wood-louse, but larger. Its head is flat, and armed with two fine moveable crotchets or pincers. It has fix legs, and its body, which terminates in a point, is compofed of a number of membranous rings. In the fand, or in finely pulverifed earth, this a nimal digs a hole in the form of a funnel, at the bottom of which it lies in ambush for its prey. As it always walks backward, it cannot purfue any infect. To fupply this defect, it lays a fnare for them, and efpecially for the ant, which is its favourite food. It generally lies concealed under the fand in the bottom of its funnel or trap, and feldom exhibits more than the top of its head. In digging a funnel, the formica-leo begins with tracing a circular furrow in the fand, the circumference of which determines the fize of the funnel, which is often an inch deep. After the firft furrow is made, the animal traces a fecond, which is always concentric with the firft. It throws out the fand, as with a shovel, from the fucceffive furrows or circles, by means of its fquare flat head and one of its fore-legs. It proceeds in this manner till it has completed its funnel, which it does with furprising promptitude and addrefs. At the At the bottom of this artful fnare it lies concealed and immoveable. When an ant happens to make too near an approach to the margin of the funnel, the fides of which are very fteep, the fine fand gives way, and the unwary animal tumbles down to the bottom.

The formica-leo instantly kills the ant, buries it under the fand, and fucks out its vitals. It afterwards pushes out the empty skin, repairs the diforder introduced into its fnare, and again lies in ambush for a fresh prey.

We formerly took fome notice of that fpecies of fpider which carries her eggs in a bag attached to her belly. A fpider of this kind was thrown into the funnel of a formicaleo. The latter inftantly feized the bag of eggs, and endeavoured to drag it under the fand. The fpider, from a ftrong love of offspring, allowed its own body to be carried along with the bag. But the flender filk by which it was fixed to the animal's belly broke, and a feparation took place. The fpider immediately feized the bag with her pincers, and exerted all her efforts to regain the object of her affections. But thefe efforts were ineffectual; for the formica-leo gradually funk the bag deeper and deeper in the fand. The fpider, however, rather than quit her hold, allowed herfelf to be buried alive. In a fhort time, the observer removed the fand, and took out the fpider. She was perfectly unhurt ; for the formica-leo had not made any attack upon her. But, so strong was her attachment to her eggs, that, though frequently touched with a twig, fhe would not relinquish the place which contained them *.

When arrived at its full growth, the formica-leo gives up the business of an enfnaring hunter. He deferts his former habitation, and crawls about for fome time on the furface of the earth. He at laft retires under the ground, spins a round filken pod, and is foon transformed into a fly.

An