Litchfield enquirer., 1835-04-09
aoD's CAKE ron THE BIRDS.


 out their toif or care. :. They neither SOW nor reap"
 What store houses of plenty foe tbe birds, are the air, the earth, thesseal dn- sects innnmerable swarm ihthe air, breGth- ed in, we might almost say in their rapid flight. These lodg6 and live amidst the. herbs and shrubs and ttees, and are found wherever birds alight. Fruits. nuts and seeds, in-countless variety and abundance, the spontaneous gifts of nature or the la- bored products of human industry, ,coverth6 face of the earth ;--valley and plain and mountain top; and increases inaccessible to man; and wherever the carcass is, as innumerable creatures lie wasting to dust, there also are the eagles and. the ravens, and all birds of prey gathered togethers Beneath the surface of the ground: and every furrow of the ploughman opens sspp- plies for the birds, that alight and feed along his path. And the sea shows totl6 eye of the water fowl, as it sails on high, treasures of it's transparent chambers '' wherein are things creeping innumeraJ bleY whether about the shores for the sea gull and the snipe, or in the deep and wide ocean for the albatross. What variety of provision do we see before our own eyeSs The flowers have already begun to open their honey cup, for the humming birds. The insects float in the air, inviting the martin and the swallow.s Every farm and every garden has opened it's internal treas- ures and the hands of men and the winds are scattering the seeds ofihe former year, for the robin and black bird and the tide ebbing and flowing calls the seabird to lis prey. <
 Bot these store houses, ihe air, the earth, the sea, are supplied, how marvellously by our heavenly Father "He openeth his hand and satisfeth4the Wants of every hv- ing thing. How lately the, earth was ice bound. and lay desolate in all the, barren- ness of winter But He sent his eommand- meut npon eas.h, hts word ran Very swiftly. The earth travelling her wonted course more than thousand miles a minute, saw fthe sdn rise higher and higher over onr desolated North, and lay, as she roiledons basking in his beams. The ice and the snow melted. The wind blew, and the waters flowed, He covered the heavens with clouds, and made the grass to grow upon the mountains, and provided for. the beast his food, and for tho young ravens which cry.
 God has qualified the birds to select, tt when Is shUed-yo tnelr suyarars sPgties. Amidst their infinite and nnassoried va- riety, they would perish if they were not in these respects divinely taught and pre-. pared. Their instinctiye sagacity, and perfect implements, answer all the purpos- es of culled and gathered store. It is thus that we see the humning bird drink ing honey from the flowers; the robin hop ping from furrow to flrrow for the worms or the seeds, the hawk bouncing on thu: young chicken from its lofty flight, and the sea fowl plunging through the flood upon irs buried prey. Thus too, are they seye-, rally fitted to take. the food which they inc stinctively choose, furnished with tools or weapons for their work. Of what avail would be the choice of the humming bird. Eff, had not the power to rest on itsswings. and long tapering bill to plunge deep into the honey cup of tho flowers or of the robin if it were encumbered with the body and the bill of the duck or the goose2 or of the hawk or the sea fowl if they had not talons, to seize their prey ,or of tho woodpecker if he could not cling to the perpendiculaf trunk of the tree 1; if his bilf could not bore it, and if his tongue were not an arrow, with which to pierce the prey in the dark recess
 | And yet againthe birds could not be Ted, ifthey had not instruments to devonr what they may have selected and caught. Hence all birds are furnished with bill suited to their appropriate nourishment, as various as the -instinctive choice which guides them. quote here nearly from Paley's Natural I Theology. The sparrow's bill picks al- most every kind of grain from its conceal ment, hulls the grain, and breaks and shat ters the coats of the seed. The hooked bill of the hawk tribe, separates the flesh from the bone, as clean as with knife. Tho spoon bill enables the goose to grazes and to collect its food from the bottom of the pools. The ducks bill is separated or sawed, so as to form a strainer. through (which she sucks in the food of her choice. l rejecting whatever she dislikes. S
 Yet again there was needed an internal correspondence to the food provided by our Heavenly Father. Thus. all birds which live on grain carry within them . complete mill or grinding machine--a hopper in the crop, and pair of millstones in the gizzard. to grind down the corn for use. or this machinery birds of prey are destitute end instead. they are furnished. with fluid ! l. N IL n ag.. Aw-