a n im a l or at moft three eggs at a time, yet by . being never difturbed, and
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always keeping together in great flocks, they are become the moft
frequent and numerous. T h e moft palatable fpecies o f filh are likewife
the moft prolific ; b u t . it muft be obferved, that there is no
where fuch abundance of filh in the South-Sea, as at N ew -Z e e -
land, by which means they are become the principal nourilhment
o f the natives, who have found that way o f living to be attended
with die leaft trouble, and confequently fuited to that indolent difpofition
which they have in common with all barbarous nations.
I I I . V A R I E T Y ,
I t does not appear, that the individuals o f the animal kingdom
are fo much fubjedt to variety in the South-Seas, as thofe o f the vegetable.
'Domeftication, the great caufe o f degeneracy in fo many
o f our animals, in the firft place, is here confined to three fpecies;
the hog, dog, and co ck : and fecondly, it is in fadt next to a ftaie
o f nature in thefe ifles : the hogs and the fowls run about at their
cafe the greateft part o f the day ; the laft efpecially, which live entirety
on what they pick up, without being regularly fed. Th e
dog being here merely kept to be eaten, is not obliged to undergo
the flavery, to which the varieties' o f that fpecies are
forced to fubmit in our polifhed .countries; he lies at his eafe all
the day long, is fed at certain times, and nothing more is required
t> : o f
e fh im : he is therefore not altered from his ftate o f nature in the
leaft; is probably inferior in all the fenfitive faculties to any wild
dog; (which may perhaps be owing to his food) and certainly, in
no degree, partakes o f the fagacity and quick perception of our refined
variety. Among the wild birds, the varieties are very few :
two fpecies o f pigeons, two o f parrots, one o f king-fifhers, and
one or two o f fly-catchers, are the only I know of, that vary any
thing in different ifles; and it is much to be doubted, with regard
to fome o f them, whether what we count varieties are not either
diftindl fpecies, or only different fexes of one and the fame; cir-
cumftances, which it is well known, require a long feries of ob-
fervations, not to be made on a curfory view. Th e varieties in
other clafles are ftill lefs confiderable.
IV . C L A S S I F I C A T I O N .
Th e animals o f the South-Seas, as we have already obferved, are
moft of them new fpecies. Th e known ones between the tropics;
are chiefly fuch as are generally found all over the maritime parts of
the torrid zone; thofe o f the temperate zone being principally
aquatic, are common to thofe latitudes in every fea; or confift o f
European fpecies. Upon the whole, we found no more than two
genera, which are diftinift from thofe already known, and all the
remaining fpecies rank under .old genera. But it is not poffible to
D d refer
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