hence they could not sink and make off. It is, however, a curious subject for enquiry.

Starlings and Lapwings congregate early, the latter about the first week in October. Birds, in their flights, are joined by others, and thus large flocks are seen together. Their number is, probably, determined by the supply of food required.

Sometimes while riding in the fields in Autumn, I am covered with those fine spider's threads, which are called gossamer. They descend from a great height in the air, and some of the threads are very long. The Spider must be very buoyant, and have an extraordinary power of ascension. Chaucer, speaking of gossamer as a strange phe

nomenon, says

As sore some wonder at the cause of thunder,
On ebb, and flode, on gossomor, and mist;
And on all thing, 'til the cause is wist.

It is both curious and interesting to watch the flight of Kites and Buzzards, as they sail round in circles, with wings expanded and quite motionless. A friend of mine informed me, that he had frequently watched the flight of the Carrion Crow (Vultur aura) both in Africa and the West Indies, where, as in all tropical countries, they abound, and are invaluable. This bird soars at very great

heights,―at one moment it seems stationary, and at another it sweeps round in large circles, without the slightest visible motion of the wings, the wind at the time blowing steadily from one point. How are these circles completed against the wind without perceptible muscular exertion?

Large flocks of Starlings roost among willows and alders, growing by the sides of ponds and rivers. They spend the twilight in making a prodigious noise and chattering, with occasional short flights backwards and forwards. The flights of these birds are very curious. When a flock of them is viewed from a distance, with the sun reflected on their wings, they appear and disappear as they turn to the left or right, according to the gleams of light.

Linnets whistle inwardly as they sit in flocks, and so, I think, do Starlings.

A Gold Fish, in a small fountain, in the grounds of a gentleman of my acquaintance, swam about for more than two months with its belly upwards. It appeared perfectly healthy and lively. This change from the natural position of the fish was, probably, owing to an enlargement or defect in the air-bladder.

Keepers have informed me that Weazles will sometimes kill and feed on Snakes.

Efts, or water Lizards, will feed greedily upon Tadpoles.

Birds resume their song at the earliest period of warm weather in the Spring, as if they hailed the return of the season of hilarity and cheerfulAt this time we rejoice to hear

ness.

Birds in cheerful notes expressing

Nature's bounty and their blessing.

The study of nature and a habit of observation refines our feelings. It is a source of interesting amusement and excitement, prevents idle or vicious propensities, and exalts the mind to a love of virtue, and a more intimate knowledge of the goodness of the great Creator.

It has always been a source of regret to me that I have been unable to combine with my observations of the works of nature, such anatomical or physiological hints connected with them, as might prove useful in the elucidation of many facts, of which we are still ignorant. In the present day, the most novel and useful task, perhaps, that an observer could undertake, would be to explore the relations between the habits of animals and their internal structure, with an especial view to the state of their organs, as compared with the wants, attachments, enjoyments, and mode of life pursued by the animals. In birds, for instance, such considerations would lead to an explanation of their pairing, migrations, and habitations. It is probable, also, that such an enquiry might not only illustrate the mutual dependence of different classes of the animal scale, but even shew us the way to the uses of certain parts, which, to our limited knowledge, appear at present either nugatory or hurtful.

I have thought that one of the most curious and striking examples of the adaptation of means to ends, all tending to the good of man, might be found in the food of birds. This, I presume, is very well known in the common species as the Corvida though I am not aware that the food of the migratory species has been sufficiently attended to. Has any one examined the stomach of young Cuckoos, and that of their foster-dams? Has any one shewn why the old cuckoo cannot or will not feed her offspring? Would not a higher animal than the cuckoo, nay, even the human animal, quit her young if the means of supporting and nurturing it were utterly to fail? Yet the conduct of the cuckoo, that "rude bird of hate," as Milton calls it, is still a mystery, and will be so, till anatomical inquiries are pursued in connection with the habits of animals. The hybernation of animals is another subject of very curious import, connected, as it is, with deep questions in physiology, and remarkably interesting in relation to food and climate.

That the peculiar food of some animals is made subservient to the benefit of man, and that digestion does not always destroy its vivifying principle, cannot admit of a doubt. For instance, many birds feed on the spawn of fishes, and this will account for fish being found in great variety, in lakes and pools on the tops of mountains and