28 S Natural History in London, 



His attentions to a dog that used to be a frequent visitor at his cage, were, 

 we are told, in the very best style of dignified patronising ; nor did the little 

 favourite seem to recognise any difference between the pat of his brother 

 quadruped's paw, and that of the whiter-skinned and shorter-fingered ani- 

 mal. This jolly tippler, however, " life*s idle business o'er," sunk at last 

 under a confirmed dropsy, the effect, we fear, of his plentiful potations, 

 leaving only the memory of his fate as a warning to all surviving debauchees. 

 {Vcrulam, No. ii. p. 164.) 



The Head of a Hippopotamus has recently been brought to England, 

 with all the flesh about it, in a high state of preservation. This amphibious 

 animal was harpooned while in combat with a crocodile, in a lake in the 

 interior of Africa. The head measures near four feet long, and eight feet 

 in circumference ; the jaws open two feet wide, and the cutting-teeth, of 

 which it has four in each jaw, are above a foot long, and four inches in 

 circumference. Its ears are not bigger than a terrier's, and are much about 

 the same shape. This formidable and terrific creature, when full-grown, 

 measures about 1 7 ft. long from the extremity of the snout to the inser- 

 tion of the tail, above 16 ft. in circumference round the body, and stands 

 above 7 ft. high. It runs with astonishing swiftness for its great bulk, 

 at the bottom of lakes and rivers, but not with as much ease on land. 

 When excited, it puts forth its full strength, which is prodigious. " I have 

 seen," says a mariner, as we find it in Dampier, " one of these animals 

 open its jaws, and seizing a boat between its teeth, at once bite and sink it 

 to the bottom. I have seen it on another occasion place itself under one 

 of our boats, and rising under it, overset it, with six men who were in it, 

 but who, however, happily received no other injury." At one time it was 

 not uncommon in the Nile, but now it is no where to be found in that 

 river, except above the cataracts. The head is intended as a present to 

 His Majesty. — M. C. March 2^^:. 



The Trunk of a Walnut Tree^ 1 2 ft. in diameter, hollowed out and furnished 

 as a sitting-room, has lately been imported from America, and exhibited in 

 London. A printed paper, delivered to spectators, states the tree to have 

 been " unparalleled in size and beauty," the trunk 80 ft. high, without a 

 branch, and the entire height 150 ft. The bark was 12 in. thick, and the 

 branches from 3 to 4 ft. in diameter. It grew at the junction of the Silver 

 and Walnut creeks, on the south shore of Lake Erie, in the state of New 

 York. — Id. 



Mvils produced by the Birdcatchers in the Vicinitt/ of London. — Sir, It is 

 well known that the gardens in and about London are much more injured 

 by insects, than those in comparatively distant parts of the country. This, 

 in my opinion, is very much owing to the smaller number of insectivorous 

 birds in and about the metropolis; and the reason there are so few of these 

 is not, as frequently alleged, owing to the smoke, the number of houses, 

 and the want of trees and food, because it is well known that every kind of 

 bird will live and thrive in cages in the heart of London, but to the num- 

 ber of birdcatchers, and, in some respects, to the cats. The cats, perhaps, 

 cannot so well be got rid of, on account of their utility within doors ; but 

 I am persuaded that if the legislature would pass an act to prevent bird- 

 catchers from exercising their art within twenty miles of the metropolis, 

 the number of birds would soon be speedily increased, and the number of 

 insects in gardens diminished. Neither ought wild birds of any kind to be 

 shot, or otherwise caught or destroyed, within this distance, under certain 

 penalties ; and the result would be a great increase in their numbers, great 

 lameness and familiarity with man, great facilities of studying their habits, 

 and a powerful accession of enjoyment to the lovers of ornithology and 

 natural song. Kensington Gardens, Regent's Park, Greenwich Park, and 

 all the squares and the gardens of suburban cottages, would then resound - 

 with the notes of the nightingale, the blackbird, the thrush, and probably 

 the canary. —^. ^, Fulhani, Mat/ 5. 



