140 Short Communications: — 



on which Napoleon wrote the decrees on which depended the 

 fate of empires ; the slightest object possessed a secret charm, 

 even the notches cut in the edge of the table with a penknife, 

 where the arbiter of Continental Europe debated within him- 

 self the " to be or not to be ; " the destiny of a kingdom ; 

 the fate of hundreds of thousands of his fellow-men. I will 

 not describe the grounds of this little paradise, nor the bota- 

 nical amphitheatre where Josephine listened with delight to 

 the lectures on vegetable physiology by M. Mirbel, and the 

 other professors attached to her service. The saloon, long 

 untenanted, already bore the vestiges of the ravages of time: 

 the plants testified that the vivifying spirit of their mistress 

 was no more. On the canal sailed, in sullen isolated pride, 

 the majestic black swan, the " rara avis " of Juvenal. He 

 had lost his mate ; his offspring had been transported to 

 Munich. It had been attempted to console him, by present- 

 ing him with the most beautiful white female swan that could 

 be procured, but he would not be comforted : her embraces 

 revolted his pride, he considered it would be a mesalliance to 

 consort with a being on whom nature had not lavished the 

 beauty of sable plumes. The gardener informed me that he 

 would not suffer her even to approach him, or come into his 

 sight ; and, in fact, we found her on the turn of the canal, at 

 the distance of two hundred yards from the mate who 

 despised her snowy charms. I visited Malmaison some time 

 afterward, and found the sable monarch still a widower, faith- 

 ful to his first love, and still refusing the consolation of 

 beauty, because her colour varied from his own. What a 

 lesson for man ! — J. Byerley. London, April 29. 1832. 



Nests of Bantam Fowls in the Holes of Walls. — In the old 

 and ivy-mantled walls near my house, within the grounds of 

 the once magnificent abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, are several 

 deep holes, in which my fowls lay, and hatch their young. 

 This appears somewhat remarkable, as they were supplied with 

 every accommodation in a snug hen-house, near the spot, and 

 their nests are now upwards of 1 5 ft. or more from the ground. 

 I should observe that they are fleet on the wing, and of the 

 sort generally called the partridge bantam fowl, of a ginger 

 colour, and without feathers on their legs ; and are preferred 

 in Norfolk to hatch and bring up young partridges during the 

 mowing season. I could, by encouragement, induce the tame 

 pigeon to breed in similar situations, but deem this not desir- 

 able, as thfc loss of old mortar, of which they partake to digest 

 their food, or might displace to accommodate their nests, 

 would contribute to expedite the destruction of these ancient 



