146 GLEANINGS FROM MY NOTE BOOK. 



this part of the county. I well recollect Buffon's denying them to be natives 

 of Great Britain 'Parce qu'il ny a pas de bois! And Pennant shrewdly 

 observes that gentleman never did our kingdom the honour of making a progress 

 through it." 



GLEANINGS FROM MY NOTE BOOK.— No. 3. 



BY J. MC'INTOSH, ESQ. 



Musical Animals. — The fabled feats of Orpheus are not perhaps so wondrous 

 as at first they appear* certain notes, for exan)ple, sounded on a flute, or 

 other wind instrument, will cause a dog to set up a lamentable howl. A 

 lady friend of mine some years ago, possessed a Russian Terrier, which would 

 sit on its hind quarters, and howl as long as she was playing the piano- 

 forte, evidently from the pain it produced either on the ear itself, or on 

 the nerves connected with it. The war Horse seems to derive new life and 

 vigour from the sound of the drum and the trumpet; and it is well known 

 that at the circus, the horses will not pace regularly without music. Out- 

 rageous cattle have likewise been calmed into gentleness by music; of this 

 musical feeling in Oxen, Mr. Southey gives a singular instance in his letters 

 from Spain : — The carts of Corunna made so loud and disagreeable a creaking 

 with their wheels, from want of oil, that the governor once issued an order 

 to have them greased, but it was speedily revoked, on petition of the carters, 

 who stated that the oxen liked the sound, and would not draw without its 

 music. In the southern counties- of England bells are still fixed to the 

 collars of waggon horses, who seem exceedingly proud of them. Birds are 

 well known to be fond of music, and will pipe to the bird-organ. Even fish, 

 upon good authority, independent of Amphion and the Dolphin, and of the 

 old harper, who, as the ballad has it, 'harp'd a fish out o' the water,' are 

 said to have shown signs of having been affected by music; and Seals 

 crowded to hear a violin, as we are told by Mr. Laing, in his voyage to 

 Spitzbergen; Scoresby, Junior, also tells us that music, particularly whistling, 

 draws them to the surface, and induces them to stretch their necks to the 

 utmost extent so as to prove a snare, by bringing them within the reach 

 of the shooter. Gaudabunt carmina phocoe, says Valerius Flaccus, which 

 Sir Walter Scott translates — 



Rude Heiskar's seals through surges dark, 

 Will long pursue the minstrel's bark. 



Some years ago I had a Cat which would follow me by my whistle, and if 

 in the house, the instant I commenced whistling, the Cat would come and 

 spring upon my shoulder, where she would sit till I had done, evidently 

 much pleased with the sound. 



Do Bats leave Dangerous Places f — The statement made by the mate of 

 the schooner "Dewdrop," of Whitby, which was wrecked oflF Arbroath, would 



