EXTRACTS FROM CORRESPONBENCE. 221 



surprise, on coming closer, he found that it was a hare taking a bath, 

 and on seeing him she merely swam leisurely to the side, shook herself, 

 and trotted away. 



In one of the late numerous thunder-storms, an Elm tree in this neigh- 

 bourhood was struck by lightning; some men who were taking shelter in 

 an adjoining hovel, felt the shock distinctly, and on the storm abating, 

 they found dead , under the tree several Thrushes and three or four 

 Starlings. Wasps have been unusually abundant this season, and they 

 creep in and out at every crevice. In my own peculiar room, I have a 

 little maple sanctum with numerous small drawers, in one of which there 

 has been, for some weeks past, a jar of black currant preserve stored away 

 under lock and key. This morning I was much amused at seeing a Wasp 

 enter the window and fly straight to the drawer, which was shut, and 

 march in through the keyhole to the preserve. No doubt the smell 

 attracted him, but from his going straight up to the spot, I imagine he 

 had been there before, and that the impelling power which guided him 

 was as much akin to memory as instinct. Speaking of memory reminds 

 me of an almost incredible anecdote about a dog, which, however, comes 

 from truthful authority: — 



A gentleman who is very fond of farming, and a large breeder of sheep, 

 was Grouse shooting with some friends near Inverness, when he was much 

 struck with the sagacity of the Highland Colleys, and on leaving the 

 country he took home a very fine one for the purpose of introducing some 

 of the right sort of blood into our own mongrel breed of sheep dogs. The 

 dog was carried by his new master from Inverness by coach to Glasgow, 

 shut up in a sort of cage so constructed that he could not possibly see 

 anything but the sky, the cage being open at the top only. After 

 passing a night at Glasgow, he was conveyed next morning, in the same 

 cage, down the Clyde, and with his master proceeded by steamer to Liverpool; 

 landed there, and in due course of time was taken on, still shut up in the 

 cage, to his destination in this country. Here, of course, he was much 

 admired, and did his work well, until about three weeks after his arrival, 

 when he was suddenly missed. Every means was taken, by advertising and 

 offering rewards, to recover him, but without success; until, after the lapse 

 of a little time, it was heard that a dog answering the description of the 

 advertisement had been seen wandering about- the docks at Liverpool for 

 several days, but no one knew what had become of him. Nothing after 

 this was made out further, until a short time afterwards, when a letter 

 arrived from the old shepherd in Scotland, informing the gentleman who 

 had purchased the dog that he had actually found his way back, unaided 

 and alone, to his old master's shealing. 



Uppingham, August 11th., 1856. 



