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should get no specimen. He is chiefly found in the more southern 
counties. This family would make a charming case; and if the 
cases were made with their backs upon hinges, to open like a 
door, and projecting perches fixed therein, they could be opened 
at any time to add fresh specimens as they came in, taking care 
just to paste a strip of American cloth round the outside edges 
after each opening, to prevent dust getting in to the discolouring 
of the plumage. 
Of Beasts, or Quadrupeds, we have not here a very great 
variety ; but the Sweet Mart! is almost or altogether unknown in 
many parts of England; and I believe we might with a little 
trouble yet secure a specimen of the Mouse Weasel,? a fiendish 
little chap, not bigger than a very large mouse, but with the thirst 
of blood for which his family is celebrated highly developed 
indeed in inverse ratio to his size. The Mole we have too; and 
I remember when a boy a beautiful cream-coloured one being 
caught at Woodside. This concentrated essence of energy— 
superior even to the Shrew in the frenzy of his passion for either 
love or war—is a wonderful beast; his underground dwelling a 
marvel of engineering skill; himself one of the boldest and craftiest 
of all God’s wonderful creatures. He is the only quadruped I 
know which feigns death. After a long watch, I once caught one 
alive by Bleng-side. I wanted sadly to keep and tame a mole, 
and slung him carefully in my handkerchief triumphant, plotting 
and devising as I went what I could do for his comfort: how I 
would get an old tub cut in half, filled with earth and plenty of 
earth-worms. Meditating thus, I thought I would just see how 
my little friend in black velvet was getting on; so I sat down on 
a nice smooth bit of turf and opened my handkerchief. Really, 
to my remorse, the little creature lately so full of life and energy 
was dead! almost stiff. I laid him gently on the grass and | 
smoothed his coat, admired his nervous hands and trenchant 
snout. And then it seemed so strange a thing! He couldn’t 
have been suffocated, the hardy little miner? I had waded the 
river, and only come about a mile since I had taken him. Sus- . 
1 Martes sylvatica. 2 Mustela vulgaris,—(ED.) 
