CHRONICLE. 



193 



S€rpents, at a depth of near 7 

 feet. The largest of these teeth, 

 although it -svas but a fragment, 

 was 3 feet in circumference, and 

 8 feet in length. These bones 

 have, by the Kings order, been 

 transported to the Cabinet of Na- 

 tural Histor)'. 



II. His Royal Highness the 

 Duke of Glocester repeated, last 

 week, his annual visit to Mr. 

 Coke, at Holkham, and partook 

 of the sports of the field. Two 

 hundred and fifty-four head of 

 game were killed in one day, 

 though the rabbits have been lat- 

 terly chiefly destroyed, on account 

 of their depredations ; and though 

 the breed both of partridges and 

 pheasants has been worse than 

 was ever known. On Friday, the 

 shooting party repaired to \A'ar- 

 hara, and were followed during 

 the greater part of the day by a 

 bird of prey, which constantly 

 attended their moiions, and was 

 repentedly fired at while hovering 

 over their heads, without betray- 

 ing the smallest symptoms of ap- 

 prehension and alarm, even tliough 

 the .^hot was heard to rattle on its 

 feathers. In the afternoon it de- 

 scended from its aenal flight, and 

 settled on a tree, where it allowed 

 Mr. Coke, attended by a boy hold- 

 ing a dead pheasant dangling in 

 his hand, to approach sufficiently 

 near to get a shot at it, which 

 brought it to the ground. It 

 proved to be a most beautiful fe- 

 male specimen of that rare bird 

 the Fal4:o Lagopus, or rough-leg- 

 ged falcon, measuring very nearly 

 5 feet across the wings, and 2 

 feet 1 inch in length. The male 

 bird had attended the chase at 

 Wightou just in the same manner 

 two days before, and had boldly 

 carried off from a heap of gain« 



two partridges. He was next day 

 caught, also, in a trap, by the 

 keepers, and both of them were 

 presented by Mr. Coke to the 

 Rev. G. Glover, as a most valu- 

 able accession to his collection of 

 British birds. 



12. A fire, most destructive in 

 its consequences, broke out at 

 Marsh Farm, Herts, adjoining 

 Marsh-cottage, the residence of 

 Major Skeene, which consumed 

 the whole range of buildings, to- 

 gether with part of the dwelling- 

 house, situated to the eastward 

 of the farm. Sixty head of cattle 

 were destroyed or ruined. The 

 fire was occasioned by two boys 

 being intrusted with a candle in 

 the stable, to get a team ready to 

 go out at four in the morning, 

 one of whom received much in- 

 jui y. That part Of the house de- 

 stroyed had lately been fitted up 

 with new furniture, and no in- 

 surance had been effected. 



14. The valuable and extensive 

 manufactory called the Albion 

 i\Iills, at Manchester, were com- 

 pletely burnt down. The fire is 

 said to have arisen from a boy 

 having accidentally dropped a 

 candle on some loose cotton. Ihe 

 damage is estimated at "£5,0001. 



15. New South U'ales. — The 

 Zebra sloop of war, which ar- 

 rived at Portsmouth from New- 

 South ^V'ales, brings intelligence 

 from that colony to March last, 

 and also a series of Sydney Ga- 

 zettes. Tliese papers contain a 

 naiTative (jf a tour made by Mr. 

 Evans, under the directior. of the 

 Governor, in the lately exidored 

 country to the westward of the 

 Blue Mountains. Mr. Evans 

 proceeded from Batlmrst with 

 instructions to pursue the dis- 

 coveries ac much further west- 



ward 



