ON NATURAL HISTORY. 353 



mentions having seen Ostriches swim across a 

 somewhat rapid river. This they must have done 

 from choice, as they had neither been hunted or 

 driven. 



I have been twice to hear the Singing Mouse. 

 Its song is plaintive, sweet, and continuous, and 

 evidently proceeds from the throat. The notes 

 are those of the canary bird ; and on questioning 

 the owner, I found that one of these birds had 

 been kept in the room in which the mouse was 

 trapped. 



A nobleman, who had a house in the Isle of 

 Wight, had a young Spaniel of King Charles's 

 breed, which he wished to take to his seat in Lin- 

 colnshire. The dog was accordingly conveyed in 

 the steam-boat to Southampton, and from thence 

 in his Lordship's carriage, through London, into 

 Lincolnshire. On arriving there, the dog ap- 

 peared to be uneasy, and was soon afterwards 

 missed. He found his way back, however, to the 

 Isle of Wight, where he was born, and which he 

 had never previously quitted. The instinct which 

 enabled him to find his way back so great a dis- 

 tance, and to cross the sea, is not a little extraor- 

 dinary. 



On the 9th, 10th, and llth days of April, 1837, 



