OWLS. 



neighbourhood of the barracks. Suddenly it 

 pounced upon something in the snow, and evi- 

 dently swallowed it. The sergeant-major re- 

 solved to see what this was, and immediately 

 shot the starling, when, on wringing off the 

 head after the most approved style of doing 

 execution on these peculiar birds, what was his 

 surprise to find projecting from the thorax the 

 sharp head and eyes with the two fore claws of 

 a nimble lizard (lacerta agilis) three or four 

 inches in length, which the starling had swal- 

 lowed entire. The sergeant-major exhibited the 

 lizard alive in Dorchester market on Saturday ; 

 for, strange to say, after remaining dormant for 

 twenty-four hours, it revived." 



The following curious "owl incident' 7 hap- 

 pened some eighteen or twenty years ago, when 

 I first went to France. On reading it, many of 

 my readers will doubtless say, Bosh, humbug, 

 an after-dinner yarn ! An after-dinner yarn it 

 may be, but nevertheless it is true, and I am 

 quite certain my old and much esteemed friend, 

 James Grant, Esq., who is now living, well and 

 hearty, at St. Servan, Ille-et-Vilaine, France, 

 and who told it to me, will vouch for its accu- 

 racy. I give it to you as he gave it to me : 



