^Hetrospecti^ve Criticism, 447 



and in the recitations of their prayers, and their lower extremities swell to 

 the thickness almost of the human trunk, while no such circumstance 

 takes place in the Poonah. The peculiar character of idiotism which I 

 have met with in some parts of Wales bears a striking resemblance to the 

 ^etinisvi of Switzerland and Savoy. Yours, &c. — J. Murray. Carmar- 

 then, Aj)nl 2. 1830. 



Mermaid. — I examined the " thing of shreds and patches " exhibited 

 «ome years ago as a "mermaid" in the metropolis (p. 188.), and could 

 distinctly perceive the junction of the compound, for it was certainly sewed 

 together. I concluded it to be the upper part of the long-armed ape 

 attached to the tail portion of a fish from the Ganges allied to the genus 

 5almo. The creature seemed to have been put to some cruel death to 

 produce a horrid caricature of humanity. It was constructed in utter defi- 

 ance of the laws of gravitation, and would have been in the condition of the 

 man who ventured into the water with cork boots. Moreover, it would 

 •have required two distinct species of circulation, for a warm-hlooAed animal 

 €ould never coalesce with a co/rf-blooded one. — J, Murray^. Carmarihen^ 

 April 2. 1830. <? ' - - r ' « 'v ; 



> Hard Substances in the Stomach of the Alligator. — J. R. (Vol. L p. 372.) 

 observes, " It is well known that many species of birds swallow small 

 stones, for the purpose, as is supposed, of aiding digestion ; but it is, I 

 believe, an anomaly amongst other other orders of animals. ^^ This assertion 

 is by no means correct, as will be seen from the following extract from a 

 most interesting article on the natural history of the alligator, published in 

 Jameson's Philosophical Journal, by my talented friend, Mr. Audubon of 

 Louisiana: — " In those that I have killed, and, I assure you, I have 

 killed a great many, if opened, to see the contents of the stomach, or take 

 fresh fish out of them, I regularly have found round masses of a hard sub- 

 stance, resembling petrified wood. These masses appeared to be useful to 

 the animal in the process of digestion, like those found in the craws of 

 some species of birds. I have broken some of them with a hammer, and 

 found them brittle, and as hard as stones, ivhich they resemble outwardly 

 also very much.''' {Jameson's Journal, No. iv. p. 280.) Speaking of the 

 extreme gentleness of alligators during the summer and autumn months, 

 the same eloquent and observant naturalist remarks : — "At this period of 

 the year, to sit or ride on one would not be more difficult than for a child 

 to mount his wooden rocking-horse." This statement fully corroborates 

 the curious account given by Waterton, in his amusing Wanderings in South 

 America. — Perceval Hunter. iWaj/6. 1829. 



The Song of Birds not innate, but acquired. — Sir, Your correspondent 

 'J. S., Thurgarton (p. 145.), seems to imagine that the song of birds is not 

 acquired, but innate : by which, 1 suppose, he must believe that a young 

 bird, bred up from the nest, and never allowed to hear any one of its own 

 species sing, will still sing its natural song. If he supposes this, he is quite 

 mistaken, as he may readily be convinced of, by noticing blackbirds or 

 thrushes in a town or city, where they have not heard any wild ones sing. 

 Their song will be found quite different under such circumstances, and 

 sometimes even their voice disagreeable, particularly to such as have been 

 used to hear them in their natural state. They have no variety in their 

 note, and the greater part of their song is what they have picked up from 

 people whistling to them, or the creaking of a cart or wheelbarrow, or some 

 : other discordant noise. I have never found any bird whatever that was 

 ' bred from the nest, or caught very young, that sang its proper note, except 

 it was placed where it could hear the wild ones sing, and then it will 

 frequently learn the song of some other bird. I had a nightingale that was 

 caught when young, and had never heard a wild one sing : this I kept for 

 three years, and it only sang two or three notes. I then turned it out with a 

 -female that I had kept six years. They remained about the neighbourhood 



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