Miscellaneous Intelligence. 63 



The Eagle and the Weasel. 



A GROUP of haymakers, in Selkirkshire, saw an eagle rising 

 above the steep mountains that enclose the narrow valley. 

 The spectators were soon aware of something peculiar in the 

 flight of the bird they were observing. He used his wings 

 violently, and the strokes were often repeated, as if he was 

 unusually agitated, wheeling in circles constantly decreasing, 

 while his ascent was proportionally rapid. He rose until he 

 was nearly out of sight, when at length he appeared to de- 

 scend, and with great rapidity, but in the manner of a shot 

 bird. When he reached the ground, a black-tailed weasel 

 came from the body, as the haymakers came up, looked around, 

 stood on its hind legs for a moment or two, and then ran into 

 a bush. The eagle was dead, covered with his blood ; upon 

 examination it appeared the weasel had eaten into his throat 

 and destroyed him. — Mag. JVat. Hist. 



Winter Quarters of Frogs. 



In draining a bog, or springy piece of ground in the winter, 

 (during the frost,) I discovered a large quantity, — some hun- 

 dreds, I suppose, — (frogs,) imbedded about three feet below 

 the surface, in the head or source of a more than usually 

 strong spring. Upon being uncovered, they appeared very 

 inactive, but not torpid or motionless, and attempted to bury 

 themselves again in the sand, which, from the flowing of the 

 water, was so easily separated as to admit a pole of consider- 

 able length to be run down it with a slight pressure. The 

 cavity in which they were, and which apparently was formed 

 by them, was so placed that the water of the spring flowed 

 through it, and prevented their feeling the eflfectsofthe frost. 

 In cleaning ditches or stagnant ponds during the winter, I 

 have never seen any but at the bottom of ponds, in which, I 

 am told, they are common. Are we not to infer from this, 

 that they instinctively seek springs, as the water is less liable 

 to freeze ? and as they were in the instance mentioned, capa- 

 ble of moving, that they do not hybernate, or become torpid 

 during the winter, but that they respire in water, or in their 

 hiding places ? I have never observed them in ditches or 

 pools, until near their spawning time, viz. afier a few 

 warm days in February or March, when their "croaking" is 

 considered the precursor of spring, and provocative of sport 

 to "boys;" after which the embryo frogs appear as black 

 spots in a large mass of gelatinous matter. — Mag. JVat. Hist. 



