ANECDOTES 



and it was thought advisable to relieve the bird from this 

 miserable condition. The bird was turned out of the sack 

 into the closet at the foot of the stairs ; the door of the 

 closet could only be securely fastened from the inside, and 

 a chair or stool had been used to prevent the bird making 

 its escape. This powerful creature had, however, by 

 jumping about, forced open the door and turned over the 

 chair ; the noise of this upset, no doubt, caused me to wake 

 up and forfeit a night's rest. 



MY INTRODUCTION TO THE LATE FRANK BUCKLAND's 

 FATHER, THE DEAN OF WESTMINSTER. 



In Buckland's Curiosities of Natural History, in the 

 second series, p. 48, appears an account referring to 

 " Billy," the Hyaena, that was sent to his father by Dr. 

 Burchell, the great African traveller. 



This animal was deposited by the Dean in the 

 menagerie known as Exeter 'Change, and was afterwards 

 removed with that collection to the Surrey Zoological 

 Gardens, where it died on January 14, 1846. Upon its 

 death I received a note from Dr. Buckland, then Dean of 

 Westminster, requesting me to call on him. Early the 

 following morning I proceeded to the cloisters at West- 

 minster Abbey. I rang the bell at the small arched door- 

 way, and the door was immediately partly opened by a 

 young woman who asked me what I wanted. I told her I 

 had a letter from the Dean who wished to see me, and 

 that my name was Bartlett. The extraordinary grin on the 

 face of the woman astonished me as she opened the door 

 wide enough to. admit me, and, grinning in the most extra- 

 ordinary manner, pointed to an object on the floor of the 

 hall, apparently a man on his knees cleaning out what 

 I afterwards understood to be a Dr. Arnit's stove. To my 



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