82 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
and children to go out who wished, but no men. As to 
this they were very strict. About 2,000 took advantage of 
their license. Their conduct was certainly characterised by 
humanity all through the affair. 
The French soldiers were marched off the first thing after 
the town was ceded, but some of the officers were still there. 
Whether they were on parole I did not ascertain, or whether 
they were permitted the convenience of remaining to pack 
up after the common soldiery had gone. 
We transacted our business with M. Offeld, the “juge de 
paix,” whose father commanded the artillery of the National 
Guard in 1814, and who had seen Longwy bombarded 
three times; and then set our faces towards Longwy Bas, a 
village at the bottom of the hill, where we left our horse and 
cart, to have the extreme “satisfaction” of discovering that 
a rogue had stolen the harness. After three hours’ worry 
we got some more; but our troubles were not over, for at 
Aumetz the gallant steed ran away while we were in the 
inn, and broke spring, trace, and dashboard ! 
We drove into Metz on the Sabbath morning. As we 
drew near, the distant reverberation of cannon was borne to 
us on the frosty air. Paris had capitulated, and flash after 
flash gleamed from the lofty heights of Phlappeville and 
St. Julien in celebration of her downfall. Two hours later, 
and we rattled up the stréets crowded with men of both 
nations, who were hailing the good news of a three-weeks’ 
armistice. 
On this journey I saw a great many Buzzards (Buteo 
vulgaris, Leach). Some thought the dead horses attracted 
them, but I fancy that this kind of carrion was mostly 
underground before Christmas.* At any rate I saw enough 
® The son of the castellan of Raglan Castle, near Monmouth, had a 
tame Buzzard when my father was at the castle in 1872, which he had 
obtained from an adjacent wood. He told him that he gave it twenty- 
