KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



371 



the bushes were cleared, it swept with a light 

 circling flight into the neighboring copse, some- 

 thing in the manner of the Hawk tribe; — though 

 a white patch on its inner wing feathers distin- 

 guished it from that family or the Cuckoo. 

 " Now," said my companion, " we may secure it. 

 It appears a young bird, from its hesitating 

 manner of taking to flight ; but I suppose, if a 

 Kestril, I am not to kill it." I replied that " I 

 was unwilling to aid in the extermination of the 

 doomed race of HawJcs, but I would not dictate." 

 Whilst I was examining the thick, bushy places 

 where it had apparently been harboring, I heard 

 the crack of his gun, reverberating from the bridge 

 wall, and among the arches. I hastened at his 

 call to secure the dogs; and we picked up a bird, 

 too much shattered from the nearness of the dis- 

 charge to be fit for preservation, which from its 

 peculiar bill, fringed with small bristles — its 

 serrated middle claw, and reversible hind one ; 

 together with its finely mottled plumage, delicately 

 pencilled with light grey and yellowish brown 

 tints, was pronounced at once as the Goatsucker 

 or Fern Owl. I had formerly observed the bird 

 in Sherwood Forest, but never in this part; and / 

 teas glad to record one more rare bird for this 

 district. I yet felt compunction that so innocen 

 and beautiful a creature should be thus sacrificed, 

 and to no good purpose. It was perched along, and 

 close to the branch, as described by Yarrell, 

 Morris, and other writers. The locality (among 

 stony whin covers and ferny copses), and its 

 hesitating manner when startled by daylight, — 

 all accorded with their descriptions. We since 

 learn that it was, some years back, heard to utter 

 its jarring note (from which it obtains two of its 

 names, — Night Jar and Dor HawU)* about the 

 fern-clad quarries of Dark Cliff, in Worsbro' 

 dale. — T. Lister, Barnsley, June 20. 



Throwing the Hatchet ; " Tenacity of Life in 

 a Hen." — Your very charming correspondent, 

 u Honeysuckle," — whom all your readers must 

 love, I am sure, was quite right in denouncing the 

 many fabrications that now regularly appear in 

 the North British and the Dumfries Courier. 

 The waggish Editor of the latter has just issued 

 the following. I send it to corroborate " Honey- 

 suckle's " just remarks, and by way of cautioning 

 the public not to believe all the silly things they 

 read : — Nearly six weeks ago, a farmer in Thorn- 

 hill missed a hen ; and considering that she had 

 been either stolen or killed, nothing more was 

 said about her until last Wednesday, when she 

 was found jammed between the corn-chest, and 

 the wall of the stable. Poor chuckie had, there- 

 fore, been in solitary confinement for thirty-four 

 days without meat and without drink. When 

 found, she was much reduced in body, and scarcely 

 able to set one foot past another ; but by spare 

 diet and careful treatment she is now as lively as 

 ever." — Now, my dear sir, just imagine this poor 

 bird, for a calendar month and six days, in a state 

 of total abstinence. Why, even Mr. George 

 Cruikshank (the caricaturist), who publicly 



* From an old word, signifying bussing ; also 

 applied to the Bettle which this summer visitant 

 preys upon. The bird is likewise called Churn Owl 

 and Wheel Bird. 



votes for people living exclusively on slops and 

 " squash," would raise up his back at this. He 

 might say (and perhaps would) that the fowl 

 could do very well without food] but " water," my 

 dear sir, water, he would pronounce to be indis- 

 pensable. When these concoctors of summer 

 marvels are about it, they should (if they wish to 

 catch flats) draw it a leetle milder. — Archer, 

 Dublin. 



[Well said, " Archer." These printed follies 

 are now coming out daily, in multitudes ; and pass 

 with " the people" as remarkable facts. Remark- 

 able they are, — for nonsense ; and that is all. It 

 is indeed sad that the study of Natural History 

 should be condemned because of these abuses, and 

 we were delighted to insert what " Honeysuckle" 

 — a most amiable soul, truly, as you say — remarked 

 about it in a former number. Our wonder is 

 increased, to observe that intelligent newspapers 

 copy these fabrications without first reading and 

 reflecting on the details.] 



Canaries Breeding and Living in the Open 

 Air. — I have just received yours, my dear sir, 

 and hasten to reply to it. My canaries are all 

 doing well. I told you, when you were here, 

 recently, of the loss of two broods by cats. [These 

 vermin are a public pest. We have a never- 

 failing remedy for slaying them (painlessly) by 

 the gross ; and we are putting it into constant 

 practice daily.] Also, of one nest destroyed by 

 an accident. All the others have thriven well. 

 I have now sixteen young birds ; six of which 

 cannot yet feed themselves. Three more hens are 

 sitting. One of them I expect to hatch a young 

 brood about the 14th inst. One of my feathered 

 family is now attending upon her third brood this 

 season ! Three of the nests are built in the same 

 part of the garden that the others were in that you 

 saw— viz., at the corner of the house, impinging 

 on the carriage- drive in front. One of the four is 

 occupied by the identical hen who had six broods 

 last year (I think I told you one of these broods 

 was destroyed by a jay). She reared of these, 

 exclusive of those destroyed by the jay, twenty. 

 Already has she (this year) brought up seven 

 young ones ; and another has raised six. Let me 

 see you again soon, with your " better-half," for I 

 shall have quite a treat in store for you both. — 

 Hexry Wollaston, Welling, Kent, June 11. 



[We wrote to Mr. Wollaston, with a view to 

 discover how the late cold weather, driving winds, 

 and generally inclement season, had acted on the 

 physique of his little winged family. It seems 

 they are hardy as any Irishman — caring neither 

 for wind, rain, nor cold. This quite confirms 

 what we have written and published in our 

 " Treatise on the Canary." We shall very shortly 

 repeat our visit ; and enjoy another of these truly 

 interesting observations in the Canary regions — al 

 fresco^] 



'• Never Live without some Object." — It strikes 

 me, my dear sir, that if people live without an 

 object, they stand as it were on the outside of 

 active life, which gives strength to the inward 

 occupation, even if no noble endeavor or sweet 

 friendship give that claim to daily Hie which 

 makes it occasionally, at least, a joy to live. 

 Disquiet rages fiercely and tumultuously in the 



