94 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



of describing in what manner these two birds 

 begin their domestic arrangements for the season. 

 They display no cunning whatever in selecting a 

 situation for their nest, which consists of a variety 

 of torn-up weeds and grasses, in place of the dried 

 and brushy material usually collected by other 

 birds for that purpose ; and the great majority of 

 those which I have found have been quite ex- 

 posed, and in many instances close beside detached 

 fragments of rock, in situations closely approach- 

 ing to table land. Necessity very frequently 

 compels them to place their nests where neither 

 pasturage nor any other kind of shelter affords 

 them any protection ; but from this circumstance 

 I do not consider that any rule ought to be laid 

 down, as to the situations where these nests are 

 to be found. 



The nest is a very comfortable one, of fair pro- 

 portions, with a flat margin, which tbis bird has 

 wisely contrived to enable him to get comfortably 

 out and in : for the circular part of it, where the 

 three eggs are deposited, is barely sufficient to 

 contain them. I have frequently remarked the 

 warmth which the egg so long retains after the 

 gull has been scared from her nest ; and my as- 

 tonishment was increased on shooting one of the 

 birds to find, on separating the feathers on the 

 under part of the breast and the body, a space 

 about as great as the palm of the hand, completely 

 divested of feathers, exhibiting a skin as fine as 

 silk, and possessing an amount of animal heat 

 which I never could have anticipated. 



I am perfectly aware that the practice of 

 denuding themselves of the interior feathers of the 

 breast, to assist in the process of incubation, is 

 common, but how to account for this additional 

 warmth is a difficulty ; for I have never before 

 remarked anything to compare with it in other 

 wild birds ; and if we could ascertain that the 

 same temperature prevails in the swan and the 

 pelican, it might necessarily lead us to suppose 

 that such rapidity of circulation may tend to lon- 

 gevity. It is quite out of my way to speculate 

 on its term of life ; but as Cuvier has computed 

 the age of a whale at one thousand years, might 

 not Owen give us a comparative idea between the 

 age of this bird and that of other birds whose span 

 has already been ascertained. 



To furnish you with further evidence of the 

 rapacity of the herring gull, my friend Mr. Kemp 

 is in possession of one at the present moment, 

 which we brought along with us from the island 

 of Sanda, in the month of July, 1848 ; and as my 

 absence from this country prevented me watching 

 her as frequently and carefully as I did " Snow," 

 I state to you on this gentleman's authority, that 

 in the summer of 1851, he raised a brood of nine 

 young decoy ducks, which he took especial care 

 of by keeping them confined within an outhouse 

 in his garden. At the expiration of a few days, 

 he allowed them to get into the garden, when hor- 

 rible to tell, " Susey," as he calls the gull, swal- 

 lowed the whole clecldn ! The second brood 

 which he raised consisted of five, four of which, 

 during one forenoon, shared the same fate ; and 

 the remaining one she gobbled too, just as Mr. 

 Kemp had fitted up some wicker work for its pro- 

 tection. This gull has never displayed the tact 

 of the other one, and her performances in sparrow- 

 catching have been upon rather a limited scale. 



Our second extract has reference to some 

 very odd habits contracted by 



A HEDGEHOG. 



About seven years ago, says Mr. Henry Ferris, 

 of Kingsdown, the narrator, at the residence of 

 a relative of mine, in this city, a hedgehog was 

 kept for the purpose of destroying slugs, snails, 

 etc., in the long, narrow, walled garden behind 

 the house. His usual haunt, during the sleepy 

 hours of day, was either a wood-house, to which 

 he had access, or the covert afforded by some ivy 

 at the bottom of the garden. This hedgehog (as 

 far as my memory serves me) differed in no remark- 

 able manner from his spiny brethren, as far as 

 external appearance was concerned ; and had it 

 not been for one remarkable habit, might have 

 long since passed from my memory. But, in order 

 to give my readers a clear idea of what I am about 

 to relate, I must briefly describe the garden. — It 

 was, as I have said, like most town gardens, 

 rather long and narrow, with a path down the 

 middle. This path was flanked on each side by 

 flower-beds alternately round and oblong, wit h 

 luxuriant borders of cushion pink. Not long after 

 Hodge had been naturalised in this retreat, a 

 beaten path was found across one of the oblong 

 beds, about four feet from the end; while the 

 track of some animal was plainly visible on the 

 path which went round the farther side of the 

 circular bed, which came next it. This excited 

 some surprise, but a little observation soon dis- 

 covered the cause, though only to render the 

 surprise greater. It was found that, as regularly 

 as the evening set in, Hodge was to be seen 

 running round and round, with a swift and 

 steady pace, exactly in the track which he had 

 beaten out, and never in any other. The oddity 

 of the circumstance often drew spectators ; but 

 for them he cared not a pin, if they only kept 

 out of his way. I once had the pleasure of 

 witnessing this nocturnal exercise. It was quite 

 ludicrous to see his grave, steady air, as he 

 emerged from under the cushion pinks of the 

 circular bed, trotted up the middle path close 

 under the border, came in full view as he 

 crossed the oblong bed, and dived out of sight 

 behind the opposite border, to appear again in 

 a few moments. If uninterrupted, he generally 

 kept on a good while without pausing. All who 

 witnessed his circumambulations, were quite at a 

 loss to give a satisfactory reason for them, though 

 several (myself among the rest) puzzled over the 

 subject a good deal. If it were merely for exercise, 

 why choose that particular spot, and always keep 

 to it ? and why should he strike out a path across 

 the oblong bed, instead of keeping to that which 

 went round the circular one? Be this as it may, 

 the sport, if spoit it were, was kept up with com- 

 mendable punctuality for some weeks, as long, I 

 believe, as Hodge remained there. His object in 

 running this eternal round still remains a mystery. 



EXTERNALS AND INTERNALS. 



As the Index tells us the contents of stories, 

 and directs to the particular chapter; even so does 

 the outward habit and superficial order of garments 

 (in man or woman) give us a taste of the spirit, 

 and demonstratively point (as it were a manual 

 note from the margin) all the quality of the soul. 

 — Massinger. 



