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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



I am not aware of any vegetable substance which 

 will color oil black, or I would with much pleasure 

 inform the fair "Violet" of it. — Zig-zag. 



Skeleton Leaves. — There are various modes of 

 procuring skeleton leaves, but the following plan 

 I have hitherto found attended with the least dis- 

 appointment. July is the best month to select 

 leaves for the purpose. Care must be taken that 

 they are not bruised, or otherwise injured. A 

 small piece of the stalk of the tree should be at- 

 tached to each leaf. They should then be placed 

 in an earthenware vessel, and covered with 

 soft water, and exposed to the air and the heat of 

 the sun ; and as the water evaporates more must 

 be supplied. From one month to two months is 

 the time usually required for the leaves to become 

 in such a state as to allow the membranes to be 

 removed. This must be done by placing them on 

 a plate with clean water, enough to cover them. 

 Then, with a fine needle, commence with the leaf- 

 stalk, and proceed till all the outer membrane is 

 removed from each side of the leaf. Great care 

 must be used when separating the membrane from 

 the middle rib. The green substance can then be 

 gently cleared away by using a camel-hair brush. 

 Sometimes it is necessary to leave them in water 

 for a few days, before all the green can be removed; 

 and in this case the water should be clean, and 

 fresh every morning. I have generally found it 

 desirable to well wash each skeleton with yellow 

 soap and a little soda, to make them white. This 

 seldom fails ; but whenever, it does, a little 

 chloride of lime added to fresh water, will effect 

 the purpose. Time and patience are required to 

 get perfect skeletons, but the great beauty of each 

 specimen amply rewards any who may be disposed 

 to prepare them for themselves. — Puss. 



Proper Food for the Tortoise. — Your Corres- 

 pondent, J. J., who inquires at page 183 what 

 food Tortoises like best, is informed that the fol- 

 lowing are regarded by them as luxuries : — leaves 

 of the Dandelion, Sowthistle, and Lettuce. There 

 was one domesticated in our family, who ate with 

 much gusto petals of the Rose and Gum-cistus ; 

 also heads of Clover, Daisies, and Dandelion . They 

 require a little water in very dry weather ; and 

 some of the tribe show an affection for bread and 

 milk. Their appetites slumber till June. They 

 then make up for lost time. — Blue-Bell. 



The Highland Colley. — Mr. James Hogg, the 

 Ettrick Shepherd, thus writes in a letter to the 

 Editor of " JBlachcood's Magazine :" — " My Dog 

 1 Sirrah' was beyond all comparison the best dog 

 I ever saw. He had a somewhat surly and un- 

 social temper, disdaining all flattery and refusing 

 to be caressed, — but his attention to my com- 

 mands and interest will never again be equalled by 

 any of the canine race. When I first saw him, a 

 drover was leading him by a rope. He was both 

 lean and hungry, and far from being a beautiful 

 animal, for he was almost black ; and had a grim 

 face, striped with dark brown. I thought I 

 perceived a sort of sullen intelligence in his 

 countenance, notwithstanding his dejected 

 and forlorn appearance, and I bought him. He 

 was scarcely a year old, and knew so little of herd- 

 ing that he had never turned a sheep in his life ; 



but as soon as he discovered that it was his duty 

 to do so, and that it obliged me, I can never forget 

 with what anxiety and eagerness he learned his 

 different evolutions, and when once I made him 

 understand a direction, he never forgot or mistook 

 it."—" One night" ( says Mr. Youatt) " a large 

 flock of lambs, that were under the Ettrick Shep- 

 herd's care, frightened by something, scampered 

 away in three different directions across the hills, 

 in spite of all that he could do to keep them toge- 

 ther." " Sirrah" said the shepherd " they're a' 

 awa !" It was too dark for the dog and his mas- 

 ter to see each other at any considerable distance ; 

 but " Sirrah" understood him, and set off after the 

 fugitives. The night passed on, and Hogg and 

 his assistant traversed every neighboring hill in 

 anxious but fruitless search for the lambs, but he 

 could hear nothing of them nor of the dog, and 

 he was returning to his master with the doleful 

 intelligence that he had lost all his lambs. " On 

 our way home, however," says he, " we disco- 

 vered a lot of lambs at the bottom of a deep 

 ravine, called the Flesh Cleuch, and the indefa- 

 tigable ' Sirrah' standing in front of them, look- 

 ing round for some relief, but still true to his 

 charge ; and we concluded that it was one of the 

 divisions which ' Sirrah' had been unable to 

 manage, till he came to that commanding situa- 

 tion. But what was our astonishment, when we 

 discovered that not one lamb of the flock was 

 missing ! How he had got all the divisions col- 

 lected in the dark is beyond my comprehension. 

 The charge was left entirely to himself from mid- 

 night until the rising sun ; and if all the shep- 

 herds in the forest had been there to have as- 

 sisted him, they could not have effected it with 

 greater promptitude All I can say is, that I 

 never felt so grateful to any creature under the 

 sun, as I did to my honest ' Sirrah' that morn- 

 ing." — Zig-zag. 



The Nightingale. — Can you tell me what places 

 in England the nightingale does not visit ; and 

 also give me some particulars of his song, and 

 general habits ? I have heard the question of his 

 exclusiveness much debated, and wish to know 

 what are the facts of the case. — Jaxe T., Rich- 

 mond, Surrey. 



[The Nightingale does not visit our northern 

 counties — Yorkshire alone excepted. It is supposed 

 that the soil of that country suits his fancy. He 

 is, we believe, never heard in Devonshire and 

 Cornwall, nor in North Wales. Ireland and 

 Scotland, too, he holds in supreme contempt. In 

 Middlesex, and the Isle of Wight, he holds his 

 court both by day and night. As we have written 

 so very much about this king of birds in our First 

 and Second Volumes, — to them we must refer 

 you for further particulars.] 



Longevity of the Hive-Bee. — It may interest 

 some of your Apiarian readers to learn, that three 

 Essays have been forwarded to the Entomological 

 Society for competition for the prize of five guineas, 

 offered by the society last year for the best Essay on 

 the longevity of the three kinds of individuals of the 

 hive-bee, with especial reference to the practical 

 results of the question on the relative advantages 

 of retaining stocks or swarms. These Essays have 

 been referred to a committee, who have unani- 



