56 



KIDD'S OWN JOUKNAL. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Phe ecology foe, the MiLLioN will be continued in our 



next. 

 Communications Received.— G. H. — W. J. M. — J. C. W. 



— H. H. — A.Bancks. — We return you very many thanks 



— F. G.— Angelina.— Celia. — Sappho. What a sweet 

 singer ! —Dido. With the most pei-fect safety. — Wil- 

 li am B= It is a mere freak of nature. — Aliquis. — Your 

 visitor is a Red-start. — Rosa. Let it fly at once. Per- 

 haps its children have alreidy suffered death owing to 

 your mistaken "kindness." — Rebecca R. — Placide. 



— Bombyx Atlas. 



To Correspondents.— As we always print one number 

 of the Journal in advance, such of our Correspondents 

 as may not receive replies to their questions in the cur- 

 rent number, must bear in mind that they are not for- 

 gotten. We pay marked attention to all favors. 



Correspondents sending in any " facts" connected with 

 Science or Natural History, are requested in every 

 case to append their names and places of abode. In no 

 instance, however, will their names be published with- 

 out their express sanction. 



KIDD'S OWN JOUENAL. 

 Saturday, July 24, 1852. 



The following has just reached us 

 " To William Spooner, Publisher. Couldst 

 tliou send, direct to hand, each month, 

 ' Kidd's Own Journal ?' I have been re- 

 peatedly disappointed in receiving it, and 

 am now three months behind, although a 're- 

 gular subscriber I' " — Rebecca H., Cork. 



As we have now just entered upon a New 

 Volume, it is our full determination to assist, 

 to the utmost of our power, in removing the 

 vexatious complaints that continue to reach 

 us from all parts, in consequence of the irre- 

 gular delivery of our paper. To this end, our 

 Publisher undertakes to send the Monthly 

 Parts free by post, at the cost of Three- 

 pence each, extra, — instead of Six-pence, the 

 actual cost incurred. This, of course, applies 

 to the postage of each several part. Re- 

 mittances in postage-stamps will be taken in 

 payment. 



Those also who may wish to have the 

 Weekly Numbers forwarded by post are 

 informed, that the extra cost is TWO-pence 

 per number. Many of our subscribers, to 

 prevent oft-recurring disappointment in the 

 delivery, have them " expressed" by post 

 every Wednesday evening. 



Remittances, payable in advance, — Quar- 

 terly, 5s. lOd. ; Half-yearly, Its. 8d. This 

 includes postages,-- also, the Title-pages, 

 Indices, &c. 



Some twelve months since we were 

 remarking to a friend. whilst strolling leisurely 

 through a field of clover (we remember it as 

 though it were but yesterday), how delighted 

 we should be to finish our days at the 

 head of a Weekly Periodical, in which we 

 could hold converse every sixth day with a 

 number of individuals whose minds and pur- 

 suits were in unison with our own. We 

 have ever rejoiced in the feeling — that others 



would look forward with real pleasure to 

 read, what it had previously given us pleasure 

 to write.* Let us in candor say, that we 

 had no idea whatever, when we offered the 

 observation, that our wish would be grati- 

 fied. Nothing appeared less probable. Cir- 

 cumstances, however, shortly afterwards 

 called forth a number of articles from our 

 pen in a first-class public journal of large 

 circulation) which paved the way, without 

 any effort on our part, to the very object we 

 sought ; and we now find ourselves (still in a 

 pleasing dream of amazement) gossiping, in 

 the strictest terms of friendship, with very 

 many hundreds of the choicest spirits — 

 weekly, monthly, quarterly, and half-yearly. 

 There is no egotism in this avowal. It is 

 simply the record of " a romance in real 

 life" — which we cannot explain, can hardly 

 comprehend, and yet feel to be " a fact." 



A long and trying Winter has passed over 

 our heads. A backward spring, too, followed 

 by heavy and long-continued rains, has 

 " damped" our energies ; but now we have 

 entered on a glorious Summer, and we feel 

 that each successive week will tend more 

 and more effectually to realise the wish we 

 breathed in our friend's ear, a twelvemonth 

 since — that we might live and die in the 

 service of the public. Our fate is most 

 assuredly in their hands. 



" Hope on, hope ever ; " has been our 

 family motto through life. It has sustained 

 us nobly on very many trying occasions, 

 whilst repeating it with all the fervor of a 

 friar counting over his bead-roll. In 

 plainer language, we have under much dis- 

 couragement panted for summer, and waited 

 its approach in the fullness and freshness of 

 hope. Hope has triumphed — the Summer is 

 here ! *► 



Oh, what a harvest of joys now awaits 

 those who love Nature ! If each day num- 

 bered fifty hours, insufficient would they be 

 to gratify our every wish ! Where shall 

 we go ? Where shall we not go ? What 

 shall we look at first ? How shall we re- 

 cord a millionth part of what we see ? How 

 make mention of half our enjoyments ? — We 

 must do the best we can under such circum- 

 stances of difficulty ; and au reste, 



" Let expressive silence muse their praise." 



* One of our gentle and amiable readers thus 

 writes = — "Oh, Mr. Editor! how very many happy 

 hours have I passed in a perusal of your dear 

 little Journal; when I could find no reciprocity 

 of soul or sentiment elsewhere ! I look forward to 

 Saturdays, with a feeling of delight that is per- 

 fectly indescribable." . We may add, with truth 

 on our side, that the same sentiments are conveyed 

 in many letters received by us daily. It is this 

 that makes the pen of an Editor move swiftly and 

 pleasurably. — bs. K. J. 



