KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



181 



clearer glass. Mais revenons a nos oiseaux, 

 or rather, a nos poissons. 



We offered our sceptical friend to procure 

 a glass bowl, and to place in it a number of 

 fish ; undertaking to tame every one of them 

 so effectually, within a fortnight, that they 

 should one and all recognise us. This satis- 

 fied him ; and he promised, if we succeeded, 

 he would acknowledge our power. That was 

 kind of him — very. 



To work we went. Thirteen sprightly 

 minnows were introduced into a glass bowl, 

 and we changed the water regularly every 

 morning ; removing them in a closely-meshed 

 net, and tenderly replacing them when the 

 bowl was again ready for their reception. It 

 is not necessary to enter into particulars here, 

 how we accomplished our purpose. A 

 second Caesar, we exclaimed — " Veni, vidi, 

 vici!" We were indeed " a Triton among 

 the minnows." 



Within the prescribed time, every one of 

 our finny friends had made our acquaintance ; 

 coming to the top of the water whenever we 

 placed our head over the bowl, leaping some 

 distance out of the water in the exuberance 

 of their delight, and positively listening to 

 us attentively whilst we whistled to them a 

 lively air. 



More than this : when we placed one of 

 our fingers in the bowl, each graceful inhabit - 

 ant swam affectionately round it ; rubbing 

 his sides against it, and evidencing a degree 

 of pleasure hardly credible unless witnessed. 



We converted the infidel, it is true ; but 

 we shortly afterwards lost the society of our 

 little friends. They perished during the 

 heat of that same summer. 



In our next, we shall introduce to our 

 readers' notice that universal pet — the 



CANARY. 



ANIMALS AND THEIR YOUNG. 



In Two Chapters. — Chapter I. 



There is a marked difference in the number of 

 the eggs laid by different species of birds. 

 This forms one of the many remarkable provi- 

 sions by which animal reproduction is protected 

 and controlled by fixed laws. 



The pigeon lays only two eggs at a time, but 

 it rears several broods in the season. Most birds, 

 however, only rear one brood in the year, and as 

 a general law it is found that birds of prey pro- 

 duce their young much more sparingly than 

 others of the feathered tribe. The eagle and the 

 vulture lay only two eggs, and rear but one 

 brood in the season; the hawk, the owl, and 

 other rapacious birds, in like manner increase 

 slowly, and are found in their most favorite loca- 

 lities only in very small numbers, compared with 

 those on which they are accustomed to prey; 

 while the feeble little wren lays frequently as 

 many as nineteen eggs, and rears the whole 

 brood ! 



Yet a curious instinct seems to control this 

 important law of reproduction, We are fami- 

 liar in the case of the domestic hen, with the fact 

 that, in the spring, when she begins to lay, if left 

 undisturbed ..she will provide a nest, and having 

 there deposited a certain number of eggs, she 

 then ceases to add to their number, and proceeds 

 to the maternal work of incubation. If how- 

 ever the eggs are removed, the hen continues to 

 lay others to an almost unlimited extent. 



Nearly the same is the case with birds in their 

 natural state. If their eggs are left untouched, 

 they lay only the fixed number; but if these are 

 destroyed or removed, they and the black-bird 

 will repeatedly replace them. The yellow-hammer, 

 for example, has been known to lay seventeen 

 eggs; when they have been removed, one at a 

 time, from the nest, without abstracting the 

 whole.- The bird at length deserted the nest 

 and died. 



When chickens are hatched, a total change of 

 duties devolves on the parent birds. The vora- 

 city of the young is extreme, their appetites 

 being adapted to their rapid growth and deve- 

 lopment. A young sparrow will eat its own 

 weight of food in a single day ; we may there- 

 fore conceive the unwearied care and toil which 

 devolve on the parents after the brood is hatched, 

 to provide for a nestful of such clamorous and 

 greedy offspring. The instinctive care of the 

 parent bird, however, is shown in the selection of 

 the proper food, and in some in its preparation, 

 as well as in .the regulation of the requisite 

 supply. 



The pigeon, for example, is specially remark- 

 able for one provision of its internal organisation. 

 The crop in its ordinary state is a thin mem- 

 brane with the internal surface smooth; but a 

 total change occurs in it preparatory to the 

 hatching of the young brood. The crop then 

 increases to a thick and glandular bag, having the 

 internal surface rough and irregular; and within 

 this all the food of the young pigeon undergoes 

 a preparatory process of a very peculiar kind. 

 A milky fluid of a greyish color is secreted by the 

 glands and poured in upon the grain and seeds, 

 which have been collected in the crop to undergo 

 the needful preparation for suiting them to the 

 delicate digestive organs of the young pigeon. 

 The whole apparatus bears a considerable resem- 

 blance to the provision by which quadrupeds are 

 nursed in the earliest stage of existence, on their 

 mothers' milk. 



The fluid secreted in the female lacteal glands, 

 by means of which the offspring of quadrupeds 

 are supplied with food admirably adapted for 

 their nourishment in the earliest stage of their 

 existence, is one of the most important differences 

 between birds and beasts, in the propagation of 

 their species ; accompanying as it does the pro- 

 duction of the one from eggs: while in the other, 

 the same process is carried on in the womb, and 

 the young are brought forth alive and fully 

 formed. 



The same laws, however, which regulate the 

 balance of numbers between rapacious birds and 

 those on which they prey, control the reproduc- 

 tive powers of quadrupeds. The lion and tiger 

 bear only once a-year, and rarely bring forth 

 more than two or three young ones at a time. 



