KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



409 



locomotion — these are too well known to 

 require to be dwelt upon. 



Now for a few words about the prospects 

 of the Journal. It was some little time 

 before we could get a correct insight into 

 what such a work really ought to be. Time, 

 however, has ripened our first immatured 

 arrangements, and the " character" of the 

 work is formed. It is a universal favorite. 



This first volume is, doubtless, one of 

 very great interest, — as the elaborate Index 

 (now preparing) will show. But this in- 

 terest is, after all, only just beginning. 

 The subjects that lie before us in the matter 

 of birds innumerable, animals of all descrip- 

 tions, and a host of popular discussions that 

 are continually brought under our observa- 

 tion, — these, and a multitude of other in- 

 tensely-interesting topics, are now crowding 

 daily upon us. 



Our own long and extensive series of 

 Articles on " British Song Birds " (now only 

 just commenced) ; a Reprint of the Great 

 Work of Dr. Gall ; interesting Selections 

 from new and expensive Works of Merit on 

 all matters of Natural History and Popular 

 Science ; Essays and Sketches in every 

 variety of style, and on an endless variety 

 of subjects, — these, and numerous other 

 matters, we have at our fingers' ends, ready 

 for immediate use. In the animal, vegetable, 

 and mineral worlds alone, surely our stores 

 are inexhaustible ! 



As for our increasingly voluminous Cor- 

 respondence on Birds, Insects, and animals 

 of every class, together with directions 

 (given and received) for their treatment and 

 cure when ill, — this, of itself, will prove a 

 magnet of the most powerful attraction. 

 Indeed, a consulting Journal, like ours, 

 has claims of no common kind both on the 

 public in general, and on " fanciers" in par- 

 ticular, — inasmuch as there is not another 

 existing periodical devoted to the considera- 

 tion and discussion of such interesting 

 subjects. 



Before concluding our remarks, we must 

 express our unfeigned gratification at having 

 found readers (not a few) among the most 

 " unlikely " of the inhabitants of this great 

 metropolis. We are not ashamed to say, but 

 glory in the fact, that we have seen our 

 Journal in the hands of some of our most 

 humble mechanics, domestic servants of both 

 sexes, and poor tradesmen — many of whom, 

 our Publisher tells us, come for their Paper 

 regularly every Saturday, their countenances 

 radiant with anticipations of real pleasure. 

 And why should these humble, worthy folk, 

 nof-iend a Periodical like ours ? Surely they 

 nave as much right as we have to " think," 

 and admire God's fair creation. 



We rejoice in having such readers ; and 

 shall try to get more of them. We will, 



moreover, venture to assert that, poor as 

 these people are, yet will they be among the 

 very first and foremost in assisting to get our 

 good ship under weigh. Nous verrons. 



When we related the personal anec- 

 dote of the nest of Robins, located in the 

 " rock-work " of flowers (see page 377), 

 we had little idea that we should have to 

 recur to it with a feeling of sorrow. Yet has 

 something occurred in connection therewith, 

 that must be recorded for the benefit of 

 others. 



Our readers can be no strangers to the 

 complaints that have been made to us 

 about domestic cats, — nor to the atrocities 

 of which they have oft been proved "guilty." 

 We only wish that we could conscien- 

 tiously side with those who affirm they are not 

 " vermin." We affirm that they are, —and 

 let us prove it. 



The eight inmates of the nest, as already 

 described, were thriving nicely. Day by 

 day did we peep at them, and enjoy the 

 delight felt both by the parents and their 

 children, whenever they met. However, 

 one morning we were alarmed by observing 

 the evident foot -prints of a cat or cats, 

 not very far from the nest of robins, whose 

 elevation, as we before remarked, did not 

 exceed eighteen inches from the ground. 

 That the enemy had not yet discovered them, 

 we knew ; but we also knew that she soon 

 would do so. We therefore felt bound to 

 protect all members of our own family, by 

 taking " precautionary measures." 



These precautionary measures consisted 

 in preparing " something" extraordinary, for 

 extra- ordinary visitors. An extra-ordinary 

 visitor did come, — and an extra-ordinary 

 cat-astrophe was the result ! We had cooked 

 something savory, overnight. In the morn- 

 ing, early, we found that it had disappeared. 

 Rejoiced at the circumstance, we proceeded 

 to congratulate our little friends on their 

 enemy being " dead." Dead she was, sure 

 enough ; but before taking her final leave of 

 this world, she had contrived to tear four of 

 the robins from their nest, and to decapi- 

 tate three of them, leaving their corses 

 mangled. The rest would have shared a 

 similar fate ; but the " charm " we had pre- 

 pared began to " work." In the act of 

 completing the wholesale murder, " retribu- 

 tion " had claimed the murderer ; and her 

 measured length proclaimed her doom. Life 

 had fled ; but on her lip there dwelt 

 "A sense of conscious guilt." 

 If our readers be gifted with the powers of 

 imagination, let them (feebly it must be) 

 conceive the state of agony in which we 

 found the poor parents, — weeping and wail- 

 ing over their murdered children. Their 

 cries are even now ringing in our ears. 



