


KIDD’S CWN JOURNAL. 
ral 

The first instance of the kind which came under 
my observation, occurred at a rookery near the 
seat of the Marquis of Chandos, at that time the 
residence of his father, the present Duke of Buck- 
ingham and Chandos, at Wotton, Bucks. Events 
at all remarkable, which occur very early in life, 
are wont to impress themselves upon the memory 
far more indelibly than those which occur in after 
years ; thus, being at the time but a mere child, I 
have a much more distinct recollection of every 
circumstance connected with the event I am about 
to narrate, than of many things quite as remark- 
able which have happened since. 
There had been a terrific snow-storm through- 
out the night of the 31st of October, 1823; and on 
the morning of the Ist of November, we were 
awcke by the crash occasioned by the falling of 
huge limbs and branches of trees; the superin- 
cumbent weight of the snow, occurring as it did 
before the fall of the leaf, causing them to give 
way on all sides, so that in a few hours, long 
avenues of stately trees were, throughout this 
finely-timbered district, completely despoiled of 
their beauty; and when daylight appeared, the 
ground was found to be strewn with their frag- 
ments; and in such immense quantities, that 
hundreds of loads were collected in this parish 
alone—enough, in fact, to supply its entire popu- 
lation with fuel the whole of that winter, and the 
greater part of the succeeding one, exclusive of a 
vast quantity of a size large enough for building 
and other purposes. Amongst the wreck oc- 
casioned by this storm, a nest of young rooks, 
nearly fledged, was discovered. A young unfledged | 
ting-dove (Columba palumbus) was also, on this 
memorable morning, found in the same locality. 
Since that time, I have met with several other 
instances in that county and the adjoining one, 
Oxon; but as Ineglected to note the particular 
years in which they occurred, I must pass them 
over without further notice, and proceed to record 
three which have recently occurred in the latter 
county, in three successive seasons. In Novem- 
ber, 1849, a pair succeeded in rearing their young 
brood in a rookery at Standlake, near Witney. In 
November, 1850, another pair produced their young 
at Cokethorpe Park, the seat of Walter Strickland, 
Esq. ‘They were not, however, successful in 
their endeavors to rear them, for the weather 
becoming intensely cold, they perished when 
about halffledged. In the latter part of October, 
1851, a nest was again formed in this park, but a 
sudden change in the weather puta stop to further 
proceedings, so that no eggs vere this time laid. 
Two young unfledged ring-doves were also this 
year brought to me the first week in November. 
Occurrences of this kind usually take place 
when there happens to be at this season a long 
continuance of the “ dark, still,dry,warm weather,” 
which the late Rey. Gilbert White did not fail to 
notice as “occasionally happening in the winter 
months;”’ and the effects of which he has so 
truthfully described in some lines upon the subject, 
contained in various editions of his delightful 
“Natural History of Selborne.”’ At such times, 
to quote from the lines above-mentioned— 
“The cawing Rook 
Anticipates the spring, selects her mate 
Haunts her tall nest-trees, and with sedulous care 
Repairs her wicker eyrie.” 


I am of opinion that these unseasonable and 
generally abortive attempts at reproduction, are to 
be attributed to young birds of the year—pre- 
cocious individuals, who would fain be wiser than 
their parents. 

“‘ Choose not alone a proper mate, 
But proper time to marry,” 
is the lesson deduced by the poet Cowper, from an 
analogous circumstance, and commended by him 
to the serious attention of his fair unmarried 
countrywomen,; and it is a lesson exceedingly 
wholesome, and one by which they might largely 
profit withal. 

THE New QuArTeRLY Review.—No. 8. 
Hookham and Sons. 
This is a wholesome periodical, to which 
we are delighted to pay all due homage. 
Having said this, we hardly need remark 
that it is honest, and independent of the 
large publishing houses—- placing us au cou— 
rant with all the best literature of the day, 
irrespective of the establishments whence 
the various books are issued. 
There is a bold, daring spirit about the 
work that is quite refreshing, after the namby- 
pamby, lick-spittle criticisms that defile the 
existing periodicals of the day—the Critic 
alone excepted. If a work be good, it is 
fairly dealt with; if otherwise, it is as justly 
condemned. Thus are the public cared 
for, and the claims of literature duly re- 
garded. 
Vo get a correct idea of the value of a 
modern book from any of our shackled 
literary journals, were an impossibility. 
All honor, then, be to this fearless, able ad- 
vocate of the rights of literature—of whose 
success, let us hope (it costs but 2s. 6d.) there 
can exist no reasonable doubt. 

FerRN LEAVES FROM FANNY’S PORTFOLIO. 
Illustrated by Birket Foster. Ingram, 
Cooke, and Co. 
There are nearly twenty editions of this 
book published ; but “the” best and cheapest 
edition is assuredly the one before us. It is 
superbly printed, nicely illustrated, and 
richly bound in cloth of gold. 
We have elsewhere given extracts; but we 
must find room for another, not very long. 
The authorship is attributed to a sister of 
N. P. Willis; and she may justly feel proud 
of the offspring of her hand and heart. It 
grieves, as well as surprises us, that cur 
Englishwomen should in these matters come 
so far behind our neighbors. The mind with 
them is totally neglected. The useful arts 
are derided. Accomplishments alone are 
cultivated, and the result meets our eyes in 
the public streets daily. What a lamentable 
exhibition do our Englishwomen make as 
they flutter along—living pegs, whereon to 
fasten or hang the last new Satanic fashion ! 



