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KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

animals should be left, and no air admitted into 
the interior of the body until they are required 
for trussing. It is, however, easier to complain of 
than to remedy the evil complained of by “A. 
W.;” because sportsmen, who have much ground 
to walk over, usually paunch a hare as soon as 
killed. They do this to lessen the weight to carry. 
Incountry towns, where poultry can only be bought 
on market-days, it is generally drawn and trussed 
ready for cooking by the farmers’ wives and 
daughters before they leave home. We would 
suggest, that when it is intended to make presents 
the poultry should be ordered for the occasion, 
and sent just as we see it exhibited in the London 
shops—undrawn and untrussed, with the head on. 
Sportsmen designing to make presents of their 
game, should also avoid paunching it; and above 
all, ary it before it is packed, as hares or birds 
killed in wet weather, and packed wet, are apt to 
become fetid if they have far to travel. It is sad 
for us to be “grumbling,” when our dear kind 
friends are under the impression we are including 
them, thankfully, in the ‘‘ Grace before meat! ’’] 

Curious Petrifaction—M. Meyer, a Hanoverian 
geometrician, has sent the following communi- 
cation to the Weser Gazette:—“In an arid 
plain near Donner, lies a block of granite of about 
7% feet square, named by the neighboring inhabi- 
tants, Drachenstein (dragon’s stone). On it is 
the figure. in alto relievo, of a serpent, formed into 
twenty-three folds, and being somewhat more than 
eleven feet in length, the head hanging down by 
the side. At about two feet from the head, a 
very wide part is to be seen, as if the reptile had 
been crushed there. Although the body of the 
serpent appears to be formed of the same material 
as the stone, it is supposed to be a petrifaction, 
and not the work of man; inasmuch as there is no 
mark whatever of the chisel of an artist in any 
part of it."-—Hrien W. 

Another Good Word for the Barn Owl.—The 
parish clerk of our church—a very large and 
ncient one—who has had charge of it more than 
forty years, and is well. acquainted with the 
nuisances ‘which bats occasion, says that the 
church was never more free from them than at 
the present time ; and this freedom he attributes 
to,the presence of ‘that useful creature the barn 
owl ;” the feathers of which he frequently finds in 
the church, and which, doubtless, makes the bats 
its prey.—C. 
Music—Its Hffects in Insanity —We are told 
by Winslow, of a schoolmaster in the hospital at 
Halle, who for a year and a half had been help- 
lessly insane. It having been hinted to his keeper 
that he had formerly displayed a fondness and 
taste for music, he was one day led to the piano. 
After some feeble touches, it might be seen, says 
Winslow, how love and taste expanded the 
pinions of the soul. He not only practises more 
and more, but better and better; and soon began 
to compose songs for one or four voices—practising 
moreover, as a “master” over the other patients. 
The musical talent was in action long before the 
restoration to mental and corporeal strength. He 
was dismissed cured. Winslow adds, “ It was not 
music, simply as such, which led to restoration; 
a 
but the musical talent, being brought into action 
and developed, exciting the latent powers of the 
mind, strengthened them, and kept them in action. 
Did you, my dear Sir, when at Hanwell, see any 
illustration of this pleasing effect of music ?— 
NawneErre. 
[Yes—not during our last, but on our previous 
visit. A man, with his “ eyes full of music,” was 
seated at a piano as we passed through one of the 
passages. His soul was “ rapt” for some minutes ; 
the sounds he drew from the instrument we shall 
never forget. They were seraphic. We tarried 
near him until his inspiration ceased, when—oh, 
that sad look!—he again became “ possessed,” 
and the demon of insanity once more usurped its 
hideous power. | 

Song of the Tom- Tit.—I am equally “‘ astounded” 
with yourself, my dear Sir; not only at the 
Tom-tit (Parus cwruleus) singing like a robin, 
but at the other assertion, namely—‘‘ We at 
present have a Blue Tit’s nest in our garden in a 
Laurestinus ;(!) and regularly the male Tit sits, 
after his feeding the brood, on the top of the 
shrub, and sings away very gaily.” It surely 
must have been the Black-cap (Motacilla atra- 
capilla). Who ever knew a Tom-tit to build 
otherwise than in the holes of walls, or in a tree- 
stump, or in an inverted flower-pot, and similar 
snug situations? I have been a close observer of 
birds from my ‘youth upwards;”? and had 
flattered myself that few things relative to them 
had escaped me; but this locale for a Tit’s nest (a 
Laurestinus bush) is certainly new to me. I 
should much like to know whether the nest was 
a domed one, like that of the Parus caudatus, 
or not. Perhapssome light may be thrown on 
the subject, if this were ascertained—QJ. F. 
Woon, F.H.8., The Coppice, Nottingham. 
[We quite agree with you in this matter, It 
is sad to see statements published which are so at 
variance with all common experience. It does 
serious injury to a good cause. | 

Remarks on the Spider.—I am glad to note the 
frequent allusions you make to the spider, and the 
pleasing illustrations you offer of what you your- 
self have witnessed in their wonderfully-construc- 
tive habits. These are indeed subjects worthy of 
being dwelt upon! Itis odd, but nevertheless it 
is true, that a great many of us either loathe this 
insect, or are positively afraid of it. I freely 
admit that there is something in the large, black, 
hairy house-spider, which is decidedly repugnant. 
His untiring activity—his cruel voracity—his 
defying form—his extreme velocity in springing 
from his concealed den (seizing and carrying away 
his prey), are quite astounding. Still these crea- 
tures are harmless in themselves; and if we 
could accustom ourselves to look at them with 
calmness, and with the attention they deserve, we 
should find not only a great deal to admire, but to 
wonder at. The “Aranea avicularia’’ and 
“ Spithamea”’ are decidedly gigantic fellows ; but 
what can be prettier than those lovely small crea- 
tures we meet with in swarms, in the spring of 
the year? ‘The variety of garden and geometric 
spiders is more than interesting ;—but I must not 
encroach. I only ask space to record a pretty 
little trick I witnessed about a month since, It 
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