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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



tentment. My sisters passed their time as 

 usual, and much of mine own was spent in the 

 bird-market and in its environs, and in preparing 

 the specimens which I had procured. I ob- 

 tained a fine gobbo, or white-headed duck, the 

 only one in the market during the two seasons 

 of my stay in Rome. I also got a very handsome 

 red-crested duck with a red beak, equally as 

 scarce. 



The large bat, " altivolans," is abundant in 

 Rome. You may see it issuing from the lofty 

 edifices at sunset, and proceeding with sur- 

 prising velocity to its favourite haunts afar off. 

 The Roman lizard is beautiful in form and 

 colour. After dissection, which is very difficult 

 and tedious at the tail, I could restore its an- 

 atomy perfectly ; but the brilliant green and 

 yellow colours of its body soon began to fade, 

 and at last they totally disappeared, the spe- 

 cimen gradually assuming a tint composed of 

 grey and blue. The fresh-water tortoise, with 

 a tail considerably longer than that of the one 

 which lives on land, is well worth the trouble 

 of dissection. 



Rome seems to have vast attractions for the 

 English nation. Protestants as well as Catholics 



