ON THE AGENDA OF N. N. 



13 



" hatched and brought up in large numbers/' and might be u turned out 

 in our common woods/' though I should imagine they would not agree 

 very well with the common species ; but M. Temminck says they have 

 been kept in Germany, in an open pheasantry, in company with the 

 common sort ; the silver pheasant is as hardy as the common one, and 

 it is possible that the experiment might succeed in this country. The 

 principal difficulty in all these experiments is the great expense 

 incurred in making them. 



With regard to the game which we now possess, such as red and 

 black grouse, &c, while such numbers are daily destroyed, it is vain 

 to endeavour to increase the number of the survivors. 



It is impossible to force a bird to breed in a country, the climate and 

 food of which are different from those to which it has been accustomed • 

 but, as the pheasant has been naturalised, it is possible that the black 

 partridge might also. The wood pigeon has been tamed, though it will 

 not breed in confinement, and how to make it is certainlv more than I 

 can say. Perseverance and patience may possibly achieve this end. To 

 cover our ponds with summer ducks, and teal, and some geese of 

 "■ beautiful and new kinds," I imagine would not be difficult, if it were 

 once attempted ; and our parks are already stocked with deer and stags, 

 though not with elks, antelopes of every shape and form, kangaroos, &c. 

 But the emeu is very easily domesticated, and has frequently bred in 

 confinement, both at the Zoological Gardens and in the collection of his 

 late Majesty, so that it might, were it worth the expense, be readily 

 made to breed in our parks, &c. 



With regard to " how to stock our woods with Virginian nightingales* 

 and our orchards and shrubberies with the common nightingale, in those 

 parts of England where they are now never heard, and also to 

 naturalise Canary birds, Baltimore orioles," &c. &c, I must confess 

 my utter inability to answer this question ; and until England shall 

 possess the climate of Virginia, and be equally wooded and equally 

 temperate in all its parts ; till birds shall change their natures, and 

 those inhabiting the tropics shall fly to the poles; till palms shall 

 spring up in the woods of Great Britain • and, in a word, till all 

 nature shall be altered and her laws entirely changed — I must leave 

 this question to be answered by more learned naturalists than myself, 

 and hope that the little I have been able to say in answer to his other 

 queries may not prove entirely void of interest to N. N. 



[In our next we will give an instance of the successful naturalization of the 

 Lama of Peru — Editor.] 



