MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES. 
147 
The bite of these birds is very severe ; for one tliat was 
sent to him in a box, covered over with a net, made a snap 
at a poor man's fingers, and brought away the flesh as if it 
had been cut out with a knife. 
They congregate in immense flocks on the clifls and coasts 
of Britain and Ireland. The island already spoken of, which 
stands ofl" the coast of Caernarvon, and which took the name 
of Puffins' Island, from the myriads of these birds that used 
to inhabit it, is now entirely deserted by them, on account 
of the ravages and onslaughts of the sermulots. 
Now if sermulots will attack, and put to the rout, so for- 
midable a bird as the puffin, with its great powers of defence, 
pray what chance is there for the young of game and 
poultry But we will leave this for the consideration of 
farmers' wives, and those gentlemen who feel interested in 
the preservation of poultry and game. 
The number of young ducks which the sermulots destroy 
in the Zoological Gardens, renders it necessary to surround 
the pools with a wire fencing, which half-way up has a pipe 
of wire-work, the large circle of which is not complete by 
several inches in the under-part : and the sermulot, unable 
to crawl along the concave roof, which stops his onward path, 
is compelled to return nonsuited. 
The sermulots have been for a long time the pests of the 
gardens, being attracted by the quantities of food. The 
grating under one of the tiger's dens is eaten through by this 
nimble-toothed burglar, who makes as light of copper wire 
as of leaden pipes. Directly the new monkey-house was 
built, they took possession by gnawing through the flooring 
in every direction, for the sake of getting at poor Jacko's 
bread. Vigorous measures were resorted to, to defeat them ; 
the floors were filled in with concrete, and the open roof 
was ceiled ; but they quickly drilled their holes through 
the lath and plaster of the ceiling, which may be seen at this 
day. They burrowed in the old enclosure of the ground 
till it was quite rotten ; and they still march about the 
den of the rhinoceros, and scamper over his horny hide 
when laid down to rest. It is only by hunting them with 
terriers that they can keep them under ; and as many as 
fifty in a week are often killed, and their carcasses handed 
over to the eagles and vultures, who quickly transport them 
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