258 
NATURE NOTES. 
all sorts, carried upon the shoulders of two blackamoors, with minstrels before, 
sound of the haut-boys and plays on the fife as far as the funeral fire, which was 
piled and made in the right hand of the cause of Appia, in a certain plain or open 
field. 
“So highly reputed the people of Rome that ready wit and apt disposition in a 
bird, as they thought it a sufficient cause to ordain a sumptuous burial therefore.” 
The numerous and excellent illustrations by Mr. H. J. Ford add greatly to the 
attractiveness of the book, which forms an excellent Christmas-box. “There 
ought to be a moral,” says Mr. Lang ; “ if so, it probably is that we should be 
kind to all sorts of animals.” With this sentiment all Selbornians will agree, 
though we fear some will be startled when they hear the editor’s addition — “and, 
above all, knock trout on the head when they are caught, and don’t let the poor 
things jump about till they die.” 
If a word of criticism be needed, it may take the form of an inquiry why so 
good a bibliographer as Mr. Lang is not more exact in his references. Some date 
might surely have been assigned to such authorities as Loudon's Magazine of 
Natural History and The Naturalist' s Note-book. 
It is not to be wondered at that the success of the Spectator's “Dog Stories ” 
should have led to the communication to the same paper of a variety of tales 
dealing not only with cats and birds, but “ horses, donkeys, cows, apes, hears and 
other animals, as well as of insects and reptiles.” And it was equally natural 
that such stories, and others which had appeared in earlier issues, should, like 
their predecessors, be gathered into a volume which is a suitable companion to its 
forerunner. All of them are “ true, more or less,” to quote Mr. Lang, and we 
imagine that the “ more ” hold a far larger proportion in this volume than in the 
narratives of the Animal Story Book. On this account it will probably appeal 
more forcibly to the grown-up Selbornian, while Mr. Lang’s book will hold its 
own among the younger folk. Mr. St. Loe Strachey writes a delightful introduc- 
tion (mainly devoted to that much underrated animal, the cat), which is the 
funniest part of the book, and, like Sam Weller’s love-letter, makes us “ wish 
there was more of it.” Mere is an “ instance of the freezing and offensive dignity 
which cats are capable of exhibiting.” 
“ I remember to have seen a distinguished diplomatist, trained to hold his own 
in the courts of kings, and never at a loss to get out of an embarrassing position, or 
to meet an act of rudeness by a rapid thrust of wit, utterly put down by a 
small black kitten. The diplomatist had been playing with the kitten, but he 
went too far ; instead of making fun for the kitten, he made fun of her, and this 
she was quick to see and to resent. Determined to mark her sense of his conduct, 
she at once put a stop to the game, and calmly but resolutely placed her small 
person in front of the man of ceremony, wrapped her tail neatly round her toes, 
and gazed at him with an air of pitying contempt. It was an electric moment, 
and the rest of the company watched with palpitating eagerness the struggle for 
ascendancy. It proved, however, an unequal contest. After a few moments of 
a regard which told more of sorrow than of anger, the kitten deliberately began to 
wash her little black face, stopping every now and then, paw in air, to give a look 
of faint surprise, mingled with disgust, at her antagonist. The situation speedily 
became ridiculous, but not for the kitten, and in a very short time the diplomatist 
had evidently admitted himself beaten ; the kitten then rose, walked to the window, 
and placidly gazed out at the landscape, every curve in her back showing her sense 
of the bad taste which had characterised the incident that had just terminated.” 
We think the editor might have exercised his powers somewhat more rigidly ; 
there seems no advantage, for example, in reprinting a letter containing a mis- 
|)rint, and then proceeding to give its correction in a second communication. 
Nearly all the letters on the cuckoo might have been omitted without loss, and 
the .same might he said of those on the canary, only one of which can be called a 
“story.” The letter on rooks contains interesting observations, and a funny 
little story : “ I was calling one afternoon on a friend, when a lady I did^not 
know came in, and as she aLso had a rookery, my friend told her of mine, and 
said how fond I was of the rooks. ‘ Ah,’ said the lady, ‘so am I ; I often say 
that through the season we almost live on rook pie ! ’ and when I suggested that 
I should not like to see my rooks in a pie, her really delightful answer was: ‘No; 
some people prefer them stewed ! ’ ” 
