Nature and Art, Sex>tember 1, 1866.' 
FEARFUL CONTEST IN AN OMNIBUS. 
107 
anything else I can compare it to. The colour is 
greenish, dotted Avith brown ; a smoky tinge pei'- 
vading all. 
Many of the native chiefs capture the sand-grouse 
with falcons ; and it is by no means uncommon to 
see a whole cortege of falconers, hawk on fist, riding 
forth in all the pomp and panoply of the Middle 
Ages, to enjoy the “royal sport,” for which the 
wide plains of India are peculiarly adapted. 
When, some short time since, our coasts were 
visited by so many specimens of Pallas’s sand-grouse 
{Syrrhaptes Pallasii ), I entertained sanguine hopes 
that a few might escape the fate generally awaiting 
the wandering migrant which instinct or chance 
may cast on our inhospitable shores. No Andaman 
Islander or inhabitant of the Feejee group ever 
dealt out death amongst a shipwrecked crew with 1 
more ready hand than do the thoughtless gunners 
and hedge-poppers of our favoured land amongst 
such wretched birds as may have the misfortune to 
be rare. So far, I have heard no report as to the 
discovery of either the nests or young of the sand- 
grouse in England ; and it is to be feared that poor 
Syrrhaptes P. has, like many another traveller 
seeking a home, found an untimely end instead. 
Whence these wandering refugees came it is hard 
to say. The coast of Barbary is the nearest point 
I knoAV from which it is probable they could have 
winged their way. Their journey was a long one, 
at any rate; and it is most devoutly to hoped that, 
should fortune favour us with another batch of 
these mottled and painted gems, shelter and pro- 
tection, rather than tow and Avire, may lie extended 
to them by the lords of the soil. 
FEARFUL CONTEST 
A BOUT the 1 4th of June, 1866 — it is always 
better to be particular in dates — I got into 
one of the “City Atlas” omnibuses in Cheapside, 
en route for the house of a friend avIio resides at 
St. John’s Wood. The omnibus Avas nearly full of 
very quiet-looking people, and I little imagined 
that, before I quitted it, I should become a spectator 
of one of the fiercest contests, long carried on, with 
continually varying success, that I ever Avitnessed. 
Nothing of more than ordinary character took place 
till Ave reached Orchard Street, when most of the 
passengers got out, leaving only a lady, avIio wore 
a very pretty bonnet, in the corner above me, and 
a gentleman on the opposite side, who had been 
occupied during the greater part of the journey in 
examining, by means of a small but powerful lens, 
Avhich he wore attached to a piece of elastic cord 
about his neck, some evidently minute objects con- 
tained in a small mahogany box that he appeared 
to handle Avith great care. Having completed his 
examination, he tucked the lens into a small pocket 
neatly contrived in the upper part of his waistcoat, 
evidently intended for the express purpose of form- 
ing a convenient receptacle for that little instru- 
ment, and then proceeded to the deposition of the 
mahogany case in his black leather bag. 
The Avhole of the omnibus betAveen our party of 
three and the door having, as stated, become vacant, 
the cocoa-nut matting on the floor was no longer 
covered by a croAvd of feet, and was therefore in 
full vieAv — a fact which I noticed because I per- 
ceived that my opposite fellow-passenger, of the lens 
and mahogany box, suddenly fixed his eyes upon it 
Avith an earnestness of expression that at once 
attracted my attention. The lady Avitli the pretty 
bonnet also perceived the excessive earnestness of 
manner so suddenly assumed by that gentleman ; 
and his entire change of demeanour having, as she 
seemed to think, something suspicious about it, she 
turned towards me with an inquiring look, and a 
IN AN OMNIBUS. 
shade of uneasiness, and even alarm in her manner. 
In answer to her silent questioning, I moved my 
head mechanically towards that part of the omnibus 
upon which the intent look of my opposite neigh- 
bour appeared to be riveted Avith such a strange 
kind of fascination ; and with the idea of satisfying 
my OAvn curiosity and that of the lady at the same 
time, I was about to advance towards the spot 
which appeared to absorb the entire attention of 
our companion ; — but, before I could advance a 
single stepi in that direction, he spirang forward, and, 
seizing my arm, held me tightly down to my seat, 
Avliile the lady in the corner, Avith the piretty bonnet, 
alarmed at this display of pihysical force, uttered a 
little involuntary scream. This he did not notice, 
but piointed, Avith impatient and reiterated gesture, 
darting his fore-finger forward several times, in 
rapid succession, towards a particular spAot on the 
cocoa-nut matting, saying, in a loud whispAer — 
“ Look there ! there — there’s a fight 1 Talk of 
Austrians and Prussians ! look at that — that !” 
I looked instinctively towards the sjAot so ener- 
getically indicated ; and there, on the floor of the 
omnibus, I certainly did poerceive that, in the slight 
mist caused by the dust of the matting shaken upi 
by the motion of the omnibus, a fierce combat was 
actually going on — between two opponents Avho 
seemed savagely to have made upi their minds that 
there should be only one survivor of the conflict. 
First one and then the other was uppermost in the 
struggle; and then came long and well-balanced 
trials of piower, in which the strength of each com- 
batant appeared exerted to the uttermost, while 
neither gained any permanent advantage. It is 
true, they were but pigmy duellists ; but their 
fierceness and energy were such, that my interest 
became at once as much excited as that of my 
opposite neighbour ; and I could not take my eyes 
from a contest which Avas carried on with several 
Aveapions, each skilfully and vigorously used. 
