229 
Natural History. — Botany . 
communicated to us by Mr William Strang, an enterprising 
farmer at Lopness, in the Island of Sanda, Orkney, and a dili- 
gent observer of facts illustrative of the natural history of the 
animals which frequent our northern islands. During the 
summer of 1818,” (says Mr Strang,) 6f my children having 
found a linnet’s nest, containing four young ones nearly fledged, 
resolved to carry home nest and brood, with the view of feed- 
ing and taming the young birds. The parent birds, attracted 
by the chirping of their young, continued fluttering around the 
children until they reached the house. The nest was carried 
up stairs to the nursery, and placed outside the window. The 
old birds soon afterwards made their appearance ; approached 
the nest, and fed their family, without shewing alarm. This 
being noticed, the nest was soon afterwards placed on a table 
in the middle of the apartment, and the window left open. 
The parent birds came boldly in, and fed their offspring as be- 
fore. I w r as called up stairs to witness this remarkable instance 
of strong parental attachment. To put it still further to the 
test, I placed the nest and young within a bird-cage ; still the 
old ones returned, entered boldly within the cage, and supplied 
the wants of their brood as before ; nav, towards evening, the 
parent birds actually perched on the cage, regardless of the 
noise made around them by several children. This pleasing 
scene continued for several days ; wlien an unlucky accident 
put an end to it, to the great grief of my young naturalists. 
The cage had been again set on the outside of the window, and 
was unluckily left exposed to one of those sudden and heavy 
falls of rain which often occur in the Orkneys ; the consequence 
was, that the whole of the young were drowned in the nest. 
'The poor parents, who had so boldly and indefatigably per- 
formed their duty, continued hovering around the house, and 
looking wistfully in at the window for some days, and then dis- 
appeared.” 
BOTANY. 
29. Remarkable Fig- Tree . — In a preceding Number, (vol. iv. 
p. 204.) we gave an account of an orchard of fig-trees at Tar- 
ring, near Worthing in Sussex. We have to add, (from Load. 
Ilort. Traits, vol.lv. part 2. just published), that in the garden 
at Arundel Castle, the seat of the Duke of Norfolk, in the same 
