nuts and seeds, and on the tender bark of the lime tree, &c. but rest assured that it never touches flesh, or kills birds, or sucks eggs. The shepherds of Wiltshire who have backed Master Charles in his important discovery deserve a birch rod. These rural sinners, both young and old, would swear that the moon was made of Jones's lucifers, if you would give them a quart of ale apiece. All my labourers believe that the heron thrusts its legs through the nest during incubation; and they will all tell you that the cuckoo becomes scabbed at the close of summer. "As scabbed as a cuckoo." This, by the way, comes from the mottled appearance which the plumage of the bird puts on at that time of the year. It is caused by the growth of the adult feathers amongst the chicken feathers. I pity the poor squirrels from my heart. Our country squires will now consign them over to the tender mercy of their gamekeepers, and we shall hear of squirrels shot by the dozen. The squirrel is a most harmless animal, except in a nut orchard, from which he ought to be expelled without loss of time, as the damage which he does there is incalculable; but I would trust him

for ever in a butcher's shop, provided he were allowed to go and take his breakfast and dinner in the neighbouring woods. I can see the squirrel here just now, living entirely on the seeds of the cones of the spruce firs; I can see him in the very trees which contain nests of ringdoves, thrushes, chaffinches, and blackbirds. Still the owners of these nests betray no fears on his approach; and he himself shows no inclination for raw eggs, or for young or old birds, whereon to make a meal.

THE CIVETTA, OR LITTLE ITALIAN OWL.*

THIS diminutive rover of the night is much prized by the gardeners of Italy for its uncommon ability in destroying insects, snails, slugs, reptiles, and mice. There is scarcely an out-house in the gardens and vineyards of that country which is not tenanted by the civetta. It is often brought up tame from the nest;

* See a correct description of this bird in the Ornitologia Toscana, vol. i. p. 76., by Professor Paolo Savi.

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and in the month of September is sold for a dollar to sportsmen, who take it with them in their excursions through the country, to look for larks and other small birds. Perched on the top of a pole, it attracts their notice and draws them within the fatal range of gunshot by its most singular gestures; for, standing bolt upright, it curtsies incessantly, with its head somewhat inclined forwards, whilst it keeps its eyes fixed on the approaching object. This odd movement is peculiar to the civetta alone. By it, the birds of the neighbourhood are decoyed to their destruction. Hence its value to the ranging sportsman. Often and anon, as the inhabitants of Rome pass through the bird-market at the Pantheon, they stop, and look, and laugh at this pretty little captive owl, whilst it is performing its ridiculous gesticulations.

Its flesh is relished by the natives of Italy. You may see the civetta, plucked and ready trussed for the spit, on the same stall at which hawks, crows, jackdaws, jays, magpies, hedgehogs, frogs, snails, and buzzards are offered for sale to the passing conoscenti, who frequent the bird-market in quest of carnal delicacies.

The inhabitants of this country are apparently blessed with stomachs as keen and strong as that of my old black friend Daddy Quasshi, who could fatten on the grubs of hornets, and on stinking fish. Indeed, it would appear from what I have seen, that scarcely any thing which has had life in it comes amiss to the Italians in the way of food, except the Hanoverian rat, for I could often see this voracious and needy intruder lying dead in the streets, and trodden under foot.

Thinking that the civetta would be peculiarly useful to the British horticulturist, not, by the way, in his kitchen, but in his kitchengarden, I determined to import a dozen of these birds into our own country. And still, said I to myself, the world will say it was a strange whim in me, to have brought owls all the way from Italy to England; seeing that owls, ay and hawks too, are by no means scarce in our palaces, and in parliament, and on the magisterial benches. Be this as it may, I agreed with a bird-vender in the market at the Pantheon for a dozen young civettas; and, having provided a commodious cage for the journey,

we left the Eternal City on the 20th of July, 1842, for the land that gave me birth.

At Genoa, the custom-house officers appeared inclined to make me pay duty for my owls. "Gentlemen," said I, "these birds are not for traffic; neither are they foreigners: they are from your own dear country, la bellissima Italia, and I have already strong reason to believe that they are common in Genoa, so that they can well be spared." The customhouse officers smiled as I said this, and then they graciously allowed me and my owls to proceed to the hôtel, without abstracting a single farthing from my pocket.

We passed through the sunny regions of Piedmont with delight, and over the snowy summit of Mount St. Gothard without any loss, and thence we proceeded northward, through Lucerne to Basle. Here, Monsieur

Passavant, the banker, a wormwood-looking money-monger, seemed determined that myself and my owls, and the rest of my family, should advance no farther. Having lost my letter of credit in the late shipwreck, and there not having been time, after my return to Rome and my short stay there, to receive another