the cannonade of stones, which I mentioned at Carrick-a-rede.HAMILTON's Antrim.

A GENTLEMAN, a good shot, lent a favourite old pointer to a friend, who had not much to accuse himself of in the slaughter of partridges, however much he might have frightened them. After ineffectually firing at some birds, which the old pointer had found for him, the dog turned away in apparent disgust, went home, and never could be persuaded to accompany the same person afterwards. JESSE.

THE following is an instance of the sagacity of a Dog, and of his capability of measuring time, if I may so call it.

There were two friends, one living in London, and the other at Guildford. These friends were on terms of great intimacy; and for many years it had been the custom of the London family to pass the Christmas at Guildford; and their uniform practice was to arrive to dinner the day before Christmasday, and to be accompanied by a large spaniel, who was as great a favourite with the visited as with the visitors. At the end of about seven years after this plan had been adhered to, the two families had an unfortunate misunderstanding, which occasioned an omission of the usual Christmas invitation. About an hour before dinner, on the day before Christmas-day, the Guildford gentleman, standing at his window, exclaimed to his wife, "Well, my dear, the W 's have thought better of it; for I declare they are coming as usual, though we did not invite them: here comes Cæsar to announce them!" and the dog came trotting up to the door, and was admitted, as usual, to the

parlour. The lady of the house gave orders to prepare beds; dinner waited an hour; but no guests arrived. Cæsar, after staying the exact number of days he had been accustomed to, set off for home, and reached it in safety. The correspondence which of necessity occurred, had the happy effect of renewing the intercourse of the estranged friends; and as long as Cæsar lived, he paid the annual visit in company with his master and mistress.-JESSE.

DOGS AND RATS.

THE following curious anecdote was sent to the Saturday Magazine on such unquestionable authority, as to leave no doubt of its authenticity.

At Bishop's Stortford, in Hertfordshire, there are two dogs, who belong to nobody, and live upon the quay of the river or canal there. These dogs take the greatest delight in rat-hunting; and when the maltsters go about at night, to see that all is safe, these dogs invarably follow at their heels.

Their mode of proceeding is very ingenious. As soon as the door is unlocked, one rushes in, and courses round the warehouse, not chasing any rat which may start, but pursuing his way among the malt. The other stands at the door, and snaps at the rats as they endeavour to escape. The one standing at the door has been known to kill six rats, all of which rushed to the door at the same time. The next room they come to, they have been known to change posts; the one which hunted before, standing at the door and seizing the prey. By this means, these two dogs have killed, in the malting-houses of one maltster, upwards of 2000 rats in the course of a year! One of them once killed sixty-seven rats in less than five minutes! They seem to

pursue the sport simply for their own amusement; but of course they are welcome companions to the workmen.

HARE.

A HARE, closely pursued by the hounds, was suddenly lost sight of; she had plunged into a deep ditch overgrown with briers; and, after running some distance along its bottom, crept slowly up the bank and stretched herself, breathless and almost dead with terror and fatigue, beneath the legs of a group of school-boys, who had there seated themselves, watching with deep anxiety and interest the fortunes of the chase. As soon as the astonishment excited by this unexpected appearance of poor puss had somewhat subsided, an animated debate arose amongst the youngsters, respecting the disposal of the exhausted creature. The majority, allured by the hope of reward, voted for the prompt surrender of the unfortunate refugee to her merciless pursuers. One boy, however, declared loudly against this meditated act of perfidy,-the violation of sanctuary; and avowed himself resolutely bent, if need were, upon wager of battle in the cause of humanity. The intrepid fellow was, at length, joined by one or two of his more generous associates. After a brief, but stormy altercation, the voices of honour and of mercy prevailed: and, although many an anxious and eventful year has since passed over us, we have not yet forgotten the glow of exultation which lighted up the eyes, and expanded the hearts of the youthful defenders of the persecuted creature, when they heard the voices of dog and man, after a short pause, grow fainter upon the breeze; and saw the poor hare herself, recruited by a few minutes' respite, limp off to rest in safety, or at least to die in

PUMA.

It

THE Puma lies concealed in the underwood, and does not have recourse to caverns for shelter. ascends and descends the highest trees with swiftness and ease, though it may be considered rather as an inhabitant of the plains than of the forests. Its depredations are generally confined to quadrupeds of a middling size, as calves, sheep, &c.; but against these its ferocity is more insatiable than its appetite, destroying many at an attack, but carrying away perhaps only one. If it have more than sufficient for a meal, it will cover and conceal the residue for a second repast.

D'Azara possessed a tame puma, which was as gentle as a dog, but very inactive. It would play with any one; and if an orange were presented to it, would strike it with the paw, push it away, and seize it again, in the manner of a cat playing with a mouse. It had all the manners of a cat, when engaged in surprising a bird, not excepting the agitation of the tail; and when caressed purred like that animal.

INSTINCT OF ANIMALS. BEASTS, birds, and insects, even to the minutest and meanest of their kind, act with the unerring provi dence of instinct; man, the while, who possesses a higher faculty, abuses it, and therefore goes blundering on. They, by their unconscious and unhesitating obedience to the laws of nature, fulfil the end of their existence; he, in wilful neglect of the laws of God, loses sight of the end of his.-SOUTHEY.

THE LEOPARD.

THE Leopard is much inferior in size to the tiger, and differs from that animal in the marks upon its skin, which take the form of roses or rings, made up of a number of spots, which are very thickly scattered over the whole of the upper part of the body, legs, and tail; its rapacity is also less, and it very rarely attacks mankind. Great confusion existed among naturalists as to the proper mode of distinguishing this animal from the Panther; in the latter, however, the markings are always in the form of spots, but the different species of each are not easily ascertained, as the marks on the skin differ so much in those that are known to be of the same kind, and even on both sides of the same individual.

The Leopard is frequently met with in Asia; but in Africa it abounds, and is very destructive, committing dreadful havoc among camels, horses, antelopes, goats, sheep, and other domestic animals. Frequenting the banks of rivers, it takes its prey by surprise, either lurking in thickets, from which it darts when it approaches within a convenient distance, or creeping on the belly till it reaches its victim; it climbs trees in pursuit of monkeys and smaller animals with ease. Travellers relate that the flesh is of an excellent flavour, and white as veal. The negroes take the leopard in pit-falls for the sake of the flesh, as well as for the skins, which latter sell at a very high price. Collars, bracelets, and other ornaments, composed of the teeth of the Leopard, also constitute an article of finery in the dress of the negro women, and are esteemed valuable as charms to prevent the power of witchcraft.

The chief food of the larger beasts of prey is the antelope, of which there are upwards of forty varieties known in Africa alone.

TIGER.

WHEN the track of a tiger has been ascertained, which, though not invariably the same, may yet be known sufficiently for the purpose, the peasants collect a quantity of the leaves of the prauss, which are like those of the sycamore, and are common in most underwoods, as they form the larger portion of most jungles in the north of India: These leaves are then smeared with a species of bird-lime, made by bruising the berries of an indige nous tree, by no means scarce; they are then strewed, with the gluten uppermost, near to that shaded spot to which it is understood the tiger usually resorts during the noontide heats. If by chance the animal should tread on one of these smeared leaves, his fate is considered as decided.

He commences by shaking his paw, to remove the incumbrance; but finding no relief from that expedient, he rubs the nuisance against his face, by which means his eyes, ears, &c., become smeared over with the gummy matter, which occasions such uneasiness as causes him to roll, perhaps among many more of the smeared leaves, till at length he becomes completely enveloped, and is deprived of sight. In this situation, he may be compared to a man who has been tarred and feathered. The anxiety produced by this strange and novel predicament, soon discovers itself in dreadful howlings, which serve to call the watchful peasants, who in this state find no difficulty in shooting the mottled object of detestation.-WILLIAMSON'S Orien

tal Sports.

THE ELEPHANT.

FEW animals have attracted more attention from mankind than the Elephant. Formed, as it were, for the service of mankind in warm

climates, it possesses every attribute that can render it useful. It is strong, active, and persevering; gentle in disposition, social in manners, and so docile and sagacious as to be trained to almost any service. Its form is awkward; the head large, the eyes small, the ears broad and pendant, the body thick; the back much arched; and the legs clumsy and shapeless. The skin is generally of a deep brown, approaching to black. When first born, the animal is about three feet high; it continues to grow till it is sixteen or eighteen years of age, and is said to live to the age of one hundred years and upwards. The tusks are not visible in the young animals, but at full growth they project, in some instances, seven or eight feet. The general height of the Elephant is nine or ten feet, and it has been known to attain to fifteen feet. It feeds on vegetables, the young shoots of trees, grain, and fruit.

The intelligence, the strength, and the docility of "the half-reasoning Elephant," have been, from the earliest ages, the surprise and admiration of all who have paid the least attention to these subjects. Volumes might be filled with wellauthenticated facts in illustration of these qualities. The wonderful facility with which the Elephant can apply his trunk to all the purposes of a hand, is one great reason of his superiority. "Not only," says Buffon," does he possess the power of moving it, but he can bend it, shorten it, lengthen it, bend it back, and turn it in every direction; the extremity of this trunk is furnished with a rim, lengthened in front into the form of a finger, and it is by this means that he is able to perform all that we do with our fingers; he can pick up the smallest piece of money, gather flowers one by one, untie knots, and open and shut

doors, turning the keys and forcing back the bolts.

"Every being in nature has its real and its relative value; and, to deal justly with the elephant in this regard, we must at least allow him the intelligence of the beaver, the cunning of the ape, and the affection of the dog; and to these we must add his peculiar and singular advantages of strength, size, and duration of life. We must not forget his arms or means of defence, with which he is able to vanquish the lion; we have but to describe him in motion, the earth shakes beneath him; with his trunk he tears up trees; by the pressure of his body he effects a breach in a wall; terrible by his strength, he is even invincible by the mere resistance of his weight, and the thickness of the skin that covers him. On his back he can carry a tower armed for battle, and containing many men; by his own single exertions, he moves machines, and transports burdens, which six horses would be unable to drag; to this prodigious power he adds, courage, prudence, coolness, and the most perfect obedience; in his anger he never forgets his friends, but only attacks those who have injured him. He remembers acts of kindness as long as injuries."

To illustrate in some manner the wonderful instinct of this stupendous creature, we have extracted the following anecdote from Griffiths's edition of CUVIER'S Animal Kingdom. The circumstance occurred at the siege of Bhurtpore, in 1805.

"At one of the wells near the camp, from which the ariny fetched water, two elephantdrivers, each with his elephant, the one remarkably large and strong, the other comparatively small and weak, were at the well together; the small elephant had been provided by its master with a bucket for the occasion, which he carried