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Natural History.

THE CROWS' COURT.

Edmonston, in his Account of Zetland, informs us, that the crows seldom associate there, unless for the "purpose of holding what is called The Crows' Court.""This institution conveys a curious fact in their history. Numbers of crows are seen to assemble, on a particular hill or field, from many different points. On some occasions, the meeting does not appear to be complete before the expiration of a day or two. As soon as all the deputies have arrived, a very general noise and croaking ensue; and, shortly after, the whole fall upon one or two individuals, whom they persecute and beat until they kill them. When this has been accomplished, they quietly disperse." At what term or season of the year these crow-courts are held, he does not tell; probably between Hilary and Easter. But, is it not more likely that the object of these courts is the making up of matches, (in the Moravian manner,) rather than a grand jury, finding bills of indictment, and then trying and ishing delinquents ?

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But Landt, in his Description of the Feroe Islands, corroborates these extraordinary assemblies, which may be called crow-courts. They collect in great numbers, as if they had all been summoned for the occasion. A few of the flock sit with drooping heads, says Landt; others seem as grave as if they were on the woolsack; and some are exceedingly active and noisy. In the course of about an hour, the assembly disperse; and it is not uncommon to find one or two left dead on the spot.

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The ancient French fixed upon two ravens, to put an end to a tedious and expensive law-suit. The parties placed two cakes, made of flour diluted in oil and wine, upon a board, which was carried to the side of a lake. Two ravens would presently light upon board, and would break and scatter about one of the cakes, whilst they devoured the other entirely. That party, whose cake was only scattered about, gained his cause; a very cheap way of going to law!

ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF ANTIMONY,

By a French book, "Le Nouveau Cours de Chemie," we learn that the discovery of the powers resident in anBasilius Valentinus, who, finding that timony, was owing to the celebrated it had the property of fattening pigs, tried it on a convent of monks! Unfortunately, however, it did not agree

so well with the monks as it did with

the pigs, for it killed these holy men by dozens: whence it obtained the name anti-moine, or antimony.

MONEY,

says Lord Coke, is derived from moneo, (to admonish,) because it admonisheth its possessor to make a good use of it.

MENDICANT, A BEGGAR,

must have arisen from the idleness of beggars. Mend—I can't, which some illustrate this still better :-There is a have had the candour to own. Let us charitable cart built on purpose for poor mendicants, who are allowed to jaunt in it, gratis, through the streets of Dublin; and it is supposed to cover, or, better still, to prevent a multitude of sins. It is said, moreover, to work brated cart pass near a group of begmiracles; for no sooner does this celedeaf to hear, and the lame to walk, than the blind begin to see, the have been dismissed from the hospital nay, even to run. It restores such as of incurables; it reforms incorrigible rogues; and appears invariably in the most classic style; the black cart, like the gods of the ancient poets, never interfering till all ordinary methods are found absolutely ineffectual.

gars,

NEW SPECTACLE.

ly to have at last hit upon a show At Dijon in France, they seem realwhich may truly be said to be something new under the Sun. This is a mechanical chef d'œuvi representing THE CREATION. This machine, (says the Dijon Journal,) which has cost its Comte, ten years cogitation and toil, inventor, M. Pardoux, of Vice-leis composed of fifteen thousa moving pieces, and is more re t and regularity in its motisides, any thing ever yet seenision it is announced that ily 50

an

was, hwyll, an cured of

centimes for admittance to the first boxes, to be present at the creation of the Universe.

CLASSIC PUN.

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Two collegians, visiting a fashionable watering-place, inquired for lodgings, and were informed they could on ly have indifferent bed-rooms on the second floor. They had not long agreed for them, and returned to their inn, when one received a note from the owner of the rooms, stating, that on account of the press of company, &c. they could only have the garrets! The other, observing his chum musing over the letter, asked him what he was reading. What (says he) I read quite enough of before I left the University -An Epistle to Attic-us.

BON-MOTS.

A gentleman of very fickle disposition, made so many changes in a mansion which he was erecting, and asked the advice of his friends so frequently about the arrangements, that it seemed a miracle that it was ever finished at all. At length, however, it was completed, and nothing but the giving it a name remained to be done; this was a sore puzzle, till a witty counsellor told him if he wanted an appropriate appellation he could give it him. What is it? The House of Correction. A worthy country gentleman, in the commission in Essex, had acquired so much of the provincial dialect, that he invariably said, (among other peculiar ities) I were,' he were,' &c. for I was,' he was.' A friend was one day praising his green old age to another, and saying that he never had seen a more healthy and vigorous old man. "Nevertheless, (replied the other) he seems to me to be much the worse for

wear!

The French people are singular in their love for expletives; there is no medium in their tones for pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow. Charmant and superbe is the least you can say of what is recommended to your approbation. If you say less than vilaine of what you dislike, you will be deemed phlegmatic; if you are pleased, you must be ravi; if you are vexed, you must be desolé: if you are not in ecstacies, you must be au desespoir; to which may

be added, the little million of prefixes, which are employed to great advantage, as très, fort, infiniment, which help to colour your expressions as far beyond nature as imagination extends. The French are inaccurate too, above all other nations, as to names. (Walpole says) Bassompierre calls York House, Jorchaux; and Kensington, Inimthort. Pillet the French general,calls Mr. Wilberforce, Willeberforce; Mr. Whitbread, Withebread; Lancashire, Lancatsshire! Gazette, The Independent Whig," A French journalist, quoting from our called it La Perruque Indépendante. Cibber's play of "Love's last Shift" was translated into La derniere Chemise de 'Amour. In the same manner, the French call our pugilists, or boxers, or, to speak more politely, the Fancy, Messieurs de l'Imagination.

Ornithology.

CHINESE FISHING BIRDS.

The most extraordinary mode of fishing in China, and which is peculiar to it, is by birds trained for that purpose. Falcons when employed in the air, or hounds when following a scent on the earth, are not more sagacious in the pursuit of their prey, or more certain in obtaining it, than these birds in another element. They are called Looau, and are about the size of a goose, with grey plumage, webbed feet, and have a long and very slender bill, crooked at the point. Their faculty of diving, or remaining under water, is not more extraordinary than that of many other fowls that prey upon fish; but the wonderful circumstance is, the docility of these birds, in employing their natural instinctive powers at the command of the fishermen who possess them, in the same manner as the hound, the spaniel, or the pointer, submit their respective sagacity to the huntsman or the fowler.

The number of these birds in a boat is in proportion to the size of it. At a certain signal, they rush into the water and dive after the fish; and the moment they have seized their prey, they fly with it to their boat; and though there may be a hundred of these vessels together, these sagacious birds always

return to their own masters; and amidst the crowd of fishing junks which are sometimes assembled on these occasions, they never fail to distinguish that to which they belong. When the fish are in great plenty, these astonishing purveyors will soon fill a boat with them; and will sometimes be seen flying along with a fish of such size, as to make the beholder who is unaccustomed to the sight suspect his organs of vision; and such is their extraordinary sagacity, that when one of them happens to have taken a fish which is too bulky for the management of a single fowl, the rest immediately afford their assistance. While they are thus labouring for their masters, they are prevented from paying any attention to themselves, by a ring which is passed round their necks; and is so contrived, as to frustrate any attempt to swallow the least morsel of what they take. PRESERVATION OF EGGS FOR THREE

HUNDRED YEARS.

In a village, situated near Lake Maggiore, in Italy, it has been found necessary, to take down the old wall of the vestry of the church of that place, which was very ancient. In the middle of this wall were found three eggs, two of which were near each other, and the third at a little distance. They were not placed in any hole, to which a hen, or other animal, could possibly penetrate; but in the midst of the wall, which in this place was two feet thick. It was remarked, that they were laid upon a bed of stones, and surrounded and encased with the hardened mortar. They had probably been laid there by some of the workmen employed in building the wall, and enclosed without being perceived; or it might have been a trick which a workman chose to play on one of his companions, who had put them in this place. Be this as it may, at the time of their discovery curiosity prompted those who were present to break one of the eggs immediately. This was done by a servant, who stood at some distance, to avoid the danger that might have resulted from the infection of the egg. They were much surprised to find it liquid, with both the yolk and white well formed, and

the smell and taste natural to an egg; in a word, it was fresh, and fit for eating, and continued so, after being exposed to the air four days. The two others were opened eight days afterwards, at Milan, ten leagues distant from Lake Maggiore. They appear

ed not so fresh as the former, and rather salty, like an egg a week old. The shells had likewise lost something of their whiteness.

Proofs were adduced that, for a period of 300 years, nothing had been done to the vestry, of which the wall, containing the eggs, made a part, excepting at the top, for the purpose of repairing the roof. It was visited by St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, who held meetings there. In the same place there was a press for holding the decorations and plate belonging to the altar; which piece of furniture was made on the spot, in the year 1569, and which could not have passed through the present small door, and no traces whatever of a larger are to be seen. It therefore appears that these eggs were preserved for about three centuries in this extraordinary situation.

Practical Economy,or the Application of Modern Discoveries to the Purposes of Domestic Life. Svo.1821.

This work will be found equally useful to those who are wise enough to enter into the practice of the rules which it lays down, and entertaining to others, who may merely wish

to amuse themselves with its theories. It professes to teach economy in every de partment of domestic life;-and so it does; but on such an agreeable plan, that it is sure to meet with willing pupils. "To enjoy is in the same manner, the object of the rato obey," says the rational religionist; and, tional economist is to procure the greatest number of innocent gratifications at the least possible expense. "To save," as the author justly observes in his pre

face," is one thing; to economise is another. Absolutely to avoid expense, is to exclude enjoyment; but to economize expenditure is to unite enjoyment with prudence." Under this impression, then, the reader may safely suffer himself to be connected by the editor of this ingenious manuel through all its divisions and their subdivisions; embellishing all, and throwing on every subject which they include, a valated at once to increase our comforts, and riety of new and useful information, calcudiminish our expenses.

Literary Entelligence.

ANOTHER Tragedy, by LORD BYRON, is found that the fish is not lessened, or the

has arrived in London for publication. Mr. I. H. GLOVER is preparing for publication a Bibliographical Dictionary of English Literature, from the year 1700 to the end of the year 1820. It will contain the title of every principal work which has appeared in Great Britain during that period, together with the date of publication, its price, and the publisher's name, as far as they can possibly be ascertained; alphabetically arranged under the names of their respective authors, and under the subject matter of each anonymous publication. An octavo edition is about to be published, of Memoirs of the Protector Oliver Cromwell, with original letters, and other family papers, by the late OLIVER CROMWELL, esq. a descendant of the family.

Dr. FORBES' Translation of Laennec on on Diseases of the Chest, with notes, will speedily be published.

Lamps, supplied by artificial naptha, or essential oil of tar, produced in the making of gas from coals, under, Lord Cochrane's patent, are rapidly making their way in the metropolis; the brilliant and penetrating light which they afford gives satisfaction wherever they have been tried.

Mr. STEVENSON will shortly publish a Practical Treatise on the Nature, Symptoms, and Treatment of Gutta Serena, a species of Blindness arising from a loss of sensibility in the nerve of vision, illustrated by numerous cases.

Sketches of Upper Canada, Domestic, Local, and Characteristic: to which are added, Practical Details for the information of Emigrants of every class, and some Recollections of the United States of America, by JOHN HowISON, esq. will speedily be published.

The following excellent paragraph has appeared in many provincial papers, and ought to be copied generally:

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Cruelty to fish-It is hoped that the dreadful cruelty of boiling shell-fish alive, or, what is as frequently done, of putting them over a fire in a sauce-pan of cold water, will be reflected on as it deserves. Shell-fish possess an amphibious property, and are therefore capable of existing out of the water a considerable time without the powers of life being impaired; hence it is just as shocking to dress shell-fish alive, as to convey mackerel (which do not possess an amphibious property, but die in a few minutes after being taken out of the water,) instantaneously out of the sea into a frying-pan or boiling water. The ignorant prejudice that lobsters, crabs, &c. are not good if they are dressed after they are dead would vanish as soon as humanity were permitted to make the trial. When dressed many hours after they are dead, it

flavour in the slightest degree impaired; if it were, that could hardly be a sufficient reason to torture a poor animal to gratify the pampered appetite of an epicure. Eels too possess this amphibious quality; therefore they are skinned, rolled in salt, and fried whilst they are writhing in agony,

A Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Liver, and on some of the affections usually denominated bilious, is preparing for publication. Comprising an impartial estimate of the merits of the Nitro-muriatic Acid Bath, by GEORGE DARLING, M. D. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of London.

Some intelligent persons in Edinburgh have imitated the Parisians by an establishment to teach the connecting arts and sciences to persons engaged in particular trades. In France every working carpenter can draw with the hand, and also geometrically, and pursue their tasteful productions and elegant forms.

Mrs. SIDNEY STANHOPE, author of Montbrazel Abbey, &c. &c. has in the press an Historical Romance, in 4 vols. called the Festival of Mora, which will be published in the Month of September.

The discovery of an easy and effectual woollen fabrics and furs by moths is due to method of preventing the destruction of the officers of Artillery at Woolwich, employed in the inspection of clothing returned from Spain. It was observed, that in

casks where all other woollen substances were totally destroyed, those cloths that had been rendered water-proof by the common well known process, remained untouched. Attention having thus been excited to this circumstance, other similar mixed packages were examined, and the results v ere found to be invariable.

One of the most interesting publications of the present month is A History of the Brazil, by JAMES HENDERSON, comprehending a very full and particular account of the geography, commerce, colonization, &c. of that important country. The author, it appears, on his arrival at Rio de Janeiro, in 1819, was disappointed in his views of immediate employment, and therefore resolv ed to devote his time to the acquisition of intelligence respecting these vast regions. He has succeeded in collecting a very considerable mass of information on the past and present state of the Brazil, treating under distinct heads of the twenty-two provinces which it comprises. The picture which is presented to us of the external aspect of the country is highly magnificent and rich; but this writer concurs with all his predecessors in deploring the state of society at Rio de Janeiro, which he represents as being centuries behind in the comforts and enjoyments of civilized life.

Even hospitality, the virtue of an uncultivated people, is here unknown. Living is as expensive, or more so, than in London, with none of the comforts which the latter affords. A moderate sized house will let for two hundred and fifty or three hundred pounds per annum; and provisions, with the exception of vegetables and fruit, are neither cheap nor good. Books are prohibited, and the state of literature is consequently very low. Only two gazettes are published throughout the whole empire. Assassination is frequent; the inhabitants carrying knives hid under the sleeves of their coats, which they throw and use with great dexterity; and these knives we are ashamed to say, are inanufactured in England expressly for that purpose. The deplorable state of the government has counteracted the advantages of nature, which would otherwise have rendered this nation one of the richest in the world. Even the diamond mines are not worked to advantage. The produce of these is selected, in the first instance, by the royal family; and it is said that the King possesses the best collection of gems in the world, worth upwards of two millions sterling. From the mine, the diamonds are conveyed by a strong military guard to the treasury, till despatched for London, which is now their great mart. Agriculture is in a very degraded state, and the present system of landed tenure is so bad, that the soil seems likely to remain covered with wild grass and forests till doomsday. When it is moderately cultivated, the returns are quick and bountiful. From the recent establishment of a free constitution in this colony, the warmest hopes of its speedy improvement, in every respect, may be entertained. And having escaped from political slavery, we may reasonably expect that the system of domestic bondage will not much longer be allowed to disgrace a nation calling itself free. In an appendix to the volume, we find a zoological account of the animals peculiar to the country, amongst which the reptiles are the most formidable, being exceedingly numerous, and for the most part - venomous. Clouds of insects people the air. A collection has been already made of above sixteen hundred different sorts of butterflies. Perhaps no other region in the world equals the Brazil in the innumerable species of birds which it possesses, of incomparable beauty of plumage and variety of song. This work is illustrated with twenty-eight plates, executed with good effect upon stone, after sketches taken by Mr. Henderson on the spot, and with two maps. The style is plain and unaffected, and the author's information appears to be drawn from authentic sources. erable credit is due to him for the judgment and ability with which he has embodied the result of his researches, which we regard as a valuable contribution to our stock of knowledge respecting this important and advancing country.

We think consid

Messrs. DUFAU and GUADET, of Paris, have recently published a dictionary of ancient geography, which is recommended in the foreign journals, as containing information unique in its kind. Close to the ancient names of places, is the corresponding modern one. Annexed is a map of the world, as known to the ancients, by M. Brué, geographer to his R. H. Monsieur. Ancient geography is not only an object of learned curiosity, but is a necessary compliment of history, and should form one essential basis of education.

A number of Cachemire goats, imported into France by M. Ternaux, have been settled at Perpignan, where having recovered their health, they are beginning to propagate. After yeaning in March, the down, some rudiments of which had appeared in April, began to get intwined, and this may be looked upon as an approach to maturity. "This I had plucked up," says M. Tessier (in his communication to the Royal Academy of Sciences) "with horn combs, and it was thus almost pure and free from clots," Each animal furnished on an average three ounces and a half; some, including a large he goat, gave six ounces. There is very little loss, and every thing announces that this race will easily get seasoned to the climate. The she goats are better for milking than the natives; the large hairs vary much in length, and it has been remarked that the short haired individuals sometimes yield the most down, and it is finest on those of a grey colour. ting them a more elevated situation in the By allotPyrenees they are expected to give more down, and further improvements are contemplated, in the selections for propagation, by a judicious crossing with such of the indigenous races as bear analagous down.

The Rev. Dr. CRACKNELL will soon publish an Essay on the Dying Confessions of Judas Iscariot,as found in theGreek records.

offered to the public, the romance of The Amongst the works of imagination lately Cavalier is entitled to a place in the first school, and is evidently the offspring of no rank. It is a production of the Waverley style, it bears no distant affinity to the lemean disciple. In character, incident, and gends of the unknown author; but it may be easily distinguished from them by an occasional awkwardness and want of polish, The scene is laid in the time of the great from which the original is completely free. rebellion; and the character of the hero, Colonel Sydenham, afterwards Lord Falconridge, is touched with a very spirited hand. The principal portrait of the adverse faction, is taken from Jonathan Snell, a puritan adventurer, and it is certainly what exaggerated proportions. drawn with great power, though in someWe augur ing volumes, which cannot be perused very considerable suscess to these interestwithout impressing the reader with a conviction that they are the fruit of an ingenious and superior mind.

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