capable of great attachment to the person who has the care of it; and I have observed this shewn in a variety of ways. It will also attach itself to a Dog or Cat which may happen to be in a yard with it, but it generally is the master, from the great strength of its beak. There was a bird of the same class, a Jackdaw, belonging to a butcher at Sunning Hill, Berkshire, which was the inseparable companion of a Dog. He could neither stir nor leave the premises, but his faithful and attached friend went with him; and it was a pleasing sight to see them together, the Dog looking at his companion with much complacency, which the Daw returned with an appearance of affection not to be misunderstood.

The Magpie is not only fond of hiding things, but selects particular localities for that purpose. Two Magpies, kept in a very extensive kitchen-garden, always hid food they could not eat, and also concealed bones, bits of bread, and even grains of wheat, which they searched for and found amongst the stable manure. One day some men were sent to dig up that part of the garden, which had been the favourite hiding place of the birds. The work had scarcely commenced, when the Magpies shewed that they were perfectly aware of what was going forward; and also afforded a proof of the retentiveness of their memory, which was not a little extraordinary. They hastened to the spot, and with their beaks cleared the earth which concealed their hidden treasures, which they conveyed to some distance, returning for the rest. In this way seven

or eight bones and pieces of bread were disinterred, although some of them had been buried three or four weeks; thus shewing that they perfectly recollected peculiar spots.

The Nuthatch also hides nuts, as Jays and Magpies hide acorns, though not for the same purpose; but most probably, like a Dormouse or the Ants, for supplies of food in hard times; because the food of a Nuthatch consists entirely of those kinds that are only to be had otherwise at certain seasons.

I happened on a single occasion to witness the process of the hiding of a nut by that Bird. Sitting near a window on the ground-floor that looked into a garden bordered by a wild shrubbery, I saw a Nuthatch fly close to the window with a large nut in his bill, on which he proceeded to operate in his usual manner. He fixed it successively into several crevices in the dry ground, where he could obtain a purchase, but after inflicting on it many violent blows, which were finally ineffectual, he was fain to regard it as a hopeless case. He then carried it a yard or two, and pushed it by main force into a crevice near the area, and, catching up two or three pieces of moss, carefully and completely covered it with them, and flew away. Being ill at the time I could not keep my eye upon the place, nor examine it until after some days, and when I did examine it, the nut was gone but whether removed by the Bird or not I cannot say.

As to the facts, however, of the hiding process, there can be no doubt, because I was close to him and observed him at my leisure; nor can there be any doubt why he put the nut into the hole, and why he covered it with the moss; or that he did everything for the real purpose of hiding it.

Dogs will hide food, though seldom when any body is looking on; but I had a Dog who allowed me more than once, to be present during the operation, and I have seen other Dogs perform it when they did not

see me.

After scratching a hole in the ground with the fore feet, and dropping into it the food, which he was holding in his mouth, the Dog turns back the earth into the hole with his nose; and when he has nearly covered the food in that way, and is throwing up the last portions, he is careful every time to press down the heap by pushing his nose against it; on which account he leaves the soft ground indented with its impressions as with his mark or seal. He then returns to his master looking very innocent, but revealing his secret by his dirty nose.

It may not be generally known, that some of the Queens of England have been in the habit of choosing a fine and thriving Oak or Beech tree in Windsor Forest, to which they have given their name; which, with the date of the month and year of the selection, is engraved on a brass plate, and screwed securely

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on the tree. Thus, in one of the most beautiful and retired parts of the Forest may be seen Queen Anne's Oak; the Oak of the amiable wife of George II., Queen Caroline; the Oak of Queen Charlotte; the Oak of the excellent Queen Adelaide; as well as that of her present Majesty: they all have seats around them. The green drives of many miles, along which these trees may be approached, are not only kept in the most perfect order, but at every step we go either some opening view of the castle, or the surrounding country, presents itself to our notice, or else some picturesque and noble tree attracts attention. Here and there are charming glades, down which a gentle stream of water makes its way, crossed by a rustic bridge. It is at nearly the end of this drive in one direction, and in the neighbourhood of the trees I have referred to, that one of the prettiest Cottages imaginable opens upon our view.

Nothing can be more smiling and cheerful, or kept in better order, than this abode of the woodman of the district. His rustic seats, his flowers, and neat kitchen garden, interspersed with fruit-trees,. all give the idea of rural peace and beauty. The Oaks and Beeches spread out their arms over the well-kept lawn in front of the cottage, while the Wood-pigeon and Woodpecker are heard in the adjoining thicket.

This sort of Cottage is peculiarly English, and is always noticed with pleasure by foreign travellers in

our Island. Willis, the American writer, says, "England is described always very justly, and always in the same words 'it is all one garden.' There is scarce a Cottage between Dover and London (seventy miles) where a poet might not be happy to live. I saw a hundred little spots I coveted with quite a heart-ache." And in the description of his drive from London to this immediate part of the country, he uses these graphic expressions:-"The scenery on the way was truly English: one series of finished landscapes, of every variety of combination, lawns, fancy cottages, manor-houses, groves, roses and flower gardens, make up England. It surfeits the eye at last. You could not drop a poet out of the clouds upon any part of it I have seen, where, within five minutes' walk, he would not find himself a paradise." Such language is very pleasing to our English ears, and more especially coming from an American traveller, who had passed more than two years inspecting, with no inattentive or unknowing eye, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and France.

The love of Gardens and of gardening appears to be almost exclusively confined to the English, and is partaken of by the poor as well as by the rich. Nothing can be prettier than the Gardens attached to the thatched cottages in Devonshire. They are frequently to be seen on the side, and often at the bottom of a hill, down which a narrow road leads to a rude single-arched stone bridge. Here a shallow