loaded with their nests. In those parts of England frequented by our common Wood-Pigeons, the well-known rustling and rattling of a host of wings, as a cloud of them rise from some favorite haunt in the wood, will not easily be forgotten; but this clattering of flapping pinions is nothing when compared to the uprising of these American flights, which is described as an absolute and constant roaring, so loud and overpowering, that persons on approaching the wood can with difficulty hear each other speak. Amidst these scenes of apparent bustle and confusion, there reigns, notwithstanding, the most perfect regularity and order. The old ones take their turns regularly in feeding their young; and when any of them are killed upon their nests, others immediately supply their places. considered to be less than the real number. Computing each of these to consume half-a-pint of seed daily, the whole quantity would equal seventeen millions four hundred and twenty-four thousand bushels per day. Heaven, he adds, has wisely and graciously given to these birds rapidity of flight, and a disposition to range over vast uncultivated tracts of the earth, otherwise they must have perished in the districts where they resided, or devoured the whole productions of agriculture, as well as those of the forests. We conclude with some interesting and lively descriptions of the Partridge: Generally speaking, the Partridge is a much shier bird than the Pheasant, and though we have found it, in the above case, quitting its own species to live with another, it can seldom be induced to lay aside its natural habits, and become quite tame. Occasionally, however, by great care, they have been known to attach themselves to man. In a clergyman's family, one was reared, which became so familiar that it would attend the parlour at breakfast, and other times; and would afterwards stretch itself before the fire, seeming to enjoy the warmth, as if it were its natural bask on a sunny bank. The dogs of the house never molested it, but unfortunately it one day fell under the paws of a strange cat, and was killed. The Partridge, as is well known, usually builds in corn-fields, where, undisturbed, amidst a forest of tall wheat-stems, it rears its brood. Like other birds, it sometimes however chooses a very different sort of nursery, as, for instance, a hay-stack, on the top of which a nest was once formed, a covey hatched, and safely carried off. In England we have but one sort, but in France, and other parts of Europe, they have beautiful varieties, the red-legged, Barbary Partridges, &c.; and in America, there are again other sorts, peculiar to the New World. We shall give Captain Head's lively description of two varieties, the larch and spruce Partridges, which he met with in his expedition into the interior, near Lake Huron. It has been said, that they only lay one egg at a time, but this is not strictly true, many of them laying two. But even at this rate, it would be difficult to account for their vast numbers, without the further knowledge of their prolific nature, and the rapid growth of the young birds. Their sittings are renewed, or rather continued; one pair having been thus known to produce seven, and another, eight times in one year. In twenty-three days from the laying of the egg, the young ones could fly, being completely feathered on the eighth day. When the broods are matured (with the exception of probably, some tons of the young, which are killed and carried off by actual wagon-loads, being more esteemed for food than the old ones), they continue their course towards the north; from whence, in December, they return in the same dense mass, and are usually found to be remarkably fat; proving, that in the northern regions they find an ample supply of food; and vast indeed must be the stock, to furnish and fatten such a swarm of hungry mouths. In the crop of one of our common English Wood-Pigeons, just killed, we found upwards of an ounce of the fresh-budding leaves of clover, and in another, mentioned by Mr. White, of Selborne, was found an equal quantity of tender turnip-tops, so nice and inviting, that the wife of the person who shot it, boiled and ate them, as a delicate dish of greens, for supper. The consumption of grains of wheat by a common House-Pigeon, we found to amount to two ounces in twenty-four hours; and in the following twenty-four hours, when fed with peas, it consumed about the same weight. Hence we may easily form some idea of the enormous consumption of a large flight. Supposing one Pigeon to feed regularly at the above rate, its annual average supply would amount to about fifty pounds in weight, a serious consumption of grain when large numbers are concerned. The following calculation, made by a very accurate observer, places the subject, as far as relates to the American Wood-Pigeons, in a still more striking point of view. He saw a column of Pigeons, one mile in breadth, moving at the rate of one mile a minute, which, as it was four hours in passing, made its whole length 240 miles. He then calculated that each square yard of this moving body contained three "The snow in the woods was crisp from the Pigeons, which thus gave two thousand two hun-night's frost, and the sun was just rising in a dred and thirty millions, two hundred and clear sky, when the marks of game attracted my seventy-two thousand Pigeons! and yet this he notice, and my spaniel at the same time evinced "Early in the Spring," he says, "they make their appearance in the pine-woods, welcomed by the solitary back-settlers, not only as harbingers of returning warmth, but as an agreeable addition to their stock of provisions, and a source of amusement. At first, when the snow still covers the ground, they are easily tracked, though by no means easily discovered in the trees, on which these two species invariably perch. They run for a considerable distance from their pursuers, before they rise, turning backwards and forwards, and round and round, twisting about the trees in such a manner as to make it difficult to follow up the foot-marks, and but for the assistance of dogs familiar with the sport, the keenest eye is often foiled." Captain Head thus describes his first meeting with one of these birds: the most eager interest and curiosity in the Very different indeed from our straggling coveys, are the assemblages of these birds in America. Near Fort Churchill, on the shores of IIudson's Bay, in the winter season, they may be seen by thousands feeding on the willow-tops peeping above the surface of the snow. The crew of a vessel wintering there, killed one thousand eight hundred dozen in the course of the season. They are provided with a plumage well calculated for the severe weather to which they are exposed, each feather being in a manner doubled, so as to give additional warmth. Our British Partridges huddle together in the stubbles; but these birds shelter and roost by burrowing under the snow in the snow, too, they practise a common mode of escaping observation and pursuit, as they will dive under it as a Duck does in water, and rise at a considerable distance. The Indians, as well as European settlers, catch them in great abundance, in traps, and live upon them throughout their long winter. From the earliest ages, Partridges seem indeed to have been a favorite food, and the pursuit of them as favorite an amusement. In the Scriptures, "to hunt the Partridge on the mountains," is alluded to as a well-known sport; and to this day, though not exactly with the same weapon, it is practised by the Arabs of Mount Lebanon. They make a slight square In conclusion, we may remark that we have rarely met with a more varied and interesting book on animals than this. It is, and ought to be popular. DOMESTIC COGITATIONS. BUTTERED TOAST. WHO is there amongst us, that can be indifferent to the charms of Buttered Toast? Toast, made just as the aromatic virtues of souchong and hyson are becoming palpable to the olfactory organs at tea-time? Tea! why we could occupy a whole JOURNAL in discoursing of that social meal alone,-independent of its "adjuncts." But we must confine ourselves to the matter before the house; and that is, toast--buttered toast. We do not advocate buttered toast for break fast, unless indeed ample time be allowed for the Let us first explain what makes bad toast of a slice of bread, or rather what makes it no toast at all, but merely a piece of bread with two burned surfaces, more wet and waxy in the heart than ever, and which not a particle of butter will enter, but only remain on the surface, and, if vexed with additional fire, turns to a rancid oil of the most unwholesome description. If the slice of bread is brought into close contact with a strong fire, the surface becomes covered with, or rather converted into, charcoal, before the heat produces any effect upon the interior of the slice. This being done, the other side is turned and has its surface converted into charcoal, in the same manner. Charcoal, as everybody knows, is one of the worst conductors, if not the very worst conductor of heat; and on this account it is used as packing between the double cylinders of steam engines. It is of no consequence whether the said charcoal be formed of wood, of flour, or of any other substance, for its qualities are in every case the same. Now, when the surfaces of the slice of bread arc over-charred in this manner, there is an end of all toasting, as no action of heat can be communicated to the interior, and not one drop of water can be evaporated. In this state, the slice of bread may be wholly burned to charcoal; but until it is altogether so burned, the unburned part will become always more and more wet and unwholesome. There is an illustration of this in putting an onion, and more especially a potatoe, in the middle of a strong fire in order to be roasted. If the fire is but hot enough, a potatoe the size of one's fist may be burned down to a cone not bigger than a marble; and yet that cone will remain hard and scarcely even warmed. As a rule,-if you would have a slice of bread so toasted as to be pleasant to the palate, and wholesome and easily digested, never let one particle of the surface be charred. Chestnutbrown is even far too deep for a good toast; and the color of a fox is rather too deep. The nearer it can be kept to a straw-color, the more deli. cious to the taste, and the more wholesome it will be. The method of obtaining this is very obvious. It consists in keeping the bread at the proper distance from the fire, and exposing it to proper heat for a due length of time. Those who "make the toast," or, more strictly speaking, mangle it, are generally too lazy for taking proper time for this operation; and it is worthy of remark in many other cases, as well as in this one, that the hurry of laziness is the very worst form under which that bane of good housewifery can appear. This by the way. If not cut too thin; if held at the proper distance from the fire, and continued long enough, care being taken that not a single black or even dark brown spot makes its appearance on the surface, the slice of bread may be toasted through and through; and it is this operation which makes properly toasted bread so much more wholesome than bread which is not toasted; and still more preferable to bread burned on the surface, and sodden in the interior. By this means the whole of the water may be evaporated from it, and it may be changed from dough, which has always a tendency to undergo the acetous fermentation, whether in the stomach or out of it, to the pure farina of wheat, which is in itself one of the most wholesome species of food-not only for the strong and healthy, but for the delicate and diseased. As it is turned to farina, it is disintegrated; the tough and gluey nature is gone; every part can be penetrated; all parts are equally warm, and no part is so warm as to turn the butter into oil, which, even in the case of the best butter, is invariably turning a wholesome substance into a poison. There is another circumstance-regarding the buttering of a rightly toasted slice. The dough being a compound of water, repels the butter, which is an oil; but the dried farina acquires no attraction for butter, which, with very little exertion, penetrates the whole slice through and through, in all parts equally. There is more advantage in this than some may suppose. Butter in masses (whatever may be its quality), is too heavy for the stomach, though butter divided with sufficient minuteness, and not suffered to pass into an oil, makes a most valuable addition to many kinds of food. The properlytoasted slice of bread absorbs the butter, but does not convert it to oil; and both butter and farina are in a state of very minute division, the one serving to expose the other to the free action of the gastric fluid in the stomach; and that this fluid shall be enabled to penetrate the whole mass of the food, and act upon it in very small portions, is the grand secret of pleasant, easy, and beautiful digestion; so that when a slice of toast is rightly prepared, there is perhaps not a lighter article in the whole vocabulary of cookery. When the toast is ready; the little ones quietly seated; mamma in a good humor; papa cosey; and the window curtains closely drawn,what can exceed the domestic delights of TEA and BUTTERED TOAST! NATURE AND ART. A Comparison between Good Sense and "Fashion." "Here comes she forth, Teck'd in the lovely modesty of NATURE."-CLARE. FEELING that we do hold some little sway over the minds and better feelings of our fair countrywomen-whom we dearly love, as an Englishman should do,-we shall venture now and then to tread on the delicate ground of offering them our Advice," gratis; it shall be none the worse account. 66 on that We have started this, our OwN JOURNAL, be it remembered, under the distinct avowal of being "Lovers of Nature;" and we mean to aid her ladyship on every occasion. We all allow her, by word of mouth at least, to be worthy of "imitation," and every painter who loses sight of this, is by us reckoned a bad artist. The closer we keep to the original then, the better will it be for us all. We shall, by and by, go into the unnatural conventionalities of every-day life, and show how we all live for others,-not for ourselves. We lately paid a visit to the Anatomical "I question if any woman would really re Museum of Dr. Kahn; it was the very quire stays before the age of 35 or 40-the week before he quitted London. We there best figures of ancient and modern times have saw enough to make us shudder; nor could never worn any stays. WE HAVE DISMISSED THE we take our leave, after being there nearly SWADDLING-CLOTHES OF OUR INFANTS, and an entire day, without reflecting on the many we shall succeed, sooner or later, in annihilatmillions of deformed, idiotic, disgusting ob- ing stays for girls and young women. None jects, who (though innocent) had been born, would wear them IF THEY KNEW HOW MUCH lived in torture, and had DIED-simply and BETTER THEY WOULD BE WITHOUT. After solely from the fact of their maternal parents having been accustomed to their support, it having insisted on showing (what they consi- is very difficult to discontinue their use, dered, and we do not) A HANDSOME FIGURE! because the muscles of the spine having been This is no random assertion of ours. superseded in their action by the barbarous Very many intelligent men, fathers of fami- pieces of iron, bone, or wood, of these bodylies, were in the same room with us; and we cases, have lost their power of maintaining held long and interesting converse with the body in an upright position; and withthem. We were all of one mind as to the out stays, the deformities produced by these "evil," and all equally doubtful of our ever machines become visible. I hope the time being able to effect any remedy." Never will arrive when stays will be considered shall we forget WHAT WE SAW IN THAT antiquities of the medieval ages, and be only ROOM,-never cease to shudder at the appal-preserved as relics to adorn the museums ling thought, which yet haunts us, that the same evils are being perpetuated daily, AND WILL BE until the grave has closed upon us for ever! แ 66 It will be said, "Fie! fie! Mr. Editor; this fashion is exploded. Our persons are now left free, and we can trip merrily as yourself over the fields, climb the hills, and romp like children." This has been said to us, and is daily; but " we cannot see it!" Alas, no! but we must still deplore the evil, and try what "reasoning" will do. If Mammas must resemble their daughters, let it be at the least possible sacrifice of health for the sake of their posterity. And as for young ladies let them, we say, be free as air, and play with the lissomness of kids and lambs. It is natural, it is graceful, it is attractive; it induces HEALTH. Who would blight such blossoms? To show that we are not "ignorant" on the subject of which we treat, let our readers peruse the subjoined remarks of Dr. L. J. BEALE, whose heart, like our own, "beats high to cure the monstrous evils of which we speak : "Full expansion of the chest," says Dr. Beale, "is equally essential to health as good air; for if, by our clothing or constrained position, we impede the full expansion of the lungs, healthy respiration is prevented, and the due purification of the blood impaired; and therefore, pressure from dress, bands, or stays, must always be bad. "How is the chest of a girl to expand with growth, if encased in these horrid inventions No girl should wear stays till she has long done growing, for the chest continues to expand after growth has ceased; by the use of stays the size of the chest is limited, and the ribs are actually forced to overlap, as I have seen in several instances. and halls of the curious." Dr. Beale's "hope" far exceeds our "faith." Let us ask, with all due submission,-Has not GOD given our countrywomen lovely figures? Aye, "perfect" figures? Why then do they labor so HARD TO DEFORM THEM? If any of our fair readers will take up their pen to argue this matter with us, how happy shall we be to insert their remarks! It is a righteous cause, and we really hope to receive aid from those whose "duty" it is to DEFEND it. Our next Coup d'Essai will be, touching "Female Apparel." We shall dare to scrutinise this, only as it has reference to the deformity of the Human Figure. Beyond that, it is not our province to inquire; and we never exceed "our duty." Our "Extra" Contributor has already paved the way for us to follow.* KIDD'S “JOURNAL" AND "THE TRADE." MR. EDITOR,-Though, as one of the very many readers of your admirable Paper, I sincerely sympathise with you in your ill-usage by the iron-hearted booksellers, I yet will not occupy your valuable space more than is necessary, while telling you of "something to your advantage," as Joseph Ady used to word it. You will see by the subjoined which appeared in last (the packet not exceeding 1 lb. weight) may, week's Athenæum, that any number of magazines after March, go free for 6d. postage. This will frank your First and Second Parts to the country; also your Third and Fourth, when ready. Thus sometimes-aye, often-does good come out of evil :- "BOOKS AND WORKS OF ART PER POST.-It affords us great pleasure to be able to announce * See Article, "Female Costume," in No. 2 of KIDD's JOURNAL. that on the 1st of March additional facilities will be afforded by the Post Office in the transmission of books and works of art. Our readers are aware that at present only one volume is allowed to be sent in a single packet, and that no writing is permitted, except on a single page of the book. Both these restrictions are to be abolished; and, from the day mentioned, any number of separate publications may be included in the same packet, and they may contain any amount of writing (provided, of course, that it be out of the nature of a letter); and, in fact, with this latter exception, a person will be allowed to send by the book-post any quantity of paper, whether printed, written upon, or plain, together with all legitimate binding, mounting, or carving; including also, rollers in the case of prints, and, in short, whatever is necessary for the safe transmission of literary or artistic matter."—Athenæum. I will only add to this,-May you go on and prosper! You have begun well; continued weekly to "improve;" and every successive number entitles you to still higher praise. You have reason to feel proud of your literary offspring; and may you live to enjoy an abundant harvest from your labors! Yours, &c., "Oh! how I do detest," says her Ladyship, your sentimental people who pretend to be full of feeling!-who will cry over a worm, and yet treat real misfortune with neglect. There is your fine lady that I have seen in a dining-room, and when by accident an earwig has come out of a peach, after having been half-killed in opening it, she would exclaim, Oh, poor thing! you have broken its back-do spare it-I can't bear to see even an insect suffer. Oh! there, my lord, how you hurt it stop, let me open the window and put it out.' And then the husband drawls out, My wife is quite remarkable for her sensibility; I married her purely for that.' And then the wife cries, Oh! now, my lord, you are too good to say that if I had not had a grain of feeling I should have learnt it from you.' And so they go on, praising each other, and perhaps, the next morning, when she is getting into her carriage, a poor woman, with a child at her breast, and so starved that she has not a drop of milk, begs charity of her, and she draws up the glass, and tells the footman, another time, not to let those disgusting people stand at the door." Well done, Lady Hester Stanhope, well done!! A few such champions associated IN the last No. of the Westminster Review, we find various curious particulars of that most slippery fellow, the oyster,-who glides down your throat before you know where he is, and you more hungry than ever, after you have swallowed some three or four dozen of his tribe. Expensive fellow, that oyster,-very! leaves During the season of 1848-49, 130,000 bushels of oysters were sold in the metropolis alone. A million and-a-half are consumed each season in Edinburgh, being at the rate of more than 7,300 a-day, and more than sixty millions are taken annually from the French channel banks alone. Each batch of oysters intended for the French capital is subjected to a preliminary exercise in keeping the shell closed at other hours than when the tide is out, until at length they learn by experience that it is necessary to do so whenever they are uncovered by sea-water. Thus, they are enabled to enter the metropolis of France as polished oysters ought to do, not gaping like astounded rustics. A London oysterman can tell the ages of his flock to a nicety; they are in perfection from five to seven years old. An oyster bears its years upon its back, so that its age is not to be learned by looking at its beard: the successive layers observable upon the shell indicate its growth, as each indicates one year, so that, by counting them, we can tell at a glance the year when the creature came into the world. If an oyster be a handsome, well-shaped Adonis, he is introduced to the palaces of the rich and noble, like a wit, to give additional relish to their feasts. If a sturdy, thick-backed, strong-tasted individual, fate consigns him to the capacious tub of the street-fishmonger, from whence, dosed with black pepper and pungent vinegar, embalmed partly after the fashion of an Egyptian king, he is transferred to the hungry stomach of a costermonger, or becomes the luxuricus repast of a successful pickpocket. "FRIENDSHIP" OF THE WORLD.-As we It is no grow older, we begin to grow wiser. more than right we should do so. Our JOURNAL was established to make men "think," and we lose no opportunity of assisting in the matter. In presenting our readers with the following excellent remarks of Dr. KITTO, all we say islet them be read twice, and never forgotten. Dr. KITTO, "from prosperity into trouble, who "There has rarely yet been a man fallen," says has not found many friends, like those of Job, ready to lay all the blame of his misfortunes upon himself, and to trace his ruin to his misconduct, sumed even if no trace of it can be found. Oh, which now becomes apparent, or which is aswhat a world were this, if man's happiness rested upon the judgment of his fellows, or if the troubled spirit had no appeal from man's judgment to One who judgeth righteously!" |