[10] Persons conversant with the habits of birds will readily comprehend me; for the sake of those who do not, I will just observe that the flight of all the Wagtails is very peculiar, being a succession of great leaps in the air (if I may be allowed the expression), which form a series of curves, the bird rising considerably at the commencement of each effort, and sinking again at the close.

[11] The intrepid and unfortunate traveller Joseph Ritchie, who accompanied Captain Lyon’s expedition to Fezzan, and died there in 1819.  Mr. Ritchie was a native of Otley, and an intimate friend of Mr. Garnett and his brothers.  The beautiful poem from which the quotation is taken is printed in Alaric Watts’s “Poetical Album.”

[12] 1853.—­I regret that in 1853, and for some years previous, we have not seen one.  I fear they are extinct.  The smaller kind are still numerous.

[13] The male Par is an exception to this rule.

[14] It appears to be a beautiful provision of Nature that mixture with water should increase the sphere of its action.  Spallanzani found by actual experiment that three grains of the seed of a male frog might be diluted with a pint of water without destroying its stimulating power.  See “Dissertations,” vol. ii. p. 142, chap. 3, Ed.  “Mag.  Nat.  History.”

[15] Mr. Thomson, of Primrose.

[16] Assistant Keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum.  Author of “Philological Essays,” &c.

[17] The toad, when going to take a bee, points for a second or two as beautifully as the best-trained pointer before it strikes with its tongue.