acuteness of its hearing. For a considerable time there was no evident change in its habits, as it continued to be nearly as wild as when I first got it, and showed none of the playfulness and vivacity which characterise most of the monkey tribe. As long as the fruit which he had on board lasted, it would eat nothing else; but when these failed, we soon discovered a most agreeable substitute, which it appeared to relish above every thing. By chance we observed it devouring a large cockroach which it

frequently eat a score of the largest kind, which are 2 or 2 in. long, and a very great number of the smaller ones, three or four times in the course of the day. It was quite amusing to see it at its meal. When he had got hold of one of the large cockroaches, he held it in his fore paws, and then invariably nipped the head off first; he then pulled out the viscera and cast them aside, and devoured the rest of the body, rejecting the dry elytra and wings, and also the legs of the insect, which are covered with short stiff bristles. The small cockroaches he eat without such fastidious nicety. In addition to these, we gave him milk, sugar, raisins, and crumbs of bread. Hitherto the weather was warm, the thermometer being never below 65° or 60° Fahr.; but as we reached a more northern latitude, and approached England, the change of temperature affected the monkey very sensibly; his appetite failed very considerably, and now he would not even touch the cockroaches when given to him; the hair, especially that on the tail, fell off; and, at the end of the voyage, this organ was almost quite bare and naked. He kept constantly in the kennel, rolling himself up in a piece of flannel, which had been put in for warmth, except when he could reach a sunny part of the deck, where he might bask in the heat. There was a considerable continuance of cold northcasterly winds, the thermometer as low as from 42° to 36°

Fahr., and, as the monkey eat little or nothing, and was quite inactive, I hardly expected to have kept it alive.

When I got it on shore, I kept it for some days in a warm room; it gradually recovered its nimbleness, running about the room, and dragging its kennel after it. Even then it would not eat any insects, and its food consisted of milk and crumbs of bread; it was particularly fond of any sweet preserve, as jelly, &c., and of fresh ripe fruits. From London I brought it with me to Edinburgh last November, and have kept it here till now. During all this time it has thriven perfectly well; it is considerably plumper than it was, and the tail is now completely covered with long darkish hair.

I observe in Linnæus's description of this animal, he says it is a great enemy to cats; so far, however, is this from being the case with the present one, that it feeds and sleeps with puss, and they live on the best terms imaginable.

Though now it is much tamer than it was, it is by no means tractable or docile; it will allow itself to be patted or gently stroked, but all attempts to handle or play with it are quite unsuccessful. When teased or enraged, it exhibits a most ludicrous physiognomy of passion; the white hairs or whiskers on its cheeks are erected; it grins and shows its teeth; it dilates its nostrils, and the little eyes beam with the most passionate fury it only wants the power of speech to embody its feelings, to represent most faithfully a true picture of anger. Though it does not possess any of that imitative playfulness which is so amusing in many of the Símiæ, there is a something, an air of intelligence, a look of observation, which we search for in vain in those animals lower in the zoological scale.

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ART. IV. Notice of the Habits of a Mangouste, kept alive at Canaan Cottage, near Edinburgh. By ALEX. J. ADIE, Jun. Esq.

THE Mangouste, Vivérra Múngo Lin. (fig. 2.), which has been in my possession for about twelve months, is one of a family of four which were taken on board at Madras. This was the only one that reached England, the other three having died during the voyage. It has as yet borne the rigours of our northern latitude well, but it is a little subject to a cough in cold damp weather. The animal is a female, now between two and three years old. It measures in length 2 ft. including the tail, which is 1 ft. Its colour, when viewed at a little distance, is a silvery grey; but a closer inspection

shows that each hair, which is long and coarse, is composed of bars of black, brown, and white, exactly resembling the

quills of a porcupine. The head is small and very handsome; the legs are strong, the fore ones much tapered, having five separate toes on each foot; the tail is very long, thick at the root, and tapering to a point.

It uses its fore paws with much dexterity; pulls every thing into the cage that comes within their sphere of action, takes insects out of water with them, and when a snuffbox is presented to it, by the rapidity of their motion, expels much of the contents before the box can be shut. It does not take its prey with the claws, but they prove powerful weapons in tormenting it when caught, by throwing it from one place to another. The tail seems to assist the animal in leaping and turning, as in doing so it frequently strikes it against hard objects with such force as to cause it to bleed at the extremity.

Its curiosity is unbounded. When let loose in a room it traverses it at a light, airy, and graceful pace, its feet scarcely appearing to touch the floor; it searches every corner, and kills all insects that are to be found. After the floor has undergone a minute examination, the chairs and tables follow next; these it easily reaches, being able to leap three feet from the ground, and sometimes the pockets of those present undergo the same scrutiny. The mangouste knows the house and garden of Canaan Cottage so well, that it runs about from the one to the other, but never goes away, and appears at the call of those it knows. Myself and another are the only persons it has complete confidence in; it distinguishes my foot at a great distance and runs to me: its powers in this way are very acute. I have seen it set its hair on end and growl when a strange dog was some yards from it, the one being within and the other without the house; with the dog that belongs to the house, it has been on terms of friendship ever since the first interview, when, after giving him a bite on the face, a good understanding was established, and

since that time the dog has sometimes used it very roughly without the mangouste resenting it. Should a stranger take hold of it when out of the house it bites and runs off.

The mangouste is as docile as the mildest of our dogs, if you except the time of feeding, particularly when devouring a bird that has been given to it alive. At this time the change in its manners is as quick as it is remarkable: in one second it loses all the mild and attractive dispositions of the pet; these vanish, to be replaced by the repulsive ones of the fiercest carnivorous animals, growling, uttering a sharp bark, and even attempting to bite.

Its favourite food is small birds, and the dexterity shown in climbing into bushes, seems to indicate that in the wild state they may probably constitute a considerable portion of its food. If a mouse, rat, lizard, or frog be given it, before killing it will play with the animal for a quarter of an hour: indeed I do not remember having allowed this to be carried on so long as it might have been disposed; and to put an end to it, the rescue of the victim has only to be attempted, when its death is instantaneous. With a small bird, however, the treatment is very different, for the mangouste has only to see one, when capture and death will follow in a second. If, however, we except the time of feeding, the harshest usage from those it knows will only make it utter a low, plaintive, and murmuring cry. It cries in the same way when hungry, or when wishing to get out of its cage.

Its playfulness is very remarkable; it is more playful than a kitten, with strength and agility superior to that of a cat. It is impossible to describe the numerous positions it twists its body into; perhaps the most marked of them is that of standing on the hind legs and leaping like a kangaroo.

As it is mentioned in various books on natural history, that the mangouste can dive, swim, and remain long under water, like the otter, for the purpose of taking fish; in order to try if this one possessed the same faculty, I put an egg into a large basin of water, and showed it to the mangouste; immediately the animal dived its body up to the shoulders and took out the egg. A few minnows were then put into a small basin; it took them with great ease and avidity; but it could not take them out of a larger basin, the water seeming to deprive it of sight, as soon as its head was plunged under the surface; it preferred to watch till they came to the edge, and pounce on them; but these attempts proving as abortive as the first it abandoned them altogether. Since that time several birds have been put into a small pond, but the mangouste would not go into the water for them.

March, 1828.

A. J. ADIE.

ART. V. Some Remarks on the Habits of the Kingfisher. By S. T. P. of Leeds.

IT has been justly observed by an accomplished naturalist, that there are few facts, however isolated, however trivial they may respectively appear, more conducive to the illustration of the history of animals, than those which relate to their habits. I am induced, therefore, to send for insertion, in any Number of your forthcoming Magazine of Natural History, some particulars relating to the habits of the kingfisher (Alcèdo l'spida, (fig. 3.) which I do not find mentioned in any English ornithological work. Indeed, the editor of the last edition of Pennant's British Zoology says, "the kingfisher seldom flies much, or far from its haunt," but the facts I am about to state bear a different aspect.

Early in the month of October last, while passing a short time on our southern coast, and within half a mile of the sea, I was agreeably surprised by the sudden appearance of great numbers of kingfishers, in a country where I had previously observed only an occasional example. On enquiry, I found that these birds regularly make their appearance on that coast in October, and as regularly depart in the following spring. Of

this, the occurrences of last month furnished some proof. A collector of birds for London preservers sent notice that the kingfishers had returned to the banks of the Thames, in his neighbourhood, and in one week he furnished eighteen specimens, the production of his own gun, though they are well known to be one of the most difficult birds to shoot.

These birds lay six or seven eggs, nearly round, tinged with a most delicate pink colour, from the influence of the yolk pervading the transparent albumen and thin shell; they have, moreover, a much larger air-bag (folliculus aëris), than is to be found in any other British bird's egg, in proportion to its size. It is well known that the eggs of birds, deposited in their nests on the ground, contain a larger quantity of air in the receptacle, than those placed in nests upon trees; and the young of the former are invariably produced in a much more perfect state (supposed to be owing to the influence of the greater portion of oxygen), than the young of the latter, which remain helpless and naked for several days, while the young of the former are covered with down, and able to quit