told the serjeant that if he would permit him to take in His request the dog, he would soon discover the thief. being granted, he made the dog understand by a motion what he had lost; the animal immediately ran about among the company, and traversed the garden for some time. At length it seized hold of a man; the gentleman insisted that he was the person who had got the watch, and on being searched, not only that watch, but six others, were discovered in his pockets. What is more remarkable, the dog possessed such perfection of instinct, as to take his master's watch from the other six, and carry it to him!

SNAKE DESTROYERS.

Mr. PERCIVAL, in his account of the Island of Ceylon, speaking of the Indian Ichneumon, a small creature, in appearance between the weasel and the mangoose, says it is of infinite use to the natives from its inveterate enmity to snakes, which would otherwise render every footstep of the traveller dangerous. This diminutive creature on seeing a snake ever so large, will instantly dart on it, and seize it by the throat, provided he finds himself in an open place, where he has an opportunity of running to a certain herb, which he knows instinetively to be an antidote against the poison of the bite, if Mr. Percival saw the he should happen to receive one. experiment tried in a close room, where the Ichneumon, instead of attacking his enemy, did all in his power to avoid him. On being carried out of the house, however, and laid near his antagonist in the plantation, he immediately darted at the snake, and soon destroyed it. It

then suddenly disappeared for a few minutes, and again returned as soon as it had found the herb and ate it.

The monkeys in India, knowing by instinct the malignity of the snakes, are most vigilant in their destruction; they seize them when asleep, by the neck, and running to the nearest flat stone, grind down the head by a strong friction on the surface, frequently looking at it, and grinning at their progress. When convinced that the venemous fangs are destroyed, they toss the reptiles to their young ones to play with, and seem to rejoice in the destruction of the common enemy.

SAGACIOUS BRUIN.

THE captain of a Greenland whaler being anxious to procure a bear, without wounding the skin, made trial of a stratagem by laying the noose of a rope in the snow, and placing a piece of roast meat within it. A bear ranging the neighbouring ice, was soon enticed to the spot by the smell of burning food. He perceived the bait, approached, and seized it in his mouth; but his foot at the same time, by a jerk of the rope, being entangled in the noose, he pushed it off with his paw, and deliberately retired. After having eaten the piece he had carried away with him, he returned. The noose, with another piece of meat, being then replaced, he pushed the rope aside, and again walked triumphantly off with his prize. A third time the noose was laid; but excited to caution by the evident observations of the

bear, the sailors buried the rope beneath the snow, and laid the bait in a deep hole dug in the centre. The bear once more approached, and the sailors were assured of their success. But Bruin, more sagacious than they expected, after snuffing about the place for a few moments, scraped the snow away with his paw, threw the rope aside, and again escaped unhurt with his prize.

THE STRAY SHEEP.

" I ONCE witnessed," says the Ettrick Shepherd, "a very singular feat performed by a dog belonging to John Graham, late tenant in Ashiesteel. A neighbour came to his house after it was dark, and told him that he had lost a sheep on his farm, and that if he (Graham) did not secure her in the morning early, she would be lost, as he had brought her far. John said he could not possibly get to the hill next morning, but if he would take him to the very spot where he lost the sheep, perhaps his dog Chieftain would find her that night. On that they went away with all expedition, lest the traces of the feet should cool; and I, then a boy, being in the house, went with them, The night was pitch dark, which had been the cause of the man losing his ewe, and at length he pointed out a place to John by the side of the water where he had lost her. Chieftain! fetch that,' said John; bring her back, sir,' The dog jumped round and round, and reared himself upon an end; but not being able to see any thing, evidently misapprehended his master, on which John fell to scolding his dog, calling him a great many hard names. He at last told the man

that he must point out the very track that the sheep went, otherwise he had no chance of recovering it. The man led him to a gray stone, and said, he was sure she took the bray (hill aside) within a yard of that. Chieftain, come hither to my foot, you great mumb'd whelp,' said John; Chieftain came. John pointed with his finger to the ground. Fetch that, I say, sir-bring that back; away.' The dog scented slowly about the ground for some seconds; but soon began to mend his pace, and vanished in the darkness. Bring her back; away, you great calf!' vociferated John, with a voice of exultation, as the dog broke through the hill. And as all these good dogs perform their work in perfect silence, we neither saw nor heard any more of him for along time. I think, if I remember right, we waited there about half an hour; during which time all the conversation was about the small chance which the dog had to find the ewe, for it was agreed on all hands, that she must long ago have mixed with the rest of the sheep on the farm. How that was, no man will ever be able to decide. John, however, still persisted in waiting until his dog came back, either with the ewe or without her; and at last the trusty animal brought the individual lost sheep to our very feet, which the man took on his back and went on his way rejoicing.

BEAR CUBS.

IN the month of June, 1812, a female bear, with two cubs, approached near a whaler, and was shot. The cubs not attempting to escape, were taken alive. animals, though at first evidently very unhappy, became

These

at length in some measure reconciled to their situation, and being tolerably tame, were allowed occasionally to go at large about the deck, While the ship was moored to a floe, a few days after they were taken, one of them having a rope fastened about his neck, was thrown overboard. It immediately swam to the ice, got upon it, and attempted to escape. Finding itself however detained by the rope, it endeavoured to disengage itself in the following ingenious way. Near the edge of the floe was a crack in the ice of considerable length, but only eighteen inches or two feet wide, and three or four feet deep. To this spot the bear turned; and when on crossing the chasm, the bight of the rope fell into it, he placed himself across the opening; then suspending himself by his hind feet, with a log on each side, he dropped his head and most part of his body into the chasm; and with a foot applied to each side of the neck, attempted for some minutes to push the rope over his head. Finding this scheme ineffectual, he removed to the main ice, and running with great impetuosity from the ship, gave a remarkable pull on the rope; then going backward a few steps, he repeated the jerk. At length, after repeated attemps to escape this way, every failure of which he announced by a significant growl, he yielded himself to his hard necessity, and lay down on the ice in angry and sullen silence.

SOLICITING SUCCOUR.

A PARTY of a ship's crew being sent ashore on a part of the coast of India, for the purpose of cutting wood