sedan-chairs were first brought into use by the king's great favourite, the Duke of Buckingham. The duke was very far from being a popular man, and this affair did not mend the matter. The people, on first beholding this simple vehicle, exclaimed with great indignation, that the duke was employing his fellow-creatures to do the service of beasts.

ANECDOTE OF THE SECOND DUKE OF GORDON.

When the Duke of Gordon, and all the lords of that family, were Roman Catholics, a Protestant, not unknown to his grace, rented a small farm under him, near Huntley Castle, and, from some cause, had fallen behind in his payments A vigilant steward, in the duke's absence, seized the farmer's stock for arrears of rent, and advertised it by the parish crier to be rouped, that is, sold by auction, on a fixed day. The duke returning in the interval, Donald obtained an audience, and told his tale in a way which touched the duke's heart, and obtained him an acquittance in form. Staring, as he cheerily withdrew, at the pictures and images, he expressed a curiosity to know what they were, in his homely way. These,' said the duke, with great condescension, 'are the saints who intercede with God for me.' My lord duke,' said Donald, would it not be better to apply yourself directly to God; I went to muckle Sawney Gordon, and to little Sawney Gordon; but if I had not come to your guid grace's self, I could not have got my discharge, and baith I and my bairns had been harried.'

MEDICAL ANECDOTE.

An old gentleman who used to frequent one of the medical coffee-houses in the city, thought he might make so free as to steal an opinion concerning his health; accordingly he one day took an opportunity of a téte-à-téte in one of the boxes to ask one of the faculty, as a friend, what he should take for such a particular complaint as he then laboured under. I'll tell you what you should take,' replied the doctor, jeeringly, I think, sir, you ought to take advice.'

BIRDS, NO. VI.-THE HUMMING BIRD. THE members of the feathered race yet introduced into the present volume are remarkable, among other peculiarities, for exceeding, in size, most of those which we are acquainted with in this country; but the charming little creature which now closes the series is, on the contrary, distinguished by its extreme diminutiveness, the largest of the several species being less than half the size of our smallest bird, the wren, and many no larger than a bee. Their name is derived from the humming noise they make with their wings, which is even louder than their voice, but, small as they are, no pen or pencil can convey an idea of the extreme brilliancy of their colours. The feathers on their body and under the wings are of a greenish brown, with a fine red cast or gloss which no silk or velvet can imitate.

The humming bird inhabits the warmer parts of America and the West Indies, and it is inconceivable, as a celebrated author observes, how much they add to the beauty of a rich luxurious western landscape. As soon as the sun is risen, they are seen fluttering about the flowers, without ever alighting upon them. They are never still, but visit flower after flower, extracting its honey as if with a kiss, and upon this alone they subsist. In the fields of America they are as common, as butterflies in a summer's day with us.

Father Labat's companion, in the mission to America, found the nest of a humming bird, in a shed that was near the dwelling-house, and took it in at a time when the young ones were about fifteen or twenty days old; he then placed them in a cage at his chamber window, to be amused by their sportive flutterings; but he was VOL. II. Dec, 1830.

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soon surprised to see the old ones, that came and fed their brood regularly every hour in the day. By these means they themselves soon grew so tame, that they seldom quitted the chamber; but, without any conAll four straint, came to live with their young ones.

have frequently come to perch upon their master's hand, chirruping as if they had been at liberty abroad. He fed them with a very fine clear paste, made of wine, biscuit, and sugar; they thrust their tongues into this paste, till they were satisfied, and then fluttered and chirruped about the room. I never beheld any thing more agreeable,' says Labat, than this lovely little family that had taken possession of my companion's chamber, and that flew out and in just as they thought proper; but were ever attentive to the voice of their master when he called them.' In this manner they lived with him for six months; but at a time when he expected to see a new colony formed, he unfortunately forgot to tie up their cage to the ceiling at night, to preserve them from the rats, and he found they were destroyed in the morning.

The humming bird is seldom caught alive; a friend He had of M. Du Pratz had, however, this pleasure. observed one of them enter the bell of a convolvolus ; and, as it had quite buried itself to get at the bottom, he ran immediately to the place, shut the flower, cut it from the stalk, and carried off the bird a prisoner. He could not, however, prevail upon it to eat ; and it died in the course of three or four days.

Charlevoix says, that he had one of them in Canada for about twenty-four hours. It suffered itself to be handled; and even counterfeited death that it might escape. A slight frost in the night destroyed it.

Dr. Latham was informed by Captain Davies, that he kept these birds alive for four months by the following method:-He made an exact representation of some of the tubular flowers, with paper fastened round a tobacco-pipe, and painted them of a proper colour: these were placed in the order of nature, in the cage in which the little creatures were confined: the bottoms of the tubes were filled with a mixture of brown sugar