Another curious fact relative to this subject was stated by Mr. Brookes, when lecturing on birds at the _Zoological Society_, May 1827. He had an eagle, which was at liberty in his garden; happening to lay two dead rats, which had been poisoned, under a pewter basin, to which the eagle could have access, but who nevertheless did not see him place the rats under it, he was surprised to see, some time afterwards, the crop of the bird considerably distended; and finding the rats abstracted from beneath the basin, he concluded that the eagle had devoured them. Fearing the consequences, he lost no time in opening the crop, took out the rats, and sewed up the incision; the eagle did well and is now alive. A proof this of the acuteness of smell in the eagle, and also of the facility and safety with which, even in grown birds, the operation of opening the crop may be performed.--_Jennings's Ornithologia_. * * * * * HATCHING. The following singular fact was first brought into public notice by Mr. Yarrel; and will be found in his papers in the second volume of the _Zoological Journal_. The fact alluded to is, that there is attached to the upper mandible of all young birds about to be hatched a _horny appendage_, by which they are enabled more effectually to make perforations in the shell, and contribute to their own liberation. This sharp prominence, to use the words of Mr. Yarrel, becomes opposed to the shell at various points, in a line extending throughout its whole circumference, about one third below the larger end of the egg; and a series of perforations more or less numerous are thus effected by the increasing strength of the chick, weakening the shell in a direction opposed to the muscular power of the bird; it is thus ultimately enabled, by its own efforts, to break the walls of its prison. In the common fowl, this horny appendage falls off in a day or two after the chick is hatched; in the pigeon it sometimes remains on the beak ten or twelve days; this arises, doubtless, from the young pigeons being fed by the parent bird for some time after their being hatched; and thus there is no occasion for the young using the beak for picking up its food.--_Ibid_. * * * * * MAN.--A FRAGMENT. Man is a monster, The fool of passion and the slave of sin. No laws can curb him when the will consents To an unlawful deed. CYMBELINE. * * * * * SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS * * * * * THE CHOSEN ONE. "Here's a long line of beauties--see! Ay, and as varied as they're many-- Say, can I guess the one would be Your choice among them all--if any?" "I doubt it,--for I hold as dust Charms many praise beyond all measure-- While gems they treat as lightly, _must_ Combine to form my chosen treasure."