most remarkable, there was a dry nurse in the fame room, who was as fond of it as the dam. This old creature that used to run loose about the room, one day took it upon her back and ran away with it. She mounted the ridge of the dens, and when the thought fhe had it fafe to herfelf, the feemed fo highly pleafed, that the keepers by her anticks were afraid the would have dropped it; but having recovered it from her without any hurt, they ever after chained her up. Sometimes the dam and the quarrelled about the nurfery. A gentleman obferving the particular tendernefs of thefe animals, cried out one day in high humour, "We are certainly all in an error, and "have been wrong from the beginning; Thefe are "the rationals, and we are the apes. It is not fo, Mr. "Keeper?" You are next fhewn HELEN, a lionefs from the coaft of Barbary. She ftill remains in the cage which brought her over, there being no den empty, though three new dens have been lately built. The next curiofity you fee is a Mufcovy cat, fent from the dey of Algiers, and prefented to his majefty by the late Algerine ambaflador. This creature, which is beautifully fpotted, is made very long in the back, head and tail, fomewhat like a ferret. You are next introduced to the acquaintance of Mifs NANCY, a fine large tygrefs from the coaft of Guinea, which was prefented to his late majefty by Capt. Scott. She is a fine lafs, but does not feem to have the most amiable difpofition. You are next fhewn an Eagle of the Sun, taken in a French prize by admiral Bofcawen, and by him prefented to his late majefty. This bird is fuppofed to foar the highest of all the feathered tribe; and is able to look ftedfaftly at the fun, even in his moft refulgent fplendor; whence it obtained the name by which that that fpecies of eagles is diftinguifhed. Here you are alfo fhewn a brown Eagle, which was brought from Philadelphia by capt. Fitzroy, and prefented to his late majesty. The eagle is efteemed the king of birds, as the lion is the king of beafts; becaufe of all the fubordinations of their respective species, they have the fuperiority in point of fiercenefs and power to overcome and deftroy; for though there are of each kind others of far greater ftrength; as the bull for inftance in one fpecies, and the oftrich in the other; yet nature has with-held from these the weapons of deftruction, or the agility to use them, which fhe has, for wife purposes unknown to us, bestowed upon the others; and though the dominion is frequently difputed in the wilderness and forest, and sometimes the lion is vanquifhed by the tyger, and the eagle by the vulture, yet nature has fufficiently confirmed their refpective dignities by this, that no beast, though ever fo fierce, and made ravenous by hunger, will attack the lion for prey, nor bird the eagle: an obfervation that has efcaped the generality of writers on this fubject.→ The eagle is generally of a dark brown colour, has a large hooked bill, and vaft talons, and as fuch ftrength, that I have heard it confidently affirmed by perfons of undoubted credit, that they have been known to carry infants to their young, when they have failed of other food. An inftance whereof happened, as Sir Robbert Sibbald reports, while he was in the Orkney Ifles; for a woman there, being at harvest 1 work, and leaving her child, about a year old, at fome diftance from her, an eagle in fearch of prey efpied it, seized it in his talons, and carried it to his neft upon a neighbouring rock; which fome fishermen from the shore accidentally obferving, pursued and attacked the eagle and brought off the infant yet yet alive.Lambs, hares, fawns, pheasants, and even kids, are the ordinary food with which these birds bring up their young; and in the remote parts of France, if we may credit the following ftory, a gentleman who happens to have an eagle's neft or two on his estate, thinks them equivalent to a good farm's rent. The story we have from a gentleman lately arrived from his travels, who says, that while he was in the neighbourhood of Mende, an officer of diftinction invited him and fome other travellers to pafs a few days at his country-feat, where they were all entertained in the politeft manner. At the first collation he gave us, fays he, we obferved with fome furprize, that all the wild fowl that were brought to table wanted either a head, a wing, a leg, or fome other part, which occafioned our gentleman to fay very pleasantly, that we must pardon the voracioufnels of his caterer, who was fuch a brute, as always to be the first that tafted what he had provided. It is remarked by hiftorians, that the eagles shed their feathers every year, as the hart does his horns, and the serpent his fkin; and that they live to an exceeding great age. The benedictine monks of the abbey of St. Bertin, at St. Omer's have an eagle now living, which they report to be 300 years old. Others affirm, that one fpecies of eagles, as foon as they hatch, turn the heads of their young to the eaftern fun; and if they cannot bear the light and heat, fpurn them from the neft as a fpurious race. Agreeable to this is that beautiful fimile in Dryden. So when Jove's bird on fome tall cedar's head Then, Then, if unequal to the god of day, The next creature fhewn is a Racoon from the coaft of Guinea, which is fmall, but much more beautiful than those brought from America. This creature lives on the fea fands, and chiefly on fhell-fish, which it takes in a very safe and dexterous manner: for whenever the fish opens its fhell to receive either air or nutriment, this creature, we are told, puts a small pebble in, fo that the fhell may not close again, and then picks out the fifh with its claws. Near to this is a Tyger-Cat, brought from Bombay by captain Fletcher, and prefented to his prefent majefty. It is a beautiful creature, much larger than the largest boar-cat, delightfully coloured, and fierce beyond defcription. In the last place you are fhewn a large Hyena, a fierce animal, and is said to be endued with great fubtility; but the noife he makes alarms travellers, and gives them notice to avoid the danger. Yet, to those who are unacquainted with them, this noife may have a contrary effect; for they fo perfectly imitate the haman voice by a fort of moan and groan which they make, that a stranger might easily mistake it for the voice of a human creature in extreme torture. Some fay that the Hyena will dig human bodies out of their graves, and eat them; but perhaps this is only when preffed by the feverity of hunger. He naturally limps upon one of his hind-legs, notwithstanding which imperfection he is tolerably fwift; his neck is remarkably stiff, fo that in looking behind, or snatching B at at any thing obliquely, he is obliged to move his whole body in the fame manner as the hog, or the badger. He is of a dun colour, inclining to be reddish with some streaks of a dark brown; and the hair upon his neck is near a span long, and often set up like hogs bristles. We cannot quit this fubject, without lamenting the lofs of a fine large Oftrich which lately died here, and of whom we fhall give fome account, as we hope to see his habitation foon occupied by another. This creature was fent as a present to his late majefty by the dey of Tunis. His fhape and colour was not very unlike that of the turkey-cock breed, only greyer; but the size vastly bigger, being formerly accounted the largest bird in the world; but later difcoveries have proved the contrary. Its legs were as much as a man could well grafp, and very long, as was the neck, of which it had great command, carrying it as erect and stately as the Swan does, fo that when it walked, its bill was higher than the tallest man's head. You may judge of its bulk by its eggs of which she had laid fourteen fince fhe came to England, feveral of which are now to be feen, each weighing upwards of five pounds, and when first laid weighed above fix. It had a pretty large warm room to live in, which was often cleaned, and the straw therein fhifted, otherwise it would fooner have died; for the climate of this country seems by no means fitted to its tender nature, tho' by its large bones and vaft bulk, it appeared to be very strong. There was fome time ago a couple of these birds, but one died before the other, by fwallowing a large nail that ftop its paflage. The vulgar error, that the oftrich can digeft iron, has been long fince exploded: for in the year 1659, the Morocco ambassador to the States General, among other rarities, having brought over to Holland an |