Arrival at Antigua-Dominica--Frogs and Humming-birds-Martinico -Diamond rock-Barbadoes-Quashi and Venus-The Alien Bill- Sail for Demerara-More about the Sloth-Scarlet Grosbeak- Crab-eating Owl-Sun-heron-Feet of the Tinamou — Vampires again The Karabimiti Humming-bird-The Monkey tribe-The Ped Howler-Roast monkey-The Nondescript Altered physi- PAGE 310--334 ON PRESERVING BIRDS FOR CABINETS OF NATURAL Faults in bird-stuffing-Tools required-Knowledge of anatomy-- Attitudes of birds-Flow of the plumage-How to skin a bird— Inserting cotton-Killing wounded birds-Stuffing a hawk-The first incision-The skin to be pushed, not pulled-Arrangement of wings-Modelling the body-Spreading the tail-Constant attention required-Strength and elasticity-Value of corrosive sublimate- BIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. Autobiography of Waterton.-Descent from Sir Thomas More.-Twentyseventh Lord of Walton, and sixteenth in descent from John Waterton. —Religious faith of the family.-Persecutions of Roman Catholics and confiscation of the estates.-Double taxes and fines.-Birth and early life.-Escapades at Tudhoe.-The cow and the washing-tub.-Removal to Stonyhurst.-Birds'-nesting, a chase and a pigstye.-Good advice from one of the fathers.- Parting with Stonyhurst.-First voyage to Cadiz.-The apes at Gibraltar. Habits of the animals. Stay in Malaga.-Acquirement of Spanish.-Projected visit to Malta.-Advent of the plague.-Seized with the disease and recovery.-Closing of the ports.-A hazardous and carefully-planned escape.-Preparations on board ship. The opportunity seized. -Escape successful.-Death of an uncle.-Discovery of an old friend.-Failing health.-Voyage to Demerara.-Death of his father and succession to the family estates. In the introductory prefaces to Waterton's Wanderings, the author has afforded but little account of himself, but in the volumes of his Essays, and some of his Letters, he has fortunately given a sufficiency of information to furnish a tolerably unbroken biography from his birth to his death. His was a very long life, and as he considered that life as a sacred trust, he never wasted an hour of it. WATERTON was the representative of one of the most ancient English families, and was justly proud of his B descent from Sir Thomas More. A clock which had bestill in existence, and longed to that great ancestor is occupied a place of honour on the upper landing of the central staircase of Walton Hall. It is but a little clock, and has only a single hand, but it keeps time as well as ever, and the sound of its bell is so clear, that it can be heard at a considerable distance from the house. He mentions in his own quaint way, that if his ancestors had been as careful of their family records as Arabs are of the pedigrees of their horses, he might have been able to trace his descent up to Adam and Eve. The following account of the Waterton family is taken from the Illustrated London News of June 17, 1865, and has been revised by a member of the house. "The good and amiable old Lord of Walton, Charles Waterton, better known for miles around his ancestral domain as "the squire," was the representative of one of our most ancient untitled aristocratic families, and, what is more deserving of record in these days, in the male line. "His ancestor, Reiner, the son of Norman of Normandy, who became Lord of Waterton in 1159, was of Saxon origin. The Watertons of Waterton became extinct in the male line in the fifteenth century, when their vast possessions passed away, through Cecilia, wife of Lord Welles and heiress of her brother, Sir Robert Waterton, to her four daughters and co-heiresses, who married, respectively, Robert, Lord Willoughby de Eresby, Sir Thomas Dymoke, Thomas Laurence, Esq., and Sir Thomas Delaware. "Sir John Waterton was high sheriff of Lincoln in 1401, and master of the horse to Henry V. at Agincourt. Sir Robert, his brother, whose wife was a lady of the garter, was governor of Pontefract Castle while Richard II. was confined there: he had been master of the horse to Henry IV. Sir Hugh, another brother, held high offices of state. Charles Waterton, in whom the representation of his ancient house was vested, was descended from Richard, second son of William Waterton, Lord of Waterton, who died in 1255. In 1435 John Waterton married the heiress of Sir William Ashenhull, and became Lord of Walton and Cawthorne, jure uxoris. Walton formed part of the Honour of Pontefract, of which Ashenhold, a Saxon thane, was the Lord, and which was held by his son Ailric, in the reign of S. Edward the Confessor. At the Conquest it was given by William the Norman to one of his followers, Ilbert de Lacy, who granted it back again to Ailric, father of Suein. Adam, the son of Suein, Lord of Brierley, Cawthorne, and Walton, was the founder of the priory of Monk Bretton, and left two daughters and co-heiresses, Amabil and Matilda. The former had Walton and Cawthorne, and became the wife of William de Nevile. They had one daughter and heiress, who married Thomas, the son of Philip de Burgh. Walton and Cawthorne remained in the possession of the De Burghs for seven generations, and then passed with the co-heiress of Sir John de Burgh to Sir William Ashenhull, whose heiress conveyed it to John Waterton in 1435. "Thus Mr. Waterton was twenty-seventh Lord of Walton, and sixteenth from John Waterton, who acquired that lordship. There was a grant of free warren at Walton in the reign of Edward I., and a license to crenellate in 1333. Without reference to the numerous distinguished alliances of his ancestors, it may be interesting to state that Mr. Waterton, through distinct sources, traced his descent several times over from S. Matilda, Queen of Germany; S. Margaret of Scotland, S. Humbert of Savoy, S. Louis of France, S. Ferdinand of Castile, and Wladimir the Great, called S. Wladimir of Russia, and Anne, called S. Anne of Russia. Through his grandmother he was ninth in descent from Sir Thomas More." The Watertons fared but badly in the stormy times of the Reformation, and, preferring conscience to property, they retained their ancient faith, but lost heavily in this world's goods. The many coercive acts against the Roman Catholics naturally had their effect, not only on those who actually lived in the time of the Reformation, but upon their successors. A Roman Catholic could not sit in parliament, he could not hold a commission in the army, he could not be a justice of the peace, he had to pay double land-tax, and to think himself fortunate if he had any land left on which taxes could be demanded. He was not allowed to keep a horse worth more than five pounds, and, more irritating than all, he had either to attend the parish church or to pay twenty pounds for every month of absence. In fact, a Roman Catholic was looked upon and treated as a wholly inferior being, and held much the same relative position to his persecutors as Jews held towards the Normans and Saxons in the times of the Crusades. Within the memory of many now living, the worst of the oppressive acts have been repealed, and Roman Catholics are now as free to follow their own form of worship as before the days of Henry VIII. They have seats in parliament and on the bench, they hold commissions both in the army and navy, and all the petty but galling interferences with the details of their private life have been abolished. Still, Waterton was, during some of his best years, a personal sufferer from these acts, and they rankled too deeply in his mind to be forgotten. Hence, the repeated and mostly irrelevant allusions in his writings to Martin Luther, Henry VIII., Queen Bess, Archbishop Cranmer, |