The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-29 00:00:00

RAIL WAY EXTENSION.

An inspection of that portion of the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway between Herne-hill and the Beckenham
junction took place on Saturday, preparatory to its being
opened for public traffic on Wednesday next. 1 his line will
then be, for the first time, in possession of the through line
running over their own property, between the two terminal
stations, London and Dover. The Dulwich station of this
line is situated about a mile from Herne-hill, and about
two miles from the latter place will be the temporary depot
for the Crystal Palace, and which will be used until the
opening of the Crystal Palace and South London Railway
in the beginning of 1865. This station, although three
quarters of a mile from the entrance to the Palace, will be a
great convenience to the inhabitants of Camberwell, Brix-
ton, Clapham, &c., who hitherto have had no ready means
of access to Sydenham. The line passes through the Syden-
ham tunnel, which is 2,200 yards long. On account of the
treacherous nature of the London clay, through which it is
driven, it has been found necessary to arch it in several places
with 12 layers of brick, eight layers being the minimum in any
part. The total number of bricks used in its construction is
32,000,000, or 10,000,000 more than are contained in the
whole Exhibition building. At its southern end the nine
main lines of the Brighton and South Eastern are crossed,
but during the whole of the work no interruption of their
traffic took place. Just beyond this spot is the Penge sta-
tion, and about a mile farther on the junction with the
maia line to Dover is reached. The distance from Victoria
station to Beckenham by the new line will be n miles in-
stead of 11t by the present route, and from Beckenham to
the Elephant and Castle the distance will be 7: miles. Al-
though there will be a saving of three miles on the whole
distance, and the gradients are much easier than those on
the West-end and Crystal Palace Railway, the company
will not lessen the time in which trains run from London
to Dover until the new line is perfectly consolidated.
Herne-hill will be the junction station for all the London,
Chatham, and Dover through trains. Those coming from
the Elephant and Castle will be united, and the up trains
will be separated at this station. Colonel Yolland inspects
the line to-day.
,er

CAPTAIN GRANT.—Captain Grant, of Nairn, who
recently arrived in England, along with his fellow-
explorer, Captain Speke, will no doubt soon rejoin his
mother and other near relatives at Dingwall, and it may bo
reasonably expected that he will not omit to revisit his
native place, where his youthful life so much endeared hint
to rich and poor. In such a case it will be for the people
of Nairn to evince, in some special manner, their apprecia-
tion of his services to his countrymen, and to show the
pride with which they regard him as a fellow-townsman.
While it is gratifying to hear that his health has not
suffered from his trying travels, we regret to learn that he
carrying
is still annoyed with pains caused by the wounds he had.
received at the siege of Lucknow.---Nait 2elegraph,
THE ADVENTURES OF AN EAGLE IN SEARCH OF
PREY.—A few days ago, while several dogs and tt.
lot of ravens were enjoying a feast on the carcass
ofa horseoff aat Braehour, they were suddenly disturbed by the presence
ofd
thetie
ravenslarge
fewaway, n
eagle, at whose
oe
of theappear ance the dogs ran off
and latter
portion of the entrails, part being swallowed. The raven
yabalweaeyithweirthtoahsoeuptazatelf ora disgorge her she
had
succeeded in seizing
mouth. The eagle observing this, instantly
0 yard
of tdhane egnlindogfbfoetym:iehscee,re
is, gave chase, and
and in dragging both it and theh hold
to the ground, on,
reinaf
taecrh
naagd we ha i
mc he
ahl eo
fs t
irtu cakudatnhde ke
ai lr
reida
nt
ree rt
us vn
n,
ga n
towards
hadthe retnicarcass.ue, d In
nthpoes rcseeeasniotnimbee,inhg nine points
two of the dogs
points of the law,
'hey growled defiance at the invader, and prepared to de-
fend their rights. The eagle, bent on obtaining possession,
for a short time hovered near the spot, and suddenly de-
scending gave the dogs two blows with its wings and ex •
pelled them. It fed for a short time, and then flew off with
a large piece of carrion, which it deposited on a distant emi-
nence, thereafter descending into the neighbouring loch,
and enjoying a bath with evident relish. This, however,
did not finish the eagle's adventures of the day. After
slowly rising out of the loch, it descended upon a flock of
sheep and lambs, and carried off in its talons a young lamb
from the stock of Mr. Gunn, Braehour, disappearing on the
top of Dorrery, Mr. Gunn, having observed the theft,
gave chase, accompanied, strange to say, by the ewe whose
lamb had been taken away, Whether the mother had ob
served the direction the eagle took, or merely followed Mr.
Gunn after being deprived of its lamb, it is impossible to
say, but it is certainly singular that she should have at
once, without invitation, accompanied him in the chase
after her young one. On arriving at the top of Dorrery,
the eagle was observed resting, while the lamb was skip-
ping about uninjured. The eagle maintained its position
till Mr. Gunn was within 50 yards of it, when it took its
flight ; and Mr. Gunn, with the ewe and lamb, returned to
Braehour, the lamb being none the worse for its aerial
voyage in the talons of the eagle,—XertiernEnsip,