The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-05 00:00:00

Curiosities of Natural History. By Frank Buck-
land, M.A. Third series. 2 vols. Bentley.

Mr. Buckland has done well to collect and re-
publish his scattered and very interesting memo-
randa, the results of many years' varied experience
and much close and discriminative observation. In
the two volumes now before us are some amusing
accounts of " Expeditions" to Southsea and Ports-
mouth, Yorkshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, and the
neighbourhood of London. Added to these are ex-
cursions to Connemara and Galway, with an hives-

gation into the history of the salmon and the cul-

tivation of rivers. We .neet next with amusing ad-
ventures with lions, tigers, and foxes, &c. As a
specimen of which, let us take the following vivid
description of

BOXING A TIGER.
Though I have had much to do with live lions, yet one
day we had great fun with a young tiger. My friend Mr.
Bartlett kindly sent over to the Regent's Park barracks, to
report that they were all ready to "pack up a tiger," and
would I come over ? Of course, I was soon at the gardens,
and a curious scene took place.

The tiger to be "packed up" was about the size of a
good big sheep-dog (only, of course, longer in the body).
She had been captured as a cub, and brought over from
India on board ship, where she had been made a great

pet of by the sailors, and was in consequence pretty tame.
" Puss" (for that was her name) was in one of the big dens
next tho large lions, having for her playmate a young

Leopard.
The box in which she was to be placed was wheeled up

La front of the den, and placed on its side ; it was simply a

Large box with strong broad wooden bars on one side (the
two centre ones taken cut), and two strong bits of wood so

arranged as to be screwed down in front of all the bare
when the beast was safe inside. I write when, because it

proved no easy task to get her into this bog. All prelimi-
naries being arranged, Cocksedge, the keeper, who knows

no fear with his beasts, went into the den with the tiger,
and callod "Puss, puss, puss," in an amiable manner. The
tiger came bounding up in a kitten-like fashion ; she car-
ried her tail erect over her back, and then raising her fur,

began to purr and rub herself against his legs. Cocksedge
then took a bit of ropo out of ono of his capacious pockets,

and proceeded to pass the end of it under Puss's collar.

Pus; in the meantime began to play with the slack of the

rope, as though it was great fun. Cocksedge, haling fixed
the rope, began to draw Puss gently toward the door.
She did not seem to care about this very much, but still

thinking that " a romp" wee meant, patted the rope with
her paws. Cocksedge, however, got outside the door of
the cage, and pulled somewhat harder. Puss began to
think that something more than a game of play was meant,
so she extended her feet, and pulled well backwards, and
her expression seemed to say, " Two can play at that game,

toy friend."
Another keeper then got into the den, and giving her a
gentle lift up behind, out she went of the open door on to
the stone space which is railed off to keep visitors from
the bars of the duns. The moment Puss felt she was out

of the cage, down she crouched, lashing her tail, as though
determined not to move an inch. The box was brought

nearer, and the rope passed in round one of the bars, and
then outside again. The keepers began to pull gently and
slowly upon it, the only result being to bring tho " moun-
tain to Mahomet"—i.e., the box to the Puss, not the Puss
to the box.

When the box was close to her head, they gave a sudden
pull on the rope, and at the same time advanced the box
quite close to her. The result was most laughable. Has
the reader ever witnessed the execution of " Punch," by
hanging in that most popular of street performances ?
"Punch," it may be recollected, cannot be made to under-
stand where he is to place his head. In like manner, Puss
could not understand what benefits could be derived from

placing her head into the opening of the box before her;
so tho result of the pull on the rope, and the advancing of
the box, and the lifting of her hind-quarters, was simply
to bring her head well on to the top of the box, several
inches above the lid, her sprawling arms and legs being

extended, spread-eagle fashion, in front of it. " Try
again," therefore, was the word. "Look out," said I to
Cocksedge, "the strap round Puss's neck is only leather,
and is very likely to give way." Accordingly, on the next
trial, smack it went, and Puss, feeling herself loose and
free, instantly made a bolt for it. Cocksedge, with his
usual coolness and courage, snatched at her as she was
slouching quickly away, and got hold of her tail.
Like the cats used in that refined but barbarous punish-
ment of the poor niggers, where a common house cat is
placed on the poor black man's back, and her tail smartly
pulled, so did "our Puss" instantly extend all her sharp
talons, and hold on, as well as she could, to the stones,
thus giving time and opportunity for the rope (without
the strap) again to be placed round her neck. A trial was
again made to get her into the box ; but Puss, having by
this time found out that Cocksedge was in earnest, showed
fight in the most wonderful manner. She put back her
ears, showed her young but terrible fangs, and struck at
any intruding human limb with her broad, talon-armed
pats ; she had quite lost her temper, and was a true
embodiment of the phrase the nurse sometimes applies
to a naughty child—" She fought like a young tiger."
At last, feeling somewhat exhausted, she sat down on
her haunches, lashing her tail from side to side with
real anger.
The rope plan was therefore given up, and the director
of the proceedings, 'lr. Bartlett, ordered the keeper to
" fetch the bag." He shortly reappeared with a common
sack, the open end of which which was mounted on to
a strong pole (like an ordinary landing-net for fishing),
the shut end of the bag being laced up, after the fashion
of a Balmoral boot, only that the lace-holes were much
further apart. Watching his opportunity, ono of the
keepers slipped the bag over her head (like a lady catches
a butterfly on a hedge), and Puss was fairly in the bag ;
he then lifted it up, thinking Puss would stay quietly
there. Puss thought otherwise, for the moment the bag
was off the ground she twisted herself right round, her
head appeared at the mouth of the bag, and out she hopped
like a " Jack-in-a-box ;" her wrath in the mean time grew
fiercer and fiercer, and she challenged all corners to deadly
combat. Stealing up this time behind her, while Mr.
Bartlett kept her attention engaged in front (the " Puss
puss, puss" days were over long ago), the keeper put the
bag once more overher bead, and lifting it up a little from
the ground, a rope was tied round it, the bag was then
lifted up by means of the polo, and a pretty turmoil took
place inside it. Puss scratched, and yelled, and jumped
about so, that one would have thought that the keeper had
caught a real live demon, but this did not last very long;
the closed end of the sack was placed over the opening in
the box, and the lacing carefully undone, and Puss fell into
the box by her own weight.
It made me laugh to look at her Lee when she was a
prisoner. She peered out of the wrong side of the bars
with her bright but glaring eyes, which seemed to say,
"Well, you have done me now. If I had known what the
lot of you wore about with your Puss, puss, puss,' and
your fawning civilities a quarter of an hour ago, nothing
would have induced me to come out of my cage so readily.
Confound that sack, that's hardly fair." When the con-
quered Puss was safe in the box, the victorious Cocksedge
rubbed his hands and set to work vigorously to screw down
the bars which were to keep her in. "You're all right
now, you tiresome young hussy," said he, "and off you'll
go by to-night's train to Mr. Edmonds's menagerie, at
Manchester ; and I only hope they will use you as well
there as I have used you here."
The above quotation will be sufficient evidence
of the lively, pleasant manner in which Mr. Buck-
land narrates his experiences. His sketches of
" Giants" and " porpoises," "performing fleas," and
" Australian fat boys," " baby-shows," and " Ben
Jonson's skull," and other equally amazing and
multifarious matters, occupy the second volume, de-
scribed in the same graphic and animated manner,
happily combining the " grave aid gay," the
" lively and severe."

Club Life of London. By John Timbs, F.S.A.
Two Vols. Bentley.

Amusing, indeed, are these records of the Club
Life of London by the indefatigable and inexhaus-
tible John Timbs—anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-
houses, and Taverns of the Metropolis during
the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. There are
grouped together in the present volume sketches of
One Hundred Clubs, ranging from the Mermaid in
Bread-street to the Garrick in Covent-garden.
" Considering the mixed object of these clubs,"
says the compiler of their history, " strict classifi-
cation was scarcely attainable, hence chronological
sequence has been adopted, with the advantage of
presenting more connected views of social life than
Gould have been gained by the former arrange-
ment." Begining with the origin of clubs, we arc
appropriately reminded, in the words of a true
philosopher, that " all celebrated clubs werefounded
upon eating and drinking, which are points where
most men agree, and in which the learned and the
illiterate, the dull and the airy, the philosopher and
the buffoon can all of them bear a part." The one
great centre of attraction, common to all, having
been thus discovered " the feast of reason and the
flow of soul" come in as happy auxiliaries. About
the end of the sixteenth century was established
the famous Club at the Mermaid Tavern in
Bread-street, of which Shak.;pere, Beaumont,
Fletcher, Raleigh, Selden, Donne, and others
were members, but it is not until shortly
after this date, says Mr. Timbs, that we find
the word club. Aubrey says, "We now use the
word clubbe for a sodality in a tavern," and in 1659
Aubrey became a member of the Rota, a political

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