IN reedy swamp and lonely marsh,
Where all is shade and gloom,
The Bittern stalks, and you may hear
His voice in sullen boom.
C—THE CAMEL.
THE Camel is a useful beast,
Patient, and slow, and mild;
To man a blessing and a boon
In Afric's sandy wild.
BADGERS.
O
NE day at the Zoological Gardens, I saw the group of Badgers as they are here given. Little do visitors to the gardens take into account how much a wild animal goes through till it has got used to a state of things so opposite to its natural habits. Their wants are attended to as much as possible, but cannot be always met; and so we have here a devoted mother, worn out by the demands of her cubs, and vainly anxious to hide herself from daylight and man's gaze. She has long given up trying to dig or scratch her way out. All she can do is to lean against the wall, ready for a last defence, should anybody come within her prison. She dares not curl up into a ball, like the one cub, and go to sleep; while this little careless imp on her back, happy and trustful, adds to her tiredness by his weight.