heat: the second was more warmly contested, and Blackbird was here the favorite, winning it by a length. A third heat then became necessary, which proved very amusing to dingy beauties, all talking in a high key: it also created much interest in the aristocracy (such the Whites considered themselves) of the Island. In this heat there was hard running but no finessing, the riders making the play all the way. The Garrison Officer's horse now pressed Blackbird, and displaced the Major's, all, however, very close to near the winning-post, when the bit broke in Black bird's mouth; but Blackey, crumpled up like a squirrel, kept his seat, and leaning forward made a kind of coil with the bridle round the horse's nose, and won the race by a neck: the horse might be said, however, to have brought himself in*: so much for the courage and sagacity of this noble animal. The applause now became deafening, and Quashy declared, "I hab neber see anyting like dat:" whilst jet-black flirts, and divers shades and gradations, from Afric's coast to the whiteybrown complexion, familiarly accosted each other. "How d'y do, Ma'am?"-" Tank ye, how you do yourself, Missey?"-" Good marning! how your pickaninny?" "Bless you, Ma'am, him die last night, heigh!" In the course of the second heat one of the outsiders broke down, which reminds me of the great superstition of the Negroes. The morning previous to the race, Major M's horses were just quitting the stable for their exercise, when he perceived his Black trainer take up the entered horse's feet, one by one, and apply something to the inside of each. Alarmed at this, the Major went over to him, and said, "What! is the horse lame ?"-" No, Massa." "What are you then doing to his feet?"-" Noting, Massa." The master, however, not satisfied with this answer, examined them himself, and found the mark of a Cross deeply drawn with chalk on each."What does this mean?" said he. The man hung his head, and hesitated, unwilling to give an answer: when, however, he was hard pressed, he replied (with observations half full of faith and half unworthy to be applied to so sacred a subject), dat lucky sign, Massa; dat keep him from all harm; him never break down with dat, and no accident happen him: dat lucky sign, him sure to do well." We leave the reader to make his own reflections on this occurrence, and take our leave of him and this ancient Jamaica race together. AN IMPERIAL HUNTRESS. I HAVE already observed that mighty hunters were generally mighty men: the same may be said of women. It is pleasing to see a well-mounted woman reining in her palfrey majestically: and riding Queens, both ancient and modern, have all been great Sovereigns. They raise our admiration, command respect, and animate their troops by their mere appearance on a battle-field, at a review, or in the field for sports. This was the case from the days of Queen Boadicea down Queen Bess; and it rejoiceth us to * It is well known that horses will run a race without riders. Witness that of the Corso at Rome; but we disapprove of the galling stimulus there applied. that Her Most Gracious Majesty is a horsewoman also. The French nation always regretted that Louis XVIII. could not be seen on horseback, calculating that he who has to manage the reins of Government ought, at least, to know how to handle those of his horse-recollecting that Henri Quatre, and Louis le Grand, and Frederick the Great, not forgetting Alexander of old, were all first-rate riders. A King cannot show himself to his army and people without this, nor a Queen either: and here, soit dit en passant, the Empress Marie Louise rode the high-horse in great style, although Napoleon took her down upon one occasion when she was enciente and forbidden to take this exercise. I shall not occupy my readers' time by a detail of the hunting Ladies, the fine horsewomen, nor the female charioteers of ancient and modern date, (amongst which I never shall forget the impression made on me, in my boyish days, by Lady Archer in her high phaeton, rich enamelled complexion, and four fine greys,) but come direct to an Imperial Huntress, or rather a general sportswoman of the first calibre. Previously to the return of Don Pedro from the Brazils, the Em press was to be met frequently in different parts thereof in her sporting attire, and with all the paraphernalia of the sports of the field; or, to use the Great Bard's style, 66 Caparison'd, mounted for warrior-deed." When last seen in this costume she was on a fine horse, which she rode en cavalier*, disdaining the side-saddle, and was flanked by servants on either hand bearing fowling-pieces, and surrounded by her dogs. Her hat was richly surmounted by ostrich feathers; her palefreniers were highly laced, but still the whole turn-out was that of Imperial Majesty in cog. Her manners were affable, and she saluted those passing with condescension, and strangers with an increased degree thereof. In England, we are not accustomed to see Royalty, Nobility, or Fashion of the female sex dead-shots, break-neck riders, nor scientific sportswomen: a dexterous lady-charioteer, or a skilful female toxopholite, is the highest degree in our Sporting World. But they manage these matters differently abroad, where, close almost to the neighbouring shore, I know a masculine old lady who travels with such a caravan that one might think she was prepared for the Deserts of *This I have seen frequently in the olden times in remote parts of the Continent. The ladies who rode in this gentlemanlike manner were habited à l'Anglaise down to the waist-i. e. in the jacket of a riding-habit, but having very large loose trowsers for their lower garment, and sometimes all buttoned down the side like our overalls. The first I saw drew from me an exclamation formed on a quotation from the Art of Poetry of my old friend Horace_ "Desinet in piscem mulier formosa superne :" for a queer fish the Lady seemed. In Italy the first British female who was seen on the side-saddle, the passers-by exclaimed, Pater de Bacco! ecco una donna a Cavallo con una gamba: "By the power of Bacchus" (a substitute for an oath), "behold a Lady on horseback with one leg!" The Baronne de B- R. was the most decided female cavalier I ever beheld, being worthy of the Amazons of old; but she had seen some service (the Russian campaign); and a friend of mine, whenever she visited him in Paris, used to accost her with, "Baroness, will you have a little drop, or a cigar?" to which her general answer was, "Camarade, je preferre le petit verre.' Arabia-dogs, horses, cart, arms, ammunition, &c. &c. It is but justice here to add that the Empress is not thus: she is all the Sovereign and all the Lady, pleasing in her appear SIR, ance and dignified in her demeanour. She rode a fine English hunter, the native ones being very inferior indeed*. I am, Sir, yours, &c. THE HERMIT IN LONDON. THE REEVE. YOU are no doubt very well aware that several animals which are interesting objects to the sportsman are not so general as to be met with in every part of the country, particularly those birds of the migratory kind which afford good diversion in places where they are found. A woodcock, for instance, is rarely seen in the midland counties, including even Leicestershire, where the woods are very extensive, and where well-protected plashes and springs frequently occur. Nor indeed are the migratory birds general upon the whole extent of our coast, as, while they are numerous in some parts, in others not one is to be seen; or, at least, its appearance is regarded almost as a phenomenon. As I was taking a sauntering walk on Sunday morning the 4th of May, on approaching a small fish pond fringed with sedges, my attention was attracted by the rising of two birds, which appeared about the size of a snipe, and to fly somewhat in a similar manner; but in their flight they exhibited a considerable display of whiteness beneath the wings, with other appearances, which immediately convinced me they were not snipes. At all events they were strangers in these parts, and I resolved to become, if possible, more intimately acquainted with them. They did not fly to any great distance; and as I had not the least doubt that they would visit the spot again in the course of the day, I went home, loaded my double fowling-piece, and returned to the place, where I secreted myself as well as I could, determined to exhaust my patience ere I gave up the hope of possessing them. However, I had not waited more than about an hour, when I observed the birds alight by the side of the fishpond; and so eager was I to obtain them, that I did not suffer myself to watch their motions for many seconds, when I pulled the trigger and killed one; the other took wing, but finding its companion did not follow, it wheeled *The only good horses to be met with in the Brazils, unless imported from England, or of the Spanish breed, are the Buenos-Ayrean horses: they are both active and strong, and go a considerable way in a short gallop, or kind of hand-canter. There are some of them that carry Ladies like the old Lady's pad, in a kind of easy shuffle; others are broken to arch their knees preposterously, which is deemed showy: their best are but slow compared to ours; and their dogs are staunch, but slow. In fact these foreigners are quite astonished and out of breath to see our high-travelled dogs beat a field or range a country. A sportsman may apply to all parts of the Old and New World what a female did to the Army of Occupation on its quitting France. She lit up a transparency, bearing these words-Plus je vois d'étrangers, plus j'aime mon pays. about and again took its station by the side of the fish-pond, but at a much greater distance than before. I fired and wounded the bird, but it nevertheless escaped. On taking up the bird at which I had discharged the first barrel, I felt a perfect conviction that it belonged to the tribe of sandpipers, and a little investigation proved it to be the reeve; its companion, in all probability, the ruff; but this I was unable to ascertain, as the latter, though wounded and unable to fly, nevertheless ran away, and completely eluded my search. Ruffs and reeves (the first the male, the latter the female) are birds of passage, and arrive in the fens of Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely, and the East Riding of Yorkshire, in the spring, in great numbers. Pennant tells us, that in the course of a single morning there have been above six dozen caught in one net, and that a fowler has been known to catch between forty and fifty dozen in one season. The ruff is scarcely so large as the common snipe, with a bill about an inch long. The face is covered with yellow pimples, and the back part of the head and neck are furnished with long feathers, standing out somewhat like the ruff worn by our ancestors: a few of these feathers stand up over each eye, and appear not unlike ears. The colours of the ruff are in no two birds alike: in general they are brownish and barred with black, though some have been seen that were altogether white. The lower parts of the belly and the tail coverts are white. The tail is longer than in the snipe, having the four middle feathers barred with black; the others are pale brown. The legs are of a greenish yellow, and the claws black. The female, which is called the reeve, is smaller than the male, of a light brown colour, and destitute of the ruff on the neck. The male bird does not acquire his ruff till the second season, being till that time, in this respect, like the female: as he is also from the end of June till the pairing season, when Nature clothes him with the ruff, and the red pimples break out on his face; but, after the time of incubation the long feathers fall off, and the caruncles shrink in under the skin, so as not to be discerned. According to the accounts of those who have written on the subject, the ruffs are much more numerous than the reeves; and that, on this account, severe contests frequently ensue between the males. The ruff chooses a stand on some dry bank near a plash of water, round which he runs so often as to make a bare circular path. The moment a female comes in sight, all the males within a certain distance commence a general battle, placing their bills to the ground, spreading their ruffs, and using the same action as a cock; and this opportunity is seized by the fowlers, who, in the confusion, catch them by means of nets in great numbers. These birds are sometimes kept in a state of confinement, and fattened for the table with bread and milk, hemp-seed, and sometimes boiled wheat; but if expedition is required, sugar is added, which in a fortnight makes them a lump of fat. Great nicety is requisite to kill them in the highest state of perfection: if the precise period be suffered to pass, the birds are apt to fall away. The method of killing them is by cutting off the head with a pair of scissors, and the quantity of blood that issues, considering the size of the bird, is very great. Like woodcocks, they are dressed with their intestines; and, when killed at the critical time, epicures declare them to be the most delicious of all morsels. When in a state of confinement, it seems each ruff takes its stand in the room in the same manner as it would in the open fen; if another invades its circle, an attack is made, a battle ensues, and a whole room may be set into fierce contests by compelling them to move their stations. If the trough out of which they feed be not sufficiently large so as to admit the birds without touching each other, fierce contests immediately ensue; but it is not requisite that each bird should have a separate trough, or that they should be fed in the dark-notions which were for some time entertained respecting these birds. Ruffs assume such a variety of colours that it is scarcely possible SIR, A to find two alike; but the great length of the feathers on the neck, from which they take their name, at once distinguishes them from all other birds. This tuft and the feathers of the ruff are frequently of different colours in the same bird, while the ruff itself is of an infinite variety of dies. Latham observes, that "of whatever hue the ruff may be, the breast differs very little, and the transverse markings on the upper parts of its plumage somewhat correspond, the ground tint being mostly brown." The tuft in the male is not a warlike ornament only, but is a sort of defensive armour, which wards off the blows by the length, stiffness, and closeness of the feathers: they bristle in a threatening manner when the bird makes an attack, and their colours form the chief distinction between the individuals. It is not known with certainty where these birds pass the winter: they leave this country about Michaelmas. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Markfield, May 13, 1832. THE RABBIT. UTHORS who have written on the subject of Rabbits inform us that those which are bred up tame do not take the trouble of digging a hole; and that when people, to produce a warren, stock it with tame rabbits, having been unaccustomed to the art of scraping a hole, continue exposed to the weather and every other accident, without ever burrowing. Their immediate offspring (say these writers) are equally regardless of their safety; and it is not till after two or three generations, that these animals begin to find the necessity and convenience of an asylum, and practise an art which they could only learn from na ture. About twelve months since a |