oyed in coition, that state was not interrupted for two or three
days. The insects on which are observed this remarkable circumstance,
were the _Cantharis oclemero_, and some others. Spanish flies, you
will say? That accounts for it; but at present we are not mystifying
our indulgent readers.

SHOOTING FISH.

Long before the middle of September we are frequently startled, before
we have proceeded a hundred yards, by the popping of guns amongst the
vineyards and chestnut woods, but more frequently in the direction of
the stream that winds along our valley--and the sight of one or two of
the chasseurs on the road may well surprise any not accustomed to the
sports of the Lucchese.--Here are two of them, each with a gun on his
shoulder, coming up the stream. One has shot three four-ounce dace,
which dangle by his side; the other has a bag full of _small fry_,
shot as they frisked about in shoals near the water's edge! an ounce
of _sand_ exploded to receive about the same amount of fish! The man
who has shot the dace is proud of his exploit, and keeps turning them
round and round to gauge their dimensions, as if they were partridges!
Don't think, however, they have killed off all the fish of the stream.
Besides that string of four-ounce dace, we have every now and then a
sample of barbel and trout. One man has purchased the monopoly of the
fishery within two miles, and for which he pays twelve crowns by the
year. He sells his trout at two, and two and a half, pauls per pound,
and we should have thought that he made a good thing of it; but they
lose their fish: the torrents come and empty the holes, and they have
nothing for it but to stock them again--an event which, he assured me,
frequently took place. Besides, fly-rods and flies have been
introduced by an English shopkeeper, and there is no legal provision
against them.

OWLS.

There comes a man with an owl in a basket and another tied by the leg
on a pole covered with red cloth; another accompanies him with a
bundle of reeds, through which a rod runs, smeared all the way down
with birdlime. This apparatus he disposes on a hedge or cover of any
kind--the little owl (_Civetta_) sits opposite on his pole--the birds
come to tease him, and fly on the birdlime twig, when, if it be a
sparrow, he is effectually detained by the viscus only--if a
blackbird, pop at him goes an old rusty gun. "We sometimes catch
twenty tomtits before breakfast," said a modest-looking sports