board the former vessel. All
their property was lost, and, on their being landed the next day at
Leghorn, an attempt was made by the authorities to detain the vessel, and
all on board, for twenty days in quarantine, on the ground of the Pollux's
bill of health having been lost in the foundered vessel! But Prince Canino
again came to the rescue, and they eventually returned in the Mongibello
to Civita Vecchia, and thence to Rome, where, as a climax to their
misfortunes, Mr Waterton was for some time laid up by an attack of fever.
It was not till the 20th of July that he finally set out with his party
for England, having in the mean time made a singular addition to his
suite, which is treated of at length in one of the Essays.

Among the various strange birds which find a place in the Roman bill of
fare, is a pretty little owl yclept the Civetta, (called by British
ornithologists, from its diminutive size, the _passerina_, or sparrow
owl,) which abounds throughout Italy, where it figures in more varied
capacities than is consistent with the usually reserved habits of its
race. "You may see it plucked and ready trussed for the spit, on the same
stall at which hawks, crows, jackdaws, jays, magpies, hedgehogs, frogs,
snails, and buzzards, are offered for sale to the passing conoscenti"--a
catalogue of dainties which bears but a small proportion to a more
extended _carte raisonnee_ elsewhere given by Mr Waterton, who verily
believes that "scarcely any thing which has had life in it comes amiss to
the Italians in the way of food, except the Hanoverian rat." It is used by
sportsmen (as we find from Savi's _Ornitologia Toscana_) as a decoy for
small birds, which it attracts within gunshot by its singular gestures
when placed on the top of a pole; and it "is much prized by the gardener,
for its uncommon ability in destroying insects, snails, slugs, and
reptiles. There is scarcely an outhouse in the vineyards and gardens which
is not tenanted by the Civetta, and it is often brought up tame from the
nest." It has hitherto been known in England only as a rare and accidental
visitor; and Mr Waterton, actuated by a patriotic desire to secure for his
countrymen the benefit of its services--"not, by the way, in the kitchen,
but in the kitchen-garden"--provided himself with a dozen as _compagnons
de voyage_, on quitting Rome. At Genoa, an inclination was manifested by
the custom-house officers to claim duty on this novel article of
export