_A Thief._--A correspondent of the Penny Magazine, who lived close
to the outlet of a small lake, used to bestow a great deal of care and
attention upon the rearing of young ducklings; but, after all, he had
the mortification to find his efforts fruitless. The old ones would
hatch fine healthy broods; but as soon as they were strong enough to
waddle to a sedgy stream that issued from the adjoining lake, one or
two daily disappeared, to the gentleman's great annoyance. Having
suffered these continual depredations for two or three seasons, he one
day noticed a nice duckling gradually disappear under the water; but
judge of his surprise when he beheld a large bull-frog crawl out upon
the prostrate trunk of a tree, with the duckling's feet still
protruding from his capacious mouth! The mystery was thus solved; the
bull-frogs had swallowed all the young ducks!
_Curious._--Some years ago, the city of Metz was afflicted by one
among the seven plagues of Egypt, namely, frogs; certain streets were
filled with these animals, and no one was able to conjecture from
whence they came, until it was explained by a dealer in frogs applying
to the tribunals for the recovery of his property. He had shut up about
six thousand frogs, designed for food, in a particular place belonging
to the fish-market, where they were discovered by some children, who
took part away to sell, and on leaving the troughs in the fish-market,
forgot to close them. Profiting by the opening thus left, the frogs
began to spread themselves in various parts, and even got into some of
the neighboring houses, whose inhabitants found much difficulty in
ejecting the unwelcome intruders.
_An Escape._--A butcher in Glasgow found an ordinary-sized living frog
in the stomach of a cow, which he had just killed. When laid down, it
was full of spirit, and leaped about the slaughter-house, to the
astonishment of a considerable crowd. The cow was killed between three
and four o'clock in the afternoon; it was supposed she had swallowed
the frog when drinking.