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and the former was engaged in private devotions. T h e " Professor" hopped his way to the house, and noiselessly entering the parlour stationed himself in a corner, and for some time was an unseen and attentive listener to the precations he heard read. Suddenly the lady was thunderstruck by hearing within a few yards of where she sat, a cracked, screaming, u n h u m a n voice, bidding her to be off at once to an unterrestrial region of a n a m e unmentionable, and on turning round in extreme alarm to question the intruder, she was horrified at beholding not only a speaking but a swearing magpie—certainly not a bird of Paradise, but more like a feathered imp, escaped from that mysterious region with the name of which he was so familiar. Whilst hesitating as to summoning assistance to eject the unholy visitant, the disturber solved the uncertainty for her by ejaculating a stunning oath or two, and making his exit through the open window. But the " Professor" was gifted with another accomplishment less objectionable, and at times profitable to his proprietor. From habit in listening at the frequently-held Pound sales, and a course of drilling, he acquired the art of bidding at the beck of the auctioneer. O f course he could only do so in the most restricted sense; as his lingual faculty in this respect was limited to the enunciation of the word " ten" whenever his master indulged in a peculiar nod. T h e bird would be stowed away in sight of the vendor, upon w h o m on all such occasions he would keep a constant eye, and so the m o m e n t the signal came from the one, the " ten" issued from the throat of the other. This style of puffing was often the source of endless fun, though occasionally a bidder was bitten by the magpie's intelligence. Once there was a largely-attended sale of impounded horses and cattle, and amongst the former was afilly,m u c h fancied by a well-known publican ("Jack L a m b " ) who reckoned upon knocking her d o w n for a trifle more than a song. T h e bidding commenced at a pound, and to the surprise of most present, was run up by two voices (Lamb's and some other unknown person's in the crowd). After Lamb's pound bid, the other clapped on a " ten," which the auctioneer was not slow to pick up, and thus it see-sawed between the pounds and the shillings, until L a m b made it ^ 2 0 , when the opposition ceased and he was declared the purchaser. It was not until after the money was paid that the vendee became aware that he had been victimized by the magpie, w h o thus conspired with the Pound-keeper in this almost incredible and irresistibly comical m o d e of " skinning the Lamb." T h e " Professor" terminated his earthly career by a fate which has destroyed many an inebriate since. H e was a special favourite at one or two taverns in Little Flinders Street, which he used to visit and " shout" for himself. In these places he was on " free grass," and always got what he asked for without payment. O n e evening he overdrank himself, and labouring under some affection not unlike a touch of D. T. in staggering home, he missed his way, tumbled into the Yarra, was unable to recover his equilibrium, and there was an end of him. T h e second Pound was established south of the Yarra, under the charge of a Mr. T. M . Atkinson, and others soon followed in various country places. By a strange chance the Pentridge Pound was within the reserve of the n o w monster prison. In 1845, a M r - G. P. Anderson was the Pound-keeper, and he promulgated a notice that if a number of cattle in his custody were not released within a specified time, they should be sold without reserve in the Pound-yard. Pounds were then a kind of roughly-enclosed stockade, and as the Great Penal Stockade (as it was at first called) was not c o m m e n c e d until five years after, the one must not be mistaken for the other. T h e black cattle n o w under the charge of the Inspector Poundkeeper-General, though select, are a very mixed herd. A s they are not likely to be claimed, they would, no doubt, have no objection to be knocked d o w n in " the Pound-yard," but the finding of purchasers would be rather difficult.