public static List getListFromObject(Object iterableObject,
    int startIndex,
    int numberOfItems) 
{
        if (iterableObject instanceof List)
        {
            // easier, use sublist
            List list = ((List) iterableObject);
            // check for partial lists
            int lastRecordExclusive = numberOfItems < = 0 ? list.size() : startIndex + numberOfItems;
            if (lastRecordExclusive  > list.size())
            {
                lastRecordExclusive = list.size();
            }
            if (startIndex <  list.size())
            {
                return list.subList(startIndex, lastRecordExclusive);
            }
        }
        // use an iterator
        Iterator iterator = IteratorUtils.getIterator(iterableObject);
        return getSubList(iterator, startIndex, numberOfItems);
}

create an iterator on a given object (Collection, Enumeration, array, single Object) and crop the resulting list according to the startIndex and numberOfItems parameters.