The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modern (part 3 of 7)

The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modern (part 3 of 7)

Put these in a pan over a slow fire, and, when perfectly melted, stir in of powdered ginger six ounces; allspice, powdered, six ounces; liquorice powder, or linseed powder, enough to form a mass fit for making balls. The dose, from one and a half to two ounces, to be given for two or three successive mornings, or until it acts as a diuretic. When a horse, affected with cough, becomes costive, a clyster may be thrown up; or he may be kept chiefly on green food, or bran mashes, for a few days. I have observed, in some cases, that the cough-ball has been more efficacious when preceded by a mild purgative with a drachm of calomel. The following powder has sometimes been found a good remedy for coughs, especially when the horse’s diet and exercise have been carefully attended to; and in cases where the cough has appeared to be confined to the larynx the following drench has done good. Vide BLAINE.

Take of nitre, levigated antimony, and powdered resin, of each two or three drachms; mix for one dose, and give it every morning in a mash until it acts as a diuretic. When cough happens to young horses, and the membranes of the eye appear red, the loss of a little blood, and a clyster, are likely to do good.

DRENCH FOR COUGH.

Bruise three ounces of fresh squills in a mortar, or four or five ounces of garlic; and macerate in twelve ounces of vinegar in a slow oven, or on a hot plate, for an hour; strain off the liquid part, and add to it treacle or honey one pound. The dose should be three or four ounces in bad coughs; where there appears great irritation in the larynx, two teaspoonfuls or one tablespoonful of tincture of opium may be added to two or three doses. A dose may be given every morning.—White.

COULTERNEB, (Fratercula arctica, BRISS.) s.

The weight of this species is between twelve and thirteen ounces; length exceeds twelve inches. The bill is of a very singular form; it is about an inch and a half deep at the base, much compressed sideways, and arched, but ends in a point, where the upper mandible is a little hooked: at the base of this mandible is an elevated rim, full of small punctures of a light colour; next to which is a space of blueish grey, at the bottom of which the nostrils are lodged at the edge, which is a long narrow slit; from thence it is orange-coloured with four oblique furrows; the under mandible corresponds in colour, but has only three furrows; irides hazel, in some greyish; orbits, red; above the eye is a triangular callous protuberance, beneath an oblong one; the top of the head and whole upper parts are black, passing round the neck in a collar; the sides of the head and all the under parts are pure white; the chin in some is grey, in others white, and the cheeks are grey; quills dusky; tail short, and consists of sixteen feathers; legs and feet orange; claws black, the inner one much hooked.

It is remarked that the bill of this bird varies much according to age; at first it has no furrows, and is of a dusky-colour, the yellow colour and furrows increasing with age.

These birds appear on many parts of our rocky coasts about the middle of April, and begin to breed about the middle of May. On the stupendous cliffs of Dover, and such places, they deposit their single eggs, in the holes and crevices; in other places they burrow like rabbits, if the soil is light; but more frequently take possession of rabbit-burrows, and lay their egg many feet under ground. This is the case on Priestholm Isle off the coast of Anglesea, and other small islands off St. David’s-head, where the soil is sandy.

If the coulterneb is, however, a robber of rabbit-burrows, it is too formidably armed to allow of retaliation with impunity, and few birds or beasts dare venture to attack it in its retreat. Sometimes, however, as Jacobson tells us, “the raven makes bold to offer battle; but as soon as he approaches, the coulterneb catches him under the throat with her beak, and sticks her claws into his breast till he screams out with pain and tries to get away; but the coulterneb keeps fast hold of him and tumbles him about till both frequently fall into the sea, where the raven is drowned, and the coulterneb returns in triumph to her nest. But should the raven, at the first onset, get hold of the coulterneb’s neck, he generally comes off victorious, kills the mother, and feasts on her eggs or her young.” On St. Margaret’s Island, near St. David’s, we have seen the fishermen draw them out of their holes in a singular manner; by introducing the hand into the hole, which is seized by the bird, who suffers himself to be drawn out rather than loose his hold. In other places they are caught by ferrets, and the young are pickled.

About the latter end of August they retire from our coast, and have all completely migrated by the beginning of September, together with the razor-bills and guillemots.

The egg is white, but is occasionally found obscurely speckled with cinereous, about the size of a hen’s; their principal food is small fish, particularly sprats, with which they feed their young. It is not known to what parts they retire when they leave our coast, but they have been found in abundance in various parts of the southern and northern hemisphere.—Montagu.

COUNTER, s. A false piece of money used as a means of reckoning.

COUNTER, ad. Contrary to, in opposition to; the wrong way; contrary ways.

COUPLE, s. A chain or tie that holds dogs together; two, a brace; a male and his female.

COUPLE, v. To chain together; to join to one another; to join embraces.

COURSE, s. Race, career; track or line in which a ship sails; a tract of ground set apart for horse-racing.

The following are the abbreviations used in designating the different courses at Newmarket, with their respective measurements; as also, other abbreviations used, in describing races, throughout the united kingdom.

M. F. Y. B. C. The Beacon course 4 1 138 L. T. M. Last three miles of do. 3 0 45 D. I. From the ditch in 2 0 97 T. L. I. From the turn of the lands in 0 5 184 C. C. Clermont Course 1 5 217 A. F. Across the flat 1 1 44 T. Y. C. Two-year-old course 0 5 136 Y. C. Yearling course 0 2 147 R. C. Round course 3 6 93 D. M. Ditch mile 0 7 184 A. M. Abingdon mile 0 7 211 R. M. Rowley mile 1 0 1 T. M. M. Two middle miles of B. C. 1 7 115 D. C. Duke’s course. F. C. Fox’s course. An. M. Ancaster mile. B. M. Bunbury’s mile. C. S. C. Craven stakes course. M. D. Mile and distance B. C.

COURSE, v. To hunt, to pursue; to pursue with dogs that hunt in view; to put to speed, to force to run.

COURSER, s. A swift horse.

COURSING, s. The pursuit of hares with greyhounds.

The ancient Laws of Coursing established by the Duke of Norfolk in queen Elizabeth’s reign, and agreed to by the nobility and gentry who then followed the diversion, have been always held authentic.

The Feuterer, or person who lets loose the greyhounds, was to receive those that were matched to run together into his leash, as soon as he came into the field, and to follow next to the hare finder, or him that was to start the hare, until he came to the form, and no horse or footmen were to go before, or on either side, but directly behind for the space of about forty yards.

A hare was not to be coursed with more than a brace of greyhounds.

The hare finder was to give the hare three soho’s before he put her from her form, to give notice to the dogs that they may attend her starting.

The hare was to have twelve score yards law before the dogs were loosed, unless the small distance from the cover would not admit it without danger of immediately losing her.

The dog that gave the first turn, and during the course, if there was neither cote, slip, nor wrench, won.

A cote is when the greyhound goes endways by his fellow, and gives the hare a turn.

A cote served for two terms, and two trippings or jerkins for a cote; if the hare did not turn quite about, she only wrenched, and two wrenches stand for a turn.

If there were no cotes given between a brace of greyhounds, but that one of them served the other at turning, then he that gave the hare most turns won; and if one gave as many turns as the other, then he that bore the hare, won.

A go-by or bearing the hare was equivalent to two turns.

If neither dog turns the hare, he that led last to the cover won.

If one dog turned the hare, served himself and turned her again, it was as much as a cote, for a cote was esteemed two turns.

If all the course were equal, the dog that bore the hare, won; if the hare was not borne, the cause was adjudged dead.

If a dog fell in a course, and yet performed his part, he might challenge the advantage of a turn more than he gave.

If a dog turned the hare, served himself, and gave divers cotes, and yet in the end stood still in the field, the other dog, if he ran home to the cover, although he gave no turn, was adjudged the winner.

If by accident a dog was rode over in his course, the course was void, and he that did the mischief was to make reparation for the damage.

If a dog gave the first and last turn, and there was no other advantage betwixt them, he that gave the odd turn won.

He that came first at the death, took up the hare, saved her from being torn, cherished the dogs, and cleansed their mouths from the wool, was adjudged to have the hare for his trouble.

Those that were judges of the course, were to give their decision before they departed out of the field.

COW, s. The female of the bull.

CRAB, s. A shell-fish; a wild apple, the tree that bears a wild apple.

CRABER, s. The water-rat.

CRACK, s. A sudden disruption; chink, fissure, narrow breach; the sound of any body bursting or falling; any sudden and quick sound; any breach, injury, or diminution; a flaw.

Cracks or Ulcers in the Heels are very painful, often cause lameness, and, from improper treatment, often prove very obstinate. An emollient poultice should be first applied, and continued for a few days, or until the inflammation has completely subsided. The crack, or ulcer, as well as all the hollow part of the pastern or heel, should be covered with the following paste, which is to remain two or three days, and then washed off and repeated. When the crack is perfectly healed or dried up by this astringent paste, a little salad oil or fresh hog’s lard is often necessary to supple the part. In obstinate cases it is necessary to keep the horse perfectly at rest until the crack is healed, and sometimes to apply the following ointment, spread on a pledget of tow, and confined by a bandage:—

Take of litharge plaster 2 oz. Best salad oil 1 oz.

Melt slowly, and when removed from the fire, continue stirring until it is cold.

Three of these dressings will generally cure the disorder. During this treatment the horse must not be taken out for exercise, but be turned loose into a cool box or out-house, where he may move himself about gently. As he takes no exercise during this time, he should be fed with bran mashes, and have only very little hay, as his bowels would otherwise be loaded with excrement, and much mischief might thereby be done. Though the disease is entirely local, it may not be amiss to give half an ounce of nitre once or twice a day in his mash.

Horses that are constantly kept trimmed out in the heels, often lose the hair from the part by the constant friction of the dirt in the roads; and, besides the deformity this occasions, they are still more liable to those painful cracks. I have lately found the following treatment successful. If the cracks are very painful, poultice for one day and night, then wash them three times a day with the following lotion, for one or two days; after this apply the astringent ointment, which generally heals them in a short time:—

LOTION.

Super-acetate of lead and sulphate of zinc, of each 2 dr. Water 8 oz. Mix.

ASTRINGENT OINTMENT.

Super-acetate of lead, sulphate of zinc, vinegar, of each two drachms, rub well together in a large mortar; then add melted hog’s lard, four ounces, and continue stirring briskly until perfectly incorporated and nearly cold.—White.

CRAFT, s. Manual art; cunning; small sailing vessels.

CRAG, s. A rough steep rock; the rugged protuberances of rocks; the neck.

CRAM, v. To stuff, to fill with more than can conveniently be held; to fill with food beyond satiety; to fatten fowls.

Barley and wheat meal are generally the basis or chief ingredient, in all fattening mixtures for chickens and fowls; but in Sussex, ground oats are used, and in that county, I think, oats are in higher repute for fattening than elsewhere, many large hogs being there fattened with them. The food given them is ground oats made into gruel, mixed with hogs’ grease, sugar, pot-liquor, and milk: or ground oats, treacle, and suet, sheep’s plucks, &c. The fowls are kept very warm, and crammed morning and night. The pot liquor is mixed with a few handfuls of oatmeal and boiled, with which the meal is kneaded into crams or rolls of a proper size. The fowls are put into the coop, two or three days before they are crammed, which is continued for a fortnight, and they are then sold to the higglers. Those fowls, full grown, weigh seven pounds each, the average weight five pounds, but there are instances of individuals double the weight.

The Workingham method of feeding is to confine the fowls in a dark place, and cram them with a paste made of barley-meal, mutton suet, treacle, or coarse sugar, and milk, and they are found completely ripe in a fortnight. If kept longer, the fever that is induced by this continued state of repletion renders them red and unsaleable, and frequently kills them.—Moubray.

CRAMP, s. A spasm or contraction of the limbs; a piece of iron bent at each end, by which two bodies are held together; an implement for removing or replacing the main-spring of a gun lock.

CRAMP, v. To pain with cramps or twitches; to restrain; to bind with cramp-irons.

CRANE, s. A bird with a long beak; an instrument made with ropes, pulleys, and hooks, by which great weights are raised.

CRAW, s. The crop or first stomach of birds.

CRAW-FISH, s. A small shell-fish found in brooks.

CREANCE, s. In Falconry, a long and light string, which must always be tied to the leash when lessons are given to a young hawk.

CREST, s. Any tuft or ornament of the head.

CRESTED, a. Adorned with a plume or crest; wearing a comb.

CRETACEOUS, a. Abounding with chalk, chalky.

CREW, s. A company of people associated for any purpose; the company of a ship.

CRIB, a. The rack or manger of a stable; the stall or cabin of an ox.

Crib-biting, though only a trick or habit which a horse gets, and which he may teach another that stands next him, especially a young horse, may be considered as a disorder, because it renders him very liable to indigestion and flatulent colic. There is no doubt that in crib-biting a horse swallows air, and I have seen a horse distend his stomach and bowels with it in an enormous degree, and he would thereby often get the flatulent colic, and sometimes swell himself that he could scarcely move. The only convenient method of preventing crib-biting is to put a leather strap round the neck, close to the jaws, which prevents him from laying hold of the manger; it may impede his feeding, however, and this must be attended to. A muzzle sometimes answers the purpose.

The compiler has known horses effectually cured of crib-biting by merely leaving them loose in the stable.—White.

CRIBBAGE, s. A game at cards.

Cribbage, a game differing from all others by its immense variety of chances, and generally reckoned useful to instruct young people in the science of calculation, is played several ways, either by two, three, or four persons, with five, six, or sometimes eight cards: the rules also vary a little in different companies; but the following are those most generally allowed.

The dealer may discover his own cards, though if he show any of the adversary’s, the adversary is entitled to mark two points, and is also at liberty to call a fresh deal.

Should too many cards be dealt to either party, the non-dealer may score two points, and likewise demand another deal, upon the error being detected previous to taking up the cards; but if he should not choose a new deal, the extra cards must be drawn: and when any player is observed to have in hand more than the proper number of cards, the opponent may set up four points, and also call a new deal.

If any player meddle with the cards after dealing, till the period of cutting them for the turn-up card, his opponent may score two points.

When any player scores more than he is entitled to, the other party may not only put him back as many points as are overmarked, but likewise score the same extra number for his own game.

Should either party meddle even with his own pegs unnecessarily, the opponent may take two points, and if any one take out his front peg, he must place the same back behind the other; though when any are misplaced by accident, a by-stander is to replace the same according to the best of his judgment, but never otherwise interfere.

When any player miscalculates, or neglects to set up what he is entitled to, the adversary is, in some companies, allowed to take the points so omitted; but in other companies this rule is not observed, the inattentive player being only prohibited from afterwards scoring them.

Each player may place his own cards, when done with, on the pack.

In five-card cribbage, the cards are to be dealt one by one alternately; but when played with six cards, it is customary to give three, and if with eight cards, four at a time.

The non-dealer, at the commencement of the game, in five-card cribbage, scores three points, called taking three for last; but in six and eight-card cribbage this is not done.

Some parties permit flushes in play to be reckoned, when three or more cards of a suit are laid down successively; that is, the person playing the third card reckons three, and the player laying down a fourth of the same suit scores four, and so on if five, six, or more can be played.

CRICKET, s. An insect that chirps about ovens or fire-places; a sport.

Of all the English athletic games, none perhaps presents so fine a scope for bringing into full and constant play the qualities both of the mind and body as that of cricket. A man who is essentially stupid will not make a fine cricketer; neither will he who is not essentially active. He must be active in all his faculties—he must be active in mind to prepare for every advantage; and active in eye and limb, to avail himself of those advantages. He must be cool-tempered, and, in the best sense of the term—MANLY, for he must be able to endure fatigue, and to make light of pain; since, like all athletic sports, cricket is not unattended with danger, resulting from inattention and inexperience. The accidents, however, attendant upon the players at cricket commonly arise from unwatchfulness, or slowness of eye. A short-sighted person is as unfit to become a cricketer, as one deaf would be to discriminate the most delicate gradations and varieties in tones; added to which, he must be in constant jeopardy of serious injury.

This noble game is thoroughly British. Its derivation is probably from the Saxon “cɲẏce a stick.” Strutt, however, in his “Sports and Pastimes,” states that he can find no record of the game under its present appellation “beyond the commencement of the last century, where it occurs in one of the songs published by d’Urfey.” The first four lines of “Of a noble race was Shenkin,” run thus:—

“Her was the prettiest fellow At foot-ball or at cricket, At hunting chase, or nimble race, How featly her could prick it.”

The same historian of our games doubts not that cricket derived its origin from the ancient game of club-ball, the patronymics of which being compounded of Welsh and Danish (clwppa and bol) do not warrant his conclusion, the Saxon being an elder occupant of our island. The circumstance, however, of there being no illustration extant—no missal illuminated with a group engaged in this king of athletic games, as is the case with its plebeian brother, the club-ball; also from its constitution being of a more civil and complicated character, we may rationally infer that it is the offspring of a more polite, at all events of a maturer age, than its fellow. The game of club-ball appears to have been no other than the present well-known bat-and-ball, which, with similar laws and customs prescribed in the playing at it, was doubtless anterior to trap-ball. The trap, indeed, carries with it an air of refinement in the “march of mechanism.”

They who are acquainted with some of the remote and unfrequented villages of England, where the primitive manners, customs, and games of our ancestors survive in the perfection of rude and unadulterated simplicity, must have remarked the lads playing at a game which is the same in its outline and principal features as the consummate piece of perfection that at this day is the glory of “Lord’s,” and the pride of English athletæ;—I mean the one in which a single stick is appointed for a wicket, ditto for a bat, and the same repeated, of about three inches in length, for a ball. If this be not the original of the game of cricket, it is a plebeian imitation of it.

The constitution of this pastime has undergone considerable alterations and improvements since it has become a favourite and fashionable recreation. Even till as late as the year 1770, for instance, the wicket had consisted of two stumps, when a third, the centre one, was added:—a decided improvement; seeing that it multiplied the chances to the batter of being bowled out, consequently increased the difficulty of his position, and thereby exalted his maintaining it for any length of time into the greater merit: for, under the old system, if the ball passed between the stumps, the batter was not considered out; under the improved system, such an event cannot happen; for the three stumps are not pitched at so great a distance from each other as to allow of the transit of the ball without knocking off the bale, which decides the fate and existence of the bats-man. The bale too, which crowns the stumps, formerly consisted of a single piece of wood, and therefore required a considerable concussion of the ball to remove it, without which the batter cannot be declared out; it is now divided in the centre, and consequently a very slight agitation of either of the outside stumps will displace the one half resting upon it; and this is equally fatal to the batsman as if the two were knocked off.

The formation of the bat has also undergone considerable change and improvement. In an old code of “the Laws of Cricket, revised at the Star and Garter, Pall-mall, on February 25, 1774, by a committee of noblemen and gentlemen,” the rules and directions are prefaced by a wood-cut of the bat then in use, by which it appears that it was curved, and the face flat.

The modern bat is not only perfectly upright, but its face is convex, which again increases the difficulty to the player; for, in striking the ball, unless he meet it directly in the centre of his bat, the chances are many, that, from the convexity in the face of the bat, the ball will fly off in a diagonal line, and the player may be caught out. The mode of holding the bat has changed with its alteration of form; the chief injunction now being to a young player to keep his bat as upright as possible.

The regular and full game of cricket is composed of twenty-two players, eleven in each party. Each party also selects an umpire, to whom all disputes are referred; who decide whether a player be out or not; and from whose judgment there is no appeal.

The wickets are pitched opposite to each other, upon the most level and advantageous ground, and twenty-two yards asunder. They must stand twenty-seven inches out of the ground, and the bales must be eight inches in length. In a line with the wickets, a mark is cut in the turf, three feet in length, which is termed the bowling crease; and at right angles with this is a short line, called the return crease. The bowler, in delivering his ball, is compelled to have one foot before, and the other behind this crease; and if he fail, it is the duty of the umpire at his wicket to call out—“No ball!” in which case, the batter may strike it, and obtain what advantage he can, and if he be bowled out, it is not reckoned. A good bowler is a most valuable member of the game, and one on whom success mainly depends. The ball must not weigh more than five ounces and three quarters, nor less than five ounces and a half.

The bat must not be wider than four inches and a half; its height, exclusive of the handle, should be twenty-one inches. There is no absolute law respecting the height of the bat; this, however, is found to be the most convenient.

The striker, or bats-man, is confined by a line, cut parallel with his wicket, and four feet distant from it. This line is termed the popping crease. If he transgress this boundary while the ball is in play, the wicket-keeper, or any other player holding the ball, is at liberty to put him out, by striking down his wicket with the ball. This, however, must always be done by means of the ball itself; either by throwing it, or, if near enough, by keeping the ball in hand at the time of putting down the wicket.

The wicket-keeper holds likewise an important station in the game. He stands opposite to the bowler, and behind the wicket at which the striker is playing. The duties of the wicket-keeper are too various to be detailed in this work, which, of course, affects no more than to give an outline of the principle of the game.

Besides the bowler and wicket-keeper, who are the two most serviceable men in the field; there are the first short slip, who stands near to the wicket-keeper, consequently behind the wicket, yet diagonally in front of the batter.

The point directly faces the striker. His station is about seven yards from the popping-crease.

The middle-wicket stands on the off side, and about twenty-three yards from the striker’s wicket.

The leg or hip has his appointment about sixteen yards from the popping-crease, behind the batter.

The long-stop is placed behind the wicket-keeper, to save the balls he may miss as they come from the bowler; for the batters may take the advantage of running when a ball has been over-thrown, or has not been stopped after the bowler has delivered it, although it may not have been struck.

The long slip stands in a line with the striker, and between the point and short slip, but farther out in the field.

A man to cover the middle-wicket and the point, stands on the off-side of the striker. It is his duty to save those balls that either of the above may have missed.

The long field on the off-side, stands between the middle-wicket and the bowler, but at a considerable distance, to save the hard hits.

The long field on the on-side, is stationed at a great distance from the striker, and on the other side of the bowler from the man last mentioned.

After every four halls have been bowled, the umpire calls “Over!” when the whole party, who are seeking out, (with the exception, of course, of the bowler and wicket-keeper) change their positions to the opposite quarters of the field.

[Note.—The reader who may desire farther information respecting the laws of this game, with instructions to the young player, is referred to a little work entitled “The Young Cricketer’s Tutor, by John Nyren, who was for many years a player in the celebrated old Hambledon Club.”]

CRIMP, v. To make several cuts across the spine of a fish when just taken out of the water, by which it is rendered firmer when produced at table.

CRIMSON, s. Red, somewhat darkened with blue; red in general.

CRINOSE, a. Hairy, full of hair.

CRIPPLE, v. To lame, to make lame.

CROAK, v. To make a hoarse low noise like a frog; to caw or cry as a raven or crow.

CROOK, s. Any crooked or bent instrument; a sheep-hook; any thing bent.

CROP, s. The craw of a bird.

CROP, v. To cut off the ends of any thing; to mow; to cut off the ears.

Young dogs should not be cropped before the fourth and fifth week of their age: when the ears are cut earlier, they sprout again, and the form of the crop cannot be so well directed as when the ear is more developed.

In cropping terriers, begin at the hinder root of the ear, close to the head, and when this cut is carried through, one other cross cut from the root at the front of the head, if managed with dexterity, will be sufficient, and will make an excellent fox crop, without torturing the animal with numerous trimmings. The less oblique the second cut is carried, the more sharp and foxy will the crop prove: the portion cut off, if laid on the remaining ear, will serve to direct the operation in that also. A rounded crop may be made at one cut. The cropping of pug puppies is the most painful of any; the cuts must, in general, be repeated, and carried close to the root of the ear; as upon the total absence of external ears (which gives an appearance of roundness to the head) is the beauty of the animal supposed to consist.

CROPFUL, a. Satiated, with a full belly.

CROPPER, s. A kind of pigeon with a large crop.

CROPSICK, a. Sick with excess and debauchery.

CROSSBILL (Loxia curvirostra, LINN.), s.

This species weighs about an ounce and a half; length near six inches and a half; bill strong, both mandibles convex, and crossing each other at the points, which are hooked; colour brown; eyes small; irides dusky.

The plumage of the male varies from a beautiful red to orange-colour on the head, neck, breast, back, and rump; the wing coverts rufous brown; quills and tail dusky; vent almost white; under tail coverts spotted dusky; tail forked; legs short; claws strong.

The females also vary somewhat in colour. In general, they are of a dull olive-green on those parts where the male is red; but the feathers on the back are mottled with dusky; the wings and tail similar to that of the male, but not so dark. We have observed that the crossing of the mandibles is not constantly on the same side.

That rare bird, the crossbill, occasionally visits the orchards in our neighbourhood, coming in little parties to feed on the seeds of the apple, and, seldom as it appears, it is always noticed by the mischief it does to the fruit, cutting it asunder with its well constructed mandibles, in order to obtain the kernels. A native of those extensive pine forests in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, it makes excursions into various parts of Europe in search of change of food; and though several instances are recorded of its visits to our islands, I know but one mentioned of its having bred in England. A pair was brought to me very early in August, and the breast of the female being nearly bare of feathers, as is observed in sitting birds, it is very probable that she had a nest in the neighbourhood.—Knapp—Montagu.

CROSS-BOW, s. A missive weapon formed by placing a bow athwart a stock.

CROSS-GRAINED, a. Having the fibres transverse or irregular; perverse, vexatious.

CROTTLE, s. A lichen which grows principally on sand stone, used in dyeing hackles and wools.

The power of crottle can never be known but by length of boiling; for which reason, get the largest copper pot you can. It ought to hold thirty or forty quarts; then put three quarts of crottle in, and fill it with water. Separate the wool according to the number of shades you wish for, put it into as many bags, and let them boil eight whole days, or as long as you can stay out of bed. You may draw a bag every six hours, and if you wish lighter shades, sooner. You are to get a round thin deal board, (see there is no turpentine in it,) bore it with holes that will receive your fingers, put your lid over that, and be careful of keeping your pot full of water. After three days’ boiling, you must put in two quarts more crottle, to bring up your dark shades. I followed this plan for a whole six days, and I got the finest colours my eyes ever saw. I got so high a shade as a rich claret brown under; and it was a very rich cinnamon over head. The reason I have mentioned eight days is on account of the bags, which prevent the dye. I also mention a copper pot, and you must use no other in any dye. I never could clean the crottle properly out of the fur for want of being in bags. Strong muslin bags will answer much better; particularly as by using them the operator may enjoy his bed four nights out of the eight specified.—Ancient Recipe.

CROUP, s. The rump of a fowl; the buttocks of a horse.

CROUPADES, s. obs. Are higher leaps than those of curvets.

CROW, s. A large black bird that feeds upon the carcases of beasts; a piece of iron used as a lever; the voice of a cock, or the noise which he makes in his gaiety.

This species weighs about nineteen ounces; length eighteen inches; bill black; irides dusky. The whole plumage black, glossed above with a purplish blue; legs black.

Distinguished from the rook by the bill, which is rather more convex towards the end, and the nares, or reflected bristles, at the base being always perfect; but these are only obvious in adults. In young birds the note is the only criterion of distinction, which in this is much more hoarse than that of the rook.

The crow feeds on flesh, insects, and grain; but is particularly fond of carrion. It frequently attacks the eyes of dying animals, and destroys weakly lambs; it will also pursue birds on wing, when pressed by hunger. We once saw this bird in pursuit of a pigeon, at which it made several pounces, like a hawk; but the pigeon escaped, by flying in at the door of a house. We have also seen it strike a pigeon dead from the top of a barn. It is a great destroyer of young game and poultry.

It is a bold bird, always at war with the lesser species of hawks; nor does the kite, the buzzard, or the raven, approach its nest without being attacked and driven away. At that season, even the peregrine falcon is insulted, who frequently at one pounce brings it to the ground.

The eggs are four or five in number, of a greenish colour, spotted with dusky and ash-colour, their weight about five drachms. Colonel Montagu observed two crows by the sea-shore, busy in removing small fish beyond the flux of the flowing tide, and depositing them just above high-water mark, under the broken rocks, after having satisfied the calls of hunger. This species, like the magpie, is extremely garrulous at the sight of a fox or other small quadrupeds, and attacks and makes prey of a half-grown hare. In a summer evening ramble, Colonel Montagu saw one of these birds make repeated pounces at some animal in a field where the grass was nearly a foot high, which appeared to raise itself on its hind legs, and defend itself stoutly; upon a nearer approach he discovered it to be a young hare.—Rennie.

CROWNSCAB, s. A stinking filthy scab round a horse’s hoof.

Crown Scab and Rat Tails are of the same nature as mallenders, and may be cured by the same means. They generally, however, leave a blemish, consisting in a loss of hair and thickening of the cuticle. Crown scab occurs on the coronet, and rat tails in lines on the back part of the leg, extending from the fetlock upwards.—Vide MALLENDERS.

CRUDE, a. Raw, not subdued by fire; not brought to perfection, immature.

CRUPPER, s. That part of the horse’s furniture that reaches from the saddle to the tail.

CRURAL, a. Belonging to the leg.

CRUST, s. Any shell, or external coat; an incrustation, collection of matter into a hard body; the outer hard part of bread.

CRUSTACEOUS, a. Shelly, with joints; not testaceous.

CRY, v. To utter an inarticulate voice, as an animal; to yelp, as a hound on a scent.

CRY, s. Yelping of dogs; yell, inarticulate noise; a pack of dogs.

CRYSTAL, s. A clear transparent substance, like glass.

CRYSTAL, a. Consisting of crystal; bright, clear, transparent, lucid.

CRYSTALLINE HUMOUR, s. The second humour of the eye, that lies immediately next to the aqueous, behind the uvea.

CUB, s. The young of a beast, generally of a bear or fox.

CUB, v. obs. To bring forth.

CUB-HUNTING. The pursuit or chace of young foxes—dangerous for horses, and destructive to game.

Previous to the month of November no man who has any thing else to amuse himself with, or who has a regard for his neck, or his horse, should be seen by a covert’s side, unless it be on a hack cub-hunting, which after all is but a melancholy recreation.

CUBE, s. A regular small body, consisting of six square and equal faces or sides, and the angles all right, and therefore equal.

CUBEBS, s. A very efficient pepper. It has been lately much used in medicine.

CUCKOO, s. A bird which appears in the spring, and is said to suck the eggs of other birds, and lay her own to be hatched in their place; a name of contempt.

Cuckoo, or Gowk.—(Cuculus Canorus, LINN.; Le Coucou, BUFF.)—Length fourteen inches, breadth twenty-five; its bill is black and somewhat bent; eyes yellow; inside of the mouth red; its head, neck, back, and wing coverts are of a pale blue, or dove colour, which is darkest on the head and back, and palest on the fore part of the neck and rump; its breast and belly are white, elegantly crossed with wavy bars of black; the quill feathers are dusky, their inner webs marked with large oval white spots; the tail is long; the two middle feathers are black, with white tips; the others dusky, marked with alternate spots of white on each side the shaft: the legs are short and of a yellow colour; toes two forward, and two backward; claws white.

The cuckoo visits us early in the spring; its well-known cry is generally heard about the middle of April, and ceases the latter end of June; its stay is short, the old cuckoos being said to quit this country early in July. Cuckoos build no nest; and, what is more extraordinary, the female deposits her solitary egg in the nest of another bird, by which it is hatched. The nest she chooses for this purpose is generally selected from the following, viz., the hedge sparrows, water wagtails, titlarks, yellow hammers, green linnets, or the winchats. Of these it has been observed that she shows a much greater partiality to that of the hedge sparrow than to any of the rest.—Bewick.

CUP, v. To draw blood by applying cupping glasses.

CUR, s. A worthless degenerate dog.

CURB, s. An iron chain, made fast to the upper part of the branches of the bridle, running over the beard of the horse; restraint.

Curb is an enlargement at the back of the hock, about three or four inches below the point of the hock. It is either a strain in the ring-like ligament which binds the tendons down in their place, or in the sheath of the tendons; oftener, we are inclined to think, of the ligament than of the sheath. Any sudden action of the limb of more than usual violence may produce it, and therefore horses are found to ‘throw out curbs’ after a hardly contested race, an extraordinary leap, a severe gallop over heavy ground, or a sudden check in the gallop. Young horses are particularly liable to it, and horses that are cow-hocked or whose hocks and legs resemble those of the cow, the hocks being turned inward, and the legs forming a considerable angle outwards. This is intelligible enough; for in hocks so formed, the annular ligament must be continually on the stretch to confine the tendon.

Curbs are generally accompanied by considerable lameness at their first appearance, but the swelling is not always great; indeed, it sometimes presents so gradual a curve, that it is scarcely perceivable when we stand behind the horse, and both the horseman and the veterinary surgeon have overlooked it. It is best detected by observing the leg sideway.

The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflammation, and this will be most readily accomplished by cold evaporating lotions, frequently applied to the part. Equal portions of spirit of wine, water, and vinegar, will afford an excellent application. It will be almost impossible to keep a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are considerable, it will be prudent to physic the horse, and to bleed from the subcutaneous vein. Whether the injury be of the annular ligament, or the sheath of the tendon, more active means will be necessary to perfect the cure. Either a liquid blister should be rubbed on the part, consisting of a vinous or turpentine tincture of cantharides, and this daily applied until some considerable swelling takes place, which should be allowed to subside, and then the liniment again resorted to; or, what is the preferable plan, the hair should be cut off, and the part blistered as soon as the heat has been subdued. The blister should be repeated until the horse goes sound, and the swelling has disappeared. In severe cases it may be necessary to fire, but we cannot recommend the indiscriminate recourse to the hot iron in every case of curb, and we would uniformly give a fair trial to milder measures. If the iron be used, the strokes should be in straight lines.

There are few complaints in which absolute and long continued rest is more requisite, than in curb. An injury so serious leaves the parts very materially weakened, and, if the horse be soon put to work again, the lameness will frequently return. No horse that has had curbs should be put even to ordinary work in less than a month after the apparent cure, and even then he should very gradually resume his former habits. A horse with a curb is manifestly unsound.

CURB, v. To guide a horse with a curb; to restrain; to check.

CURD, s. The coagulation of milk.

CURE, s. Remedy, restorative; act of healing.

CURE, v. To heal, to restore to health, to remedy.

CURLEW, (Scolopax arquata, LINN.; Le Courlis, BUFF.), s. A kind of waterfowl.

The bill is long, equally incurvated, and terminated in a blunt point; nostrils linear, and longitudinal near the base; tongue short and sharp-pointed; and the toes are connected as far as the first joint, by a membrane.

With the curlew, Linnæus begins a numerous tribe of birds under the generic name of scolopax, which, in his arrangement, includes all the snipes and godwits, amounting, according to Latham, to forty-two species and eight varieties, spread over various parts of the world, but nowhere very numerous.

Buffon describes fifteen species and varieties of the curlew, and Latham ten, only two or three of which are British birds. They feed upon worms, which they pick up on the surface, or with their bills dig from the soft earth: on these they depend for their principal support; but they also devour the various kinds of insects which swarm in the mud, and in the wet boggy grounds, where these birds chiefly take up their abode.

The curlew generally measures about two feet in length, and from tip to tip above three feet. The bill is about seven inches long, of a regular curve, and tender substance at the point, which is blunt. The upper mandible is black, gradually softening into brown toward the base; the under one flesh-coloured. The head, neck, upper part of the back, and wing-coverts, are of a pale brown, the middle of each feather black, edged and deeply indented with pale rust colour, or light grey. The breast, belly, and lower part of the beak, are dull white, the latter thinly spotted with black, and the two former with oblong strokes more thickly set, of the same colour. The quill-feathers are black, the inner webs crossed or spotted with white; the tail is barred with black, on a white ground tinged with red; the legs are bare a little above the knees, of a blueish colour, and the toes are thick, and flat on the under side.

These birds differ much in size, as well as in the different shades of their plumage; some of them weighing not more than twenty-two ounces, and others as much as thirty-seven. In the plumage of some the white parts are much more distinct and clear than in others, which are more uniformly grey, and tinged with pale brown.

The female is so nearly like the male, that any particular description of her is unnecessary: she makes her nest upon the ground, in a dry tuft of rushes or grass, of such withered materials as are found near, and lays four eggs, of a greenish cast, spotted with brown.

The curlew is met with by travellers in most parts of Europe, from Iceland to the Mediterranean islands. In Britain their summer residence is upon the large heathy, boggy moors, where they breed. Their food consists of worms, flies, and insects, which they pick out of the soft mossy ground by the marshy pools, which are common in such places. In winter they depart to the sea-side, where they are seen in great numbers, and then live upon the worms, marine insects, and other fishy substances which they pick up on the beach and among the loose rocks and pools left by the retiring tide. The flesh of the curlew has been characterised by some as very good, and of a fine flavour—by others as directly the reverse; the truth is, that, while they are in health and season, and live on the moors, scarcely any bird can excel them in goodness; but when they have lived some time on the sea shore, they acquire a rank and fishy taste.—Bewick.

CURRICLE, s. An open two-wheeled chaise, made to be drawn by two horses abreast.

CURRY, v. To dress leather; to rub a horse with scratching instruments, so as to clean his coat.

CURRYCOMB, s. An iron instrument used for currying horses.

CURVE, s. Anything bent, a flexure or crookedness.

CURVE, v. To bend, to crook, to inflect.

CURVET, v. To leap, to bound.

CUT, v. To penetrate with an edged instrument; to make its way by dividing obstructions; to perform the operation of cutting for the stone.

CUT, s. The action of a sharp or edged instrument; the impression or separation of continuity made by an edge; a wound made by cutting; a channel made by art; the act or practice of dividing a pack of cards; form, shape.

CUTANEOUS, a. Relating to the skin.

CUTICLE, s. The first and outermost covering of the body, commonly called the scarf-skin.

CUTTER, s. An agent or instrument that cuts any thing; the teeth that cut the meat; a fore and aft-rigged vessel with one mast and a running boltsprit.

Cutters have been always favourite vessels, from their excellent sailing qualities, and, consequently, are much employed as revenue cruisers, smugglers, privateers, and packets, and in any trade requiring much despatch. A cutter under one hundred tons is sufficiently handy and manageable, but when the size increases to that of the larger yachts and cruisers, a very strong crew is necessary, as the spars are immensely heavy, and a number of men requisite to set or shorten sail.

A single-masted vessel is objectionable, because in the event of springing a spar, she becomes perfectly helpless; hence large cutters are only used in short voyages, or as coasting cruisers. Their peculiar qualities of beating well to windward, and working on short tacks, adapt them for channel cruising; and in case of accident, they can always manage to reach some harbour or anchorage where they can repair the damage they may have sustained.

Some years back, large cutters were confined principally to the navy and revenue, but the Royal Yacht Club have not only exceeded them in size, but also in beauty and sailing. Some of the finest and fastest cutters in the world are the property of this celebrated and truly national club; and two of them, the Alarm (Mr. Wild’s), and the Arundel (the Duke of Norfolk’s), measure 193 and 188 tons.

The inconvenient size of a cutter’s boom and mainsail has caused the introduction very generally of a ketch rig; which, by the addition of a mizen, enables the boom to be dispensed with, and reduces the mainsail considerably. This rig, when the mizen stands well, is very elegant, and, if a vessel is short-handed, exceedingly handy.—Vide YACHT.

CYGNET, s. A young swan.

Living on the banks of the Thames, I have often been pleased with seeing the care taken of the young swans by the parent birds. Where the stream is strong, the old one will sink herself sufficiently low to bring her back on a level with the water, when the cygnets will get upon it, and in this manner are conveyed to the other side of the river, or into stiller water. Each family of swans on the river has its own district; and if the limits of that district are encroached upon by other swans, a pursuit immediately takes place, and the intruders are driven away. Except in this instance, they appear to live in a state of the most perfect harmony. The male is very attentive to the female, assists in making the nest, and when a sudden rise of the river takes place, joins her with great assiduity in raising the nest sufficiently high to prevent the eggs being chilled by the action of the water, though sometimes its rise is so rapid, that the whole nest is washed away and destroyed.—Jesse.

CYGNETICS, s. obs. The art of hunting.

CYST, s. A bag containing some morbid matter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

DAB, s. A kind of small flat fish.

DAB-CHICK, s. A water-fowl.

DACE, s. A small river-fish, resembling a roach.

Dace or Dare, is gregarious, is a great breeder, very lively, and during summer is fond of frolicking near the surface. Its head is small, the irides of a pale yellow; the body long and slender; its scales are smaller than those of the roach, and is upon the whole a handsomer fish; the back is varied with dusky, and a cast of yellowish green; the sides and belly silvery, the ventral, anal, and caudal fins are sometimes of a pale red hue; the tail is very much forked. The dace is seldom above ten inches long, although in a list of fish sold in the London markets, with the greatest weight of each, communicated to Mr. Pennant, there is an account of one that weighed a pound and half, and according to Linnæus, it grows to a foot and half in length.

The haunts of Dace are deep water, near piles of bridges, where the stream is gentle, over gravelly, sandy, and clayey bottoms; deep holes that are shaded, water-lily leaves, and under the foam caused by an eddy; in the warm months they are to be found in shoals on the shallows near to streams; the dace spawn in March, are in season about three weeks after; they improve, and are very good, about Michaelmas, but are best in February, and are said in that month, when just taken, scotched, and broiled, to be more palatable than a fresh herring.

This is a fish affording great sport to the angler, indeed more pleasure than profit, for the flesh is insipid, and full of bones. The baits for dace are the red worm, brandling, gilt-tail, cow-dung, and earth-bob, and indeed any worm bred on trees or bushes, that is not too big for his mouth, and almost every kind of fly and caterpillar. Flesh flies upon the surface with the hook put into the back, between the wings, the line from the middle downwards of single hairs, and a trifle longer than the rod, which ought to be eighteen feet at least, and as light as possible; the flies can be kept in a phial; fix three very small hooks upon single hair links, not above four inches along the line, and in a summer’s evening, at the smoothest part of the end of a mill-stream, from seven or eight, so long as light continues, the dace will yield diversion. In the same manner, they will rise in the morning at the ant-fly, if used at the foot of a current or mill-stream, or on a scour before the sun comes on the water.

After rains, when the river is nearly level with its banks, use a caterpillar-fly, or a small red palmer and yellow-gentle (the yellower the better), run the hook through its skin, and draw it up to the tail of the fly, then whip on the surface, the dace will rise freely.

Another way to take this fish, from the middle of April until the beginning of October, is by artificial fly-fishing, with a long line.—Daniel.

DALMATIAN, (Canis Dalmatianus), s. The coach-dog.

This dog has been erroneously called the Danish dog by some authors, and Buffon, and some other naturalists, imagine him to be the harrier of Bengal; but his native country is Dalmatia, a mountainous district of European Turkey. He has been domesticated in Italy for upwards of two centuries, and is the common harrier of that country.

The Dalmatian is also used as a pointer, to which his natural propensity more inclines him than to be a dog of the chase; he is said to be easily broken, and to be very staunch. He is handsome in shape, something betwixt the British foxhound and English pointer; his head is more acute than that of the latter, and his ears fully longer: his general colour is white, and his whole body and legs are covered with small irregular sized black or reddish brown spots. He is much smaller than the large Danish dog. A singular opinion prevailed at one time in this country, that this beautiful dog was rendered more handsome by having his ears cropped: this barbarous fancy is now quickly dying away.

I have never heard of the Dalmatian being trained to the sports of the field in Great Britain. His only use seems to be an elegant attendant upon a carriage, for which the symmetry of his form and beauty of his skin peculiarly fit him. A most erroneous notion has prevailed among some breeders, that neither this nor the great Danish dog has the sense of smell. They have been indiscriminately called the coach-dog.—Brown.

DAM, s. The mother; a mole or bank to confine water.

DAMASCENE, s. Vide BARREL.

DAPPLE, a. Marked with various colours; variegated.

DAPPLE, v. To streak, to vary.

DAR, or DART, s. A fish found in the Severn.

DARE, s. Vide DACE.

DARE, v. To Dare Larks, to catch them by means of a looking-glass.

DAW, s. A bird.

DEAL, s. The art or practice of dealing cards; fir-wood; the wood of pines.

DEALER, s. A person who deals the cards; one who buys and sells horses and dogs.

A gownsman of Cambridge, anxious to purchase a particular horse in the possession of Mr. Fordham, horse-dealer of that place, called upon him to make proposals, but disagreeing as to price, the collegian waited upon him several times to see if he could possibly bring him over to his terms.—In the interim, however, Mr. Fordham was taken dangerously ill and died. Next day, the gownsman, unacquainted with the circumstance of his death, called and asked a groom for his master.—“My master is dead, sir, (said one of the stable-boys) but he left word you should have the horse.”—Sporting Anecdotes.

DECOCTION, s. The act of boiling any thing; a preparation made by boiling in water.

The vessel in which decoctions are made should be covered, and when the substance contains any aromatic or volatile principle, the boiling should be continued only a short time. Decoctions should be strained while hot, as some of them, Peruvian bark for example, deposit some active and useful matter in cooling. Decoctions soon ferment, and are spoiled by keeping; they should be used therefore soon after they are made.

* * * * *

A decoction of marsh-mallows, it is useful in fevers as a vehicle for nitre or other medicine; also as an emollient clyster and fomentation.

CAMOMILE.

Camomile flowers, dried 1 oz. Caraway seeds, bruised 1½ oz. Ginger, bruised 1½ oz. Water 1 qt.

Boil for ten or fifteen minutes: a good stomachic drench.

OAK BARK.

Oak Bark, bruised 2 oz. Water 1 qt.

Boil gently for ten minutes; a good vehicle for tonic medicine.

DECOCTION FOR FOMENTATION

Is made by boiling bay leaves, camomile flowers, wormwood, and southernwood in a sufficient quantity of water.

BARLEY.

Barley water is made by boiling pearl barley in water. This may be used in fevers, either alone, or as a vehicle for nitre or other medicine. Various other decoctions are occasionally employed, and sometimes preferred on account of their cheapness, to more efficacious, but more expensive medicines; yet it must be recollected that some vegetables, such as peppermint, pennyroyal, &c. have their useful properties dissipated by much boiling, and should therefore be only simmered for a few minutes, or only infused.—White.

DECOY, v. To lure into a cage, to entrap.

The decoys now in use are formed by cutting pipes, or tapering ditches, widened and deepened as they approach the water; in various semicircular directions, through the swampy ground, into particular large pools, which are sheltered by surrounding trees or bushes, and situated commonly in the midst of the solitary marsh. At the narrow points of these ditches farthest from the pool, by which they are filled with water, the fowlers place their funnel nets: from these the ditch is covered by a continued arch of netting, supported by hoops, to the desired distance; and all along both sides, screens formed of reeds are set up so as to prevent the possibility of the birds seeing the decoyman; and as these birds feed during the night, all is ready prepared for this sport in the evening. The fowler, then placed on the leeward side, sometimes with the help of his well-trained dog, but always by that of his better trained tame decoy ducks, begins the business of destruction. The latter, directed by his well known whistle, or excited forward by the floating hempseed, which he strews occasionally upon the water, entice all the wild ducks after them under the netting; and as soon as this is observed, the man or his dog, as the fitness of opportunity may direct, is from the rear exposed to the view of the birds, by which they are so alarmed that they dare not offer to return, and are prevented by the nets from escaping upwards: they therefore press forward in the utmost confusion to the end of the pipe, into the purse nets there prepared to receive them, while their treacherous guides remain behind in conscious security. The season allowed by act of parliament for catching these birds in this way, continues only from the latter end of October till February.

Particular spots or decoys, in the fen countries, are let to the fowlers at a rent of from five to thirty pounds per annum; and Pennant instances a season in which thirty-one thousand two hundred ducks, including teals and widgeons, were sold in London only, from ten of these decoys near Wainfleet, in Lincolnshire. Formerly, according to Willoughby, the ducks, while in moult and unable to fly, were driven by men in boats, furnished with long poles, with which they splashed the water, between long nets, stretched vertically across the pools, in the shape of two sides of a triangle, into lesser nets placed at the point, and in this way, he says four thousand were taken at one driving in Deeping-fen; and Latham has quoted an instance of two thousand six hundred and forty-six being taken in two days, near Spalding in Lincolnshire; but this manner of catching them while in moult is now prohibited.

DECOY, s. Allurement to mischief.

DECOY-DUCK, s. A duck that lures others.

DEER, s. That class of animals which is hunted for venison. Vide FALLOW, RED, and ROE DEER.

DEGENERATE, v. To fall from its kind, to grow wild or base.

DEMULCENT, a. Softening, mollifying.

DEMULCENTS, s. Medicines of an oily and mucilaginous nature, as lint and quince seed, gum, &c.

DEN, s. A cavern or hollow running horizontally; the cave of a wild beast.

DEOBSTRUENT, s. A medicine that has the power to resolve viscidities.

DESTROY, v. To kill; to put an end to.

It is not unfrequently a subject of inquiry, how it may be possible to destroy a dog with least pain to himself, and least shock to the feelings of his owner. Although shooting and hanging are not, in themselves, painful deaths, yet the violence necessarily committed is revolting to one’s feelings. Whenever, therefore, cases arise (and many such do occur) where it would be infinitely more humane to destroy an animal than to prolong a miserable existence, and when the more usual modes are objected to on account of the violence and force necessary, either of these essential oils, cherry laurel, and bitter almond, dropped on the tongue, or a very small ball made from the extract, will extinguish life almost instantaneously, and without pain.—Blaine.

DETERGE, v. To cleanse a sore. Vide CAUSTICS.

DETONATION, s. A noise somewhat more forcible than the ordinary crackling of salts in calcination, as in the going off of the pulvis or aurum fulminans. Vide PERCUSSION.

DETONATING POWDER, s. A chemical composition by which percussion-guns are discharged.

One of the recipes for making detonating powder is:—

One ounce of oxymuriate of potash. One eighth of an ounce of superfine charcoal. One sixteenth of an ounce of sulphur.

Mixed with gum-arabic water, and then dried. It should be mixed up in wood, for fear of accident.

Another, and, I am told, a far better proportion, is:—

Five of oxymuriate, Two of sulphur; and One of charcoal.

I merely give the recipe, in case a sportsman should be in a place where he cannot buy the composition, as I presume, that no one in his senses would run the risk of being blown up, in order to make, perhaps indifferently, what he could so cheaply purchase in perfection.—Hawker.

We entirely agree with the colonel—and caution insurance companies against gentlemen who would attempt a home manufacture.

DIABETES, s. A morbid copiousness of urine.

Diabetes consists in an excessive discharge of urine, attended with great thirst, and sometimes with a gradual loss of flesh and great debility. The urine is sometimes limpid and transparent like water; at others high coloured, and of a very offensive smell. In slight or recent cases of diabetes a cure may generally be accomplished by the following ball, provided the cause is removed, which is generally new hay, new oats, musty hay or oats, or some other unwholesome provender. But in the confirmed diabetes, when the urine has become stinking and high coloured, the cure is more difficult. Rest, or voluntary exercise only, and a light nutritious diet, are necessary.

BALL FOR DIABETES.

No. 1. Opium from ½ to 1 dr. Ginger 2 dr. Gentian-root powder 3 or 4 dr. Oil of caraways 20 or 30 drops. Syrup enough to form the ball.

To be given morning and evening for two or three days, and should the disease then continue, give the following:—

No. 2. Sulphate of copper 1 dr. Ginger 1 dr.

Linseed powder and syrup enough to form the ball.

To be given every morning and evening until the disease is cured.

Sulphate of copper has been found an excellent tonic in horses. I have also found the following a good tonic ball:—

No. 3. Sulphate of iron 2 to 3 or 4 dr. Powdered ginger 1 dr. Powdered Gentian 3 to 4 dr. Treacle enough to form the ball.

I have seen an increased discharge of urine brought on in draught horses by working them beyond their strength; this has been attended with great weakness, especially of the hind parts, and loss of appetite. I have found great benefit in such cases from turning the horse to grass, and letting him remain there for some time, giving him a little good hay, or some oats, when it appears necessary.—White.

DIACHYLON, s. An ingredient in sticking plaster.

Diachylon (litharge or lead plaster) is made by boiling olive oil nine parts, litharge five parts, water two parts, over a slow fire, and constantly stirring, until the oil and the litharge unite, and acquire the consistence of plaster. The water must be replaced as it evaporates. Diachylon is an ingredient in sticking plaster and charges, and is useful when spread on leather, for defending a tender part from pressure.

DIAPENTE, s. A compound powder, tonic and stomachic.

DIAPHORETIC, a. Sudorific, promoting perspiration. The most useful sudorifics in veterinary practice, are hot stimulants, combined with antimony and opium.

DICE, s. The plural of die.

DICE-BOX, s. The box from which the dice are thrown.

DICER, s. A player at dice, a gamester.

DIDAPPER, s. A small bird of the diver kind.

DIE, v. To tinge, to colour.

DIE, s. Colour, tincture, stain, hue acquired; a small cube, marked on its faces with numbers from one to six, which gamesters throw in play; hazard, chance; any cubic body.

Recipes for Dyeing Hair.—(Dark water colour.)—Take a pint of strong ale, half a pound of soot, a small quantity of the juice of walnut leaves, and an equal quantity of alum powdered fine; mix them well, and boil them in a pipkin half an hour; when the mixture is cold, put in the hair, and let it remain ten or twelve hours.

* * * * *

Some boil a quarter of a pound of soot in a pint of strong alum water, with a little juice of walnut leaves, for half an hour, and steep the hair in it when nearly cold.

* * * * *

For a brown, take some powdered alum, boil it well until dissolved; then add a pound of walnut-tree bark, from the branches when the sap is up, or the buds or green nuts; boil it in an hour, and let it stand. When after skimming it for ten minutes, put in the gut or hair for about a minute (stirring it round), or until you like the colour. If it continues too long, it will become quite dark and injure the hair. The lighter it is tinged with this colour, the better. Salt and ale will also give hair a brownish cast that is steeped in it.

* * * * *

For a blueish water colour, proceed as above; only add logwood instead of the walnut, and be careful not to colour it too much.

* * * * *

Yellow.—The inner bark of a crab-tree boiled in water with some alum, makes a fine yellow, which is excellent when the weeds rot, the line appearing of the same hue. Another dye may be obtained from two quarts of small ale, and three handfuls of walnut leaves bruised therein; the hair to remain in it until tinged to your wish.

* * * * *

Tawny is prepared from lime and water mixed together, by steeping hair in it for four or five hours, and then soaking it a whole day in a tan pit.

* * * * *

Russet.—Take a pint of strong lye, half a pound of soot, some juice of walnut leaves, and a quart of alum water; put them together into a pan, boil them well, and when the liquor is cold, steep the hair until it acquires the colour you desire.

* * * * *

General Remark.—The hair to be dyed, should always be the best white: the seasons for using dyed hair, are, September and two following months; the yellow, russet all the winter, and until the end of April, as well in rivers as in lakes; for the same periods, the brown and tawny should be used in blackish, heathy, and moorish waters.

* * * * *

Dyeing or Staining Fishing-rods.—Red is done by boiling the wood in water and alum; then taking it out, adding Brazil to the liquor, and giving the wood another boil in it. Black, by brushing it over with logwood, boiled in vinegar, then washing it over with a decoction of galls and copperas, till it be of the hue required. Any other colour may be given by squeezing out the moisture of horse-dung through a sieve, mixing it with dissolved roch alum and gum arabic, and to the whole adding green, blue, or any other colour designed. After standing two or three days, pear-tree or other wood cut to the thickness of half-a-crown is put into the liquor boiling hot, and suffered to remain till it be sufficiently coloured.

In Dyeing Bone, Horn, or Ivory.—Black is performed by steeping brass in aqua fortis till it be turned green; with this, the bone, &c., &c., is to be washed once or twice, and then put in a warm decoction of logwood and water. Green, is verdigris, sal ammoniac, and white wine vinegar; keeping the material therein till sufficiently green. Red is began by boiling it in alum water, and finished by a decoction in a liquor compounded of quicklime steeped in rain-water strained. To every pint an ounce of Brazil wood is added: the bone to be boiled therein till sufficiently red.—Ancient Recipes.

DIET, s. Food, victuals; food regulated by the rules of medicine.

DIG, v. To work with a spade.

Digging Foxes.—With respect to the digging of foxes which hounds run to ground, if the hole be straight and earth slight, follow it, and in following the hole, by keeping below its level, it cannot be lost.—Beckford.

DIGEST, v. To generate matter as a wound.

DIGESTION, s. The act of concocting food; the preparation of matter by a chemical heat; the act of disposing a wound to generate matter.

DIGESTIVES, s. Medicines which promote suppuration in ulcers, and cause them to discharge a white healthy matter.

DIGESTIVE OINTMENT.

1. Hog’s lard and strained turpentine, of each 4 oz. Verdigris 1 oz.—Mix.

2. Hog’s lard and Venice turpentine, of each 4 oz. Sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), finely powdered 1 oz.—Mix.

3. Ointment of yellow rosin 4 oz. Oil of turpentine 1 oz. Nitric oxide of mercury (red precipitate), finely powdered 1 oz.—Mix.

4. Ointment of nitrated quicksilver 4 oz. Oil of turpentine 1 oz.—Mix. —White.

DISEASE, s. Distemper, malady, sickness.

DISLOCATE, v. To put out of the proper place; to put out of joint; to displace a bone.

DISMOUNT, v. To throw any one from on horseback; to alight from a horse.

DISPENSATORY, s. A book in which the composition of medicines is described and directed; a pharmacopœia.

DISTEMPER, s. A disease, a malady.

The Distemper.—No disorder is more general or so destructive as that known by the name of the distemper; it is the most fatal (the plague only excepted) that any animal is subject to.

The symptoms of the distemper are not invariably similar, although there are predominant ones which always occur. It generally comes on with a dry husky cough, dullness and want of appetite, a running from the nose and eyes, and loss of flesh. As the disease advances, the dog appears much emaciated, and grows excessively weak, particularly in the loins and hinder extremities; usually there is convulsive twitchings of different parts, most commonly of the head, attended with dimness of sight; when the disease proceeds, and takes on its more virulent form, then the twitches degenerate into continued convulsive fits, the dog foams at the mouth, runs round, and expresses great pain, has a constant disposition to dung, with obstinate costiveness or incessant purging. There is likewise great irritability of the stomach, every thing being thrown up immediately it is taken in, and the animal dies, generally, in one of the spasmodic fits. From this state of the disease hardly any dog recovers, unless from the powerful effect of this gentleman’s medicine, and even then he admits its success doubtful, although he insists, with the medicine early given, the disease will never arrive to this height; but, with every deference to the efficacy of the above medicine, the compiler has known Dr. James’s powder cure the most inveterate stages of the disorder: the method of administering it will be hereafter directed. In every part of this disease a want of nervous energy, and a particular paralytic affection of the nerves, is apparent, and, in some instances, remains long after every other symptom has ceased, and in many respects is not unlike the palsy of the human frame.

The distemper, when existing in its worst form, is very often mistaken for canine madness; but a close attention to the following points will with certainty show the difference. Puppies are not so liable to madness as full-grown dogs; it is but seldom the animal will drink freely in the distemper, never in madness—yet they will now and then try to drink; the hydrophobia arrives likewise at its height, in general, sooner than the distemper, although the latter is sometimes equally sudden in its attack, and rapid in its progress. In madness, all recollection of places or persons is lost by the affected animal; his home will be left, and he will bite the hand that feeds him, indiscriminately with any other. In the distemper, there is no loss of reason but in the attack and actual continuance of the convulsion fits; the animal does not attempt to bite or rove abroad, and, on recovery from the fit, resumes his faculties. If, therefore, a young dog will drink when the immediate effect of the spasmodic restriction is removed, or, without evident fear, will bear the sight of water, but more particularly when his weakness is excessive, and strongly apparent between the intervals of the fits, it may be safely concluded that it is the distemper, and not madness. These circumstances, continues Mr. Blaine, should be carefully remarked, as they are unerring, and may save many a valuable animal from destruction, and many a timid mind from the most dreadful apprehension.

* * * * *

For the distemper, so soon as the symptoms appear, give an ounce of castor oil, and after its operation has ceased, give the following powder, mixed up with butter, into a bolus, every two hours, keeping the dog warm, and supplying him frequently with warm milk or water-gruel. Should the medicine occasion sickness or purging, the quantity and frequency of the doses are to be abated.

Crocus metallorum finely levigated, and white antimonial powder, each six grains, and diaphoretic calx of antimony, ten grains for one dose.

It is necessary to remark, that the above dose is sufficient for a pointer or fox-hound, of six or eight months old, and that the quantity is to be varied according to the size and age of the dog.

Rhubarb and jalap mixed, as much as will lie on a shilling, is an excellent common physic. For dogs, foul within, five grains of tartar emetic, given in a piece of hog’s lard. For a surfeit, one ounce of sulphur, half an ounce of antimony, mixed together; a small ball in butter, to be given to the dog, and the sore place well rubbed with a mixture of white hellebore-root powdered, and hog’s lard; the dog to be kept from water if he licks the ointment.

* * * * *

Doctor Darwin has given the following opinion upon the disorder, and how to counteract its malignity.

“In dogs, the catarrh is generally joined with symptoms of debility early in the disease; the animals should be permitted to go about in the open air, the use of being as much as may be in the air, is evident, because all the air which they breathe, passes twice over the putrid sloughs of the mortified parts of the membrane, which lines the nostrils, and the maxillary and frontal cavities; that is, during inspiration and expiration, and must, therefore, be loaded with contagious particles.

“Fresh new milk, and fresh broth, should be given them very frequently, and they should be suffered to go amongst the grass, which they sometimes eat for the purpose of an emetic; and, if possible, they should have access to a running stream of water, as the contagious mucus of the nostrils generally drops into the water they attempt to drink.

“Bits of raw flesh, if the dog will eat them, are preferred to cooked meat, and from five to ten drops of tincture of opium (according to the size of the dog), may be given with advantage when symptoms of debility are evident, every six hours. If sloughs can be seen in the nostrils, they should be moistened twice a day with a solution of sugar of lead, or of alum, by means of a sponge fixed on a bit of whalebone, or by a syringe. The lotion may be made by dissolving half an ounce of sugar of lead, or of alum, in a pint of water.”

* * * * *

The following remedies have their advocates, and, consequently, in some cases of the disorder have been proved essential in its cure.

One grain and a half of calomel, and five grains of rhubarb, to be repeated every other day.

Four grains of Turbith’s mineral, and one grain of emetic tartar; first bleeding the dog.

A tea-spoonful of jalap, half the quantity of grated ginger, a table-spoonful of syrup of buckthorn, made into a ball, or given liquid in warm water. No milk, but water-gruel to drink, and the dog must be kept very warm.

Gamboge, dragon’s-blood, jesuit’s-bark, of each half an ounce, made into pills the size of a hazel nut. To a full grown dog, one pill to be given every morning until cured; to a whelp, three times a week, the dogs to have liberty to run out.

* * * * *

Some rely entirely on purgatives: others bleeding and physicking; others on emetics; some put tar upon the nose, others a pitch plaster, and some cauterize the nasals; some inject vinegar into the dose, others hellebore, and others a solution of camphor; some cut off the tail, others the ears; some give tobacco and olive oil, others the golden sulphuret of antimony; the keeper gives the curpeth’s mineral: the more scientific of these gentry will knock down the disease, and the dog too with arsenic. The gentleman will give compound tincture of benzoin, the farmer common salt; the medical man sulphuric ether, or emetics and sulphur, or emetics and jalap, or emetics and scammony.—Youatt—Daniel—Darwin.

DITCH, s. A trench cut in the ground usually between two fields; any long narrow receptacle of water.

DIVER, s. A bird; one that sinks voluntarily under water; one that goes under water to search for any thing.

DIURETICS, s. Medicines that excite and increase urinal discharge.

DIURETIC POWDER.

Powdered rosin and nitre, of each, 4 drs.

Mix for one dose, and let it be repeated daily, or twice a day, if necessary, until a sufficient effect is produced.

DIURETIC BALL.

Hard soap and common turpentine, of each, 4 drachms.

Powdered caraway seeds enough to form the ball. Mix for one dose.

CORDIAL DIURETIC BALL.

Hard soap and common turpentine, of each 4 dr. Ginger 1 dr. Opium ½ dr.

Powdered caraways enough to form the ball. Diuretics should not be kept to become hard, as they often are, but be given in rather a soft state, and recently made. Diuretics should never be so given as to operate while a horse is in work, as he may thereby be prevented from staling when he has occasion; from neglecting this precaution, and from their frequent and immoderate use, arise those mischievous effects before alluded to. The kidneys are often materially injured by them as well as the bladder.—White.

DIURETIC, a. Having the power to provoke urine.

DOCK, s. The stump of the tail which remains after docking; a place where water is let in or out at pleasure, where ships are built or laid up.

DOCK, v. To cut off a tail; to cut any thing short.

DOG, s. A domestic animal remarkably various in its species.

In ancient manuscripts we find the following names for the dogs employed in the sports of the field; that is to say, raches, or hounds; running hounds or harriers, to chase hares; and greyhounds, which were favourite dogs with the sportsmen; alauntes, or bull-dogs, these were chiefly used for hunting the boar; the mastiff is also said to be “a good hounde” for hunting the wild boar; the spaniel was of use in hawking; “hys crafte,” says the author, “is for the perdrich or partridge, and the quaile; and, when taught to couch, he is very serviceable to the fowlers, who take those birds with nets.” There must, I presume, have been a vast number of other kinds of dogs known in England at this period; these, however, are all that the early writers, upon the subject of hunting, have thought proper to enumerate. In the sixteenth century the list is enlarged; besides those already named, we find bastards and mongrels, lemors, kenets, terrours, butcher’s hounds, dunghill dogs, trindel-tail’d dogs, “pryckeared” curs, and ladies’ small puppies.

There formerly existed a very cruel law, which subjected all the dogs that were found in the royal chases and forests, excepting such as belonged to privileged persons, to be maimed by having the left claw cut from their feet, unless they were redeemed by a fine; this law probably originated with the Normans, and certainly was in force in the reign of Henry I.

* * * * *

Linnæus, in his System of Nature, has placed the dog as the second genus of the third order of mammiferous animals, or those which suckle their young by means of lactiferous teats.

The characters of the third order, FERÆ, are as follows:—The fore teeth are conic, usually six in each jaw; the tusks are longer, the grinders have conic projections; the feet have claws, which are usually subulate, or awl-shaped; they feed on carcasses, and prey on other animals.

The characters of the genus Canis, or Dog, are, six cutting teeth in the upper jaw; those at the sides longer than the intermediate ones, which are lobated. In the under jaw there are also six cutting teeth, the lateral ones lobated; there are four canine teeth, one on each side, both above and below, and from six to seven grinders. The specific characters of the Canis Familiaris, or common dog, are, the head is carinated, or keel-shaped on the crown, the lower lip is hid by the upper, indentated and naked at the sides; the tongue is smooth; on the upper lip are five or six rows of whiskers; the nostrils are turned outwards into a crescent-shaped furrow; the upper margin of the ears is reflected and posteriorly doubled; the anterior margin is three-lobed, and there are seven or eight hairy warts on the face. There are ten teats, four of them pectoral, and six abdominal; the feet are subpalmated, with claws on the toes, which are long, a little curved, and not retractile within the toes, as is the case with those of the cat.

He has, besides the above anatomical distinctions, other general characters which are peculiar to his tribe.

He delights in associating with man, feeds on flesh, carcasses, and farinaceous vegetables, digests bones, is vomited by eating grass, which he does instinctively; drinks by lapping, runs obliquely, resting upon his toes; perspires by his tongue, which he lolls out when warm; when lying down turns often round; hears in his sleep, and dreams frequently. Of all animals the most faithful; fawns at the appearance of his master, and defends him; runs before him in a journey, and if the road divides, looks back and generally waits to see which he takes: will turn to the branch to which he is directed from a distance; his sense of smell is exquisite.

Cuvier, in his Animal Kingdom, gives the following generic character of the dog, which differs but little from that of Linnæus, except in his new and more distinct terminology.

The upper cheek teeth are six on each side, the three first are sharp, trenchant, called by Cuvier false molars; the following, a carnivorous tooth, has two cutting lobes, beyond which, on each side, are two flat teeth. In the lower jaw there are seven; four false molars, a carnivorous tooth, has two cutting lobes, beyond which, on each side, are two flat teeth, and two tuberculous teeth behind it. The length of the jaws and muzzle vary greatly; the tongue is smooth; the ears are extremely variable; there are five toes on the fore-feet, and four on those behind, furnished with longish nails, obtuse, and not retractile, and the mammæ are ventral; the eye-pupils are circular and diurnal, or formed for seeing by day.

* * * * *

Dogs exempt from Duty.—Whelps which are not six months old at the time of returning your list for taxes. Dogs belonging to any of the royal family, who are exempt from all duties on sporting. Poor persons, who are not assessed for dwelling-houses, may keep one dog, provided it be not a sporting dog.

SYNOPSIS OF BRITISH DOGS.

│Terrier. │Hounds │Harrier. │which hunt │Foxhound. │Dogs │in packs. │Bloodhound. │of │ │Chase. │ │Irish Greyhounds. │ │Hounds │Gazehound. │ │which hunt │Greyhound. 1. The most │ │singly. │Leviner, or Lyemmer. general kinds. │ │Tumbler. │ │ │ │Spaniel, or Springer. │Fowlers. │ │Setter. │ │ │Large Water Spaniel, or Finder. │ │Lap Dogs.│ │Spanish Gentle, or Comforter.

│ │Shepherd’s Dog. 2. Farm Dogs. │Watch │ │Mastiff. │Dogs. │ │Bull Dog.

│ │Wrappe. 3. Mongrels. │Mongrels.│ │Turnspit. │ │Dancer.

Although it is said by naturalists that there are only thirty-seven varieties of the dog, yet the fact is, that almost every nation on earth intertropical, temperate, and polar, has its own peculiar variety.—Brown.—Daniel.—Cuvier.

DORMOUSE, s. A small animal which passes a part of the winter in sleep.

DOSSIL, s. A pledget, a nodule or lump of lint.

DOTTEREL, (Charadrius morinellus, LINN.; Le Guignard, BUFF.) s. The name of a bird.

The length of this bird is about nine inches. Its bill is black; eyes dark, large, and full; its forehead is mottled with brown and white top of the head black; over each eye an arched line of white passes to the hinder part of the neck; the cheeks and throat are white; the back and wings are of a light brown, inclining to olive, each feather margined with pale rust colour; the quills are brown. The forepart of the neck is surrounded by a broad band of a light olive colour, bordered on the under side with white. The breast is of a pale dull orange; middle of the belly black; the rest of the belly, thighs, and vent, are of a reddish white; the tail is of an olive brown, black near the end, and tipped with white, the outer feathers are margined with white. The legs are of a dark olive colour.

The dotterel is common in various parts of Great Britain, though in some places it is scarcely known. They are supposed to breed in the mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland, where they are sometimes seen in the month of May, during the breeding season; they likewise breed on several of the Highland hills. They are very common in Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Derbyshire, appearing in small flocks on the heaths and moors of those counties during the months of May and June, and are then very fat, and much esteemed for the table. It is said that the dotterel is so very stupid a bird, as to be taken with the most simple artifice, and that it was formerly the custom to decoy them into the net by stretching out a leg or an arm which caught the attention of the birds, so that they returned it by a similar motion of a leg or a wing, and were not aware till the net dropped and covered the whole flock. At present the more sure method of the gun has superseded this artifice.

* * * * *

The Ring Dotterell.—(Ring Plover, or Sea Lark; Charadrius Heaticula, LINN.; Le Petit Pluvier à collier, BUFF.)—The length is rather more than seven inches. The bill is of an orange colour, tipped with black; the eyes are dark hazel; a black hue passes from the bill, underneath each eye, and spreads over the cheeks; above this a line of white extends across the forehead to the eyes; this is bounded above by a black fillet across the head; a gorget of black encircles the neck, very broad on the forepart, but growing narrow behind, above which, to the chin, is white; the top of the head is of a light brown ash-colour, as are also the back, scapulars, and coverts; the greater coverts are tipped with white; the breast and the under parts are white; the quills are dusky, with an oval white spot about the middle of each feather, which forms, when the wings are closed, a stroke of white down each; the tail is of a dark brown, tipped with white, the two outer feathers almost white; the legs are of an orange colour; claws black. In the female the white on the forehead is much less; there is more white on the wings, and the plumage inclines more to ash-colour.

These birds are common in all the northern counties; they migrate into Britain in the spring, and depart in autumn: they frequent the sea-shores during summer, and run nimbly along the sands, sometimes taking short flights, accompanied with loud twitterings, then alight and run again; if disturbed, they fly right off. They are said to make no nest: the female lays four eggs, of a pale ash-colour, spotted with black, which she deposits on the ground.—Bewick.

DOUGHADOO, s. A colour used by fly-tiers on the Shannon.

DRAG, v. To pull along the ground by main force; an artificial mode of hunting by substituting some strong smell in place of the animal scent.

DRAG, s. An instrument with hooks to catch hold of things under water; a kind of car drawn by the hand.

DRAG-NET, s. A net which is drawn along the bottom of the water.

In making a drag-net, the size of the mesh should never be less than one inch and a quarter; there should be an extent of three times in length, and twice in depth of the plain net, before it is hung upon the cork and lead lines (that is, if the drag is meant to be twenty yards long, and twelve feet deep, there must be sixty yards of net in length, and twenty-four feet in depth for a sheet-drag; if made with a cod, it must be let in with great care as to the widenings, so that in fishing, it keeps a proper open centre). As drag-nets are usually hung, any one who is in the water when they are used, will feel, when the lines are hauled, the lead-line above the calf of his leg, and frequently above his knee, and that continued to very near the bosom of the net. There is no occasion to remark upon the chance of success such an implement affords.

Always use two, if not three flews with the drag: one or two flews can then be kept forward for the drag to force to, and in fishing every hole, back the drag with a flew; that is, after the drag approaches close to the first flew, of course that will be pulled on one or other side of the river. If any fish are in it they should be taken out, and so soon as the drag-net has passed, let the flew be pulled back into its former station; the fish that are disturbed by the drag (from the different manner in which their lead-lines have been shown to keep a regular sweep at the bottom), soon perceive an opening to escape beneath it, and in striking to their old harbours, run head-long into the back flew; the discolouring of the water, from the trampling of the people in, together with the motion of some part of the drag upon the mud, all contribute to the success of this expedient, by which the best fish will always be captured.

A drag-net should always be used up the stream; however low the water in a river may be drained for the convenience of those fishing in it, there will still be a current sufficient to preserve the water clear enough for stumps and hangs of various descriptions to be avoided, besides the drain of the water keeps the meshes of the net extended, and enables it to fish with every advantage; on the contrary, when drawing down the stream, the mudding of the water progressively prevents the discovery of stubs, &c., that would injure the net, and aid the escape of the fish, and, moreover, drives the net into folds, which the leaves of the weeds turning the same way, not a little assist.—Daniel.

DRAKE, s. The male of the duck.

DRAM, s. In weight the eighth part of an ounce; a small quantity; such a quantity of distilled spirits as is usually drank at once; spirits, distilled liquors.

DRASTICS, s. Violent purgatives.

DRAUGHT, s. The act of drinking; a quantity of liquor drank at once; the act of drawing or pulling carriages; the act of sweeping with a net; the quantity of fishes taken by once drawing the net; the depth which a vessel draws, or sinks into the water; a bill drawn for the payment of money.

Draughting.—This fishing is confined to the estuary, where the river meets the sea. Here, according to naturalists, the salmon undergo a probationary course, before they exchange the salt for the fresh water, as a sudden change from either would be fatal to the fish, and a temporary sojourn in water of an intermediate quality (brackish), is supposed to be requisite, before they can leave either the ocean or the river.

The draughting is carried on at the last quarter of the ebb, and during the first of the flood; five or six boats, with as many men in each, are necessary. When the salmon are seen, the nearest boat starts off, leaving a man on shore, with a rope attached to one extremity of the net, which is rapidly thrown over, as the boat makes an extensive circle round the place where the fish are supposed to lie. Returning to the shore, the curve of the net is gradually decreased. Stones are flung in at each extremity, to prevent the salmon from escaping; the net reaches the bank, the semicircle is complete, and all within effectually secured. The fish are then carefully landed, and at a single draught five hundred salmon have been taken. This is, however, an event of rare occurrence, and unless the net were powerfully strong, and the fishers skilful, a fracture, and consequently a general escape, would be inevitable.

* * * * *

It is extraordinary how much the flavour and quality of the salmon depends on circumstances apparently of trifling moment. A single day in the river will injure, and a flood spoil their condition; and a difference between a fish taken in the nets, and one killed with a rod, will be easily perceptible.—Wild Sports.

DRAYHORSE, s. A horse which draws a dray.

DREDGE, s. A kind of net; the iron and bag net with which oysters, scallops, &c., are lifted.

DREDGE, v. To gather with a dredge.

DREDGER, s. One who fishes with a dredge.

DRENCH, v. To saturate with drink or moisture; to physic by violence.

Though an inconvenient method of giving medicine to horses, it is preferable, on some occasions, on account of the medicine acting in much less time than in a solid form. In flatulent colic, or gripes, where the symptoms are alarming, a proper drench will relieve the animal, while a ball would be useless.

The best instrument for giving drenches is the horn of an ox; the opening being cut obliquely, in the form of a spout. Bottles are sometimes used, on an emergency, to give drenches; but they are attended with danger, and should be handled cautiously. In giving a drench, the horse’s tongue should be held with the left hand; and when the head is sufficiently elevated, the medicine is to be carefully poured into the throat, immediately letting go the tongue, while the head is kept up until the drench is swallowed. Drenches are very seldom given with dexterity, and a great part of the medicine is sometimes wasted. Every groom should learn to give them with facility, and always keep a proper instrument in the stable. In giving a drench, the head should not be kept so high as it generally is, nor should the throat be pressed or rubbed, as it often is, with a view to make the horse swallow, as it is apt to excite coughing. In severe colds or strangles, there is often some degree of soreness or inflammation of the throat, by which swallowing is rendered difficult and painful. In such cases no attempt should be made to give either a drench or a ball, as the complaint would be increased by it; and if at any time a horse happens to cough or appear distressed, while taking a drench, his head should be immediately let down. Hot stimulating medicines, or such as are very nauseous, are better given in the form of balls than drenches. Drenches should always be given with as much gentleness as possible; the horn may generally be introduced with ease, merely by pressing down the tongue with the fingers of the left hand, instead of dragging it out, as is commonly done. A small quantity only of the liquid should be given at once; about six or eight ounces, or even less, when tincture of opium or any powerful medicine is given; and it is of importance to be accurate in the dose, and not to give either more or less than a certain quantity.

In locked-jaw it is very difficult to give a drench, unless a small horn is kept for the purpose, and even then a good deal of dexterity and perseverance are often required to effect it. In some cases the jaws are so completely closed, and the muscles of deglutition so affected, that a drench cannot be given; and then the only method of conveying the medicine into the body is in the form of clyster. (See CLYSTER.)—White.

DRENCH, s. Physic for a brute; physic that must be given by violence.

DRESS, s. Clothes, garments.

We all know that a jean, nankeen, or any kind of thin jacket, is the pleasantest wear for September, one of fustian for October, and one of velveteen for the winter; and that, for a man, who at all times uses but one kind of jacket, fustian would be about the medium. After having tried almost every thing that is commonly used, and some of the wretched articles that are puffed by advertisement, I have found nothing so good for a light summer jacket as what is made at Manchester by the name of satteen, jeanet, or florentine, which is printed on each side, in imitation of cloth. This stuff far surpasses the others for lightness, comfort, durability, and every thing that can be required for warm weather.

Shoes and Gaiters.—To say nothing of being tormented with two or three dozen of buttons every morning, and having your ankles and knees in a state of confinement through a hard day’s exercise, it need only be observed, that, if you step in the least puddle, you are wet; if you tread in moist ground, your shoe is pulled down at heel, and you are often liable to be annoyed by your shoes untying, and thorns and bits of stick, &c., getting into them, or between the buttons of your gaiters. How much more comfortable, then, is the dress here recommended! With lamb’s-wool stockings and flannel drawers, put on a pair of overall boots, and then draw over them a pair of trowsers, which may be made either of fustian or leather, and so strongly defended inside the knees, that no thorn can penetrate. Thus you are equipped without trouble or loss of time, you have your muscles perfectly at liberty for hard exercise, and are free from every annoyance; not to say a word on the advantage and safety you have in the stirrup, if on horseback, or on the infallibility of this remedy against the annoyance of harvest bugs in September.—Hawker.

DRIVE, v. To force along by impetuous pressure; to force or urge in any direction; to guide and regulate a carriage; to make animals march along under guidance.

DRIVER, s. The person or instrument who gives any motion by violence; one who drives a carriage.

Driving, among sportsmen, is a method of taking pheasant powts. The sportsman having found out the haunts of these birds, and fixed his nets there, he calls them together with a pleasant call, imitating the voice of the dam; after this he makes a noise with his driver, which will make them run a little way forward in a cluster, and this he repeats till he has made sure of them, by driving them into his nets.

* * * * *

Drivers, among sportsmen, a machine for driving pheasant powts, consisting of good strong ozier wands, such as the basket makers use, set in a handle, and twisted or bound with small oziers in two or three places; with this instrument the sportsman drives the young powts into his nets.—Ency. Lond.

DROP, s. A globule of moisture; as much liquor as falls at once when there is not a continual stream.

DROPPER, s. A dog of irregular breed.

A breed between a pointer and a setter. It is deemed by some to be a good cross, but I never saw one of them that was worth much. They are by sportsmen termed droppers, and, what is very remarkable, if they are tolerably good themselves their breed falls off wonderfully.—Thornton.

DROVE, s. A body or number of cattle; a number of sheep driven; any collection of animals.

DRUG, s. An ingredient used in physic, a medicinal simple; anything without worth or value, anything for which no purchaser can be found.

DUB, v. obs. To form the body of a fly.

DUCK, s. A water fowl, both wild and tame. Vide ANAS.

Bimaculated Duck—Clucking Duck.—(Anas glocitans.)—Length twenty inches. Taken in a decoy in England. Has been met with along the Lena, and about the lake Baikal. Has a singular note, somewhat like clucking.

Long-tailed Duck or Swallow-tailed Sheldrake—(Anas Glacialis, LINN.; Canard de Miclon, BUFF.) This species is considerably less than the last, and comes more nearly to the size of the widgeon. The flocks which visit the Orkney isles appear in October, and continue there till April; and “about sunset they are seen in vast companies going to and returning from the bays, in which they frequently pass the night, making such a noise, as in frosty weather may be heard some miles.” They are rather scarce in England, whither they come only in very hard winters, and even then but in small straggling parties. They fly swiftly, but seldom to a great distance, making a loud and singular cry. They are expert divers, and are supposed to live chiefly upon shell-fish.

Tufted Duck—(Anas Fuligula, LINN.; Le Petit Morillon, BUFF.) This is a plump, round, and short shaped species.

The male is distinguished by a pendent crest, overhanging the nape of the neck, two inches in length. The weight is about two pounds, length eighteen inches.

The habits, manners, and haunts of this species are much the same as those of the Golden-eye, and they return northward about the same time.—Vide GOLDEN-EYE—MORILLON—TEAL—VELVET DUCK, &c.

* * * * *

The male bird is called mallard, and the young ones flappers. To find a brood of these, go, about July, and hunt the rushes in the deepest and most retired parts of some brook or trout stream; where, if you spring the old duck, you may be pretty sure that the brood is not far off. When once found flappers are easily killed, as they attain their full growth before their wings are fledged; and for this reason, the sport is often more like hunting water rats than shooting birds.

If you leave the brood after having disturbed them, the old bird will remove them to another place long before the following day.

When the flappers take wing they assume the name of wild ducks. About the month of August they repair to the corn fields, till disturbed by the harvest people. They then frequent the rivers pretty early in the evening, and show excellent sport to any one who has patience to wait for them. Our sporting writers in general have given no further directions for duck-shooting than to walk quietly up a brook, and shoot them as they rise. In doing this, if you have only a single gun, and should spring a bird at an uncertain distance, halloo out before you shoot, as there may be others under a bank, and much closer to you, that would spring on the discharge of your gun.

You need not be at a loss to know a wild duck. The claws in the wild species are black.—Latham.—Bewick.—Hawker.

DUCK-GUN, s. Gun for shooting ducks.

If a duck gun is too large in the calibre, in proportion to its weight of metal, it will recoil considerably; and if too small, it will not have the desired effect of allowing the shot to lie compactly together.

A gun fired from a rest is felt more than if held out; because the left hand, when grasping it, checks the recoil. The stock of a heavy duck-gun should be more bent than that of a common gun as, when we are holding out a great weight, it is not so easy to lower the head: and it should also be observed, that the curve in the stock tends to lessen the recoil.

I have of late years had the duck gun stocks, which I used on the coast, made with a pistol grip, and whipped with waxed-end round the handle, similar to a cricket-bat, which rather lessens the jar; and the upper part of the butt very much cut away, in order to prevent it from hurting the shoulder-bone. I also paint and varnish the stock, by which means it does not get cracked, after being wetted with salt-water. The gun-makers’ stocks I found were always a great plague on this account, as well as from the trouble of keeping them in order, after being exposed to the spray of the sea. Add to which, they recoil most unmercifully, and are, therefore, only fit for light charges.

Trial at twelve sheets of thick brown paper, to ascertain the difference between two common duck-guns, and a very superior double gun, made by Mr. Joseph Manton.

POUNDS. FEET. INCHES. GAUGE. Large duck-gun 14 4 6 7 Smallest, do. 12½ 4 5 7 Double gun 9 2 8 14

WITH NO. 2 SHOT.

IN THE 1ST THROUGH THE YARDS. SHEET. 12TH SHEET. Duck-guns 60 32 25 Double gun 60 20 18 Duck-guns 45 34 34 Double gun 45 26 26

The large guns were loaded with precisely double the charge of the small gun, which is one-fifth less than that with which they always killed best.

The paper was nailed up close to a sheet of water, and two men placed to observe that effect; which was, that the outside shot (that which flew wide of the paper) appeared to be driven with much more force from the heavy guns, and, of course, spread a much larger surface.

This proves that although, if both accurately levelled, the difference between a wild-fowl gun and a small gun, is not so very considerable, at a single bird; yet, from the immense circle which the large gun spreads, you have more chances of killing with an indifferent aim; and, of course, in a flock (as before said) would kill many more birds at a shot.—Hawker.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

EAGLE, s. A bird of prey. A name given to the larger species of the Falcon family, differing in little but size from the true falcons.

There seem to be three well ascertained native species; the Golden Eagle, the Osprey, and what we call Eagle, from its frequent occurrence.

The Golden Eagle (Falco chrysætos, LINN.; Le grand Aigle, BUFF.) is the largest of the genus; it measures, from the point of the bill to the extremity of the toes, upwards of three feet; and in breadth, from wing to wing, above eight; and weighs from sixteen to eighteen pounds. The male is smaller, and does not weigh more than twelve pounds. The bill is of a deep blue colour; the cere yellow; the eyes are large, deep, sunk, and covered by a projecting brow; the iris is of a fine bright yellow, and sparkles with uncommon lustre. The general colour is deep brown mixed with tawny on the head and neck; the quills are chocolate, with white shafts; the tail is black, spotted with ash-colour; the legs are yellow, and feathered down to the toes, which are very scaly; the claws are remarkably large—the middle one is two inches in length.

This noble bird is found in various parts of Europe; it abounds most in warmer regions, and has seldom been met with farther north than the fifty-fifth degree of latitude. It is known to breed in the mountainous parts of Ireland: it lays three and sometimes four eggs, of which it seldom happens that more than two are prolific. Mr. Pennant says there are instances, though rare, of their having bred in Snowdon Hills. Mr. Wallis, in his Natural History of Northumberland, says—“it formerly had its aërie on the highest and steepest part of Cheviot. In the beginning of January, 1735, a very large one was shot near Warkworth, which measured, from point to point of its wings, eleven feet and a quarter.”

The Ring-tailed Eagle (Falco fulvus, LINN.; l’Aigle commun, BUFF.) is the common eagle of Buffon, and, according to that author, includes two varieties, the brown and the black eagle; they are both of the same brown colour, distinguished only by a deeper shade, and are nearly of the same size: in both, the upper part of the head and neck is mixed with rust colour, and the base of the larger feathers marked with white; the bill is of a dark horn colour; the cere of a light yellow; the iris is hazel; and between the bill and the eye there is a naked skin of a dirty brown colour; the legs are feathered to the toes, which are yellow, and the claws black; the tail is distinguished by a white ring, which covers about two-thirds of its length; the remaining part is black.

The ring-tailed eagle is more numerous and diffused than the golden eagle, and prefers more northern climates. It is found in France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and in America as far north as Hudson’s Bay.

The White-tailed Eagle, Great Erne, or Cinereous Eagle (Falco albicilla, LINN.; Le grand Pygargue, BUFF.) Of this there appears to be three varieties, which differ chiefly in size, and consist of the following: the great erne, or cinereous eagle, of Latham and Pennant; the small erne, or lesser white-tailed eagle; and the white-headed erne, or bald eagle. The first two are distinguished by their size, and the last by the whiteness of its head and neck. The white-tailed eagle is inferior in size to the golden eagle. The beak, cere, and eyes are of a pale yellow; the space between the beak and the eye is of a blueish colour, and thinly covered with hair; the sides of the head and neck are of a pale ash-colour, mixed with reddish brown; the general colour of the plumage is brown, darkest on the upper part of the head, neck, and back; the quill feathers are very dark; the breast is irregularly marked with white spots; the tail is white; the legs, which are of a bright yellow, are feathered a little below the knees; the claws are black.

This bird inhabits all the northern parts of Europe, and is found in Scotland and many parts of Great Britain. It is equal in strength and vigour to the common eagle, but more furious; and is said to drive its young ones from the nest, after having fed them only a very short time. It has commonly two or three young, and builds its nest upon lofty trees.

The Sea Eagle, (Falco ossifragus, LINN.; L’Orfraie, BUFF.)—This bird is nearly as large as the Golden Eagle, measuring, in length, three feet and a half; but its expanded wings do not reach above seven feet. Its bill is large, much hooked, and of a blueish colour; irides in some light hazel, in others yellow: a row of strong bristly feathers hangs down from under his bill next to his throat, whence it has been termed the Bearded Eagle: the top of the head and back part of the neck are dark brown, inclining to black; the feathers on the back are variegated by a lighter brown, with dark edges; the scapulars are pale brown, the edges nearly white; the breast and belly whitish, with irregular spots of brown; the tail feathers are dark brown, the outer edges of the exterior feathers whitish; the quill-feathers and thighs are dusky; the legs and feet yellow; the claws, which are large, and form a complete semicircle, are of a shining black.

It is found in various parts of Europe and America. It is said to lay only two eggs during the whole year, and frequently produces only one young bird; it is, however, widely dispersed, and was met with at Botany Island by Captain Cook. It lives chiefly on fish: its usual haunts are by the sea-shore; it also frequents the borders of large lakes and rivers; and is said to see so distinctly in the dark, as to be able to pursue and catch its prey during the night. The story of the eagle, brought to the ground after a severe conflict with a cat, which it had seized and taken up into the air with its talons, is very remarkable. Mr. Barlow, who was an eyewitness of the fact, made a drawing of it, which he afterwards engraved.

In their native districts these noble birds are generally seen near the sea-shore, or upon the rocky precipices on the margin of the inland lakes, from whence they pounce upon the fish while swimming near the surface of the water. Aquatic birds also become their frequent prey. They generally choose the most inaccessible cliffs for building their nests, laying one and sometimes two eggs, entirely white, and nearly the size of that of a goose; one of these, in Selby’s possession, was laid by a bird after it had been in confinement twenty years.

* * * * *

Montagu, speaking of the cinereous or sea-eagle, says, “The specimen from which this description is taken, was killed by Sir Robert Littleton’s game-keeper in Shropshire. It was accompanied by a letter from Sir Robert, the purport of which was, that his servant being out shooting, saw two large birds feeding on the carcase of a sheep, which appeared recently killed; that having nothing but small snipe-shot with him, he turned back, intending to go home for larger; that the eagles then followed him, and frequently came so near, that he concluded they meant either to attack him or his dogs. Suddenly losing sight of one, he judged it was very near him behind, and being somewhat alarmed, turned and shot at it in a hurry; after which the bird flew some hundred yards, and dropped. On his approach it was vomiting blood; and he killed it after a struggle of half an hour.” He adds, that it was the larger of the two.

* * * * *

John Maxwell, Esq., of Ardbraccan, in Ireland, favoured us with two young birds of this species alive, taken the preceding year on a mountainous precipice, or craggy cliff, called Slieve Donard, impending over the sea, in the county of Down. That gentleman informed us that two men, covered with sackcloth and armed, were lowered by ropes to the aërie which, with considerable difficulty, they robbed of two young, leaving only one addled egg behind. The old eagles being so furious as to create serious alarm, neither the nest nor colour of the egg were noticed. Some fragments of flesh were in the nest.

The eaglets were covered with a glossy, dark, murry-coloured down. A basket was attached to the ropes that conveyed the men down: into this the young birds were put; but from the violence and amazing strength of the parent birds, they were with difficulty carried off. These birds were not twelve months old when we received them. On their first moulting they became much darker, particularly about the breast and thighs, the latter almost wholly of a dusky black. At two years old, the base of the bill became yellow; in the third year there was not any material change. At this time one of them killed and devoured the other, probably from some neglect in feeding them, as before that event they lived together in perfect harmony.

* * * * *

From the astonishing height these and some other birds fly, we are led to believe that they are capable of living in a much lighter atmosphere than any other animals. From the top of some of the highest mountains in Scotland, we have seen several of them soaring together at so great a distance as to appear scarce larger than a swallow. It is said to prey indiscriminately on land animals, fish, and aquatic birds, and probably every animal of inferior strength suffers from its rapacity.

Two of this species contending in the air over Loch Lomond, in the Scottish Highlands, became so firmly grappled to each other by their talons, that they were precipitated into the water. The uppermost regained the power of its wings, but the other was taken alive by a Highlander, who witnessed the scene, and who waited till the wind had wafted him near the shore. This curious account was received from an officer who bought the eagle.

* * * * *

Although this is an extremely bold bird, it will not venture to contend with a dog or a fox in its natural state. An eagle and a fox were observed to be regaling themselves on the carcase of a goat, that had fallen down a precipice in the Highlands of Scotland. The latter frequently obliged the other to desist, and retreat a little, but it was not sufficiently alarmed to prevent returning; and it occasionally threw itself into bold and picturesque attitudes of defence, spreading the wings and tail, and erecting every feather.

* * * * *

Montagu says, “Two living eagles were sent to us from Ireland, and were, on their arrival at Bristol, detained by an officer of excise, upon a plea that there was a duty upon all singing-birds. Had this happened on the other side of the water, it might have been termed an Irish story. The unfortunate birds would, however, have been starved at the custom-house, if application had not been made to the head of that department in the port of Bristol, offering to pay any demand for their release, if legally detained for their vocal abilities. By this officer it was most wisely determined, after some consideration, that eagles could scarcely be considered as singing-birds.”

* * * * *

The eagles in the Isle of Rum have nearly extirpated the stags that used to abound there.

They generally build in clefts of rocks near the deer forests; and make great havoc among them, the white hares, and the ptarmigans. Willoughby gives the following curious account of the nest of this species:—“In 1668, in the woodlands near the River Derwent, in the peak of Derbyshire, was found an eagle’s nest, made of great sticks, resting one end on the edge of a rock, the other on two birch trees; upon which was a layer of rushes, and over them a layer of heath, and upon the heath rushes again; upon which lay one young one and an addled egg; and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath poults. The nest was about two yards square, and had no hollow in it.”—Bewick—Montagu—Willoughby—Selby—Pennant.

EAGLE-EYED, a. Sharp-sighted as an eagle.

EAGLET, s. A young eagle.

EAR, s. The whole organ of audition or hearing; the spike of corn, that part which contains the seeds.

EARTH, v. To hide in earth; to force an animal to his concealment or den—as to earth a fox or badger.

EARWIG, s. A sheath-winged insect.

ECARTÉ, s. A game at cards.

Ecarté is played by two persons with a pack of thirty-two cards, as at piquet. It is customary to have two packs, and of different colours for the sake of distinction. The pack to be first dealt with is placed on the right hand of the dealer, and the other at his left. Though only two persons can play at the same time, it is not unusual to admit one or more into the game, the winner or loser, as may be agreed, resigning his seat to the next in rotation, and this is called playing a fool. The game consists of five points, unless it be otherwise agreed upon by the players.

OF CUTTING FOR THE DEAL.

1. He who cuts the highest card is entitled to the deal. In most games the lowest card takes the deal, but it is the reverse at ecarté, the deal being considered an advantage on account of the king, of which we shall speak hereafter.

2. He who does not show the card he cuts, is considered as having cut the lowest in the pack.

3. He who shows two cards in cutting is considered as having cut the lowest of the two.

4. The cut for the deal is good, even with a defective pack.

5. In playing a rubber, the deal goes on regularly as at all other games.

6. The order of the cards is as follows: king, queen, knave, ace, ten, nine, eight, seven.

OF THE DEAL, THE MISDEAL, AND THE TURN UP CARD.

1. The person who gains the deal shuffles the cards, presents them to his adversary to cut, and then deals ten cards, five to his adversary and five to himself. He distributes them by three and two, or two and three, at his option, beginning with his adversary, turns up the eleventh card as the trump, and places the remainder of the pack or stock, as it is called, at his right hand.

2. The order of dealing observed at the beginning of the game must be continued as long as the game lasts. For instance, if the dealer began with three and two, he cannot change and give two and three; and vice versâ.

3. If there be one or more faced cards in the pack, and it be discovered before either hand has been seen, the deal is void, unless it be the eleventh card, which, being the one that is to be turned up, can effect no alteration in the game.

4. If it be not discovered till after the discard has been put out, and the faced card or cards come to the dealer, the deal is good, and the faced card or cards must form a part of his hand. If, on the contrary, a faced card come to the elder hand, he may, at his option, consider the deal good, or call a new deal; for this reason, that the fault being committed by the dealer, the elder hand ought not to suffer for it.

5. It sometimes happens, that the dealer turns up one or more cards in dealing. If they chance to be his own cards, the deal is good, for the knowledge thus acquired by his adversary, of one or more of the cards in his hand, can be prejudicial only to himself, and he ought to submit to the penalty of his fault: if he turn his adversary’s card, the deal goes on, but it is optional with the adversary to allow it to stand, or to call a new one. Some persons contend, that the moment a card is seen there ought to be a new deal. This is by no means a just rule. An unfair or not strictly scrupulous player, who might know some of the cards in the pack, might perhaps purposely turn up a card or two in dealing, if he found he was giving good cards to his adversary, and would incur no penalty but the trouble of dealing again.

6. When a player deals out of turn, and it is discovered before the trump card is seen, there must be a new deal: but if not discovered till after the trump card is known, or before the parties have discarded or played, the pack, just as it is, is left for his next deal, and the game proceeded in by the right person dealing with the other pack: if the play have commenced, or the discard been put out before the discovery, the deal is good.

7. Should there be a misdeal, and it be discovered before either party has seen his hand, it may be made good by restoring the cards to the order in which they would have fallen had no misdeal been made.

8. If the elder hand perceive that the dealer has not given him as many cards as he asked for, and the mistake be discovered before the dealer has seen the cards he has to take in, it may be rectified in the same manner as in the preceding case.

9. If the cards have been seen by both parties, and the dealer should have a deficiency, it is in the option of the adversary, either to allow him to supply the deficiency, from the uppermost cards of the stock, or oblige him to lose the deal; if the dealer should have a card too many, his adversary has the option of drawing a card from his hand by chance, or obliging him to lose the deal.

10. If the elder hand should have a deficiency, it is optional with him to supply it from the stock, or claim the deal; if he have too many cards, he may either discard them, or claim the deal.

11. If however it can be proved, that the fault did not originate with the dealer, as, for instance, where the elder hand has asked for three cards and has only discarded two, or has asked but for two and discarded three, then the elder hand shall lose one point, and not be allowed to reckon the king.

12. He who after having taken in his cards for his discard, plays with more than five cards, loses a point, and also the right of marking the king.

13. When the dealer turns up two or more cards, instead of one for the trump, it is optional with the adversary to claim what would have been the turn-up card, if the order had not been deranged, or to place the cards seen at the bottom of the stock and have a new cut, or to call a new deal.

OF THE KING, AND THE TURN UP OR TRUMP CARD.

1. He who turns up a king gains and marks one point: he who holds the king of the suit turned up, gains and marks one point.

2. The king must be declared before it is played, by the holder of it saying, I hold the king: it may also be declared after it has been played; but, in that case, it must be the leading card, and not have been covered by the adversary’s card; for if covered before declared, the point cannot be marked.

3. This rule applies only to the elder hand; the second player must always declare the king before he plays it; but it is his interest not to declare it till after his adversary has played his first card.

4. The suit of the turn up card, or trump, is superior to all the other suits.

OF DISCARDING.

1. If the elder-hand be dissatisfied with his cards, he proposes to exchange them in whole or in part, by saying, I discard, or I propose, or if you please, or any other equivalent phrase. If the second player be also dissatisfied with his hand, he accedes to the proposal by saying, How many? He then gives the elder hand as many cards as he demands, and afterwards takes as many as he wants himself to the full number of the whole hand, five cards each, if requisite.

2. He who has once proposed cannot refuse the cards given him.

3. If after the first exchange the elder hand be still not content with his cards, he may ask for more three or four times successively, till the thirty-two cards are exhausted, but the dealer, from first to last, is always at liberty to accept or refuse.

4. Each player before he takes in new cards, must throw his discard on the table apart from the stock, and the cards put out must all be mixed together. The discard made, neither player can demand more or less cards than he requested, nor is he allowed to look at those which have been discarded.

5. It sometimes happens, that, after several exchanges have been made, the elder hand having proposed again, and the dealer having inconsiderately asked, How many, there are not cards enough left to satisfy his demand. In this case he who has proposed is not the less bound to have other cards; but as he cannot have them from the stock, there being no stock left, he is obliged to supply the deficiency from his last discard.

6. He who looks at his discard, after he has made it, is obliged to play with his hand exposed on the table.

7. When, after the first deal, the elder hand proposes, and the other refuses, the one who refuses loses two points, if he do not make three tricks.

8. In the same manner when the elder hand plays without proposing, he loses two points, if he do not win three tricks.

9. If, in giving new cards to the proposer, the dealer turn up a card for the trump, in mistake as at the original deal, he cannot refuse a second discard, should his adversary demand it.

OF THE MANNER OF PLAYING.

1. The elder hand plays first.

2. The first player is bound to play in the suit he names; for instance, if he should say hearts, and play clubs, or any other suit, he is obliged, if his adversary insist on it, to take up the card he has played, and to play in the declared suit.

3. If the adversary deem the card played more advantageous to his own hand than the declared suit, he plays to it, and the card once covered cannot be recalled in order to play a different suit.

4. He who plays before his turn is only obliged to take up his card again, if it have not been played to; but if it be covered, the trick is good. In this case, as in the preceding one, both players having been in fault, one for having played and the other for having allowed him to play out of turn, no penalty is incurred.

OF THE SCORE AND VOLE.

1. When both parties have done discarding, he who wins three tricks reckons one point; if he win every trick he reckons two points, and has won the vole.

2. Two points only can be made in the same deal, unless you hold the king. To make two points without the king or three with the king, is called winning the vole.

OF THE REVOKE AND UNDER-FORCE.

1. It is not allowable to revoke, or to under-force.

2. When one of the players has revoked or under-forced, as soon as it is discovered the cards are taken up and played over again; but the person in fault, if he win the vole, counts only one point for it, and nothing if he win the point only.

GENERAL RULES.

1. For the cut to be good, at this as at every other game, two cards, at least, must be left of the pack.

2. Each player has a right to ask for new cards as often as he pleases.

3. When a player takes tricks that do not belong to him, and reckons them as his own, a bystander has a right to mention it; and so as to any other unfair play.

4. He who, under whatever pretence, looks at his adversary’s tricks, is bound to play out the hand with his cards exposed on the table.

5. A card escaping from a hand, and falling under the table, is not considered as played, unless it has been played to, or has covered, wholly or in part, the adversary’s card.

6. If a player from mistake or ill humour should throw down and mix his cards, the adversary scores two points.

7. He who quits the game loses it; but should there be bets depending, the adversary is bound to continue the game with some one of the bystanders, for the benefit of the persons so interested.

8. When the pack is defective, by consisting of too many, or too few cards; the deal in which it is discovered is void, but the preceding ones stand good.

OF BETTING.

1. He who bets on one of the players has a right to advise him in playing the game.

2. He who wins a bet is bound to give his adversary his revenge, but the loser is not obliged to take it.

3. The players have the privilege of accepting bets in preference to a bystander.

4. Betting being optional and not arbitrary, the bets that are made must be mentioned at every game.

5. Every case not provided for by the foregoing rules ought always to be decided against the player who is in fault.—Hoyle.

ECHINUS, s. A hedgehog; a shell-fish set with prickles. Vide HEDGEHOG.

EDDY, s. The water that, by some repercussion, or opposite wind, runs contrary to the main stream; generally a favourite cast in fly-fishing.

EEL, s. A serpentine slimy fish, that lurks in mud.

Very little is yet known of the natural history of the eel; indeed, the element in which they live almost precludes us from that access to them which is necessary to enable us to observe their habits and economy. The eel is evidently a link between the fish and serpent, but, unlike the former, it can exist a long time out of water, which its nocturnal migrations prove, though probably a certain degree of moisture on the grass is necessary to enable it to do this.

The haunts of the eel are among weeds, under roots, stumps of trees, in holes and clefts of the earth, both in the banks, and at the bottom in the plain mud, where they lie with only their heads out, watching for their prey; they are also to be found under great stones, old timber, about bridges, flood-gates, weirs, and also mills, except when the water is rendered thick by rains, for then they come out, and will bite eagerly. They are in best season from May until July: a running line should be used, which must be very strong, and the hook No. 3, or 4, with a plumb or pistol bullet upon it. They are to be angled for on the ground, and two or more rods may be employed (if ground bait be thought necessary, it should be the same as for the barbel); the prime bait is the lob-worm, and they bite eagerly all day, in dark cloudy weather, after showers, attended with thunder and lightning, when the water is high and discoloured; but those who venture upon night angling, will have far greater success when the weather is warm and the night dark. They are then to be angled for upon the shallows, where there is a current, or by the side or tail of a stream, with a sandy or gravelly bottom, with the bait on the ground; they will be felt to tug sharply when they seize the bait, give time (which is necessary both in day and night angling), and there will be no doubt of sport from night-fall until day-break, when they directly flee to their hiding places.

The largest eels are caught by night lines. It is of little consequence where they are laid, as they will succeed in streams (where the eels rove in search of prey), as well as in still waters, and they will take frogs, black snails, worms, roach, dace, gudgeon, minnows (which two last are best), loaches, bleaks, and millers’ thumbs. A sufficient quantity of links of twelve hairs should be doubled, and a hook tied to each link; these are to be noosed at proper distances to pieces of cord of fifteen feet long; bait the hooks by making an incision with the baiting needle under the shoulder and thrusting it out at the middle of the tail, drawing the link after it; the point of the hook should be upright towards the back of the baitfish; fasten one end to the bank or a stub, and cast the other into the water, but not to the extent of the line (as eels will run a little before they gorge): the lines should be taken up early in the morning; such of the lines as have eels at them will be drawn very tight. Dark nights in July, August, and September, are the best for this kind of fishing.

Another method of taking eels, when the water is clear and low, is called snigling, and is performed with a stick about a yard long, with a cleft at each end, and a strong needle well whipped to a small whipcord line from the eye down to the middle. In baiting, run the head of the needle quite up into the head of a lobworm, letting the point come about the middle; then put the point of the needle into the cleft at either end of the stick, and taking both stick and line together in one hand, put the bait softly into holes under walls, stones, &c., where eels hide themselves; if there be an eel there, he will take the worm and needle out of the cleft. Draw back the stick gently (having slackened the line), and give time for his swallowing the bait; then strike, and the needle will stick across his throat. Let him tire himself with tugging, previous to any attempt to pull him out, for he lies folded in his den, and will fasten his tail round anything for his defence. The largest eels are generally taken about the hollow stone-work of old bridges (the angler being in a boat), and are sometimes caught in considerable numbers.

A third plan for taking eels is by what is termed bobbing, which is best managed in a boat. This is done by taking a quantity of well-scoured lobworms; have a long needle, with three lengths of worsted slightly twisted together; put the needle lengthways through the worms, and draw them down on the worsted. When there is two yards thus prepared, then fold them up in links, and tie them to about two yards of good twine, and make a knot on it eight inches from the worms; and slipping a piece of lead, with a hole in it (weighing from a quarter to three quarters of a pound, according to the current fished in), down the line to the knot; fasten the line to a manageable pole, and let the lead lie on the bottom in thick, muddy water, when the tide runs up strong, or near the mouth of some river. When the eels nibble at the bait, they can be felt; give some little time before it is pulled up, which must be gently until near the surface, and then hoist out quickly. The worsted sticking in the eels’ teeth, prevents their loosening themselves until the line is slackened by throwing them into the boat, or on the ground. So soon as they are disentangled, throw the bait in again. Frequently great quantities are thus caught, especially of grigs. Eels are also to be snared in the same way as the pike, and in the fens numbers are speared by an instrument with three or four forks, or jagged teeth, which is struck at random into the mud.

* * * * *

The most extraordinary peculiarity in the natural history of the eel, is its double migration, one up and one down rivers, one from and the other to the sea; the first in spring and summer, and the second in autumn or early in winter. The first, of very small eels, which are sometimes not more than two or two and a half inches long; the second, of large eels, which sometimes are three or four feet long, and weigh from ten to fifteen, or even twenty pounds. There is great reason to believe, that all eels found in fresh water are the results of the first migration. They appear in millions, in April and May, and sometimes continue to rise as late even as July and the beginning of August. I remember this was the case in Ireland, in 1823. It had been a cold backward summer, and when I was at Ballyshannon, about the end of July, the mouth of the river, which had been in flood all this month, under the fall, was blackened by millions of little eels, about as long as the finger, which were constantly urging their way up the moist rocks by the side of the fall. Thousands died, but their bodies remaining moist, served as the ladder for others to make their way; and I saw some ascending even perpendicular stones, making their road through wet moss, or adhering to some eels that had died in the attempt. Such is the energy of these little animals, that they continue to find their way, in immense numbers, to Loch Erne. The same thing happens at the fall of the Bann, and Loch Neagh is thus peopled by them: even the mighty Fall of Schaffhausen does not prevent them from making their way to the Lake of Constance, where I have seen many very large eels.

There are eels in the Lake of Neufchatel, which communicates, by a stream, with the Rhine; but there are none in the Leman Lake, because the Rhone makes a subterraneous fall below Geneva; and though small eels can pass by moss or mount rocks, they cannot penetrate limestone, or move against a rapid descending course of water, passing, as it were, through a pipe. Again: no eels mount the Danube from the Black Sea; and there are none found in the great extent of lakes, swamps, and rivers, communicating with the Danube, though some of these lakes and morasses are wonderfully fitted for them, and though they are found abundantly in the same countries, in lakes and rivers connected with the ocean and Mediterranean. Yet, when brought into confined water in the Danube, they fatten and thrive there. As to the instinct which leads young eels to seek fresh water, it is difficult to reason; probably they prefer warmth, and, swimming at the surface in the early summer, find the lighter water warmer, and likewise containing more insects, and so pursue the courses of fresh water, as the waters from the land, at this season, become warmer than those of the sea.

Mr. J. Couch, (Lin. Trans. t. xiv. p. 70) says, that the little eels, according to his observation, are produced within reach of the tide, and climb round falls to reach fresh water from the sea. I have sometimes seen them, in spring, swimming in immense shoals in the Atlantic, in Mount Bay, making their way to the mouth of small brooks and rivers. When the cold water from the autumnal floods begins to swell the rivers, this fish tries to return to the sea; but numbers of the smaller ones hide themselves during the winter in the mud, and many of them form, as it were, in masses together. Various authors have recorded the migration of eels in a singular way,—such as Dr. Plot, who, in his History of Staffordshire, says, that they pass in the night, across meadows, from one pond to another: and Mr. Arderon, (in Trans. Royal Soc.) gives a distinct account of small eels rising up the flood-gates and posts of the water works of the city of Norwich; and they made their way to the water above, though the boards were smooth planed, and five or six feet perpendicular. He says, when they first rose out of the water upon the dry board, they rested a little—which seemed to be till their slime was thrown out, and sufficiently glutinous—and then they rose up the perpendicular ascent with the same facility as if they had been moving on a plane surface.—(Trans. Abr. vol. ix. p. 311.) There can, I think, be no doubt, that they are assisted by their small scales, which, placed like those of serpents, must facilitate their progressive motion: these scales have been microscopically observed by Leuwenhoek.—(Phil. Trans. vol. iv.) Eels migrate from the salt-water of different sizes, but I believe never when they are above a foot long—and the great mass of them are only from two and a half to four inches. They feed, grow, and fatten in fresh water. In small rivers they are seldom very large; but in large deep lakes they become as thick as a man’s arm, or even leg; and all those of a considerable size attempt to run to the sea in October or November, probably when they experience the cold of the first autumnal rains. Those that are not of the largest size, as I said before, pass the winter in the deepest parts of the mud of rivers and lakes, and do not seem to eat much, and remain, I believe, almost torpid. Their increase is not certainly known in any given time, but must depend upon the quantity of their food; but it is probable they do not become of the largest size from the smallest in one or even two seasons: but this, as well as many other particulars, can only be ascertained by new observations and experiments. Block states, that they grow slowly, and mentions, that some had been kept in the same pond for fifteen years.

As very large eels, after having migrated, never return to the river again, they must (for it cannot be supposed they all die immediately in the sea) remain in salt water; and there is great probability, that they are then confounded with the conger, which is found of different colours and sizes, from the smallest to the largest, from a few ounces to one hundred pounds in weight. The colour of the conger is generally paler than that of the eel; but, in the Atlantic, it is said, that pale congers are found on one side of the Wolf Rock, and dark ones on the other. The conger has breathing tubes, which are said not to be found in the other eel; but to determine this, would require a more minute examination than has yet been made. Both the conger and common eel have fringes along the air-bladder, which are probably the ovaria; and Sir E. Home thinks them hermaphrodite, and that the seminal vessels are close to the kidneys. I hope this great comparative anatomist will be able to confirm his views by new dissections, and some chemical researches upon the nature of the fringes and the supposed melt. If viviparous, and the fringes contain the ova, one mother must produce tens of thousands, the ova being remarkably small; but it appears more probable, that they are oviparous, and that they deposit their ova in parts of the sea near deep basins, which remain warm in winter. This might be ascertained by experiment, particularly on the coast of the Mediterranean. I cannot find that they haunt the Arctic Ocean, which is probably of too low a temperature to suit their feelings or habits; and the Caspian and Black Sea are probably without them, from their not being found in the Volga or Danube; these being shallow seas, are perhaps too cold for them in winter. From the time (April) that small eels begin to migrate, it is probable that they are generated in winter, and the pregnant eels should be looked for in November, December, and January. I opened one in December, in which the fringes were abundant, but I did not examine them under the microscope, or chemically. I trust this curious problem will not remain much longer unsolved.

* * * * *

An amazing number of eels are bred in the two large ponds in Richmond Park, which is sufficiently evident from the very great quantity of young ones which migrate from those ponds every year. The late respectable head-keeper of that park assured me, that, at nearly the same day in the month of May, vast numbers of young eels, about two inches in length, contrived to get through the pen-stock of the upper pond, and then through the channel which led into the lower pond, from whence they got through another pen-stock into a water-course which led them eventually into the River Thames. They migrated in one connected shoal, and in such prodigious numbers, that no guess could be given as to their probable amount.

* * * * *

The winter retreat of eels is very curious. They not only get deep into the mud, but in Bushy Park, where the mud in the ponds is not very deep, and what there is is of a sandy nature, the eels make their way under the banks of the ponds, and have been found knotted together in a large mass.

* * * * *

Eel-weirs are common in almost all the rivers in Ireland. There are some large ones at, or near Enniskillen, where great quantities of these fish are caught; they are not natives of the lake, but come from the sea when very young, and are intercepted in their return; they never take a bait, nor are ever known to eat any kind of food. Lord Belmore has kept some in boxes for a year, and found this to be the case.

The country people catch them by extending across the water a band of hay, in which the eels get so entangled, as not to be able to disengage themselves, and by these means are easily taken.

* * * * *

There is a very singular eel found in the river Barrow near Carlow. It is like the gillaroo, has a gizzard. This eel is said to be particularly delicious when introduced to table.

* * * * *

The common eel will grow to a large size, sometimes to weigh twenty pounds, but that is extremely rare; in 1799 one was taken out of the Kennet, near Newbury, which weighed fifteen pounds. As to instances brought by Dale and others, of these fish increasing to a superior magnitude, there is much reason to suspect them to have been congers; since the enormous eels they describe, have all been taken at the mouth of the Thames or Medway.

* * * * *

The following curious fact is recorded by Mr. Swallow, some years since the British Consul-General in Russia:—Having occasion to go from Petersburgh to Moscow, where eels are a great rarity, he ordered some, to carry as a present; upon being taken out of the water, they were thrown upon the ground to be frozen, and soon appeared quite dead, and almost a piece of ice; they were then packed in snow, and when arrived at Moscow, which was four days after, the eels being put into cold water, and so thawed, discovered gradually signs of life, and soon perfectly recovered!

* * * * *

The eel was anciently said to possess the power of enforcing sobriety upon the most devoted subject of the jolly god. “If you would some notorious drunkard and common swil-bowle to loth and abhorre his beastlie vice, and for ever after to hate the drinking of wine, put an eele alyue into some wyde mouthed potte with a couer, hauing in it suche a quantitie of wine as may suffice of itselfe to suffocate and strangle the eele to death; which doone, take out the dead eele, and let the partie, whom you would have reclaymed from his bibacitie, not knowing hereof, drinke of that wine onely, euen as much as he listeth.”—Jesse—Daniel—Sir H. Davy, &c.

EFT, s. A newt, an evet, a small lizard.

EGG, s. That which is laid by feathered animals, from which their young is produced; the spawn or sperm of creatures.

Eggs of Birds.—By experiment it appears that birds do not instinctively know the necessary time of incubation.

Those who suppose a bird capable of producing eggs at will, or that any bird is excited to lay more eggs than usual by daily robbing their nest, are certainly mistaken. In a domesticated fowl it is probable the desire of incubation may be prolonged by leaving little or nothing in the nest to sit on. It will therefore lay the number allotted by nature, which is determined before the first egg is produced.

It is but few birds, if any, that would produce a second lot of eggs in the same season if unmolested; but if their nests are destroyed, it is probable three or four separate lots may be produced.

The growth of an egg after impregnation is exceedingly rapid; the yolk only is formed in the ovarium, where it remains till within twenty-four hours of its being produced; when that part is fully matured, it separates and falls down the oviduct into the uterus, where the egg is perfectly formed; first, the vitellus or yolk is surrounded by the albumen or white; and lastly is covered with a calcareous shell. The very expeditious growth of these last appear to be an extraordinary exertion of nature. The calcareous covering of an egg is concreted and formed in a most expeditious manner; a few hours only seem necessary for this work. Only one vitellus separates from the ovarium at a time, (except as we shall hereafter mention,) till the exclusion of which no other succeeds. But this is a daily production, with few exceptions, there is no more time allowed for perfecting the albumen and shell than twenty-four hours.

Colours of Eggs.—It was a notion of Darwin’s that the variety in the colours of eggs, as well as in the colours of many animals, is adapted to the purposes of concealment from their natural enemies. Thus, he remarks, that the eggs of the hedge-chanter (Accentor modularis) are greenish blue, as are those of magpies and crows, which are seen from beneath in wicker nests, between the eye and the blue of the firmament. M. Glöger, a German naturalist, has followed up this singular theory into some detail, and considers it to be a remarkable provision of nature, that birds whose nests are most exposed, and whose eggs are most open to the view of their enemies, lay eggs of which the colour is the least distinguishable from that of surrounding objects, so as to deceive the eye of birds, or other plundering animals; while birds, the eggs of which have a bright decided colour, and are consequently very conspicuous, either conceal their nests in hollows, or only quit their eggs during the night, or begin to sit immediately. It is also to be remarked that in the species of which the nest is open, and the female brings up the brood without the assistance of the male, these females are generally of a different colour from the male, less conspicuous, and more in harmony with the objects around.

* * * * *

Eggs of Game.—Taking or wilfully destroying the eggs of game, subjects the offender to the following penalties for each egg:—

Pheasant, partridge, swan £1 0 0 Any wild-fowl, crane, bustard (and one year’s imprisonment for the offence) 0 1 8 Bittern, heron, shoveller 0 0 8

Rennie—Montagu, &c.

EGRET (Ardea garzetta, LINN.; Egretta, BUFF.), s. A fowl of the heron kind.

The egret is one of the smallest, as well as the most elegant of the heron tribe: its shape is delicate, and its plumage as white as snow; but what constitute its principal beauty are the soft, silky, flowing plumes on the head, breast, and shoulders: they consist of single slender shafts, thinly set with pairs of fine soft threads, which float on the slightest breath of air. Those which arise from the shoulders are extended over the back, and flow beyond the tail. These plumes were formerly used to decorate the helmets of warriors: they are now applied to a gentler and better purpose, in ornamenting the headdresses of the European ladies, and the turbans of the Persians and Turks.

The egret seldom exceeds a pound and a half in weight, and rarely a foot and a half in length. A bare green skin is extended from the beak to the eyes, the irides of which are pale yellow: the bill and legs are black. Like the common heron, they perch and build their nests on trees, and live on the same kinds of food.

This species is found in almost every temperate and warm climate, and must formerly have been plentiful in Great Britain, if it be the same bird as that mentioned by Leland in the list or bill-of-fare prepared for the famous feast of Archbishop Nevil, in which one thousand of these birds were served up. No wonder the species has become nearly extinct in this country.—Bewick.

EGYPTIACUM, s. Liniment of verdigris. It is useful in diseases of the frog and heel, and is formed by boiling five ounces of powdered verdigris, one pound of honey, and seven ounces of vinegar, until they are incorporated.

EIDER DUCK, ST. CUTHBERT’S DUCK, or GREAT BLACK AND WHITE DUCK (Anas mollissima, LINN.; L’Eider, BUFF.), s.

This wild but valuable species is of a size between the goose and the domestic duck, and appears to be one of the graduated links of the chain which connects the two kinds. The full-grown old males generally measure about two feet two inches in length, and two feet eight in breadth, and weigh from six to above seven pounds. The head is large; the middle of the neck small, with the lower part of it spread out very broad, so as to form a hollow between the shoulders, which while the bird is sitting at ease, seems as if fitted to receive its reclining head. The bill is of a dirty yellowish horn colour, darkish in the middle, and measures, from the tip to the corners of the mouth, two inches and a half: the upper mandible is forked in a singular manner towards each eye, and is covered with white feathers on the sides, as far forward as the nostrils. The upper part of the head is of a soft velvet black, divided behind by a dull white stroke pointing downwards: the feathers from the nape of the neck to the throat, are long, or puffed out, overhanging the upper part of the neck, and look as if they had been clipped off at the lower ends; they have the appearance of pale pea-green velvet shag, with a white line dropping downward from the auriculars on each side. The cheeks, chin, upper part of the neck, back, and lesser wing coverts, are white; the scapulars, and secondary quills, next the body, dirty white: bastard wings, and primary quills, brown; the secondaries and greater coverts are the same, but much darker: the lower broad part of the neck, on the front, to the breast, is of a buff colour; but in some specimens tinged with rusty red: the breast, belly, vent, rump, and tail coverts, are of a deep sooty black: tail feathers hoary brown: legs short and yellow: webs and nails dusky. The female is nearly of the same shape, though less than the male, weighing only between five and six pounds; but her plumage is quite different, the ground colour being of a reddish brown, prettily crossed with waved black lines: and in some specimens the neck, breast, and belly, are tinged with ash: the wings are crossed with two bars of white: quills dark: the neck is marked with longitudinal dusky streaks, and the belly is deep brown, spotted obscurely with black.

The eider duck lays from three to five large, smooth, pale olive-coloured eggs; these she deposits and conceals in a nest, or bed, made of a great quantity of the soft, warm elastic down, plucked from her own breast, and sometimes from that of her mate. The groundwork or foundation of the nest is formed of bent grass, sea weeds, or such like coarse materials, and it is placed in as sheltered a spot as the bleak and solitary place can afford.

In Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, Lapland, and some parts of the coast of Norway, the eiders flock together, in particular breeding places, in such numbers, and their nests are so close together, that a person in walking along can hardly avoid treading upon them. The natives of these cold climates eagerly watch the time when the first hatchings of the eggs are laid: of these they rob the nest, and also of the more important article, the down with which it is lined, which they carefully gather and carry off. These birds will afterwards strip themselves of their remaining down, and lay a second hatching, of which also they are sometimes robbed; but, it is said, that when this cruel treatment is too often repeated, they leave the place, and return to it no more.

The eider birds build their nests on little islands, not far from the shore, and sometimes even near the dwellings of the natives, who treat them with such kindness and circumspection as to make them quite tame. In the beginning of June they lay five or six eggs, and it is not unusual to find from ten to sixteen eggs in one nest, with two females, who agree remarkably well together. The whole time of laying continues six or seven weeks, during which time the natives visit the nest, for the purpose of taking the down and eggs, at least once a week. They first carefully remove the female, and then take away the down and part of the eggs; after which she lays afresh, covering her eggs with new down plucked from her breast; this being taken away, the male comes to her assistance, and covers the eggs with his down, which is left till the young are hatched. One female, during the whole time of laying, generally gives half a pound of down. The down from the dead birds is accounted of little worth, having lost its elasticity. There are generally exported fifteen hundred or two thousand pounds of down on the company’s account, exclusive of what is privately sold.—The young ones quit the nest soon after they are hatched, and follow the female, who leads them to the water, where, having taken them on her back, she swims with them a few yards, and then dives, and leaves them floating on the water: in this situation they soon learn to take care of themselves, and are seldom afterwards seen on the land, but live among the rocks, and feed on insects and sea-weed.

* * * * *

“In my way hither,” says Major C., “I measured the flight of the eider ducks by the following method; viz., on arriving off Duck Island, six miles distant from Henly Tickle, I caused the people to lay on their oars; and when I saw the flash of the guns, which were fired at a flock of ducks as they passed through the latter, I observed by my watch how long they were in flying abreast of us. The result of very many observations, ascertained the rate of their flight to be ninety miles in an hour.”

* * * * *

The extraordinary elasticity of the down appears from what I have already said of three quarters of an ounce filling a large hat; and Pontoppidan says, that two or three pounds of it, though pressed into a ball, which may be held in the hand, upon being allowed to expand, will fill the foot-covering of a large bed. It is worthy of notice, however, that it is only the down taken from the nests which has this great elasticity, for what is taken from the dead birds is much inferior, being, as Pontoppidan says, “fat, subject to rot, and far from as light as what the female plucks to form a bed for its young.” It is on this account that it is prohibited by the laws of Norway to kill the eiders for their down.

The young have been taken from the Farn Islands, in hopes of their becoming domesticated, but all attempts have proved ineffectual; probably for want of proper food, which is said principally to consist of shell-fish.

The native regions of this bird extend from 45° north, to the highest latitudes yet discovered, both in Europe and America; some wandering pairs have been known to breed on the rocky islands beyond Portland, in the district of Mayne, which is, perhaps, the most southern extent of their breeding place. Greenland and Iceland abound with them, and they are numerous on the coast of Labrador. They associate together in flocks, generally in deep water, diving for shell-fish, retiring frequently to the rocky shore to rest themselves, particularly on the approach of a storm. Their flesh is much esteemed by the inhabitants of Greenland, but tastes strongly of fish. Wilson says, that several attempts have been made to domesticate them, but hitherto without effect.—Bewick—Von Troil—Montagu.

ELK, s. A large and stately animal of the stag kind.

ELL, s. A measure containing a yard and a quarter.

ELM, s. The name of a tree.

ELOPS, s. obs. A fish, reckoned by Milton among the serpents.

EMACIATE, v. To lose flesh, to pine.

EMBROCATION, s. The act of rubbing any part diseased with medicinal liquors; the lotion with which any diseased part is washed.

Embrocations are of a stimulating nature, and are greatly assisted by friction. Of this kind are opodeldoc, soap liniment, &c.

MUSTARD EMBROCATION. For inflammation of the Lungs.

Flour of mustard 4 oz. Liquid ammonia 1½ oz. Oil of turpentine 1 oz.

Water, a sufficient quantity to bring it to the consistence of cream. Flour of mustard mixed into a thin paste with water only is a powerful stimulant, and may be employed with good effect in cases of internal inflammation either of the bowels or lungs.

EMBROCATIONS. For hard indolent Tumours.

No. 1. Olive oil 4 oz. Camphor 4 dr.—Mix.

2. Mercurial ointment 2 oz. Olive oil and camphor, of each 2 dr.

Embrocations of a more stimulating kind are sometimes employed in swellings of the joints, old strains or other local affections, such as soap liniment with liquid ammonia, olive oil, oil of turpentine, and liquid ammonia, but blisters in such cases are generally more effectual.

Embrocations are often improperly employed, as in recent strains, or inflamed tumours, and other cases where emollient or cooling applications are required. Both strains and bruises are, at first, attended with a degree of inflammation, proportionate to the violence of the injury, and the susceptibility of the injured part; therefore they require, at first, such treatment as is calculated to subdue inflammation, that is, bleeding and purging with a suitable diet, and in strains, rest. The local or topical remedies in the inflammatory stage, are poultices, but in these cases bleeding and purging, immediately after their occurrence, are an essential part of the treatment.—White.

EMERY, s. An iron ore, useful in cleaning and polishing steel.

EMMET, s. An ant, a pismire.

EMOLLIENT, a. Softening, suppling.

EMOLLIENTS, s. Such things as sheathe and soften the asperities of the humours, and relax and supple the solids. Vide POULTICE and FOMENTATION.

EMULSION, s. A form of medicine, by bruising oily seeds and kernels.

Emulsions are pectoral medicines, generally mixtures of oil and water, by the intervention of an alkali or mucilage, given alone in coughs.

SIMPLE EMULSION.

Salad oil 2 oz. Clarified honey 3 oz. Soft water 1 pint Sub-carbonate of potash 2 dr.—Mix.

PECTORAL EMULSION.

Camphor 1 to 2 dr.

To be rubbed into a powder by means of a few drops of spirit of wine.

Oil of aniseed 12 to 15 drops.

To this mix gradually from 12 oz. to a pint of the simple emulsion. Nitrate of potash and tincture of opium are added in irritability of the bladder.—White.

ENTER, v. To initiate in a business, method, or society.

To enter hounds.—The first thing to be attended to in young dogs of all kinds is to make them understand their name well, and answer to it, before training; for which they should be rewarded and caressed. After foxhounds have learned to follow freely, they should be coupled, and led out among sheep, deer, &c., and made to understand that such is not their game; but two dogs should never be coupled together, as they are sure to quarrel. A few at a time should be let loose amongst sheep, and if they attempt to run after them, should be severely chastised, and the cry of ware sheep be often repeated to them; which cry will, generally, on future occasions, have the effect of stopping them from sheep-running, without the necessity of using the whip. Great care is necessary at the offset to prevent them from worrying a sheep, which they will sometimes do under the management of careless trainers; for if they be allowed to taste the blood, it will be very difficult afterwards to break them from this bad habit.

Young hounds should be often walked about the courts of the kennel, followed by the whipper in, who should rate them after the huntsman. They should also be frequently taken out with people on foot, which teaches them to be more tractable and attentive, and much more manageable. It is better to take them out to their walks in a country where they are to be hunted, as the sooner they acquire a knowledge of it the better; and when they are thrown out, or left behind, are more likely to find their way home.

In entering fox-hounds it should always be at their own game; although some are foolish enough to begin them with hares, which just requires a second training to break them from that pursuit. Nothing is so good for rendering young hounds obedient as walking them frequently out amongst sheep, hares, and deer, and restraining their pursuit of these animals. This probation will teach them to be steady. A fox-cub should then be turned out before them, in the company of some old hounds as leaders, which train them in a short time instinctively, as it were, to hunt themselves. After they have tasted blood, it will be more difficult to repress their ardour than to excite it. Every means of encouraging them should be used in the earlier stages of their training, and punishment only administered after they have made some progress. In flogging a hound for a fault, the whipper-in should use his voice at the same time; this teaches him to know for what he is beaten; and Mr. Daniel suggests the propriety of introducing a live hare into the kennel, and to flog the dogs soundly whenever they attempt to approach her.

To enter Hawks.—While the hawk is waiting on at a proper height, his head being turned inwards, a partridge tied to a creance is to be thrown up; and when the hawk has taken it, he must be allowed to eat it on the ground near the falconer, who is to walk round him, and whistle to him as usual.

When this lesson has been repeated three or four times, by throwing up partridges not confined by the creance, the education of the eyess may be considered as completed; and he may be taken into the field to be used in the way that I shall endeavour to describe; but it will be necessary to give him every advantage in his first flights, and to have a live partridge in the bag, ready to be thrown up to him, should he fail in his first attempts to take his game.

I have now described the mode of breaking eyesses, as practised by the falconers; but I am of opinion that it might be better done, and with infinitely less trouble, by using the young hawk, when flying at hack, to feed always on the lure.

He would soon learn to fly to it, when swung round in the air, and would thus be taught to wait on.

The falconer should kneel down to the hawk, when he is feeding on the lure, and give him meat from the hand, by which means he may not only be made tame, but may be prevented from carrying.

When the season for hawking is at hand, a few live partridges should be thrown up to him, and he should be allowed to eat them near the falconer.

I have no doubt but by this treatment a young hawk would be fit for use as soon as he was taken up, and that nothing more would be required than to accustom him to stand to the hood.—Brown—Sebright.

ENTERING, s. Entrance, passage into a place.

ENTIRE, a. Whole, undivided; complete in its parts. ENTIRE HORSE: a stallion.

E O, s. A game.

An E O table is circular in form, but of no exact dimensions, though in general about four feet in diameter. The extreme circumference is a kind of counter or depôt for the stakes, marked all round with the letters E and O; on which each adventurer places money according to his inclination. The interior part of the table consists first, of a kind of gallery, or rolling-place, for the ball, which, with the outward parts, above called depôt or counter, is stationary or fixed. The most interior part moves upon an axis, or pivot, and is turned about with handles, while the ball is set in motion round the gallery. This part is generally divided into forty niches or interstices, twenty of which are marked with the letter E, and the other twenty with the letter O. The lodging of the ball in any of the niches, distinguished by those letters, determines the wager. The proprietors of the tables have two bar holes, and are obliged to take all bets offered either for E or O; but if the ball fall into either of the bar holes, they win all the bets upon the opposite letter, and do not pay to that in which it falls; an advantage in the proportion of two to forty, or five per cent in their favour.—Hoyle.

EPHEMERA, s. An insect that lives only one day.

EPIDEMIC, s. That which falls at once upon great numbers of people, as a plague; generally prevailing, affecting great numbers of men or animals.

EPILEPSY, s. A convulsive motion of the whole body, or some of its parts, with a loss of sense. Vide BLAINE, WHITE, PERCIVALL.

EQUERRY, s. Master of the horse.

EQUESTRIAN, a. Appearing on horseback; skilled in horsemanship; belonging to a horse.

EQUIPAGE, s. Furniture for a horseman; carriage, vehicle; attendance, retinue; accoutrements, furniture.

EQUIPOISE, s. Equality of weight, equilibration.

ERGOT, s. A sort of stub, like a piece of horn, placed behind and below the pastern joint.

ERRHINES, s. Powders which cause sneezing, by being blown up the nostrils. They are composed generally of hellebore, snuff, asarabacca, or turbith mineral.

ERYSIPELAS, s. An eruption of a hot acrid humour.

ESCHAR, s. A hard crust or scar made by hot applications.

ESCHAROTIC, a. Caustic, having the power to sear or burn the flesh.

Escharotics are generally in the form of powder. Such are nitric oxide of mercury (red precipitate), exsiccated sulphate of alumine (burnt alum), acetate of copper (crystallised verdigris), sulphate of copper (blue vitriol). These are applied, either separately, or two or more of them are mixed together, and finely powdered; sometimes they are mixed with bole armeniac or chalk, by which they are rendered milder, or with lard or digestive ointment.

ESCHAROTIC POWDERS.

No. 1. Exsiccated or burnt alum 2 dr. Nitric oxide of mercury ½ oz.—Mix.

No. 2. Sulphate of copper 1 oz. Bole Armeniac 1 oz.—Mix.

No. 3. Acetate of copper 1 oz. Burnt alum 2 dr.—Mix.

See CAUSTICS, ASTRINGENTS, DIGESTIVES, and DETERGENTS.

ESCHAROTIC LINIMENT.

Honey 8 oz. Muriatic acid 1 oz. Verdigris 1 oz. Mix over a slow fire.

This liniment may be made stronger by substituting nitrous acid for muriatic, or by retaining the muriatic, and substituting for the verdigris one drachm of sublimate. A weaker liniment is made, and a very useful one, by using two ounces of vinegar instead of the muriatic acid. (See EGYPTIACUM). Escharotics are applied to foul ulcers, and are employed to destroy fungous or proud flesh.—White.

ESCULENT, s. Something fit for food.

ESSENCE, s. In medicine, the chief properties or virtues of any simple, or composition, collected into a narrow compass. Essence of mustard, composed of camphor, oil of rosemary, and oil of turpentine, is a good stimulating embrocation.

ESSENTIAL, a. Necessary; important in the highest degree, principal; pure, highly rectified. Essential oils are obtained by distillation from mint, pennyroyal, peppermint, lavender, caraway seeds, anise-seeds, juniper berries, lemon-peel, sandal-wood, &c.

ESTRAPADE, s. obs. The defence of a horse that will not obey, but rises before, and yerks furiously with his hind legs.

ESTUARY, s. An arm of the sea; the mouth of a lake or river in which the tide ebbs and flows.

ETHER, s. An element more fine and subtile than air; a chemical preparation. Sulphuric ether is a powerful stimulant, and must be given with caution. White mentions an instance of two ounces destroying a horse.

ETHIOP’S MINERAL, s. A preparation made by rubbing equal parts of quicksilver and flower of sulphur together, until the mixture becomes black, and the quicksilver invisible.

Ethiop’s mineral, though generally considered as an inert medicine, is possessed of considerable virtue, and is probably the best mercurial in cases where it is necessary to introduce mercury into the circulation, as in farcy, glanders, obstinate mange, &c. It should be given in a dose of two or three drachms in the horse’s corn, once or twice a day, until an offensive smell is perceived in the horse’s breath, or he is found to stale more than usual; these symptoms indicate that the mercury has got into the circulation. The disorder for which it is given may, at this period, be expected to yield to the mercurial influence, and may not require a further continuance of the medicine.—White.

EUPHORBIUM, s. A plant; a gum resin that exudes spontaneously from a large oriental tree.

Euphorbium is brought to us in small drops, of a pale yellow colour, which are generally mixed with woody and other extraneous matter. It is used as an external application, and generally employed in the form of tincture; sometimes it is mixed into an ointment with hog’s-lard, mercurial ointment, oil of origanum, oil of bay, &c., being previously reduced to a fine powder. It is also frequently an ingredient in strong blisters, to which it proves a powerful auxiliary. In whatever form euphorbium is employed, it proves extremely acrimonious and stimulating, and is useful in reducing callous swellings of the back sinews, curbs, windgalls, &c.

The tincture is made by steeping one ounce of the powder in four or six ounces of rectified or proof spirit, frequently shaking the bottle which contains the mixture, and keeping it in a warm place; after eight or ten days to be strained off, and kept well corked.—White.

EWE, s. The she sheep.

EXFOLIATION, s. The process by which the corrupted part of the bone separates from the sound.

EXPECTORATION, s. The act of discharging from the breast; the discharge which is made by coughing.

EXPECTORANTS, s. Medicines that increase the discharge of mucus, and thus relieve coughs and impeded breathing. In costive cases they should be assisted by clysters and bran mashes.

EXPECTORANT BALLS.

1. Gum ammoniacum 2 to 4 dr. Powdered squill 1 to 2 dr. Castile soap 3 dr. Oil of aniseed 30 drops. Ginger 1 dr. Syrup enough to form a ball.

2. Gum ammoniacum 2 oz. Powdered squills 1 oz. Powdered ipecacuana ½ oz. Powdered opium ½ oz. Powdered ginger 1 oz. Powdered allspice 1 oz. Oil of aniseed ½ oz. Balsam of sulphur 4 oz. Castile soap, softened by being beaten up with a little syrup 2 oz.

To be beaten into a mass fit for making balls. The dose from one ounce to one ounce and a half daily, or twice a day.

3. Barbadoes aloes 1 dr. Assafœtida 1 dr.

Liquorice powder and syrup enough to form the ball. One to be given daily until the bowels are a little opened, or the cough is cured.

4. Gum ammoniacum 2 dr. Powdered squills 1 dr. Ipecacuana ½ dr. Castile soap 2 dr.

Syrup and liquorice powder enough to form the ball. One to be given daily, or twice a day.

Dr. Paris, in his Pharmacologia, remarks, that more is to be gained by the combination of these remedies, than can be obtained by any of them separately.

DRENCH.

Garlic bruised 4 oz. Boiling vinegar 12 oz.

Macerate near the fire three or four hours, then press out the fluid part, and mix with it six ounces of honey. This is sufficient for two doses, and may be given morning and evening. It cannot, perhaps, be too often repeated, that, unless the horse’s diet is carefully attended to, medicine will avail but little, either in chronic cough or imperfect wind.—White.

EXPLODE, v. To drive out with noise and violence.

EXPLOSION, s. The act of driving out anything with noise and violence.

In January, 1809, Mr. Sayers, of Cuckfield, was reloading his fowling-piece; the powder ignited (supposed from a latent spark left by the paper wadding in the barrel), and drove the powder flask, which was copper, to a considerable height in the air, and shattered it to atoms. Mr. Sayers luckily escaped with no injury, except a slight scratch on his fingers. Accidents similar to the above may be effectually prevented by using pieces of pasteboard, felt, or leather, to charge, with instead of soft paper.—Daniel.

EXTENSOR, s. The muscle by which any limb is extended.

EXTIRPATION, s. The act of rooting out, excision.

EXTRACT, v. To draw out of something; to draw by chemical operation.

EXUVIÆ, s. Cast skin, cast shells; whatever is shed or cast off by animals.

EYAS, s. A young hawk just taken from the nest. Vide HAWK.

EYASMUSKET, s. obs. A young unfledged male musket hawk.

EYE, s. The organ of vision; any thing formed like an eye; any small perforation; a small catch into which a hook goes; bud of a plant.

EYE, v. To watch, to keep in view.

EYEBALL, s. The apple of the eye.

EYESORE, s. Something offensive to the sight.

EYESPOTTED, a. Marked with spots like eyes.

EYETOOTH, s. The tooth on the upper jaw next on each side to the grinders, the fang.

EYEWATER, s.

No. 1. Super-acetate of lead (sugar of lead) 2 dr. Vinegar 2 to 4 oz. Soft water 14 oz. Mix.

No. 2. Sulphate of zinc 1½ dr. Diluted sulphuric acid ½ dr. Water 1½ pint.

3. Super-acetate of lead 2 dr. Sulphate of zinc 5 scrup. Water 1 pint. Mix and strain through blotting paper.

In severe attacks of inflammation of the eye, it is often in so irritable a state as to admit only of the application of warm water, or milk and water; then dilute either of the above eye waters with an equal quantity of warm water; but when the inflammation has abated, they may be made stronger, and applied cold. Should the above formulæ be found ineffectual, let one, two, or three ounces of tincture of opium be added, or a larger proportion of vinegar to No. 1 than is directed. The vinous tincture of opium (vinum opii), undiluted, has often done good, applied by means of a small camel hair pencil brush, or squeezed into the inner corner of the eye, by means of a small bit of clean sponge. A solution of the extract of belladonna, in white wine, or diluted spirit, may also be tried. Vide BLAINE, PERCIVALL, and WHITE.

EYRE, s. obs. In Forestry, the court of justice itinerant.

EYRY, s. The place where birds of prey build their nests and hatch. Vide AËRIE.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

FALCO, (LINN.), s. A genus thus characterised:—

Head covered with feathers, bill strong, short, generally bending from its base, which is covered with a naked and coloured cere. Nostrils round or oval, lateral, and placed in the cere. Tongue in most species fleshy and divided by a slit. Upper orbit of the eye projecting. Legs feathered to the toes, or naked. Toes three forwards and one behind, the middle toe connected with the outer one, as far as the first joint. Claws short and very hooked, strong and retractile. Female superior in size to the male.—Montagu.

FALCON, s. A hawk trained for sport; a bird of immense flight. Vide HAWK.

It is recorded, that a falcon belonging to a Duke of Cleves, flew out of Westphalia into Prussia in one day; and in the county of Norfolk, a hawk has made a flight at a woodcock near thirty miles in an hour.

But what are these compared to the actual velocity and continuance of the flight of a falcon, that is recorded to have belonged to Henry IV., King of France, which escaped from Fontainbleau, and in twenty-four hours after was found in Malta, a space computed to be not less than 1350 miles? a velocity equal to fifty-seven miles an hour, supposing the hawk to have been on wing the whole time. But as such birds never fly by night, and allowing the day to be at the longest, or to be eighteen hours light, this would make seventy-five miles an hour. It is probable, however, that he neither had so many hours of light in the twenty-four to perform the journey, nor that he was retaken the moment of his arrival, so that we may fairly conclude much less time was occupied in performing that distant flight.—Vide FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

FALCONER, s. One who breeds and trains hawks.

The village of Falconswaerd, near Bois le Duc, in Holland, has for many years furnished falconers to the rest of Europe. I have known many falconers in England, and in the service of different princes on the Continent, but I never met with one of them who was not a native of Falconswaerd.

It has been the practice of these sober and industrious men to stay with their employers during the season for hawking, and to pass the remainder of the year with their families at home.

* * * * *

A falconer, whose province it was to tame, manage, and look after falcons and other hawks, was formerly as great and conspicuous a character as the most celebrated huntsman of the present day. The influence of fashion and the changes wrought by time have, however, so obscured both sport and sportsmen in this way, that neither hawk, falcon, or falconer, are to be seen or heard of, unless in the northern parts of the kingdom, where it is also nearly buried in oblivion.—Sebright—Daniel.

FALCONRY, s. Vide HAWKING.

FALLOW, a. Pale red, or pale yellow; unsowed, left to rest after the years of tillage; ploughed, but not sowed; unploughed, uncultivated.

FALLOW DEER, s. The domestic or park deer.

No two animals can make a more near approach to each other than the stag and the fallow deer, and yet no two animals keep more distinct, or avoid each other with more fixed animosity; they never herd or intermix together, and consequently never give rise to an intermediate race. It is even rare, unless they have been transported thither, to find fallow-deer in a country where stags are numerous.

The fallow-deer is easily tamed, and feeds upon many things which the stag refuses; he also preserves his venison better: nor does it appear that the rutting, followed by a long and severe winter, exhausts him, but he continues nearly in the same state throughout the year. He browses closer than the stag, for which reason he is more prejudicial to young trees, and often strips them too close for recovery. The young deer eat faster and with more avidity than the old. At the second year they seek the female, and, like the stag, are fond of variety. The doe goes with young eight months and some days; she commonly produces one fawn, sometimes two, but very rarely three. They are capable of engendering, from the age of two years to that of fifteen or sixteen; and in short they resemble the stag in all his natural habits, and the greatest difference between them is the duration of their lives. From the testimony of hunters it has been remarked, that stags live to the age of thirty-five or forty years, and from the same authority we understand that the fallow-deer does not live more than twenty. As they are smaller than the stag, it is probable that their growth is sooner completed.

* * * * *

If some curious gentleman would procure the head of a fallow-deer, and have it dissected, he would find it furnished with two spiracula, or breathing places, besides the nostrils; probably analogous to the puncta lachrymalia in the human head. When deer are thirsty they plunge their noses, like some horses, very deep under water while in the act of drinking, and continue them in that situation for a considerable time; but, to obviate any inconveniency, they can open two vents, one at the inner corner of each eye, having a communication with the nose. Here seems to be an extraordinary provision of nature worthy our attention; and which has not, that I know of, been noticed by any naturalist. For it looks as if these creatures would not be suffocated, though both their mouths and nostrils were stopped. This curious formation of the head may be of singular service to beasts of chase, by affording them free respiration: and no doubt these additional nostrils are thrown open when they are hard run.—Buffon—White’s Selborne.

FALSE QUARTER, s.

False Quarter is a defect in the hoof of a horse, originally occasioned by some injury producing a destruction of parts, as quitter, canker, wounds, treads, bruises, or such formation of matter by which a part of the hoof has been unavoidably destroyed, or necessarily taken away. In the regeneration of parts, the incarnation (from the rigid and horny nature of the hoof) is irregular and imperfect, forming a sort of cleft (or artificial union) with the sound part upon the surface, productive of a sensible weakness underneath. This imperfect and defective junction renders such quarter, as it is called, inadequate to the weight it is destined to bear; in which case much judgment is required, and may be exerted, in the palliation, as perfect cure is not to be expected. Care must be taken in forming the shoe to relieve the tender part from the pressure, by hollowing it at that particular spot, and letting the bearing be fixed entirely upon the sound parts. By constant attention in reducing the prominent edges of the irregular projection with the fine side of the rasp, and a few occasional impregnations with fine spermaceti oil, the hoof may be sometimes restored to its original formation.—Taplin.

FARCY, s. The leprosy of horses.

Farcy is intimately connected with glanders; they will run into each other, or their symptoms will mingle together, and before either arrives at its fatal termination its associate will almost invariably appear. An animal inoculated with the matter of farcy will often be afflicted with glanders, while the matter of glanders will frequently produce farcy. They are different types or stages of the same disease. There is, however, a very material difference in their symptoms and progress, and this most important of all, that while glanders are generally incurable, farcy, in its early stage and mild form, may be successfully treated.

Veterinary writers tell us that it is a disease of the absorbents in the skin, and therefore the first indication of this disease, even before any drooping, or loss of condition, or of appetite, is generally the appearance of little tumours—farcy buds—close to some of the veins, following the course of the veins, and connected together by a kind of cord, which farriers call corded veins. When they are few and small they may possibly exist for several weeks without being observed; but at length they increase in number and in size, and become painful and hot, and some of them begin to ulcerate. They appear usually about the face or neck, or inside of the thigh, and in the latter case there is some general enlargement of the limb, and lameness.

In some cases, however, the horse will droop for many a day before the appearance of the buttons or farcy buds; his appetite will be impaired;—his coat will stare;—he will lose flesh. The poison is evidently at work, but has not gained sufficient power to cause the absorbents to swell. In a few instances these buds do not ulcerate, but become hard and difficult to disperse. The progress of the disease is then suspended, and possibly for many months the horse will appear to be restored to health; but he bears the seeds of the malady about him, and, all at once, the farcy assumes a virulent form, and hurries him off. These buds have sometimes been confounded with the little tumours, or lumps of surfeit. They are generally higher than these tumours; not so broad; have a more knotty feel, and are principally found on the inside of the limbs, instead of the outside.

Few things are more unlike, or more perplexing, than the different forms which farcy assumes at different times. One of the legs, and particularly one of the hinder legs, will suddenly swell to an enormous size. At night the horse will appear to be perfectly well, and, in the morning, one leg will be three times the size of the other, with considerable fever, and scarcely the power of moving the limb.

At other times the head will be subject to this enlargement—the muzzle will particularly swell, and a stinking discharge will issue from the nose. Sometimes the horse will gradually lose flesh and strength; he will be hide-bound—mangy eruptions will appear in different parts; the legs will swell; cracks will appear at the heels, and the inexperienced person may conceive it to be a mere want of condition combined with grease.

Farcy, like glanders, springs from infection, or from bad stable management. It is produced by all the causes which give rise to glanders; but with this difference, that it is more frequently generated, and is sometimes strangely prevalent in particular districts.

The treatment of farcy varies with the form it assumes. In the button or bud farcy, a mild dose of physic should be first administered. The buds should be then carefully examined, and if any of them have broken, the budding iron, of a dull red heat, should be applied to them; or if matter should be felt in them, showing that they are disposed to break, they should be penetrated with the iron. These wounds should be daily inspected, and if, when the slough of the cautery comes off, they look pale, and foul, and spongy, and discharge a thin matter, they should be frequently washed with a lotion, composed of a drachm of corrosive sublimate dissolved in an ounce of rectified spirit; the other buds should likewise be examined, and opened with the iron as soon as they evidently contain matter. When the wounds begin to look red, and the bottom of them is even and firm, and they discharge a thick white or yellow matter, the friar’s balsam will speedily heal them. As, however, the constitution is now tainted, local applications will not be sufficient, and the disease must be attacked by internal medicines, as soon as the physic has ceased to operate. The corrosive sublimate will be the best alterative, and may be given in doses of ten grains, gradually increased to a scruple, with two drachms of gentian and one of ginger, and repeated morning and night until the ulcers disappear, unless the horse is violently purged, or the mouth becomes sore, when a drachm of blue vitriol may be substituted for the corrosive sublimate. During this, the animal should be placed in a large box, with a free circulation of air; and green meat, or carrots, the latter more particularly, should be given him, with a fair allowance of corn. If he could be turned out during the day, it would be advantageous; but at all events he should be daily exercised. It is related by Mr. Blaine, that a horse so reduced as not to be able to stand, was drawn into a field of tares, and suffered to take his chance: the consequence was, that when he had eaten all within his reach, he was able to rise and search for more, and eventually recovered. In an early stage of the disease, and if glanders have not appeared, this treatment will frequently succeed. If, after the wounds have healed, the absorbents should continue to be corded, a blister, or light firing, will probably be serviceable.—The Horse.

FAULT, s. Offence; defect; puzzle, difficulty; a term in hunting.

FAVOURITE, s. A person or thing beloved. In racing, the term is used to express supposed superiority, as “first favourite for the Leger.”

FAWN, s. A young deer.

FAWN, v. To bring forth a young deer; to court by frisking before one as a dog.

FEATHER, s. The plume of birds; upon a horse, a sort of natural frizzling hair.

At the root of the first quill in each wing of the woodcock, is a small pointed narrow feather, very elastic, and much sought after by painters, by whom it is used as a pencil. A feather of a similar kind is found in the whole of this tribe, and also in every one of the tringas and plovers which the author has examined.—Bewick.

FEATHER, v. To dress in feathers; to fit with feathers; to tread as a cock; to strike feathers from a bird fired at.

FEBRIFUGE, s. Any medicine serviceable in fever. Vide FEVER.

FEED, v. To supply with food; to graze; to consume by cattle; to take food; to prey.

FEED, s. Food, that which is eaten; a certain portion of corn given to a horse.

FEEDER, s. One that gives food; one that eats; a kennel servant.

FEELER, s. One that feels; the horns or antennæ of insects.

FEET, s. The plural of foot.

Feet of Birds.—Technical terms:—

Pinnatus.—Finfooted or scalloped, a term applied to the feet of coots.

Pes lobatus.—Applied when the toes are furnished with broad plain membranes, as in the foot of the red-necked grebe.

Semi-palmatus—Semi-palmated: when the middle of the webs reach only about half the length of the toes.

When the middle toe claw is notched like a saw, it is called serrated; and pectinated when toothed like a comb.

* * * * *

The large crooked talons of birds of prey, and their hooked beaks, are well formed for securing and tearing their victims. The formation of the feet of the woodpeckers, the toes being placed two forward and two backward, is well calculated for climbing, and the cuneiform shape of the extremity of their bills is suited to the purpose of cutting holes in decayed trees; their tongue is also wonderfully contrived to search out insects beyond the reach of their bill, by its great length, which is double that of the tongue at least. The wryneck has this singularity, as well as the like formation of toes; which last is also found in the cuckoo: but neither of these birds is seen to climb up the bodies of trees, nor have either the stiff sharp-pointed feathers in the tail, as in the woodpecker, so admirably adapted to support them when in the act of hewing. This agrees with the observations of an ingenious living naturalist, the Rev. Revett Shepherd. “The cuckoo,” says he, “is furnished with two toes before and two behind, and yet is never known actually to climb, a convincing proof that such conformation does not necessarily bring with it the power of climbing, more especially when we consider that the nuthatch (Sitta Europæa), and the creeper (Certhia familiaris), have their toes placed in the usual manner, and yet run up and down trees with as much facility as the woodpeckers. The use of the pedes scansorii, as they evidently in this case conduce not to climbing, I judge to be this; it is well known that this bird will oftentimes sit by the half-hour together on the bough of a tree, vociferating its loud and pleasing note; in doing this, it sits remarkably forward, and appears in constant agitation, continually moving its body up and down with great elegance; now, as it sits so forward, while using this exertion, it would be liable to lose its balance and quit its hold, had it only one toe behind; whereas, by the contrivance of two, it is enabled strongly to adhere to the branch.”

The legs and feet of aquatic birds are wonderfully formed for accelerating their motion in that element, which is their greatest security. The bone of the leg is sharp, and vastly compressed sideways: the toes, when the foot is brought forward, close in behind each other in such a manner as to expose a very small surface in front, so that, in the action of swimming, very little velocity is lost in bringing the legs forward; this is very conspicuous in the diver. Some aquatic birds are web-footed before the whole length of the toes, as in the ducks; others only half the length of the toes, like the avoset. Some again have all four toes webbed, as in the cormorant; others whose feet are furnished with a fin-like membrane or each side of the toes; these are either plain, as in the grebe, or lobed, as in the coot and phalarope. There are also some who swim and dive well, whose toes are long and slender, and not furnished with webs or fins, such as the water-hen and rail; but these live as much on land as in water. The gulls and terns, although web-footed, seem incapable of diving; the latter, indeed, we never observed to settle on the water; the former is so buoyant that it floats elegantly on the surface. The avoset, whose feet bespeak it an inhabitant of the water, does not seem to have the power of swimming; the water-ouzel, on the other hand, has not the least appearance of an aquatic, nor can it swim; but it will dive, and remain a long time under water. The serrated claw in the heron and nightjar is a singular structure, which we have not discovered the use of. The bill as well as the feet of birds, makes one of the strong natural divisions; but these are described under the head of each genus.

* * * * *

Of Horses.—Contraction is the most general evil among the feet of our horses, and some breeds appear more liable to it than others: it is peculiarly the case with blood-horses. Colour also seems to have some influence in contracting the feet; hence I have observed dark chestnuts particularly prone to it. A good foot should exhibit a proper line of obliquity: when the horn is very upright, however wide and open the heels, such feet soon become defective. This is but seldom attended to, even among those who esteem themselves judges; but no rule admits of fewer exceptions, than that such a foot soon becomes faulty. There should also be a proper height of horn: when there is too much, it disposes to contraction: when too little, the heels, quarters, and soles must, of necessity, be weak, and tenderness in going must be the consequence.

The heels should be particularly attended to; they must be wide, and the frog healthy, firm, yet pliable and elastic. Contraction of their cleft is their most common defect, and is frequently accompanied with a general lessening of the circumference of the foot. Such a foot will probably feel hotter than natural; the frog also will be compressed and small, and very likely thrushy.

When a horse’s foot is held up, the sole should present a concave surface: if it be less concave than natural, that sole is weak, and will not bear much pressure; and it is more than probable it will continue lessening in concavity until it becomes a plane, when every subsequent shoeing will endanger the laming of the animal. White feet are very objectionable on this account, for they are particularly liable to become flat in the sole: their quarters, also, are commonly weak, and fall in; and when neither of these evils take place, they yet have seldom strength enough to resist contraction: and it may be determined on, that, when there are three dark and one white foot, in nineteen instances out of twenty, the white foot becomes defective sooner than the dark ones.

Another very serious complaint is a brittleness of hoof, which may be generally be detected by the marks of the fragile parts detaching themselves from every old nail-hole. This kind of foot, particularly in hot weather, breaks away, till there is no room for the nails to hold, when the horse, of course, becomes useless. In an examination of the foot, the eye should also be directed to the wearing of the shoe: if it be unequally worn, particularly if the toe be worn down, such a horse is probably a stumbler, and does not set his foot evenly on the ground, either from defective feet or natural gait.

* * * * *

The feet of horses being the very basis of support, upon which the safety and expedition of the frame entirely depends, they are entitled to every possible degree of care and attention; more particularly in the winter season, when, from neglect, so many ills and inconveniences are known to arise. The injuries, accidents, and diseases, to which the feet are constantly liable, consist of cracks in the heels, scratches or lacerations, stubs and bruises of the outer sole, or upon the verge of the coronet between hair and hoof, corns, sandcracks, thrushes, canker, quitter, ringbone, and footfounder; exclusive of the frequent injuries sustained in shoeing, by the ignorance, indolence, or obstinacy of those smiths who, having no professional reputation to support, are too innately confident in their own ability to bear instruction.

As the defects thus enumerated will be found individually enlarged upon under distinct and separate heads, it becomes only necessary here to lay down such general rules for the regular management of the feet, as may (properly attended to) prove the means of prudent prevention; not more in respect to the trouble and expense of disease, than of the most mortifying and repentant anxiety. These defects and disquietudes are seldom found but in the stables where the master rarely or ever condescends to obtrude his person and commands upon the tenacious dignity of a self-important groom; the preserving industry of whose careful endeavours, and the pliability and elasticity of whose joints, if properly exerted, would prove the truest and most infallible preventive of swelled legs and cracked heels, in preference to all the nostrums ever yet brought into private practice or public use. And those who unfortunately encounter these ills, may generally, and with justice, attribute them much more to the constitutional tardiness of the professed groom (or occasional strapper) than any defect in the constitution of the horse.

The feet of different horses vary exceedingly in what may be termed the texture or property of the hoof, and this is in general regulated by the colour of the legs and feet. There are few horses with white heels but what have white hoofs also; and these are always more liable to, and susceptible of, defects and weakness, than those of an opposite description. The sound, firm, dark-coloured hoof of the bay, brown, or black horse, is seldom found defective; but those of other coloured horses are most subject to weak, thin soles, displaying a prominence on each side the frog occasioned by a too feeble and inadequate resistance to the force of the membranous mass within; feet of which description are also frequently found to have the corresponding concomitant of a brittle hoof, the edges of which are incessantly splitting, and throwing out a constant threatening of sandcracks, with the additional mortification of being subject to inveterate thrushes, or an almost constantly diseased or putrefied state of the frog.

Feet so exceedingly different in the nature of their construction, must certainly require as different a mode of treatment, according to such circumstances as happen to exist. To preserve feet perfectly sound, and free from the ills to which they are subject, cleanliness is the leading step. After exercise or use, so soon as the body is drest, the dirt or gravel should be carefully taken from under the shoes with a picker, the feet well washed, the legs and heels rubbed dry, the bottom stopped with cow-dung, and the hoofs oiled with a brush impregnated with spermaceti oil. Horses left with wet legs and heels after a severe chase, or long journey, particularly in sharp easterly winds, or during frost and snow, constitute cracks or scratches to a certainty. So severe a rigidity is occasioned in the very texture of the integument, and it becomes partially ruptured or broken in various places, upon being brought into expeditious action; which, with the friction and irritation then occasioned by the sharp particles of gravel in dirty roads, soon produce lacerations of the most painful description.

The state of the shoes should be constantly attended to. Permitted to remain too long upon the feet, the growth of the hoof brings the shoe forward, rendering it too short at the heel, when it begins to indent, and sinking upon the foot, soon presses upon the outer sole, constituting pain or disquietude in some horses, laying the foundation of corns in others. Horses in moderate work require new shoes once a month upon an average, never varying more than two or three days from that time: indeed, it is not right that they should go longer. The penurious plan of removing shoes half worn, is truly ridiculous; they never render service adequate to the expense, and the practice only tends to a more frequent destruction of the hoof. Thrushes should be counteracted upon their first appearance, without being permitted to acquire a corroding virulence. Swelled legs are hardly ever seen in stables where a proper course of discipline and regular routine of business is observed; they proceed from a viscid, sizy state of the blood, a languor in the circulation, a want of exercise out of the stable, or a sufficiency of friction, leg-rubbing, care, and attention within.

* * * * *

Pointers’ and setters’ feet, particularly the former, are frequently chafed; their feet should always, after being hunted, be thoroughly washed with salt and water, and, half an hour afterwards, be well rubbed with hog’s-lard.—Montagu—Blaine—Taplin—Thornhill.

FELINE, a. Like a cat, pertaining to a cat.

FELL, s. The skin, the hide.

FELLOE, s. The circumference of a wheel.

FELLOW, s. An associate, one united in the same affair; one of the same kind or litter.

FELT, s. Cloth made of wool united without weaving; a hide or skin.

FEMALE, s. A she, one of the sex which brings young.

FEMORAL, a. Belonging to the thigh.

FEN, s. A marsh, flat and moist ground, a moor, a bog.

FENBERRY, s. A kind of blackberry.

FENCE, s. Guard, security; enclosure, mound, hedge.

FENCER, s. One who teaches or practises the use of weapons; a horse that leaps.

FERINE, a. Wild, savage.

FERMENTATION, s. A slow motion of the intestine particles of a mixed body, arising usually from the operation of some active acid matter.

FERN, s. A plant.

FERNY, a. Overgrown with fern.

FERRET, s. A quadruped of the weasel kind, used to catch rabbits.

FERRET, v. To drive out of lurking places; to hunt rabbits with a ferret.

FETLOCK, s. A tuft of hair that grows behind the pastern joint.

FETTER, s. Chains for the feet.

FEVER, s. A disease in which the body is violently heated, and the pulse quickened, or in which heat and cold prevail by turns. It is sometimes continual, sometimes intermittent.

In horses fever begins frequently with a cold or shivering fit, although this is not essential to fever. The horse is dull, unwilling to move, with a staring coat, and cold legs and feet. This is succeeded by warmth of the body; unequal distribution of warmth to the legs; one hot, and the other three cold, or some unnaturally warm, and others unusually cold, although not the deathy coldness of inflammation of the lungs; the pulse quick, soft, and often indistinct; breathing somewhat laborious; but no cough, or pawing, or looking at the flanks. The animal will scarcely eat, and is very costive. While the state of pure fever lasts, the shivering fit returns at nearly the same hour every day, and is succeeded by the warm one, and that often by a very slight sweating one; and this goes on for several days until local inflammation appears, or the fever gradually subsides. No horse ever died of pure fever; if he is not destroyed by inflammation of the lungs, or feet, or bowels succeeding to the fever, he gradually recovers.

What we have said of the treatment of local inflammation will sufficiently indicate that which we should recommend in fever. Fever is general increased action of the heart and arteries, and therefore evidently appears the necessity for bleeding, regulating the quantity of blood taken by the degree of fever, and usually continuing to take it (the finger being kept on the artery) until some impression is made upon the system. The bowels should be gently opened; but the danger of inflammation of the lungs, and the uniformly injurious consequence of purgation in that disease, will prevent the administration of an active purgative. One drachm and a half of aloes may be given morning and night with the proper fever medicine, until the bowels are slightly relaxed, after which nothing more of an aperient quality should be administered. Digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre, should be given morning and night, in proportions regulated by the circumstances of the case, and these should give way to white hellebore in doses of half a drachm twice in the day, if symptoms of inflammation of the lungs should appear. The horse should be warmly clothed, but be placed in a cool and well-ventilated stable.

Symptomatic fever is generally increased arterial action, proceeding from some local cause. No organ of consequence can be long disordered or inflamed without the neighbouring parts being disturbed, and the whole system gradually participating in the disturbance. Inflammation of the feet or of the lungs never existed long to any material extent, without being accompanied by some degree of fever.

The treatment of symptomatic fever should resemble that of simple fever, except that particular attention should be paid to the state of the part originally diseased. If the inflammation which existed there can be subdued, the general disturbance will usually cease.—Blaine.

FIBULA, s. The outer and lesser bone of the leg, smaller than the tibia.

FIELD, s. Ground not inhabited, not built on; cultivated tract of ground; the open country; horsemen collected at a hunt; horses collectively.

FIELDFARE, (Turdus Pilarus, LINN.; La Litorne, ou Tourdelle, BUFF.) s. A bird.

This is somewhat less than the missel-thrush; its length is ten inches. The bill is yellow; each corner of the mouth is furnished with a few black bristly hairs; the eye is light brown; the top of the head and back part of the neck are of a light ash-colour; the former spotted with black; the back and coverts of the wings are of a deep hoary brown; the ramp ash-coloured; the throat and breast are yellow, regularly spotted with black; the belly and thighs of a yellowish white; the tail brown, inclining to black; the legs dusky yellowish brown; in young birds yellow.

We have seen a variety of this bird, of which the head and neck were of a yellowish white; the rest of the body was nearly of the same colour, mixed with a few brown feathers; the spots on the breast were faint and indistinct: the quill feathers were perfectly white, except one or two on each side, which were brown; the tail was marked in a similar manner.

The field-fare is only a visitant in this island, making its appearance about the beginning of October, in order to avoid the rigorous winters of the north, whence it sometimes comes in great flocks, according to the severity of the season, and leaves us about the latter end of February or the beginning of March, and retires to Russia, Sweden, Norway, and as far as Siberia and Kamtschatka. Buffon observes that they do not arrive in France till the beginning of December, that they assemble in flocks of two or three thousand, and feed on ripe crevises, of which they are extremely fond; during the winter they feed on haws and other berries; they likewise eat worms, snails, and slugs.

Field-fares seem of a more sociable disposition than the throstles or the missels: they are sometimes seen singly, but in general form very numerous flocks, and fly in a body; and though they often spread themselves through the fields in search of food, they seldom lose sight of each other, but, when alarmed, fly off, and collect together upon the same tree.—Bewick.

FIELDMOUSE, s. A mouse that burrows in banks.

An extraordinary instance of the rapid increase of mice, and of the injury they sometimes do, occurred a few years ago in the new plantations made by order of the crown in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire, and in the New Forest, Hampshire. Soon after the formation of these plantations, a sudden and rapid increase of mice took place in them, which threatened destruction to the whole of the young plants. Vast numbers of these were killed,—the mice having eaten through the roots of five-year-old oaks and chestnuts, generally just below the surface of the ground. Hollies also, which were five and six feet high, were barked round the bottom; and in some instances the mice had crawled up the tree, and were seen feeding on the bark of the upper branches.

* * * * *

The following account will show the numbers of mice caught in the different inclosures in Dean Forest in three months, from September to January, with the number of acres, and the proportion between the long and the short-tailed mice.

Short- Long- tailed tailed Acres. Mice. Mice. Total. Haywood Inclosure 418 12,850 8 12,858 Oiley Hill ditto 41 1,161 11 1,172 Crabtree Hill do. 372 7,851 7,851 Park Hill ditto 113 2,665 2,665 Shutcastle ditto 163 484 33 517 Sallow Vallets do. 386 1,361 1,361 Barnhill ditto 50 70 70 Birchwood ditto 50 3 3 Whitemead Park do. 100 1,559 15 1,574 ———— —————— Total Acres, 1,693 Total Mice, 28,071

I should not forget to mention that, in New Forest, foxes were frequently seen hunting, after the mice, and eating them greedily.—Jesse.

FILLY, s. A young mare; opposed to a colt or young horse.

FILM, s. A pellicle or thin skin.

FILTER, v. To clear by drawing off liquor by depending threads; to strain; to percolate.

FIN, s. The wing of a fish.

FIN-FOOTED, a. Having feet with membranes between the toes.

FINCH (Fringilla), s. A small bird; of which we have three kinds, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, and bullfinch.

The transition from the bunting to the finch is very easy, and the shade of difference between them, in some instances, almost imperceptible; on which account they have been frequently confounded with each other. The principal difference consists in the beak, which in the finch is conical, very thick at the base, and tapering to a sharp point: in this respect it more nearly resembles the grosbeak. Of this tribe many are distinguished as well for the liveliness of their song, as for the beauty and variety of their plumage, on which accounts they are much esteemed. They are very numerous, and assemble sometimes in immense flocks, feeding on seeds and grain of various kinds, as well as on insects and their eggs.—Bewick.

FINGER, s. The flexible member of the hand by which men catch and hold; a small measure of extension.

FIR, s. The tree of which deal boards are made.

FIRE, v. To set on fire; to kindle; to inflame the passions; to discharge any fire-arms.

FIRE-ARMS, s. Arms which owe their efficacy to fire; guns.

FIRING, p. The application of a red hot iron to the skin, so as to burn without penetrating through it; to cauterise a horse.

The violent inflammation firing occasions, rouses the absorbent vessels into action, by which callous or even bony swellings are sometimes dispersed. The diseases in which it is most efficacious are spavins, ring-bones, and callous swellings about the back sinews, the consequences of strains and windgalls. Firing draws blood to the affected part, thickens and strengthens it, and makes the skin act as a permanent bandage. A blister is often applied to the part immediately after firing, or on the following day, to render it more effectual. It is necessary to observe that the milder remedies should be tried before this severe operation is had recourse to. Firing has been recommended for the purposes of strengthening the back sinews and hocks of colts, to prevent strains, and what is termed breaking-down.

It has been erroneously asserted, that when firing is employed to a callus of the back sinews, the swelling should be previously reduced by blistering; that firing would then prevent a return; whereas if the firing were performed in the first place, it would fix the swelling, and render it incurable. In inflammation, certainly firing will do harm, therefore it must be first removed by the frequent application of a cooling lotion, such as diluted vinegar, in which a little sugar of lead has been dissolved.—Percival.

FIRELOCK, s. A soldier’s gun; a gun discharged by striking steel with flint.

FISH, s. An animal that inhabits the water.

FISH, v. To be employed in catching fish.

Fishes in general are male and female; the former possessing the melt and the latter the roe, although some individuals of the cod and sturgeon are said to contain both. The spawn of the greater number of fishes is deposited in the sand or gravel; and in that state, it is probable that the roe and melt are mixed together. A fish whose weight, at twenty years old, shall be thirty pounds, generates the first or second year, when perhaps it does not weigh more than half a pound; and it is certain that the male seems more attached to the eggs than the female, for when she ceases to drop them, the male instantly abandons her, and with ardour follows the eggs which are carried down by the stream, or dispersed amongst the waves by the wind, passing and repassing many times over every spot where he finds the eggs.

Summer is the usual spawning time, because at that season the water is tepified by the beams of the sun, and is therefore better adapted for quickening the eggs into life. How the eggs of fishes are impregnated is wholly unknown. All that obviously offers is, that in ponds, the sexes are often seen together among the long grass at the edge of the water; that there they seem to struggle, and are in a state of suffering, as they grow thin, lose their appetite, whilst their flesh becomes flabby, and in some, the scales grow rough and lose their lustre; on the contrary, when the time of coupling is over, their appetite returns, their natural agility is resumed, and their scales become brilliant and beautiful. The spawn continues in the state of eggs a longer or shorter period, but this is for the most part proportioned to the size of the animal. The young animal remains in the form of an egg from December until April in the salmon kind; the carp not above three weeks, and the gold fish from China is produced in a still less time. With all the advantages of minuteness and agility when excluded from the egg, there is not one, perhaps, of a thousand, that survives the dangers of its youth. Among the spinous fishes there is no trace of parental affection; they abandon their eggs to be hatched by the warmth of the season, and if they ever return to the spot where their young first received life, the parents that gave them birth, become their most formidable enemies.

By the rapacity of one another although the fishes perish by millions, yet they have other destroyers. Many of the quadrupeds and a great proportion of the sea fowls, either feed on fish, are the merciless invaders of the small fry, or devour the spawn. In a savage state, numbers of the human race wander round the lakes and rivers, whence a considerable proportion of their sustenance is derived, and among those nations whom arts and agriculture have rendered less dependent on this precarious support, superstition has usurped the place of want, and given a new edge to their avidity for this species of food; but the munificent Author of nature, notwithstanding the annual consumption of fishes is constant and immense, has made a kind provision for his creatures, in which the glory of his providence is remarkable in a twofold manner. First, by giving fishes at certain fixed seasons of the year, a particular inclination to approach the land; and this always at a time when they are the fattest, and not emaciated by breeding; as the salmon in the spring, mackerel about midsummer, herrings in the autumn, cod in the winter, &c. Secondly, by the amazing fertility which he has conferred on this class of beings. The fecundity of fishes far surpasses that of any other animals; if we should be told of a being so prolific, that it would bring forth in one season as many of its kind as there are inhabitants in England, our surprise would be deeply excited, yet upwards of 9,000,000 of ova have been found in the spawn of a single cod. 1,357,400 have been taken from the belly of a flounder; the mackerel, carp, tench, and a variety of others, are endowed with a fertility but little inferior. Such an astonishing progeny, were it allowed to arrive at maturity, would soon overstock the element allotted them; but their numbers, by the means above-mentioned, are considerably lessened, and thus two important purposes are answered in the economy of nature; by the extraordinary fruitfulness of fishes, amongst a host of foes it preserves the species, and furnishes the rest with an aliment adapted to their nature.

* * * * *

Fishes are the most voracious animals in nature. Many species prey indiscriminately on everything digestible that comes in their way, and devour not only other species of fishes, but even their own. As a counter-balance to this voracity, they are amazingly prolific. Some bring forth their young alive; others produce eggs. The viviparous blenny brings forth 200 or 300 live fishes at a time. Those which produce eggs are all much more prolific, and seem to proportion their stock to the danger of consumption. Leuwenhoek affirms that the cod spawns above 9,000,000 in a season. The flounder produces above 1,000,000, and the mackerel above 500,000. Scarcely one in a hundred of these eggs, however, is supposed to come to maturity; but two wise purposes are answered by this amazing increase: it preserves the species in the midst of numberless enemies, and serves to furnish the rest with a sustenance adapted to their nature.

* * * * *

How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any bounds put to its growth, continues to live, is not ascertained; the date prescribed as the age of man, would not perhaps be sufficient to measure the life of the smallest. In the royal ponds at Marli, in France, there are some fishes that have been preserved tame since the time, it is said, of Francis the First, and which have been individually known to the persons who have succeeded to the charge of them, ever since that period. These have now attained a size much beyond the common bulk of fishes of the same kind; and although there are certain peculiarities distinguishing them from younger fishes, yet they evince no symptoms of that decrepitude and disease, which inevitably accompany a life protracted much beyond the usual space, among quadrupeds.

* * * * *

When any fish is hog-backed, with a small head, this is a sure sign of that fish being in season, of whatever sort it is.

* * * * *

Very little is known of the habits and economy of fish from the nature of the element in which they live. When I resided in Bushy Park, I caused the sides and bottom of a place to be bricked, through which a stream of very clear water ran, and stocked it with most of the varieties of our English fresh-water fish, supplying them abundantly with food; but though I constantly watched them, and could see all they did at any time of the day, the result of my observations was far from being satisfactory. The perch were the boldest and most familiar of any of the fish, as I found no difficulty in soon getting them to come with eagerness to take a worm out of my hand. The barbel were the shyest, and seemed most impatient of observation, although in the spring, when they could not perceive any one watching them, they would roll about and rub themselves against the brickwork, and show considerable playfulness. There were some large stones in my piscatorium, round which they would wind their spawn in considerable quantities. The trout appeared to bear their confinement with less philosophy than any of the others, making high leaps against the grating which admitted the water, and seeming at all times out of sorts and out of condition. The chub were also very restless, being continually on the move, but they never could resist a cockchafer when thrown to them. My flounders only moved at night, and the eels always made their escape, but in what way I never could conjecture, except, indeed, they had the power of crawling up the brickwork, which was about five feet from top to bottom, and generally two feet above the edge of the water. They certainly could not get through the grating, which was sufficiently close to confine bleak and gudgeons; and some of the eels were of a large size. The pike, of which I had eight of about five pounds’ weight each, kept up their character for voracity. Out of 800 gudgeons, which were brought to me by a Thames fisherman, and which I saw counted into the reservoir, some few of which however died, there were scarcely any to be seen at the end of three weeks, though I should mention that the three large barbel I had, and six good-sized perch, probably partook of them.

* * * * *

The author of the Wild Sports of the West, in speaking of the immense Loughs Masks and Corrib, says—“It would appear, that in these lakes the fish are commensurate to the waters they inhabit. It is no unusual event for pikes of thirty pounds weight to be sent to their landlords by the tenants; and fish of even fifty pounds have not unfrequently been caught with nets and night-lines. The trouts in those loughs are also immensely large. From fifteen to sixteen pounds is no unusual size, and some have been found that reached the enormous weight of thirty. The perch tribe appear the smallest in the scale of relative proportion. These seldom exceed a herring size; but they too have exceptions, and perch of three or four pounds weight have been sometimes seen. Within fifty years this latter fish has increased prodigiously, and in the lakes and rivers where they abound, trouts have been found to diminish in an equal ratio.”

* * * * *

Pike and perch were almost unknown in the rivers of Belcarra and Minola, and the chain of lakes with which they communicate, and these waters were then second to none for trout-fishing. Within ten years, my cousin tells me that he often angled in them, and that he frequently killed from three to six dozen of beautiful middle-sized red trouts. Now fly-fishing is seldom practised there. The trout is nearly extinct, and quantities of pike and perch infest every pool and stream. The simplest methods of taking fish will be here found successful, and the lakes of Westmeath will soon be rivalled by the loughs of Mayo.

* * * * *

It is a curious fact, that the loughs where the party angled, though situate in the same valley, and divided only by a strip of moorland not above fifty yards across, united by the same rivulet, and in depth and soil at bottom, to all appearance, precisely similar, should produce fish as different from each other as it is possible for those of the same species to be. In the centre lake, the trout are dull, ill-shaped, and dark-coloured; the head large, the body lank, and though of double size, compared to their neighbours, are killed with much less opposition. In the adjacent loughs, their hue is golden and pellucid, tinted with spots of a brilliant vermilion. The scales are bright, the head small, the shoulder thick, and from their compact shape, they prove themselves, when hooked, both active and vigorous. At table they are red and firm, and their flavour is particularly fine—while the dark trout are white and flaccid, and have the same insipidity of flavour which distinguishes a spent from a healthy salmon.

* * * * *

It is remarkable that only three kinds of fish have been transported from foreign parts into Great Britain—the carp, the tench, and the gold-fish.

* * * * *

Maxims on fishing.—The following hints are quaint and useful.

“Do not imagine that, because a fish does not instantly dart off on first seeing you, he is the less aware of your presence; he almost always on such occasion ceases to feed, and pays you the compliment of devoting his attention to you, whilst he is preparing for a start whenever the apprehended danger becomes sufficiently imminent.”

“If you pass your fly neatly and well three times over a trout, and he refuses it, do not wait any longer for him; you may be sure he has seen the line of invitation which you have sent over the water to him, and does not intend to come.”

“Remember that, in whipping with the artificial fly, it must have time, when you have drawn it out of the water, to make the whole circuit, and to be at one time straight behind you, before it can be driven out straight before you. If you give it the forward impulse too soon, you will hear a crack: take this as a hint that your fly is gone to grass.”

“It appears to me that, in whipping with an artificial fly, there are only two cases in which a fish taking the fly will infallibly hook himself without your assistance, viz.:—1st, when your fly first touches the water at the end of a straight line: 2d, when you are drawing out your fly for a new throw. In all other cases, it is necessary that, in order to hook him when he has taken the fly, you should do something with your wrist which is not easy to describe.”

“If your line should fall loose and wavy into the water, it will either frighten away the fish, or he will take the fly into his mouth, without fastening himself; and when he finds that it does not answer his purpose, he will spit it out again before it has answered yours.”

“Never mind what they of the old school say about ‘playing him till he is tired.’ Much valuable time, and many a good fish, may be lost by this antiquated proceeding. Put him into your basket as soon as you can. Every thing depends on the manner in which you commence your acquaintance with him. If you can at first prevail upon him to walk a little way down the stream with you, you will have no difficulty afterwards in persuading him to let you have the pleasure of seeing him at dinner.”

“Do not leave off fishing early in the evening, because your friends are tired. After a bright day, the largest fish are to be caught by whipping between sunset and dark. Even, however, in these precious moments, you will not have good sport, if you continue throwing after you have whipped your fly off. Pay attention to this; and, if you have any doubt after dusk, you may easily ascertain the point, by drawing the end of the line quickly through your hand, particularly if you do not wear gloves.”

“When you have got hold of a good fish which is not very tractable, if you are married, gentle reader, think of your wife, who, like the fish, is united to you by very tender ties, which can only end with her death, or her going into weeds. If you are single, the loss of the fish, when you thought the prize your own, may remind you of some more serious disappointment.”

“Never angle in glaring-coloured clothes; perhaps green is that which the fish discern least, as varying less from those objects, such as trees, and herbage on the sides, to which they are familiarised. The angler should shelter himself (unless the water is muddy from rain) far from the bank, or behind a bush or tree, where he can just see the float, and so that his shadow does not, at any time, lie upon the water, especially where it is shallow, and the gravelly bottom can be discerned.”

* * * * *

The angler should always have the wind at his back, the sun or moon before him, as much as possible; in cold, windy weather especially, he should be on the weather-shore, where the fish then resort for warmth, and the calmness of the water. The east wind, for angling, has been universally execrated, but probably this may not hold good in rivers running from east to west.

* * * * *

At the conflux of rivers that ebb and flow, it is best angling at the ebb; sometimes, when the tide is not strong, they will bite at flood, but very rarely at high water.

* * * * *

Deep waters are best to angle in, as the fish are not then disturbed by wind or weather.

The best periods are from April to October; from three until nine in the morning, and from three in the afternoon, so long as there is light; the later, the better sport. In winter, the weather and times are much alike; the warmest is most preferable.

* * * * *

During the summer, even when the water is quite low and clear, no wind stirring, and the sun shining in its utmost lustre, and in the hottest part of the day, it is insisted, trout may be taken (although very few anglers are disposed to credit it), with a small wren’s-tail, grouse, smoky dun, and black hackles, fishing straight down the water by the sides of streams and banks; keeping out of sight, and with as long a line as can conveniently be managed, with the foot-length very fine: they may be often seen with their fins above water, at which time they will eagerly snap at the abovementioned flies; and though upon hooking one the rest will fly off, they will soon be composed, and return for two or three times.

Right of Fishing.—It has been held that where the lord of the manor hath the soil on both sides of the river, it is a good evidence that he hath right of fishing; and it puts the proof upon him who claims liberam piscariam; but, where a river ebbs and flows, and is an arm of the sea, there it is common to all, and he who claims a privilege to himself, must prove it; for if the trespass is brought for fishing there, the defendant may justify that the place is brachium maris, in quo unusquique subditus domini regis habet et habere debet liberam piscariam. In the Severn the soil belongs to the owners of the land on each side; and the soil of the river Thames is in the king, but the fishing is common to all. He who is owner of the soil of a private river, hath separata piscaria; and he that hath libera piscaria, hath a property in the fish, and may bring a possessory action for them; but communis piscaria is like the case of all other commons. One that has a close pond, in which there are fish, may call them pisces suas, in an indictment, &c.; but he cannot call them bona et catalla, if they be not in tanks. There needs no privilege to make a fish-pond, as there doth in case of a warren.—Ency. Brit.—Daniel—Jesse—Wild Sports, &c.

FISH-HOOK, s. A hook for catching fish.

FISH-POND, s. A small pool for fish. Vide POND.

FISHER, s. One who is employed in catching fish.

FISHERMAN, s. One whose employment and livelihood is to catch fish.

FISHERY, s. The business of catching fish.

FISHING, s. Commodity of taking fish.

FISHING-ROD, s. An implement for angling. Vide ROD.

FISHY, a. Consisting of fish; having the qualities of fish.

FISTULA, s. A sinuous ulcer callous within.

FISTULOUS, a. Having the nature of a fistula.

FIT, s. A paroxysm of any intermittent distemper; any short return after intermission.

For a dog that has fits when hunting.—Strike him smartly with a whip or stick until he is roused; the stimulus from the blows will recover as well as letting blood, and prevent a too great effusion, which is often the case when bled in the field.

FITCHAT or FITCHEW, s. A stinking little beast, that robs the henroost and warren.

FIVES, s. A kind of play with a ball; a disease of horses.

FIXTURE, s. The place where hounds meet.

FIZGIG, s. A kind of dart or harpoon, with which seamen strike a fish.

FLAGWORM, s. A grub bred in watery places among flags or sedge.

FLAME, s. Light emitted from fire; a stream of fire.

FLANK, s. The part of the side of a quadruped near the hinder thigh; in men, the latter part of the lower belly.

FLAP, s. Any thing that hangs broad and loose.

FLASK, s. A bottle, a vessel, a powder-horn.

FLAW, s. A crack or breach in any thing; a fault, a defect; a sudden gust; a violent blast.

FLAX, s. The fibrous plant of which the finest thread is made; the fibres of flax cleansed and combed for the spinner.

FLAY, v. To strip off the skin; to take off the skin or surface of anything.

FLEA, s. A small insect. Vide VERMIN.

Hares are very subject to fleas. Linnæus tells us, that cloth made of their fur will attract these insects, and preserve the wearer from their troublesome attacks.

FLEAM, s. An instrument to bleed cattle.

FLEDGE, v. To furnish with wings, to supply with feathers.

FLEDGED, a. Full feathered, able to fly.

FLEW, s. The large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound; a kind of net.

Flews may be described as of two kinds, the one for drawing, the other to be placed either as a stop to a drag-net, or to be set and left quietly standing in a pond or river, to intercept the fish. Those for drawing should be made of stouter materials, and the lint of all should be of silk. The expense is greater at the first; but the compiler has had silk flews of both sorts, where the lint has outlasted three sets of walling, and still remained perfectly good. It must, however, be understood, that great care was observed in the washing and drying his nets; for silk has no peculiar power, any more than hemp, to defend itself against the heat, which a few hours will generate when thrown together full of mud and weeds; and both, by such slovenly inattention, are as quickly spoiled: yet carefully managed, a silk net will endure to the utmost wishes of the proprietor; and such is the quality of the silk, when wet, that the fish which touches it is sure to be entangled; the texture is so pliant, that a fish is enveloped before being sensible of it, and the more he struggles the faster he is confined.

For a dragging-flew, the lint two inches and a quarter mesh, seventy meshes deep, and fifty-two yards in length (to be hung twenty yards long and eight feet deep), it will take four pounds and a half of silk.

For a setting flew, of a similar mesh, and ninety deep, with the same length of lint and depth of hanging, five pounds and a quarter of silk; from these may be calculated any larger or smaller size. Never tan or colour flews, it renders them easier to be discerned by the fish.

The walls or trammels of flews should be at least eighteen inches square (but two feet is preferable), those of nine or twelve inches, hung diamond fashion, are only calculated to receive a fish that strikes point blank; it is impossible for a good sized fish to get in sideways, (whereby they are more entangled than by touching the flew in any other direction), besides, these small wallings render a net more cumbersome, and are, for the most part, useless. Flews should be very lightly leaded, the floats or corks nicely adjusted, and where the fish run very large, the mesh of the lint may be extended; always recollecting that in thread nets, the materials for the lint must be three twisted, and cannot be too strong or too fine.

In carp-fishing, drawing with flews is the most killing mode yet devised, they slide so lightly over the mud, and hamper the fish in their progress through the water, which the drag-net does not.

FLEWED, a. Chapped, mouthed.

FLEXOR, s. The general name of the muscles which act in contracting the joints.

FLIGHT, s. The act of using wings; removal from place to place by means of wings; a flock of birds flying together; the birds produced in the same season, as the harvest flight of pigeons; the space passed by flying.

FLINT, s. A kind of stone used in firelocks; any thing eminently or proverbially hard.

None are better than the most transparent of the common black flints. Great quantities (considered as good as any) come to London from Lord Cadogan’s estate at Brandon. They should be put in with the flat side upwards, and stand well clear of the hammer, and yet be long enough to throw it. Screw them in with leather, as lead strains the cock, and cloth is dangerous from being liable to catch fire. If very particular about the neat appearance of your gun, get a punch for stamping the leathers, and change them as often as you put new flints.

To make a flint strike lower you have only to reverse the usual way of putting it in; but, if you want to strike higher, you must either put a very thick leather, or screw the flint in with a bit of something under it. This temporary way of regulating a lock, so as to make the hammer fall, is worth knowing, as it often saves vexation and loss of time.—Hawker.

FLIX, s. Down, fur, soft hair.

FLOAT, v. To swim on the surface of the water; to pass with a light irregular course.

FLOAT, s. The act of flowing; any body so contrived or formed as to swim on the water; the cork or quill by which the angler discovers the bite.

Floats are of many kinds; of swan, goose, muscovy duck, and porcupine quills. The first is preferable, when light baits are used in rivers or deep waters, and the others for slow streams and ponds, where the water is not very deep, and where the baits are pastes, &c. The quills of the bustard some anglers use, believing that the small black spots with which they are (erroneously) said to be mottled, appear to the fish as so many little flies, and attract them by this deception. For heavy fishing with worm or minnow, and in rapid eddies, the cork float is best, and is made by taking a cork free from flaws, and with a small red hot iron bore a hole lengthways through the centre; it is then to be cut across the grain with a sharp knife, about two-thirds of the length, and the remaining third (which is the top of the float) rounded with it, and then neatly finished with pumice stone, the whole resembling in shape a child’s peg top. For pike, barbel, and large chub, the cork should be the size of a small bergamot pear; for trout, perch, eels, not bigger than a walnut when the green rind is removed. A quill is fitted to the hole, and used formerly to be cut off close to the cork at each end of it. Some direct cork floats to be proportioned to the number of hairs the line is made of, and no larger than a horsebean for a single hair; but so diminutive a cork is of no use, and the quill floats will answer better.

Some recommend the shape of a cork like a pear, and not to exceed the size of a nutmeg, and the quill that passes through it not to be more than half an inch above and below the cork; they are now made with a cap at the top, and wire for the line to pass through at the bottom. The advantage the cork float has over the bare quill is that it allows the line to be loaded so heavily, that the hook sinks almost as soon as put into the water; whereas, when lightly loaded, it does not reach the bottom until near the end of the swim.

* * * * *

Quill floats are thus made: the barrel part is cut off from that where the feathers grow, the inside cleared from the film, and a small piece of pitch fixed close to the end; a piece of cotton is then introduced, and upon that another piece of pitch, which not only confines the cotton, but assists in making the float discernible in water. A piece of soft wood, the size of the quill, about two inches long, of which nearly one inch is to be introduced into the quill, after being dipped into a melted cement of bees-wax, resin, and chalk, in equal quantities; the lower end of this plug is to be tapered, with a fine awl, a piece of brass twisted wire, with a round eye at the end, is to be passed as a screw into the plug, with a pair of pliers, turning round in the float; the line passes through this eye of the wire, and the upper part of the quill is fastened to the line by a hoop made of a larger sized quill, so as to admit the thickness of the line, and which ought to fasten nearly an inch from the top of the quill. (These caps should be secured by fine waxed silk, varnished over, which prevents their splitting; as also should the end of the quill round the plug, which will greatly preserve the float.) These hoops upon the top of the float may be dyed red (which will render them more conspicuous), by putting as much powdered Brazil wood into stale chamber-ley as will make it a deep red, which may be seen by applying it upon a piece of white paper; then take some spring-water, and put a handful of salt and a small quantity of argal into it; stir them until they are dissolved, and boil them well in a saucepan; when the water is cold, scrape the quills, and steep them a little time in the mixture; afterwards let them remain in the chamber-ley for a fortnight, and, after drying, rub them with a woollen cloth, and they will be transparent.

If two quills are wanted to be joined together, it may be done by a plug a little thicker in the middle than at the ends, which is to go into the mouth of the quills; dip the two ends into the above cement warmed, and fix the quills upon it, or by dipping the two ends of both quills, without the plug, into the cement, and inserting one into the other while thoroughly warm, the cement, when cold, will strongly fix them; rub the float all over with wet coal-dust and a woollen cloth, dry it with one of linen, and, after that, dry coal-dust will polish it effectually. Quill floats should be so leaded as to just suffer their tops to appear above the surface, that the slightest nibble may be perceived; if either a cork or a quill float fall on one side, the lead is either on the ground, or insufficient to keep them in a proper position.

In fishing with a float, the line should be a foot shorter than the rod; if longer, it is inconvenient when a fish is wanted to be disengaged; and the rod should be fourteen or fifteen feet long, light, stiff, and so smart in the spring as to strike at the extremity of the whalebone.—Daniel—Fisher’s Guide, &c.

FLOCK, s. A company of birds or beasts; a company of sheep, distinguished from herds, which are of oxen; a lock of wool.

FLOCK, v. To gather in crowds or large numbers.

FLOG, v. To lash, to whip.

FLOOD, s. A body of water; a deluge, an inundation; flow, flux, not ebb.

FLOP, v. To clap the wings with noise.

FLOUNDER, s. The name of a small flat fish.

The flounder inhabits every part of the British sea, and is found, although at a great distance, in all the rivers that communicate with it; numbers of them that are not taken, lose themselves, continuing and breeding with vast fecundity in the rivers, and those grow to be the largest and best flavoured. They will likewise live in ponds, and are a profitable fish to stock them with, as they soon get fat, will live many hours out of their element, and consequently may be carried to a great distance; but they will not breed when confined. The colour of the upper part of the body is a pale brown, sometimes marked with a few spots of dirty yellow; the belly is white. It may easily be distinguished from the plaice, or any other fish of this genus, by a row of sharp small spines that surround its upper sides, and are placed just at the juncture of the fins with the body; another row marks the side line, and runs half way down the back. Mr. Pennant mentions hearing of one that weighed six pounds; but a flounder of half that weight is not common. Flounders spawn in May and June, and are in season the rest of the year. They swim in shoals, and bite freely at all hours of the day, but particularly on the rise of the water by flood or tide, and in warm weather, with a little wind, and are to be fished for with a strong line and good gut at the bottom, as some of them are large, and struggle much. The best places to angle for them, are by the sides and at the tails of deep streams, where the bottom consists of fine gravel, sand, or loam, or in still places of the same quality near the banks; two or three rods may be used, with a bullet on the lines, to lie on the ground in streams; and when in still water, a shot or two on the line, and the hook small. Brandlings that are taken from rotten tan, well scoured, are the best baits. They will take the lobworm, and even the minnow; a flounder weighing twenty-three ounces being caught in 1799 with the latter.

FLOUNDER, v. To struggle with violent and irregular motions.

FLOUR, s. The edible part of the corn, or any grain reducible to powder.

FLUE, s. A small pipe or chimney to convey air; soft down or fur.

FLUID, s. In physic, an animal juice; any thing that flows.

FLUSH, v. To colour, to redden; to elate; to spring birds.

FLUSH, s. Afflux, sudden impulse, violent flow; cards all of a sort.

FLUTTER, v. To take short flights with great agitation of the wings; to move irregularly.

FLY, v. To move through the air with wings; to pass through the air; to pass swiftly; to fly at; to burst asunder with a sudden explosion; to shiver; to run away; to attempt to escape.

FLY, s. A small winged insect; that part of a machine which, being put into a quick motion, regulates the rest.

From my own experience I should suppose that in all the habitable parts of the globe, certain water-flies exist wherever there is running water. Even in the most ardent temperature, gnats and musquitoes are found, which lay their congeries of eggs on the water, which, when hatched, become, first worms, afterwards small shrimp-like aurelia, and, lastly, flies. There are a great number of the largest species of these flies on stagnant waters and lakes, which form a part of the food of various fishes, principally of the carp kind; but the true fisherman’s fly—those which are imitated in our art—principally belong to the northern, or at least temperate parts of Europe, and I believe are nowhere more abundant than in England. It appears to me, that since I have been a fisherman, which is now the best part of half a century, I have observed in some rivers where I have been accustomed to fish habitually, a diminution of the numbers of flies. There were always some seasons in which the temperature was favourable to a quantity of fly; for instance, fine warm days in spring for the grannam, or brown-fly; and like days in May and June for the alder-fly, May-fly, and stone-fly: but I should say, that within the last twenty years I have observed a general diminution of the spring and autumnal flies, except in those rivers which are fed from sources that run from chalk, and which are perennial—such as the Wandle, and the Hampshire and Buckinghamshire rivers; in these streams the temperature is more uniform, and the quantity of water does not vary much. I attribute the change of the quantity of flies in the rivers to the cultivation of the country. Most of the bogs or marshes which fed many considerable streams are drained; and the consequence is, that they are more likely to be affected by severe droughts and great floods—the first killing, and the second washing away the larvæ and aurelias. May-flies, thirty years ago, were abundant in the upper part of the Teme river, in Herefordshire, where it receives the Clun: they are now rarely seen.

In December and January there are a few small gnats or waterflies on the water in the middle of the day, in bright days, or when there is sunshine. These are generally black, and they escape the influence of the frost by the effects of light on their black bodies, and probably by the extreme rapidity of the motions of their fluids, and generally of their organs. They are found only at the surface of the water, where the temperature must be above the freezing point. In February a few double-winged water-flies which swim down the stream are usually found in the middle of the day—such as the willow-fly; and the cow-dung fly is sometimes carried on the water by winds. In March there are several flies found on most rivers. The grannam or green-tail fly, with a wing like a moth, comes on generally morning and evening, from five till eight o’clock, A. M. in mild weather in the end of March and through April. Then there are the blue and brown, both ephemeral, which come on, the first in dark days, the second in bright days; these flies, when well imitated, are very destructive to fish. The first is a small fly with a palish yellow body, and slender, beautiful wings, which rest on the back as it floats down the water. The second, called the cob in Wales, is three or four times as large, and has brown wings, which likewise protrude from the back, and its wings are shaded like those of a partridge, brown and yellow-brown. These three kinds of flies lay their eggs in the water, which produce larvæ that remain in the state of worms, feeding and breathing in the water till they are prepared for their metamorphosis and quit the bottoms of the rivers, and the mud and stones, for the surface, and the light and air. The brown fly usually disappears before the end of April, likewise the grannam; but of the blue dun, there is a succession of different tints, or species, or varieties, which appear in the middle of the day, all the summer and autumn long. These are the principal flies on the Wandle—the best and clearest stream near London. In early spring these flies have dark olive bodies; in the end of April and beginning of May they are found yellow; and in the summer they become cinnamon-coloured; and again, as the winter approaches, gain a darker hue. I do not, however, mean to say that they are the same flies, but more probably successive generation of ephemera of the same species. The excess of heat seems equally unfavourable as the excess of cold, to the existence of the smaller species of water insects, which, during the intensity of sunshine, seldom appear in summer, but rise morning and evening only. The blue dun has, in June and July, a yellow body; and there is a water-fly which in the evening is generally found before the moths appear, called the red spinner. Towards the end of August, the ephemera appear again in the middle of the day—a very pale, small ephemera, which is of the same colour as that which is seen in some rivers in the beginning of July. In September and October, this kind of fly is found with an olive body, and it becomes darker in October, and paler in November. There are two other flies which appear in the end of September, and continue during October, if the weather be mild; a large yellow fly with a fleshy body and wings like a moth, and a small fly with four wings, with a dark or claret-coloured body, that when it falls on the water has its wings like the great yellow fly, flat on its back. This, or a claret-bodied fly, very similar in character, may be likewise found in March or April, on some waters. In this river I have often caught many large trout in April and the beginning of May, with the blue dun, having the yellow body; and in the upper part of the stream below St. Alban’s, and between that and Watford, I have sometimes, even as early as April, caught fish in good condition; but the true season for the Colne is the season of May-fly. The same may be said of most of the large English rivers containing large trouts, and abounding in May-fly: such as the Test and the Kennet; the one running by Stockbridge, the other by Hungerford. But in the Wandle at Carshalton and Beddington, the May-fly is not found: and the little blues are the constant, and, when well imitated, killing flies on this water; to which may be joined a dark alder fly, and a red evening fly. In the Avon, at Ringwood and Fordingbridge, the May-fly is likewise a killing fly; but as this is a grayling river, the other flies, particularly the grannam and blue and brown, are good in spring, and the alder-fly or pale blue later, and the blue dun in September and October, and even November. In the streams in the mountainous parts of Britain, the spring and autumnal flies are by far the most killing. The Usk was formerly a very productive trout stream, and the fish being well fed by the worms washed down by the winter floods, were often in good season, cutting red in March and the beginning of April: and at this season the blues and browns, particularly when the water was a little stained after a small flood, afforded the angler good sport.

* * * * *

As we are on the subject of tying, I must observe, that the advantage one derives from being able to construct his own flies is wonderful; in fact, without attaining this accomplishment in the ‘gentle art,’ no one can fish comfortably or successfully. No stock, however extensive, will afford a supply adapted for every change of weather and water, and a man may lose a day overlooking an interminable variety of kinds and colours, in a vain search after one killing fly. Not so the artist: the favourite insect being once ascertained, he speedily produces an imitation and fills his basket, while his less fortunate neighbour is idly turning the pages of his over-stocked fishing-book.

I had two sporting friends, who were excellent instances of this. Colonel S—— was an ardent, and, I may add, a very tolerable angler. No one went to more trouble and expense in procuring the most approved flies; he never tied, or attempted to tie one, and he assured me he had many hundred dozens in his possession. To find a new fly, was with him sometimes the labour of a day: and when about to try another water, he would spend hours toiling through his immense variety, before he could succeed in discovering the necessary colour and description. I have seen him with Job-like patience, labouring through endless papers and parcels in search of a paltry insect, that I could fabricate in five minutes.

His companion, Captain B——, ran into an opposite extreme. He rarely had a second casting line, and seldom a second set of flies. Did the day change, or the river fill or lower, he sat down on the bank, ripped wings and dubbings from his hooks, and prepared a new outfit in a twinkling. I never met an angler who was so certain of filling a basket as my friend B——. His system, however, I would totally disapprove of. Without burthening oneself with enough to furnish out a tackle-shop, a small and effective collection is desirable, and it is absurd to lose a fortunate half-hour tying on the river bank, what could be more conveniently fabricated during the tedium of a wet day within doors. An accident may rob the most discreet angler of his flies, and surely it is necessary to have a fresh relay to put up? But though I take a sufficiency along with me, I never leave home without being provided with the materials for constructing new ones. An hour may bring ephemeræ on the waters, which you must imitate, or you will cast in vain; before evening they will have vanished, and given place to some new variety of the insect world. Thus far, at least, the tier possesses an advantage over him who cannot produce a fly, that no collection which human ingenuity can form will compensate.

* * * * *

FLIES IN GENERAL USE.

February.—Dark fox, hare’s ear and claret, dark grey hackle, plain black hackle, grey sooty.

March.—Plain black hackle, plain wren, dark brownrail, dark olive camel, fox half a shade lighter than last month, dark brown camel, latter end of the month brown coughlin, dark red hackles’ bodies with brown coughlin, dirty tawny bodied with hare’s ear, green cowdung, grey sooty.

April.—Grey coughlin, light olive camel, light brown rail, ash fox-blow for latter end of the month, orange cow dung, blue blow, tipped wing black, plain black midge, hare’s ear and yellow, hare’s ear and green, plain red hackle orange bodied, do. tipped black hackle, plain black hackle, blue bodied black hackle, buff fox, grey sooty, all kind of wren hackles, grey hackles. This list will bring you into May, and some of them into June.

May.—Hawthorn fly, yellow may fly, golden sooty, light fox, cream camel, brown rail, fancy hackle flies, caterpillars, green beetles, black do., golden palmers, yellow and orange palmers, stone fly, plain and brown beetles.

June.—All the may flies, and green fox come in now, and with light fox continues all the summer; light rail, blue bodied black hackle, orange bodied red, fancy wrens, gold palmer, green beetle, scaldcrow midge, and night moth.

July and August.—The above flies, and the cinnamon called the cadbait fly.

September.—Muddy green fox, green rail with plain red hackle, orange body do., light rail, plain and fancy wrens; small cadbait breasted with woodcock hackle and double wings, last during the fishing season.

* * * * *

In fly-fishing, the angler should recollect to take with him some portion of all the different materials for fly-making: so whimsical sometimes are trouts, that they may be seen to take insignificant flies greedily, which at other times they would not look at. When this happens, catch one of such flies, and try how nearly art can imitate nature, by framing one as similar as can be.—Davy—Wild Sports—Daniel.

FLYCATCHER, s. One that hunts flies; a bird.

Of the birds which constitute this class, we find only two kinds that inhabit this island, and these are not the most numerous of the various tribes with which this country abounds.

The characters of this genus with us are somewhat equivocal, and not well ascertained; neither do we know of any common name in our language by which it is distinguished. Mr. Pennant describes it thus:—“Bill flatted at the base, almost triangular, notched at the end of the upper mandible, and beset with bristles at its base.”—Bewick.

FLYFISH, v. To angle with a hook baited with a fly.

FOAL, s. The offspring of a mare, or other beast of burden.

FOAL, v. To bring forth a foal.

FOAM, s. The white substance which agitation or fermentation gathers on the top of liquors; froth, spume.

FOAM, v. To froth, to gather foam; to be in rage; to be violently agitated.

FODDER, s. Dry food stored for cattle against winter.

FOLD, s. The ground in which sheep are confined; the place where sheep are housed; the flock of sheep; a double, a complication.

FOMENTATION, s. Partial bathing, called steeping; the lotion prepared to foment the parts.

Fomentations are divided into emollient and anodyne.

EMOLLIENT FOMENTATION.

Boil marshmallows in water for some time, strain off the liquor, and bathe the affected parts with it while warm.

ANODYNE FOMENTATION.

1. White poppy heads broken, two dozen. Hemlock, two handfuls.

Boil for two hours gently in six quarts of water.

2. Wormwood dried, and camomile flowers of each 4 oz. Rue 3 oz. Bay leaves 2 oz.

Boil them for one hour in a gallon of water.

The efficacy of a fomentation depends on its being properly applied: therefore, the liquid should be only as hot as the part can bear without pain. Large flannel cloths should be dipped into the fomentation, lightly wrung out, and spread over the affected part, and be renewed before they become cold; this ought to be continued for half an hour at least, and repeated three or four times a day.

Emollient fomentation is adapted to inflamed swellings, from whatever cause they may arise; and, in the absence of others, warm water alone will be found an useful substitute.

Warm water, if used assiduously, and at a proper temperature, is an excellent fomentation. In inflammation of the eye, it should not be above 98°; in inflamed and painful swellings it should seldom exceed 100°. In strains of the back sinews, vinegar is preferable; and as the injury is deeply seated, the fomentation may be applied hotter.

When employed for inflammation of the bowels, it should be still hotter, so hot, indeed, that the hand cannot feel it without pain. The best mode of application is by a long piece of woollen cloth, with the ends joined, that it may be wrung out of the boiling liquor by placing a stick through each end. When thus applied, it may be called a steam fomentation. A man on either side the horse is required to apply this fomentation effectually. Where the injury is not extensive, the fomentation may be applied with a large sponge, or a thick woollen cloth, or old rug or blanket.—White.

FOOT, s. The part upon which we stand; that by which any thing is supported; the base; a measure containing twelve inches.

FORAGE, s. Search of provisions; provisions sought abroad; provisions in general; food for horses.

FORCEPS, s. Properly signifies a pair of tongs, but is used for an instrument in chirurgery to extract any thing out of wounds.

FORD, s. A shallow part of a river.

FORD, v. To pass without swimming.

FOREHAND, s. That part of a horse which is before the rider.

Forehand implies that part of a horse extending from the ears to the withers; which to be handsome should be long, and rise gradually from the upper point of the shoulder blade to the very extremity of the ear. A forehand of this description adds greatly to the majestic appearance and value of a horse. But a horse low before, with a short forehand, and indented crest, can never become an object of attraction.—Taplin.

FOREHEAD, s. That part of the face which reaches from the eyes upwards to the hair: impudence, confidence, assurance.

To observe the form and effect of the forehead, it will be necessary to get before the horse. It is the space extending from the roots of the ears, and between the eyes, which being broad and flat, having a feather or star in the centre, constitutes a degree of beauty, and may be supposed to have a cross of the Arabian in the blood. If a horse having a wide flat forehead, has the advantage of a full prominent spirited eye, they at the first approach afford no small indication of excellence; and, upon nearer inspection, a corresponding symmetry is expected to follow.—Taplin.

FORELEGS, s. That part of a horse beginning at the lower extremity of the shoulder blade before, and the elbow behind.

The forelegs consist of what are termed the arms (or thighs), which extend to each knee; the shank-bone from the knee to the fetlock joint; the fetlock bone is continued from thence to the coronary bone, in part fills the cavity, or box of the hoof, being lodged in the coffin-bone, supported by the nut-bone behind; these last are deposited in the membraneous mass denominated the inner sole, the whole being terminated by the bottom of the hoof, the frog, and the outer sole. The forelegs, to be uniform (in a front view), should be wide at the upper part next the breast, strong and broad in the arm, bony below the knee, free from splents, a broad sound hoof, firm sole, and a frog without thrushes.—Taplin.

FORELOCK, s. The hair that grows from the forepart of the head.

FOREST, s. A wild uncultivated tract of ground, with wood.

FORESTER, s. An officer of the forest; an inhabitant of the wild or woody country.

The forester is an officer sworn to preserve the vert and venison within his walk, and not to conceal but to attach all offenders, to present the offences and attachments in the next court of attachments, or swainmote, and to take care of the lawing of dogs.

FORGE, s. The place where iron is beaten into form; a place where horses are shod.

FORGE, v. To form by the hammer.

FOWL, s. A winged animal, a bird.

FOWL, v. To kill birds for food or game.

FOWLER, s. A sportsman who pursues birds.

FOWLING-PIECE, s. A gun for birds.

FOX, s. A wild animal of the dog kind, remarkable for his cunning.

The fox is a native of almost every quarter of the globe, and is of such a wild nature, that it is impossible fully to tame him. He is esteemed the most sagacious and most crafty of all beasts of prey. The former quality he shows in his mode of providing himself an asylum, where he retires from pressing dangers, where he dwells, and where he brings up his young: and his craftiness is discovered by his schemes to catch lambs, geese, hens, and all kinds of small birds. The fox, if possible, fixes his abode on the border of a wood, in the neighbourhood of some farm or village: he listens to the crowing of the cocks, and the cries of the poultry; he scents them at a distance; he chooses his time with judgment; he conceals his road as well as his design; he slips forward with caution, sometimes even trailing his body, and seldom makes a fruitless expedition. If he can leap the wall, or get in underneath, he ravages the court-yard, puts all to death, and retires softly with his prey, which he either hides under the herbage, or carries off to his kennel. He returns in a few minutes for another, which he carries off and conceals in the same manner, but in a different place. In this way he proceeds till the progress of the sun, or some movements perceived in the house, advertise him that it is time to suspend his operations, and to retire to his den. He plays the same game with the catchers of thrushes, woodcocks, &c. He visits the nets and bird-lime very early in the morning, carries off successively the birds which are entangled, and lays them in different places, especially by the sides of highways, in the furrows, under the herbage or brushwood, where they sometimes lie two or three days; but he knows perfectly where to find them when he is in need. He hunts the young hares in the plains, seizes old ones in their seats, digs out the rabbits in the warrens, discovers the nests of partridges and quails, seizes the mother on the eggs, and destroys a vast quantity of game. He is exceedingly voracious, and, when other food fails him, makes war against rats, field-mice, serpents, lizards, and toads. Of these he destroys vast numbers, and this is the only service that he appears to do to mankind.

When urged by hunger, he will also eat roots or insects; and the foxes near the coasts will devour crabs, shrimps, or shell-fish. In France and Italy they do incredible mischief, by feeding on grapes, of which they are excessively fond.

We are told by Buffon, that he sometimes attacks bee-hives, and the nests of wasps, for the sake of what he can find to eat: and that he frequently meets with so rough a reception, as to force him to retire, that he may roll on the ground and crush those that are stinging him; but having thus rid himself of his troublesome companions, he instantly returns to the charge, and obliges them at length to forsake their combs, and leave them as a reward of his victory. When pressed by necessity he will devour carrion. “I once,” says M. Buffon, “suspended on a tree, at the height of nine feet, some meat, bread, and bones. The foxes had been at severe exercise during the night; for next morning the earth all round was beaten, by their jumping, as smooth as a barn-floor.”

The fox exhibits a great degree of cunning in digging young rabbits out of their burrows. He does not enter the hole, for in that case he would have to dig several feet along the ground, under the surface of the earth; but he follows their scent above, till he comes to the end, where they lay, and then scratching up the earth, descends immediately upon, and devours them.

Pontoppidan informs us, that when the fox observes an otter go into the water to fish, he will frequently hide himself behind a stone, and when the otter comes to shore with his prey, he will make such a spring upon him, that the affrighted animal runs off, and leaves his booty behind. A certain person, continues this writer, was surprised on seeing a fox near a fisherman’s house, laying a parcel of storks’ heads in a row: he waited the event; the fox hid himself behind them, and made a booty of the first crow that came for a bit of them.

The fox prepares for himself a convenient den, in which he lies concealed during the greater part of the day.

This is so contrived, as to afford the best possible security to the inhabitant, being situated under hard ground, the roots of trees, &c. and is besides furnished with proper outlets, through which he may escape in case of necessity. This care and dexterity in constructing for himself a habitation, is, by M. Buffon, considered as alone sufficient to rank the fox among the higher order of quadrupeds, since it implies no small degree of intelligence.

The fox, (says he,) knows how to ensure his safety, by providing himself with an asylum to which he retires from pressing dangers, where he dwells, and where he brings up his young. He is not a vagabond, but lives settled in a domestic state. This difference, though it appears even among men, has greater effects, and supposes more powerful causes, among the inferior animals. The single idea of a habitation, or settled place of abode, the art of making it commodious, and concealing the avenues to it, imply a superior degree of sentiment.

He is one of those animals that, in this country, are made objects of diversion in the chase. When he finds himself pursued, he generally makes towards his hole, and penetrating to the bottom, lies till a terrier is sent in to him. If his den is under a rock, or the roots of trees, which is often the case, he is safe, for the terrier is no match for him there; and he cannot be dug out by his enemies. When the retreat to his kennel is cut off, his stratagems and shifts to escape are as surprising as they are various. He always takes to the most woody parts of the country, and prefers the paths that are most embarrassed with thorns and briers. He runs in a direct line before the hounds, and at no great distance from them; and, if hard pushed, seeks the low wet grounds, as if conscious that the scent does not lie so well there. When overtaken, he becomes obstinately desperate, and bravely defends himself against the teeth of his adversaries, even to the last gasp.

Dr. Goldsmith relates a remarkable instance of the parental affection of this animal, which, he says, occurred near Chelmsford:—“A she fox that had, as it should seem, but one cub, was unkennelled by a gentleman’s hounds, and hotly pursued. The poor animal, braving every danger rather than leave her cub behind to be worried by the dogs, took it up in her mouth, and ran with it in this manner for several miles. At last, taking her way through a farmer’s yard, she was assaulted by a mastiff, and at length obliged to drop her cub; this was taken up by the farmer.” And we are happy to add that the affectionate creature escaped the pursuit, and got off in safety.

Of all animals the fox has the most significant eye, by which is expressed every passion of love, fear, hatred, &c. He is remarkably playful, but, like all savage creatures half reclaimed, will on the least offence bite even those with whom he is most familiar.

He is never to be fully tamed; he languishes when deprived of liberty, and if kept too long in a domestic state he dies of chagrin. When abroad, he is often seen to amuse himself with his fine bushy tail, running sometimes for a considerable while in circles to catch it. In cold weather he wraps it about his nose.

In the northern countries there is a black fox, a variety of the common fox. The Kamschatdales informed Dr. Grieve that these were once so numerous with them that whenever they fed their dogs, it was a difficult piece of labour to prevent them from partaking. The doctor says, that when he was in Kamschatka, they were in such plenty near the forts, that in the night they entered them without any apparent apprehension of danger from the dogs of the country.

One of the inhabitants, he informs us, caught several of them in the pit where he kept his fish.

The mode usually adopted by the inhabitants for taking them is by traps baited with live animals; and, for the greater security, two or three of these traps are placed upon one hillock, that, whatever way the foxes approach, they may fall into one of them. This is found necessary, since those which have been once in danger, ever afterwards go so cautiously to work, as frequently to eat the bait without being seized. But, with all their cunning, when several traps are employed, it is difficult for them to escape. Their skins are very valuable.

* * * * *

Foxes, Anecdotes of.—Near the Falls of Clyde, on the summit of an awful precipice, a spot is shown where a fox once exhibited extraordinary cunning. Being hard pressed by the dogs, he seized in his teeth a fast hold of some pendulous shrub growing on the verge, threw himself across the brow of the precipice, and after remaining there until the scent was strong, he recovered the ground, and jumped into an adjoining thicket. Three couple of the leading hounds, in the eagerness of pursuit, actually rushed over the bank, and were dashed to atoms. It is said that the fox escaped. The anecdote is told and credited in the neighbourhood.

* * * * *

The old Duke of Grafton had his hounds at Croydon, and occasionally had foxes taken in Whittlebury forest, and sent up in the venison-cart to London; the foxes thus brought, were carried the next hunting morning in a hamper behind the duke’s carriage, and turned down before the hounds. In the course of this plan, a fox was taken from a coppice in the forest, and forwarded as usual. Some time after a fox was caught in the same coppice, whose size and appearance was so strikingly like that got at the same spot, that the keepers suspected it was the fox they had been in possession of before, and directed the man who took him to London, to inquire whether the fox hunted on such a day was killed, or escaped; the latter having been the case, the suspicion of the keepers was strengthened. Some short time after, a fox was again caught in the same coppice, which those concerned in the taking were assured was the fox they had bagged twice before; to be, however, perfectly able to identify their old acquaintance, should another opportunity offer, previous to his third journey to town, he had one ear slit, and some holes punched through the other. With these marks he was despatched to London, was again hunted, and escaped, and within a very few weeks was retaken in the same coppice; when his marks justified the keeper’s conjectures, in spite of the seeming improbability of the fact. It is with some concern, that the conclusion of this singular account is added, which terminates in the death of poor reynard, who was killed after a very severe chase, bearing upon him the signals of his former escapes, and which ought to have entitled him to that lenity and privilege which was formerly granted to a stag who had beat his royal pursuers.

* * * * *

Some curious instances have been related to me of the cunning evinced by foxes, not only in the preservation of their lives, but in procuring themselves food. A fox, which had been frequently hunted in Leicestershire, was always lost at a particular place, where the hounds could never recover the scent. This circumstance having excited some curiosity, it was discovered that he jumped upon, and ran along a clipped hedge, at the end of which was an old pollard oak tree, hollow in the middle. He crept into this hollow, and lay concealed till the alarm was over. His retreat, however, being discovered, he was driven from it and killed. Another fox selected a magpie’s nest as a place of retreat, and was discovered in consequence of a labouring man having observed a quantity of bones, feathers of birds, &c., on the ground under the nest. The following fact may be relied upon, extraordinary as it may appear. I received it from a gentleman of the strictest veracity, who communicated it to me very recently, on his return from the south of France, where he had been residing for some months. A friend of his, with whom he passed much of his time there, was in the habit of shooting in a part of the country where there was much wild and rocky ground. Part of this rocky ground was on the side of a very high hill, which was not accessible for a sportsman, and from which both hares and foxes took their way in the evening to the plain below. There were two channels or gullies made by the rains, leading from these rocks to the lower ground. Near one of these channels, the sportsman in question, and his attendant, stationed themselves one evening, in hopes of being able to shoot some hares. They had not been there long, when they observed a fox coming down the gully, and followed by another. After playing together for a little time, one of the foxes concealed himself under a large stone or rock, which was at the bottom of the channel, and the other returned to the rocks. He soon, however, came back, chasing a hare before him. As the hare was passing the stone where the first fox had concealed himself, he tried to seize her by a sudden spring, but missed his aim. The chasing fox then came up, and finding that his expected prey had escaped, through the want of skill in his associate, he fell upon him, and they both fought with so much animosity, that the parties who had been watching their proceedings came up and destroyed them both.

* * * * *

Stratagems of foxes to take water-fowl.—Amongst the devices of the fox to catch his prey, is that of sliding under water like a frog, only leaving his nostrils above the surface to take breath, in such places as that described by White, where he has observed water-fowl resort. This appears to me to have given origin to a curious legend which I have traced to Albertus Magnus, the celebrated naturalist of the middle ages. “When the fox,” says he, “is troubled with gnats or fleas, he taketh a mouthful of straw or soft hay, or hair, and so goeth into the water, dipping his hinder parts by little and little, then the insects betake themselves to his head, which he keepeth out of the water, which the fox feeling, dippeth or diveth also the same under water to his mouth, wherein he holdeth the hay as aforesaid, whereunto the flies run for sanctuary or dry refuge, which the fox perceiving, suddenly casteth it out of his mouth, and runneth out of the water, by this means easing himself of all those enemies.”—Jesse—Buffon—White of Selborne—Sporting Anecdotes.

FOXCASE, s. A fox’s skin.

FOXCHASE, s. The pursuit of the fox with hounds.

FOXHOUND (Canis celer), s. A hound famous for the pursuit of foxes.

The muzzle of the fox-hound is rather long, and his head small in proportion to his body; his ears long and pendulous, though not so much as those of the blood-hound or stag-hound. His legs are very straight, his feet round and not too large, his chest deep, and breast wide, his back broad, his neck thin, his shoulders lie well back, his tail thick and bushy, and carried high when in the chase. His colour is generally white, variously patched with black in different parts of the body.

Mr. Daniel makes the following remarks on the choice of hounds. Most sportsmen have their prejudices as to the colour of their dogs. In an old distich it is said,

“So many men, so many minds, So many hounds, so many kinds;”

and the choice of hounds in former times, as to colour and other points, is no bad commentary upon it; for we are gravely told, that white coloured dogs, especially those that were pupped without any spot upon them, although not generally good for all sorts of game, were excellent for the stag; that people from experience valued them, because of their natural instinct, being curious hunters, with admirable noses, and very good at stratagems; and, moreover, that they were less subject to diseases, by reason of a predominancy of phlegm which gave them a good temperament of body.

Black hounds were not to be rejected, especially when marked with white and not red spots, the whiteness proceeding from the phlegmatic constitution, which was supposed to ensure memory. They were at the same time more obedient, and were said to be good hunters, not frightened at water and so hardy as seldom to require the doctor.

Grey coloured hounds (supposing all suspicion of mongrelism to be removed) were to be coveted, on account of their cunning, never faltering, nor being discouraged in their quest. It is allowed that their noses were not the best, but being indefatigable, they pushed themselves forward; and it is presumed, from the above failing, that nine times out of ten they did more harm than good.

Yellow hounds, which are defined to be those having red hair, inclining to brown, possess too much choler to be much prized; were too giddy and resolute to hunt any animals that turned too much in their chase; were with difficulty taught, and not easily corrected; and, from their impatient temper, which hurried them beyond their strength, were very liable to diseases.

No country in Europe can boast of fox-hounds equal in swiftness, strength and agility, to those of Britain, where the utmost attention is paid to their breeding, education, and food. The climate also seems congenial to their nature; for, when taken to France or Spain, and other southern countries of Europe, they quickly degenerate, and lose all the admirable qualities they possess in this country:

In thee alone, fair land of liberty, Is bred the perfect hound in scent and speed As yet unrivall’d, while in other climes Their virtue fails,—a weak degenerate race.

SOMERVILLE.

* * * * *

It is a trait in our national character to be fond of hunting. It was the occupation of our forefathers from the remotest posterity, and seems to have descended, with even increased ardour, down to the present day. Certainly there is no country that can boast of such expensive and convenient receptacles for the maintenance of fox-hounds as Great Britain. The kennel of the Duke of Richmond, at Goodwood, cost 19,000_l._ and Mr. Noel’s pack of hounds was sold to Sir William Lowther, Bart. for the large sum of 1,000 guineas.

* * * * *

The chief excellence in a pack of fox-hounds is the head they carry, taken collectively; and on this and the fineness of their noses depend their speed. Mr. Beckford says, “that hounds should go, like the horses of the sun, all abreast.” Five and twenty couple are a sufficient force at any time to be taken into the field; they are a match for any fox, supposing them steady and their speed nearly equal: too heavy dogs always do more mischief than service. Hounds that are meant to run well together should never have too many old ones amongst them. Five or six seasons are sufficient to destroy the speed of most dogs, although this depends much on constitution. We are informed of a spayed bitch, called Lilly, which ran at the head of Mr. Paxton’s harriers at Newmarket, for five seasons; a singular instance of undiminished speed.—Daniel—Beckford—Brown.

FOXHUNTER, s. A man whose chief ambition is to show his bravery in hunting foxes.

FOXTRAP, s. A gin or snare to catch foxes.

FRACTURE, s. Separation of continuous parts; the breaking of a bone.

FRACTURE, v. To break a bone.

FRINGILLA (Illiger), s. The finch, a genus thus characterised:—

Bill straight and perfectly conical, short, hard, and sharp at the point; the ridge of the upper mandible rounded, and frequently advancing in an angle upon the forehead, the cutting edges of the under mandible bending a little inwards. Nostrils situated behind the horny bulging base of the hill, round, and hidden by the small frontal feathers. Wings short, having the third or fourth quill-feather the longest. Legs with the shank as short as, or shorter than, the middle toe, and with the toes divided.—Montagu.

FROG, s. A small animal with four feet, of the amphibious kind; the hollow part of the horse’s hoof. Vide FEET.

FROST, s. The last effect of cold, the power or act of congelation.

FROSTBITTEN, a. Nipped or withered by the frost.

This effect of frost upon birds, took place in February, 1809, when a boy in the service of Mr. W. Newman, miller, at Legbourne, near Malling, went into a field, called the Forty Acres, and saw a number of rooks on the ground, very close together. He made a noise to drive them away, but they did not appear alarmed; he threw snow-balls to make them rise, still they remained. Surprised at this apparent indifference, he went in among them, and actually picked up twenty-seven rooks, and also in several parts of the same field, ninety larks, a pheasant, and a buzzard hawk. The cause of the inactivity of the birds, was a thing of rare occurrence in this climate; a heavy rain fell on Thursday afternoon, which, freezing as it came down, so completely glazed over the bodies of the birds, that they were fettered in a coat of ice, and completely deprived of the power of motion. Several of the larks were dead, having perished from the intenseness of the cold. The buzzard hawk being strong, struggled hard for his liberty, broke his icy fetters, and effected his escape.

FROSTNAIL, s. A nail with a prominent head driven into the horse’s shoes, that it may pierce the ice.

FRY, s. The swarm of little fishes just produced from the spawn; any swarm of animals.

FULICA, (BRISSON,) s. The coot, a genus thus characterised:—

Bill of middle size, strong, conical, straight, compressed, higher than broad at the base; ridge advancing upon the forehead, and expanding into a naked plate; points of both mandibles compressed and of equal length, the upper slightly curved, and widened at the base. Nostrils at the side, in the middle of the bill, slit lengthwise, half closed by a membrane which covers the widening, pierced from part to part. Legs long, slender, naked above the knee; three toes before and one behind; all the toes very long, and re-united at their base, and furnished on the sides with a scallopped membrane. Wings of middle size, the first quill shorter than the second and third, which are the longest in the wing.—Montagu.

FULVOUS, a. A colour which may be described as brownish.

FUMIGATE, v. To smoke, to perfume by smoke or vapour; to medicate or heal by vapours.

FUMIGATION, s. Scents raised by fire; the application of medicines to the body in fumes.

Fumigations are used to prevent the spreading of epidemic distempers. When a stable is contaminated with glanders, the best means are to remove litter, hay, dust, &c., carefully, as well as the pail, collar, and every thing belonging to the infected horse. The rack and manger are to be well scraped, and afterwards washed with hot water and soft soap.

After this, the manger, &c. should be well washed with water; the floor or pavement of the stall is also to be carefully washed and swept, and finally the whole to be washed with slaked lime, and a solution of glue. Before horses are admitted into the stable, the following fumigation may be employed; the number of pans in which the materials are placed being adapted to the size of the stable.

Common salt 8 oz. Magnesia, powdered 6 oz.

Let them be well mixed, and placed in an earthen dish; then pour on, gradually, four ounces of sulphuric acid. As soon as the latter is added, shut the door and windows. During the whole day the stable door and windows are to be kept shut; but at night they may be thrown open, that there may be no danger in entering the stable the next morning.—White.

FUNDAMENT, s. The back part of the body; the aperture from which the excrements are ejected.

FUNGUS, s. Strictly a mushroom; a word used to express such excrescences of flesh as grow out upon the lips of wounds, or any other excrescence from trees or plants not naturally belonging to them.

FUR, s. Skin with soft hair, with which garments are lined for warmth; soft hair of beasts found in cold countries; hair in general.

FUSE, v. To melt, to put into fusion.

FUSIL, s. A firelock, a small neat musket.

FUSTIAN, s. A kind of cloth made of linen and cotton.

FUSTIC, s. A sort of dye-wood brought from the West Indies.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

GADFLY, s. A fly that stings cattle.

GADWALL, or GRAY, (Anas strepera, LINN.; Le Chipeau, BUFF.), s. a bird.

The gadwall is less than the mallard, measuring about nineteen inches in length, and twenty-three in breadth.

Birds of this species breed in the desert marshes of the north, and remain there throughout the spring and summer. On the approach of winter they leave the European and Siberian parts of Russia, Sweden, &c., and, aided by the first strong north-east wind, commonly make their appearance about the month of November, on the French, British, and other more southern shores, where they remain till the end of February, and then return to their northern haunts. They are very shy and wary birds, feeding only in the night, and lurking concealed among the rushes in the watery waste during the day, in which they are seldom seen on the wing.

These birds show themselves expert in diving as well as in swimming, and often disappoint the sportsman in his aim; for the instant they see the flash of the pan, they disappear, and dive to a distant secure retreat.—Bewick.

GAFF, s. A harpoon, or large hook.

GAGGLE, v. To make a noise like a goose; s. a flock of geese.

GALBANUM, s. A kind of gum.

GALL, s. The bile, an animal juice remarkable for its supposed bitterness; the part which contains the bile; any thing extremely bitter; a slight hurt by fretting off the skin; an astringent medicine.

Galls are lacerations occasioned by the too tight pressure and friction of an uneasy and ill-fitted saddle, or heavy harness. They are seldom seen with either the judicious or enlightened; experience having taught both how to appreciate prevention. The prudent sportsman will never take his horse to the field, nor the humane driver his carriage-horse to the road, till personal examination has convinced him the necessary apparatus is not only firm, but proportionably easy; and this should become the more predominant in memory because it is natural to conclude, no man existing would, by neglect or inattention, give pain to the very animal from whose exertions he is to derive his own pleasure.

Injuries of this description, if unexpectedly sustained, should be immediately attended to; a repetition, and that so soon, upon the part so injured, is frequently productive of trouble, expense, loss of time, and disappointment. When the side of a horse is galled, as it sometimes is, by the girth buckle having been most improperly placed upon the edge of the pad, it is not unlikely, for want of early or proper attention, to terminate in a sitfast, and then can only be completely cured by extirpation with the knife. The withers being affected in the same way, and the saddle, or harness, continued in use, by which the injury is originally occasioned, the foundation of fistula may be laid, and will be likely to ensue. In all slight and superficial galls, two or three moistenings of the part with cold vinegar, will allay the inflammation, and harden the surface; but where the long-continued heat and friction has occasioned a destruction of parts, it must be dressed and managed as a wound, which can only be completely cured by incarnation.—White.

GALL, v. To hurt by fretting the skin.

GALLINACEOUS BIRDS, s.

A large portion of these seem to have left their native woods to crowd around the dwellings of man, where, subservient to his purpose, they subsist upon the pickings of the farm-yard, the stable, or the dung-hill; a cheerful, active race, which enliven and adorn the rural scene, and require no other care than the fostering hand of the house-wife to shelter and protect them. Some kinds, such as the partridge, the pheasant, and the like, are found only in cultivated places, at no great distance from the habitations of men; and, although they have not submitted to his dominion, they are nevertheless subject to his controlling power, and are the objects of his keenest pursuit: whilst others, taking a wider range, find food and shelter in the deepest recesses of the woods and forests, sometimes subsisting upon wild and heathy mountains, or among rocks and precipices the most difficult of access.

The characters of the gallinaceous genus are generally well known: most of the species are distinguished above all others for the whiteness of their flesh; their bodies are large and bulky, and their heads comparatively small; the bill in all of them is short, strong and somewhat curved; their wings are short and concave, and scarcely able to support their bodies, on which account they seldom make long excursions: their legs are strong, and are furnished with a spur or a knob behind.

Birds of this kind are extremely prolific and lay a great number of eggs: the young follow the mother as soon as hatched, and immediately learn to pick up the food, which she is most assiduous in showing them; on this account she generally makes her nest on the ground, or in places easy of access to her young brood.

The habitudes of the domestic breed of poultry cannot possibly escape observation; and every one must have noticed the fierce jealousy of the cock. It should seem that this jealousy is not confined to his rivals, but may sometimes extend to his beloved female; and that he is capable of being actuated by revenge, founded on some degree of reasoning concerning her conjugal infidelity. An incident which happened at the seat of Mr. B——, near Berwick, justifies this remark. “My mowers,” says he, “cut a partridge on her nest, and immediately brought the eggs (fourteen) to the house. I ordered them to be put under a very large beautiful hen, and her own to be taken away. They were hatched in two days, and the hen brought them up perfectly well till they were five or six weeks old. During that time they were constantly kept confined in an outhouse, without having been seen by any of the other poultry. The door happened to be left open, and the cock got in. My housekeeper, hearing her in distress, ran to her assistance, but did not arrive in time to save her life; the cock, finding her with the brood of partridges, fell upon her with the utmost fury, and put her to death. The housekeeper found him tearing her both with his beak and spurs, although she was then fluttering in the last agony, and incapable of any resistance. The hen had been, formerly, the cock’s greatest favourite.”—Bewick.

GALLINULA (LATHAM), s. A genus thus characterised:—

Bill shorter than the head, compressed, conical, higher than broad at the base; ridge advancing upon the forehead and dilating in some species into a naked plate; point of both mandibles compressed, and of equal length; the upper slightly curved, the nasal groove very large, the under forming an angle. Nostrils at the sides, in the middle of the bill, slit lengthways, half shut by a membrane which covers the nasal groove, and pierced from part to part. Legs long, naked above the knee; three toes before and one behind, the fore toes long, divided, and furnished with a very narrow border. Wings of middle size, the first quill shorter than the second and third, which are the longest in the wing. The latter does not hold in some foreign species.—Montagu.

GALLOP, v. To move forward by leaps, so that all the feet are off the ground at once; to move fast.

Gallop is one pace of the horse, well known by that general name; though it will admit of gradational distinctions. A canter is the slowest gallop, in which a horse bears most upon his haunches, but lightly on the bit: it is a pace which spirited good-tempered horses seem to enjoy, and is peculiarly calculated for the accommodation of a lady. A rating gallop is the increase of action to such pace as the peculiar horse may or can go with ease at his rate in common strokes, without being exerted to speed; and this is the hunting gallop of thorough-bred horses, who will always lay by the side of hounds at it, without being in the least distressed. A brushing gallop upon the turf, implies an increased degree of velocity, but not equal to utmost speed.—Taplin.

GALLOP, s. The motion of a horse when he runs at full speed.

GALLOPER, s. A horse that gallops.

GALLOWAY, s. A horse not more than fourteen hands high.

Galloway is the name given to that useful kind of small horse from thirteen to fourteen hands high; they are rarely to be seen of exact symmetry, uniform strength, and adequate action; but, if well bred, their qualifications and endurance of fatigue exceed description.

GAMBET, (Fringa Gambetta, LINN.; La Gambette, BUFF.) s. A bird.

This is the Chevalier Rouge of Brisson, and the Red-legged Horseman of Albin. For want of a specimen of this bird, the following description is borrowed from Latham:—

“Size of the Greenshank: length twelve inches, bill of a reddish colour, with a black tip; the irides yellowish green; head, back, and breast cinereous brown, spotted with dull yellow; wing coverts and scapulars cinereous, edged with dull yellow; prime quills dusky; shaft of the first white; tail dusky, bordered with yellow; legs yellow. This inhabits England, but is not common; has been shot on the coast of Lincolnshire. Known in France; but is there a rare bird. Has a note not unlike the whistle of a woodcock; and the flesh is esteemed. Inhabits Scandinavia and Iceland; called in the last Stelkr. It has also been taken in the Frozen Sea between Asia and America.”—Bewick.

GAMBREL, s. The hind leg of a horse.

GAME, s. Sport of any kind; jest, opposed to earnest; merriment; a single match at play; field sports, as the chase; animals pursued in the field.

In choosing game, young birds may be distinguished by the softness of their quills, which in older ones will be hard and white. The females are, in general, preferable to the males; they are more juicy, and seldom so tough. For example, a hen pheasant or a duck is to be preferred to a cock pheasant or mallard. The old pheasants may be distinguished by the length and sharpness of their spurs, which, in the younger ones, are short and blunt. Old partridges are always to be known, during the early part of the season, by their legs being a pale blue, instead of a yellowish brown; so that, when a Londoner receives his brace of blue-legged birds in September, he should immediately snap their legs, and draw out the sinews, by means of pulling off the feet, instead of leaving them to torment him, like so many strings, when he would be wishing to enjoy his repast. This remedy of making the leg tender removes the objection to old birds, provided the weather will admit of their being sufficiently kept; and indeed they are then often preferable, from having a higher flavour.

If birds are overkept their legs will be dry, their eyes much sunk, and the vent will become soft and somewhat discoloured. The first place to ascertain if they are beginning to be high is the inside of their bills, where it is not amiss to put some heather straw or spice, if you want them to keep for any length of time. Birds that have fallen in the water, or have not had time to get cold, should never be packed like others, but sent openly, and dressed as soon as possible.

* * * * *

A peculiar culinary mode of perfuming their birds was observed at the table of the King of Tunis, who landed at Naples to have an interview with Charles the Emperor. They were stuffed with odoriferous drugs and spices to such an expense, that the cooking of one peacock and two pheasants, dressed after this fashion, amounted to a hundred ducats, and when they were carved, not only the dining-room, but all the apartments of his palace, and even the adjoining streets, were filled with the aromatic vapour, which was not presently dispersed.—Hawker—Daniel.

GAMECOCK, s. A cock bred to fight.

GAME-EGG, s. An egg from which fighting cocks are bred.

GAMEFOWL, s. Game cocks and hens.

Game fowls are too well known to require a particular description. Their plumage, particularly the red, is most beautiful and rich; their size somewhat below the common, and their symmetry and delicacy of limbs to be compared with those of the race-horse and the deer, or in more strict analogy, with the wild species of their own genus. The ancients kept gamecocks for the same purpose as the moderns, and there is a game breed at present existing in India; but I have not hitherto obtained any information as to the origin of our game breed, which has been established during many centuries in this country. Their flesh is of the most beautiful white, and superior to that of all other breeds of domestic fowls, for richness and delicacy of flavour; but the extreme difficulty of rearing the chickens, from their natural pugnacity of disposition, which shows itself at the earliest possible period, deters most breeders, excepting those who breed for the cock-pit. I have many times had whole broods, scarcely feathered, stone-blind from fighting, to the very smallest individuals; these rival couples moping in corners, and renewing their battles on obtaining the first ray of light. On this account few can be reared, and as this disposition, to a certain degree, prevails in the half-bred, it prevents crossing with the game cock, otherwise a great improvement. The game eggs are smaller than common, finely shaped, and extremely delicate.

Philanthropists are in the habit of declaiming much against the practice of cock-pit battles, but, on reflection, the cruelty of that sport will be found among the least, wherein the feelings of animals are concerned; since fighting, in the gamecock, is a natural and irresistible passion, and can never take place against his will; and since those engaged in regular combat upon the arena would do so voluntarily, and with equal ardour, did they meet in the desert. Another and similar mistake is the supposed additional cruelty of arming the heels of the cock with steel, which, on the contrary, conduces to shorten the period of their sufferings.—Moubray.

GAMEKEEPER, s. A person who looks after game, and sees it is not destroyed.

Gamekeepers are subject to the full penalties of unqualified and unlicensed persons, as well as to actions of trespass, if they outstep the bounds of the manor for which they are appointed.

Only one can be appointed to each manor.

Deputation of a Gamekeeper.—The deputation granted to a gamekeeper must be registered with the clerk of the peace, within twenty days after it was granted, and a certificate taken of the same, under penalty of 20_l._ The deputation for one gamekeeper holds good till another is appointed. If a new gamekeeper is appointed within the year, the game certificate of the former keeper, may be transferred to him for the remainder of the year, and this must be done free of all expense, by the clerk to the commissioners of the district.

Form of a Deputation.—(To be written on a 1_l._ 15_s._ stamp).

Know all men, by these presents, that I of , in the county of , Esquire, lord of the manor of , in the same county, have nominated, deputed, and appointed, and by these presents do nominate, depute, and appoint of , yeoman, to be gamekeeper of and within my said manor of with full power, license, and authority to pursue, take, and kill any hare, pheasant, partridge, or other game whatsoever, in and upon my said manor of , for my sole and immediate use and benefit, and also to take and seize all such guns, bows, greyhounds, setting dogs, lurchers, ferrets, trammels, lowbells, trays, or other nets, hare-pipes, snares, or other engines, for the pursuing, taking, or killing of hares, rabbits, pheasants, partridges, or other game, as shall be used within the precincts of my said manor, by any person or persons, who by law are prohibited to keep or use the same. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this day of , 18 (Signature and seal.) Sealed and delivered in presence of

(The signature of one witness, specifying his place of abode, is sufficient).

GAME-LAWS, s.

Hares may be killed at any time of the year. Pheasants from the 1st of October to the 1st of February. Partridges from the 1st of September to the 1st of February; penalty for killing them at other times 5_l._ Grouse from the 12th of August to the 10th of December. Black game (in Devonshire, Somersetshire, and the New Forest) from the 1st of September to the 10th of December. Black game (everywhere else) from the 20th of August to the 10th of December. Bustards from the 1st of September to the 1st of March; penalty for killing at other times 20_l._, or not less than 10_l._, for the first offence, and for every subsequent offence 30_l._, or not less than 20_l._

Any person taking or killing game on Sundays or Christmas-days to forfeit, for the first offence, not more than 20_l._ nor less than 10_l._; for the second offence from 30_l._ to 20_l._, and for the third and every subsequent offence 50_l._

An unqualified person, killing, can only be convicted of one penalty in a day. That is, an unqualified person, or even a poacher, would have no more to pay for killing fifty head of game in the same day, than he would for killing one. Though the poacher, or unqualified person, would be liable to the other penalties, viz. 5_l._ each for every head of game which he sold, offered for sale, or which had even been found in his possession; and if a dog or gun (or any other engine) was used in the destruction of game, he would also be liable to 20_l._ penalty, provided he had not taken out a sporting certificate.

If a person go in pursuit of game with a dog and gun, he can only be charged with one offence, and convicted in one penalty for both. (7 Term Reports, 152.)

Killing from seven o’clock at night to six in the morning, between the 12th of October and 12th of February, and from nine at night to four in the morning, from the 12th of February to the 12th of October, (besides the other penalties before named) first offence, not more than 20_l._ nor less than 10_l._; second offence from 30_l._ to 20_l._; third and subsequent, 50_l._

Servant of a lord of a manor may kill, and yet the lord of the manor may not, unless he is qualified.

Informations for penalties, relative to the game laws, should be brought so far as the conviction to take place within three months.

A penalty may be either recovered by information before a justice of peace, or sued for in any of the courts of record at Westminster. In the latter case, the action must be brought within six months after the offence committed.

Rabbits, woodcocks, snipes, quails, and landrails, are made game only so far as relates to shooting them, for which, therefore, a certificate is required; but one without a certificate may catch, sell, or have them in his possession.

Wild fowl any one may shoot on the coast, from a public path, &c., &c.

A person, with neither qualification nor license, has a right to carry a gun, provided he does not use it for the destruction of game.

GAME, PRICE OF.

Anno, 1512. Anno, 1833.

Crane, Sixteen pence.

Heron, Twelve pence. Three to four shillings.

Mallard, Two pence. Three to five shillings.

Teal, One penny. Two shillings, to three shillings.

Widgeon, One penny. Eighteen pence to three shillings.

Shoveller, Sixpence.

Woodcock, One penny or three half-pence. Three to ten shillings.

Lapwing, One penny. Nine pence to a shilling a couple.

Sea gulls, (black- headed gulls,) One penny to three half-pence.

Sturts, (purrs,) Sixpence a dozen. Three pence each.

Quail, Two pence. Two to three shillings.

Snipes, Three pence a dozen. One shilling to two shillings each.

Shoveller, Sixpence.

Woodcock, One penny or three half-pence. Three to ten shillings.

Partridge, Two pence. Eighteen pence to three shillings.

Redshank, One penny. One shilling to fifteen pence.

Bittern, Twelve pence. Five to seven shillings.

Pheasant, Twelve pence. Four to eight shillings.

Rey, (land rails,) Two pence. Two to five shillings.

Curlew, Twelve pence. Two shillings (stone curlew three shillings).

Peacock, Twelve pence. Ten to twenty shillings.

Ruffs and Reeves, Four shillings if fatted, one shilling to two shillings if shot.

Knot, One penny. Two to three shillings.

Dottrell, One penny. Two shillings each.

Bustard, One to three guineas.

Terns, Four pence a dozen.

Small Birds, Twelve pence a dozen.

GAMMON, s. The buttock of a hog salted and dried; a term at backgammon for winning the game.

GANDER, s. The male of the goose.

GANGRENE, s. A mortification, a stoppage of circulation followed by putrefaction.

GANGRENE, v. To corrupt to mortification.

GANGRENOUS, a. Mortified, or betokening mortification.

GANNET, GAN, SOLAND, or SOLAN GOOSE, (Pelicanus bassanus, LINN.; Le Fou de Bassan, BUFF.) s.

The gannet is generally about seven pounds in weight, three feet in length, and six in breadth. The bill is of a pale or lead-coloured blue, six inches long, a little jagged on the edges, strong and straight to the tip, which is inclined a little downwards; the upper bill is furnished with a distinct rib or ridge, running along from the tip nearly to its base, on each side of which it is furrowed, without any visible appearance of nostrils; the tongue is small, and placed far within the mouth, all the inside of which is black; a darkish line passes from the brow over the eyes, which are surrounded with a naked blue skin, and, like those of the owl, are set in the head so as to look nearly straight forward, and the extreme paleness of the irides gives them a keen wild stare. The gape of the mouth is very wide, and seems more lengthened by a slip of naked black skin, which is extended on each side from the corners beyond the cheeks; these features of its countenance, altogether give it the appearance of wearing spectacles. A loose black, bare, dilatable skin, capable of great distension, hung from the blades of the under bill, and extended over the throat, serves it as a pouch to carry provisions to its mate or its young. The body is flat and well clothed with feathers; the neck long; the crown of the head, nape, and, in some specimens, the hinder part of the neck, are of a buff colour; greater quills and bastard wings black, and the rest of the plumage white. The tail is wedge-shaped, and consists of twelve tapering sharp-pointed feathers, the middle ones the longest. The legs and feet are nearly of the same colour and conformation as those of the cormorant, but they are curiously marked by a pea-green stripe, which runs down each shin, and branches off along every one of the toes. The male and female are nearly alike, but the young birds, during the first year, appear as if they were of a distinct species, for their plumage is then of a dusky colour, speckled all over with triangular white spots.

The female makes her nest in the caverns and fissures, or on the ledges of the lowering precipice, as well as on the plain surface of the ground; it is formed of a great quantity of withered grasses and sea-weeds of various kinds, gathered with much labour from the barren soil, or picked up floating about upon the water. She lays three eggs, of a white colour, and somewhat less than those of a goose, although ornithologists assert that she will lay only one egg, if left to herself undisturbed, and that when this egg is taken away she then lays a second, and in like manner a third, which she is generally permitted to hatch, and rear the young one.

The male and female hatch and fish by turns; the fisher returns to the nest with five or six herrings in its gorget, all entire and undigested, which the hatcher pulls out from the throat of its provider, and swallows them, making at the same time a loud noise.

These birds are common on the coasts of Norway and Iceland, and are said to be met with in great numbers about New Holland, and New Zealand; they breed also on the coasts of Newfoundland, and migrate southward along the American shores as far as South Carolina; they are noticed, indeed, by navigators, as being met with, dispersed over both hemispheres, which are probably one great family spread over the whole globe; but their greatest known rendezvous is the Hebrides and other solitary rocky isles of North Britain, where their nests, in the months of May and June, are described as so closely placed together, that it is difficult to walk without treading upon some of them; and it is said that the swarms of the old birds are so prodigious, that when they rise into the air, they stun the ear with their noise, and overshadow the ground like the clouds.

At the small island of Borea, Martin says, “The heavens were darkened by those flying above our heads; their excrements were in such quantity, that they gave a tincture to the sea, and at the same time sullied our boat and clothes.” Besides this small island of Borea, and St. Kila, noticed by Martin, Pennant and other writers mention the isle of Ailsa, in the Frith of Clyde; the Stack of Souliskerry, near the Orkneys; the Skellig Isles, off the coast of Kerry, Ireland; and the Bass Isle, in the Frith of Forth. This last-mentioned isle is farmed out at a considerable rent, for the eggs of the various kinds of water-fowl with which it swarms; and the produce of the solan geese forms a large portion of this rent; for great numbers of their young ones are taken every season, and sold in Edinburgh for about twenty-pence each, where they are esteemed a favourite dish, being generally roasted, and eaten before dinner. On the other bleak and bare isles, the inhabitants, during a great part of the year, depend for their support on these birds and their eggs, which are taken in amazing quantities, and are the principal articles of their food. From the nests placed upon the ground the eggs are easily picked up one after another, in great numbers, as fast as they are laid; but in robbing the nests built in the precipices, chiefly for the sake of the birds, the business wears a very different aspect: there, before the dearly earned booty can be secured, the adventurous fowler, trained to it from his youth, and familiarised to the danger, must first approach the brow of the fearful precipice, to view and to trace his progress on the broken pendent rocks beneath him: over these rocks, which (perhaps a hundred fathoms lower) are dashed by the foaming surge, he is from a prodigious height about to be suspended. After addressing himself in prayer to the Supreme Disposer of events, with a mind prepared for the arduous task, he is let down by a rope, either held fast by his comrades, or fixed into the ground on the summit, with his single cord, his pole-net, his pole-hook, &c.; and thus equipped, he is enabled, in his progress, either to stop, to ascend or descend, as he sees occasion. Sometimes by swinging himself from one ledge to another, with the help of his hook, he mounts upwards, and clambers from place to place; and, at other opportunities, by springing backwards, he can dart himself into the hollow caverns of the projecting rock, which he commonly finds well stored with the objects of his pursuit, whence the plunder, chiefly consisting of the full-grown young birds, is drawn up to the top, or tossed down to the boat at the bottom, according to the situation, or concurring circumstances of time and place. In these hollows he takes his rest, and sometimes remains during the night, especially when they happen to be at such vast and stupendous heights. To others of less magnitude the fowlers commonly climb from the bottom, with the help of their hooked poles only, by which they assist, and push or pull up each other from hold to hold, and in this manner traverse the whole front of the frightful scar. To a feeling mind the very sight of this hazardous employment, in whatever way it is pursued, is painful; for, indeed, it often happens that these adventurous poor men, in this life-taking mode of obtaining their living, slip their hold, are precipitated from one projection to another, with increasing velocity, and fall mangled upon the rocks, or are for ever buried in the abyss beneath.

* * * * *

The sailors sometimes catch these birds by fastening a fresh herring on a floating plank, against which the gannet’s neck is broken, when furiously pouncing on his prey.—Bewick—Martin.

GARGANEY, (Anas querquedula, LINN.; Le Sarcelle, BUFF.) s.

This species, which is only a little bigger than the teal, is clothed with an elegant plumage, and has altogether a most agreeable and sprightly look. It measures about seventeen inches in length, and twenty-eight in breadth. The bill is of a dark lead colour, nearly black; the irides light hazel. From the crown of the head, over the nape of the neck downwards, it is of a glossy brown, chin black; brow, cheeks, and the upper fore part of the neck, reddish chestnut, with vinous reflections, and sprinkled all over with numerous small pointed white lines. A white stripe passes over each eye, and slanting backwards, falls down on each side of the neck, the lower part of which, with the breast, is light brown, pretty closely crossed with semicircular bars of black; the shoulders and back are marked nearly the same, but on a darker ground: the scapulars are long and narrow, and are striped with ash-colour, black, and white. The belly in some, is white; in others, pale reddish yellow; the lower part of it, and the vent, mottled with dusky spots; the sides are freckled and waved with narrow lines of ash-coloured brown, more and more distinctly marked towards the thighs; behind which, this series of feathers terminates in a riband, striped with ash, black, white, and lead-coloured blue.

The coverts of the wings are of an agreeable bluish ash, margined with white; next to this, the exterior webs of the middle quills are glossy green, tipped with white, and form the beauty-spot or spangle of the wings, to which the white tips make a border; the primary quills are ash-brown, edged with white; tail dusky; legs lead colour. The foregoing description was taken from a male bird in full and perfect plumage. This sex is furnished with a labyrinth.

The female has an obscure white mark over each eye; the rest of the plumage is of a brownish ash colour, not unlike the female teal; but the wing wants the green spot, which sufficiently distinguishes these birds.

It has not yet been noticed whether any of this species ever remain to breed in England, where, indeed, they are rather a scarce bird.—Bewick.

GARGLE, v. To wash the throat with some liquor not suffered immediately to descend.

GARGLE, s. A liquor with which the throat is washed.

GARLICK, s. A plant, sometimes used in chronic cough.

GARRAN, s. A small horse, a hobby; a wretched horse. (_An Iricism._)

GASH, v. To cut deep, so as to make a gaping wound.

GASH, s. A deep and wide wound; the mark of a wound.

GASP, v. To open the mouth wide to catch breath; to emit breath by opening the mouth convulsively.

GASP, s. The act of opening the mouth to catch breath; the short catch of the breath in the last agonies.

GATE, s. A frame of timber upon hinges to give a passage into enclosed grounds; a moveable part of a fence made of iron or timber.

GAUDY, a. Showy, splendid, tinselled.

GAUGE, s. A measure, a standard.

GAUNT (Podiceps cristatus, LATHAM), s. A species of bird.

A full-grown male gaunt weighs between two and three pounds; length about two feet. The bill is two inches and three quarters long, dusky brown along the ridge of the upper mandible and at the point; the rest reddish flesh-colour; irides and lore crimson. The head is much enlarged by a crest of a dusky colour, standing up on each side; the cheeks and throat are surrounded by long feathers of a ferruginous colour; from the bill to the eye is a black line, above which is a white one; the chin is white; the hind part of the neck, and upper part of the body and wings, dusky brown; the under part of the neck, breast, and all beneath, beautiful glossy white; the primary quill-feathers dusky; some of the inner ones tipped with white, the rest are nearly all white, which, when the wing is closed, makes an oblique bar of that colour across it; legs dusky on the outside; some wholly dusky green.

This bird is indigenous to England; it breeds in the meres of Shropshire and Cheshire, and in the fens of Lincolnshire. The nest is large, composed of a variety of aquatic plants; it is not attached to any thing, but floats amongst the reeds and flags, penetrated by the water. The female lays four white eggs, about the size of that of a pigeon.—Montagu.

GAZEHOUND, s. A hound that pursues not by the scent, but by the eye; an ancient name of the greyhound.

GEAR, s. Furniture, accoutrements, dress; the traces by which horses or oxen draw; stuff.

GELD, v. To castrate, to deprive of the power of generation; to deprive of any essential part. Vide CASTRATION.

Castration has a strange effect: it emasculates both man, beast, and bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus eunuchs have smooth unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad hips, and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt-stags and bucks have hornless heads, like hinds and does. Thus wethers have small horns, like ewes; and oxen large bent horns, and hoarse voices when they low, like cows; for bulls have short straight horns; and though they mutter and grumble in a deep tremendous tone, yet they low in a shrill high key. Capons have small combs and gills, and look pallid about the head like pullets; they also walk without any parade, and hover chickens like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small tusks like sows.

Thus far it is plain that it puts a stop to the growth of those appendages that are looked upon as its insignia. But the ingenious Mr. Lisle, in his book on husbandry, carries it much farther; for he says, that the loss of those insignia alone has sometimes a strange effect: he had a boar so fierce and amorous, that to prevent mischief, orders were given for his tusks to be broken off. No sooner had the beast suffered this injury than his powers forsook him, and he neglected those females to whom before he was passionately attached, and from whom no fences could restrain him.—White of Selborne.

GELDING, s. Any animal castrated, particularly a horse.

GELID, a. Extremely cold.

GELLY, s. Any viscous body; viscidity, glue, gluey substance.

GENDER, s. A kind, a sort, a sex.

GENDER, v. To beget; to produce, to cause; to copulate, to breed.

GENET, s. A small well-proportioned Spanish horse.

GENTLE, s. A maggot used in angling.

Those who live in or near London may buy them in proper condition for the day on which they wish to use them, but for the accommodation of those who reside in the country, remote from such convenience, the best modes of breeding them will be here mentioned, in order to prevent disappointment.

Coarse fish, such as chub and roach, may be laid in an earthen pot in the shade, and will soon be fly-blown. When the gentles are of a proper size (but not before), put some oatmeal and bran to them, and in two days they will be well scoured and fit to fish with, in about four more they become hard, assume a pale red colour, and soon after change to flies. The red ones should not be thrown away, as frequently roach and dace take these with a white one in preference to all other baits. Some have recommended a piece of liver suspended by a stick over a barrel of clay, into which the gentles fall and cleanse themselves; but clay will not scour them, and besides they fall from the liver before they have attained their full size. The aforementioned is a less disgusting plan; for a short time after oatmeal and bran are put to the gentles the fish in which they are bred will be found perfect skeletons, and may be thrown away. However, if they are to be bred from liver, it should be scarified deeply in many parts, and then hung up and nearly covered over, as in that way the flies will blow it better than when wholly exposed; in two or three days the gentles will be seen alive. The liver is then to be put into an earthen pan and there remain until the first brood are of full growth, a sufficient quantity of fine sand and bran (letting the liver remain) is then to be put into the pan, and in a few days they will come from the flesh, and scour themselves in it. The liver should then be hung across the pan and the latter brood will soon drop out and be fit for use; and by thus breeding them in October, and keeping them a little warmer than those bred in summer, until they arrive at their full growth, and afterwards putting them in the same pan into a dampish vault, they may be preserved for winter fishing.—Daniel.

GENTLE, a. Soft, mild, tame, peaceable; soothing; pacific.

GENUS, s. In science, a class of beings comprehending under it many species; as quadruped is a genus comprehending under it almost all terrestrial beasts.

GERM, s. A sprout or shoot.

GESTATION, s. The act of bearing the young in the womb.

GET, v. To beget upon a female.

GETTER, s. One who procures or obtains; one who begets on a female.

GIBBOUS, a. Convex, protuberant, swelling into inequalities; crooked-backed.

GIER-EAGLE, s. obs. An eagle of a particular kind.

GIG, s. Anything that is whirled round in play; a two-wheeled vehicle; a light boat.

GIGOT, s. The hip joint.

GILL, s. A measure of liquids containing the fourth part of a pint.

GILLS, s. The aperture at each side of the fish’s head; the flaps that hang below the beak of a fowl; the flesh under the chin.

GIMP, s. A kind of silk twist used in angling.

GIN, s. The spirit drawn by distillation from juniper berries and wheat. The Hollands Geneva is principally distilled in the neighbourhood of Rotterdam; English is produced from the oil of turpentine and malt spirits.

GINGER, s. An Indian root; the flower consists of five petals, shaped like those of the iris.

There are two sorts kept in the shops; the black and the white ginger: the latter is stronger, and preferred for culinary purposes, on account of its more pleasant flavour, but the former is considered cheaper, easily powdered, and more frequently used as a horse medicine.

I consider ginger as the most useful stimulant in the veterinary materia medica: when joined with aromatics, such as allspice, caraway seed, aniseed, cummin seed, &c., or their essential oils, it forms an efficacious cordial, and with emetic tartar and opium an excellent diaphoretic, for giving gloss to the coat, and relaxing the skin. Joined with bitters, it makes a good stomachic; with squills an expectorant, often relieving obstinate coughs.

Ginger is extremely beneficial in weakness and flatulency of the stomach; and assisted by other remedies, such as warm beer, it seldom fails of curing the flatulent colic, or gripes. See CARMINATIVES.

The dose is from one drachm and a half to three drachms.

It should be recently powdered when used; but in a well-stopped bottle the powder may be kept a considerable time without losing its strength.—White.

GIZZARD, s. The name given to the strong, muscular, and cartilaginous portion of the stomach in birds which feed on grain, which is so different from the membranous stomach of birds of prey (raptores). The gizzard receives the food which has previously been taken into the crop.

GLADE, s. A lawn or opening into a wood.

GLAIR, s. The white of an egg.

GLANCE, v. To shoot obliquely.

GLANDERS, s. A disease incident to horses.

This is a contagious disorder, and one that is generally thought incurable. The great number of horses that have been destroyed by glanders, especially in the army, and in establishments where great numbers of horses are kept, has excited particular attention to the subject, especially in France and Italy, where many attempts were made, in the beginning of the last century, to discover a remedy for it. Lafosse, an eminent French veterinarian, considered it as a local disease, and thought he had discovered a successful mode of treating it, which consisted in perforating the bones which cover the frontal and nasal sinuses, and injecting through the openings astringent and other liquids. After this opinion had been published, some English farriers made trial of it, and by others detergent lotions were poured into the nostrils; the nose being drawn up for the purpose by means of a pulley. Attempts were also made to cure it by arsenical fumigations, and by burning out the swollen glands under the jaws, or sloughing them out by caustics. The various preparations of mercury, copper, iron, and arsenic, have likewise been tried, and after all the general opinion is that the glanders is incurable.

That the glanders is contagious has been clearly and indisputably proved by numerous experiments; and the manner in which it is propagated has likewise been satisfactorily demonstrated. At the same time it is generally believed that the glanders takes place also independent of contagion; but from what causes or circumstances it is then produced, no author has attempted to state precisely.

It has been said, in a general way, that close unwholesome stables, hard work, and bad provender, sudden changes from cold and wet weather to hot close stables, hard work, and insufficient keep, and, in short, any thing that will weaken the animal considerably, is likely to produce glanders or farcy. Hence post and stage horses are particularly obnoxious to this disease.

Mr. Russel, of Exeter, had, for many years, some glandered teams of horses constantly working from Plymouth to Exeter. But they were worked with moderation, well fed, and taken great care of. I attended these teams for several years, the horses generally looked well, and in excellent condition. Many of them lasted four or five years; and some fell off after a few months.

The symptoms of glanders are—1st, A discharge of glairy matter from one or both nostrils; generally from one only, and more frequently from the left than from the right nostril. 2d, A swelling of the glands or kernels under the jaw, or between the branches of the lower jaw, and generally on the side of the jaw corresponding with the affected nostril. In all other respects the animal is generally in health, and often sleek and in good condition.

Sometimes, however, the glanders is accompanied by a disorder of the skin, named farcy, and then the horse’s general health is often affected. Farcy has been considered, by many authors, as a distinct disorder. I have therefore noticed it in a separate article (see Farcy), though of opinion that it is always a symptom of glanders, whether it appear in a local, or in a constitutional form.

Glanders has been divided into two stages, the acute and the chronic, or the first and second stage. The acute glanders is generally attended with acute farcy, such as chancrous ulceration about the lips, face, or neck, with considerable and painful swellings on different parts, some of the swellings appearing as a corded vein: ulceration and swelling of the hind leg or sheath, or testicles, and sometimes of the fore leg, with corded veins, and farcy buds on the inside of the limb. The acute glanders often spreads rapidly, and either destroys the animal, or renders him such a pitiable and hopeless object, that the proprietor is generally induced to have him knocked on the head.

Chronic glanders is generally very mild in the first stage of the disorder, and does not affect the appetite, or the general health and appearance of the animal. Such horses, when properly fed and taken care of, and worked with moderation, will often continue in regular work for several years.

I have been in the habit of attending several teams of glandered horses since I left the army, and have known them last four or five years. Sometimes, however, they would go off in a few months; and whenever a glandered horse fell off much, and became unequal to his work, he was destroyed. Many glandered horses have been known to get rid of the disorder while working in these teams; and sound horses that have been put in occasionally, to fill up the teams, especially old horses, have escaped the disorder. It is this circumstance, as I have before stated, that has led many to believe that the glanders is not contagious.

The second stage of glanders is marked by ulceration within the nostrils, or an appearance in the matter which indicates ulceration, though sometimes too high up to be seen. The matter is in larger quantity, more glutinous, sticking about the margin of the nostril and upper lips, and sometimes obstructing the passage of air, so that the horse makes a snuffling noise in breathing. The matter is sometimes streaked with blood, and the horse sometimes bleeds from the nostrils in working. When this happens in the first stage of the disorder, however early it may be, it indicates the approach of the second stage. The matter begins to have an offensive smell, which it scarcely ever has in the first stage, though an offensive smell is by many supposed to be a decisive mark of glanders. In the second stage the matter generally runs from both nostrils; the glands under the jaw become larger, harder, and fixed more closely to the jaw-bone. They are also generally more tender than in the first stage; the inner comers of the eyes are mattery. The horse loses flesh and strength, stales more than usual, coughs, and at length dies in a miserable condition, generally farcied as well as glandered. It is with this disease as it was formerly with small pox inoculation, and is now with vaccination. If a person happens to meet with one or two cases, or suppose it were half a dozen, of a horse escaping the glanders after standing in a stable with one that is glandered, he thinks himself fully warranted in concluding that the disease is not contagious. Satisfied with this decision, he gives himself no further trouble about it, and pays no attention to any thing that may be said or written in opposition to his own opinion.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that glanders cannot be communicated by applying the matter which is discharged from the nose of a glandered horse to the nostrils of a sound horse, even though a piece of lint soaked in the matter be put up the nostrils, and kept in contact with the pituitary membrane for a short time; or even if the matter be thrown up the nostrils with a syringe. But, if the smallest quantity of matter be applied in the way of inoculation, either to the membrane of the nostrils, or to any part of the body, a glanderous ulcer will be produced, from which farcy buds and corded lymphatics will proceed. After a few weeks the poison will get into the circulation, and the horse will be completely glandered. The circumstance of glanders not being communicated by applying matter to the nostril, enables us to account for a horse escaping the disorder, as he sometimes does, after being put into a glandered stable, or standing by the side of a glandered horse. I believe, however, that glanders is frequently communicated by (accidental) inoculation; and that there is only one other way in which it can be communicated, that is, by swallowing the matter which flows from the nose of a glandered horse.—Vide BLAINE.

A horse affected with glanders may inoculate himself, and thereby produce the farcy. I have known this happen to a horse while at grass. The horse had an itching in his hind leg, which led him to rub and bite the part, and, at the same time, rub on it the glanderous matter which flowed from his nostril. The possibility of this circumstance taking place may be easily proved by inoculating a glandered horse, in any part of his body, with some of his own matter. There are many ways in which a sound horse may be accidentally inoculated with the matter of glanders, for the slightest scratch in any part of the body is sufficient. Horses that are cleaned with a curry comb are very liable to be scratched in those parts where the bones are prominent, such as the inside of the hock or knee, the shank bones and the head. To such scratches glanderous matter may be applied by the hands of the groom after he has been examining the nose of a glandered horse, or wiping off the matter from his nostrils; or by the horse himself transferring glanderous matter from the nose of a diseased horse, or from the manger, or other part where any matter has been deposited, for horses are very fond of rubbing their noses against the manger or stall, and a glandered horse will generally try to rub off the matter from his nose against the manger, the rack, the stall, or against another horse; and if a sound horse happen to stand by one that is glandered, they will often be seen nabbing or gently biting each other, or rubbing noses. In short, having proved that glanders is thus communicated, we can conceive a variety of ways in which a horse may be accidentally inoculated.

The reader may form some idea of the extent of such losses when informed that large inn-keepers have been nearly ruined by them. I had occasion to condemn eight horses at one time, in one establishment, which, added to those already lost, amounted in value to five hundred pounds. In one regiment fifty glandered horses were shot in one day. The twenty-third French dragoons, when quartered in Italy, in March, 1809, had seventy-six horses at one time affected with glanders and farcy, or suspected of being so affected.

As I have demonstrated the manner in which glanders is communicated, it is needless to say any thing of the mode of prevention, except briefly observing, that it can only be accomplished by preventing any glanderous matter from coming near a horse, or mixing with his food or water; and that the only method of purifying an infected stable, is to remove every thing on which glanderous matter may have fallen, and to wash and scrape the fixtures, such as the rack and manger, thoroughly. I have in a former edition advised a fumigation with the gas which arises from a mixture of common salt, manganese, and oil of vitriol; because I have found that glanderous matter which has been exposed to this gas is rendered quite innocent, though an ass be inoculated with it; and I have directed the stable to be first thoroughly cleansed, because if any dry hard glanderous matter should remain, the water employed in cleansing the stable will have moistened it, and thereby enable the fumigation to mix with it, and destroy its poisonous quality.—White.

GLARE, v. To shine so as to dazzle the eyes.

GLARE, s. Overpowering lustre, splendour, such as dazzles the eye; a fierce piercing look.

GLASS, s. An artificial substance made by fusing salts and flint or sand together, with a vehement fire; a glass vessel of any kind; a looking-glass; a glass to help the sight; an hour-glass, a glass used in measuring time by the flux of sand; a cup of glass used to drink in; the quantity of wine usually contained in a glass; a perspective glass.

GLASSY, a. Vitreous; resembling glass, as in smoothness, lustre, or brittleness.

GLEAD, s. A kind of hawk.

GLEN, s. A valley, a dale.

GLIRES, s. The fourth order of the class Mammalia in the Linnæan system. It includes animals with two foreteeth, a cutting one in each jaw, no tusks, and claws formed for running, as the hare, rabbit, &c.

GLOW-WORM, s. A small creeping insect with a luminous tail.

GLUE, s. A viscous cement. The best is made from the parings of hides and other offals, by boiling them well in water, then straining off all impurities, and, lastly, boiling them again.

GLUE, v. To join with a viscous cement; to unite.

GLUTE, s. The slimy substance in a hawk’s pannel.

GLYN, s. A hollow between two mountains.

GNARL, v. To growl, to murmur, to snarl.

GNASH, v. To grind or collide the teeth.

GNAT, s. A small winged stinging insect.

GNAW, v. To exercise the teeth.

GOAR, s. Any edging sewed upon cloth.

GOAT, s. An animal that seems a middle species between deer and sheep.

GODWIT, s. A bird of particular delicacy.

Buffon enumerates eight species of this division of the scolopax genus, under the name of barges, including the foreign kinds; and Latham makes out the same number of different sorts, all British. They are a timid, shy, and solitary tribe; their mode of subsistence constrains them to spend their lives amidst the fens, searching for their food in the mud and wet soil, where they remain during the day, shaded and hidden among reeds and rushes, in that obscurity which their timidity makes them prefer. They seldom remain above a day or two in the same place, and it often happens that in the morning not one is to be found in those marshes where they were numerous the evening before. They remove in a flock in the night, and when there is moonlight, may be seen and heard passing at a vast height.

Their bills are long and slender, and, like the common snipe’s, are smooth and blunt at the tip; their legs are of various colours, and long. When pursued by the sportsman, they run with great speed, are very restless, and spring at a great distance, and make a scream as they rise. Their voice is somewhat extraordinary, and has been compared to the smothered bleating of a goat. They delight in salt marshes, and are rare in countries remote from the sea. Their flesh is delicate and excellent food.

Common Godwit, Godwyn, Yarnhelp or Yarnhip.—(Scolopax ægocephala, LINN. La grande Barge Grise, BUFF.)

The weight of this bird is about twelve ounces; length about sixteen inches; the bill is four inches long, and bent a little upwards, black at the point, gradually softening into a pale purple towards the base; a whitish streak passes from the bill over each eye; the head, neck, back, scapulars, and coverts, are of a dingy pale brown, each feather marked down the middle with a dark spot. The fore part of the breast is streaked with black; the belly, vent, and tail, are white, the latter regularly barred with black; the webs of the first six quill feathers are black, edged on the interior sides with reddish brown; the legs are in general dark coloured, inclining to a greenish blue.

The godwit is met with in various parts of Europe, Asia, and America; in Great Britain, in the spring and summer, it resides in the fens and marshes, where it rears its young, and feeds upon small worms and insects. During these seasons it only removes from one marsh to another; but when the winter sets in with severity, it seeks the salt marshes and the seashore.

The godwit is much esteemed by epicures as a great delicacy, and sells very high. It is caught in nets, to which it is allured by a stale or stuffed bird, in the same manner, and in the same season, as the ruffs and reeves.—Bewick.

GOLD, s. The purest, heaviest, and most precious of all metals; money.

To dye fine bright Gold Colours.—First dye a very bright yellow with turmeric, lift out your stuff, and add a teaspoonful of madder; return it, and boil it about three minutes, and draw a part for the first shade; then put in a tablespoonful of turmeric, boil it up smartly; lift out your stuff and add better than a teaspoonful of madder; put it into the pot again, and boil it about seven minutes, and draw the second shade. For the third do the same, only adding some turmeric as before, and two teaspoonfuls of madder; or, if you see there is not a proper difference between the shades, add more madder, boil the wool in this ten minutes, and draw for the third shade. Add more turmeric, and three or four more teaspoonfuls of madder, or more, till you bring it near to a blood orange.

The lightest of these shades mixes the olive camel, the second the light rail, the third the dark rail and brown coughlan, and the fourth mixes the golden sooty. This is the best way to dye gold colours. Any man who is not a regular dyer can only be called a fancy dyer, and therefore can give no regular rules. If you are a judge of these colours, you will know by your eye when you get the proper shade. If the first two of them should not be enough of the gold, add more madder by pinches, lest you should overpower it. Divide each shade of the colours into two parts, for fine olives, bordering on muscle’s-beard. Put down a clean vessel with clean water, and put your lightest shade into it, first boiling in it about the size of a horse-bean of copperas. Throw in your stuff, be smart in passing it under your liquor, and in an instant you have a fine golden olive. Put in the size of a pea more of copperas, and put your next shade, and so on till all is done. You are to put in as much as two peas in the last. A little of the dark shade helps the March olive camel, and I have mixed out of these, with a little brown sable, a very good olive camel. All turmeric dyes, when put with binding stuff, stand well. Be careful your turmeric and madder be sound, if not, all is lost. Sound turmeric is very bright, and of a sweet smell. Sound madder is of an oily feel and a sweet smell, and is bright in colour; that which resembles brick-dust is bad, and gives no colour. The madder that is the best may be discovered easily by the taste.—Ancient Recipe.

GOLDEN, a. Made of gold, consisting of gold; shining; yellow, of the colour of gold; valuable.

GOLDEN EAGLE. Vide EAGLE.

The golden eagle is said to be not unfrequent in the mountainous parts of Ireland and Scotland. It breeds in the most inaccessible rocks, and lays three or four white eggs, Selby says two, of a greyish white colour, clouded with spots of reddish brown.

Smith, in the History of Kerry, says, a poor man in that county got a comfortable subsistence for his family, during a summer of famine, out of an eagle’s nest.

Pennant informs us it is frequent in Scotland, and adds, that it is very destructive to deer, which it will seize between the horns, and, by incessantly beating it with its wings, soon makes a prey of the harassed animal; that it builds in cliffs of rocks near the deer forests, and makes great havoc not only amongst them, but also the white hares and ptarmigans.

Willoughby gives a curious account of the nest of this species found in the woodlands, near the river Derwent, in the Peak of Derbyshire. He says it was made of large sticks, lined with two layers of rushes, between which was one of heath; that in it was one young and an addle egg, and by them a lamb, a hare, and three heath-poults.

Instances have been recorded of infants being carried to their nests; and in the Orkneys there is a law which entitles any person killing one of these birds, to a hen out of every house in the parish in which it is killed. They are remarkable for their longevity, and abstinence from food. Pennant mentions one enduring hunger for twenty-one days.

As we were sporting in the neighbourhood of Ben-Lomond, on the summit of the lesser mountains that form its base, a grouse, (Tetrao Scoticus), was wounded, and flew with difficulty eighty or a hundred paces. An eagle, apparently of this species, perceiving the laborious flight of the grouse, descended with rapid wing from the adjacent lofty cliffs, before our guns were re-loaded, and, in defiance of the shouts made to deter him, carried off his prey.

In another part of the Western Highlands of Scotland, we had an opportunity of witnessing the power of the flight of this bird in pursuit of its quarry. An old black-cock (Tetrao tetrix) was sprung, and was instantly pursued by the eagle, (who must have been on a neighbouring rock unperceived,) across the glen, the breadth of which was at least two miles. The eagle made several unsuccessful pounces, but as there was no cover and the bird large, it probably fell a victim in the end.—Smith—Pennant—Montagu.

GOLDEN-EYE (Anas clangula, LINN.; Le Garrot, BUFF.) s.

The weight of this species varies from twenty-six ounces to two pounds. The length is nineteen inches, and the breadth thirty-one. The bill is bluish-black, short, thick, and elevated at the base; the head large, slightly crested, and black, or rather of a glossy bottle-green, with violet reflections; a large white spot is placed on the space on each side between the corners of the mouth and the eyes, the irides of which are of a golden-yellow; the throat, and a small portion of the upper part of the neck, are of a sooty or velvet-black; the lower, to the shoulders, the breast, belly, and vent, white; but some of the side-feathers, and those which cover the thighs, are tipped with black; the scapulars white and deep black; of the latter colour are also the adjoining long tertial feathers, and those on the greater part of the back; the first fourteen primary quills, with all the outside edge of the wing, including the ridge and a portion of the coverts, are brownish black; the middle part of the wing is white, crossed by a narrow black stripe, which is formed by the tips of the lesser coverts; tail dark, hoary brown; legs short, of a reddish yellow colour, with the webs dusky; the inner and hinder toes are furnished with lateral webs; on the latter these webs are large and flapped. Willoughby says, “the windpipe hath a labyrinth at the divarication, and besides, above swells out into a belly or puff-like cavity.”

These birds do not congregate in large flocks, nor are they numerous on the British shores, or on the lakes in the interior. They are late in taking their departure northward in the spring, the specimens before mentioned being shot in April. In their flight they make they air whistle with the vigorous quick strokes of their wings; they are excellent divers, and seldom set foot on the shore, upon which, it is said, they walk with great apparent difficulty, and, except in the breeding season, only repair to it for the purpose of taking their repose.

The attempts which were made by M. Baillon to domesticate these birds, he informs the Count de Buffon, quite failed of success.

* * * * *

An extraordinary occurrence took place, March, 1810, near Drumburgh, a fisherman, placed a flounder-net in the river Eden, which is subject to the flux and reflux of the tide, and on his returning to take up his net, instead of finding fish, he found it loaded with wild ducks; during his absence, a fleet of these birds had alighted below the net, and on the flowing of the tide, were carried, from the contraction of the channel, with great impetuosity into the net, and were drowned. He caught one hundred and seventy golden-eyed wild ducks, supposed to be from the Orkneys, as very rarely any of that species frequent that part of the country.—Bewick.

GOLDEN ORIOLE (Oriolus galbula, LINN.), s.

This is the only species ever found in England, a few instances of which only are on record. It is about the size of a blackbird: length nine inches and a half. The bill is brownish red; irides red. General colour of the plumage fine golden yellow; between the bill and eye a streak of black; the wings black, marked here and there with yellow, and a patch of the same in the middle of the wing; the two middle feathers of the tail are black, inclining to olive at the base, the very tips yellow; the base half of the others black, the rest yellow; legs lead-colour; claws black.

The female is of a dull greenish brown in those parts where the male is black. Wings dusky; tail dirty green; all but the two middle feathers yellowish white at the ends.

This beautiful bird is not uncommon in France, where it breeds. The nest is curiously constructed, in shape like a purse: it is fastened to the extreme forked branches of tall trees, composed of fibres of hemp, or straw mixed with fine dry stalks of grass, and lined with moss and liverwort. She is said to be so tenacious of her eggs as to suffer herself to be taken on the nest.—Montagu.

GOLDFINCH, (Carduelis communis, CUVIER,) s. A singing bird.

This beautiful bird is rather less than the chaffinch. The bill is white, with a black point; irides dusky; the forehead and chin rich scarlet; top of the head black; cheeks white, bounded with black; hind part of the head white; breast pale tawny brown; the coverts of the wings black; quill feathers dusky black, barred across with bright yellow; tips white; belly white; the tail feathers black; most of them marked with a white spot near their ends; legs whitish.

The female differs very little in plumage from the male: in general, the smaller coverts of the wings are not so black. Young birds are brown about the head for some time after they leave the nest, and are by some called grey-pates.

The goldfinch is subject to variety in confinement; sometimes wholly black; others black and white, or quite white. A variety is sometimes taken by the birdcatchers with white spots under the throat: such is termed a cheverel. It makes a very elegant nest, formed externally of bents, moss, and liverwort, woven together with wool; lined sometimes with wool or hair, covered with thistle down, or willow cotton.

These birds will in general take the materials for building, which they can most easily procure. On the tenth of May I observed a pair of goldfinches beginning to make their nest in my garden; they had formed the ground-work with moss, grass, &c., as usual, but on my scattering small parcels of wool in different parts of the garden, they, in a great measure, left off the use of their own stuff, and employed the wool. Afterwards, I gave them cotton, on which they rejected the wool and proceeded with the cotton; the third day I supplied them with fine down, on which they forsook both the other and finished their work with this last article. The nest, when completed, was somewhat larger than is usually made by this bird, but retained the pretty roundness of figure and neatness of workmanship, which is proper to the goldfinch. The nest was completed in the space of three days, and remained unoccupied for the space of four days; the first egg not being laid till the seventh day from beginning the work. The eggs are four or five in number, of a bluish white, with a few spots, chiefly at the larger end.

The goldfinch is easily tamed and easily taught, and its capability of learning the notes of other birds is well known; but the tricks it may be taught to perform are truly astonishing. A few years ago the Sieur Roman exhibited his birds, which were goldfinches, linnets, and canaries. One appeared dead, and was held up by the tail or claw without exhibiting any signs of life; a second stood on its head with its claws in the air; a third imitated a Dutch milkmaid going to market, with pails on its shoulders; a fourth mimicked a Venetian girl looking out at a window; a fifth appeared as a soldier, and mounted guard as a sentinel; and the sixth acted as a cannoneer with a cap on its head, a firelock on its shoulder, and a match in its claw, and discharged a small cannon. The same bird also acted as if it had been wounded. It was wheeled in a barrow, to convey it, as it were, to the hospital; after which, it flew away before the company: the seventh turned a kind of windmill: and the last bird stood in the midst of some fireworks which were discharged all round it, and this without exhibiting the least symptom of fear.

They may also be taught to draw up little buckets or cups with food and water. To teach them this, there must be put round them a narrow soft leather belt, in which there must be four holes—two for the wings, and two for the feet. The belt is joined a little below the breast, where there is a ring, to which the chain is attached, that supports the little bucket or cup. We have seen both the goldfinch and lesser redpole perform this action, but in a different manner. Their cage had no wires,—only a back-board, a bottom-board, and one perch. To one foot of the bird was attached a light slender chain, which allowed it more exercise than it could have had in the common wire cage; at the outer edge of the bottom-board was a ring, through which ran the chain, to each end of which were fastened the little buckets that held the food and water, which the bird drew up with its foot and bill; and as one bucket was drawn up, the other sunk, thus lessening the difficulty, and lightening the task.—Montagu—Bolton—Syme.

GOOSANDER (Mergus merganser, LINN.), s. a species of diver.

This is the largest species of merganser; weight about four pounds; length two feet four inches. The bill three inches long, narrow, serrated, or toothed, on the edges of both mandibles; the tip of the upper hooked; colour red: irides the same; the head and upper part of the neck glossy greenish black; the feathers on the crown and back of the head are long and loose; the rest of the neck, breast, and under parts, white; the sides, above the thighs, undulated with dusky lines; the upper part of the back black; lower part of the back, rump, and tail coverts, brownish ash-colour; the lesser wing coverts white; the rest ash-colour, with some white; the greater quill feathers are black, with ash-colour on the interior webs of some of the inner ones; the secondaries white, margined with greenish black on the outer webs; the scapulars nearest the body black, the others white; the tail consists of eighteen ash-coloured feathers, with dusky shafts; legs orange; in some specimens the breast is of a rosy buff-colour.

The goosander sometimes visits our rivers and lakes in severe winters, but retires to the more northern latitudes of Greenland and Iceland, where it breeds. In the Orkneys and Hebrides it is found the whole year round, while in the other districts it is only a winter visitant. It is not uncommon on the continent of Europe and Asia, but most plentiful towards the north. It is a winter inhabitant of the sea shore, and fresh water lakes of America, where they usually associate in small parties of six and eight. They disappear from that country in the month of April, and return in November. Its food consists entirely of fish, for which it dives with great celerity, and holds its slippery prey with great security, by means of its toothed bill, which is admirably adapted to the purpose.—Montagu.

GOOSE, s. A large waterfowl. Vide ANSER.

Canada Goose, (Anas Canadensis LINN.; L’Oie à cravate, BUFF.)—This is less than the swan goose, but taller and longer than the common goose, and may be considered as the connecting link between that species and the swan. Their average weight is about nine pounds, and the length about three feet six inches. The bill is black and two inches and a half long: irides hazel: the head and neck are also black, with a crescent shaped white band on the throat, which tapers off to a point on each side below the cheeks, to the hinder part of the head: the whiteness of this cravat is heightened by its contrast with the dark surrounding plumage, and it looks very pretty: this mark also distinguishes it from others of the goose tribe. All the upper parts of the plumage, the breast, and a portion of the belly, are of a dull brown, sometimes mixed with grey: the lower part of the neck, the belly, vent, and upper tail coverts, white; quills and tail black; legs dingy blue.

The English of Hudson’s Bay depend greatly on geese, of these and other kinds, for their support; and, in favourable years, kill three or four thousand, which they salt and barrel. Their arrival is impatiently attended; it is the harbinger of the spring, and the month named by the Indians the goose-moon. They appear usually at our settlements in numbers, about St. George’s day, O. S. and fly northward to nestle in security. They prefer islands to the continent, as further from the haunts of men. Thus Marble Island was found, in August, to swarm with swans, geese, and ducks; the old ones moulting, and the young at that time incapable of flying.

The English send out their servants, as well as Indians, to shoot these birds on their passage. It is in vain to pursue them; they therefore form a row of huts made of boughs, at musket shot distance from each other, and place them in a line across the vast marshes of the country. Each hovel, or, as it is called, stand, is occupied by only a single person. These attend the flight of the birds, and, on their approach, mimic their cackle so well that the geese will answer, and wheel and come nearer the stand. The sportsman keeps motionless, and on his knees, with his gun cocked, the whole time; and never fires till he has seen the eyes of the geese. He fires as they are going from him, then picks up another gun that lies by him, and discharges that. The geese which he has killed he sets upon sticks as if alive, to decoy others; he also makes artificial birds for the same purpose. In a good day (for they fly in very uncertain and unequal numbers) a single Indian will kill two hundred. Notwithstanding every species of goose has a different call, yet the Indians are admirable in their imitation of every one.

The vernal flight of the geese lasts from the middle of April until the middle of May. Their first appearance coincides with the thawing of the swamps, when they are very lean. The autumnal, or the season of their return with their young, is from the middle of August to the middle of October. Those which are taken in this latter season, when the frosts usually begin, are preserved in their feathers and left to be frozen for the fresh provisions of the winter stock. The feathers constitute an article of commerce, and are sent into England.

Common Wild Goose—Grey Lag Goose, (Anas anser, LINN.; L’Oie Sauvage, BUFF.) This wild goose generally weighs about ten pounds, and measures two feet nine inches in length, and five in breadth. The bill is thick at the base, tapers towards the tip, and is of a yellowish red colour, with the nail white: the head and neck are of a cinereous brown, tinged with dull yellow, and from the separations of the feathers, the latter appears striped downwards: the upper part of the plumage is of a deep brown, mixed with ash-grey; each feather is lighter on the edges, and the lesser coverts are tipped with white: the shafts of the primary quills are white, the webs grey, and the tips black: the secondaries black, edged with white: the breast and belly are crossed and clouded with dusky and ash on a whitish ground; and the tail coverts and vent are of a snowy whiteness: the middle feathers of the tail are dusky, tipped with white: those adjoining more deeply tipped, and the exterior ones nearly all white: legs pale red.

This species is common in this country, and although large flocks of them, well known to the curious, in all the various shapes which they assume in their flight, are seen regularly migrating southward in the autumn, and northward in the spring, yet several of them are known to remain and breed in the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, and, it is said, in various other parts of Great Britain. Pennant says they reside in the fens the whole year, breed there, and hatch about eight or nine young ones, which are often taken, easily made tame, and much more esteemed for the excellent flavour of their flesh than the domestic goose.

Egyptian Goose.—(Anas Ægyptiaca, LINN.; L’Oie d’ Egypte, BUFF.)—This beautifully variegated species is nearly the size of the grey lag, or the common wild goose. The bill red, about two inches in length, tip black, and nostrils dusky; eyelids red, and the irides pale yellow; the throat, cheeks, and upper part of the head, are white; a rusty chestnut-coloured patch, on each side of the head, surrounds the eyes. About two-thirds of the neck, from the head downwards, is of a pale reddish bay colour, darker at the lower end; a broad deep chestnut-coloured spot covers the middle of the breast; the shoulders and scapulars are of a reddish brown, prettily crossed with numerous dark waved lines; the wing coverts are white; the greater ones barred near the tips with black; the secondary quills are tinged with reddish bay, and bordered with chestnut; those of the primaries, which join them, are edged with glossy green, and the rest of the first quills are black; the lower part of the back, the rump, and tail, are black; the belly is white, but all the other fore-parts and sides of the body, from the neck near the vent, are delicately pencilled with narrow rust-coloured zigzag lines on a pale ash-grey ground; each wing is furnished on the bend with a short blunt spur. The colours of the female are pretty much the same as those of the male, but not by any means so bright or distinctly marked. This kind is common in a wild state in Egypt, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in various parts of the intermediate territories of Africa, whence they have been brought into, and domesticated in this and other civilised countries, and are now an admired ornament on many pieces of water contiguous to gentlemen’s seats.

Red-breasted Goose.—(Siberian Goose; Anser ruficollis.)—The red-breasted goose measures above twenty inches in length, and its extended wings three feet ten in breadth. The bill is short, of a brown colour, with the nail black; irides yellowish hazel; the cheeks and brow are dusky, speckled with white; an oval white spot occupies the space between the bill and the eyes, and is bounded above, on each side of the head, by a black line which falls down the hinder part of the neck; the chin, throat, crown of the head, and hinder part of the neck to the back, are black; two stripes of white fall down from behind each eye on the sides of the neck, and meet in the middle; the other parts of the neck, and the upper part of the breast, are of a deep rusty red, and the latter is terminated by two narrow bands of white and black; the back and wings are dusky; the greater coverts edged with grey; sides and lower part of the breast black; belly, upper and under tail coverts, white; legs dusky.

This beautiful species is a native of Russia and Siberia, whence they migrate southward in the autumn, and return in the spring; they are said to frequent the Caspian Sea, and are supposed to winter in Persia. They are very rare in this country.

White-fronted Wild Goose.—(Laughing Goose; Anas albifrons; L’ Oie rieuse, BUFF.)—This species measures two feet four inches in length, and four feet six in the extended wings, and weighs about five pounds. The bill is thick at the base, of a yellowish red colour; the nail white; from the base of the bill and corners of the mouth a white patch is extended over the forehead; the rest of the head, neck, and upper parts of the plumage, are dark brown; the primary and secondary quills are of the same colour, but much darker, and the wing coverts are tinged with ash; the breast and belly are dirty white, spotted with dusky; the tail is of a hoary ash-coloured brown, and surrounded, like the lag goose’s, with a white ring at the base; the legs yellow.

These birds form a part of those vast tribes which swarm about Hudson’s Bay, and the north of Europe and Asia, during the summer months, and are but thinly scattered over the other quarters of the world. They visit the fens and marshy places in England in small flocks in the winter months, and disappear about the beginning of March. It is said that they never feed in the corn fields, but confine themselves wholly to such wilds and swamps as are constantly covered with water.

* * * * *

Wild geese are very destructive to the growing corn in the fields where they happen to halt in their migratory excursion. In some countries they are caught at those seasons in long nets, resembling those used for catching larks: to these nets the wild geese are decoyed by tame ones, placed there for that purpose. Many other schemes are contrived to take these wary birds; but, as they feed only in the day time, and betake themselves to the water at night, the fowler must exert his utmost care and ingenuity in order to accomplish his ends: all must be planned in the dark, and every trace of suspicion removed, for nothing can exceed the vigilant circumspection and acute ear of the sentinel, who, placed on some eminence, with outstretched-neck, surveys every thing that moves within the circle of the centre on which he takes his stand; and the instant he sounds the alarm, the whole flock betake themselves to flight.

The time that wild geese feed in this country is by night, and particularly during moonlight. I have never known them either netted or decoyed; and all the shooter has to rely upon is patience and a long barrel.

* * * * *

M. Cuvier has published a brief description of a bird produced between a swan and a goose, which in fact amounts to its being a perfect goose, in every thing but size like its mother, which it greatly exceeds.—Bewick—Wild Sports.

GORGE, s. The throat, the swallow; that which is gorged or swallowed; the craw or crop.

GORGE, v. To fill up to the throat, to glut, to satiate; to swallow, as the fish has gorged the hook.

GORSE, s. Furze, a thick prickly shrub.

Furze-covers cannot be too much encouraged, for there cubs are safe. They have also other advantages attending them: they are certain places to find in; foxes cannot break from them unseen, nor are you so liable to change as in other covers.

A fox, when pressed by hounds, will seldom go into a furze-brake. Rabbits, which are the fox’s favourite food, may also be encouraged there, and yet do little damage. Were they suffered to establish themselves in your woods, it would be difficult to destroy them afterwards. Thus far I object to them as a farmer: I object to them also as a fox-hunter; since nothing is more prejudicial to the breeding of foxes than disturbing your woods late in the season, to destroy the rabbits.—Beckford.

GOSHAWK, s. A hawk of a large kind.

This is a large species, superior in size to the buzzard; length twenty-two inches or more; the bill is blue, tip black; cere yellowish green; irides yellow.

The head, hind part of the neck, back, and wings, deep brown; over the eye is a white line, and a broken patch of the same colour on the side of the neck; the breast and belly marked with numerous transverse bars of black and white; the tail is long, and ash-coloured, with four or five dusky bars; legs yellow; claws black.

The goshawk is rarely found in England, but is not uncommon in the wild and mountainous parts of Scotland, where it is known to breed in the forest of Rothemurchus, and on the woody banks of the Dee. They are said to be numerous in the Orkney Islands, where they breed in the rocks and sea cliffs. They more generally build however in lofty fir trees, and lay from two to four eggs, of a bluish white, marked with streaks and spots of reddish brown. Its flight is described to be very rapid, generally low, and it strikes its prey on the wing, near the ground, being incapable of mounting. If its prey take refuge, it will wait patiently on a tree, or a stone, until the game, pressed by hunger, is induced to move; and as this hawk is capable of great abstinence, it generally succeeds in taking it. Colonel Thornton informs us, that he flew one at a pheasant, which got into cover, and the hawk was lost; at ten o’clock next morning the falconer found her, and just as he caught her the pheasant ran and rose. According to Meyer, it will prey on its own young, but its principal food is wild ducks, hares, and rabbits. In the young, the head, neck, and belly, are of a rufous colour, with long brown spots, and tips of the tail white. In this plumage they have been termed gentil falcons. In the days of falconry, they were held in high repute for hunting cranes, geese, and the larger sorts of game, and were considered by falconers, the best and most courageous of the short-winged hawks.

The goshawk is common in France, Germany, and Russia; it is also found in America, but is rare in Holland.

* * * * *

The goshawk is taken by a net about eight feet deep, and of sufficient length to inclose a square of nine or ten feet. It is suspended to upright stakes, by notches cut upwards, so that it may be disengaged from them, when the hawk strikes against it. This inclosure is left open at the top, and in the middle a pigeon is to be tied to the ground for a bait. The meshes of this net should not be too small, and the colour should be as much as possible like that of the surrounding objects.

The goshawk is termed a hawk of the fist, because it is from thence, and not from the air, that he flies at his game. He is never to be hooded unless for a short time when first taken, or to keep him quiet in travelling. The resting-place of short-winged hawks is called a perch. It is a pole of about an inch and a half in diameter, fixed horizontally about four feet from the ground. It is to be placed under a tree in fine weather, and in some sheltered place when it rains. To the perch is suspended a piece of cloth, or of matting, hanging like a curtain, which assists the hawk in regaining the perch when he has baited off, and prevents him from twisting the leash round it by passing under. The swivel that is fixed to the leash is to be tied close to the top of the perch, and is attached to the jesses by a short leash, six or eight inches long, in such a manner as to be easily taken off when the hawk is to be prepared for flying. He is then to be held on the fist by the jesses, in the same way as the slight falcon.

As the goshawk is carried without a hood, and as he is not to be brought down by the lure, but must come to the fist at the falconer’s call, it is essential that he should be made as tame as possible, and this can only be done by almost constant carriage, and by allowing him frequently to pull upon a stump or pinion, from which he can get but little meat. He will soon learn to come from the perch to the fist, if held close to him when allured by meat. By persevering in this practice, and by cautiously increasing the distance, he will at length be brought to come to the fist, when he is thirty or forty yards off. It is hardly necessary to say, that a creance must always be attached to the leash when these lessons are given, until the hawk is sufficiently reclaimed to be trusted at large, and with this precaution too much must not be required of him at a time. In breaking hawks, and all other animals, much additional trouble is occasioned, and much time is lost in endeavouring to get them on too fast. When the goshawk will come freely to the fist, not only from the perch, but from the ground, and from low trees (on which he should frequently be placed), it will only be necessary to give him a few live partridges in the way that I have described, and he will be ready for the field.—Montagu—Sebright.

GOSLING, s. A young goose, a goose not yet full-grown.

GOURDINESS, s. A swelling in a horse’s leg.

GOURNET, s. A sea-fish, commonly pronounced Gurnet. Of this fish the red is excellent, while the grey sort is coarse and insipid.

GRAIN, s. A single seed of corn; corn; the seed of any fruit; any minute particle; the smallest weight; anything proverbially small; the direction of the fibres of wood, or other fibrous matter.

GRAINED, a. Rough, made less smooth.

GRAINS, s. The husks of malt exhausted in brewing; the prongs of a fish-spear.

GRALLA, s. That order of birds which Linnæus classifies as having obtuse bills, and long legs, as the crane, stork, &c.

GRAMINIVOROUS, a. Grass-eating.

GRANIVOROUS, a. Eating grain.

Granivorous birds.—Birds may be distinguished, like quadrupeds, into two kinds or classes—granivorous and carnivorous; like quadrupeds, too, there are some that hold a middle nature, and partake of both. Granivorous birds are furnished with larger intestines, and proportionally longer, than those of the carnivorous kind. Their food, which consists of grain of various sorts, is conveyed whole and entire into the first stomach or craw, where it undergoes a partial dilution by a liquor, secreted from the glands, and spread over its surface; it is then received into another species of stomach, where it is further diluted; after which it is transmitted into the gizzard, or true stomach, consisting of two very strong muscles, covered externally with a tendinous substance, and lined with a thick membrane of prodigious power and strength; in this place the food is completely triturated, and rendered fit for the operation of the gastric juices. The extraordinary powers of the gizzard in comminuting the food, so as to prepare it for digestion, would exceed all credibility, were they not supported by incontrovertible facts, founded upon experiments.

In order to ascertain the strength of these stomachs, the ingenious Spallanzani made the following curious and very interesting experiments:—

Tin tubes, full of grain, were forced into the stomachs of turkeys, and after remaining twenty hours, were found to be broken, compressed, and distorted in the most irregular manner.

In proceeding further, the same author relates, that the stomach of a cock, in the space of twenty-four hours, broke off the angles of a piece of rough jagged glass, and upon examining the gizzard, no wound or laceration appeared.

Twelve strong needles were firmly fixed in a ball of lead, the points of which projected about a quarter of an inch from the surface; thus armed, it was covered with a case of paper, and forced down the throat of a turkey; the bird retained it a day and a half, without showing the least symptom of uneasiness; the points of all the needles were broken off close to the surface of the ball, except two or three, of which the stumps projected a little. The same author relates another experiment, seemingly still more cruel; he fixed twelve small lancets, very sharp, in a similar ball of lead, which was given in the same manner to a turkey cock, and left eight hours in the stomach; at the expiration of which the organ was opened but nothing appeared except the naked ball, the twelve lancets having been broken to pieces, the stomach remaining perfectly sound and entire. From these curious and well-attested facts we may conclude, that the stones so often found in the stomachs of many of the feathered tribes, are highly useful in comminuting grain and other hard substances which constitute their food.

Granivorous birds partake much of the nature and disposition of herbivorous quadrupeds. In both the number of their stomachs, the length and capacity of their intestines, and the quality of their food, they are very similar; they are likewise both distinguished by the gentleness of their tempers and manners. Contented with the seeds of plants, with fruits, insects, and worms, their chief attention is directed to procuring food, hatching and rearing their offspring, and avoiding the snares of men, and the attacks of birds of prey, and other rapacious animals. They are a mild and gentle race, and are in general so tractable as easily to be domesticated.—Bewick.

GRANULATE, v. To grain; to break into small masses.

GRAPE, s. The fruit of the vine, growing in clusters.

GRASP, v. To hold in the hand, to gripe; to seize, to catch at.

GRASP, s. The gripe or seizure of the hand; hold; power of seizing.

GRASS, s. The common herbage of fields on which cattle feed.

GRASSY, a. Covered with grass.

GRATE, s. A partition made with bars placed near to one another, to prevent fish escaping from a pond; the range of bars within which fires are made.

GRAVE, v. To carve on any hard substance; to impress deeply.

GRAVITATING STOPS, s.

Gravitating Stops.—An insurance from accidents, with a double gun, is completely effected by Mr. Joseph Manton’s gravitating stops, which act of themselves, to remedy the serious danger of loading with a barrel cocked; and, with these stops, you may, by holding the gun downwards, carry both barrels cocked, through a hedge-row, with little or no danger, if any circumstance could justify such determined preparation.

The gravitating stops, I should not omit to mention, require to be kept very clean, as, with rust or dirt under them, they will not fall so readily, and thereby prevent the gun from going off. This I name as a caution to a slovenly shooter, and not as an imperfection in the plan.—Hawker.

GRAY, s. White, with a mixture of black; white or hoary with old age; dark, like the opening or close of day.

Grey horses are of different shades, from the lightest silver to a dark iron grey. The silver grey reminds the observer of the palfrey, improved by an admixture of Arab blood. He does not often exceed fourteen hands and a half high, and is round carcassed—light legged—with oblique pasterns, calculated for a light carriage, or for a lady’s riding—seldom subject to disease—but not very fleet, or capable of hard work.

The iron grey is usually a larger horse; higher in the withers, deeper and thinner in the carcass, more angular in all his proportions, and in many cases a little too long in the legs. Some of these greys make good hackneys and hunters, and especially the Irish horses; but they are principally used for the carriage. They have more endurance than the flatness of the chest would promise; but their principal defect is their feet, which are liable to contraction, and yet that contraction is not so often accompanied by lameness as in many other horses.

The dappled grey is generally a handsomer and a better horse: all the angular points of the iron grey are filled up, and with that which not only adds to symmetry, but to use. Whether as a hackney, or, the larger variety, a carriage-horse, there are few better, especially since his form has been so materially improved, and so much of his heaviness got rid of by the free use of foreign blood. There are not, however, so many dappled greys as there used to be, since the bays have been bred with so much care. The dappled grey, if dark at first, generally retains his colour to old age.

Some of the greys approach to a nutmeg, or even bay colour. Many of these are handsome, and most of them are hardy.

GRAYLING, s. The umber, a fish.

Grayling are never found in streams that run from glaciers—at least near their source; and they are killed by cold or heat. I once put some grayling from the Teme, in September, with some trout, into a confined water, rising from a spring in the yard at Dawnton; the grayling all died, but the trout lived. And in the hot summer of 1825, great numbers of large grayling died in the Avon, below Ringwood, without doubt killed by the heat in July.

The grayling lies deeper and is not so shy a fish as the trout; and, provided your link is fine, is not apt to be scared by the cast of flies on the water. The fineness of the link, and of the gut to which your flies are attached, is a most essential point, and the clearer the stream the finer should be the tackle. I have known good fishermen foiled by using a gut of ordinary thickness, though their flies were of the right size and colour. Very slender transparent gut of the colour of the water, is one of the most important causes of success in grayling fishing.

He is to be fished for at all times, for he is rarely so much out of season as to be a bad fish; and when there are flies on the water, he will generally take them: but as the trout may be considered as a spring and summer fish, so the grayling may be considered as a winter and autumnal fish.

Grayling do not refuse large flies; and in the Avon and Test May flies, and even moths, are greedily taken in the summer by large grayling. Flies, likewise, that do not inhabit the water, but are blown from the land, are good baits for grayling. There is no method more killing for large grayling, than applying a grasshopper to the point of a leaded hook, the lead and shank of which are covered with green and yellow silk, to imitate the body of the animal. This mode of fishing is called sinking and drawing. I have seen it practised in this river with as much success as maggot fishing, and the fish taken were all of the largest size; the method being most successful in deep holes, where the bottom was not visible, which are the natural haunts of such fish. In the winter, grayling rise for an hour or two in bright and tolerably warm weather, and at this time the smallest imitations of black or pale gnats that can be made, on the smallest sized hook, succeed best in taking them. In March, the dark-bodied willow fly may be regarded as the earliest fly; the imitation of which is made by a dark claret dubbing and a dun hackle, or four small starlings’ wing feathers. The blue dun comes on in the middle of the day in this month, and is imitated by dun hackles for wings and legs, and an olive dubbing for body. In mild weather, in morning and evening in this month, and through April, the green tail, or grannon, comes on in great quantities, and is well imitated by a hen pheasant’s wing feather, a grey or red hackle for legs, and a dark peacock’s harle, or dark hare’s ear fur, for the body. The same kind of fly, of a larger size, with paler wings, kills well in the evening, through May or June. The imitation of a water insect called the spider-fly, with a lead-coloured body and woodcock’s wings, is said to be a killing bait on this and other rivers, in the end of April and beginning of May, but I never happened to see it on the water. The darker alder fly, in May and June, is taken greedily by the fish; it is imitated by a dark shaded pheasant’s wing, black hackle for legs, and a peacock’s harle, ribbed with red silk, for the body. At this season, and in July, imitations of the black and red palmer worms, which I believe are taken for black or brown, or red beetles or cockchafers, kill well; and in dark weather there are usually very light duns on the water. In August, imitations of the house fly and blue bottle, and the red and black ant fly, are taken, and are particularly killing after floods in autumn, when great quantities of the fly are destroyed and washed down the river. In this month, in cloudy days, pale blue duns often appear, and they are still more common in September. Throughout the summer and autumn, in fine calm evenings, a large dun fly, with a pale yellow body, is greedily taken by grayling after sunset, and the imitation of it is very killing. In the end of October, and through November, there is no fly fishing but in the middle of the day, when imitations of the smaller duns may be used with great success; and I have often seen the fish sport most, and fly fishing pursued with great success in bright sunshine, from twelve till half past two o’clock, after severe frosts in the morning; and I once caught under these circumstances a very fine dish of fish on the 7th of November. It was in the year 1816; the summer and autumn had been peculiarly cold and wet, and, probably in consequence of this, the flies were in smaller quantity at their usual season, and there were a greater proportion later in the year.

Grayling, if you take your station by the side of a river, will rise nearer to you than trout, for they lie deeper, and therefore are not so much scared by an object on the bank; but they are more delicate in the choice of their flies than trout, and will much oftener rise and refuse the fly. Trout, from lying nearer the surface, are generally taken before grayling where the water is slightly coloured, or after a flood; and in rain trout usually rise better than grayling, though it sometimes happens, when great quantities of flies come out in rain, grayling, as well as trout, are taken with more certainty than at any other time. The artificial fly, in such cases, looks like a wet fly, and allures even the grayling, which generally is more difficult to deceive than trout in the same river.—Sir Humphry Davy.

GREASE, s. The soft part of the fat; a swelling and gourdiness of the legs, which generally happens to a horse after his journey.

Swelled legs, although distinct from grease, are apt to degenerate into it. This disease, therefore, comes next under our consideration. It is an inflammation of the skin of the heel, sometimes of the fore, but oftener of the hind foot. It is not a contagious disease, although when it once appears in a stable it frequently goes through it, for it is usually to be traced to bad stable management. The skin of the heel of the horse somewhat differs from that of any other part. There is a great deal of motion in the fetlock, and to prevent the skin from excoriation or chapping, it is necessary that it should be kept soft and pliable; therefore, in the healthy state of the part, the skin of the heel has a peculiar greasy feel. Under inflammation, the secretion of this greasy matter is stopped—the heels become red, dry, and scurfy; and being almost constantly in motion, cracks soon succeed: these sometimes extend, and the whole surface of the heel becomes a mass of soreness, ulceration, and fungus.

The first appearance of grease is usually a dry and scurfy state of the skin of the heel, with redness, heat and itchiness. The heel should be well washed with soap and water; as much of the scurf should be detached as is easily removable: white ointment composed of one drachm of sugar of lead, rubbed down with an ounce of lard, will usually supple and cool, and heal the part.

When cracks appear, the mode of treatment will depend on their extent and depth. If they are but slight, a lotion composed of a solution of two drachms of blue vitriol, or four of alum, in a pint of water, will often speedily dry them up and close them. But if the cracks are deep, with an ichorous discharge, and the lameness considerable, it will be necessary to poultice the heel. A poultice of linseed meal will be the most effectual, unless the discharge is thin and offensive, when an ounce of finely powdered charcoal should be mixed with the linseed meal, or a poultice may be made with carrots boiled soft, and mashed. The efficacy of a carrot poultice is seldom sufficiently appreciated in cases like these.

When the inflammation and pain have evidently subsided, and the cracks discharge good matter, they may be dressed with an ointment composed of one part of resin, and three of lard, melted together, and one part of calamine powder added, when these begin to get cool. The healing will be quickened if the cracks are occasionally washed with either the vitriol or alum solution. A mild diuretic may here be given every third day, but a mild dose of physic will form the best medicine that can be administered.

After the chaps or cracks have healed, the legs will sometimes continue gorged and swelled. A flannel bandage evenly applied over the whole of the swelled part will be very serviceable; or, should the season admit of it, a run at grass, particularly spring grass, should be allowed. A blister is inadmissible, from the danger of bringing back the inflammation of the skin, and discharge from it; but the actual cautery, taking especial care not to penetrate the skin, must occasionally be resorted to.

There will be great danger in suddenly stopping this discharge. Inflammation of a more important part has rapidly succeeded to the injudicious attempt. The local application should be directed to the abatement of the inflammation. The poultices just referred to should be diligently used night and day, and especially the carrot poultice; and, when the heat and tenderness and stiffness of motion have diminished, astringent lotions may be applied; either the alum lotion, or a strong decoction of oak bark, changed, or used alternately, but not mixed. The cracks should likewise be dressed with the ointment above mentioned; and the moment the horse can bear it, a flannel bandage should be put on, reaching from the coronet, to three or four inches above the swelling.

Walking exercise should be resorted to as soon as the horse is able to bear it, and this by degrees may be increased to a gentle trot.—The Horse.

GREASY, a. Oily, fat, unctuous; smeared with grease.

GREAVES, s. The offal of chandlers; the animal matter which remains after the tallow has been extracted. Greaves mixed with oatmeal make excellent feeding for dogs.

GREBE, s. A water-fowl.

The bills of this genus are compressed on the sides, and though not large, are firm and strong, straight and sharp pointed: nostrils linear; a bare space between the bill and the eyes; tongue slightly cloven at the end; body depressed; feathers thickly set, compact, very smooth, and glossy; wings short, scapulars long; no tail; legs placed far behind, much compressed, or flattened on the sides, and serrated behind with a double row of notches; toes furnished on each side with membranes; the inner toes broader than the outer; the nails broad and flat.

This genus is ranked by Ray and Linnæus with the diver and guillemot; but as the grebes differ materially from those birds, Brisson, Pennant, and Latham, have separated them. The grebes are almost continually upon the water, where they are remarkable for their agility: at sea they seem to sport with the waves, through which they seem to dart with the greatest ease, and, in swimming, slide along, as it were without any apparent effort upon the surface, with wonderful velocity; they also dive to a great depth in pursuit of their prey. They frequent fresh-water lakes and inlets of rivers as well as the ocean, to which they are obliged to resort in severe seasons, when the former are bound up by the ice. No cold or damp can penetrate their thick, close plumage, which looks as it were glazed on the surface, and by which they are enabled, while they have open water, to brave the rigours of the coldest winter. They can take wing from the water, or drop from an eminence, and fly with great swiftness to a considerable distance; but when they happen to alight on the land, are helpless, for they cannot either rise from the flat surface of the ground, or make much progress in walking upon it. On shore they sit with the body erect, commonly upon the whole length of their legs, and, in attempting to regain the water, they awkwardly waddle forward in the same position; and, if by any interruption they happen to fall on their belly, they sprawl with their feet, and flap their short wings as if they were wounded, and may easily be taken by the hand, for they can make no other defence than by striking violently with their sharp-pointed beak. They live upon fish, and it is said, also upon fresh water and sea-weeds. They are generally very fat and heavy in proportion to their size.

The females generally build their nests in the holes of the rocky precipices which overhang the sea-shores; and those which breed on lakes, make theirs of withered reeds and rushes, &c., and fix it among the growing stalks of a tuft, or bush, of such like herbage, close by the water’s edge. They lay from two to four eggs at one hatching.

The skins of these birds are dressed with the feathers on, and made into warm beautiful tippets and muffs; the under part only is used for this purpose, and a skin of one of the species sells as high as fourteen shillings.

Great Crested Grebe.—(Greater crested Douker, Car Goose, Ash-coloured Loon, or Gaunt, Colymbus cristatus, LINN.; Le Grêbe huppé, BUFF.)—This bird is the largest of the grebes, weighing about two pounds and a half, and measuring twenty-one inches in length, and thirty in breadth. The bill is about two inches and a quarter long, dark at the tip, and red at the base; the bare stripe, or core, between the bill and eyes, is in the breeding season red, afterwards change to dusky; irides fine pale crimson. The head, in adult males, is furnished with a great quantity of feathers, which form a kind of ruff, surrounding the upper part of the neck; those on each side of the head, behind, are longer than the rest, and stand out like ears: this ruff is of a bright ferruginous colour, edged on the under side with black. The upper parts of the plumage are of a sooty or mouse-coloured brown; the under parts of a glossy or silvery white; the inner ridge of the wing is white; the secondaries of the same colour, forming an oblique bar across the wing when closed: the outsides of the legs are dusky, the inside and toes of a pale green.

This species is common in the fens and lakes in various parts of England, where they breed and rear their young. The female conceals her nest among the flags and reeds which grow in the water, upon which it is said to float, and that she hatches her eggs amidst the moisture which oozes through it. It is made of various kinds of dried fibres, stalks, and leaves of water plants, and (Pennant says) the roots of bugbane, stalks of water-lily, pond-weed, and water-violet; and he asserts, that when it happens to be blown from among the reeds, it floats about upon the surface of the open water.

These birds are met with in almost every lake in the northern parts of Europe, as far as Iceland, and southward to the Mediterranean; they are also found in various parts of America.

Tippet Grebe, Greater Dabchick, or Greater Loon.—(Colymbus urinator, LINN. Le Grêbe, BUFF.)—This bird differs from the last only in being somewhat less, in having its neck, in most specimens, striped downward on the sides with narrow lines of dusky and white, and in having no crest.

Modern ornithologists begin to suspect, that the tippet grebe is the female of the great crested grebe, or a young bird of that species, Latham says, “It is with some reluctance, that we pen our doubts concerning the identity of this, as a species, at least as being distinct from the great crested grebe, in contradiction to what former authors have recorded on the subject. It is certain that the last-named bird varies exceedingly at different periods of life; and we are likewise as certain, that the birds which have been pointed out to us as the Geneva grebes, have been no other than young ones of the great crested, not having yet attained the crest; and whoever will compare Brisson’s three figures of the birds in question, will find (the crest excepted) that they all exactly coincide, allowing for their different periods of ages.”

Eared Grebe.—This bird measures about twelve inches in length, and twenty two from tip to tip of the wings. The bill is black, inclining to red towards the base, rather slender, nearly an inch long, and slightly bent upwards at the point, lore and irides red; the head is thickly set and enlarged with feathers of a sooty black colour, except two large loose and spreading orange-coloured tufts, which take their rise behind each eye, flow backwards, and nearly meet at their tips, the neck and upper parts of the plumage are black, the under parts of a glossy white; the sides a rusty chestnut colour; legs greenish black. The male and female are nearly alike, only the latter is not furnished or puffed up about the head with such a quantity of feathers.

This species is not numerous in the British isles. Pennant says they inhabit and breed in the fens near Spalding in Lincolnshire, and that the female makes a nest not unlike that of the crested grebe, and lays four or five small white eggs. The eared grebe is found in the northern regions of Europe, as far as Iceland, and also met with in southern climates. The circumnavigator Bougainville says, it is called the “Diver with spectacles,” in the Falkland Islands.

Dusky Grebe, Black and White Dabchick, (Colymbus nigricans, LINN. La petite Grêbe BUFF.)—This species measures about an inch less in length, and two in breadth, than the last. The bill is more than an inch long, and of a pale blue colour, with reddish edges; lore and orbits red; irides bright yellow: the upper part of the head, hinder part of the neck, scapulars, and rump, are of a dark sooty or a mouse-coloured brown; the feathers on the back are nearly of the same colour, but glossy, and with greyish edges; the ridge of the wings and secondary quills are white, the rest of the wing dusky. There is a pale spot before each eye; the cheeks and throat are white; the fore part of the neck is light brown; and the breast and belly are white and glossy like satin; the thighs and vent are covered with dirty white downy feathers; the legs are white behind, dusky on the outer side, and pale blue on the inner sides and shins; the toes and webbed membranes are also blue on the upper sides, and dark underneath.

Red-necked Grebe (Colymbus subscristatus, Le Jougris, BUFF.)—This bird measures, from the bill to the rump, seventeen inches; to the end of the toes twenty-one; and weighs eighteen ounces and three quarters. The bill is about two inches long, dusky or horn-coloured on the ridge and tip, and on the sides of it, towards the corners of the mouth, of a reddish yellow; the underside of the lower mandible is also of the latter colour: lore dusky; irides dark hazel; the cheeks and throat are of a dirty or greyish white; the upper part of the head is black, with a greyish cast, and the feathers are lengthened on each side, on a line with the eyes backward, so as to look like a pair of rounded ears—these it can raise or depress at pleasure: the fore part and sides of the neck are of a dingy brown, mixed with feathers of a bright rusty red; the upper parts of the plumage are of a darkish mouse-coloured brown, lightest on the wing-coverts, deepest on the scapulars and rump, and edged with grey on the shoulders; the under parts are of a glossy white, like satin, mottled with indistinct brownish spots: primary quills brownish tawny, with dark-coloured tips; secondaries white: outer sides of the legs dusky, inner sides sallow green; webs of the outer toes flesh colour, middle ones redder, and the inner ones orange.

Pennant supposes the red-necked grebe to be only a variety of the great crested grebe; but Latham, who has been furnished with several specimens, is of opinion that it is a distinct species. He describes the adult males in full feather, as having their necks of an uniform reddish chestnut; and the younger birds, when they have not obtained their full plumage, to be only partially spotted on their necks with that colour.

Little Grebe, Dab-chick, Small Doucher, Dipper, or Didapper (Colymbus minutus, LINN.; Le Castagneaux, BUFF.)—This is the least of the grebe tribe, weighing only between six and seven ounces, and measuring, to the rump, ten inches, to the end of the toes thirteen, and about sixteen from tip to tip of the wings. The bill is scarcely an inch long, of a dusky reddish colour; irides hazel; the head is thickly clothed with a downy kind of soft feathers, which it can puff up to a great size, or lay down flat at pleasure; the cheeks are mostly of a bay colour, fading towards the chin and throat into a yellowish white. The neck, breast, and all the upper parts of the plumage, are of a brown or chestnut colour, tinged with red, lightest on the rump: the belly is white, clouded with ash-colour, mixed with red: thighs and vent grey: greater quills dark brown; the lesser white on their inner webs: legs dirty olive green.

The little grebe is a true aquatic, for it seldom quits the water, nor ventures beyond the sedgy margins of the lake where it has taken up its abode. It is a most excellent diver, and can remain a long while under water, in pursuit of its prey, or to shun danger. It is found in almost every lake, and sometimes upon rivers, but seldom goes out to sea. Its food is of the same kind, and its habits much the same as those of the other grebes.

This species of the grebe is an inhabitant of both Europe and America.

Black-chin grebe.—This bird is described as being larger than the last. Chin black; forepart of the neck ferruginous; hinder part mixed with dusky; belly cinereous and silver intermixed. Inhabits Tiree, one of the Hebrides.—Latham.

GREEDY, a. Ravenous, voracious, hungry; eager.

GREEN, a. Having a colour formed by compounding blue and yellow; flourishing, fresh; new, fresh, as a green wound; unripe, immature, young.

GREEN, s. One of the seven original colours; a grassy plain.

To dye green.—Boil your stuff to a very rich yellow, in turmeric, lift it, and add near a teaspoonful of best madder; boil it for five minutes, and draw what you want for the first shade; add a teaspoonful and a half of madder, and boil for the same length of time, and for as many shades as you want; follow the same plan to four or five shades; wash them well in water, then in urine, as in the other recipes. Wring them and green them, one by one, in the greening-vat; beginning with the lightest, which will green in a very few minutes. You will destroy the greens if they take too much of the blue: you must attend them closely till you finish. These are the richest of all greens, and fast colours. The lightest of them, or the next, are used for the green rail and September-green fox. If you want your greens finer, put less madder, and do not boil so long; you must here be guided by your eye.—Old Recipe.

GREEN, v. To make green.

GREENFINCH, s. A small bird.

GREENSHANKED GODWIT, or GREENLEGGED HORSEMAN, (Scolopax glottis, LINN.; La Barge variée, BUFF.), s.

The greenshank is of a slender and elegant shape, and its weight small in proportion to its length and dimensions, being only about six ounces; although it measures from the tip of its beak to the end of its tail fourteen inches, and to the toes twenty, and from tip to tip of the wings twenty-five. The bill is about two inches and a half long, straight and slender: the upper mandible black; the under reddish at its base. The upper parts of its plumage are pale brownish ash colour; but each feather is marked down the shaft with glossy bronze brown; the under parts, and rump, are of a pure white: a whitish streak passes over each eye; the quill-feathers are dusky, plain on the outer webs; but the inner ones are speckled with white spots: the tail is white, crossed with dark waved bars: the legs are long; bare about two inches above the knees, and of a dark-green colour: the outer-toe is connected by a membrane to the middle one, as far as the first joint.

This species is not numerous in England, but they appear in small flocks in the winter season, on the sea-shores and the adjacent marshes; their summer residence is in the northern regions of Russia, Siberia, &c., where they are said to be in great plenty; they are also met with in various parts of both Asia and America. Their flesh, like all the rest of this genus, is well flavoured, and esteemed good eating.—Bewick.

GREGARIOUS, a. Going in flocks or herds.

GREYHOUND, s. A tall fleet dog that chases by sight. Of this species the varieties are numerous, and are generally named after the countries to which they originally belong.

The Irish greyhound.—(Canis Graius Hibernicus, RAY.)—This is one of the largest of the canine race, with an air at once beautiful, striking, and majestic. He has been known to grow to the extraordinary height of four feet, although the general standard is about three feet.

In shape, the Irish greyhound somewhat resembles the common greyhound, only that he is much larger, and more muscular in his formation; clumsy in all his different parts, and is quite unserviceable for hunting either the stag, fox, or hare. His chief use, in former times, was in clearing the country of wolves and wild boars, for which his great size and strength peculiarly adapted him.

The colour of the Irish greyhound is a pale cinnamon or fawn. His aspect is mild, and his disposition gentle and peaceable. It is said he is greatly an overmatch for either the mastiff or bull dog; and when he fights, he generally seizes his antagonist by the back, and shakes him to death, which his great strength enables him to do with ease.

M. Buffon supposes the great Danish dog to be only a variety of the Irish greyhound: and Mr. Pennant was of opinion that the French matin and the Albian dog were also varieties of the same.

The Irish greyhound is now rarely to be met with even in his native country.

Aylmer Bourke Lambert, Esq., one of the vice-presidents of the Linnæan Society, took the measurement of one of the Marquis of Sligo’s dogs, which was as follows:—“From the point of the nose to the tip of the tail, sixty-one inches; tail, seventeen and a half inches long; from the tip of the nose to the back part of the skull, ten inches; from the back part of the skull to the beginning of the tail, thirty-three inches; from the toe to the top of the foreshoulder, twenty-eight inches and a half; length of the leg sixteen inches; from the top of the hind toes to the hind shoulders, thirteen inches; from the point of the nose to the eye, four inches and a half; the ears, six inches long; round the widest part of the belly, (about three inches from the forelegs,) thirty-five inches; twenty-six inches round the hinder part, close to the hind legs; the hair short and smooth; the colour of some brown and white, of others black and white.”

They seemed good-tempered animals, but, from the accounts Mr. Lambert received, it is obvious that they must have degenerated, particularly in point of size.

Dr. Goldsmith says he has seen a dozen of these dogs, and assures us the largest was about four feet high, and as tall as a calf of a year old.

Scottish Highland Greyhound or Wolf Dog, (Canis Caledonius.)—This is a large and powerful dog, nearly equal in size to the Irish greyhound. His general aspect is commanding and fierce; his head is long, and muzzle rather sharp; his ears pendulous, but not long; his eyes large, keen, and penetrating, half concealed among the long, stiff, bristly hair with which his face is covered; his body is very strong and muscular, deep-chested, tapering towards the loins, and his back slightly arched; his hind-quarters are furnished with large prominent muscles; and his legs are long, strongboned, and straight,—a combination of qualities which gives him that speed and long duration in the chase for which he is so eminently distinguished. His hair is shaggy and wiry, of a reddish colour, mixed with white: his tail is rough, which he carries somewhat in the manner of a stag-hound, but not quite so erect.

This is the dog formerly used by the highland chieftains of Scotland in their grand hunting parties, and is in all probability the same noble dog used in the time of Ossian.

The Scotch Highland greyhound will either hunt in packs or singly.

The Russian Greyhound, (Canis Graius Borealis.)—This is a large and powerful dog, nearly equal in strength to the Irish greyhound, which he also resembles in shape; his hair is long and bushy, and his tail forms a spiral curl, but which in the chase stands nearly straight behind him. The colour of the Russian greyhound is generally of a dark umber brown, but sometimes black: his coat is rough and shaggy.

When the Russian greyhound loses sight of the hare, he runs by the scent. Indeed, when parties go out a coursing, this dog even endeavours to find game. He is a very powerful animal, and is frequently used either in small packs, or with other dogs, to hunt the wild boar, deer, or wolf, the latter of which a good hound will kill singlehanded. But it is the deer principally that he hunts. When used in coursing, he is slipped in the same manner as is practised in this country.

The Scotch Greyhound, (Canis Graius Scotius.)—This dog, in point of form, is similar in all respects to the common grey-hound, differing only in its being of a larger size, and the hair being wiry, in place of that beautiful sleekness which distinguishes the coat of the other. Their colour for the most part is of a reddish brown or sandy hue, although they are sometimes to be met with quite black. I saw some powerful animals of this description in the north of Ireland, in possession of the small farmers and peasants of the mountainous districts. They are said to be the only dogs which are capable of catching the hares which inhabit those mountain ranges,—the common greyhound wanting strength for such a laborious chace. These dogs in Ireland are almost universally dark iron grey, with very strong grizzly hair, and are much superior in many respects to any I have seen in Scotland. I remark a peculiarity in those Irish hounds, which was that of having very small but extremely brilliant and penetrating hazel-coloured eyes; their teeth were also very strong and long.

We are informed by Topsel, that the dog was used for tracing thieves in Scotland, and also on the borders of England, and that he had an excellent sense of smelling. Even at the present day he has the sense in a more acute state than the common greyhound; and it is probable that in early times he was still more distinguished by an active power of scent.

The Italian Greyhound, (Canis Graius Italianus.)—Is about half the size of the common greyhound, and is perfectly similar in form. His shape is exquisitely beautiful, and he has a most delicate appearance. The general colour of this handsome dog is a pale mouse brown, sable, or white. The skin is very sleek, and the hair extremely fine and short. He does not thrive well in Great Britain, the climate being too cold for his delicate constitution.

The Italian greyhound is too small to have sufficient speed for taking a hare, and is in consequence never employed in the chace, his principal use being an attendant on the great. In Italy, men of rank are frequently seen either walking or riding followed by several of these dogs.

Turkish Greyhound, (Canis Egyptius, LINN.)—This is a diminutive variety of the greyhound, probably reduced to its smallest size from the influence of climate. It is little more than half the bulk of the Italian greyhound, and like the same animal, both in this country and in Italy, is an attendant on people of rank, and usually kept as a pet.

The Turkish greyhound is quite naked, with only a few scattered hairs on its tail. The colour of the skin is leaden or black, and has all the appearance of leather. His ears are long and erect. This dog is said to possess great attachment to his master. We have heard of one which belonged to a pacha who was beheaded, that laid itself down on the body of his murdered master and expired.

It is said that the greyhound of Great Britain when taken to Turkey, quickly degenerates, and becomes a poor spiritless animal, without the least desire for sporting. This is not peculiar to the greyhound, but extends to all dogs brought from temperate climates.

Sonnini, who travelled through the Ottoman empire, mentions that he endeavoured by every means in his power to ascertain whether this singular dog was really a native of Turkey, but that he had sought in vain for it in that country. He further remarks, that it is not in the temperate climate of Turkey that dogs lose their hair, nor even under the burning sun of Egypt.

* * * * *

The breeding of the greyhound is recommended to be from the well tried and best bitches, as an indifferent dog was supposed from such a cross, to get better whelps than if the excellence was inverted, and the bitch but tolerable; the surest way to have the whelps excellent, is to have both sire and dam good, and not to exceed four years old; if any inequality in their age, it is recommended to be on the bitch’s side, provided the dog be young.—Brown.

GRIG, s. A small eel.

GRIMALKIN, s. A cat.

GRIN, v. To set the teeth together, and withdraw the lips; to fix the teeth as in anguish.

GRIPE, v. To hold with the fingers closed; to catch eagerly; to seize; to clutch.

GRISTLE, s. A cartilage.

GRISTLY, a. Cartilaginous.

GRIT, s. The coarse part of meal; oats husked, or coarsely ground; sand; rough hard particles; a kind of fish.

GRIZZLE, s. A mixture of white and black; grey.

GRIZZLED, a. Interspersed with grey.

GROAT, s. A piece valued at fourpence; groats, oats that have the hulls taken off.

GROGGINESS, s. A disease incident to horses.

The peculiar knuckling over of the fetlock joint, and tottering of the whole of the foreleg, known by the name of grogginess, and which is so often seen in old and over-worked horses, is seldom an affection of either the fetlock or the pastern-joints simply, although these have their full share in the mischief that has been produced by tasking the poor animal beyond his strength. Sometimes it is difficult to fix on any particular joint; at others, it seems to be traced to a joint deep in the foot, where the flexor tendon runs over the navicular bone. It seems oftenest to be a want of power in the ligaments of the joints generally, produced by frequent and severe sprains, or by ill-judged and cruel exertion; and, in the majority of cases, admits of no remedy; especially as dissection often discovers ulceration within the joints, and of the membrane which lines the cartilage, and even of the cartilage itself, which it was impossible to reach or to remove.

GROOM, s. A servant that takes care of the stable.

GROOVE, s. A deep cavern or hollow; a channel or hollow cut with a tool.

GROSS, a. Thick, corpulent; inelegant; coarse, rough, opposite to delicate.

GROUND-BAIT, s. A bait made of barley or malt boiled, thrown into the place where fish are to be collected.

GROUNDLING, s. A fish which keeps at the bottom of the water.

GROUSE, s. A kind of fowl, a heathcock.

The Wood Grouse, Cock of the Wood, or Capercalzie.—(Tetrao urogallus, LINN. Legrand Coq de Bruyère, BUFF.)—This bird is as large as the turkey, is about two feet nine inches in length, and weighs from twelve to fifteen pounds. The bill is very strong, convex, and of a horn colour; over each eye there is a naked skin, of a bright red colour; the eyes are hazel; the nostrils are small, and almost hid under a covering of short feathers, which extend under the throat, and are there much longer than the rest, and of a black colour; the head and neck are elegantly marked with small transverse lines of black and grey, as are also the back and wings, but more irregularly; the breast is black, richly glossed with green on the upper part, and mixed with a few white feathers on the belly and thighs; the sides are marked like the neck, the tail consists of eighteen feathers, which are black, those on the sides are marked with a few white spots; the legs are very stout, and covered with brown feathers; the toes are furnished on each side with a strong pectinated membrane. The female is considerably less than the male, and differs from him greatly in her colours; her throat is red; the transverse bars on the head, neck, and back, are red and black; the breast is of a pale orange colour; belly barred with orange and black, the top of each feather white; the back and wings are mottled with reddish brown and black; the scapulars tipped with white; the tail is of a deep rust colour, barred with black, and tipped with white.

This beautiful kind is found chiefly in high mountainous regions, and is very rare in Great Britain. Mr. Pennant mentions one, as an uncommon instance, which was shot near Inverness. It was formerly met with in Ireland, but is now supposed to be extinct there. In Russia, Sweden, and other northern countries, it is very common: it lives in the forests of pine with which those countries abound, and feeds on the cones of fir trees, which, at some seasons, give an unpleasant flavour to its flesh, so as to render it unfit for the table; it likewise eats various kinds of plants and berries, particularly the juniper. Early in the spring the season for pairing commences; during this period the cock places himself on an eminence, where he displays a variety of pleasing attitudes; the feathers on his head stand erect, his neck swells, his tail is displayed, and his wings trail almost on the ground; his eyes sparkle, and the scarlet patch on each side of his head assumes a deeper dye; at the same time he utters his well-known cry, which has been compared to the sound produced by the whetting of a scythe; it may be heard at a considerable distance, and never fails to draw round him his faithful mates. The female lays from eight to sixteen eggs, which are white, spotted with yellow, and larger than those of the common hen: for this purpose she chooses some secret spot, where she can sit in security: she covers her eggs carefully over with leaves, when she is under the necessity of leaving them in search of food. The young follow the hen as soon as they are hatched, sometimes with part of the shell attached to them.

The Black Grouse, Black Game, or Black Cock.—(Tetrao Tetrix, LINN.; Le Coq de Bruyère à queue fourchue, BUFF.)—This bird, though not larger than the common hen, weighs nearly four pounds: its length is about one foot ten inches, breadth two feet nine. The bill is black, the eyes dark blue; below each eye there is a spot of dirty white colour, and above a larger one, of a bright scarlet, which extends almost to the top of the head; the general colour of the plumage is a deep black, richly glossed with blue on the neck and rump; the lesser wing coverts are dusky brown; the greater are white, which extends to the ridge of the wing, forming a spot of that colour on the shoulder when the wing is closed; the quills are brown, the lower parts and tips of the secondaries are white, forming a bar of white across the wing; there is likewise a spot of white on the bastard wing; the feathers of the tail are almost square at the ends, and, when spread out, form a curve on each side; the under tail coverts are of a pure white; the legs and thighs are of a dark brown colour, mottled with white; the toes are toothed on the edges like those of former species. In some of our specimens the nostrils were thickly covered with feathers, whilst in others they were quite bare, probably owing to the different ages of the birds.

These birds, like the former, are found chiefly in the high situations in the northern parts of our island; they are common in Russia, Siberia, and other northern countries: they feed on various kinds of berries and other fruits, the produce of wild and mountainous places: in summer they frequently come down from their lofty situations for the sake of feeding on corn. They do not pair, but, on the return of spring, the males assemble in great numbers at their accustomed resorts, on the tops of the high and heathy mountains, when the contest for superiority commences, and continues with great bitterness till the vanquished are put to flight: the victors, being left in possession of the field, place themselves on an eminence, clap their wings, and with loud cries give notice to their females, who immediately resort to the spot. It is said that each cock has two or three hens, which seem particularly attached to him. The female is about one-third less than the male, and differs from him considerably in colour, her tail is likewise much less forked. She makes an artless nest on the ground, where she lays six or eight eggs of a yellowish colour, with freckles and spots of a rusty brown. The young cocks, at first, resemble the mother, and do not acquire their male garb till towards the end of autumn, when the plumage gradually changes to a deeper colour, and assumes that of a bluish black, which it afterwards retains.

Red Grouse, Red Game, Gorcock or Moorcock.—(Tetrao Scoticus, LINN.; L’Altagas, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is fifteen inches; the weight about nineteen ounces. The bill is black; the eyes hazel; the nostrils shaded with small red and black feathers; at the base of the lower bill there is a white spot on each side; the throat is red: each eye is arched with a large naked spot, of a bright scarlet colour; the whole upper part of the body is beautifully mottled with deep red and black, which gives it the appearance of tortoise-shell; the breast and belly are of a purplish hue, crossed with small dusky lines; the tail consists of sixteen feathers of equal length, the four middlemost barred with red, the others black; the quills are dusky; the legs are clothed with soft white feathers down to the claws, which are strong, and of a light colour. The female is somewhat less; the naked skin above each eye is not so conspicuous, and the colours of her plumage in general are much lighter than those of the male.

This bird is found in great plenty in the wild, heathy, and mountainous tracts in the northern counties of England: it is likewise common in Wales and the Highlands of Scotland. Mr. Pennant supposes it to be peculiar to Britain; those found in the mountainous parts of France, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere, as mentioned by M. Buffon, are very probably varieties of this kind, and no doubt would breed with it. It is to be wished that attempts were more frequently made to introduce a greater variety of these useful birds into this country, to stock our waste and barren moors with a rich fund of delicate and wholesome food; but till the legislature shall alter or abrogate our very unequal and injudicious game laws, there hardly remains a single hope for the preservation of such birds of this species as we now have.

Red grouse pair in spring; the female lays eight or ten eggs on the ground. The young ones follow the hen the whole summer; as soon as they have attained their full size, they unite in flocks of forty or fifty, and are then exceedingly shy and wild.

White Grouse, White Game or Ptarmigan.—(Tetrao Lagopus, LINN.; La Lagopéde, BUFF.)—This bird is nearly the same size as the red grouse. Its bill is black; the upper parts of its body are of a pale brown or ash colour, mottled with small dusky spots and bars; the bars on the head and neck are somewhat broader, and are mixed with white; the under parts are white, as are also the wings, excepting the shafts of the quills, which are black. This is its summer dress, which in winter is changed to a pure white, excepting that in the male there is a black line between the cill and the eye. The tail consists of sixteen feathers; the two middle ones are ash-coloured in summer and white in winter; the next two are slightly marked with white near the ends; the rest are wholly black; the upper tail coverts are long, and almost cover the tail. The white grouse is fond of lofty situations, where it braves the severest cold; it is found in most of the northern parts of Europe, even as far as Greenland. In this country it is to be met with on the summits of some of our highest hills, chiefly in the Highlands of Scotland, in the Hebrides and Orkneys, and sometimes, but rarely, on the lofty hills of Cumberland and Wales. Buffon, speaking of this bird, says that it avoids the solar heat, and prefers the biting frosts on the tops of mountains; for as the snow melts on the sides of the mountains, it constantly ascends till it gains the summit, where it forms holes and burrows in the snow. They pair at the same time as the red grouse; the female lays eight or ten eggs, which are white spotted with brown. She makes no nest, but deposits them on the ground. In winter they fly in flocks, and are so little accustomed to the sight of man, that they are easily shot or taken in a snare. They feed on the wild productions of the hills, which sometimes give the flesh a bitter but not unpalatable taste; it is dark-coloured, and, according to M. Buffon, has somewhat the flavour of the hare.

* * * * *

Hunting for grouse during the basking hour of the day, is rigidly prohibited by all gentlemen who compile sporting directories; and yet every shooter knows, that at these proscribed hours himself is commonly on the moors. Morning and evening, when the birds are on foot in search of food, is undoubtedly preferable to the duller portion of the day, when they are accustomed to indulge in a siesta. But, generally, some considerable distance must be travelled before the sportsman can reach his beat from his quarters. The morning is consumed on horseback or in the shooting-cart; the same road must be again accomplished before night; and hence the middle of the day is, of necessity, the portion devoted to pursuit of game.

To find the birds when, satisfied with food, they leave the moor to bask in some favourite haunt, requires both patience and experience; and here the mountain-bred sportsman proves his superiority over the less-practised shooter. The packs then lie closely, and occupy a small surface on some sunny brow or sheltered hollow. The best nosed dogs will pass within a few yards, and not acknowledge them; and patient hunting, with every advantage of the wind, must be employed to enable the sportsman to find grouse at this dull hour.

But if close and judicious hunting be necessary, the places to be beaten are comparatively few, and the sportsman’s eye readily detects the spot where the pack is sure to be discovered. He leaves the open feeding-grounds for heathery knowes and sheltered valleys; and while the uninitiated wearies his dogs in vain over the hill-side, where the birds, hours before, might have been expected, the older sportsman profits by his experience, and seldom fails in discovering the dell or hillock, where, in fancied security, the indolent pack is reposing.—Bewick—Wild Sports.

GRUB, s. A small worm that eats holes in bodies; a thick short man.

GRUEL, s. Food made by boiling oatmeal in water.

Gruel is a useful drink for horses on many occasions, and, when made carefully, sweetened with treacle or sugar, and sometimes seasoned with salt, they will often drink it, and save the trouble of drenching. It is a good vehicle for such medicines as are of a stimulating or acrimonious nature, such as oil of turpentine. Gruel is made either with oatmeal or grits, barley meal or pearl barley, fine wheat flour or arrow root; it may be made also with sago, salep or tapioca; either of these to be boiled in water, and, for some purposes, in milk and broth.

Gruel is often made merely by stirring some oatmeal into warm water, but it is better when boiled: and when grits or pearl barley are employed, it should be boiled a short time, and the first water thrown away; the gruel will then be free from an unpleasant taste which these substances contract by keeping: when they are first crushed or bruised, the gruel is richer, and more expeditiously made. Gruel is a useful restorative for weak or convalescent horses, being very nutritious and easy of digestion; perhaps nothing is more nutritious than wheat flour gruel made with milk and sweetened with sugar. In India it is a common practice to give horses strong broths, thickened with grain or flour, and seasoned with pepper or other spices, when they work hard, or as a restorative cordial. Infusion of malt makes a good nutritive drink for horses; but good sweet grits make an excellent gruel. Oatmeal is sometimes musty, and gruel made with it has often some degree of bitterness. When gruel is given as a cordial restorative after hard work, a little beer and ginger may, on some occasions, be added. Horses are very nice in their drinking, therefore the gruel should be made in a clean saucepan, free from the smell of meat, smoke, or fat. For some purposes, or where it is inconvenient to boil the gruel, a little oat, barley, or wheat meal, may be stirred into warm or cold water. This in Ireland is termed a white drink.—White.

GRUNT, v. To murmur like a hog.

GRUNTER, s. A kind of fish.

GUAIACUM, s. A physical wood; lignum vitæ.

A resinous looking substance, extracted from a very dense wood of a tree growing in the West Indies, called Guaiacum officinale. It is little used in veterinary prescriptions.—Ure.

GUDGEON, s. A small fish of the carp kind, found in brooks and rivers.

GUERNSEY PARTRIDGE (Perdrix rufa, RAY), s.

This bird is rather larger than the common species. Bill, irides, and legs red; the upper part of the head is red-brown; greyish on the forehead; chin and throat white, encircled with black; over each eye a band of white; fore part and sides of the neck cinereous, spotted with black; back, wings, and rump, grey-brown; breast pale ash-colour; belly rufous; sides marked with linear streaks of black, white, and orange; the tail composed of sixteen feathers of a rufous-colour, except the six middle ones, which are more or less grey-brown.

The habits of this species differ somewhat from the common partridge. This frequently perches on a tree, and will breed in confinement, which the other is never known to do.

Mr. Daniel says that they are now plentiful near Oxford, the Marquis of Hertford having imported many thousand eggs, which were hatched under hens, and liberated; and so early as 1777, he says he saw a covey, consisting of fourteen of these birds, several of which he shot; many coveys may be found in the neighbourhood of Ipswich, on preserved manors, where they seem to prefer the waste heathy ground to corn-fields, the favourite haunts of the common species.

It is a curious fact, that the Guernsey partridge should be so much changed in its nature by passing the British Channel from Picardy to Kent, not above the third of a degree in difference of latitude, and yet, prolific as they are on the south side of the Channel, they become less inclined to propagation, even in the same sort of soil, in the north, which has rendered every exertion to naturalise them to any extent ineffectual.

This species is very plentiful in Spain and Portugal, frequenting the vineyards, especially in winter. Bechstein informs us that they have been found in Austria and Bohemia, where, however, they are, as with us, very rare in a wild state. Woody and mountainous countries, he adds, seem to please them more than the plains. Wheat and corn of all sorts, with the leaves of several plants, and insects in turn, furnish them with their food; they never become so familiar as the quail, but sufficiently so to breed in the aviary.

Why this should be called Guernsey partridge we cannot imagine, since we are credibly informed it is very rare in that island. The common species breed there, but are scarce; whether this ever bred there is uncertain, though they are known to breed in the island of Jersey. It is also found in various parts of Asia and Africa, and is called by the name of the Red-legged Partridge.—Montagu.

GUINEA-HEN, s. A small Indian hen.

The Pintada, or Guinea Hen, has been said to unite the character and properties of the pheasant and the turkey. It is about the size of the common hen, but standing high upon its legs gives it the appearance of a larger size. The back is round, with the tail turned downwards, like the partridge. It is an active, restless, and courageous bird, and will even attack the turkey, although so much above its size. The Guinea fowls assimilate perfectly with the common species, in habits and in kinds of food; but have this peculiarity, that the cocks and hens are so nearly alike, it is difficult to distinguish them. They have also a peculiar gait and cry, or chuckling. The head is covered with a kind of casque, with wattles under the bill, and the whole plumage is either black or dark grey, speckled with regular and uniform white spots. The pintada is generally supposed to be a native of Guinea, whence its additional name; but it is in equal plenty in America. In those countries it perches on trees, and, in a wild state, makes its nest in the holes of the palm tree. It is gregarious, and often found in large flocks. Like the peacock, it may be said to be universally domesticated.

There is sometimes, but not invariably, a distinction of colour in certain parts, between the cock and hen pintada; the manner and gait of the cock, however, soon distinguish him. However long domesticated, these birds retain some part of their original wild habits, and will stray in search of a place in which to drop their eggs, without any apparent solicitude as to their security. They lay an abundance of eggs, smaller than those of the common hen, speckled, resembling wild, rather than common, eggs. It sometimes happens that they are everlasting layers, in which case, and indeed generally, it is most profitable to hatch pintadas under a common hen, which will cover an additional number of those small eggs. The chicks are extremely tender, and should not be hatched too early in the spring; a sudden change of the wind in March, to the north-east, has destroyed many a brood of them.—Moubray.

GUINEA-PIG, s. A small animal with a pig’s snout.

GULF, s. A bay, an opening into land; an abyss, an immeasurable depth; a whirlpool; a sucking eddy.

GULL (Larus canus, LINN.), s. A sea bird.

This species weighs fifteen or sixteen ounces; length about seventeen inches; bill yellow; irides hazel. The head, neck, tail, and under parts of the body, white; the back, scapulars, and wing coverts, ash-colour—the former tipped with white; the primary quills black; the two or three first have a spot of white across the ends, but the tips are black—the rest are tipped with white; the secondaries, like the back, tipped with white; legs dull white, or tinged with green.

This is one of the most plentiful species found on our coast. They breed upon the ledges of the rocks close to the sea-shore, sometimes not far above the water.

The eggs are two or three in number, of a dull olive-brown, blotched with dusky, the size of a small hen’s. When disturbed they are exceedingly clamorous, and not much alarmed by being shot at. They are frequently seen in winter, at a considerable distance from the coast, and in severe weather they flock with the rooks. They follow the plough for the sake of the larvæ of the chaffer (Scarabæus melolontha), and of worms. The young are brown, mottled with white, the tail having a brown bar near the end; the white commences in the second year, and the spots on the wing and the bar on the tail gradually disappear.—Montagu.

GULLET, s. The throat, the meat-pipe.

GUM, s. A vegetable substance, differing from a resin in being more viscid, and dissolving in aqueous menstruums; the fleshy covering which contains the teeth.

GUMMY, a. Consisting of gum, of the nature of gum; overgrown with gum; soft, flaccid.

GUN, s. The general name of fire-arms; the instrument by which shot is discharged by fire.

Agilis. You seem very decided as to your opinion of the relative value between London-made guns, and those at a much less price manufactured in the country. In what qualities do you suppose the advantages to consist, and how do you prove these qualities may not exist as well in a country as a London-made gun? Pray state your opinion at length. I have never heard the matter fully discussed, though I have certainly seen much confidence shown by the advocates of each.

Peritus. The value is derived from four causes: goodness of raw material, temper, close fitting, and adaptation of the several parts to each other, in shape, position, and substance, as fittest to fulfil the duties for which they are separately and collectively intended, in the production or convenience, permanence, and effect.

Let us consider this in the same light in which we should view any other branch of merchandise; first, it must be conceded, that wherever the best maker may be, there the highest quality of produce will be found; it is likely, therefore, that the material offered to the London maker will be superior to that brought for sale to the comparatively small consumer (in price if not in quantity) in the country; the well-known competition existing between all London makers, renders it probable that he will use his utmost exertions to secure this advantage in the highest degree. Secondly: with regard to temper there are two things to be considered, namely, the degree of hardness required to prevent a movement from wearing itself away; and next, with reference to its action upon other parts in contact with it, as in some machines we have wheels bushed with brass to diminish friction. Great tact is requisite in this matter; first, to know the temper required; secondly, to give it. The workman who can effect this, is valuable in proportion to his knowledge; is he likely to remain in the country at low wages, or to become the servant of the highest bidder? Close-fitting: an accurate eye and practised hand are absolutely necessary to effect this, which is a main cause of permanence in a gun-lock, as thereby all parts bear their even proportion of stress, and (the temper and position of all parts being correct) an even wear is the result. But the most practised workman requires an extension of time, in some degree proportionate to the goodness of his work, comparing it with that of others less skilful, and this adds to the price; the London maker can best afford to pay that price.

Lastly, the fitness of the parts for the duties they have to fulfil. It may be said here, that the greater the quantity of material manufactured, the greater degree of knowledge must be attained by the manufacturer. Assuming then that the superiority of material is shown, we have to prove that the cheap manufacturer either cannot, by quantity, obtain such a knowledge of the requisite shape of the parts of a gun, as, when put together, shall make it equal to that of a London maker; or, if in possession of that knowledge, cannot, in the same degree, avail himself of it. Supposing, then, that he does take the pattern of the most approved shape for his guide (a circumstance we find not to be commonly the case), or even in the absence of equal opportunities of comparison, that great spur to improvement, can invent a better shape than others, this can only refer to the handling of the gun; its working, as before shown, depending so much upon material, temper, and putting together, that it possesses the form of goodness only, without the reality; and as well might you expect to procure an article of dress equally convenient, lasting, and fitting, of a country tailor, as that which may be had of a first-rate workman in London, as procure an article of the nature of a gun of the same degree of excellence in the country as in town.

Agilis. Have you not omitted the consideration, that all workmen can work cheaper in the country, from the diminished price of food and house-rent, than in large towns; as also the enormous profits made by London gun-makers?

Peritus. The advantage you here mention, does not come into play—it is a matter of consideration for the workman alone. I would admit it, did I consider that the workman himself was ill-paid, but the contrary is the fact. It has already been conceded, that, although a gun progresses in value as it progresses in price, yet not in an equal ratio, and part of the difference consists in the greater (I might most say undue) pay, in proportion to his labour, which a first-rate workman can procure; and secondly, in the great credit which any one maker may obtain over others from the known excellence of his work: these latter are two little monopolies, and must be paid for while they exist; but it is your business to fix a limit upon this by selecting from the best makers, and procuring the most for your money; and you may be certain, that although large manufactories can be carried on with greater advantage in the country, in circumstances where moderate ability is required, and many hands used, and machinery can also be called into play upon the same terms, yet superior manual dexterity will always overcome the difference of dearness of living and present itself where there is and ever must be the greatest mart, and most continued as well as highest bidders for it; to wit, in that place where the manufacture to be produced is in the highest credit and perfection. And as these two will, therefore, continue to operate upon each other, the demand for guns and the perfection of their manufacture, will draw the best workmen, and they will again produce the most perfect guns: and London will thus continue the best mart for the buyer as well as the seller, until some other city spring up, where the purchasers of the article become more numerous, and the talents of the workmen more appreciated.

* * * * *

That our times should be as far distinguished for increased effect and superior elegance in the formation of fire-arms, as for any other mechanical improvement, will be admitted by all but the most prejudiced of the old school. Antique gunners may still be found, who are obstinate in preferring the flint to the percussion plan. But any person who has suffered the disappointments that the best guns on the former principle will entail upon those who carry them, and particularly in wet and stormy weather, will freely admit the wonderful advantages that simple and effective invention, the copper-cap, confers upon the modern sportsman. The misery entailed upon the man who in rain and storm attempts to load and discharge a flint gun, may be reckoned among the worst upon the human catalogue; and if he who has suffered repeated disappointments of eternal misses and dilatory explosions from a thick flint and a damp pan, tried the simple and elegant improvement now in general use, he would abandon the stone gun for ever.

It has been said that gun-making is only brought to perfection in London, and that the Irish are not able to compete with their English rivals. I am, I confess, decidedly partial to a London gun; and while I admit that I have occasionally met with excellent fire-arms produced by Dublin makers, yet they are, in finish and elegance, generally behind those which one gets from any of the leading artists in the great metropolis. To point to any particular name among the host of London makers, would be absurd. From more than a dozen a person will be certain of obtaining a first-rate implement; and from the Mantons, Purdy, Egg, and many others, guns of the most efficient qualities and beautiful finish will be procured.

* * * * *

Trial between French and English Guns.—We then made trial of some guns of the manufactory, and it may be reasonably supposed the best were selected. I had only brought two of my own, one of which was my coach gun, not more than two feet long, but even this far surpassed those produced by the manufactory. They made some shots at the distance of ninety-eight yards, but did not succeed.

It was afterwards agreed to have a full and fair trial of my guns against the manufactory, and each party was naturally anxious for success. The Poker, or Bonaparte, as the gun is termed, opened the ball, and she threw her shot so exactly, that the French admitted, “une mouche ne pouvoit pas l’echapper.”

Theirs in return failed, after which they assayed about four others. The next was my air gun, at ninety-three yards, against their rifle. I shot within an inch of their mark though it was not fully pumped; the day was extremely sultry, and yet my next shot was still more exact.

The next trial was my double rifle, which was, apparently, greatly in their favour, as the sight to a single rifle is far more accurate. On preparing to reload, I found that, owing to some mistake, the loader and the bullet moulds were either lost or mislaid. However, some bullets were found to fit, and, after loading with powder merely by guess, I made eight shots, each sufficient to pierce through a deer’s head, and one even touched the edge of the white.

We had several other trials both with rifles and air guns, but the result afforded a convincing proof of the superiority of the English manufactures: several bets were made on this occasion, and general Beaumont, the appointed judge, decided impartially in favour of my guns, but, out of respect for the civilities I had received, I ordered a single and double barrelled gun of the best make.

* * * * *

The mounting of their guns at Versailles is certainly excellent, and the carving of their stocks is most beautifully conceived and is capitally executed, but their barrels are not fitted in that workman-like manner which constitutes a striking excellence in the English manufactories. They are also very inferior to my countrymen in the art of browning, and in the construction of their locks.

The manufactory at Versailles was under the patronage of the First Consul, and he frequently ordered the most costly pieces, as presents for foreign princes, or general officers; one gun was produced which was then completing for the Consul, at the price of eight hundred guineas. The sum was certainly very great, but I remember receiving a fowling piece as a present from Lord Rockingham, which cost his lordship four hundred guineas, in consequence of my having killed a sparrow, which had perched on the top of Wentworth house.

* * * * *

Anno 1712, a brass gun was advertised to be shot for, at Hoxton, which was in the shape of a walking cane, might be used either as a gun or pistol, and which contained a telescope, a dial on the head, and a perpetual almanac.

* * * * *

Directions for cleaning guns.—Let your barrels be first washed perfectly clean with cold, and then fill each of them with hot water; which, by the time it has nearly run out at the touch-holes, will accelerate their being wiped dry, as much as though boiling water had been used; and before they have completely discharged the water, stop the muzzles and touch-holes; and after shaking it up and down in the barrels, turn it out at the muzzles, by which means you will effectually stir up and expel any extraneous matter that may have lodged in the bottom of the chambers. To ascertain this, hold them with the touch-holes towards the window, and (with the breechings which I have recommended) you will, by looking into each muzzle, plainly perceive the light in the chamber appearing like one dot surrounded by two (and sometimes three) rings. I have recommended washing guns with cold water, from having found that it always more readily removes the foulness occasioned by the powder, which, from sudden heat, is apt, at first, to dry and adhere more closely to the calibre: whereas, with cold water, it remains in a moist state, and immediately mixes.

In cleansing barrels, a little fine sand may not be amiss, and will generally answer in removing the lead. If hot water should be required for this purpose, the gun may be scoured with it, after having been washed with cold.

Gun-makers generally apply hot water to clean the barrels if much leaded, and afterwards finish with cold; but cold water is best, and the tow being strewed over with steel-filings, will better remove the lead, and at the same time do no injury to the inside polish of the barrel.

Every shooter should have the breeches of his guns taken out at least twice a year. To undo them without springing the barrels, let him use tallow and wax mixed, and anoint the threads; steeping the barrels in warm water before trying to unscrew them; any fault may be easily discovered by thus inspecting the barrels.

* * * * *

If a stupid fellow wedges dry tow into your gun, with the cleaning rod, pour boiling water on it, and the rod may then be turned round and drawn out. I remember this occurred with a large punt-gun, at which I caught four men hauling away most unmercifully, but to no effect; I luckily came by and saved the destruction of the cleaning-rod, if not the injury of the barrel, by suggesting this simple contrivance.

* * * * *

TECHNICAL TERMS USED BY GUN-MAKERS.

Bolts—Pieces of iron, which fasten the barrel to the stock.

Bridle—The polished piece of steel, which caps the tumbler; it is secured by two screws, and also the scear-screw.

Cap—The covering for the worm of the ramrod.

Chain or Swivel—A little catch attached to the neek of the tumbler, which receives the end of the mainspring.

Chamber—Centre tube in breeching. Antechamber is the smaller tube, leading from this to the touch-hole.

Cock-screw—That which fastens the flint.

Cup—The concave at the top of the improved breechings.

Escutcheons, ornamental—Pieces of silver, to prevent bolts from wearing the stock; and also the shield on which the crest and cipher are engraved.

Face of the Hammer—The part which, by coming in contact with the flint, strikes fire.

False Breeching—The part where the nose of the breechings hook in, before the barrels can be laid in the stock.

False Breech-screw—Passes through the stock into the trigger-plate, and screws them together.

Fence—The part between cock and pan, on which is received the solid cock.

Guard—Curved plate to defend the triggers.

Hammer-spring—That on which the hammer is moved.

Hammer-bridle—A part which the tail of the hammer works in.

Heel-plate—The plate with which the butt is tipped.

Jaw—Lips of the cock, to hold the flint.

Lock-plate—Plate to which all the lock is screwed.

Loops—Eyes to receive the bolts that fasten the barrel to the stock.

Mainspring—That spring by which the tumbler is worked with the cock.

Nipple—The iron pillar on which the copper cap of a detonating-gun is placed.

Pipes—Tubes to receive the ramrod.

Rib—Piece of iron which strengthens the barrel, and on which the ramrod rests.

Scroll-guard—An extension from the guard to steady the hand.

Scear—That which catches the tumbler for half or whole cock, and which, being pushed up by the trigger, lets the cock fall.

Scear-spring—The spring which holds the scear in the notches of the tumbler, at half or whole cock.

Side-nail—A screw which fastens on the locks.

Sight—The piece of metal, attached to the end of a gun-barrel, to assist the eye in taking aim at an object.

Spring-cramp—A small instrument for dissecting locks.

Tail—The shoulder of a hammer.

Top-piece—Elevated rib, along which is directed the line of aim.

Trigger-plate—Plate in which the triggers work.

Trigger-springs—Small springs to keep the triggers constantly pressing close to scear.

Tumbler—The moveable centre piece of a lock, which falls with the cock.

Tumbler-screw—The screw which fastens on the cock.

Vent-hole—A small hole at the side of the breeching in detonating-guns, to let out the gas, and lessen the recoil.

Worm—Screw at the end of ramrod.—Hints to Sportsmen—Thornton—Daniel—Hawker—Wild Sports.

GUNPOWDER, s. The powder put into guns to be fired.

Gunpowder is composed of very light charcoal, sulphur, and well refined saltpetre. The powder used by sportsmen in shooting game is generally composed of six parts of saltpetre, one of charcoal, and one of sulphur; but these proportions, as well as the introduction of other ingredients, and the sizes of the grains, are undoubtedly varied by the different manufacturers in the composition of the powders of the same denominations, and are always kept profoundly secret.

The materials are put into a wooden trough, where they are ground together, to render the contact of the nitrous and combustible particles intimate and equal throughout the whole mass. The mixture is occasionally sprinkled with water to form an amalgam, which is afterwards granulated, and to prevent the finer particles of the sulphur and the charcoal from flying off, which would necessarily alter the proportion of the composition. The powder-makers employ more or less time in the operation of grinding, in proportion to the quantity and quality of the saltpetre. When they conceive that the ingredients are properly mixed together, they from the paste form these little grains, which, being dried, obtain the name of gunpowder.

There are two general methods of examining gunpowder, one with regard to its purity, the other with regard to its strength.

Its purity is known by laying two or three little heaps near each other upon white paper, and firing one of them. For if this takes fire readily and the smoke rises upright, without leaving any dross or feculent matter behind, and without burning the paper, or firing the other heaps, it is esteemed a sign that the sulphur and nitre were well purified, that the coal was good, and that the ingredients were thoroughly incorporated together; but if the other heaps also take fire at the same time, it is presumed, that either common salt was mixed with the nitre, or that the coal was not well ground, or the whole mass not well beat or mixed together; and if either the nitre or sulphur be not well purified the paper will be black or spotted.

To determine the strength of powder, dry it perfectly and ascertain how many sheets of paper it will drive the shot through at the distance of ten or twelve yards. In this trial we should be careful to employ the same sized shot in each experiment—the quantity both of the shot and the powder being regulated by exact weight, otherwise we cannot, even in this experiment, arrive to any certainty in comparing the strength of different powders, or of the same powder at different times.

Mr. Daniel, in speaking of gunpowder, gives the following recipe for increasing its strength. We entirely coincide in his opinion that it is quite unnecessary to augment the force of modern gunpowder, and insert the directions rather for the experimentalist than the sportsman.

“The following method of increasing the force of gunpowder one-third in proportion to its original goodness, was discovered by a physician of Fogano, in Tuscany, whose name was Francesco. To every pound of powder add four ounces of quick lime, fresh and well pulverised; let the whole be shaken until the mixture is perfect, and afterwards kept for use in a close stopped vessel. To the chemists is left to decide upon what principle the lime acts in strengthening the powder. The experiment is said to be certain. It is necessary to add, that the powder used in priming must be unmixed with lime. Without artificially augmenting the strength of gunpowder, that made by Messrs. Pigou and Andrews will be found excellent; and it is to be feared, if a gentleman cannot kill with the above, no chemical preparation will much assist his endeavours.”

The concluding observations are taken from a very clever and ingenious work, published many years ago, and entitled “An Essay on Shooting.”

Powder ought to be kept very dry; every degree of moisture injures it. Good powder, however, does not readily imbibe moisture; and, perhaps, there is no greater proof of the bad quality of powder, than its growing damp quickly when exposed to the air. This readiness to become moist, depends upon the saltpetre employed in the composition not having been freed from the common salt it contains in its crude state, and which, in consequence, has a very strong attraction for watery particles.

Powder may acquire a small degree of dampness, and be freed from it again by drying, without much injury to its quality. But if the moisture is considerable, the saltpetre is dissolved, and the intimate mixture of the several ingredients thereby entirely destroyed. Drying powder with too great a heat also injures it; for there is a degree of heat, which, although not sufficient to fire the powder, will yet dissipate the sulphur, and impair the composition by destroying the texture of the grains. The heat of the sun is, perhaps, the greatest it can with safety be exposed to, and, if properly managed, is sufficient for the purpose; when this cannot be had, the heat of a fire, regulated to the same degree, may be employed; and for this end, a heated pewter plate is perhaps as good as anything, because pewter retains so moderate a heat, that there can be little danger of spoiling the powder by producing the consequences before-mentioned.

It is observable that damp powder produces a remarkable foulness in the fowling-piece after firing, much beyond what arises from an equal quantity of dry powder; and this seems to arise from the diminution of the activity of the fire in the explosion.

Unless the sportsman is very particular indeed in the mode of keeping his powder, we would recommend him always to air it and his flask before he takes the field.

Flasks made of copper or tin are much better for keeping powder in than those made of leather, or than small casks; the necks of these should be small, and well stopped with cork.—Wild Sports.

GUNSHOT, s. The reach or range of a gun.

GUNSHOT, a. Made by the shot of a gun.

GUNSMITH, s. A man whose trade is to make guns.

GUNSTICK, s. obs. The rammer.

GUNSTOCK, s. The wood to which the barrel of a gun is fixed. Vide STOCK.

To repair a broken stock.—See then, I first put a little glue between the fractured parts, and then tie them strongly round. Hand me that gimlet. Now we have a hole right through, at right angles with the grasp;—dip that peg in glue, and hand it over to me—so now we have it driven tight in. I let loose the string at one end, and begin to bind the stock with this waxed thread, leaving the glue that has oozed from the sides of the wood to lay hold of the thread—so now it is finished off like a cricket-bat. Let us borrow a small strip of ribband of the hostess, to bind over and prevent our friend’s hand from being stuck to the stock. Enough; I will venture to say that the bandage would remain firm much longer than it will be left there; and though the grasp of the gun is a little thicker, it will not much matter, and it is but a make-shift after all.—Hints to Grown Sportsman.

GURGITTING, s. In falconry, act of suffocation in hawks.

GUST, s. A sudden violent burst of wind.

GUT, s. The long pipe reaching with many convolutions from the stomach to the vent; the stomach, the receptacle of food.

GUT, v. To eviscerate, to draw; to take out the inside.

GWINNIAD, s. The name of a fish.

The gwinniad, although a fish, is not immediately within the list of those that are objects of the angler’s attention, yet it is noticed as being a native of peculiar parts of this country. It is found, according to Pennant, in one of the lakes of Ireland—Lough Neagh, where it is called the pollen; in Lough Maben, in Scotland, where it is termed the vangis; and the Scotch have a tradition, that it was there first introduced by their beauteous queen, the unhappy Mary Stuart.

They are taken in nets, but never by any bait, keeping on the bottom of the lake, and feeding on small shells, and the leaves of the water gladiole, a plant peculiar to these mountain lakes.—Daniel.

GYMNASTIC, a. Relating to athletic exercises.

GYRATION, s. The act of turning any thing round; the ascent of a hawk.

GYRE, s. A circle described by anything going in an orbit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

HAAK, s. A fish.

HACK, v. To turn hackney; to abuse.

HACKLE, s. Raw silk, any filmy substance unspun.

To Prepare Hackles.—First, pick and bunch them, and be careful they are the feathers of old cocks, otherwise they will not be worth a farthing when dyed, as they will all curl in on each edge, and shrivel up in the points. Bunch each colour by themselves, and throw them into a basin of hot water. Take them out one by one, and rub soap on them downwards, dipping them occasionally in the water till you see they are clean; dip them in a weak solution of alum water, and then wash them very well in clean water, and they are done.

Every shade of red will come out of the dye, differing in colour, whether olive or cinnamon. For olives, ground richly in turmeric, and throw into the same liquor the size of a hazel nut of best madder. Boil in that a quarter of an hour, and throw in a small bit of copperas, first lifting out your hackles till the copperas is dissolved, and when the liquor boils, throw in your feathers for an instant, and you have fine olives. Black hackles dyed in this way, become a rich green olive, or dooghadoo. For cinnamons ground richly in turmeric, all red hackles; then put in two teaspoonfuls of cochineal, ground or powdered, boil them in that for a quarter of an hour, then put in one teaspoonful of best brazil dust, and boil for a quarter of an hour, and you have fine cinnamons. Any dirty tawneys, or grizzle hackles may be dyed in this, and it will improve them much. There is a sort of reddish cuckoo hackle that may be dyed in turmeric and madder, as in the olive hackle process, but not to have any copperas. There is also a yellowish white with a black vein in the middle, and edged with black. All whites, natural yellows, or yellowish whites for the drakes. There is a scald whitish cuckoo hackle with very little black in it—have nothing to do with them. All those marked as above should be dyed in the following way:—

Take one chip of young fustic, and two or three seedy sprigs of French weed; boil in this till they come to a faint yellow: draw them, if you wish a bunch of that colour, and if not, put in one pinch of turmeric, and one of madder; boil in this for a quarter of an hour, and I think you will have fine hackles for the drakes. You have no richness from the weed, but when you add the turmeric and madder you have. In every instance except this, I condemn and forbid the dyeing with turmeric and young fustic, as it will ruin every thing that is dyed in it—it gives so bad a colour.

To stain hackles of a fine rich Gold Colour.—Ground strongly in turmeric, then add a tea-spoonful of best madder, boil well for fifteen minutes, and draw them. Add then two spoonfuls more of madder, and boil for the same time, and draw again. Then add three more, and boil as before; and, lastly, add six spoonfuls of madder, and boil for half an hour, and you have four fine shades of gold colours.—Ancient Recipes.

HACKNEY, s. A hired horse; a hireling; any thing let out for hire; a horse of small value used to ride to cover.

HACKNEY, v. To practise in one thing; to accustom to the road.

HADDOCK, s. A sea fish of the cod kind.

The haddock, one of the commonest fishes in the London markets, begins to be in roe in the middle of November, and so continues until the end of January; from that time until May they are thin tailed, and much out of season. The grand shoal of haddocks comes periodically on the Yorkshire coasts.

Fishermen assert, that when the sea is rough, haddocks sink down into the ooze and sand at the bottom, and there shelter themselves until the storm subsides; their reason for this assertion is, that in boisterous weather they take none, and those that are caught immediately after a storm, have their backs covered with mud. The bulk of the haddock is seldom known to exceed fourteen pounds; these are uncommon, and extremely coarse, the best for the table weighing from two to three pounds. The black spot beyond the gills, is the mark which superstition interprets to be the impression left by the finger and thumb of St. Peter, when he took the tribute money out of the mouth of a fish of this species, and which has been ever since that miracle continued to the whole race of haddocks.

The haddock taken on the Irish coasts are much superior to what is found in the English markets. Those of seven or eight pounds weight are preferred to smaller fish, being considered finer and firmer.—Daniel, &c.

HAFT, s. A handle, that part of an instrument that is taken into the hand.

HAGGARD, a. Wild, untamed, irreclaimable; lean; rugged, deformed.

HAGGARD, s. Any thing wild or irreclaimable; a species of hawk.

HAIL, s. Drops of rain frozen in their falling; a provincial name for shot.

HAIR, s. One of the common teguments of the body; a single hair; any thing proverbially small; small filaments issuing out of the pores of the skins of animals, and serving for the most part as a covering. The constituent parts of hair are animal matter, oil, silex, sulphur, carbonate of lime, &c.—Crabbe.

Hair that is most proper, is that taken from a young, healthy, grey, or white stallion, and which is of a pale transparent water-colour; that from the middle of the tail is the best. The hairs should be sorted singly, and the biggest, roundest, and freest from blemishes, made up into small bundles; the next sized hairs, and all that are sound and good, are to be alike sorted and parcelled out; they are then to be laid in clean spring water for twelve hours; after that, washed well, and dried either with bran, or by hanging them in a room where the heat of a fire or sun comes (they must not be placed too near a fire); when dry, they should be again sorted, and the best done up five or six score together, with their root-ends quite equal, and tied round with thread at both ends and in the middle, and should be kept in a dry place. Hair must not touch oil, which will make it hollow and soon decay; it ought to be kept in parchment. Dipping it in water every two or three months, and afterwards slowly drying it, will preserve it for years.

* * * * *

Sorrel, chestnut, or brown-coloured hairs are best for ground angling, especially in muddy waters, as they nearly resemble the colour of the water; white, grey, or darkish white hair, is for clear streams. Some use a pale watery green for weedy rivers in summer. Black will only do for rivers immediately flowing from mosses.

* * * * *

To make the hair grow in horses.—When the surfeit or sharp humour prevents the wound healing, take a piece of fresh butter and boil it in a spoon, to which, add a common charge of gunpowder; mix well, and anoint the part at night; wash off the ointment with vinegar in the morning; repeat this for two or three times.

HAIRCLOTH, s. Stuff made of hair; it is useful in cleansing a horse’s skin of impurities.

It is also assistant to health, that confined dogs should have their hides rubbed every day with a hair cloth, or a wisp of straw; this dislodges the furfuraceous matter of the skin, and prevents its adhesion, which forms the first step to mange: it also assists general circulation, and stands in the stead of exercise. This practice of rubbing would prove an excellent substitute for washing in many cases, particularly where water proves injurious, which it sometimes does to delicate dogs.—Blaine.

HALE, a. Healthy, sound, hearty.

HALF-BRED, s. Any horse not thorough bred; half-bred, imperfect.

HALIBUT, s. A sort of fish.

HALLOO, interj. A word of encouragement when dogs are let loose on their game.

HALLOO, v. To cry as after dogs; to encourage with shouts; to chase with shouts; to call or shout to.

HALM, s. Straw.

HALT, v. To limp, to be lame; to stop in a march.

HALTER, s. A rope to hang malefactors; a cord; a manger rope.

HALTER, v. To bind with a cord; to catch in a noose.

HAMMER, s. The instrument, consisting of a long handle and heavy head, with which any thing is forced or driven; a part of a gun cock.

If a hammer is too hard, the flint will make scarcely any impression on it; and if too soft, it soon becomes dented, like lead; but when of good temper, the impression is moderate, and the sparks, before they are extinguished, pause in the pan, and occasion a whizzing noise.—Hawker.

HAMMER, v. To beat with a hammer; to forge or form with a hammer.

HAMMOCK, s. A swinging bed, generally used in vessels; a hempen cloth bag to sleep on, six feet long and three feet wide.

HAMSTRING, s. The tendon of the ham.

HAMSTRING, v. To lame by cutting the tendon of the ham.

HAND, s. That member of the body which reaches from the wrist to the fingers’ end; measure of four inches; cards held at a game; pressure of the bridle.

HANDER, s. Conveyer in succession; the person who manages the cock when fighting.

HANDFUL, s. As much as the hand can gripe or contain; a small quantity.

HANDGALLOP, s. A slow easy gallop.

HANDGUN, s. obs. A gun wielded by the hand.

HANDLE, s. That part of any thing by which it is held in the hand.

HANDY, a. Ready, dexterous, skilful, convenient.

HANK, s. A skein of thread; a skein of gut containing 100 threads.

HARBOUR, s. A port or haven for shipping; an asylum; a shelter; the lair or haunt of a dog.

HARBOUR, v. To entertain, to shelter, to secure; to trace a deer to cover.

HARDY, a. Brave, stout, daring; strong, hard, firm.

HARE, s. A small quadruped, remarkable for timidity, vigilance, and fecundity.

The generic character of the hare consists in its having two front teeth, both above and below; and the upper pair duplicate, two small interior ones standing behind the others: the forefeet with five, and the hinder with four toes.

These animals live entirely on vegetable food, and are all remarkably timid. They run by a kind of a leaping-pace, and in walking they use their hind feet as far as the heel. Their tails are either very short (called in England scuts), or else they are entirely without.

* * * * *

The Common Hare.—This little animal is found throughout Europe, and indeed in most of the northern parts of the world. Being destitute of weapons of defence, it is endowed by Providence with the passion of fear. Its timidity is known to every one: it is attentive to every alarm, and is, therefore, furnished with ears very long and tubular, which catch the most remote sounds. The eyes are so prominent, as to enable the animal to see both before and behind.

The hare feeds in the evenings, and sleeps in his form during the day; and as he generally lies on the ground, he has the feet protected both above and below, with a thick covering of hair. In a moonlight evening, many of them may frequently be seen sporting together, leaping about and pursuing each other: but the least noise alarms them, and they then scamper off, each in a different direction. Their pace is a kind of gallop, or quick succession of leaps; and they are extremely swift, particularly in ascending higher grounds, to which, when pursued, they generally have recourse, here their large and strong hind legs are of singular use to them. In northern regions, where, on descent of the winter’s snow, they would, were their summer fur to remain, be rendered particularly conspicuous to animals of prey, they change in the autumn their yellow grey dress, for one perfectly white; and are thus enabled, in a great measure, to elude their enemies.

In more temperate regions, they choose in winter a form exposed to the south, to obtain all the possible warmth of that season: and in summer, when they are desirous of shunning the hot rays of the sun, they change this for one with a northerly aspect: but in both cases they have the instinct of generally fixing upon a place where the immediately surrounding objects are nearly the colour of their own bodies.

In one hare that a gentleman watched, as soon as the dogs were heard, though at the distance of nearly a mile, she rose from her form, swam across a rivulet, then lay down among the bushes on the other side, and by this means evaded the scent of the hounds. When a hare has been chased for a considerable length of time, she will sometimes push another from its seat, and lie down there herself. When hard pressed, she will mingle with a flock of sheep, run up an old wall, and conceal herself among the grass on the top of it, or cross a river several times at small distances. She never runs in a line directly forward, but constantly doubles about, which frequently throws the dogs out of the scent; and she generally goes against the wind. It is extremely remarkable that hares, however frequently pursued by the dogs, seldom leave the place where they were brought forth, or that in which they usually sit; and it is a very common thing to find them after a long and severe chase, in the same place the following day.

The females have not so much strength and agility as the males; they are, consequently, more timid, and never suffer the dogs to approach them so near, before they rise as the males. They are likewise said to practise more arts, and double more frequently.

This animal is gentle, and susceptible even of education. He does not often, however, though he exhibits some degree of attachment to his master, become altogether domestic: for although taken very young, brought up in the house, and accustomed to kindness and attention, no sooner is he arrived at a certain age, than he generally seizes the first opportunity of recovering his liberty, and flying to the fields.

Whilst Dr. Townson was at Gottingen, he had a young hare brought to him, which he took so much pains with, as to render it more familiar than these animals commonly are. In the evenings it soon became so frolicsome, as to run and jump about his sofa and bed; sometimes in its play it would leap upon, and pat him with his forefeet, or whilst he was reading, even knock the book out of his hand. But whenever a stranger entered the room, the little animal always exhibited considerable alarm.

Mr. Borlase saw a hare that was so familiar as to feed from the hand, lie under a chair in a common sitting room, and appear, in every other respect, as easy and comfortable in its situation as a lap-dog. It now and then went out into the garden, but after regaling itself always returned to the house as its proper habitation. Its usual companions were a greyhound and a spaniel, both so fond of hare-hunting, that they often went out together, without any person accompanying them. With these two dogs this tame hare spent its evenings: they always slept on the same hearth, and very frequently would rest itself upon them.

Hares are very subject to fleas. Linnæus tells us, that cloth made of their fur will attract these insects, and preserve the wearer from their troublesome attacks. In India the hare is hunted for sport, not only with dogs, but with hawks, and some species of the cat genus. The flesh, though in esteem among the Romans, was forbidden by the Druids, and by the Britons of the early centuries. It is now, though very black, and dry, and devoid of fat, much esteemed by the Europeans, on account of its peculiar flavour.

The female goes with young about a month; she generally produces three or four at a litter, and this about four times in a year. The eyes of the young ones are open at birth: the dam suckles them about twenty days, after which they leave her, and procure their own food. They make forms at a little distance from each other, and never go far from the place where they were brought forth. The hare lives about eight years.

* * * * *

Some believe that hares propagate but once a year, but, in the author’s opinion, they breed from February to the end of harvest. The doe chooses some thick dry brake, high grass, clover, or standing corn, to kindle in; her paps come forwarder under her belly, than those of almost any quadruped; she does not long suckle her young; if she did, and had many, the udder would be drawn too big, and be inconvenient whilst the hare was running; she brings forth differently from the rabbit, her offspring being completely formed and quick-sighted the instant they are dropped. Among naturalists it is a received notion that the hare, especially the buck, seldom lives beyond seven years, and that when either is killed, another succeeds to occupy its place; whence is derived the proverb—“The more hares you kill, the more you will have to hunt;” for when the buck and doe live undisturbed together a little time, they suffer no stranger to reside within their limits. It is also a well experienced truth, that some places are remarkable for being seldom without hares, and others (although as likely, in all appearance, to harbour them) rarely with any. Whether it is any particular excellence in the feed, in the situation for forming advantageously, for warmth, hearing, or seeing, that induces them to prefer certain spots to others, or that on the death of a buck or doe, another succeeds, and they possess their usual circle, cannot be ascertained, but the fact is perfectly established.

* * * * *

The first ring a hare takes is generally the foundation of the ensuing pastime, all the doubles she afterwards makes are in a great measure like the first; a hare will go over great part of trailed land, and visit her works of the preceding night and morning; sometimes a buck will take endways over fresh ground, without offering to return; the doe usually runs in a circle, unless with young, or having recently kindled; at such times she often runs forward, and scarcely ever escapes with life, being naturally unfit for fatigue: however, both sexes greatly regulate their conduct according to the season and weather. After a rainy night, in a woody country, neither buck nor doe will keep the cover, owing to the drops of wet hanging on the spray; they therefore run the highways or stony lanes, for as the scent naturally lies strong, they hold the roads which take the least; not that a hare judges upon what soil the scent lies weakest; it is her ears that chiefly direct her, for the hounds being oftener at fault on the hard paths than the turf, she finds herself not so closely pressed, and is not so much alarmed with the continual cry of the dogs at her heels. The louder the cry, the more she is terrified, and flies the swifter; the certain effect of which is, a heart broken sooner than with a pack equal in number and goodness, but who spend their tongues less free. The same principle directs the hare to run to the covers in autumn; when the ground is dry, and the wind cold at north or east; she then keeps the paths that are covered with leaves, which are so continually falling and blowing about, that the best hounds can carry no scent; her alarms are consequently short, and she rests contented where she is least disturbed.

* * * * *

When a hare rises out of form, if she erects her ears, and at first runs slowly, with her scut cast over her back, it is surely old and crafty. When a hare is hunted to her form, along the hard highways, and feeds far away from cover, and that her doublings and crossings are wide and large, it is a buck; for the does generally keep close to the side of some cover, and, when going to feed in the corn-fields, seldom cross over the furrows, but follow the track of them: when hunted they turn frequently, use many stratagems, and rarely leave the country round their seat, whilst the buck, after two or three turns about his form, runs straight forward four or five miles, and then probably squats in some place where he has before preserved himself. A buck or jack hare may also be known by his head being shorter, his ears more grey, his shoulders redder, and the body being smaller than the doe, and, at his first starting, by the whiteness of his hinder parts.

They who make a business of hare-finding (and a very advantageous one it is, in some counties), are enabled to find them in any weather, by observing the direction of the wind. People frequently do not find hares, from not knowing them in their forms. A gentleman coursing with his friends, was shown a hare that was found sitting: “Is that a hare?” he cried; “then, by Jove, I found two this morning as we rode along.”

* * * * *

According to the season of the year, the hare is to be looked for: if it be spring, upon fallows or green corn; during the autumn, in stubbles or turnips; in winter they will seat themselves near houses, in brambles and tufts of thorns.

* * * * *

Hares will certainly, when hard pressed, go to vault; that is, take the ground like a rabbit.

* * * * *

Fecundity of Hares.—A male and female hare were put together by Lord Ribblesdale, for a year, when the offspring amounted to sixty-eight. A couple of rabbits, inclosed for the same period, produced about three hundred.

* * * * *

Feet of Hares.—Tender feet in dogs are owing to the softness of that fleshy substance called the ball of the foot; but nature has to the hare been singularly liberal in this part by supplying her with such feet as are not subject to, and indeed scarcely susceptible of hurt, so as to incommode her in running. The balls of her feet, instead of hard flesh, are covered with strong coarse fur, suited so well for the purpose, that she never treads easier or to more advantage than on the hardest beaten track, or rugged, stony road; the very surface which cripples a dog she glides over with pleasure. In a frost she has an evident superiority to most creatures; the horse does not at that season take his gallops for fear of foundering; the greyhound or hound would in running start all their claws, and tear their soles to pieces, whilst the hare treads as soft as if she went on wool.

Hare Warren.—The warren should be paled, and the meuses made of brick; but to any person making a warren, Mr. Beckford recommends examining the traps, boxes, and stoppers, all of which have peculiarities not easy to be described. His town warren is in a wood of near thirty acres, and is cut into many walks; a smaller warren, which would perhaps answer as well, should have only one walk, and that round the outside of it. No dog must ever be allowed to enter it, and traps for stoats and polecats should be constantly set. Parsley sown in it will induce the hares to keep at home. When hares at the end of a season become shy of the traps from having been often caught, it will be necessary to drive them in with spaniels. The warren hares will be found very thick round the warren, for they will be unwilling to leave it, and when disturbed by dogs will immediately go in. The number of hares which a warren will supply is hardly to be conceived; but Mr. B. prefers a warren in the midst of an open country (which might be stopped close on hunting days), to the catching hares in traps, and then turning them down. A warren so situated would supply the whole country with hares, which, after one turn round it, would most probably run straight on end.

* * * * *

The Varying Hare.—This species has a very soft fur, which in summer is grey, with a slight mixture of tawny; the tail is always white. The ears are shorter, and the legs more slender than those of the common hare, and the feet more closely and warmly furred. In size this animal is somewhat smaller.

Besides other cold parts of Europe, the varying hare is found on the tops of the highest Scotch hills, never descending to the plains. It never mixes with the last species, though common in the same neighbourhood. It does not run fast, and when alarmed takes shelter in clefts of the rocks.

In September it begins to change its grey coat and resume its white winter dress, in which only the tips and edges of the ears and the soles of the feet are black. In the month of April it again becomes grey. It is somewhat singular that although this animal be brought into a house, and even kept in stoved apartments, yet it still changes its colour at the same period that it does among its native mountains.

* * * * *

Hounds for hunting box hares should not be too fleet, and they are to be hunted like a pack of fox hounds, as a trap hare runs very much in the same manner, and will even top the hedges; Mr. B. concludes his remarks upon the running of trap hares, with the method recommended by a gentleman to insure them to run straight, which was tying a piece of riband to their ears.

The hounds mostly used for hare hunting, are the deep-tongued, thick-lipped, broad and long hung southern hounds.

The fleet, sharp-nosed dog, ears narrow, deep-chested, with thin shoulders, showing a quarter cross of the fox hound.

The rough wire-haired hound, thick quartered, well hung, and not too much flesh on his shoulders.

The rough or smooth beagle.—Daniel—Buffon, &c. &c.

HARELIP, s. A fissure in the upper lip, with want of substance.

HARNESS, s. The leather gear, &c., used to attach horses to carriages.

HARNESS, v. To fix horses in their traces.

HARPOON, s. A bearded dart with a line fastened to the handle, with which whales are struck and caught.

HARQUEBUSS, s. obs. Fr. Arquebuse. A handgun; a musquet.

HARRIER, HEN HARRIER, (Circus Pygargus, FLEMING), s. A small sized hawk. It is generally believed by ornithologists to be the same species as the Ringtail.

HARRIER, s. A dog for hunting hares.

This dog is now almost universally used in Great Britain for hare hunting. He was originally generated in a double cross, between the small beagle, the southern hound, and the dwarf fox.

There are, however, various harriers produced by crosses introduced in breeding, dictated by knowledge and experience, and depending on the kind of country they hunt in, and the wish or fancy of the owner of the pack; all of which are a great alteration in the blood.

The harrier pursues the hare with great eagerness and speed, allowing her but little time to breathe or double. The keenest sportsmen often find it difficult to keep up with this dog, and with a strong hare it is rather fatiguing work. There is a great deal of melody and cheerful harmony in the voices of harriers during the chase.

Mr. Beckford, who was justly esteemed one of the best judges of dogs in Britain, endeavoured, as far as possible, to breed his harriers with much bone and strength within a small compass, and, at the same time, of a handsome make. These respective qualities he obtained; and his hounds ran remarkably well together, went fast, had all the alacrity that could be desired, and would hunt the coldest scent.

Although the harrier is the best adapted for hare hunting, yet there are situations where he is too weak, being ill-suited for swampy and marshy lands, such as those of Lancashire and Lincolnshire, and many other places. The large low southern hound seems best calculated for such localities. Harriers which are of a larger description, and crossed for the purpose of speed, are only superior in open countries, where, for want of covert, the hare will run five or six miles right out without a single turn. In such cases the pleasure of the chase may be compared to those of fox-hunting.

Harriers, in Mr. Beckford’s judgment, to be good, must be kept to their proper game. Hounds cannot be perfect unless used to one scent, and one style of hunting; to run fox with them teaches them to skirt, and is of great disservice to them. The high scent which a fox leaves, the straightness of his course, the eagerness of the pursuit, and the hallooing that usually accompanies it, all contribute to spoil a harrier.—Brown—Daniel.

HARRY, v. In Scotland, signifies to rob, plunder, or oppress; destruction of game by birds of prey.

HART, s. A he-deer of the large kind; the male of the roe.

HARTSHORN, s. A volatile alkali, originally drawn from the horn of a stag, called by modern chemists subcarbonate of ammonia.

HASLET, or HARSLET, s. The heart, liver, and lights of a hog, with the windpipe and part of the throat to it.

HATCH, v. To produce young from eggs; to quicken the eggs by incubation.

HATCH, s. A brood excluded from the egg; the act of exclusion from the egg; the half-door; in the plural, the doors or openings by which they descend from one deck or floor of a ship to another.

HATTOCK, s. A shock of corn. Provincial.

HAUL, v. To pull, to draw, to drag by violence, to draw a net.

HAUL, s. Pull, violence in dragging; a draught of fishes.

HAUM, s. Straw.

HAUNCH, s. The thigh, the hind hip; the hind part of a deer.

HAUNT, v. To frequent, to be much about any place.

HAUNT, s. Place in which game feed and are found.

HAW, s. The berry and seed of the hawthorn; a hedge; an excrescence in the eye; a small piece of ground adjoining to a house.

HAWTHORN, s. The thorn that bears haws; the white thorn.

HAWTHORN, a. Belonging to the white thorn; consisting of white thorn.

HAWK, s. A bird of prey, used much anciently in sport to catch other birds.

Hawks (Accipitrina, Vigors) are birds of prey, belonging to the falcon family (Falconidæ, LEACH), and characterised by the wings being short, and, when closed, scarcely reaching to the end of the tail; the first quill feather very short, the third nearly equal to the fourth, which is the longest in the wing; shanks plaited, long, and slender; middle toe greatly exceeding the two lateral ones in length; claws much hooked, and very sharp; flight rapid and direct. They pounce upon their prey on the wing, and are so bold as to attack much larger birds than themselves.

* * * * *

Breaking of Hawks.—When the hawk is placed upon the fist with his hood on, he will at first bait, (flutter off,) when he is to be replaced gently by the hand; but he will very soon learn to sit still. He must be carried on the fist during the greater part of the day frequently, and stroked with a feather on his back and legs.

When he is to be fed, the hood must be taken off. At first, this is best done at night, with a candle so placed as to give no more light than is absolutely necessary; but in two or three days this precaution will not be required, and he may be unhooded, and fed by daylight.

He must now be brought, by degrees, to stand quiet when the hood is to be put on.

The brail is used for this purpose. This is a thong of soft leather, with a slit running longitudinally along the middle, of such a length as to admit the pinion joint.

When the pinion joint has been introduced into the slit, the lower end of the thong is brought backwards under the wing, and tied to the other end above it.

The wing is thus confined, and in such a way as to remove it but little from its natural position, and so that it can receive no injury.

Another very effectual way to make a hawk stand quiet is, by causing water to stream upon him, from a wisp of hay or straw, until he is thoroughly drenched. This should always be done in the morning, and he should be carried on the fist until he is dry, with his wing brailed, be stroked with a feather, and hooded and unhooded very frequently.

When he has become a little accustomed to the hood, neither the brail nor the drenching will be necessary, but he must be carried almost all day upon the fist. The hood is to be occasionally taken off, and he may then be allowed for a short time to pull upon a stump or pinion from which he can get but little meat.

A few mouthfuls should always be given to him the moment the hood is put on.

Hawks, when hooded, are always quiet. In the field the hood prevents them from baiting when birds rise, and, at other times, from being alarmed at any thing that may approach them.

It may, perhaps, appear paradoxical to assert, that hawks, by being kept hooded, are brought nearer to their natural habits, but this is undoubtedly the case, for by this treatment they are induced to remain at rest when they are not either feeding, or in pursuit of game; and such are their habits in a wild state, when left undisturbed.

When the hawk is become tolerably tame, he may be unhooded, and, after having eaten a few mouthfuls, be placed on the block, and enticed to come from thence to the fist when held near him. He will soon learn to fly to it when it is presented to him at the distance of several feet, the fist being, of course, always well garnished with meat.

When he has been practised in this manner for a few days, if he be unhooded on the fist, and a small piece of meat be thrown on the ground, to the distance of two or three feet, he will fly down to it, and having eaten it, fly back to the fist, enticed, as usual, by the offer of food.

* * * * *

The sport of hawking is generally placed at the head of those amusements that can only be practised in the country, and probably it obtained this precedency from its being a pastime so generally followed by the nobility, not in this country only, but also upon the continent. Persons of high rank rarely appeared without their dogs and their hawks; the latter they carried with them when they journeyed from one country to another, and sometimes even when they went to battle, and would not part with them to procure their own liberty when taken prisoners. Sometimes they formed part of the train of an ecclesiastic.

These birds were considered as ensigns of nobility: and no action could be reckoned more dishonourable to a man of rank than to give up his hawk.

I cannot trace the origin of hawking to an earlier period than the middle of the fourth century. Julius Firmicus, who lived about that time, is the first Latin author that speaks of falconers, and the art of teaching one species of birds to fly after and catch others.

The grand fauconnier of France was an officer of great eminence; his annual salary was four thousand florins; he was attended by fifty gentlemen, and fifty assistant falconers; he was allowed to keep three hundred hawks; he licensed every vender of hawks in France, and received a tax upon every bird sold in that kingdom, and even within the verge of the court; and the king never rode out upon any occasion of consequence without this officer attending him.

Edward III., according to Froissart, had with him in his army when he invaded France, thirty falconers on horseback, who had charge of his hawks; and every day he either hunted, or went to the river for the purpose of hawking, as his fancy inclined him.

We may also here notice, that the ladies not only accompanied the gentlemen in pursuit of this diversion, but often practised it by themselves; and, if we may believe a contemporary writer, in the thirteenth century, they even excelled the men in knowledge and exercise of the art of falconry, which reason, he very ungallantly produces, in proof that the pastime was frivolous and effeminate. Hawking was forbidden to the clergy by the canons of the church; but the prohibition was by no means sufficient to restrain them from the pursuit of this favourite and fashionable amusement. On which account, as well as for hunting, they were severely lashed by the poets and moralists; and, indeed, the one was rarely spoken of without the other being included; for those who delighted in hawking were generally proficients in hunting also.

When the hawk was not flying at her game, she was usually hood-winked, with a cap or hood provided for that purpose, and fitted to her head; and this hood was worn abroad as well as at home. All hawks taken upon “the fist,” the term used for carrying them upon the hand, had straps of leather, called jesses, put upon their legs. The jesses were made sufficiently long for the knots to appear between the middle and the little fingers of the hand that held them, so that the lunes, or small thongs of leather, might be fastened to them with two tyrrits, or rings; and the lunes were loosely wound round the little finger. It appears that sometimes the jesses were of silk. Lastly, their legs were adorned with bells, fastened with rings of leather, each leg having one; and the leathers, to which the bells were attached, were denominated bewits; and to the bewits was added the creance, or long thread, by which the bird in tutoring, was drawn back, after she had been permitted to fly; and this was called the reclaiming of the hawk. The bewits, we are informed, were useful to keep the hawk from “winding when she bated,” that is, when she fluttered her wings to fly after her game.

Respecting the bells, it is particularly recommended that they should not be too heavy, to impede the flight of the bird; and that they should be of equal weight, sonorous, shrill, and musical; not both of one sound, but the one a semitone below the other; they ought not to be broken, especially in the sounding part, because, in that case, the sound emitted would be dull and unpleasing. “There is, says the book of Saint Alban’s, great choice of sparrow-hawk bells, and they are cheap enough; but for goshawk bells, those made at Milan, are called the best; and, indeed, they are excellent; for they are commonly sounded with silver, and charged for accordingly. But we have good bells brought from Dordreght (Dort), which are well paired, and produce a very shrill, but pleasant sound.”

* * * * *

The person who carried the hawk was provided with gloves for that purpose, to prevent their talons from hurting his hand. In the inventories of apparel belonging to King Henry VIII. such articles frequently occur; at Hampton Court, in the jewel house, were seven hawkes’ gloves embroidered.—Montagu—Sebright—Strutt.

HAY, s. Grass dried to fodder cattle in winter.

Much in a horse’s condition depends on the quality of his hay; good hay is easily chosen, and the smell and colour afford a test of its quality not to be mistaken.

HAZARD, s. Chance, accident; chance of danger; a game at dice.

Any number of persons may play hazard. The person who takes the box and dice, throws a main, that is to say, a chance for the company, which must be above four, and not exceed nine, otherwise it is no main, consequently he must keep throwing till he brings five, six, seven, eight, or nine; this done, he must throw his own chance, which may be any above three, and not exceeding ten: if he throw two aces or trois-ace (commonly called crabs), he loses his stakes, let the company’s chance, called the main, be what it will. If the main should be seven, and seven or eleven be thrown immediately after, it is what is called a nick, and the caster (the present player) wins out his stakes: also, if eight be the main, and eight or twelve thrown immediately after, it is also called a nick, and the caster wins his stakes. The caster throwing any other number for the main, such as is admitted, and bringing the same number directly afterwards, that is likewise termed a nick, and he then also wins whatever stakes he has made.

Every three successive mains the caster wins, he is to pay half a guinea to the box or furnisher of the dice.

The meaning of a stake or bet at this game differs somewhat from the other. If a person choose to lay a sum of money with the thrower or caster, he must put his cash upon the table, within a circle which is described for that purpose; when he has done this, if the caster agree to it, he knocks the box upon the table at the person’s money with whom he intends to bet, or particularly mentions at whose money he throws, which is sufficient, and he is obliged to answer whatever sum is down, unless the staker calls to cover; in that case the caster is obliged to stake also, otherwise the bets would be void. It is optional in the person who bets with the thrower, to bar any throw which the caster may be going to cast, provided neither of the dice be seen; if one die should be discovered, the caster must throw the other to it, unless the throw is barred in proper time.

The common odds, which are absolutely necessary to be understood, before any person attempts to play or bet at this game, are as follow: if seven be thrown for the main, and four the chance, it is 2 to 1 against the person who throws; if six to four be thrown, 5 to 3; if five to four, 4 to 3; seven to nine, 3 to 2; seven to six, 3 to 2, barring the two trois; with the two trois, only six to five; seven to five, 3 to 2; six to five, an even bet, barring the doublets or the two trois; with the trois, 5 to 4; eight to five, an even bet, barring the two fours; five to four with the two fours; nine to five, even; nine to four, is 4 to 3; the nick of seven is 7 to 2, but often laid but 10 to 3; and five to one you do not nick six or eight.

To illustrate these calculations still more clearly, the following table will be serviceable:—

TABLE OF THE ODDS.

7 to 4 is 2 to 1. ⎫ 6 .. 4 .. 5 .. 3. ⎪ 5 .. 4 .. 4 .. 3. ⎪ 7 .. 9 .. 3 .. 2. ⎪ 7 .. 6 ⎧ 3 .. 2, barring the two trois. ⎪ ⎩ 6 .. 5, with the two trois. ⎪ against 7 .. 5 .. 3 .. 2. ⎬ the 6 .. 5 ⎧ even, barring the two trois. ⎪ caster. ⎩ 5 .. 4 with the two trois. ⎪ 8 .. 5 ⎧ even, barring the two fours ⎪ ⎩ 5 .. 4 with the two fours. ⎪ 9 .. 5 .. even. ⎪ 9 .. 4 .. 4 .. 3. ⎭

The nick of seven is 7 to 2, often laid 10 to 3.

The nick of six and eight is 5 to 1.

It is necessary to be perfectly master of these odds, in order to play the prudent game, and to make use of them by way of insuring bets in what is called hedging, in case the chance happens to be unlikely; for, by taking the odds a ready calculator secures himself, and often stands part of his bet to a certainty. For example, if seven be the main, and four the chance, and he should have 5_l._ depending on the main, by taking 6_l._ to 3_l._ he must either win 2_l._ or 1_l._; and on the contrary, if he should not like his chance, by laying the odds against himself, he must save in proportion to the bet he has made.—Hoyle.

HAZARD, v. To expose to chance.

HAZE, s. Fog, mist.

HAZEL, s. A nut-tree.

HAZEL, a. Light brown, of the colour of hazel.

HEAD, s. The part of the animal that contains the brain or the organ of sensation and thought; chief, principal person, one to whom the rest are subordinate; state of a deer’s horns, by which his age is known; the top of anything bigger than the rest; the forepart of anything, as of a ship; that which rises on the top of liquors; upper part of a bed; source of a stream.

The head of the horse is a very important part, considered with a view to the beauty of the animal; and in no part is an improvement in the breed so soon detected as in this. Can any thing be conceived more dissimilar than the small inexpressive features attached to the enormous head of a cart-horse, compared with the bold striking lines which grace that of the blood-horse? The head, in the improved breeds, is small and angular, the eyes prominent, the ears spirited, small, and pointed; the forehead wide, straight, and sometimes slightly curved inwards at the lower part: in them the facial angle is about 25°, whereas, in the heavy breed, it is more generally 23°: its junction with the neck, also, is less easy and elegant than in the improved kind.—Blaine.

HEAD, v. To lead; to direct; to behead; to kill by taking away the head; to lop trees at the top; to get before a deer or fox, to make him take another course.

HEADLAND, s. Promontory, cape; ground under hedges.

HEADSTALL, s. Part of the bridle that covers the head.

HEADSTRONG, a. Unrestrained; violent, ungovernable.

HEAL, v. To cure; to restore from sickness or wounds.

HEALING, a. Mild, mollifying; assuasive.

HEALTH, s. Freedom from bodily pain or sickness; strength.

HEALTHY, a. In health, free from sickness; in good condition.

HEARING, s. The sense by which sounds are perceived; reach of the ear.

HEART, s. The muscle which by its contraction and dilatation propels the blood through the course of circulation, and is therefore considered as the source of vital motion. It is situated in the thorax, and divided externally into the base, the superior and inferior surface, and the anterior and posterior margin. Internally it comprises two ventricles called the right and left.

HEARTLESS, a. Without courage, spiritless, out of condition.

HEARTY, a. Sincere, warm; in full health; vigorous, strong.

HEAT, s. The sensation caused by the approach or touch of fire; hot weather; state of any body under the action of fire; a term in racing. In gun-making three degrees of heat are employed; blood-red heat, the lowest flame; white heat, the second; and sparkling or welding heat, the most intense.

HEATH, s. A plant; a place overgrown with heath.

HEATHCOCK, s. A large fowl that frequents heaths. Vide GROUSE.

HEATHPEAS, s. A species of bitter vetch.

HEDGE, s. A fence made round grounds with prickly bushes.

HEDGE, v. To enclose with a hedge; to encircle; to shut up within an enclosure. In betting, hedging means to bet upon and against the same event.

HEDGEHOG, s. An animal set with prickles like thorns in a hedge.

Hedgehogs abound in my gardens and fields. The manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my grass walk is very curious: with their upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very troublesome weed; but they deface the walks in some measure by digging little round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June last I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which appeared to be about five or six days old; they, I find, like puppies, are born blind, and could not see when they came to my hands. No doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, or else the poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical moment of parturition: but it is plain that they soon harden; for these little pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides as would easily have fetched blood, had they not been handled with caution. Their spines are quite white at this age; and they have little hanging ears, which I do not remember to be discernible in the old ones. They can, in part, at this age draw their skin down over their faces; but are not able to contract themselves into a ball, as they do, for the sake of defence, when full grown. The reason, I suppose, is, because the curious muscle that enables the creature to roll itself up into a ball has not then arrived at its full tone and firmness. Hedgehogs make a deep and warm hybernaculum with leaves and moss, in which they conceal themselves for the winter: but I never could find that they stored in any winter provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do.

* * * * *

Jesse says, “I had also a tame hedge-hog, which nestled before the fire, on the stomach of an old lazy terrier dog, who was much attached to it, and the best understanding existed between them.”

* * * * *

Sagacity of the Hedgehog.—During the summer of 1818, as Mr. Lane, gamekeeper to the Earl of Galloway, was passing by the wood of Glascaden, near Garlieston, in Scotland, he fell in with a hedgehog, crossing the road at a small distance before him, carrying on its back six pheasant’s eggs, which upon examination he found it had pilfered from a pheasant’s nest hard by. The ingenuity of the creature was very conspicuous, as several of the remaining eggs were holed, which must have been done by it, when in the act of rolling itself over the nest, in order to make as many adhere to its prickles as possible. After watching the motions of the urchin for a short time longer, Mr. Lane saw it deliberately crawl into a furze bush, where its nest was, and where the shells of several eggs were strewed around, which had at some former period been conveyed thither in the same manner.—White’s Selborne—Jesse.

HEDGEROW, s. The series of trees or bushes planted for enclosures.

HEDGESPARROW, or CHANTER, (Accentor Modularis, CUVIER), s. A sparrow that lives in bushes.

This well known species, commonly called hedge sparrow, needs little description. The length is five inches and three quarters; weight near six drams. Bill dusky; irides light hazel; head and neck brown, mixed with ash-colour; back and wing coverts darker brown, edged with rufous brown; throat and breast dull ash-colour; belly dirty white; sides and vent tawny brown. The female has less ash-colour about the head and breast.

The hedge sparrow is found in all parts of England; has a pleasing song, which it begins with the new year, if the weather is mild; breeds early, making a nest in March, composed of green moss and wool, and lined with hair, which is placed in some low evergreen shrub, thick brush, or cut hedge; frequently builds in faggot piles. The eggs are four or five in number, blue; their weight about twenty-eight grains.

This bird is one of the few of the warbler tribe that remains with us the whole year. The food is insects and worms; but like the redbreast, it will, in defect of these, pick up crumbs of bread; and seems to prefer situations near the habitation of man.—Montagu.

HEEL, s. The part of the foot that protuberates behind.

HEELER, s. A cock that strikes well with his heels.

HEIFER, s. A young cow.

HEMORRHAGE, s. A violent flux of blood.

HEN, s. The female of a house cock; the female of any bird.

HENROOST, s. The place where the poultry rest.

HERB, s. Herbs are those plants whose stalks are soft, and have nothing woody in them, as grass and hemlock.

HERBACEOUS, a. Belonging to herbs; feeding on vegetables.

HERBAGE, s. Herbs collectively; grass, pasture.

HERD, s. A number of beasts together; it anciently signified a keeper of cattle, as goat-herd.

HERD, v. To run in herds or companies; to associate.

HERDSMAN, s. One employed in tending herds.

HERMAPHRODITE, s. An animal uniting two sexes.

HERNIA, s. Any kind of rupture.

HERON, COMMON HERON, HERONSEWGH, or HERONSHAW, (Ardea Major, LINN.; Le Heron huppé, BUFF.) s. A bird that feeds on fish.

Although the heron is of a long, lank, awkward shape, yet its plumage gives it, on the whole, an agreeable appearance; but when stripped of its feathers, it looks as if it had been starved to death. It seldom weighs more than between three and four pounds, notwithstanding it measures about three feet in length, and in the breadth of its wings, from tip to tip, above five. The bill is six inches long, straight, pointed, and strong, and its edges are thin and slightly serrated; the upper mandible is of a yellowish horn colour, darkest on the ridge, the under one yellow; a bare skin, of a greenish colour, is extended from the beak beyond the eyes; the irides of which are yellow, and give them a fierce and piercing aspect.—The brow and crown of the head are white, bordered above the eyes by black lines, which reach the nape of the neck, where they join a long flowing pendent crest of the same colour. The upper part of the neck, in some, is white, in others pale ash, the forepart lower down is spotted with a double row of black feathers, and those which fall over the breast are long, loose, and unwebbed; the shoulders and scapular feathers are also of the same kind of texture, of a grey colour generally streaked with white, and spread over its down-clothed back. The ridge of the wing is white; coverts and secondaries lead colour; bastard wings and quills of a bluish black, as are also the long, soft feathers, which take their rise on the sides under the wings; and, falling down, meet at their tips, and hide all the under parts: the latter, next the skin, are covered with a thick, matted, dirty-white down, except about the belly and vent, which are almost bare. The tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers of a cinereous or brownish lead-colour; the legs are dirty-green, long, bare above the knees, and the middle claw is jagged on the inner edge.

The female has not the long flowing crest, or the long feathers which hang over the breast of the male, and her whole plumage is more uniformally dull and obscure. In the breeding-season they congregate in large societies; and, like the rooks, build their nests on trees, with sticks, lined with dried grass, wool, and other warm materials. The female lays from four to six eggs, of a pale, greenish-blue colour.

The heron is described by Buffon as exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, anxiety, and indigence, condemned to struggle perpetually with misery and want, and sickened by the restless cravings of a famished appetite, &c. However faithful this ingenious naturalist may have been in pourtraying the appearance of the heron, yet others are not inclined to adopt his sentiments in describing its habits and manners, or to agree with him in opinion that it is one of the most wretched of animated beings. It is probable that it suffers no more than other birds, many species of which employ equal attention in looking for their prey, and it is not unlikely that the heron derives pleasure from it instead of pain. This bird, however, is of a melancholy deportment, a silent and patient creature; and will, in most severe weather, stand motionless a long time in the water, fixed to a spot, in appearance like the stump or root of a tree, waiting for its prey, which consists of frogs, waternewts, eels, and other kinds of fish; and it is also said that it will devour field-mice.

The heron traverses the country to a great distance in quest of some convenient or favourite fishing spot, and in its aerial journeys soars to a great height, to which the eye is directed by its harsh cry, uttered from time to time while on the wing. In flying it draws the head between the shoulders, and the legs stretched out, seem, like the longer tails of some birds, to serve the office of a rudder. The motion of their wings is heavy and flagging, and yet they get forward at a greater rate than would be imagined.

In England herons were formerly ranked among the royal game, and protected as such by the laws; and whoever destroyed their eggs was liable to a penalty of twenty shillings for each offence. Heron hawking was at that time a favourite diversion among the nobility and gentry of the kingdom, at whose tables this bird was a favourite dish, and was as much esteemed as pheasants and peacocks.

Great White Heron. (Ardea alba, LINN.; Le Heron blanc, BUFF.)—The great white heron is of nearly the same hulk as the common heron, but its legs are longer. It has no crest, and its plumage is wholly white; its bill yellow, and its legs black.

Its character and manner of living are the same as those of the common heron, and it is found in the same countries, though this species is not nearly so numerous. It has rarely been seen in Great Britain. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says it is found in the Russian dominions, about the Caspian and Black Seas, the lakes of Great Tartary, and the river Irtisch, and sometimes as far north as latitude 53°. Latham says it is met with in New York, in America, from June to October; at different seasons of the year it is found in Jamaica, and in the Brazils: and our circumnavigators have met with it at New Zealand.

The Night Heron, Lesser Ash-coloured Heron or Night Raven. (Ardea Nycticorax, LINN.; Le Bihoreau, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is about twenty inches; the bill is three inches and three quarters long, slightly arched, strong, and black, inclining to yellow at the base; the skin from the beak round the eye is bare, and of a greenish colour; irides yellow. A white line is extended from the beak, over each eye a black patch, glossed with green, covers the crown of the head and nape of the neck, from which three long narrow white feathers tipped with brown, hang loose and waving: the hinder part of the neck, coverts of the wing, sides and tail, are ash-coloured; throat white, forepart of the neck, breast, and belly, yellowish white or buff; the back black, the legs a greenish yellow. The female is nearly of the same size as the male, but she differs considerably in her plumage, which is less bright and distinct, being more blended with clay or dirty white, brown, grey, and rusty ash-colour, and she has not the delicate plumes which flow from the head of the male.

The night heron frequents the sea shores, rivers, and inland marshes, and lives upon crickets, slugs, frogs, reptiles, and fish. It remains concealed during the day, and does not roam abroad until the approach of night, when it is heard and known by its rough, harsh, and disagreeable cry, which is by some compared to the noise made by a person straining to vomit. Some ornithologists affirm that the female builds her nest on trees, others that she builds it on rocky cliffs: probably both accounts are right. She lays three or four white eggs.

This species is not numerous, although widely dispersed over Europe, Asia, and America.

The bird is indeed very uncommon in this country. Latham mentions one in the Leverian Museum, which was shot, not many miles from London, in May 1782.

* * * * *

Voracity of the Heron.—In the month of April 1818, as a person was walking a short distance from the river Mole, in the neighbourhood of Cobham Park, Surrey, where H. C. Combe, Esq. has a heronry, he was surprised by a pike in weight full 2lbs. dropping from the air immediately before him: on looking up, he perceived a large heron hovering over him, which had no doubt dropped the fish from its beak. And also, during the same month, another individual near the above spot, saw a heron take a fish from the water, and after carrying it to a bank insert its bill into the vent of the fish, beginning to suck its entrails; he drove away the bird, and on taking up the fish, found it to be a pike weighing a pound and upwards.

* * * * *

Some hawks will not attack a heron, when it is first shown to them; but they may generally be brought to it by flying them at a cock, of a light colour, and by tying meat upon a heron’s back, and allowing them to feed there. Small pieces of elder are put upon the heron’s beak, to prevent him from wounding the hawk in training. The herons are caught by a slip-knot at the end of a long string, so arranged round their nests as to be drawn about their legs when they come upon their eggs. This is best done about sun-set; and the man who is to draw the string, must place himself to leeward of the nest. Herons will not feed when they are first taken; it is therefore necessary to cram them with food, and to tie a piece of mat round their necks, to prevent them from throwing it up again.

* * * * *

A well-stocked heronry in an open country is necessary for this sport. The herons go out in the morning to rivers and ponds at a very considerable distance, in search of food, and return to the heronry towards the evening.

It is at this time that the falconers place themselves in the open country, down wind of the heronry; so that when the herons are intercepted on their return home, they are obliged to fly against the wind to gain their place of retreat. When a heron passes, a cast (a couple) of hawks is let go. The heron disgorges his food when he finds that he is pursued, and endeavours to keep above the hawks by rising in the air; the hawks fly in a spiral direction to get above the heron, and thus the three birds frequently appear to be flying in different directions. The first hawk makes his stoop as soon as he gets above the heron, who evades it by a shift, and thus gives the second hawk time to get up and to stoop in his turn. In what is deemed a good flight, this is frequently repeated, and the three birds often mount to a great height in the air. When one of the hawks seizes his prey, the other soon binds to him, as it is termed, and buoyant from the motion of their wings, the three descend together to the ground with but little velocity. The falconer must lose no time in getting hold of the heron’s neck when he is on the ground, to prevent him from injuring the hawks. It is then, and not when he is in the air, that he will use his beak in his defence. Hawks have, indeed, sometimes, but very rarely, been hurt by striking against the heron’s beak when stooping, but this has been purely by accident, and not (as has been said) by the heron’s presenting his beak to his pursuer as a means of defence.

When the heron flies down wind, he is seldom taken, the hawks are in great danger of being lost, and as the flight is in a straight line, it affords but little sport.—Bewick—Pennant—Sebright.

HERONRY, or HERONSHAW, s. A place where herons breed.

Belon mentions it as one of the extraordinary feats performed by the divine king Francis I., that he formed two artificial heronries at Fontainebleau,—“the very elements themselves,” he adds, “obeying the commands of this divine king (whom God absolve!!!), for to force nature is a work partaking of divinity.” In order to enhance the merits of these French heronries, he undertakes to assert, that they were unknown to the ancients, because they are not mentioned in any of their writings; and for the same reason he concludes that there are none in Britain. Before Belon’s time, on the contrary, and before the “Divine” constructor of heronries in France was born, there were express laws enacted in England for the protection of herons, it being a fine of ten shillings to take the young out of the nest, and six shillings and eight-pence for a person, without his own grounds, killing a heron, except by hawking, or by the long-bow; while in subsequent enactments, the latter penalty was increased to twenty shillings, or three months’ imprisonment. At present, however, in consequence of the discontinuance of hawking, little attention is paid to the protection of heronries, though, I believe, none of the old statutes respecting them have been repealed. Not to know a hawk from a heron-shaw (the former name for a heron) was an old adage, which arose when the diversion of heron-hawking was in high fashion: it has since been corrupted into the absurd vulgar proverb, “not to know a hawk from a hand-saw.”

In the breeding season they congregate, and make their nests very near each other. Mr. Pennant mentions having seen eighty nests on one tree. We once saw a heronry on a small island in a lake in the north of Scotland, whereon there was only one scrubby oak tree, which not being sufficient to contain all the nests many were placed on the ground.—Sebright—Montagu.

HERRING, s. A small sea-fish.

Of all migrating fish, the herring and the pilchard take the most adventurous voyages.

This mighty army begins to put itself in motion from the Icy Sea early in the spring: this body is distinguished by that name, for the word herring is derived from the German heer, an army, to express their number, which is so vast, that were all the men in the world loaded with herrings, they could not carry the thousandth part away. No sooner, however, is their asylum quitted, but millions of enemies collect to thin their squadrons. The fin fish and cacholot swallow barrels at a yawn; the porpoise, the grampus, the shark, and the whole numerous tribe of dog-fish, desist from making war upon each other, and make the herring their easy prey. The unnumbered flocks of sea fowl, that chiefly inhabit near the pole, watch the outset of their migration and spread extensive ruin. In this exigence the defenceless emigrants find no other safety but by crowding closer together, and leaving to the outermost the danger of being first devoured. Thus, like frighted sheep (which ever run together in a body), each finding some protection in being but one of many that are equally liable to invasion, they separate into shoals: those to the west visit the American shores, while those holding to the east pour down towards Europe, endeavouring to evade their merciless pursuers by approaching the first shore that presents itself, which is that of Iceland, in the beginning of March. Upon their arrival on that coast, this phalanx, notwithstanding its diminutions, is still of amazing extent, depth, and closeness, covering an extent of shore as large as the island itself; the whole water seems alive, and by their foes the herrings are cooped up so closely, that any hollow vessel put into it takes them out of the water without further trouble. The power of increasing in these animals exceeds our idea, as it would in a very short time outstrip all calculation. A single herring, it is affirmed, if suffered to multiply unmolested and undiminished for twenty years, would show a progeny greater in bulk than ten such globes as that we live upon; but happily the balance of nature is exactly preserved, and their consumption is equal to their fecundity. Upon this account, we must consider the fish and fowl that so incessantly attack them, not as plunderers, but as the benefactors of mankind: without their aid the sea would soon be overcharged with the burden of its own productions, and that element, which at present distributes health and plenty to the shore, would but load it with putrefaction.

These collective masses that come upon our coasts, begin to appear off the Shetland Isles in April and May; these are only the fore-runners of the grand shoal which comes in June, and their arrival is marked by the numbers of birds, such as gannets and others, which follow them as their prey. But when the main body approaches, its breadth and depth alters the very appearance of the ocean. They divide into distinct columns of five or six miles long, and three or four broad, while the water before them ripples as if forced out of its bed; sometimes they sink for ten or fifteen minutes, then rise again to the surface, on which in bright weather they reflect a variety of splendid colours, like a field bespangled with the most precious gems, in which, or rather in a much more valuable light, should this stupendous gift of Providence be considered by the inhabitants of the British Isles. The fishermen are ready prepared for their reception, and by nets made for the occasion they sometimes take above two thousand barrels at a single draught.

After this check from the Shetland Isles, which divide the army into two parts, one wing takes to the eastern shores of Great Britain, and fills every bay and creek with its numbers; the other pushes on towards Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings; they then pass through the British Channel, and after that in a manner disappear. Those which take to the west, after offering themselves to the Hebrides, where the great stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of Ireland, where being interrupted they make a second division; that to the western side is scarcely perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic, whilst the other, which passes into the Irish Sea, rejoices and feeds the inhabitants of most of the coasts that border upon it.

* * * * *

The herring is always found in shoals, and on some occasions are crowded so close together, as to fill the sea, at least so far as our implements can reach, from top to bottom. Ships are said to have been retarded in their course in passing through these shoals, and instances are recorded where these little fishes have been left by the ebbing of the tide in heaps three feet deep upon the shores for many miles in extent. It is universally credited among those conversant in the herring fishery, that no other fish will go into the middle of a shoal. The whale, to whom they are a favourite repast, and who swallows a thousand at once, never ventures into the shoal, but hovers about the skirts of it, and regularly follows their course. The dog-fish, which in vast troops assiduously attend the herrings wherever they go, carefully keep aloof from the great mass of them; so it is with other fishes, who delight in the herring as a prey, but as a body seem to dread their multitudes.

* * * * *

Herring Fishing.—To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty. The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so frequent, that much skill was necessary to penetrate this hempen labyrinth, without fouling the back ropes. Warning cries directed our course, and with some delay we treaded the crowded surface, and, guided by buoys and puckawns, found ourselves in the very centre of the flotilla.

It was an interesting scene; momently the boats glided along the back ropes, which were supported at short intervals by corks, and at greater by inflated dog-skins, and raising the curtain network, which these suspended, the herrings were removed from the meshes, and deposited in the boats. Some of the nets were particularly fortunate, obliging their proprietors to frequently relieve them of the fish; while others, though apparently stretched within a few yards, and consequently in the immediate run of the herrings, were favoured with but a few stragglers; and the indolent fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful ditty, or in moody silence watched the dark sea “like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks staying for waftage.”

The darkness of the night increased the scaly brilliancy which the phosphoric properties of these beautiful fish produce. The bottom of the boat, now covered with some thousand herrings, glowed with a living light, which the imagination could not create, and the pencil never imitate. The shades of gold and silvery gems were rich beyond description: and much as I had heard of phosphoric splendour before, every idea I had formed fell infinitely short of its reality.—Buffon—Wild Sports.

HERRING GULL (Larus fuscus, LINN.) s. A genus thus characterised:—

This species weighs about thirty-three ounces; length twenty-three inches; bill yellow; on the lower mandible a reddish-orange spot; irides light yellow; orbits red. Head, neck, tail, and under parts, white; back, scapulars, and wing coverts, ash-colour; quill-feathers, dusky, the five first black towards their ends, with a white spot near the tip; legs pale flesh-colour.

* * * * *

Whether these immatured birds breed we cannot be certain, but are inclined to think they do, as we saw a great many of them intermixed with the perfect ones in the gullery on an island off St. David’s, where the nests were innumerable: they seemed equally clamorous with the others when disturbed. The nests were on the top of the island, amongst the grass and loose stones, composed of a small quantity of long dry grass, the eggs, which were two in number, of a dark olive-brown, with dusky blotches. Like others of the genus, this bird feeds indiscriminately on fish, and various other productions of the sea, particularly the star-fish. It is sometimes observed to trample the soft sand, by moving its feet alternately in the same place: for what purpose this singular action is intended, we cannot say, unless it is to force up the sand eels or other hidden prey, as the one mentioned above did the worms.—Montagu.

HIDE, s. The skin of any animal, either raw or dressed; the human skin.

HIDEBOUND, v. A horse is said to be hide-bound, when his skin sticks so hard to his ribs and back, that you cannot with your hand pull up or loosen the one from the other; in trees, being in the state in which the bark will not give way to the growth.

HIGHLAND, s. Mountainous region.

HIGHWAY, s. Great road, public path.

HILL, s. An elevation of ground less than a mountain.

HILLOCK, s. A little hill.

HILLY, a. Full of hills, unequal in the surface.

HIND, s. The she to a stag; a servant; a peasant, a boor.

HIP, s. The joint of the thigh; the fleshy part of the thigh; the fruit of the briar.

HIP, v. To sprain or shoot the hips.

HIPSHOT, a. Sprained or dislocated in the hip.

HIRUNDO, s. Swallow, a genus thus characterised:—

Bill short, much depressed, and wide at the base; the upper mandible being keeled and bent at the tip; gape extending as far backwards as the eyes; nostrils at the base of the bill, oblong, and partly covered by a membrane; legs with the shank short; the toes slender, three before and one behind; the outer toe united to the middle one as far as the first joint; tail of twelve feathers, generally forked; wings long and acuminated, the first quill being the longest.—Montagu.

HIT, v. To strike, to touch with a blow; to touch the mark, not to miss; to reach the point; a lucky chance; a game at backgammon.

HITCH, s. A knot or noose taken on a rope.

HIVE, s. The habitation or cell of bees; the bees inhabiting a hive.

HOAR, a. White; grey with age; white with frost.

HOBBY, s. A species of hawk; an Irish or Scottish horse.

The Hobby. (Falco subbuteo, LINN.; Le Hobereau, BUFF.)—The length of the male is twelve inches; breadth about two feet. The bill is blue; cere and orbits of the eyes yellow; the irides orange; over each eye there is a light-coloured streak; the top of the head and back are of a bluish black; the wing coverts the same, but in some edged with rust colour; the hinder part of the neck is marked with two pale yellow spots; a black mark from behind each eye, forming almost a crescent, is extended downwards on the neck; the breast and belly are pale, marked with dusky streaks; the thighs rusty, with long dusky streaks; the wings brown; the two middle feathers of the tail are of a deep dove colour, the others are barred with rusty and tipped with white. The female is much larger, and the spots on her breast more conspicuous than those of the male; the legs and feet are yellow.

The hobby breeds with us, but is said to emigrate in October. It was formerly used in falconry, chiefly for larks and other small birds, which were caught in a singular manner: when the hawk was cast off, the larks, fixed to the ground through fear, became an easy prey to the fowler, who drew a net over them. Buffon says that it was used in taking partridges and quails.

A male hobby perceiving a goldfinch in a cage, within a window which happened to be open, dashed at the imprisoned bird, notwithstanding several persons were in the room; but being alarmed at the natural vociferations of some young ladies for the safety of their darling, the intruder mistook the passage by which he entered, and flew against the glass, when his retreat was cut off, and he was secured.

This species was formerly trained for hawking, but more commonly used for taking partridges and larks with a net, which was termed daring, that is, the hobby was cast off, which so frightened the birds, that they readily suffered a net to be drawn over them.—Montagu.

HOCK, s. The joint between the knee and fetlock; old strong Rhenish.

HOE, s. An instrument to cut up the earth.

HOG, s. The general name of swine; a castrated boar.

To prepare Hog’s Fur.—Take according to the quantity of fur you have: if a pound, four quarts of water; cut down into it two ounces of soap with a noggin of stale urine; throw in your fur, and let it come to a high scald, and while it is coming to that, keep it constantly under the liquor. Lay it by to cool, and when cool enough gently squeeze and press with your hands, and throw it into cold water. Then in some clean water, about two quarts, dissolve about the size of two walnuts of alum, and when it boils throw in your fur, press it well, and throw it into clean water; press it, and throw off the water, pour in more, and do the same at least three times. You must open your fur before you can dye it, as this process will cement it together. As to mohair it needs nothing more than washing with soap and water, to be boiled as above in alum, and washed.—Old Recipe.

HOGGEREL, s. A two-years-old ewe.

HOGSHEAD, s. A measure of liquids containing sixty gallons; any large barrel.

HOG’S LARD, s. An article of some importance in veterinary surgery, being the basis of almost every ointment.

Hog’s lard possesses a laxative quality, and may be given to the extent of half a pound, melted or mixed with warm water or peppermint water, as a substitute for castor oil, olive oil, or linseed oil, when neither of those can be procured. Fresh hog’s lard melted, and mixed with a little salad oil, forms a good softening ointment for horses’ heels that are subject to cracks.—White.

HOLD, s. The act of seizing; gripe, grasp, seizure; something to be held; hold of a ship, all that part which lies between the keelson and the lower deck; a lurking-place.

HOLE, s. A cavity narrow and long; a cave, hollow place; cell of an animal.

HOLLOW, v. To shout, to hoot. View hollow! The hunter’s halloo! given when the game is viewed by the hounds.

HOLLY, s. A tree.

HONEY, s. A thick, viscous, luscious substance, which is collected and prepared by bees. Honey is divided into three kinds; virgin honey, the first produce of the swarm, obtained by drawing, without pressing the comb; a second, or thicker kind, produced by pressure; and a third and worst description extracted by heating, and then pressing the comb.

HONEYCOMB, s. The cells of wax in which the bee stores her honey.

HONEYCOMBED, a. Flawed with little cavities; a term used to describe the injuries produced by rust on cannon and gun barrels.

HOOD, s. Anything drawn upon the head, and wrapping round it; a cap of leather put on the hawk’s head immediately after he is taken. It is so constructed as to prevent him from seeing, but to allow him to feed; and may be put on or taken off at pleasure. To hood a hawk requires a degree of manual dexterity that is not easily acquired.

HOOD, v. To blind as with a hood.

HOODED or ROYSTON CROW (Corvus cornix, LINN.; _La Corneille mantelée_, BUFF.) s.

This bird is somewhat larger and more bulky than the rook, measuring twenty-two inches in length. Its bill is black, and two inches long; the head, fore part of the neck, wings, and tail, are black; the back and all the under parts are of a pale ash-colour; legs black.

These birds arrive with the woodcock, and on their first coming frequent the shores of rivers. They depart in the spring to breed in other countries, but it is said that they do not all leave us, as they have been seen during the summer months in the northern quarters of our island, where they frequent the mountainous parts of the country, and breed in the pines. In more northern parts of the world they continue the whole year, and subsist on sea-worms, shell-fish, and other marine productions. With us they are seen to mix with and to feed in the same manner as the crow. During the breeding season they live in pairs, lay six eggs, and are said to be much attached to their offspring.—Bewick.

HOODED GULL, (Larus atricilla, LINN.) s.

The bill and feet are deep lake red; hood of dark bluish ash-colour; quill feathers all black, and two inches longer than the tail; length of the shank one inch and three-fourths. In the month of August, 1774, we saw five of them together feeding in a pool upon the shingley flats near Winchelsea; two only were black on the head; the others were mottled all over with brown. We also saw two others near Hastings, in Sussex. It is found in Russia and America, and, according to Natterer, on the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.—Montagu—Temminck.

HOODWINK, v. To blind with something bound over the eyes.

HOOF, s. The hard horny substance which composes the feet of several sorts of animals.

Hoof Ointment.—Tar and tallow in equal parts: when melted let the mixture be removed from the fire, and stirred until it is cold. This ointment is applied to the coronet and heels, when dry and cracking.—White.

HOOK, s. Any thing bent so as to catch hold; the bended wire on which the bait is hung for fishes, and with which the fish is pierced; a snare, a trap; a sickle to reap corn; an iron to seize the meat in the caldron; an instrument to cut or lop with; the part of the hinge fixed to the post.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us