The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modern (part 4 of 7)
In the choice of hooks, those should be preferred that are longish in the shanks, strong, and rather deep in the bend, the point fine and straight, and as true as it can be set to the level of the shank (which, for fly making, should be tapered off to the end, that the fly may be the neater finished), the point should be sharp and the barb of a proper length; many experienced anglers, who have impartially tried both kinds, consider these to be more sure than the crooked hooks, that they cause a smaller orifice, and are less liable to break their hold. At Limerick, in Ireland, the best of these hooks are manufactured. A hook, whose point stands outwards, ought never to be chosen, as it frequently scratches the fish without laying hold; if the points were somewhat shorter, and the barbs a trifle wider, the hooks of every maker would be improved. When hooks are blunt, a small whetstone will restore their sharpness much better than a file, which always leaves them rough and jagged.
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I find, by sad experience, that in hook-making the Irish are far before us; our workmen either do not understand the method of forming and tempering hooks, or they do not take sufficient pains in their manufacture. It is strange, that when so much of the angler’s pleasure and success depends upon the quality of his hooks, that more attention is not bestowed upon their fabrication. The art of forming, and the process of tempering them, appears simple enough; and that little difficulty is required to attain it, is evident from the fact that many fishermen make their own hooks. For my own part, however, I consider hook-making to be an unnecessary accomplishment for the angler, as the best hooks in the world can be procured without trouble, and at a trifling expense, from O’Shaughnessy of Limerick.
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I have even made a hook, which, though a little inferior in form, in other respects, I think I could boast as equal to the Limerick ones.
I never used any hooks for salmon-fishing except those which I am sure have been made by O’Shaughnessy of Limerick; for even those made in Dublin, though they seldom break, yet they now and then bend; and the English hooks, made of cast-steel, in imitation of Irish ones, are the worst of all.
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Hooks, to whip on.—When hooks are armed, especially to hair, it should be done with small but strong silk, well rubbed with shoemaker’s wax, after having smoothed the shank with a whetstone, to hinder its fretting; from a straw’s breadth below the top of the hook, wrap the silk about the bare shank until it comes to the top, which will prevent its slipping, or cutting the line from frequently using; then lay the hair or gut on the inside and whip the silk downwards almost to the bend of the hook; the colour of the arming silk should be as near that of the baits used as may be, and its size be regulated by the thickness of the wire, hair, or gut, to which it is joined. In whipping on a hook, it is to be held in the left hand, and the silk whipped down to within four turns of its bend; the shank is then to be taken between the fore finger and thumb of the left hand, and the end of the silk close to it, holding them both tight, and leaving the ends of the silk to hang down; the other part of the silk is then to be drawn into a large loop, and with the right hand, turning backwards, continue the whipping for four turns, and draw the end of the silk, which has hung down under the left thumb, close, and cut it off.—Salmonia—Wild Sports—Daniel.
HOOK, v. To catch with a hook; to entrap; to draw as with a hook.
HOOKED, a. Bent, curvated.
HOOKNOSED, a. Having the aquiline nose rising in the middle.
HOOP, s. Anything circular by which something else is bound, particularly casks or barrels.
The hoop net is a very destructive engine. For large and deep waters the mesh should be an inch and three quarters, the length full nine feet, and the hoops (of which that in the centre should be iron, rounded like a curtain rod, and painted red to prevent its rusting) should be strong and three feet high. In laying hoop nets, place them where the water gets tolerably deep from a gravelly scour. All the infallible attraction of brass candlesticks, yellow ribands, flowers, and looking-glasses, are superseded by the arcanum of encircling a live fish brought from other waters in each hoop net; whether the old inhabitants approach the stranger out of vengeance or curiosity remains a mystery, but that they will run into the hoop net to get at him, Mr. Daniel positively insists. It was a secret which an old gamekeeper would not impart, until after being in his service for many years.—Daniel.
HOOP, v. To bind or enclose with hoops; to encircle; to clasp.
HOOT, v. To shout in contempt; to cry as an owl.
HOP, s. A plant, the flowers of which are used in brewing. Hops were introduced into England in the sixteenth century, from the Netherlands.
HORN, s. The hard pointed bodies which grow on the heads of some quadrupeds, and serve them for weapons; an instrument of wind music, made of horn; the extremity of the waxing or waning moon; the feelers of a snail; a drinking cup made of horn.
HORNET, s. A very large, strong, stinging fly.
HORNOWL, s. A kind of horned owl. Vide OWL.
HORSE, s. A quadruped used in war, draught, and carriage.
The generic character of horses, according to Linnaeus, is, that the fore-teeth are twelve in number, the upper six erect and parallel, the lower six more prominent; the tusks are solitary, included, remote; teats two, inguinal: they fight by biting, and kicking with the hind feet; and they have the singular property of breathing only through the nostrils, and not through the mouth.
Cuvier places the horse in the class Mammalia, which contains those animals that suckle their young, and forms the ninth genus of his sixth order, called Pachydermata, of which order the following are characters:—Skin very thick; some of the genera are partially without teeth, others with three sorts of teeth; quadrupedal, generally with hoofs, and the toes varying in number; stomach simple, and they do not ruminate; without clavicles, or collar-bones. They are either herbivorous or omnivorous, and their habits are various. They generally inhabit the temperate and torrid zone.
The genus Equus is subdivided by Cuvier into six species, and thus defined:—Incisory teeth, six in the upper jaw, and six in the under; two canines, one above and one below, on each side of the cutting or incisory teeth, (the females of some of the species with no canine teeth,) and six cheek teeth, or grinders, on each side, on both jaws; they are furrowed on both sides with flat crowns and several ridges of enamel. Between the canines and cheek teeth is a void space; the upper lip is susceptible of considerable motion; the eyes are large; the pupil oblong-ovate, placed laterally; their sight excellent, and, although not formed for seeing in the night, they can distinguish objects very clearly in the dark; ears rather small, pointed, and erect, having great mobility in the external conch, so that their hearing is very acute, and is the sense which, in all probability, they possess in the greatest perfection; feet, with a single apparent toe, covered with a thick hoof; the tail is furnished with long hair, or with a tuft at the extremity; mammæ two, inguinal; the stomach is simple and membranaceous, and the intestines and cæcum very large.
The six species of this genus are the horse, ass, common zebra, zebra of the plains, quagga, dzhiggtai, with the mule, which may be regarded as a sub-species.
Of all quadrupeds, the horse possesses, along with grandeur of stature, the greatest elegance and proportion of parts. By comparing him with the animals above or below him, we find that the ass is ill made, and that the head of the lion is too large; that the limbs of the ox are too slender, and too short in proportion to the size of his body; that the camel is deformed; and the grosser animals, as the rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and elephant, may be considered as rude and shapeless masses. The great difference between the head of man and that of the quadruped, consists in the length of his jaws, which is the most ignoble of all characters. But, although the jaws of the horse be very long, he has not, like the ass, an air of imbecility, nor, like the ox, of stupidity. The regularity and proportion of the parts of his head, give him a light and sprightly aspect, being gracefully attached to his finely arched neck, which is well supported by the beauty of his chest. He elevates his head, as if anxious to exalt himself above the condition of other quadrupeds. In this noble attitude he regards man, face to face. His eyes are open, lively, and intelligent; his ears handsome, and of a proper height, being neither too long, like those of the ass, nor too short, like those of the bull. His mane adorns his graceful neck, and gives him the appearance of strength and courage. His long bushy tail covers, and terminates with advantage, the extremity of his body. His tail, very different from the short tails of the deer, elephant, and hippopotamus, and from the naked tails of the ass, camel, and rhinoceros, is formed of long, thick hairs, which seem to rise from his crupper, because the trunk from which they proceed is very short. He cannot, like the lion, elevate his tail; but, though pendulous, it becomes him better; and as he can move it from side to side, it serves him to drive off the flies, which incommode him; for though his skin is very firm, and well garnished with close hair, it is, nevertheless, very sensible.
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Brown says, the head of the horse should not be too long, and it ought to be rather thin than otherwise. The front should be narrow, and a little convex; the eye-pits well filled, and the eye-lids thin; the eyes large and prominent, clear, lively, and sparkling with fiery glances; the pupil should be large; the under jaw should be a little thick, but not fleshy; the nose slightly arched; the nostrils open and deep, and divided by a thin septum or partition; the ears should be small, erect, and narrow, but not too stiff, and placed on the upper part of the head, at a proper distance from each other, but not too wide, as this always gives a horse a disagreeable aspect; the mouth should be delicate, and moderately split; the withers sharp and elevated; the shoulders flat and not confined; the back equal, a little arched lengthwise, and raised on each side of the spine, which should have the appearance of being slightly sunk; the flanks short and full; the crupper round and plump; the haunches well furnished with muscular flesh; the dock, or fleshy part of the tail, firm and thick; the thighs large and muscular; the hough round before, broad on the sides, and tendinous behind; the shank thin before, and broad on the sides; the tendon Achillis prominent, strong, and well detached from the leg-bone; and the fetlock somewhat prominent, and furnished with a small tuft of long hair behind; the pasterns should be of a middling length, and pretty large; the coronet a little elevated; the hoof black, solid, and shining; the instep high; the quarters round; the heels broad, and a little prominent; the frog thin and small, and the sole thick and concave.—Vide ARABIAN—HUNTER—ROADSTER, RACE HORSE, &c.
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The horse is considered to have been originally a native of what is called the old world, and by the industry of man to have been planted in the new. It appears from the sacred records, that his subjugation did not take place until many years after that of the camel and the ass.
At what precise time foreign horses were brought into Britain is uncertain; but it is not improbable that it was a very early one, since history informs us they were sufficiently numerous, and their uses well known, when Julius Cæsar invaded the island. Whether these early horses were the entire produce of Britain, or whether they had already been mixed, it is likely that their intercourse with the Roman cavalry would introduce new races, as diversified as the countries from whence the Romans themselves drew their own immense supplies. Freed from their conquerors, the English cultivated the arts of peace, and were consequently not unmindful of the horse, which was become, as early as A.D. 930, so valuable that Athelstan prohibited their exportation.
William the Conqueror brought with him the means of greatly improving the island horse; and the barons who accompanied him, being spread over the kingdom, in their newly acquired estates, rapidly diffused a valuable mixture among the native breeds. One of these nobles (Roger de Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury) is particularly celebrated for introducing Spanish stallions into his Welsh possessions.
In 1121, the first Arabian horse on record was imported into England, and the crusades, which soon succeeded, were the means of introducing a large accession of eastern horses from the Levant. The traffic in horses now began to assume much of its future character: Smithfield was established as a horse-market; and the dealing in this animal was already become a regular profession, as well as already garnished with much of its trickery.
To Edward the Second the breed of English horses owes much of its early improvement: he procured cavalry horses from Lombardy, Italy, and Spain, and heavy draught horses from Flanders. From this time the public attention appears to have been particularly directed to the necessity of improving the breed of horses; and many public ordinances were promulgated to that effect. In the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. it became common to import foreign stallions for this purpose from Barbary and Spain; and, in the two following reigns, others were imported from Belgium, Flanders, and Denmark; and as the former were intended to improve the speed, spirit, and beauty, these latter added greatly to the size of the future breeds. As early as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there were horse-races in England; but these appear to have been principally confined to trials of speed and continuance over uncertain grounds between native horses. In the reign of Henry VIII., horses either procured from Barbary, or bred from such, were expressly used for this purpose; and we may date the systematic improvement in the breed, by the admixture of what we call blood, to have its origin about this time.
James the First pursued the system, and imported from Barbary a set of the finest mares, for purity of breed and excellence of form, which could be procured: these, known significantly as the Royal Mares, greatly assisted the general purpose. James also imported an Arabian, whose own qualities, as well as those of his produce, not answering to the expectations raised, the breed for many years became in disrepute. Regular race-courses were now established, and racing was conducted on fixed principles, and confined within rules. Charles the First encouraged these sports, and to him we owe the establishment of the Newmarket course; and in such estimation were they, as connected with the national good, that even the fanaticism of Cromwell gave way to it, for he also had his stud of race-horses. The Restoration gave a new impulse to racing, and a new impetus to the improvements meditated. The Arabian was again resorted to, and, on the renewed trials, his proceeds justified the former expectations. From that time to the present, by a judicious mixture of crossings of the native and the eastern horses, in different degrees of consanguinity, according to the different purposes for which they are required, we now stand unrivalled among nations; and we now send our breeds back to eastern countries, to meliorate that blood which we originally borrowed from them.
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It would appear that the ancient Irish horses were held in high estimation:—
“Horses they have of pace easie, in running wonderful swift. Therefore they make of them great store, as wherein at times of need they repose a great piece of safetie.
“I heard it verrified by honourable to honourable, that a nobleman offered (and was refused) for one such horse, an hundred kyne, five pound lands, and an aery of hawks yearly during seven years.”—Brown—Blaine—Strutt—Campion.
HORSE, v. To mount upon a horse; to cover a mare.
HORSEBACK, s. The seat of the rider, the state of being on a horse.
HORSEBEAN, s. A small bean usually given to horses.
HORSEBREAKER, s. One whose employment is to tame horses to the saddle.
HORSECHESTNUT, s. A tree, the fruit of a tree.
HORSECOURSER, s. obs. One that runs horses, or keeps horses for the race; a dealer in horses.
HORSEHAIR, s. The hair of horses. Vide HAIR.
HORSELEECH, s. A leech that bites horses; a farrier.
HORSEMAN, s. One skilled in riding; one that serves in wars on horseback; a rider, a man on horseback.
HORSEMANSHIP, s. The art of riding, the art of managing a horse.
HORSEPOND, s. A pond for watering horses.
Pond water, from a clay bottom, is by some preferred to running water; but in summer stagnant water often becomes putrid and nauseous, and is consequently highly injurious.
HORSERACE, s. A match of horses in running. Vide RACING.
HORSESHOE, s. A plate of iron nailed to the feet of horses; an herb. VIDE Shoe.
HOSTLER, s. One who has the care of horses at an inn.
HOT, a. Having the power to excite the sense of heat; fiery; ardent, vehement, eager.
HOUGH, s. The lower part of the thigh.
HOUGH, v. To hamstring, to disable by cutting the sinews of the ham.
HOUND, s. A dog used in the chase.
The old English hound or Talbot. (Canis Sagax, LINN.)—This is undoubtedly the origin of those famous hounds for which Great Britain is celebrated above all other countries. In former times this dog was of a pure white, but is now generally of a white and black colour, and tanned over the eyes.
This majestic animal is distinguished by his great size and strength; his body is long, his chest deep, and his ears long and sweeping, with great gravity of expression. From the particular formation of his organs, or from the extraordinary moisture which always flows from his nose, or from some other unknown cause, he is endowed with the most exquisite sense of smelling, and can discover scent hours after other dogs have given up.
Although the talbot hunts with great certainty, yet he becomes tedious from the slowness of his motions; this, however, enables him to receive more distinctly the directions of the huntsman. And he can trace with a cold scent, which he is too apt to make so by his want of speed.
The talbot, in the “History of Manchester,” is stated to be the original breed of this island, used by the ancient Britons in the chase of larger kinds of game, with which the country at one time abounded. They were common in all parts of the kingdom, and were much larger than they are at present; and have been gradually declining in consequence of mixing them with lighter dogs for the purpose of increasing their speed. We have no doubt that, from this cause, the breed will eventually become extinct.
It is said, that the tone of his voice is peculiarly deep, sonorous, powerful, and mellow.
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Among sportsmen it is generally understood that hounds of the middle size are the most proper, all animals of that description being stronger than such as are either very small or very large. The shape ought to be particularly attended to; for, if the hound be not well proportioned, he can neither run fast nor do much work. His legs ought to be straight, his feet round and not very large, his shoulders back, his breast rather wide than narrow, his chest deep, his back broad, his head small, his neck thin, his tail thick and bushy and well carried. None of those young hounds which are out at the elbows, or such as are weak from the knee to the foot, should ever be taken into the pack. That the pack may look well, the hounds should be as much as possible of a size; and if they be also handsome, the pack will then be perfect. This, however, contributes nothing to the goodness of a pack, for very unhandsome packs, consisting of hounds entirely different in size and colour, often afford very good sport.
It is only necessary that they should run well together; to which indeed a uniformity in size and shape seems to contribute. The pack that can run ten miles, or any other considerable space, in the shortest time, may be said to go fastest, though the hounds taken separately might be considerably inferior to others in point of swiftness. A pack of hounds considered in a collective body, go fast in proportion to the excellence of their noses and the head they carry. Packs composed of hounds of various kinds seldom run well. When the packs are very large, the hounds are seldom sufficiently hunted to be good; twenty or thirty couple, therefore, or at most forty, will be sufficient for the keenest sportsman in this country, as thus he may be enabled to hunt three and even four times a week. The number of hounds to be kept must however, in a considerable degree, depend on the strength of the pack, and the country in which they hunt. They should be left at home as seldom as possible; and too many old hounds should not be kept. None ought to be kept above five or six seasons, though this also is somewhat uncertain, as we have no rule for judging how long a hound will last. In breeding hounds, considerable attention ought to be paid to the dog from which you breed. All such are to be rejected as have a tender nose, or are babblers or skirters. An old dog should never be put to an old bitch. January, February, and March, are the best months for breeding; late puppies seldom thrive. After the females begin to grow big with young, it will not be proper to let them hunt any more, or indeed to remain for a much longer time in the kennel. Sometimes these animals will have an extraordinary number of whelps. Mr. Beckford informs us, that he has known a bitch have fifteen puppies at a litter; and he assures us, that a friend of his informed him, that a hound in his pack brought forth sixteen, all alive. In these cases it is proper to put some of the puppies to another bitch, if you want to keep them all; but, if any are destroyed, the best coloured ought to be kept. The bitches should not only have plenty of flesh, but milk also; and the puppies should not be taken from them till they are able to take care of themselves; their mothers will be relieved when they learn to lap milk, which they will do in a short time. After the puppies are taken away from their mother, the litter should have three purging balls given them, one every other morning, and plenty of whey the intermediate day. If a bitch bring only one or two puppies, and you have another that will take them, by putting the puppies to her, the former will soon be fit to hunt again. She should, however, be first physicked, and it will also be of service to anoint her dugs with brandy and water. Whelps are liable to the distemper, to which dogs in general are subject, and which frequently makes great havoc among them at their walks. Young hounds should be fed twice a day, as they seldom take kindly to the kennel-meat at first, and the distemper is most apt to seize them at this time. It is impossible to determine how many young hounds ought to be bred in order to keep up the pack, as this depends entirely on contingencies. The deficiencies of one year must be supplied by the next; but it is probable, that from thirty to thirty-five couple of old hounds, and from eight to thirty-five couple of young ones will answer the purpose, where no more than forty couple are to be kept. A considerable number, however, ought always to be bred; for it is undoubtedly and evidently true, that those who breed the greatest number of hounds must expect the best pack. After the hounds have become acquainted with the huntsman, and answer to their names, they ought to be coupled, and walked out among sheep; and two dogs should not be coupled together, when you can avoid it. As young hounds are awkward at first, a few ought only to be sent out at a time, with people on foot, and they will soon afterwards follow a horse. With regard to the first entering of hounds to a scent, our author gives the following directions:—“You had better enter them at their own game; it will save you much trouble afterwards. Many dogs, I believe, like that scent best which they were first blooded to: but, be this as it may, it is most certainly reasonable to use them to that which it is intended they should hunt. Hounds ought to be entered as soon as possible, though the time must depend on the nature of the country in which they are. In corn countries hunting may not be practicable till the corn is cut down; but you may begin sooner in grass countries, and at any time in woodlands. Hounds at their first entrance cannot be encouraged too much. When they are become handy, love a scent, and begin to know what is right, it will then be soon enough to chastise them for what is wrong; in which case one severe beating will save a great deal of trouble. When a hound is flogged, the whipper in should make use of his voice as well as his whip. They should be low in flesh when you begin to hunt, the ground being generally hard at that time, so that they are very liable to be shaken. Sometimes the huntsman turns down a cat before them, which they kill; and, when the time of hunting approaches, he turns out young foxes or badgers; taking out some of the most steady of his old hounds to lead on the young ones. Small covers and furze brakes are drawn with them to use them to a halloo, and to teach them obedience. If they find improper game, and hunt it, they are stopped and brought back; and as long as they will stop at a rate, they are not chastised. To render fox-hunting complete, no young hounds should be taken into the pack the first season; a requisite too expensive for most sportsmen. The pack should consist of about forty couple of hounds, that have hunted one, two, three, four, or five seasons. The young pack should consist of about twenty couple of young hounds, and an equal number of old ones. They should have a separate establishment, and the two kennels should not be too near one another. When the season is over, the best of the young hounds should be taken into the pack, and the draft of old ones exchanged for them. Many must be bred to enable a sportsman to take in twenty couple of young hounds every season. It will always be easy to keep up the number of old hounds, for, when your own draft is not sufficient, drafts from other packs may be obtained, and at a small expense. When young hounds are hunted together for the first season, and have not a sufficient number of old ones along with them, it does more harm than good.”—Vide BEAGLE, HARRIER, FOX and STAG-HOUND.
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NAMES OF HOUNDS.
A. dogs.
Antic Ardent
A. bitches.
Active Airy
B. dogs.
Bachelor Bellman Blaster Bluecap Bouncer Bowler Bravo Brazen Brilliant Brusher Bustler
B. bitches.
Bashful Beauty Beldam Blowsy Bluebell Brimstone Busy Buxom
C. dogs.
Captain Carver Charon Chaser Chanter Chieftain Chimer Clinker Comrade Comus Constant Coxcomb Crasher Crowner Cruiser Crusty Cryer
C. bitches.
Careless Charmer Chantress Clio Comely Crafty Crazy Crony
D. dogs.
Damper Danger Dasher Dashwood Driver Duster
D. bitches.
Dainty Darling Dashaway Dauntless Dian Dulcet
E. dogs.
Eager Earnest
E. bitches.
Easy Endless
F. dogs.
Factor Fervent Finder Flasher Fleecer Flippant Foamer Forward
F. bitches.
Faithful Fairmaid Fearless Fickle Fidget Firetail Flighty Flourish Fretful Frisky Frolic Fury
G. dogs.
Gainer Gallant Gimcrack Glancer Glider Growler Grumbler
G. bitches.
Gayless Giddy Gladsome Graceful
H. dogs.
Hardy Havoc Hazard Headstrong Hearty Hector Hero Hopeful Hotspur
H. bitches.
Hasty Handsome Harlot Helen
J. dogs.
Jingler Jockey Jolly Judgment
J. bitches.
Joyful.
L. dogs.
Lasher Leader Lictor Lifter Lightfoot Lounger Lusty
L. bitches.
Lawless Lively Lofty Lovely
M. dogs.
Marksman Marplot Match’em Meddler Mendall Merlin Messmate Monarch Motley Mounter Mungo
M. bitches.
Madcap Magic Minion Mischief Music
N. dogs.
Nestor Nettler Newsman Nimrod Noble Nonsuch
N. bitches.
Nimble Noisy Novice
P. dogs.
Pealer Perfect Phœbus Pilgrim Pilot Piper Playful Prattler Presto Primate Prowler Prosper
P. bitches.
Patience Placid Pliant Precious Priestess Prudence
R. dogs.
Racer Rambler Random Ranger Ransack Ranter Rattler Rector Render Rifler Ringwood Risker Rockwood Rouser Rover Rumbler Rusher
R. bitches.
Racket Rapid Rattle Ruin Rummage
S. dogs.
Samson Saunter Scalper Scamper Scourer Scramble Scuffler Sharper Shifter Singer Skirmish Smoker Songster Soundwell Spanker Spinner Spoiler Sportsman Squabbler Squeaker Steady Stickler Stringer Stripling Striver Stroker Struggler Sturdy Sylvan
S. bitches.
Sappho Skilful Speedy Spitfire Sportful Sprightly Stately Strumpet Sybil
T. dogs.
Tackler Tamer Tangent Tartar Tattler Taunter Teaser Terror Thrasher Thumper Thwacker Tickler Tomboy Topper Torrent Touchstone Trampler Trimbush Trimmer Trojan Trouncer Truant Trueboy Trueman Trusty Tryall Tuner Twig’em
T. bitches.
Tattle Telltale Tempest Termagant Testy Trifle Trollop Truelass Tuneful
V. dogs.
Vagrant Valid Vaulter Venture Vexer Victor Vigorous Viper Volant Voucher
V. bitches.
Vanquish Venomous Vicious Vivid Vixen Vocal
W. dogs.
Warbler Warrior Wayward Wellbred Whynot Wildair Wildman Wilful Woodman Workman Wrangler Wrestler
W. bitches.
Waggery Waggish Wagtail Wanton Warfare Warlike Waspish Watchful Welcome Whimsey Wildfire Wishful Worry Wrathful.
Brown—Whitaker—Beckford, &c.
HOUND, v. To set on the chase; to hunt, to pursue.
HOUR, s. The twenty-fourth part of a natural day; the space of sixty minutes.
HOURGLASS, s. A glass filled with sand, which, running through a narrow hole, marks the time.
HOUSE, v. To harbour, to admit to residence; to shelter, to keep under a roof; to take shelter, to keep the abode.
HOUSEDOG, s. A mastiff kept to guard the house.
HOUSING, s. Cloth originally used to keep off dirt, now added to saddles as ornamental.
HOWL, v. To cry as a wolf or dog; to utter cries in distress.
HOWL, s. The cry of a wolf or dog; the cry of a human being in horror.
HOY, s. A large boat, sometimes with one deck.
HUCHO, s. A fish of the genus Salmo.
The hucho is the most predatory fish of the salmo genus, and is made like an ill-fed trout, but longer and thicker. He has larger teeth, more spines in the pectoral fin, a thicker skin, a silvery belly, and dark spots only on the back and sides. I have never seen any on the fins. The ratio of his length to the girth is as eight to eighteen, or, in well-fed fish, as nine to twenty; and a fish, eighteen inches long by eight in girth, weighed 16,215 grains. Another, two feet long, eleven inches in girth, and three inches thick, weighed 4lbs. 2¼ oz. Another, twenty-six inches long, weighed 5lbs. 5oz. Of the spines in the fins, the anal has nine, the caudal twenty, the ventral nine, the dorsal twelve, the pectoral seventeen: having numbered the spines in many, I give this as correct. The fleshy fin belonging to the genus is, I think, larger in this species than in any I have seen. Bloch, in his work on fishes, states, that there are black spots on all the fins, with the exception of the anal, as a character of this fish: and professor Wagner informs me, he has seen huchoes with this peculiarity; but, as I said before, I never saw any fish with spotted fins; yet, I have examined those of the Danube, Save, Drave, Mur, and Izar: perhaps, this is peculiar to some stream in Bavaria; yet the huchoes in the collection at Munich have it not. The hucho is found in most rivers tributary to the Danube—in the Save and Laybach rivers always; yet the general opinion is, that they run from the Danube twice a year, in spring and autumn. I can answer for their migration in spring, having caught several in April, in streams connected with the Save and Laybach rivers, which had evidently come from the still dead water into the clear running streams, for they had the winter leech, or louse, of the trout upon them; and I have seen them of all sizes in April in the market at Laybach, from six inches to two feet long; but they are found much larger, and reach thirty, or even forty pounds. It is the opinion of some naturalists that it is only a fresh-water fish; yet this I doubt, because it is never found beyond certain falls—as in the Traun, the Drave, and the Save; and, there can be no doubt, comes into these rivers from the Danube; and probably in its largest state, is a fish of the Black Sea. Yet it can winter in fresh water; and does not seem, like the salmon, obliged to haunt the sea, but falls back into the warmer waters of the great rivers; from which it migrates in spring, to seek a cooler temperature, and to breed. The fishermen at Gratz say they spawn in the Mur, between March and May. In those I have caught at Laybach, which, however, were small ones, the ova were not sufficiently developed to admit of their spawning that spring. Marsigli says that they spawn in the Danube in June. You have seen how violently they pursue their prey; I have never taken one without fish in his stomach; yet, when small, they will take a fly. In the Kleingraben, which is a feeder to the Laybach river, and where they are found of all sizes—from twenty pounds downwards—the little ones take a fly, but the large ones are too ravenous to care about so insignificant a morsel, and prey like the largest trout, often hunting in company, and chasing the small fish into the narrow and shallow streams, and then devouring them.
The hucho, as you have seen, preys with great violence, and pursues his object as a foxhound or a greyhound does. I have seen him in repose; they lie like pikes, perfectly still, and I have watched one for many minutes, that never moved at all. In this respect their habits resemble those of most carnivorous and predatory animals. It is probably in consequence of these habits, that they are so much infested by lice, or leeches, which I have seen so numerous in spring as almost to fill their gills, and interfere with their respiration, in which case they seek the most rapid and turbulent streams to free themselves from these enemies. They are very shy, and, after being hooked, avoid the baited line. I once saw the hucho, for which I was fishing, follow the small fish, and then the lead of the tackle; it seemed as if this had fixed his attention, and he never offered at the bait afterwards. I think a hucho that has been pricked by the hook becomes particularly cautious, and possesses, in this respect, the same character as the salmon. In summer, when they are found in the roughest and most violent currents, their fins (particularly the caudal fin) often appear worn and broken; at this season they are usually in constant motion against the stream, and are stopped by no cataract or dam, unless it be many feet in height, and quite inaccessible. In the middle of September, I have caught huchoes perfectly clean in rapid cool streams, tributary to the Laybach and the Save rivers; and, from the small development of their generative system at this time, I have no doubt that they spawn in spring. On the 13th of September, 1828, I caught, by spinning the small dead fish, three huchoes that had not a single leech upon their bodies, and they were the first fish of the kind I ever saw free from these parasites.
They migrate generally when the water is foul, and, except in the spring and autumn, do not so readily run at the bait. I was once nearly a month seeking for one in rivers in which they are found, between the end of June and that of July, without being able to succeed in even seeing one alive; and, as far as my information goes, the two places where there is most probability of taking them, are at Laybach and Ratisbon, in the tributary streams to the Save, and in the Danube; and the best time, in the first of these situations, is in March and April, and, in the second, in May. I am told, likewise, that the Izar, which runs by Munich, is a stream where they may be caught, when the water is clear: and I have seen in the fish market at Munich very large huchoes.
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I am inclined to believe that the hucho is to be found in some of the mountain loughs in Connaught. Certainly I have seen fish of the salmo genus, taken in rivers communicating with deep lakes in the hills, which strikingly resemble the fish described by Sir Humphry.—Salmonia—Editor.
HUE, s. Colour, dye; a clamour, a legal pursuit.
HULK, s. The body of a ship; anything bulky and unwieldy.
HUMBLEBEE, s. A buzzing wild bee; an herb.
HUMOUR, s. Moisture; the different kinds of moisture in man’s body. Humours of the eye are these—the aqueous or watery, which lies in the forepart of the globe; the crystalline, next to the aqueous; and the vitreous or glassy humour, which is larger than the rest, and fills the backward cavity of the eye.—Crabbe.
HUNT, v. To chase wild animals; to pursue, to follow close; to search for; to direct or manage hounds in the chase.
Hunting among the Britons is of great antiquity. Dio Nicæus, speaking of the inhabitants of the northern parts of this island, tells us, they were a fierce and barbarous people, who tilled no ground, but lived upon the depredations they committed in the southern districts, or upon the food they procured by hunting. Strabo also says, that the dogs bred in Britain were highly esteemed upon the continent, on account of their excellent qualities or hunting; and these qualities, he seems to hint, were natural to them, and not the effect of tutorage by their foreign masters.
After the expulsion of the Danes, and during the short restoration of the Saxon monarchy, the sports of the field still maintained their ground. Edward the Confessor, whose disposition seems rather to have been suited to the cloister than to the throne, would join in no other secular amusements; but he took the greatest delight, says William of Malmsbury, “to follow a pack of swift hounds in pursuit of game, and to cheer them with his voice.”
During the tyrannical government of William the Norman, and his two sons who succeeded him, the restrictions concerning the killing of game were increased. The privilege of hunting in the royal forests was confined to the king and his favourites; and, to render these receptacles for the beasts of the chase more capacious, or to make new ones, whole villages were depopulated, and places of divine worship overthrown.
King John was particularly attached to the sports of the field; and his partiality for fine horses, hounds, and hawks, is evident, from his frequently receiving such animals, by way of payment, instead of money, for the renewal of grants, fines, and forfeitures, belonging to the crown.
Edward III. took so much delight in hunting, that even at the time he was engaged in war with France, and resident in that country, he had with him in his army sixty couple of stag hounds, and as many hare hounds, and every day he amused himself with hunting or hawking.
James I. preferred the amusement of hunting to hawking or shooting. It is said of this monarch, that he divided his time betwixt his standish, his bottle, and his hunting; the last had his fair weather, the two former his dull and cloudy.
It would be a needless task, to quote the passages in the poetical and prose writings of the last three centuries, which prove that this favourite pastime has lost nothing of its relish in modern times, but, on the contrary, seems to be more generally practised.
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If you have the whole country to yourself, and can hunt on either side of your house, as you please, never (when you can help it) fix your place of hunting till you see what the weather is.
Before a huntsman goes into the kennel to draft his hounds, let him determine within himself the number of hounds he intends to take out; as likewise the number of young hounds that he can venture in the country where he is going to hunt. Different countries may require different hounds: some may require more hounds than others. It is not an easy matter to draft hounds properly; nor can any expedition be made in it without some method.
When the place of meeting and time are fixed, every huntsman ought to be as exact to them as it is possible for him to be. On no account is he to be before the time; yet, on some occasions, it might be better, perhaps, for the diversion, were he permitted to be after it. The course your huntsman intends to take in drawing ought always to be well understood before he leaves the kennel.
If your huntsman, without inconvenience, can begin drawing at the farthest cover down the wind, and so draw from cover to cover up the wind till you find, let him do it.—Vide COVER.
While hounds are drawing for a fox, let your people place themselves in such a manner that he cannot go off unseen. I have known them lie in sheep’s scrapes on the side of hills, and in small bushes, where huntsmen never think of looking for them; yet, when they hear a hound, they generally shift their quarters, and make for closer covers. Gentlemen should take this necessary part of fox-hunting on themselves, for the whipper-in has other business to attend to.
Huntsmen, whilst their hounds are drawing, or are at fault, frequently make so much noise themselves, that they can hear nothing else: they should always have an ear to a halloo. I once saw an extraordinary instance of the want of it in my own huntsman, who was making so much noise with his hounds, which were then at fault, that a man hallooed a long while before he heard him; and when he did hear him, so little did he know whence the halloo came, that he rode a couple of miles the wrong way, and lost the fox.
Though a huntsman ought to be as silent as possible at going into a cover, he cannot be too noisy at coming out of it again; and if at any time he should turn back suddenly, let him give as much notice of it as he can to his hounds, or he will leave many of them behind him; and should he turn down the wind, he may see no more of them.
There are times when hounds should be helped, and at all times they must be kept forward: hounds will naturally tire on a cold scent, when stopped by sheep, or other impediments; and when they are no longer able to get forward, will oftentimes hunt the old scent back again, if they find that they can hunt no other. It is the judicious encouraging of hounds to hunt when they cannot run, and the preventing them from losing time by hunting too much when they might run, that distinguishes a good sportsman from a bad one. Hounds that have been well taught will cast forward to a hedge of their own accord: but you may assure yourself this excellence is never acquired by such as are left entirely to themselves.
Though I like to see fox-hounds cast wide and forward, and dislike to see them pick a cold scent through flocks of sheep to no purpose, yet I must beg leave to observe, that I dislike still more to see that unaccountable hurry which huntsmen will sometimes put themselves into the moment their hounds are at fault. Time ought always to be allowed them to make their own cast; and if a huntsman is judicious, he will take that opportunity to consider what part he himself has next to act; but instead of this, I have seen hounds hurried away the very instant they came to a fault, a wide cast made, and the hounds at last brought back again to the very place from whence they were so abruptly taken, and where, if the huntsman had had a minute’s patience, they would have hit off the scent themselves.
When your huntsman makes a cast, I hope he makes it perfect one way before he tries another, as much time is lost by going backwards and forwards. You will see huntsmen, when a forward cast does not succeed, come slowly back again: they should return as fast as they can.
In large covers, if there are many roads, in bad scenting days, when these roads are dry, or after a thaw, when they carry, it is necessary your huntsman should be near to his hounds to help them, and hold them forward. Foxes will run the roads at these times, and hounds cannot always own the scent. When they are at fault on a dry road, let not your huntsman turn back too soon; let him not stop till he can be certain that the fox is not gone on. The hounds should try on both sides the road at once: if he perceives that they try on one side only, on his return let him try the other.
If a fox runs up the wind when first found, and afterwards turns, he seldom, if ever, turns again. This observation may not only be of use to your huntsman in his cast, but may be of use to you, if you should lose the hounds.
When you are pursuing a fox over a country, the scent being bad, and the fox a long way before, without ever having been pressed, if his point should be for strong earths that are open, or for large covers, where game is in plenty, it may be acting wisely to take off the hounds at the first fault they come to; for the fox will go many miles to your one, and probably will run you out of all scent; but if he should not, you will be likely to change at the first cover you come into: when a fox has been hard pressed, it is my opinion, that he never should be given up.
A perfect knowledge of his country certainly is a great help to a huntsman: if yours, as yet, has it not, great allowance ought to be made.
In a country where there are large earths, a fox that knows the country, and tries any of them, seldom fails to try the rest. A huntsman may take advantage of this; they are certain casts, and may help him to get nearer to his fox.
Great caution is necessary when a fox runs into a village: if he is hallooed there, get forward as fast as you can. Foxes, when tired, will lie down anywhere, and are often lost by it. A wide cast is not the best to recover a tired fox with tired hounds: they should hunt him out, inch by inch, though they are ever so long about it.
A huntsman must take care, where foxes are in plenty, that he does not run the heel; for it frequently happens that hounds can run the wrong way of the scent better than they can the right, when one is up the wind, and the other down.
When a huntsman hears a halloo, and has five or six couple of hounds along with him, the pack not running, let him get forward with those which he has: when they are on the scent, the others will soon join them.
Let him lift his tail hounds, and get them forward after the rest: it can do no hurt. But let him be cautious how he lifts any hounds to get them forward before the rest: it always is dangerous, and foxes are sometimes lost by it.
When hounds are hunting a cold scent, and point towards a cover, let a whipper-in get forward to the opposite side of it. Should the fox break before the hounds reach the cover, stop them, and get them nearer to him.
When a fox persists in running in a strong cover, lies down often behind the hounds, and they are slack in hunting him, let the huntsman get into the cover to them: it may make the fox break; it may keep him off his toil; or may prevent the hounds from giving him up.
It is not often that slow huntsmen kill many foxes: they are a check upon their hounds, which seldom kill a fox but with a high scent, when it is out of their power to prevent it. Activity is the first requisite in a huntsman to a pack of fox-hounds: a want of it no judgment can make amends for; but the most difficult of all his undertakings is the distinguishing betwixt different scents, and knowing with any certainty the scent of his hunted fox. Much speculation is here required; the length of time hounds remain at fault; difference of ground; change of weather; all these contribute to increase the difficulty, and require a nicety of judgment, and a precision, much above the comprehension of most huntsmen.
When hounds are at fault, and cannot make it out of themselves, let the first cast be quick; the scent is then good, nor are the hounds likely to go over it: as the scent gets worse, the cast should be slower, and be more cautiously made. This is an essential part of hunting, and which, I am sorry to say, few huntsmen attend to. 1 wish they would remember the following rules, viz.: that, with a good scent, their cast should be quick; with a bad scent, slow; and that, when the hounds are picking along a cold scent, they are not to cast them at all.
When hounds are making a good and regular cast, trying for the scent as they go, suffer not your huntsman to say a word to them: it cannot do any good, and probably may make them go over the scent.
When hounds come to a check, a huntsman should observe the tail hounds: they are least likely to over-run the scent, and he may see by them how far they brought it. In most packs there are some hounds that will show the point of the fox, and, if attended to, will direct his cast. When such hounds follow unwillingly, he may be certain the rest of the pack are running without a scent.
Different countries require different casts: such huntsmen as have been used to a woodland and inclosed country, I have seen lose time in an open country, where wide casts are always necessary.
When you want to cast round a flock of sheep, the whipper-in ought to drive them the other way, lest they should keep running on before you.
Most huntsmen like to have all their hounds turned after them, when they make a cast: I wonder not at them for it, but I am always sorry when I see it done; for till I find a huntsman that is infallible, I shall continue to think the more my hounds spread the better: as long as they are within sight or hearing, it is sufficient. Many a time have I seen an obstinate hound hit off the scent, when an obstinate huntsman, by casting the wrong way, has done all in his power to prevent it. Two foxes I remember to have seen killed in one day by skirting hounds, whilst the huntsman was making his cast the contrary way.
When your hounds are divided into many parts, you had better go off with the first fox that breaks. The ground will soon get tainted, nor will hounds like a cover where they are often changing.
The heading a fox back at first, if the cover be not a large one, is oftentimes of service to hounds, as he will not stop, and cannot go off unseen. When a fox has been hard run, I have known it turn out otherwise; and hounds that would easily have killed him out of the cover, have left him in it.
When a fox has been often headed back on one side of a cover, and a huntsman knows there is not any body on the other side to halloo him, the first fault his hounds come to, let him cast that way, lest the fox should be gone off; and if he is in the cover, he may still recover him.
Suffer not your huntsman to take out a lame hound. If any are tender-footed, he will tell you, perhaps, that they will not mind it when they are out: probably they may not; but how will they be on the next day? A hound, not in condition to run, cannot be of much service to the pack; and taking him out at that time may occasion him a long confinement afterwards. Put it not to the trial.
All hounds go fast enough with a good scent; but it is the particular excellence of a fox-hound, when rightly managed, to get on faster with an indifferent scent than any other hound, and it is the business of a huntsman to encourage this. Every minute you lose is precious, and increases your difficulties; and while you are standing still the fox is running miles.
When hounds flag from frequent changes and a long day, it is necessary for a huntsman to animate them as much as he can: he must keep them forward, and press them on; for it is not likely, in this case, that they should over-run the scent: at these times the whole work is generally done by a few hounds, and he should keep close to them.
The many chances that are against you in fox-hunting; the changing frequently; the heading of the foxes; their being coursed by sheep-dogs; long faults; cold hunting, and the dying away of the scent; make it necessary to keep always as near to the fox as you can; which should be the first and invariable principle of fox-hunting. Long days do great hurt to a pack of fox-hounds. I set out one day last winter from the kennel at half-past seven, and returned home a quarter before eight at night, the hounds running hard the greatest part of the time. The huntsman killed one horse and tired another, and the hounds did not recover it for more than a week.
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The whole system of hunting is so revolutionised that the preparation which a horse now requires is very different to what it was in former times. The hour of meeting is seldom before eleven: the find generally quick and certain; and horses are often not more than five or six hours from their stables after the best day’s sport; and the ground they go over is frequently not so much as a plating race horse performs in contending three or four-mile heats. Having said this, I see no reason to doubt the propriety of feeding, sweating, and muzzling the hunter much in the same manner as the race horse, only making due and proper allowance for the relative nature of their work; particularly as to not stripping the hunter too much of his flesh; or losing sight of the natural difference between the thorough-bred horse and the cock-tail.
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There is certainly no country in the world where the sport of hunting on horseback is carried to such a height as in Great Britain at the present day, and where the pleasures of a fox-chase are so well understood, and conducted on such purely scientific principles. It is considered the beau ideal of hunting by those who pursue it. There can be no doubt that it is infinitely superior to stag-hunting, for the real sportsman can only enjoy that chase when the deer is sought for, and found like other game which are pursued with hounds. In the case of finding an outlying fallow-deer, which is unharboured in this manner, great sport is frequently afforded; but this is rarely to be met with in Britain. So that fox-hunting is now the chief amusement of the true British sportsman; and a noble one it is: the artifices and dexterity employed by this lively, crafty animal, to avoid the dogs, are worthy of our admiration, as he exhibits more devices for self-preservation than any other beast of the chase.
In many parts of this and the sister island, hare-hunting is much followed, but fox-hunters consider it as a sport only fit for women and old men. But although it is less arduous than that of the fox-chase, there are charms attached to it which compensate for the hard riding of the other.
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The hunting match given by the Prince Esterhazy, Regent of Hungary, upon the signing the treaty of peace with France, was a day’s sport, that bids fair to vie in point of blood (if the King of Naples’ slaughter be excepted) with any of those recorded in modern history, as there were killed, 160 deer, 100 wild boars, 300 hares, and 80 foxes. The king had a larger extent and a longer period for the exercise of his talents, and it is proved that during his journey to Vienna, in Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia, he killed five bears, 1820 boars, 1950 deer, 1145 does, 1625 roebucks, 1121 rabbits, 13 wolves, 17 badgers, 16,354 hares, and 354 foxes; the monarch had likewise the pleasure of doing a little in the bird way, by killing upon the same expedition, 15,350 pheasants, and 12,335 partridges.
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Anecdotes of Hunting.—The late Duke of Grafton, when hunting, was thrown into a ditch; at the same time a young curate, calling out “Lie still, my lord,” leaped over him, and pursued his sport. Such an apparent want of feeling, we may presume, was properly resented. No such thing: on being helped out by his attendant, his grace said, “That man shall have the first good living that falls to my disposal; had he stopped to have taken care of me, I never would have given him any thing;” being delighted with an ardour similar to his own, or with a spirit that would not stoop to flatter.
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“In this pursuit I (Colonel Thornton) sunk more than once, into a quagmire, where the prince’s whipper-in some years since, was hesitating whether he should go to the assistance of some hounds which had got an old stag at bay, but on his master’s asking if he were afraid, he immediately dashed in and sunk to rise no more.” It is indeed reported, that neither himself nor his horse were ever found.
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One of the sons of Gosden, whose father was celebrated as the bold rider of Datchett, was out upon his favourite poney with the king’s stag hounds; he came to a part where the present D—— of C—r—d, was refusing a leap, when the bolder son of Nimrod, without thinking of the importance and rank of the person he was addressing, exclaimed, “Stand away, and let me take it, a pretty sort of a duke you are.”
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He (the huntsman) died, some time since, at Duffry-hall, the seat of Cæsar Colclough, Esq. at the advanced age of ninety-six, near sixty years of which he passed in the Colclough family. He acted in the triple capacity of huntsman, steward, and master of the family. During the rebellion in 1798, he and his family acted with uncommon fidelity to their employers, as one of his sons, when Mr. C. was obliged to fly, came down to protect the house and property, and he never quitted his post. Another of his sons brought off horses and clothes to his master, at the risk of his life, when he was informed where to find him, and during that period the old man buried a large quantity of the family plate, which he afterwards conveyed to a place of safety.
Until the last year of his life he regularly went out with the hounds, and his voice retained its clearness and sweetness. He was well known to all sportsmen in that part of Ireland.
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The celebrated Saunderson, professor of mathematics, at Cambridge, who was entirely destitute of sight, continued to hunt until a very advanced stage of life; his horse was accustomed to follow that of his servant, and the satisfaction of Saunderson was extreme when he heard the cry of hounds and the huntsmen, and which he used to express with all the eagerness of those who, possessing their eye-sight, could consequently be more gratified by the incidents of the chase.—Strutt—Beckford—Brown—Thornton—&c. &c.
HUNT, s. A pack of hounds; a chase; pursuit.
HUNTER, s. One who chases animals for pastime; a dog that scents game or beasts of prey; a horse employed in hunting.
To obtain a useful hunter, let the person purchase a well-bred mare, not so much regarding her size as her points of action—particularly requiring that she have a sound constitution and good legs. Let him send her to a horse of good form, with freedom of action and a sound constitution; also being particular as to the state of his legs and feet. Never let him breed from a naturally infirm horse, whose legs have shown more than ordinary weakness; and, above all, let him fix upon one which has what the veterinary profession call a short canon; that is, the bone extending from the knee to the fetlock, commonly called the shank bone. Let him begin to breed from his mare before she is much injured by work; as in that case, if she does not breed to please him with her first and second foal, he can dispose of her and purchase another.
A very celebrated fox-hunter has observed, that “the goodness of the horse generally goes in at the mouth.” Let the breeder, then, bear this in mind, and take care that the foal be dropped early, and the dam well fed for the first two months with bran mashes, carrots, &c., till the spring grass arrives. If the mare should prove a good nurse, the colt will not require corn till he is weaned, which on no account should be delayed beyond the first or second week in September. Here the grand mistake has arisen, to which we are indebted for such numbers of mis-shapen horses as this country abounds in. Farmers, in general, never think of weaning their colts till after Michaelmas, long before which period there is little or no virtue in grass, but, on the contrary, it is sour and unwholesome.
From weaning time to the following May, the colt should be well kept on a full allowance of sweet hay, with at least two good feeds of oats per day, and he should be kept warm. He should have a head collar on, with a small strap hanging down to his knees, which will admit of his being handled every day; and every two months his toes should be rasped, and his heels opened a little with the drawing knife. In March or April he should have two mild doses of physic, which will cause him to grow; and when the weather is warm he should be turned out into a good upland pasture for the summer, with plenty of shade and water, but taken up every month to have his legs examined and his toes rasped. The second week in September he should be housed again for the winter, when his belly should be the measure for his corn. When docked, his tail should be left eight inches in length, which will preclude the disagreeable necessity of having the operation repeated.
Early in the following spring, when turned two years old, he should be broken, but not backed; and physicked as before directed. In the first or second week in June he should be cut; and when recovered he should be turned out for the summer. When taken up again for the winter, he should have two mild doses of physic, and be very well kept, giving him a few carrots, or a large bran mash once a week. Very early in the spring he should have a little more very mild physic; and in a fortnight afterwards he should be backed, and taught his paces by a person who understands his business. Idleness, from this time forth, will be an enemy to him; and as soon as he is perfect in his paces, he should do what in the training stables is called “a little work.” Exercise will strengthen his legs, enlarge his muscles, improve his form, and make him grow. From this time forth he should be treated as a horse in every respect but in his work, which should be moderate till the fifth year; but previously to that time a customer will always be ready for him, and if his owner is disposed to part with him, his average price will be from one to two hundred sovereigns.
When I say a colt should be treated as a horse after the third year, I mean, of course, that he should be treated after the system I have laid down for hunters, and not allowed his summer’s run at grass. Hard meat will make him powerful and handsome: grass will render him, comparatively speaking, heavy, pot-bellied, and shapeless.
I omitted to mention one very essential part of the education of a colt designed for a hunter. His action—particularly that of his shoulders—will be greatly benefited by riding him up and down hill, and trotting him gently in deep ground. He should also be taught to leap at three years old. If there should be the least appearance of a curb, the iron should at once be applied.
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The hunter should be taken up certainly not later than the twentieth of July. Soon after this period the nights begin to get chilly, and his coat would receive a check if exposed to them. It would lose that soft, silky feel, which it generally has if the horse is in perfect health previously to that time. When first taken to house he should be kept as cool as possible, and, if it can be avoided, there should not be more than one horse in every other stall, be the stable ever so large. As his bowels will be relaxed by the grass he has been eating, his physic should be milder than usual; but that must depend upon previous knowledge of the constitution of the horse. Generally speaking, five drachms and a half would be sufficient, if well prepared by bran mashes beforehand. I do not approve of strong physic; because it is useless to give it, when mild, with proper preparation, will do what is required of it; but it is not in the power of a drachm or two of good aloes to destroy a horse.
By the time he is ready for his second dose, he will be in some measure reconciled to the change of temperature—from the open air to that of a confined stable—and a little more caution is necessary during the operation of it. Unless the weather happens to be very warm, he should have a hood on him if he goes out early in the morning, and, at all events, one warm body cloth, or his coat may receive a check which it will not recover for some time. If he has had his first dose, a day or two after he was taken up—say the 20th of July—allowing seven clear days between the setting of each dose, he will be through it all by about the 17th of August, up to which time, and for a week afterwards, he should have nothing but gentle walking and trotting exercise, of about an hour and a half at a time, before heat of the day; and by no means should a brush be laid upon him, as it opens the pores of his skin, and renders him more susceptible of cold. Indeed, all the grooming he requires at this time is to have his legs well rubbed—particularly with the hand—three or four times a day, and oftener if the circulation be languid, and his body well wisped with a good solid hay wisp, a little damped. Should a horse have had some physic at grass in the summer, or late in the spring, before he was turned out, and not appear foul, it may be better to stop a fortnight or three weeks between his second and third dose: and, if a bit of soft ground can be found, to give him a little work in the time. If his two other doses did not work him hard, it will be advisable to add half a drachm of aloes to the third dose, as it will take more to move his bowels now than it did before he got the hard meat into him, and had a little work.
The condition of a horse must proceed by slow degrees: it is the work of time; and it is in vain to expect it on any other terms than as the result of a long course of preparation, followed by severe work. In a clear fortnight after he has had his last dose of physic, he should begin to do some work; for without it no progress can be made. This, however, should be gradual; and for the first month should consist of long protracted exercise, rather than what is called “good work.” He should be kept out of his stable for three or four hours in the course of the day; and if ridden gently across a country, and now and then with a pack of harriers (weather permitting), it will greatly promote his condition, by hardening his flesh, increasing his strength, and improving his wind. At this time the use of alteratives is indispensable. By their mild and gradual impression a healthy action of the bowels is obtained, and thereby what in stable language is called “fog,” (but which might more properly be termed debility, or depression of strength,) is got rid of, and the general appearance and condition of the animal much improved. Indeed, without the use of alterative medicines—exclusively of physic—no hunter can be got into blooming condition; that is to say, to look well in his skin, to dry immediately after a sweat, and to be in full vigour of body. Of these medicines there are several sorts in use; but the diuretic and diaphoretic are in my opinion the best. It is almost needless to observe, that the latter act upon the skin: but as sensible perspiration in the horse is not to be obtained by medicine without difficulty, and having recourse to larger doses than may be safe or convenient for him to take when at work, and it is insensible perspiration that we wish to obtain, these alteratives should be combined; for it is from their gradual and almost imperceptible operation that we are to look for the effect we wish to produce. Antimony forms the principal diaphoretic; and from its weight a sufficient quantity—one ounce divided into four parts—may be given him every day in his corn for eight days together; but this should be given when the weather is warm, or danger from catching cold may arise, from the pores of the skin being relaxed. With proper precautions, however, none is to be apprehended, and the effect on the general health and appearance of the horse is striking. If the diaphoretic alterative, in the quantity above stated, be not given before the horse begins to work, and the weather becomes cold and wet, it is better to combine it with the diuretic, by giving him a very mild urine ball twice a week, for three weeks in succession, with half an ounce of antimony, finely levigated, in each ball. These medicines combined will check that excitement of the general habit which always accompanies a transition from rest to work, purify the blood, and give tone and vigour to the system. Nitre has been much used by grooms as a cooling diuretic, and a preventive of disease from such causes; but it must be borne in mind that nitre is a strong repellant, and of a debilitating nature.
All this, however, without a good stable, and good stable management, is of no avail.
Speaking next of feeding, Nimrod says:—Formerly wheat was given to race horses, as more nourishing than oats; but now the latter form the chief food for all descriptions of horses. Beans, however, have for some time been allowed to hunters, and when given with discretion are most beneficial. Two single handfuls in each feed of corn is the allowance for a hunter who is fed (as he ought to be) five times a day.
About eight pounds a-day of hay, or one truss a-week, is considered sufficient for a hunter that will eat five feeds of corn per day. A larger quantity is found to increase the size, consequently the weight of the carcase, to injure the wind, and destroy the digestive powers. If one handful of good hay be found in his rack, he should have no more till next stable time, when his appetite will be sharp. If given to eat his straw, the setting muzzle, in this case, must be made use of.
Hunters are not always to be fed alike: allowance should be made for the distance to covert; for when a horse has to go twelve or fourteen miles in a morning to meet hounds, he may be allowed a little more hay overnight, than if he had but four or five, as he will empty his stomach on the road, and there is reason to expect a long day. As to whether a hunter should have any water on the morning of hunting, that is a point not so much considered as it ought to be, for we should be guided by his constitution. If he is apt to scour, and throw off his meat on the road, I should recommend his having none; but if, on the other hand, he holds his meat well in him, has some distance to go, and is not called on till ten or eleven o’clock in the day, he should have six or eight swallows, or godowns, as the grooms call them, between five and six in the morning. This quantity of water, or more, is always given to the race horse on the day he runs his race, as it makes him enjoy his food, and digest it afterwards, and it is all absorbed by the time he is called upon to run. Nothing is so apt to make horses scour as change of food and water; for which reason it is advisable that a hunter should go from his own stable to meet hounds, if the distance does not exceed fifteen or sixteen miles, rather than sleep out, and be subject to the effects alluded to. If, however, he does sleep out, and is affected by the change, he should be watered before he leaves home, and have very little where he sleeps, which will in some measure counteract the evil.
Speaking of stable management, Nimrod says:—As no man can make good work without good tools, so no servant can do his duty by a stud of hunters without proper materials to go to work with. He must have a good stable, some loose boxes, and a good saddle-room with fire-place: he must have lots of horse-clothes of all descriptions, bandages, hot water, gruel, lancets, tweezers, and a few drugs—the very best old hay and corn, good exercising ground, and, above all, plenty of strength in his stable; for there are two ways of dressing a horse—one to warm him, and the other to starve him. Dressing a horse vigorously removes obstructions in the smaller vessels, promotes the circulation of the blood, and in bad weather is a substitute for exercise.
With regard to a horse coming round after a hard day, even supposing him to be in the hands of the best of grooms, that must, in some measure, depend on the stuff he is made of; but, generally speaking, he should come out about the sixth day after the severest run. If his legs have received no injury, he should come out three times in a fortnight, at least during the open weather; and he will be the better for being out twice a week if there have been no tiring days. Some horses require much more work than others; but none of them can go the pace, and continue it over a country, unless they are in strong work.
General rules cannot be individually applied; but there is one respecting a hunter which I have held inviolable; and that is, that, under all circumstances, whether the intervals between his hunting have been long or short, he should have a sweat, and go for a mile nearly at the top of his speed on the day before hunting. I have generally adopted the following plan:—
Let some heavy clothes be put on him, and, with a light weight on his back, let him go at a gentle rate six or eight times around a large field that rides a little deep, till he sweats kindly. Let him be followed to the place by a man with some dry clothes and a scraper, and, taking him into some building, or under a warm hedge, let him be well scraped, and have on his dry clothes. Then, if short of work, let him have a good gallop for a mile, and walk home. This treatment, with proper care, is unattended with any danger of catching cold, and, if followed by a proper allowance of hay and water, will give him a wonderful advantage over those horses which have not been doing what he has done, provided he drop into a quick thing with the hounds the next day. I have seen hunters led to be sweated by a boy riding a hack; but however great an advocate I may be for preserving horses’ legs by keeping weight off them as much as possible, yet a horse cannot, in my opinion, be worthy the name of a hunter if he cannot carry a boy in his exercise.
Having laid some stress upon the words, proper allowance of hay and water on the day before hunting, I will proceed to state what I consider that allowance to be. In the first place, if a horse will eat his corn in the morning without water, he should have none till he comes in from exercise, and is done up, which should be by ten o’clock at farthest. He should then have half a pail of water, and a proportion of his hay, which should not exceed, for a moderately-sized horse, ten pounds a day. He should then be shut up till four, when, before he is dressed over, he should have another half pail of water, and no more until he returns from hunting the next day, unless it be a few swallows on the morning he hunts, when his groom first comes to him. If this quantity of hay is not sufficient to satisfy his appetite, and there is an appearance in the morning of straw in the manger, as if he had been eating it, the setting-muzzle should be put on him at ten o’clock, and should remain on him for the night, but his groom should be with him by five in the morning, to relieve him. He should then have his two feeds, at an interval of an hour, and proceed to the covert at a gentle pace. If, when there, provided he have been treated in the way I have prescribed, he cannot carry his rider as he ought to do, we must conclude nature forbids it, as he will have had every assistance from art.
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When I first began to keep hunters, we knew nothing of those great restoratives in the stable—flannel bandages, hot water for the legs, and gruel. Except in case of illness they were never thought of. An old writer on farriery, the Sieur la Fosse, speaks of “the great advantage of keeping horses’ legs warm, as preventing glanders and other accidents;” but it is only within these few years that bandages have been applied as part of the clothing of a hunter; the benefit of which is, in my opinion, incalculable. By their use circulation is kept up in those parts where it is apt to be most languid; and the practice of washing legs in very warm water, and swathing them in large folds of flannel, takes off soreness and inflammation from blows and other injuries, which all hunters are liable to in a run over a strong country. Another advantage attending them is, that they admit of a horse being shut up in half the time it formerly required to clean him, which enables him to lie down, or roll, which he will always do if in a loose house, before he gets stiff from his work.
There is a cleanliness in not letting a hunter be taken into his stable until the rough dirt which hangs about him is removed; for which purpose he should be taken under a shed or into another stable; and the quickest method of removing it is by the means of a birch-broom. Three minutes will accomplish this. He should then be taken into his own stable, have two or three quarts of tepid gruel, and his feet and legs above his knees and houghs should be well washed in water nearly hot. When sponged well with strained sponges, one set of bandages should be swathed around them. His head and body should be well dried, which, if he is full of hard meat, will not occupy more than an hour, when he should be shut up in a loose house, well littered down, and a small feed of corn allowed him. In about two hours his groom should come to him again; his bandages should be taken off, his legs well wisped and hand-rubbed, his head and body lightly brushed over, and a dry set of bandages put on. A lukewarm mash, with a feed of oats in it, and three parts of a pail of tepid water, with a very small quantity of hay, will make him comfortable for the night; and on the following morning he should go to exercise as soon as it is light, and be walked for an hour with an extra cloth and a hood. He should have tepid water all that day, and a liberal allowance of it, with his usual oats if he will eat them, but no beans. If his appetite fails him, and does not return before shutting-up time that evening, he should have half a cordial and half a diuretic-ball mixed together; which, with a liberal allowance of tepid water, and an hour and a half walking exercise on the third day, will so far recover him as to enable him to return to his former high feed on the fourth; on the fifth or sixth have a sweat; and on the seventh be fit for business again (as far, at least, as his constitution is concerned) after the hardest day, and will carry his rider with more ease to himself than if he had not gone through it.—Nimrod.
HUNTINGHORN, s. A bugle, a horn used to cheer the hounds.
HUNTRESS, s. A woman that follows the chase; a mare used in hunting.
HUNTSMAN, s. One who delights in the chase; the servant whose office it is to manage the chase.
It is the opinion of a great sportsman, that it is as difficult to find a perfect huntsman as a good prime minister. Without taking upon me to determine what requisites may be necessary to form a good prime minister, I will describe some of those which are essentially necessary towards making a perfect huntsman; qualities which, I will venture to say, would not disgrace more brilliant situations:—such as a clear head, nice observation, quick apprehension, undaunted courage, strength of constitution, activity of body, a good ear, and a good voice.—Beckford.
HUNTSMANSHIP, s. The qualifications of a hunter.
HURL, v. To throw with violence; to play at a kind of game.
HURL, s. Tumult, riot; a kind of game; the bat used in hurling.
HURLER, s. One that plays at hurling.
Hurling is the national game of Ireland, and much practised in the southern and western counties. It differs from cricket in its being a mere contest between the opposing parties, as to which shall force the ball between barriers placed at some distance from each other. The ball is thrice the size of a cricket-ball, the hurl differently shaped, and the game of a wilder and less methodical character, as it affords a liberty for each individual to exert himself as he pleases. Hence the “melée” of a hurling-match has rather the appearance of hostile encounter than rustic sport, and is therefore better adapted to the rude and martial people who practise it, than the more scientific but less exciting game of cricket.
HUSK, s. The outmost integument of some sorts of fruit.
HYBRID, s. Any animal whose sire is of one kind and dam of another.
HYBRIDOUS, a. Begotten between animals of different species; produced from plants of different kinds.
HYDROPHOBIA, s. Dread of water; a malady destructive to the human and canine races.
Hydrophobia in medicine is a disease generally communicated to man by the bite of a rabid dog, and is so called because one of its principal symptoms is the inability of the patient to swallow water or any other liquid. It is called by some writers canine madness, and seldom makes its appearance till a considerable time after the bite of the rabid animal. In some few instances it has commenced in seven or eight days from the accident, but generally the patient continues in health for twenty, thirty, or forty days, or even much longer. The bite will in general be healed long before that time, frequently with the greatest ease, though sometimes it resists all kinds of healing applications, and forms a running ulcer, which discharges a quantity of matter for many days. The approach of the disease is known by the cicatrix of the wound becoming high, hard, and elevated, and by a peculiar sense of prickling at the part; pains shoot from it towards the throat; sometimes it is surrounded with livid or red streaks, and seems to be in a state of inflammation; though often there is nothing remarkable to be observed. The patient becomes melancholy, loves solitude, and feels sickness at the stomach. Sometimes the peculiar symptoms, the dread of water, comes on all at once; sometimes the disease begins like a common sore throat, and the soreness daily increasing, the hydrophobic symptoms appear like a convulsive spasm of the muscles of the fauces. In others the mind is first affected, and a real dread of water arises before the patient tries whether he can swallow it. But in whatever manner this symptom comes on, the most painful sensations accompany every attempt to swallow liquids. Nay, the bare sight of water, or any thing clear, will give the utmost uneasiness, or even throw the patient into convulsions. The patient, however, is not as yet deprived of reason; some have, merely by the dint of resolution, conquered the dread of water, though they never could overcome the convulsive motions which the contact of liquids occasioned: and yet this has been of no avail; for the convulsions and other symptoms increasing have always overpowered the individual at last, and a great flow of viscid saliva into the mouth now takes place, and it has the same effect upon the fauces that other liquids have. This therefore is blown off with violence, which in a patient of Doctor Fothergill’s occasioned a noise like the barking of a dog. Patients then have an insatiable thirst, but are unable to get down any drink without the utmost difficulty, though sometimes they can swallow bread soaked in liquids, slices of oranges, or other fruits. There is a pain under the scrobiculus cordis, as in the tetanus. But the symptoms are so various, that they cannot be enumerated, for we seldom read two cases of hydrophobia which do not differ very remarkably. Sometimes every member is convulsed by fits, but most violently from the navel up to the breast and œsophagus. The fit comes on perhaps every quarter of an hour; the fauces are not red, nor the tongue dry; the pulse is not at all feverish; and, when the fit is over, nearly like a sound pulse. The face grows pale, then brown, and during the fits almost black, the lips livid; the head is drowsy, and the ears tingling; the urine limpid. At last the patient is weary, the fits are less violent, the pulse becomes weak, intermittent, and not very quick; and at last the whole body becomes cold. If the patient can get sleep, so he will expire. The blood drawn before death appears good in every respect. The hydrophobia seems to be a symptom peculiar to the human race; for the mad animals which communicate the infection do not seem to have any dread of water. If the disease once exhibits its symptoms in a human patient, the chances for recovery are small indeed; there having never been one well authenticated case of the recovery of a really hydrophobous person. Prevention is the only chance, and removal of the contagious matter the only fair hope of preserving life. Of all the means of removal, the cutting out the part to which the tooth had been applied is unquestionably the most effectual. This therefore should not be delayed; one quarter of an hour’s hesitation will sometimes prove fatal. But besides cutting away the part, careful washing may be used. Cold water should be poured upon the wound from a considerable height, that the matter may be washed away with some force. Even after removal by the knife, careful washing is still proper. And after both these, to prevent, as far as can be, the possibility of any contagious matter lurking about the wounded part, it should not be allowed to heal, but a discharge of matter should be supported for several weeks by ointment with cantharides, or similar applications; by these means there is the best chance of removing the matter at a sufficiently early period. Prevention may also be obtained by the destruction of the contagious matter at the part; and where there is the least reason to think that a complete removal has not been obtained, these should always be had recourse to. With this intention the actual cautery, and burning with gunpowder, have been employed; and fire is doubtless one of the most powerful agents that can be used for this purpose. Recourse has also been had to washing, both with acids and alkalies. Of the former vinegar has been chiefly used, but more may be expected from the latter, particularly from the caustic alkali, so far diluted that it can be applied with safety; for from its influence as a solvent of animal mucus, it gives a better chance of a complete removal of the poison.
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The injured part must be destroyed, or be cut out. Destroying it is the most safe and certain, and the best applications for that purpose are the lapis infernalis and the butter of antimony. These are preferable to a hot iron, which the ancients used, because a hot iron forms a crust that acts as a defence to the under parts instead of destroying them. The lapis infernalis is much better than any other caustic, as it melts and penetrates during its application. The bitten part must be destroyed to the bottom, and where there is any doubt that the bottom of the wound is not sufficiently reached, butter of antimony should be introduced occasionally as deep as possible, and incisions should be made, if necessary, to lay open every part to the influence of the caustic. In desperate cases incisions should be made round the wound to prevent the virus from spreading. The wound is to be dressed for some time with poultices, to assuage the inflammation caused by the caustics, and afterwards with acrid dressings and hot digestives, to create a discharge and drain the injured parts.
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It is my practice, and I recommend it to others when called to patients bitten by a mad dog, to try them immediately, and from time to time, with water, slopping it first into a pewter pot, and from thence back to the basin a few times, in order to detect as early as possible the hydrophobia, or first decided symptom produced by the poison of a mad dog.
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An Italian surgeon of the hospital at Moscow, being in the Ukraine in 1813, was requested to give assistance to fifteen persons, who had received the bite of a mad dog. A deputation of elders waited upon him, and entreated him to administer help to the unfortunate persons through a peasant, who, during several years, had acquired great reputation for curing hydrophobia. M. Marochetti consented upon certain conditions. The country doctor then administered to fourteen of the persons confided to him in a peculiar way. The fifteenth, a young girl of fifteen, was treated in the ordinary manner, for the purpose of proving the effect of both modes of treatment. To each of the fourteen he gave daily one pound and a half of the decoction of the buds of yellow broom flowers, and he examined twice a day under the tongue the place where, according to his statement, little swellings were formed containing the virus of madness. These swellings rose on the third or ninth day, and were seen by M. Marochetti. Very soon after they appeared, they were touched with a red hot needle, after which the patient gargled the part with the decoction of broom. The result of this treatment was that the fourteen patients were cured in six weeks, whilst the young girl, treated differently, died on the seventh day in the convulsions of madness. Three years after M. Marochetti paid a visit to the fourteen persons, and they were all doing well. The same physician being at Padolia, in 1818, had a new opportunity of confirming this interesting discovery. The happy result of this mode of treatment was the same with twenty-six persons, who had all been bit by a mad dog.—Gazette de Santé—Gilman—Darwin—Marochetti.
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JACK, s. The diminutive of John; an instrument to pull off boots; an engine which turns the spit; a young pike; a cup of waxed leather; a small bowl thrown out for a mark to the bowlers; the male of some animals; a support to saw wood on; the colours or ensign of a ship.
JACKDAW, (Corvus monedula, LINN.; Le Choucas, BUFF.) s. A small species of crow.
This bird is considerably less than the rook, only thirteen inches in length, and about twenty-eight in breadth. Its bill is black, eyes white; the hinder part of the head and neck are of a hoary grey colour; the rest of the plumage is of a fine glossy black above; beneath it has a dusky hue; the legs are black.
The daw is very common in England, and remains with us the whole year: in other countries, as in France and various parts of Germany, it is migratory. They frequent churches, old towers, and ruins, in great flocks, where they build their nests: the female lays five or six eggs, paler than those of the crow, and smaller; they rarely build in trees; in Hampshire they sometimes breed in the rabbit burrows. They are easily tamed, and may be taught to pronounce several words; they will conceal part of their food, and with it small pieces of money, or toys. They feed on insects, grain, fruit, and small pieces of flesh; and are said to be fond of partridges’ eggs.
There is a variety of the daw found in Switzerland, having a white collar round its neck. In Norway, and other cold countries, they have been seen perfectly white.—Bewick.
JACKET, s. A short coat; a close waistcoat.
JACKSNIPE. Vide JUDCOCK.
JACOBINE, s. A pigeon with a high tuft.
JACOBUS, s. A gold coin of James I., current at 20_s._, 23_s._, and 25_s._—Crabbe.
JACULATION, s. The act of throwing missile weapons.
JADE, v. To tire, to harass, to dispirit, to weary.
JALAP, s. A purgative root. It is the root of a West Indian plant of the convolvulus kind, is black on the outside, and reddish within, with resinous veins. It takes its name from Xalapa, a town in New Spain. Its constituent parts are chiefly resin and starch.
JAMAICA PEPPER or ALLSPICE, s. A good carminative and cordial, given in doses from half an ounce to an ounce, in flatulency of the stomach and bowels, and used as an ingredient in cordial medicines.
The following tincture is strongly recommended by Mr. Bracey Clark, as a remedy for flatulent colic, gripes, &c.:—
Jamaica pepper 1 lb. Proof spirit 6 pints.—Mix.
Let the allspice be powdered, and mixed with the spirit; the bottle to be well corked and frequently shaken. In two or three weeks the tincture will be fit for use. The dose about four ounces diluted with water, and repeated every hour until the horse is relieved.—White.
JAMES’S POWDER, s. A powder composed chiefly of antimony.
James’s Powder is composed chiefly of antimony, and similar to that which is sold in the shops by the name of Antimonial Powder. As a horse medicine, the latter is as useful and efficacious as James’s Powder. It is an excellent medicine in fevers of every kind; and, though usually given in the small dose of a scruple, or half-a-drachm, may be exhibited with perfect safety, and better effect in a much larger quantity. White says, he never gave less than two drachms, and sometimes three; and has seen even one ounce given at a dose without the least inconvenience. It appears to act on the skin like tartar emetic, promoting insensible perspiration; its effect is not so certain. It is sometimes joined with opium, camphor, nitre, or ginger, according to the nature of the disease: with ginger it is prescribed for horses that are hide-bound; but this compound is not proper in fevers, or any complaint arising from inflammation. It is most commonly given with nitre and camphor; and some practitioners prefer it, as a fever medicine, to tartar (emetic).—White.
JAPAN, v. To varnish, to embellish with gold and raised figures; to black shoes.
JAR, v. To strike together with a kind of short rattle; to strike or sound untuneably.
JAUNDICE, s. A distemper from obstructions of the glands of the liver.
A peculiar yellowness of the membranes of the eyes and mouth sometimes attends certain disorders, which have on that account been named yellows, or jaundice. Those disorders consist in great heaviness of the head, a peculiar languor and disinclination to motion, yellowness, or a yellowish redness of the inner surface of the eyelids, while little or no dung is voided, and that little has mucus or slime on its surface; the urine is scanty, and high-coloured; in short there is great torpor in all the organs of the body. This disorder generally happens towards autumn, or the latter part of summer, and may be caused, in some measure, by the heat of the weather, as well as by feeding immoderately, especially upon hay, when it happens to be remarkably good and sweet, such hay always tempting a horse to eat immoderately: but it is produced by immoderate feeding upon any kind of hay, or even of corn. By this excess of food, assisted by the heat of the weather, the stomach is weakened, and the bowels become torpid; the large bowels are in consequence loaded with excrement, and the mesenteric veins with blood. Hence the liver also becomes loaded with blood, and performs its office imperfectly; the bile therefore seems to be forced back upon the circulation, or re-absorbed, and thus the blood and all the secretions are tinged of a yellow colour. The high colour of the membrane of the eye is caused by the determination of blood to the head, when the blood is forced into vessels which in health convey only a colourless and transparent fluid; and as the whole mass of blood is loaded with bile, it appears in those minute vessels of a yellow colour: and generally that yellowness in the membranes under the eyelids approaches towards redness, or the colour of an orange. Bleeding is the first remedy in this disorder; nor should blood be taken off in small quantities at a time, from a fear of increasing the animal’s apparent weakness, which depends more upon the brain being oppressed with blood than any thing else, but in a full quantity, that is, to the extent of from one to two gallons, or until the horse becomes faint. The bowels should then be unloaded by means of clysters and a purgative ball.
JAW, s. The bone of the mouth in which the teeth are fixed; the mouth.
JAY, (Corvus glandarius, LINN.; Le Geai, BUFF.) s. A bird.
This beautiful bird is not more than thirteen inches in length. Its bill is black, eyes white; the feathers on the forehead are white, streaked with black, and form a tuft which it can erect and depress at pleasure; the chin is white, and from the corners of the bill on each side proceeds a broad streak of black, which passes under the eye; the hinder part of the head, the neck, and the back, are of a light cinnamon colour; the breast is of the same colour, but lighter; lesser wing coverts bay; the belly and vent almost white; the greater wing coverts are elegantly barred with black, fine pale blue and white alternately; the greater quills are black, with pale edges, the bases of some of them white; lesser quills black; those next the body, chestnut; the rump is white; tail black, with pale brown edges; legs dirty pale brown.
The jay is a very common bird in Great Britain, and is found in various parts of Europe. It is distinguished as well for the beautiful arrangement of its colours, as for its harsh grating voice, and restless disposition. Upon seeing the sportsman, it gives by its cries the alarm of danger, and thereby defeats his aim and disappoints him. The jay builds in woods, and makes an artless nest, composed of sticks, fibres, and tender twigs; the female lays five or six eggs, of a greyish ash colour, mixed with green, and faintly spotted with brown. Mr. Pennant observes, that the young ones continue with their parents till the following spring, when they separate to form new pairs. Birds of this species live on acorns, nuts, seeds, and various kinds of fruits; they will eat eggs, and sometimes destroy young birds in the absence of the old ones. When kept in a domestic state they may be rendered very familiar, and will imitate a variety of words and sounds. We have heard one imitate the sound made by the action of a saw so exactly, that though it was on a Sunday, we could hardly be persuaded that the person who kept it, had not a carpenter at work in the house. Another, at the approach of cattle, had learned to hound a cur dog upon them, by whistling and calling upon him by his name: at last, during a severe frost, the dog was, by that means, excited to attack a cow big with calf, when the poor animal fell on the ice, and was much hurt: the jay was complained of as a nuisance, and its owner was obliged to destroy it.—Bewick.
ICHTHYOLOGY, s. The doctrine of the nature of fish.
JENNET, s. A Spanish horse.
JERK, s. A smart quick lash; a sudden spring; a quick jolt that shocks or starts.
JESSES, s. Slips of light leather, seven or eight inches long, and a quarter of an inch wide, made fast to each of the hawk’s legs. These are to be secured to a small swivel, fixed to the end of a thong of leather, three or four feet long, called a leash, so as easily to be detached from the swivel when the hawk is required to fly. The jesses are seldom removed from the bird’s legs when once they have been put on.
JET, s. A very beautiful fossil of a fine deep black colour; a spout or shoot of water.
JETTY, a. Made of jet; black as jet.
IGNITE, v. To kindle, to set on fire.
IGNITIBLE, a. Inflammable, capable of being set on fire.
IGNITION, s. The act of kindling, or of setting on fire.
JIGOT, s. A leg; as, a jigot of mutton.
JILL, s. A measure of liquids.
ILIAC, a. Relating to the lower bowels.
IMBROWN, v. To make brown, to darken.
IMPING, s.
This curious process consists in attaching to the part that remains an exact substitute for the piece lost. For this purpose the falconer is always provided with pinions, (right and left,) and with tail-feathers of hawks, or with the feathers separated from the pinion, carefully preserved and numbered, so as to prevent mistake in taking a true match for the injured feather. He then with a sharp knife gently parts the web of the feather to be repaired, at its thickest part, and cuts the shaft obliquely forward, so as not to damage the web on the opposite edge. He next cuts the substitute feather as exactly as possible at the corresponding point, and with the same slope.
For the purpose of uniting them, he is provided with an iron needle, with broad triangular points at both ends; and after wetting the needle with salt and water, he thrusts it into the centre of the pith of each part, as truly straight, and as nearly to the same length in each as may be. When this operation has been skilfully performed, the junction is so neat that an inexperienced eye would hardly discern the point of union; and as the iron rusts, from having been wetted with brine, there is little or no danger of separation.—Sebright.
IMPOSTHUME, s. A collection of purulent matter in a bag or cyst.
INBRED, a. Produced within; hatched or generated within.
INCAGE, v. To coop up, to shut up; to confine in a cage, or any narrow space.
INCH, s. The twelfth part of a foot.
INCISION, s. A cut, a wound made with a sharp instrument.
INCISOR, s. Cutter, tooth in the forepart of the mouth.
INCORPORATE, v. To mingle different ingredients so as they shall make one mass; to unite, to associate, to embody.
INCUBATION, s. The act of sitting upon eggs to hatch them.
Incubation.—It is probable birds are endowed with an instinctive power of regulating the necessary heat for this purpose; of course, should the heat of the air, together with the natural warmth of the body, on the close contact of the bird to the eggs, be too great, her feelings would dictate the necessity of leaving them for a time to cool. At the early period of incubation birds quit their eggs more frequently than at the time the fetus is more perfect. Yet, in the advanced state, the embryo young is not in more danger of being destroyed, if so much; for we have frequently found a living fetus in an egg that has been taken from the nest two days. If, however, the young is within a few hours of being excluded, and the egg is suffered to be some time cold, it either dies, or becomes so weak as not to be able to extricate itself from the shell. Various degrees of heat will enlarge the embryo young, but regular heat seems necessary to its production; and yet artificial heat, regulated by the brooding of a bird, will not produce young with such certainty. In Egypt, a vast quantity of eggs are hatched by artificial heat in stoves. It is probable, however, one third or one fourth miscarry. The necessary heat for this purpose is about ninety-six degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, or thirty-two of Reaumur’s scale. Birds frequently turn and change the situation of their eggs in the nest; besides this, it is possible that the moisture of the bird’s body may assist the natural growth of the fœtus and the production of the young.
The male birds of some species supply the place of the female on the nest; but then it is of short duration, and rarely, if ever, when the eggs are near hatching; at that time the female is frequently fed by the male. This is not common to all species, but very conspicuous in the rook, the pigeon, and many others. Many species of birds possess a reservoir for food, called a craw, or crop; this seems to answer the same purpose as the first stomach in ruminating animals. Here it is the food is softened and prepared for the stomach; from this reservoir it is by some ejected for the purpose of feeding their young; conspicuous in the pigeon.
The rook has a small pouch under the tongue, in which it carries food to its young. It is probable the use of the craw may be extended further than is generally imagined; for besides the common preparation of the food to assist its digestion in the stomach, there are some species that actually secrete a lacteal substance in the breeding season, which, mixing with the half-digested food, is ejected to feed and nourish the young. The mammæ, from which this milky liquor is produced, are situated on each side the upper part of the breast, immediately under the craw. In the female turtle dove we have met with these glands tumid with milky secretion, and we believe it common to both sexes of the dove genus. The cormorant or pelican genus possess no craw; but, to supply its place, they have a loose skin at the base of the under mandibles, capable of great distension, in which they carry fish to their young. The bustard is said to possess a bag of an astonishing size, for the purpose of retaining water; but the most unaccountable and extraordinary formation in the trachea of many of the males of the duck genus, called a labyrinth, is beyond our reach to discover the use of, as well as the singular flexure in the windpipe of the hooping swan and crane.
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Attention during Incubation.—There is this distinction in the hen: in some, the desire of sitting or incubation is predominant, which they will repeat to the fifth or sixth time in the year, to their emaciation or almost destruction: in others the desire is so slight, that they will probably sit but twice, or even once in the season, and then not steadily. It is for the skilful breeder to take advantage of this variation of quality, the one kind furnishing plenty of eggs for the other to sit upon.
It is proper to place corn and water beside the sitting hen, whenever it may appear necessary, withdrawing them as soon as she is satisfied, not only to encourage steadiness of incubation, but to support the constitutions of those in which the natural excitement is so powerful, that they will remain several successive days upon the nest, at the risk of famishing. I have had instances of hens of this description fainting outright, and appearing as dead, on their finally leaving the nest with the chickens, in a state of total emaciation, having, probably, not eaten or drank more than once in three or four days, during the term of their incubation, twenty-one days. The plan of feeding on the nest should be invariably pursued with all frequent sitters.—Montagu—Moubray.
INCURABLE, a. Not admitting remedy, not to be removed by medicine; irremediable, hopeless.
INDIAN RUBBER, or CAOUTCHOUC, s. An elastic gum procured from a South American tree, called the Syphonia Uastica. It is mostly brought into Europe in the shape of bottles, which are formed by spreading the gum over moulds of clay.
INDIGO, s. A plant, by the Americans called anil, used in dyeing for a blue colour.
INFECT, v. To act upon by contagion; to fill with something hurtfully contagious.
INFECTION, s. Contagion, mischief by communication.
INFLAME, v. To kindle, to set on fire; to heat the body morbidly with obstructed matter; to fire with passion.
INFLAMMATION, s. The act of setting on flame; the heat of any morbid part occasioned by obstruction.
Inflammation is a disorder of the blood-vessels, depending upon their having too much blood in them, or upon that blood being impure and acrimonious, or upon the blood vessels themselves being in a diseased state.
Cool air is always of service in inflammatory diseases, and cold air is sometimes still better; even turning the horse out, if the weather is dry, is perhaps the best situation of any. Inflammation may be general or local. General inflammation is fever, of which there is but one kind in the horse, and that may almost always be cured by early and copious bleeding.—White.
INFLAMMATORY, a. Having the power of inflaming.
INFUSION, s. The act of pouring in, instillation; the act of steeping any thing in moisture without boiling; the liquor made by infusion.
INJECTION, s. The act of casting in; any medicine made to be injected by a syringe, or other instrument, into any part of the body.
INNINGS, s. Lands recovered from the sea; term in cricket.
INOCULATION, s. The practice of transplanting the small-pox, by infusion of the matter from ripened pustules into the veins of the uninfected.
INSECT, s. Insects are so called from a separation in the middle of their bodies, whereby they are cut into two parts, which are joined together by a small ligature, as we see in wasps and common flies.
INSNARE, v. To entrap, to catch in a trap, gin, or snare.
INSTINCT, s. The power which determines the will of brutes; a desire or aversion in the mind, not determined by reason or deliberation.
They who write on natural history cannot too frequently advert to instinct, that wonderful limited faculty, which, in some instances, raises the brute creation as it were above reason, and in others leaves them so far below it.
It has been remarked that every species of bird has a mode of nidification peculiar to itself; so that a schoolboy would at once pronounce on the sort of nest before him. This is the case among fields and woods and wilds; but, in the villages round London, where mosses and gossamer, and cotton from vegetables, are hardly to be found, the nest of the chaffinch has not that elegant, finished appearance, nor is it so beautifully studded with lichens, as in a more rural district; and the wren is obliged to construct its house with straws and dry grasses, which do not give it that rotundity and compactness so remarkable in the edifices of that little architect. Again, the regular nest of the house martin is hemispheric; but where a rafter, or a joist, or a cornice, may happen to stand in the way, the nest is so contrived as to conform to the obstruction, and becomes flat, or oval, or compressed.
In the following instances instinct is perfectly uniform and consistent. There are three creatures, the squirrel, the field-mouse, and the bird called the nuthatch (Sitta Europæa) which live much on hazel-nuts; and yet they open them each in a different way. The first, after rasping off the small end, splits the shell in two with his long fore-teeth, as a man does with his knife; the second nibbles a hole with his teeth, as regular as if drilled with a wimble, and yet so small that one would wonder how the kernel can be extracted through it: while the last picks an irregular ragged hole with its bill: but as this artist has no paws to hold the nut firm while he pierces it, like an adroit workman, he fixes it, as it were, in a vice, in some cleft of a tree, or in some crevice; when, standing over it, he perforates the stubborn shell. We have often placed nuts in the chink of a gate-post where nuthatches have been known to haunt, and have always found that those birds have readily penetrated them. While at work they make a rapping noise that may be heard at a considerable distance.
It is no doubt exceedingly difficult, and perhaps impossible, to define where instinct ends, and reason begins, in animals. But that some of them are endowed with a faculty which does not come under the usual notion of instinct, by whatever other name we may choose to call it, will, I think, hardly allow of a dispute. This, as it strikes me, appears in the different degrees of intelligence which we are accustomed to recognize as elevating one species of animal above another,—as the half-reasoning elephant for instance, and the friend of man, the dog, above numberless others. Now, instinct of one tribe, one would think, as much as in another, must be full and perfect, and would not admit of our considering the degree of intelligence manifested in one species as higher or lower than that possessed by another. Again: much more must we conceive that the proper instinct of any species will be fully, and therefore equally, possessed by all individuals of that species. How, then, upon the notion of mere instinct, shall we account for that superiority of intelligence, which is found in one individual, to others of the same species, and which is familiar to those who are employed about, or in any way in the habit of conversing with, animals? But the observation which appears to me most decidedly to carry the faculties of animals to something exceeding the measure and character of instinct, is that of the new and ingenious contrivances to which they will often have recourse in situations, and upon occasions, much too accidental and peculiar to admit of our imagining that they could have been contemplated and provided against in the regular instinct of the whole species. This we should naturally be disposed to conceive must have been given to regulate the ordinary habits of the animals, and adapted to those exigencies of their mode of life which are continually occurring, not to such as do rarely, and might, one would be tempted to say, never occur. A few instances will, perhaps, better explain what I mean, and carry more persuasion than my argument.
I was one day feeding the poor elephant (who was so barbarously put to death at Exeter ’Change) with potatoes, which he took out of my hand. One of them, a round one, fell on the floor, just out of the reach of his proboscis. He leaned against his wooden bar, put out his trunk, and could just touch the potato, but could not pick it up. After several ineffectual efforts, he at last blew the potato against the opposite wall with sufficient force to make it rebound, and he then, without difficulty, secured it. Now it is quite clear, I think, that instinct never taught the elephant to procure his food in this manner; and it must, therefore, have been reason, or some intellectual faculty, which enabled him to be so good a judge of cause and effect. Indeed, the reflecting power of some animals is quite extraordinary. I had a dog who was much attached to me, and who, in consequence of his having been tied up on a Sunday morning, to prevent his accompanying me to church, would conceal himself in good time on that day, and I was sure to find him either at the entrance of the church, or, if he could get in, under the place where I usually sat.
A gentleman, a good shot, lent a favourite old pointer to a friend who had not much to accuse himself of in the slaughter of partridges, however much he might have frightened them. After ineffectually firing at some birds which the old pointer had found for him, the dog turned away in apparent disgust, went home, and never could be persuaded to accompany the same person afterwards.
I have been often much delighted with watching the manner in which some of the old bucks in Bushy Park contrive to get the berries from the fine thorn-trees there. They will raise themselves on their hind legs, give a spring, entangle their horns in the lower branches of the tree, give them one or two shakes, which make some of the berries fall, and they will then quietly pick them up.—White’s Selborne—Jesse.
INSULAR, a. Belonging to an island.
INTERMEW, s. The change of a hawk’s colour from red to white the second year.
INTESTINA, s. An order in the Linnæan system of the class Vermes, including earthworms and leeches.—Crabbe.
INTESTINES, s. The guts, the bowels.
JOCKEY, s. A person that rides horses in the race; a man that deals in horses.
JOCKEY, v. To jostle by riding against one; to cheat, to trick; to ride; to ride unfairly.
JOINT, s. Articulation of limbs, juncture of moveable bones in animal bodies; hinge; a knot in a plant. Out of joint, luxated, slipped from the socket, or corresponding part where it naturally moves.
JOURNEY, s. The travel of a day; travel by land.
IPECACUANHA, s. An Indian plant.
Ipecacuanha is sometimes employed as an expectorant in chronic cough and asthmatic affections, and I believe with good effect when joined with squills, ammoniacum, &c.—White.
IRIS, s. The rainbow; the circle round the pupil of the eye, which is striped and variegated.
Hanging from the upper edge of the pupil of the horse, are found two or three round black bodies, as large as millet seeds. When the horse is suddenly brought into an intense light, and the pupil is closed, these bodies present a singular appearance, being squeezed out from between the edges of the iris. An equal number, but much smaller, are attached to the edge of the lower portion of the iris. Their general use is probably to intercept portions of light which would be troublesome or injurious; but their principal function is accomplished during the act of grazing. They are larger on the upper edge of the iris, and are placed on the outer side of the pupil, evidently to obstruct the light in those directions in which it would come with greatest force, both from above and even from below, while at the same time, the field of view is perfectly open, so far as it regards the pasture on which the horse is grazing.
The colour of the iris is, in some unknown way, connected with this black point behind. Wall-eyed horses, whose iris is white, have no uvea.—The Horse.
IRISH HORSE, s.
In some of the rich grazing counties, as Meath and Roscommon, a large long blood horse is reared of considerable value, but he seldom has the elegance of the English horse; he is larger headed, more leggy, ragged-hipped, angular, yet with great power in the quarters, much depth beneath the knee, stout and hardy, full of fire and courage, and the best leaper in the world.
The Irish horse is generally smaller than the English. He is stinted in his growth, for the poverty and custom of the country have imposed upon him much hard work, at a time when he is unfit for labour of any kind. For this reason, too, the Irish horse is deficient in speed. There is, however, another explanation of this. The Irish thorough-bred horse is not equal to the English. He is comparatively a weedy, leggy, worthless animal, and very little of him enters into the composition of the hunter or the hackney.
For leaping, the Irish horse is unrivalled. It is not, however, the leaping of the English horse, striding as it were over a low fence, and stretched at his full length over a higher one; it is the proper jump of the deer, beautiful to look at, difficult to sit, and, both in height and extent, unequalled by the English horse.
IRON, s. A hard, fusile, malleable metal.
Iron is found in every part of the globe, in the soil, in the water, and as a constituent of vegetable and animal bodies. The preparations of iron, used in medicine, are, 1st, sulphate of iron, or salt of steel; 2d, muriate of iron; 3d, subcarbonate of iron; 4th, tartarised iron; 5th, red oxide of iron, or colcothar of vitriol; 6th, rust of iron; and, 7th, scales of iron. They are all powerful tonics in the human body, but not often given to horses. The dose of No. 1, is from 1 drachm to 3. No. 2, 1 drachm to 2 or 3. No. 3, 2 drachms to 4. No. 4, 3 drachms to 5. No. 5, 4 drachms to 6. No. 6, 2 drachms to 4. No. 7, 2 drachms to 4, finely powdered. Preparations of iron are generally mixed with aromatics, and sometimes with soda. Metallic preparations should be used with great caution. Iron is the most innocent, and possessed of considerable tonic power; but, before it is employed, wholesome food, moderate exercise, and good grooming, should have a fair trial.
IRON, a. Made of iron; resembling iron in colour; hard, impenetrable.
IRONWOOD, s. A kind of wood extremely hard, and so ponderous as to sink in water.
ISINGLASS, s. A fine kind of glue made from the intestines of a large fish resembling a sturgeon. It is chiefly made from dried sounds of codfish.
ISLAND, s. A tract of land surrounded by water.
ISSUE, s. The act of passing out; termination; a vent made in a muscle for the discharge of humours; evacuation; progeny, offspring.
ITCH, s. A cutaneous disease extremely contagious; the sensation of uneasiness in the skin which is eased by rubbing; a constant teasing desire. Itch is supposed to be caused by a small insect of the acarus tribe. On microscopic examination it appears to be white with red legs, and will be found in the small pellucid vesicles which are observable on the parts infected.
ITCH, v. To feel that uneasiness in the skin which is removed by rubbing; to long.
ITCHY, a. Infected with the itch.
JUDCOCK, JACKSNIPE, GID or JETCOCK, (Scolopax gallinula, LINN.; La Petite Becassine, BUFF.) s. A bird.
The judcock, in its figure and plumage, nearly resembles the common snipe; but it is only about half its weight, seldom exceeding two ounces, or measuring more, from the tip of its beak to the end of its tail, than eight inches and a half: the bill is black at the tip, and light towards the base, and rather more than an inch and a half in length. A black streak divides the head lengthwise from the base of the bill to the nape of the neck, and another, of a yellowish colour, passes over each eye to the hinder part of the head: in the midst of this, above the eye, is a narrow black stripe running parallel with the top of the head from the crown to the nape. The neck is white, spotted with brown and pale red. The scapulars and tertials are very long and beautiful; on their exterior edges they are bordered with a stripe of yellow, and the inner webs are streaked and marked with bright rust colour on a deep brown, or rather bronze ground, reflecting in different lights a shining purple or green. The quills are dusky. The rump is of a glossy violet or bluish purple; the belly and vent white. The tail consists of twelve pointed feathers of a dark brown, edged with rust colour; the legs are of a dirty or dull green.
The judcock is of nearly the same character as the snipe, it feeds upon the same kinds of food, lives and breeds in the same swamps and marshes, and conceals itself from the sportsman with as great circumspection, among the rushes or tufts of coarse grass. It, however, differs in this particular, that it seldom rises from its lurking place until it is almost trampled upon, and, when flushed, does not fly to so great a distance. It is as much esteemed as the snipe, and is cooked in the same manner.
The eggs are not bigger than those of a lark; in other respects they are very like those of the snipe.—Bewick.
JUGULAR, a. Belonging to the throat.
JUGULARES, s. That order of fishes, according to Linnæus, which have the ventral fins placed before the pectoral, as cod, haddock, and whiting.
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KALENDAR, s. An account of time.
KAW, v. To cry as a raven, crow, or rook.
KAYLE, s. Ninepins; nine holes.
KEEN, a. Sharp, well edged: severe, piercing; eager, vehement; acrimonious; bitter of mind.
KEG, s. A small barrel, commonly used for a fish barrel.
KELL, s. The omentum, that which inwraps the guts.
KENNEL, s. A cot for dogs; a number of dogs kept in a kennel; the hole of a fox, or other beast; the water-course of a stream.
Kennel.—Is the place where hounds are kept; upon the judicious construction of which, their health, safety, and preservation, are known greatly to depend. Those who take to, or become possessed of, kennels ready built, frequently continue them in the form they fall into their hands; but such as encounter the expense of new erections, cannot do better than take a previous survey of the most approved plans; amongst which the Duke of Bedford’s at Woburn Abbey; the Duke of Richmond’s at Goodwood, in Sussex; and Sir William Rawley’s at Tendring Hall, Suffolk, are supposed, for extent and convenience, to take the lead of most others in the kingdom. Taste and fashion may go a great way in the external glare of such establishments; but health and convenience should always prove the most predominant considerations. It is universally admitted, by all who have a practical knowledge of this subject, that in large and regularly hunted packs, two kennels are indispensably necessary to the success and well doing of the whole. When there is but one, it can in the winter season be but seldom cleaned; and even then the hounds are in a comfortless state, from the dampness of the situation so long as it remains. Cleanliness is so essentially necessary in every apartment and department of a kennel, that no continuance of health in the hounds, or excellence in the field, can be expected without it. They are individually innately clean; and will never, if they can avoid it, dung near where they lie. Air, fresh straw, and ample room for the occasional expansion of their weary limbs, are requisite for the invigoration of the frame, and the preservation of health. Hounds confined in a body are more liable to disease than the same animal single, and in a state of unrestrained liberty; hence the necessity for counteraction, by every means the most prudent precaution can adopt. Hounds thus subject to, and constantly attacked with disease, and even madness, under the best and most judicious management, must be evidently much more so if surrounded with filth and nastiness.
That some idea may be formed of the grandeur of the buildings, and the liberal scale, of the most celebrated hunting establishments, it is only necessary to introduce a few explanatory remarks upon the kennels of eminence already mentioned. The superb edifice of the Duke of Richmond is said (and probably with great truth) to have cost £10,000, in its erection; to which his Grace contributed no small proportion of personal assistance. He is reported to have been his own architect and builder; to have dug his own flints, burnt his own lime, made his own bricks, and framed the woodwork in his own shops. The dog kennel, abstracted from all other buildings, stands alone, in such part of the park as to form a grand and striking object from the principal rooms of the mansion; the materials are flints, finished at all the angles by a light grey-brick, like the Lymington white stock.
The distribution of the building is into five compartments: two of them thirty-six feet by fifteen, and three more thirty by fifteen; these are called kennels, to which are annexed two feeding rooms, twenty-eight by fifteen. In each of these are openings at top, for the admission of external air when necessary, and stoves to qualify the air when too cold. There are supplies of water, and drains into a tank a considerable depth below, full of rain water, from the surface of which to the rise of the arch is eleven feet, so that no inconvenience arises from smell, and the whole can be occasionally cleared off by drains to more dependent depths and dung pits, where it becomes contributory to the purposes of agriculture. Round the whole building is a pavement five feet wide; airing yards, places for breeding, and other conveniences, making a part of each wing. To constitute a uniformity of elegance, neatness, and perfection, the huntsman and whipper-in have each a parlour, kitchen, and sleeping-room, appropriated to their own particular purpose.
The Duke of Bedford’s is an immense establishment, upon a scale of too much extent for particular description, as it includes tennis court, riding-house, &c., &c., in one stone-fronted building, of 266 feet in length, with two wings of stables, containing stalls for thirty-six hunters; and eleven loose houses for horses sick and lame. As the dog kennel, however, is the only part entitled to notice under this head, it will create no surprise that the richest subject should possess the most complete in England.
It is in length 405 feet, having the boiling house in the centre, with feeding rooms adjoining, and a granary behind. On the right of the centre are apartments for two kennel-keepers, two long lodging rooms for the hunting hounds, with flues running along the wall to preserve an equal temperature in the severity of the winter season; spacious yards to each, furnished with a fountain in the middle, for the dogs to drink at; and water-cocks fixed at proper distances to cleanse the pavement when it may be required; adjoining to these are seven hospitals for sick and lame hounds, with yards to each. On the left are divisions for litter, straw, &c.; eleven apartments for bitches and puppies, with yards to each; eleven ditto for bitches in pup, with yards also; and a large division for bitches at heat. In the front is a large reservoir of water, which supplies the fountains and different cocks in the several yards within. Behind the whole is a large airing-ground, flesh-house, and all requisite conveniences. The huntsman’s dwelling-house is a handsome building adjoining. The number of hunting hounds kept in the kennel are usually from sixty to seventy couple.
The kennel of Sir William Rawley is by no means equal to the external grandeur of the two already described, but replete with every internal convenience that an establishment upon a somewhat smaller scale can possibly require. It is situate about half a mile from the family mansion, from the garden of which it constitutes a picturesque appearance. It is erected in a valley of the park, a spot well adapted to the purpose, being equally defended from the cutting easterly winds, and the heat of the sun in its meridian, by a thick skirting of the park and forest trees. Not having the advantage of a rivulet to the water courts, that want is amply supplied by a pump which, by means of different cocks, turns the water to every part of the premises, consisting of the hunting kennel, or principal lodging-room, which is twenty feet by eighteen in the clear, eighteen feet high, and paved with flag-stones. The beds or benches which cover almost the whole area, are of original and most admirable contrivance, being lathed like some bedsteads, and are made to fold up with joints, for the convenience of washing the floor beneath them. This room, by means of a flue of a peculiar construction, is heated to any required temperature; and the hounds after severe chases and in wet weather are rendered dry and comfortable in a much less time than they could be by any other means.
There is also a kennel or lodging room for the young hounds, of the same dimensions as the former, and possessing the same conveniences except the flue, which here would have been superfluous. Several small kennels for bitches in a state of gestation, as well as a proportional number for those with puppies; a paved court to the hunting kennel; a feeding house, one-half of which is open, the other under cover; a paved court to the kennel for the young hounds; a pump and a stone water cistern; a large grass yard for airing the hounds belonging to the hunting kennel, containing about an acre and three-quarters, in which are a variety of lime, chestnut, and other trees, forming an excellent shade for the hounds during the summer season; the young hounds have a similar convenience. To these are annexed twelve small kennels for puppies, well constructed for the purpose. The hunting hounds generally consist of about thirty-six couple, and the establishment is conducted in such a style of punctuality, order, and excellence, that it is universally acknowledged equal to any and inferior to none upon a similar scale, from one extremity of the kingdom to the other.
Next to the choice of a proper spot for, and a judicious as well as a convenient structure of the kennel, the management of the hounds, when there, becomes a matter of serious consideration, and requires a feeder of strict sobriety, indefatigable industry, invariable punctuality, great humanity, personal fidelity to his employer, and a constant attention to the business in which he is engaged, as upon him in a great degree depends the health and preservation of the hounds. Mr. Beckford observes (in great proof of his practical knowledge and personal experience) that no part of the hunting establishment goes on so well as when the master becomes an occasional superintendent of his own concerns. He says, as the sport in the field depends on the exquisite sense of smelling so peculiar to the hound, so care should be taken to preserve it, and cleanliness is the surest means. The keeping of the kennel sweet and clean, cannot therefore be too strongly inculcated and impressed upon the mind of the feeder; if he seems habitually disposed to deviate from which, he is not at all calculated for the office he has undertaken.
The preparation for feeding, as boiling the meat, mixing the meal, and getting it ready at the hours agreed on, is a matter that the huntsman will of course take care (on his part) never to have neglected; but there are other considerations equally important, which become entitled to attention. Hounds cannot be properly fed by a single person; two are (for a variety of reasons) unavoidably necessary, and those two should be the feeder and the huntsman, as hounds should be drafted and fed according to their state of flesh and condition. Some are much more voracious than others, and will require a greater portion of food; others look and work well with half the quantity. The eye of the huntsman should discriminate between the opposite descriptions; in want of which attention the pack will never be of equal appearance. When any of the hounds are observed to be low in flesh, off their appetites, bad feeders, or kept under by the old and master hounds, it will be a matter of advantage to draft them, and let them feed under less restraint. Young and impatient feeders fall into the very common fault of feeding hounds with their meat too hot; it is both a prevalent and injurious error that should be totally abolished.
Mr. Beckford is of opinion, that hounds poorer than the rest should be fed again, and that they cannot be fed too often; as well as that those hounds which become too fat, if any, should be drafted off, and not permitted to fill themselves. All hounds (particularly young ones) should be often called over in kennel; their names become more familiar to them, and it teaches them obedience; this lesson is practised, or should be, at the time of feeding. Hounds should all be let out into the airing ground to empty themselves after feeding, to prevent an unnecessary accumulation of filth and consequent effluvia in the kennel. It may be a custom with some to shut up the hounds for two or three hours after they return from hunting, before they are fed; if so, it is more entitled to contempt than imitation. No plea can justify the practice; they should have their meat ready for feeding immediately on their return; once gratified they enjoy their rest undisturbed, the best and most natural foundation for renovation of strength. Plenty of vegetables, boiled in the meat copper once a week, is a custom in most kennels, as it is also to throw in a pound or two of sulphur (in proportion to the number), particularly in the summer season, when there is a greater tendency in the blood to morbidity, particularly to cutaneous diseases.
During the hot months, when hounds do not work, they require but a small proportion of substantial food, compared to what is necessary in the severity of the hunting season; flesh may then be given very sparingly; the less it is used in the summer, the less likelihood there will be of seeing that malignant and unwelcome visiter, the mange, amongst them. Various opinions has been promulgated upon the best, cheapest, and most nutritious food for the support of the hounds in general; but experience seems to have justified the consistency of occasional changes, according to the different seasons, and the different degrees of work; without adhering too closely to one particular mode, unassisted by such deviations as circumstances may render not only prudent and proper, but sometimes unavoidable. Horseflesh, sheep’s trotters, raspings, greaves, bullocks’ paunches, (in a scarcity of flesh,) oatmeal, and barley meal, constitute the principal articles upon which hounds are known to subsist; although they are differently prepared, and differently administered, according to the judgment, experience, whim, or caprice, of the parties concerned. It is, however, universally admitted, after a number of fair and impartial trials, that, in respect to the two meals, they act much more profitably and advantageously, when used in a mixed state of nearly equal proportions, than when either is given alone.
Mr. Beckford says, his feeder, who was a good one, and of much experience, mixed the meal in equal quantities; that the oatmeal he boiled for half an hour; and then put out the fire, adding the barley meal, and mixing both together; his reason for boiling one, and not the other, was, that boiling made the oatmeal thick, and the barley meal thin; and that when he fed with the barley meal only, it should not be put into the copper, but mixed up with the scalding liquor in a proper tub, or hogshead, kept for the purpose. There are many little things within the department of the feeder, which, if neglected, become of serious consequence. Nice observation should be made upon the state of the bitches at all times; upon the least indication of their going to heat, they should be instantly removed; a few hours’ delay may be the destruction of some of the best hounds in the kennel. After their return on a hunting day, he should ascertain whether there are any hounds who have sustained injuries in the feet by thorns, flints, &c., in which case a fomentation of warm pot liquor (or bran water), followed by a washing of cold vinegar, or salt and water, will generally effect a speedy cure. Hounds, seriously lame, or palpably sick, should be separated from the rest, and placed where they can be more at ease, and have better attention.
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Kennel, is a sporting term for the den in which a fox deposits himself after his nocturnal depredations, and to which he retires about the dawn of day: being found by the hounds in drawing covert, he is then said to be unkennelled, and the chase begins. When safe in some burrow, or hole, below the surface, he is then said to lie at earth.—Taplin.
KENNEL, v. To lie, to put or keep in kennel.
KESTREL, STONEGALL, STANNEL HAWK, or WINDHOVER, (_Falco Tinnunculus_, LINN.; La Cresserelle, BUFF.), s. A kind of bastard hawk.
The male of this species differs so much from the female, that we have given a figure of it from one we had in our possession, probably an old one. Its length is fourteen inches; breadth two feet three inches: its bill is blue; cere and eyelids yellow; eyes black, the forehead dull yellow; the top of the head, back part of the neck, and sides as far as the points of the wings, are of a lead colour, faintly streaked with black; the cheeks are paler; from the corner of the mouth on each side there is a dark streak pointing downwards; the back and coverts of the wings are of a bright vinous colour, spotted with black; quill feathers dusky, with light edges; all the under part of the body is of a pale rust colour, streaked and spotted with black; thighs plain; the tail feathers are of a fine blue grey, with black shafts; towards the end there is a broad black bar both on the upper part and under sides; the tips are white: the legs are yellow, and the claws black.
The kestrel is widely diffused throughout Europe, and is found in the most temperate parts of North America: it is a handsome bird; its sight is acute, and its flight easy and graceful: it breeds in the hollows of trees, and in the holes of rocks, towers, and ruined buildings it lays four or five eggs, of a pale reddish colour: its food consists of small birds, field-mice, and reptiles; after it has secured its prey, it plucks the feathers very dexterously from the birds, but swallows the mice entire and discharges the hair, in the form of round balls from its bill. This bird is frequently seen hovering in the air, and fanning with its wings by a gentle motion, or wheeling slowly round, at the same time watching for its prey, on which it shoots like an arrow. It was formerly used in Great Britain for catching small birds and young partridges.
The Female Kestrel.—This beautiful bird is distinguished from every other hawk by its variegated plumage: its bill is blue; cere and feet yellow; eyes dark coloured, surrounded with a yellow skin; its head is rust coloured, streaked with black: behind each eye there is a light spot; the back and wing coverts are elegantly marked with numerous undulated bars of black; the breast, belly, and thighs are of a pale reddish colour, with dusky streaks pointing downwards, vent plain; the tail is marked by a pretty broad black bar near the end; a number of smaller ones, of the same colour, occupy the remaining part; the tip is pale.
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This is one of our most common species, being very generally spread throughout the kingdom, especially in the more rocky situations and high cliffs on our coast, where they breed. The nest is made of a few sticks, loosely put together, and lined with wool and other soft materials, built in trees, in some crevice, or projecting rocky shelf, and sometimes they content themselves with the deserted nest of a crow or magpie. It lays four or five eggs of a dirty white, blotched over with rust-colour of various shades; sometimes wholly covered with a deep rusty red; these are rather inferior in size to those of the sparrow hawk.—Bewick—Montagu.
KIBE, s. An ulcerated chilblain, a chap in the heel.
KID, s. The young of a goat; a bundle of heath or furze.
KID, v. To bring forth kids.
KIDNEY, s. One of the two glands that separate the urine from the blood.
KILDERKIN, s. A small barrel of eighteen gallons’ capacity.
KING CHARLES’S DOG (Canis Brevipilis, LINN.), s.
This beautiful little animal is much smaller than the cocker, to which he is similar in shape and other characteristics; he has, however, longer ears, and the tail is also longer in proportion to the size of his body. Like the cocker and springer, he is extremely fond of pursuing birds of all kinds, and, like them, too, always gives tongue in pursuit. He is seldom used for field sports, from his diminutive size, being easily tired, and is too short in the legs to get through swampy ground.
This dog is found of all colours; but those which are black, with tanned cheeks and legs, are considered the purest breed. He gets the name of King Charles’s dog from the extreme liking the second monarch of that name had for this animal, as he never went out without being followed by eight or a dozen of them. They were also introduced into most of the portraits of himself and family, and particularly in that by Vandyke. They were also his constant companions in the palace.
The use of this variety at present is as a lap-dog, and they are consequently prized in proportion to the diminutiveness of their size.
The sense of smelling in this little spaniel is very remarkable. The following anecdote is related by Brown to instance it:—
In 1792, a gentleman who lived in Vere Street, Clare Market, went, with his family, to the pit of Drury Lane theatre, at about half-past five in the evening, leaving a small spaniel of King Charles’s breed locked up in the dining room, to prevent it from being lost in his absence. At eight o’clock his son opened the door, and the dog immediately went to the playhouse, and found out his master, though the pit was unusually crowded, and its master seated near the centre.—Brown.
KINGFISHER, s. A species of bird.
King-fisher. (Alcedo ispida, LINN.; Le Martin-pécheur, BUFF.)—This splendid little bird is rather of a clumsy shape, the head being large in proportion to the size of the body, and the legs and feet very small. In length it is only seven inches, in breadth eleven; and its weight is about two ounces and a quarter. The bill, measured from the corners of the mouth, is two inches long, vertically compressed on the sides, strong, straight, and tapering to a sharp point: the upper mandible is black, fading into a red-colour towards the base; the under one, as well as the inside of the mouth, is of a reddish orange: the irides are hazel, inclining to red. A broad stripe passes from the bill over the eye to the hinder part of the neck, a bright orange colour, but margined on the side of the mouth, and crossed, below the eye, by a narrow black stroke, and it is terminated behind the auriculars with a slanting wedge-shaped white spot. The throat is white; the rest of the head and wing coverts are of a deep shining green, spotted with bright light blue: the scapulars and exterior webs of the quills are of the same colour, but without spots. The middle of the back, the rump, and the coverts of the tail are of a most resplendent azure: the tail, which consists of twelve short feathers, is of a rich deep blue, and the whole under part of the body of a bright orange. The legs and toes are of a red-colour, and are peculiar in their shape and conformation, the three forward toes being unconnected from the claws to the first joints, from whence they appear as if grown into each other; and the inner and hinder ones are placed in a line on the inside of the foot, whereby the heel is widened and seems pressed out.
The suspension of this bird by a thread, under the notion that its breast will always turn to the north, is as fabulous as that it will preserve woollen cloth from the moth.
“I have once or twice,” says Mrs. Charlotte Smith, “seen a stuffed bird of this species hung up to the beam of a cottage ceiling, and imagined that the beauty of the feathers had recommended it to this sad pre-eminence, till, on inquiry, I was assured that it served the purpose of a weather-vane; and, though sheltered from the immediate influence of the wind, never failed to show every change, by turning its beak to the quarter whence the wind blew.” The learned, but somewhat credulous author of the “Physicæ Curiosæ,” says the same, upon the testimony of his own observation. “Father Athanasius Kircher,” he says, “had one of these birds sent him as a present by a friend, and being disembowelled and dried, it was suspended from the ceiling of his celebrated museum, from 1640 to 1655, when I left Rome; and though all the doors and windows were shut, it constantly turned its bill towards the wind, and this I myself observed with admiration and pleasure almost every day for the space of three years!!”
It is difficult to conceive why ornithologists have classed the kingfisher with land birds, as its habits and manner of living are wholly confined to the waters, on the margins of which it will sit for hours together on a projecting twig or a stone, at one while fluttering its wings and exposing its brilliant plumage to the sun; at another, hovering in the air, like the kestrel, it waits the moment when it may seize its prey, on which it darts with almost unerring certainty: often it remains for several seconds under the water, before it has gained the object of its pursuit, then brings up the little fish, which it carries to the land, beats to death, and swallows.
The female commonly makes her nest by the sides of rivers or brooks, in a hole made by the mole, or the water-rat: this she enlarges or contracts to suit her purpose; and it is conjectured, from the difficulty of finding the nest, that frequently the hole which leads to it is under water.
Kingfishers are not so numerous as might be expected from the number of eggs found in their nests; owing, probably, to the young being destroyed by the floods, which must often rise above the level of the holes where they are bred.
Except in the breeding-season, the bird is usually seen alone, flying near the surface of the water with the rapidity of an arrow, like a little brilliant meteor, by which appearance the eye is enabled to follow its long-continued course. Considering the shortness of its wings, the velocity with which it flies is surprising.
Ornithologists inform us that kingfishers are found in almost every part of the globe; but it does not appear that more than this one species has ever been seen in Europe.
KING DUCK, (Somateria spectabilis, FLEMING,) s.
This species is not much inferior in size to the eider duck. The bill is almost two inches long, of an orange-colour; at the base of the upper mandible is a ridged protuberance, flat on the top, and compressed on the sides, but divided into two, the elevated parts velvety black, passing on each side to the eyes; the crown of the head and nape are pale ash-colour; at the base of the upper mandible the feathers are pea-green, passing backwards on each side the neck, and taking in half the eye; beneath which, and round to the chin, the feathers are of a dirty white; but here the two colours are blended, and the white is lost by degrees in the green; under the chin is a black mark, diverging like the letter V inverted: the rest of the neck and breast are whitish; the middle of the back, the belly, and vent, black; wings dusky; on the middle of the coverts is a patch of white; quills black; the secondaries curve downwards over the quills; the shafts deep ferruginous, on each side the outer ones a patch of white; the tail is cuneiform, short, and black; legs dusky; the windpipe, according to Captain Sabine, is precisely like that of the eider duck.
The female is less; the protuberance on the bill not so large, nor so high-coloured, but the feathery ridge on the top is broader; the whole plumage brown, the middle of each feather dusky; six of the lesser quills are tipped with white, which forms a line of white on the wing; the rest of the quills and tail brown.—Montagu.
KING’S HOUNDS, s.
His majesty’s stag-hounds pass under this denomination, as a part of the royal establishment continued in every successive reign without variation. The kennel in which they are kept is situate near the race course upon Ascot Heath; at the distance of two short miles from which is Swinley-lodge, the official residence of the master of the stag-hounds, an appointment seldom conferred but upon one of the peerage, and is considered an office of honour, with a salary of 2,000_l._ per annum. The presence of the master of the stag-hounds in the field is not a matter of necessity, but choice, except when his majesty hunts, and then his personal attendance is indispensable; his badge of office is a pair of gold dog couples, which hang suspended from a belt on his left side. The huntsman has a handsome residence at the kennel, with a salary of 125_l._ a year; to whom there are six assistants, (called yeomen prickers) each having a salary of 104_l._ with the royal livery richly ornamented, and an annual supply of saddles, bridles, horse-clothes, and the necessary stable appendages; but they find their own horses.
The hunting season commences on Holyrood day, the 25th of September, and continues every Tuesday and Saturday till the first week in May; with the exception of Christmas and Easter weeks, when they hunt three times in each. Holyrood day and Easter Monday, are two grand days of the year for company, when the field is extremely numerous. His majesty has also a pack of harriers, which are kept at the Little Park Lodge, near Windsor, and these he hunts constantly in Windsor Great Park, and the surrounding neighbourhood; they are, however, a private concern of his majesty’s, and not included in the regular Crown establishment.
KING’S PLATE, s.
Those called king’s-plates are a free gift from his majesty, of 100 guineas each; and, it is believed, were originally granted as a means of exciting such a degree of emulation, as would probably tend to national advantage (by an additional influx of company) to such cities and towns as enjoy the royal favour. Newmarket, as the superior spot of sporting celebrity, is particularly honoured, having two in the first Spring, and one in the first October meetings.
King’s-plates are also given at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Guildford, Winchester, Ipswich, Burford, Chelmsford, Nottingham, Lewes, Edinburgh, York, Canterbury, Warwick, Lichfield, Richmond (Yorkshire), Lincoln, Salisbury, Ayr, Carlisle, and Ascot Heath; the whole of which, except the last, are run for by horses or mares of different ages, carrying such weights as shall be appointed by the master of the horse, or whoever he may delegate for that purpose.
The king’s-plate, of 100 guineas, given at Ascot, and always run for on the first day, (invariably Whit Tuesday fortnight) is only for horses which have regularly hunted with his majesty’s stag-hounds the preceding season, and must have been well up with the hounds, at their running up to, taking, or killing, ten deer, as an indispensable qualification, without having which they cannot be permitted to start. At the conclusion of the chase, when the deer is secured, those who intend to qualify for the plate, apply to the huntsman, and a ticket is delivered to the rider, bearing the arms of the master of the stag-hounds, and the seal of the royal hunt; when which ten tickets are obtained the horse has secured his qualification, may then be withdrawn from the field, and is not obliged to appear again till the day of entrance at Sunning Hill Wells, where the tickets must be produced, in confirmation of his being duly qualified to start. For the accommodation of the sporting world at large, horses of all ages are permitted to run, carrying the following weights:—four years’ old, 11st. 2lb.; five years’ old, 11st. 9lb.; six years’ old, 11st. 12lb.; and aged, 12st. Mares allowed 4lb. The best of three four-mile heats.—Vide RACING.
The following rules are, by his majesty’s command, to be strictly observed by the owners and riders of all such horses, mares, or geldings, as shall run for his majesty’s plates at Newmarket:—
KING’S-PLATE ARTICLES.
Every person that putteth in a horse, mare, or gelding, for the said plate, is to show such horse, mare, or gelding, with the marks, name, and name of the owner, to be entered at the king’s stables in Newmarket, the day before they run, and shall then produce a certificate under the hand of the breeder, specifying his exact age the grass before.
Every horse, mare, or gelding, that runneth, is to start between the hours of one and four in the afternoon; and to be allowed half an hour between each heat to rub.
Every horse, mare, or gelding, that runneth on the wrong side the posts or flags, or is distanced in any of the heats, shall have no share of the said plate, nor be suffered to start again.
The horse, mare, or gelding, that winneth any two heats, winneth the plate; but if three several horses, mares, or geldings, win each of them a heat, then those three, and only they, to run a fourth; and the horse, mare, or gelding, that winneth the fourth heat, shall have the plate.
And each horse, mare, or gelding’s place, as he or they come in by the ending post each heat, as first, second, or third, &c., shall be determined by such judges as shall be appointed for that purpose by the Master of the Horse. And in case any horse, mare, or gelding, shall be then, or after prove to be, above the age certified the grass before, the owner or owners of such horse, mare, or gelding, shall be rendered incapable of ever running for any of the king’s plates hereafter.
As many of the riders as shall cross, jostle, or strike, or use any other foul play, as shall be judged by such person or persons as shall be appointed by the Master of the Horse, such rider shall be made incapable of ever riding any horse, mare, or gelding, for any of his majesty’s plates hereafter; and such owners shall have no benefit of that plate; but such owners may be permitted to run any horse, mare, or gelding, for any other of his majesty’s free plates in future.
Every rider shall, immediately after each heat is run, be obliged to come to the ending post with his horse, mare, or gelding, then and there to alight, and not before, and there to weigh to the satisfaction of the judges appointed for that purpose.
And in case of neglect or refusal thereof, such winners and riders shall be immediately declared incapable of running or riding any more for this or any of his majesty’s plates in future.
And should any difference arise relating to their ages, or in their running, or to these his majesty’s orders, the same to be determined by such person or persons as shall be appointed by the Master of the Horse. And these articles are to continue in force, unless altered by command of his majesty.
For the better and more certain prevention of any fraud or misapplication, the winner of a king’s plate is to receive from the clerk of the course, a certificate signed by the steward of the race where such plate is won, counter-signed by himself also, which being presented to the lord lieutenant of the county, it obtains his signature likewise: when thus sanctioned, it becomes payable at sight to bearer (if properly endorsed by the winner,) at the office of the clerk of his majesty’s stables, in the King’s Mews, London. The lord lieutenant of a county being out of the kingdom, the signature of any person regularly deputed by him is sufficient. The certificate of winning the plate at Ascot requires only the signature of the master of his majesty’s stag hounds, instead of the lord lieutenant of the county.
KITE, s. A bird of prey that infests the farms, and steals the chickens; a fictitious bird made of paper.
This bird is easily distinguished from the buzzard by its forked tail, which is its peculiar and distinguishing feature. Its length is about two feet; its bill is of a horn colour, furnished with bristles at the base; its eyes and cere are yellow; the feathers on the head and neck are long and narrow, of a hoary colour, streaked with brown down the middle of each; those on the body are of a reddish brown colour, the margin of each feather pale; the quills are dark brown, the legs yellow, and the claws black. It is common in England, where it continues the whole year. It is found in various parts of Europe, in very northern latitudes, whence it retires towards Egypt before winter, in great numbers; it is said to breed there, and return in April to Europe, where it breeds a second time, contrary to the nature of rapacious birds in general. The female lays two or three eggs of a whitish colour, spotted with pale yellow, and of a roundish form. Though the kite weighs somewhat less than three pounds, the extent of its wings is more than five feet; its flight is rapid, and it soars very high in the air, frequently beyond the reach of our sight; yet, at this distance, it perceives its food distinctly, and descends upon its prey with irresistible force: its attacks are confined to small animals and birds; it is particularly fond of young chickens, but the fury of their mother is generally sufficient to drive away the robber.—Bewick.
KITTEN, s. a young cat.
KITTEN, v. To bring forth young cats.
KNEE, s. The joint of the leg where the leg is joined to the thigh; a knee is a piece of timber growing crooked, and so cut that the trunk and branch make an angle.
Knee of a Horse is the central joint of the leg, where the fore thigh is united to the shank bone. Its formation is of such strength, that a lameness, by twist, distortion, or any other injury, is hardly ever sustained in this part, but by the accident of falling, which frequently happens, and, if attended with a blemish, very much reduces the previous value of the horse. Prominences in a pavement, or rolling stones upon a road, are sometimes the occasion of such misfortunes, even to those who are in general exceedingly sure-footed, and of the most valuable description. Custom has, however, introduced of late years such an unprecedented degree of precaution in an examination of the knees, that the slightest touch cannot be expected to pass unnoticed amidst so much scrutinising inspection; and if once appearances are sufficient to justify a doubt, the object immediately sinks in estimation, however superior he may be in other respects and qualifications. This being so great a disadvantage when a horse is to be sold, it evidently points out the absolute necessity of a minute examination before he is bought, as a want of it may produce considerable loss and serious reflection. Loss of hair upon the knees, when not too seriously affected, may sometimes be restored by a daily application of very strong camphorated liniment.
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The knee of the horse corresponds with the human wrist. Like the joints generally, it should be large, by which the surface of muscular and ligamentous contact becomes increased, and the stability of the limb in proportion augmented; by this form also the tendinous insertions are further removed from the centre of motion, and thereby their power is increased. The knee should be carefully examined, to see whether the skin has been broken by falls; and great caution is necessary in this, for the hair sometimes grows so well over the scar as to leave it hardly discernible. Horse dealers likewise hide the blemish by blackening the part. It does not, however, follow that a mark or scar always indicates a stumbler; and persons are too apt to forget that the safest horse may by an unavoidable accident fall; but which circumstance will never influence his future manner of going, unless the cicatrix should be of such extent as to interfere with the motion of the joint; if, therefore, the arm and fore-arm be strong, the fore-hand high, and the horse show good action, he should not be rejected wholly for an accidental blemish.—Blaine.
KNOT, s. A complication of a cord or string not easily to be disentangled; a hard part in a piece of wood; a confederacy, an association, a small band; intricacy; a cluster, a collection; a fen bird. Knot is the division of the log-line answering to half a minute as a mile does to an hour.
These birds, like others of the same genus, differ considerably from each other in their appearance in different seasons of the year, as well as from age and sex. The specimen from which the above drawing was taken measured from the point of the bill to the tip of the tail eight inches and a half; the extended wings about fifteen; and it weighed two ounces eight drachms. The bill is one inch and three-eighths long, black at the tip, and dusky, fading into orange towards the base; tongue of nearly the same length, sharp, and horny at the point: sides of the head, neck, and breast, cinereous, edged with ash-coloured grey; the chin white, and a stroke of the same colour passed over each eye. All the upper parts of the plumage were darkish-brown, but more deep and glossy on the crown of the head, back, and scapulars, and each feather was edged with ash or grey; the under parts were a cream-coloured white, streaked or spotted with brown on the sides and vent; the greater coverts of the wings tipped with white, which formed a bar across them when extended; the legs reddish yellow and short, not measuring more than two inches and one-eighth from the middle toe nail to the knee; the thighs feathered very nearly to the knee; toes divided without any connecting membrane.
This bird is caught in Lincolnshire and the other fenny counties in great numbers by nets, into which it is decoyed by carved wooden figures painted to represent itself, and placed within them, much in the same way as the ruff. It is also fattened for sale, and esteemed by many equal to the ruff in the delicacy of the flavour. The season for taking it is from August to November, after which the frost compels it to disappear.
This bird is said to have been a favourite dish with Canute, King of England; and Camden observes that its name is derived from his—Knute or Knoute, as he was called, which in process of time has been changed to Knot.—Bewick.
KNOT, v. To complicate in knots; to entangle, to perplex; to unite.
KNOTTY, a. Full of knots; hard, rugged; intricate, perplexed.
KNUCKLE, s. The joints of the fingers, protuberant when the fingers close; the joint of a calf; the articulation or joint of a plant.
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LACE, s. A string, a cord; a snare, a gin.
LACERATION, s. The act of tearing or rending; the breach made by tearing.
LAIR, s. The couch of a boar, or wild beast; the place where deer harbour by day.
LAKE, s. A large diffusion of inland water; a small plash of water; a middle colour betwixt ultramarine and vermilion.
LAME, a. Crippled, disabled in the limbs.
LAMENESS, s. The state of a cripple, loss or inability of limbs; imperfection, weakness.
Lameness in Horses.—Proceeds from a variety of causes, and requires much patient investigation to ascertain, to a certainty, the exact seat of injury; for want of which judicious precaution, mischief frequently follows. Horses are sometimes persecuted, blistered, and fired for a lameness in one part, which ultimately proves to be in another, and this alone sufficiently points out the absolute necessity of a deliberate discrimination. As lameness proceeds from different causes, so it is of different kinds, and requires various modes of treatment, equally opposite to each other. This cannot be more forcibly elucidated, than by adverting to the difference between a lameness originating in a relaxation of the sinews, and a ligamentary injury sustained by a sudden turn, twist, or distortion, of some particular joint. These require a very different mode of treatment; and yet it is too much, and too unthinkingly the custom to treat every kind of lameness in the same way. From either a want of patience in the owner, or a want of prudence in the practitioner, the favourite operation of blistering is thought applicable to every case without exception; and being often resorted to before the inflammation of the part has sufficiently subsided, occasions a permanent enlargement, with a thickening of the integument, and consequent stiffness, rendering the remedy equally injurious with the original defect.
In all lamenesses occasioned by a relaxation of the tendons, blistering, and even firing, are admitted to have a forcible effect, provided they are brought into use at a proper time; but not before the inflammation (which is generally attendant upon such case) has previously subsided. In all ligamentary injuries blistering is seldom, if ever, known to be productive of permanent advantage; and is, perhaps, upon most occasions, so immediately adopted, because a single application is of so much less personal trouble, than a daily persevering hour bestowed in a hot fomentation, and stimulative embrocations.
Upon the subject of lameness in general, it is necessary to remark, that injuries sustained in tendons (commonly called the back sinews) are more frequently relieved, and a lasting cure obtained, than in a lameness of the joints; where, after patient and persevering medical applications, and a corresponding portion of rest, a renewal of work has almost immediately produced a relapse.
* * * * *
Lameness, from whatever cause arising, is unsoundness. However temporary it may be, or however obscure, it lessens the utility of the horse, and renders him unsound for the time. How far his soundness may be afterwards affected, must depend on the circumstances of the case. A lame horse is for a time an unsound one.
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Lameness in Dogs.—During the hunting or shooting season, dogs are very liable to sore feet: they should be frequently washed with strong brine, pot liquor, or salt and vinegar,—a handful of the former to a pint of the latter. But as it will be found easier to prevent than cure the affection, this is best done by washing their feet every day, when returning from the field, with pot-liquor or brine.—The Horse—Brown.
LAMPASS, s. A lump of flesh, about the bigness of a nut, in the roof of a horse’s mouth.
Lampass.—Called also lampers, and lampards, is a spongy, elastic enlargement of the roof of a young horse’s mouth, just behind the nippers of his upper jaw, which frequently acquires such a luxuriance in growth, as to be equal with, or to exceed, the surface of the teeth, and is supposed to occasion pain to such horses in the mastication of their corn. Whenever the lampass are found so protuberant as to justify an opinion, or produce a proof that they occasion pain in mastication, it is then time enough to pass the point or edge of a sharp penknife, or lancet, transversely and longitudinally over the puffy and prominent part, so as to let it bleed in that state for a few minutes; then let it be washed with a solution of alum in water, and no further inconvenience need be apprehended.—White.
LAMPBLACK, s. Is made by holding a torch under the bottom of a basin, and as it is furred striking it with a feather into some shell, and grinding it with gum water.
LAMPREY, s. A kind of eel.
The sight of a large square slab of white marble at a trifling distance from the main road on this mountain, excited my curiosity some days ago. It contained a modern Latin inscription of great length, which for its singularity I would send you, but I wish to save postage. The traveller is desired to pause, in order to behold an ocular demonstration of the cruelty and impiety of the ancient pagans, exhibited in the fish-ponds of A. Pollio, Esq. who, says the marble, was particularly fond of lampreys fed with human blood; and who to gratify this inhuman sort of gluttony, had these ponds built at an immense expense, and caused the wretched victims of his corrupt palate to be thrown into them. Accepting the pious invitation, I entered the farm pointed out by the inscription, and actually found the farm-house to consist of some modern masonry engrafted upon a solid stock of ancient reticulated architecture. At the back of the building a small door opened into the ponds, which even now appeared to be abundantly supplied with water, rising to the height of about eight or ten feet, from the door downwards, and covered by an arched vault nearly as high from the top of the door: the sides were lined with a stucco, as hard, if not harder than stone. The whole fabric was in perfect preservation, and well worth the attention of an antiquary; but my conductor was unable to add anything to the information given by the inscription, which, I confess, appeared to me very problematical. The neat and impenetrable covering of stucco, would rather induce me to take it for a reservoir, or large cistern for water, than a pond for lampreys: and supposing it to have been the latter, where is the evidence of human bodies having supplied their food; and supposing the Roman laws to have been lax enough to allow such a diabolical practice, what stomach could relish such a dainty?—Letters from the Campagna Felice.
LAMPRON, s. A kind of sea-fish, a long eel.
LANCE, v. To pierce, to cut; to open chirurgically, to cut in order to a cure.
LANCET, s. A small pointed chirurgical instrument.
LAND, v. To set on shore; to secure a fish.
LANDMARK, s. Anything set up to preserve boundaries.
LANDRAIL, or DAKER HEN, CORNCRAKE, (Rallus crex, LINN.; _Le Rale de Genet_, BUFF.) s. A bird.
Length rather more than nine inches; the bill is light brown; the eyes hazel; all the feathers on the upper parts of the plumage are of a dark brown, edged with pale rust colour; both wing coverts and quills are of a deep chestnut; the fore part of the neck and the breast are of a pale ash colour; a streak of the same colour extends over each eye from the bill to the side of the neck; the belly is of a yellowish white; the sides, thighs, and vent, are marked with faint rusty coloured bars; the legs are of a pale flesh colour.
We have ventured to remove this bird from the usual place assigned to it among those to whom it seems to have little or no analogy, and have placed it among others to which in most respects it bears a strong affinity.
It makes its appearance about the same time as the quail, and frequents the same places, whence it is called in some counties the king of the quails. Its well known cry is first heard as soon as the grass becomes long enough to shelter it, and continues till the grass is cut; but the bird is seldom seen, for it constantly skulks among the thickest part of the herbage, and runs so nimbly through it, winding and doubling in every direction, that it is difficult to come near it; when hard pushed by the dog, it sometimes stops short and squats down, by which means its too eager pursuer overshoots the spot, and loses the trace. It seldom springs but when driven to extremity, and generally flies with its legs hanging down, but never to a great distance; as soon as it alights it runs off, and before the fowler has reached the spot, the bird is at a considerable distance.
The corncrake leaves the island before the winter, and repairs to other countries in search of its food, which consists principally of slugs, of which it destroys prodigious numbers; it likewise feeds on worms and insects, as well as on seeds of various kinds. It is very common in Ireland, and is seen in great numbers in the Island of Anglesea on its passage to that country. On its first arrival in England, it is so lean as to weigh less than six ounces, from which one would conclude that it must have come from distant parts; before its departure, however, it has been known to exceed eight ounces, and is then very delicious eating.
The female lays ten or twelve eggs on a nest made of a little moss or dry grass, carelessly put together; they are of a pale ash-colour, marked with rust-coloured spots. The young crakes are covered with black down; they soon find the use of their legs, for they follow the mother immediately after they have burst the shell.
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This is deemed a bird of passage by all the writers: yet from its formation seems to be poorly qualified for migration; for its wings are short, and placed so forward, and out of the centre of gravity, that it flies in a very heavy and embarrassed manner, with its legs hanging down; and can hardly be sprung a second time, as it runs very fast, and seems to depend more on the swiftness of its feet than on its flying.
When we came to draw it, we found the entrails so soft and tender, that in appearance they might have been dressed like the ropes of a woodcock. The craw or crop was small and lank, containing a mucus; the gizzard thick and strong, and filled with small shell snails, some whole, and many ground to pieces through the attrition which is occasioned by the muscular force and motion of that intestine. We saw no gravels among the food: perhaps the shell snails might perform the function of gravels or pebbles, and might grind one another.
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That it is a bird of passage there can be little doubt, though one would think it poorly qualified for migration, on account of the wings being short, and not placed in the exact centre of gravity: how that may be I cannot say, but I know that its heavy sluggish flight is not owing to its inability of flying faster, for I have seen it fly very swiftly, although in general its actions are sluggish. Its unwillingness to rise proceeds, I imagine, from its sluggish disposition, and its great timidity, for it will sometimes squat so close to the ground as to suffer itself to be taken up by the hand, rather than rise; and yet it will at times run very fast.
What Mr. White remarks respecting the small shell snails found in its gizzard, confirms my opinion, that it frequents corn fields, seed clover, and brakes or fern, more for the sake of snails, slugs, and other insects which abound in such places, than for the grain or seeds; and that it is entirely an insectivorous bird.—Bewick—White’s Selborne—Wood.
LANERET, s. A little hawk.
LANIGEROUS, a. Bearing wood.
LANIUS (LINN.), s. Shrike, a genus thus characterised:—
Bill of middle size, strong, much compressed; the upper mandible strongly curved towards the point, where it forms a hook; the base without a cere, but furnished with coarse hairs directed forward; nostrils at the side of the base, almost round, half shut by a vaulted membrane, often in part concealed by the hairs; feet with the shank longer than the middle toe; three toes before and one behind, quite divided; wings, the first quill of middle length, the second a little shorter than the third and fourth, which are the longest in the wing.—Montagu.
LANNER, (Falco lanarius, LINN.; Le Lanier, BUFF.) s. A species of hawk.
This bird is somewhat less than the buzzard. Its bill is blue; cere inclining to green; eyes yellow: the feathers on the upper part of the body are brown, with pale edges; above each eye there is a white line, which runs towards the hinder part of the head, and beneath it is a black streak pointing downwards towards the neck; the throat is white; the breast of a dull yellow, marked with brown spots; thighs and vents the same; the quill feathers are dusky, marked on the inner webs with oval spots of rust colour; the tail is spotted in the same manner; the legs are short and strong, and of a bluish colour.
The lanner is not common in England; it breeds in Ireland, and is found in various parts of Europe. It derives its name from its mode of tearing its prey into small pieces with its bill.—White.
LANSQUENET, s. A common foot-soldier; a game at cards.
This game may be played by almost any number of people, although only one pack of cards is used at a time, during each deal. The dealer, who has rather an advantage, begins by shuffling the cards, and having them cut by any other person of the party; after which he deals out two cards on his left hand, turning them up; then one for himself and a fourth, which he places in the middle of the table for the company, called the rejouissance card. Upon this card any, or all of the company, except the dealer, may put their money, either a limited or unlimited sum, as may be agreed on, which the dealer is obliged to answer, by staking a sum equal to the whole that is put upon it by different persons. He continues dealing, and turning the cards upwards, one by one, till two of a sort appear; for instance two aces, two deuces, &c., which, in order to separate, and that no person may mistake for single cards, he places on each side of his own card; and as often as two, three, or the fourth card of a sort come up, he always places them in the same manner, on each side of his own. Any single card the company has a right to take and put money upon, unless the dealer’s own card happens to be double, which often occurs by this card being the same as one of the two cards which he first of all dealt out on his left-hand. Thus he continues dealing till he brings either their cards, or his own. As long as his own card remains undrawn he wins; and whichever card comes up first loses. If he draw or deal out the two cards on his left, which are called the hand-cards, before his own, he is entitled to deal again; the advantage of which is merely his being exempted from losing when he draws a similar card to his own immediately after he has turned up one for himself.
This game is often played more simply without the rejouissance card, giving every person round the table a card to put money upon. Sometimes it is played by dealing only two cards, one for the dealer and another for the company.—Hoyle.
LANTERN, s. A transparent case for a candle; a lighthouse; a light hung out to guide ships.
LAP, v. To wrap or twist round anything; to involve in anything.
LAPDOG, s. A little dog, fondled by ladies in the lap; generally a common nuisance.
In one of the ships of the fleet, that sailed lately from Falmouth, for the West Indies, went passengers, a lady and her seven lap-dogs, for the passage of each of which she paid thirty pounds, on the express condition, that they were to dine at the cabin-table, and lap their wine afterwards. Yet these happy dogs do not engross the whole of their good lady’s affection; she has also, in Jamaica, forty cats and a husband.—Country Newspaper.
LAPWING, BASTARD PLOVER, or PEE WIT, (Tringa vanellus, LINN.; Le Vanneau, BUFF.) s. A clamorous bird with long wings.
This bird is about the size of a pigeon. Its bill is black; eyes large and hazel; the top of the head is black, glossed with green; a tuft of long, narrow feathers issues from the back part of the head, and turns upwards at the end; some of them are four inches in length; the sides of the head and neck are white, which is interrupted with a blackish streak above and below the eye; and the back part of the neck is a very pale brown; the forepart, as far as the breast, is black; the back and the wing coverts are of a dark green, glossed with purple and blue reflections; the quills are black, the first four tipped with white; the breast and belly are of a pure white; the upper-tail coverts and vent pale chestnut; the tail is white at the base, and the rest of it is black, with pale tips; the outer feathers almost wholly white, the legs are red; claws black; hind-claw very short.
This bird is a constant inhabitant of this country; but as it subsists chiefly on worms, it is forced to change its place in quest of food, and is frequently seen in great numbers by the sea-shore, where it finds an abundant supply. It is everywhere well known by its loud and incessant cries, which it repeats without intermission whilst on the wing, and from which, in most languages, a name has been given it, imitative of the sound. The peewit is a lively, active bird, almost continually in motion; it sports and frolics in the air in all directions, and assumes a variety of attitudes; it remains long upon the wing, and sometimes rises to a considerable height; it runs along the ground very nimbly, and springs and bounds from spot to spot with great agility. The female lays four eggs of a dirty olive, spotted with black: she makes no nest, but deposits them upon a little dry grass hastily scraped together: the young birds run very soon after they are hatched: during this period the old ones are very assiduous in their attention to their charge; on the approach of any person to the place of their deposit they flutter round his head with cries of the greatest inquietude, which increase as he draws nearer to the spot where the brood are squatted; in case of extremity, and as a last resource, they run along the ground as if lame, in order to draw off the attention of the fowler from any farther pursuit. The young lapwings are first covered with a blackish down, interspersed with long white hairs, which they gradually lose, and about the latter end of July, they acquire their beautiful plumage. At this time they assemble in flocks, which hover in the air, saunter in the meadows, and after rain disperse among the ploughed fields. In October the lapwings are very fat, and are then said to be excellent eating. Their eggs are considered as a great delicacy, and are sold in London at three shillings a dozen.
The following anecdote communicated by the late Rev. J. Carlyle, is worthy of notice, as it shows the domestic nature of this bird, as well as the art with which it conciliates the regard of animals differing from itself in nature, and generally considered as hostile to every species of the feathered tribe. Two of these birds, given to Mr. Carlyle, were put into a garden, where one of them soon died; the other continued to pick up such food as the place afforded, till winter deprived it of its usual supply: necessity soon compelled it to draw nearer the house, by which it gradually became familiarised to occasional interruptions from the family. At length one of the servants, when she had occasion to go into the back-kitchen with a light, observed that the lapwing always uttered his cry ‘pee wit’ to obtain admittance. He soon grew more familiar; as the winter advanced he approached as far as the kitchen, but with much caution, as that part of the house was generally occupied by a dog and a cat, whose friendship the lapwing at length conciliated so entirely, that it was his regular custom to resort to the fireside as soon as it drew dark, and spend the evening and night with his two associates, sitting close by them, and partaking of the comfort of a warm fireside. As soon as spring appeared, he left off coming to the house, and betook himself to the garden; but on the approach of winter he had recourse to his old shelter and his old friends, who received him very cordially. Security was productive of insolence; what was at first obtained with caution, was afterwards taken without reserve: he frequently amused himself with washing in the bowl which was set for the dog to drink out of, and while he was thus employed, he showed marks of the greatest indignation if either of his companions presumed to interrupt him. He died in the asylum he had chosen, being choked with something he had picked up from the floor. During his confinement, crumbs of wheaten bread were his principal food, which he preferred to any thing else.
LARD, s. The grease of swine; the chief ingredient in composing ointments.
LARK, s. A small singing bird.
From the peculiar construction of the hinder claws, which are very long and straight, larks generally rest upon the ground; those which frequent trees perch only on the larger branches. They all build their nests upon the ground, which exposes them to the depredations of the smaller kinds of voracious animals, such as the weasel, stoat, &c., which destroy great numbers of them. The cuckoo, likewise, which makes no nest of its own, frequently substitutes its eggs in the place of theirs. The general characters of this species are thus described:—
The bill is straight and slender, bending a little towards the end, which is sharp pointed; the nostrils are covered with feathers and bristles: the tongue is cloven at the end; tail somewhat forked; the toes divided to the origin; claw of the hinder toe very long, and almost straight; the fore claws very short, and slightly curved.
Twirling for larks is a species of amusement peculiar to the French, and is thus described:—
These birds are attracted to any given spot in great numbers, by a singular contrivance, called a mirror.
This is a small machine, made of a piece of mahogany, shaped like a chapeau bras, and highly polished, or else it is made of common wood, inlaid with small bits of looking-glass, so as to reflect the sun’s rays upwards; it is fixed on the top of a thin iron rod, on an upright spindle, dropped through an iron loop, or ring, attached to a piece of wood to drive into the ground. By pulling a string, fastened to the spindle, the mirror twirls, and the reflected light unaccountably attracts the larks, who hover over it, and become a mark for the sportsman. In this way, says an old sportsman, I have had capital sport. A friend of mine actually shot six dozen before breakfast; while he sat on the ground he pulled the twirler himself, and his dogs fetched the birds as they dropped. However, I go on in the common way, and employ a boy to work the twirler. Ladies often partake of the amusement, on a cold dry morning, not by shooting, but by watching the sport: so many as ten or a dozen parties are sometimes out together, firing at a distance of five or six hundred yards, and in this way the larks are constantly kept on the wing. The most favourable mornings are when there is a gentle light frost, with little or no wind, and a clear sky; for when there are clouds, the larks will not approach. One would think the birds themselves enjoyed their destruction, for the fascination of the twirler is so strong, as to rob them of the usual fruits of experience; after being fired at several times, they return to the twirler, and form again into groups, above it; some of them even fly down, and settle upon the ground within a yard or two of the astonishing instrument, looking at it this way and that way, and all ways together, as if nothing had happened.—Sporting Anecdotes.—Bewick.
LARVA, s. The enica or caterpillar.
LARUS (Auctores), s. Gull, a genus thus characterised.
Bill long or middle sized, strong, hard, compressed, cutting, curved towards the point, the under mandible forming a saliant angle. Nostrils at the sides, in the middle of the bill, slit lengthwise, straight, pierced from part to part. Legs slender, naked to the knee; shank long; three toes before, wholly webbed; the hind toe free, short, and jointed high upon the shank. Tail with the feathers of equal length; wings long, the first quill almost of equal length with the second.—Montagu.
LASH, s. A stroke with anything pliant and tough; the thong or point of the whip; a leash, or string in which an animal is held.
LAUDANUM, s. A soporific tincture; liquid opium.
LAUGHING GULL (Larus ridibundus, LEISLER), s.
Length fifteen, breadth thirty-seven inches; weight ten ounces. Bill and feet rich vermilion; irides hazel; round the eyes a few white feathers; lower part of the neck, tail, and belly white; the back and wings grey; primores white, the first with the outer margin black; the second tipped with black, and marked with a black spot on the inner web. In winter the head is white, with a black patch on the ear, and another in front of the eyes; under the wing blackish grey. Female similar. Nest, according to Wilson, in meadows and islands in fresh water lakes. Eggs three, olive, with dusky blotches. It leaves Scotland in winter, but is a permanent resident in England.
These birds appear to be subject to great variety, either from age or from change of season, and in those changes they have been described as different species. The red-legged gull of authors is only this bird before it is arrived at maturity; and there seems no doubt but the old birds lose the black on the head in the winter, and do not assume it again till the breeding season; but there is generally a little black about the ears; the bill and legs also lose their bright colour.
We have seen hundreds of these birds together in the winter, but have never seen one with a black head at that season. They appear in great abundance in the autumn, on the coast of Caermarthen and Glamorganshire, particularly about the mouths of rivers. At that time the head is white, in some mottled with brown, with a dusky spot behind the ear; the back and wing coverts in young birds are mottled with brown and white; the tail crossed with a dusky bar at the end; the bill and legs scarcely tinged with red. Towards spring the back begins to assume the ash-colour; then the wing coverts, and the bill and legs, obtain their proper colour; the black behind the ears spreads and meets behind, and on lifting up the feathers of the crown about the month of March, the stubs of the black feathers are to be observed. At this time also some few black feathers appear on the throat; but the perfect black head is not assumed during their stay in those parts. In Devonshire we have seen them complete in feather later in the spring, but never remember to have observed the same appearance in winter.
The laughing gull is said to breed in Lincolnshire in the fens, and in other parts of England, upon the borders of rivers.
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Dr. Plott assures us, in his History of Staffordshire, that in his time these birds annually visited a pool in Staffordshire. He also assures us that they would not breed on any other land than that of the proprietor of the before-mentioned place; and that on the death of the owner, they deserted the pool for three years, but only retired to another estate belonging to the next heir.
The young birds were accounted good eating, and were taken by driving them into nets before they could fly; that fifty dozen were taken at a driving, and that five shillings per dozen was the usual price.
The young were kept alive and fattened on offal. It is also added that three drivings were generally made in a season; and that anciently as many were taken as produced a profit of fifty or sixty pounds.
No author mentions their being seen in winter, having at that time been made a distinct species under various denominations.
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It makes a nest on the ground with rushes, dead grass, and such like materials, and lays three eggs, of an olivaceous brown, marked with rusty brown blotches.—Montagu.
LAUNCEFISH, or SANDLANCE, s. A sea fish which buries itself, on the recess of the tide, more than a foot deep in the sand. It is much used for baits.
LAUNCH, v. To force into the sea; to rove at large.
LAUREL, s. A tree, called also the cherry bay.
LAVARET, s. A bird; a lake fish.
Lavaret is a fish known in England by the name of shelley or fresh water herring, in Wales by that of gwinniad; in Ireland by that of pollan; and in Scotland by that of vangis. In colour it is most like a grayling, but with broader and larger scales; it is common in the large lakes of most Alpine countries, and is known at Geneva by the name of ferra; and I believe that the salmo ceruleus, or wartmann of Bloch, or the gang-fisch of the Lake of Constance, from a comparison that I made of it with the ferra, is a variety of the same fish. It sometimes is as large as two pounds, and when quite fresh, and well fried or boiled, is an exceedingly good fish, and carves like grayling. The lavaret of different lakes has appeared to me to vary in the number of the spines in the fins. One brought me from the Lake of Zurich, thirteen inches long and eight inches in girth, had twelve spines in the dorsal fin, fifteen in the pectoral fins, eleven in the ventral, thirteen in the anal, and eighteen in the caudal. The gang-fisch, from the Lake of Constance, which was of a bluer colour, but I think decidedly only a variety of the same fish, was seven inches and three-quarters long, and four in girth, had twelve spines in the dorsal fin, fifteen in the pectoral, eleven in the ventral, twelve in the anal, and eighteen in the caudal. A lavaret from the Traun See had twelve spines in the dorsal fin, seventeen in the pectoral, thirteen in the ventral fin, twelve in the anal fin, and twenty-four in the caudal fin. One from the Hallstadt See was a larger and broader fish, but did not differ from the lavaret of the Traun See, except in having two spines less in the tail. It is only taken with nets. It feeds on vegetables, and in the stomachs of those I have opened I have never found either flies or small fishes.—Salmonia.
LAWN, s. An open space between woods; fine linen.
LAXATIVE, s. Medicines that open the bowels moderately, without stimulating them so much as to increase their secretions. They consist of castor, olive, or linseed oils; the neutral salts, common salt, and small doses of aloes, as in the following formula:—
LAXATIVE DRENCH.
1. Castor oil 1 pint.
2. Sweet oil, or linseed, or rape oil 1 pint.
3. Epsom salt 6 to 12 oz. Whey or gruel 1 quart. Castor oil 6 to 12 oz.—Mix.
4. Powdered aloes 2 to 3 dr. Carbonate of potash 2 dr.
5. Water 8 oz. Castor oil 8 oz.—Mix.
BALL.
Aloes 3 to 4 dr. Soap 3 to 4 dr. Syrup enough to form a ball.
LAY, s. Grassy ground, meadow, ground unploughed.
LEA, s. Ground enclosed.
LEAD, s. A soft heavy metal.
Many useful preparations are made from this metal; among which are the following:—
Acetate, or super-acetate of lead, commonly called sugar of lead, is used in making cooling lotions and eye-washes.
Red Lead, or Minium, is a red powder, made by mixing lead in a high degree of heat. It is used in the composition of plasters and charges.
White Lead is often employed in the composition of healing and softening ointment, for horses that are subject to cracked heels.
LEAD, v. To fit with lead in any manner; to lead lines. Vide LINES.
LEADER, s. One that leads or conducts; commander; one who goes first; foremost horse in a tandem or team.
LEAGUE, s. A measure of length, containing three miles.
LEAN, a. Meagre, wanting flesh; out of condition.
LEAN, s. The part of flesh which consists of the muscle without the fat.
LEAP, v. To pass over or into by leaping.
LEAP, s. Bound, jump, act of leaping; space passed by leaping; an assault of an animal of prey; embrace of animals.
LEASH, s. A brace and a half; a leather thong, by which a falconer holds his hawk, or a courser leads his greyhound; a band wherewith to tie anything in general.
Leash is a sporting term in use to imply the number three; as exceeding one, and not reaching two brace; for instance, a brace of hares, a leash of pheasants, and two brace of partridges. A brace of pointers, a leash of greyhounds, and two brace of spaniels. Custom, however, in this, as in most other things, admits of deviation and exception; in proof of which we say a brace of spaniels, a couple and a half of hounds, and two brace of pointers; a brace of snipes, a couple and a half of woodcocks, and two couple of rabbits. It is therefore consistent and sportsman-like to say a leash of birds (partridges), a leash of pheasants, a leash of hares, or any other article where two are termed a brace; but improper to call three a leash, where two of the kind are called a couple.
LEATHER, s. Dressed hides of animals.
LEECH, s. A physician, a professor of the art of healing; a kind of small water serpent, which fastens on animals, and sucks the blood.
LEEWARD, a. Under the wind, on the side opposite to that from which the wind blows.
LEG, s. The limb by which animals walk, particularly that part between the knee and the foot in men.
The part of the limb between the knee and the fetlock consists of three bones—a large one before, called the cannon or shank, and two smaller or splint bones behind. The shank-bone is rounded in front, and flattened, or even concave behind. It is the straightest of the long bones, as well as the most superficially situated, for in some parts it is covered only by the skin. The upper head is flat, with slight depressions corresponding with the lower row of the bones of the knee. The lower head is differently and curiously formed. It resembles a double pulley. There are three elevations, the principal one in the centre, and one on each side; and between them are two slight grooves; and these so precisely correspond with deep depressions and slight prominences in the upper head of the larger pastern, and are so enclosed and guarded by the elevated edges of that bone, that when the shank-bone and the pastern are fitted to each other, they form a perfect hinge: they admit of the bending and extension of the limb, but of no lateral or side motion; which is a circumstance of very great importance in a joint so situated, and having the whole weight of the horse thrown upon it.
The smaller bones are placed behind the larger on either side; a slight projection only of the head of each can be seen in front. The heads of these bones are enlarged, and receive part of the weight conveyed by the lower row of the bones of the knee. They are united to the larger bone by the same kind of substance which is found in the colt between the bone of the elbow and the main bone of the arm; and which is designed, like that, by its great elasticity, to lessen the concussion or jar when the weight of the animal is thrown on them.
LENITIVE, a. Anything applied to ease pain; a palliative.
LEPIDOPTERA, s. An order of insects which have their wings imbricated with scales, as moths, butterflies, &c. &c.
LEPORINE, a. Belonging to a hare, having the nature of a hare.
LEPROSY, s. A loathsome distemper, which covers the body with a kind of white scales.
LETHARGY, s. A morbid drowsiness, a sleep from which one cannot be kept awake.
LEVEL, v. To aim at, to bring the gun and arrow to the same direction with the mark.
LEVERET, s. A young hare.
LICK, v. To pass over with the tongue; to lap, to take in by the tongue.
LIGAMENT, s. A strong compact substance which unites the bones in articulation; anything which connects the parts of the body; bond, chain.
LIGATURE, s. Anything bound on; bandage; the act of binding; the state of being bound.
LIGHTS, s. The lungs, the organs of breathing.
LIMB, s. A member, a jointed or articulated part of animals.
LIME, s. A viscous substance drawn over twigs, which catches and entangles the wings of birds that light upon it; matter of which mortar is made; the linden tree; a species of lemon.
LIMEWATER, s. Is made by pouring water upon quicklime.
Lime-water is recommended in diabetes. It is made by mixing lime with a large proportion of boiling water, stirring the mixture for some time, and afterwards pouring off the transparent liquor, which is to be carefully excluded from the air.
LIMPIT, s. A kind of shell-fish.
LINCHPIN, s. An iron pin that keeps the wheel on the axletree.
LINE, s. Longitudinal extension; a slender string used in angling.
The most easy method of making hair into lines is, by a small engine, which is sold at most of the fishing-tackle shops. It consists of a large horizontal wheel, and three very small ones, inclosed in a brass box, about a quarter of an inch thick, and two inches in diameter; the axis of each of the small wheels is continued through the under side of the box, and is formed into a hook; by means of a strong screw, it may be fixed on any post or partition, and is set in motion by a small winch in the centre of the box; the process is soon acquired, and it is thus used:—Take as many hairs as you purpose the line shall contain, and divide them into three parts; each of these is to be tied to a piece of fine twine doubled, and fixed to the hooks which depend from the machine; then take the piece of lead which has a hook at its top, and after tying the three parcels of hair together at the loose end, hang the weight thereon: after this, cut three grooves in the inside of a cork at equal distances, and in each groove place a division of the hairs, that, by gently turning the engine, the links may turn with a greater evenness to the lead. As the links grow tighter, move the cork slowly upwards, and when the whole is sufficiently twisted, take out the cork and tie the link into a knot, and so proceed till the quantity of links wanted for a line are completed; observing to lessen the number of hairs in each link in such proportion as that the line may be taper. The links should then be laid for an hour into cold water; some persons, whether a hair starts or not, retwist them before they are made into a line, and more particularly when there is an odd hair in the number twisted. Some put the hair for ten minutes into warm water before working it into links.
In making lines, every hair in every link should be equally big, round and even, that the strength may be so proportionate that they will not break singly, but altogether: by carefully choosing the hairs, they will stretch and bear a much stronger force than when a faulty hair is included. Never strain the hair before twisting; the best will easily be selected by the eye, and two or three inches of the bottom part of the hair should be cut off, as it is generally defective. The links should be twisted very slowly, and not lie harsh, but so as to twine one with another, and no more, for a hard twisted line is always weak: by mixing chestnut, black, or any other coloured hair, the line may be varied at pleasure.
* * * * *
Lines of silk or hemp may be coloured by a strong decoction of oak bark, which it is believed resists the water, and adds to their durability: any shade of an excellent russet brown may be obtained according to the time they remain in the decoction, which should be used cold.
* * * * *
In leading of lines great care is needful to balance the floats so nicely that a very small touch will sink them. Some use for this purpose lead shaped like a barleycorn, but shot is better; and for fine fishing have a number of small in preference to a few large shot on the line; the lowest of either ought to be nine or ten inches from the hook.
LINE, v. To cover on the inside; to put anything in the inside; to cover a bitch.
LING, s. Heath; a kind of sea-fish.
LINIMENT, s. An application of a consistence rather thicker than oil, or transparent preparations, such as soap liniment.
The following formulæ are given as examples:—
SOAP LINIMENT.
Hard soap 1 oz. Camphor 1 oz. Oil of rosemary 1 oz. Rectified spirit 1 pint.
Cut up the soap, and let it stand with the spirit until dissolved, then add the rest.
AMMONIA, OR VOLATILE LINIMENT.
Strong solution of ammonia 1 oz. Olive oil 2 oz.—Mix.
To this, camphor, or oil of turpentine is sometimes added; and the solution of ammonia is joined, for some purposes, to the soap liniment. The soap liniment is the same as the celebrated opodeldoc, and may be either solid or fluid, according to the proportion of soap used; but it may be made also with soft soap, and is then fluid with a larger proportion of soap.—Vide EGYPTIACUM.
LINIMENT OF CAMPHOR, COMPOUND.
Camphor 2 oz. Spirit of lavender 1 pint. Solution of ammonia 6 oz.—Mix.
Solution of ammonia is named also liquid ammonia, and strong spirit of sal ammoniac.—See Embrocations.
LINIMENT FOR BAD THRUSHES AND CANKER.
1. Tar 4 oz.—Melt, and add Muriatic acid 6 dr. Verdigris 4 dr.
Mix, and continue stirring until it is cold.
2. Tar, melted 1 lb. Strong sulphuric acid, by weight 2 oz.
Stir them well together for some time, and immediately before the mixture is used.
LINK, s. A single ring of a chain; anything doubled and closed together; a chain, anything connecting; any single part of a series or chain of consequences; a torch made of pitch and hards; a thread of gut or horse-hair.
LINNET (Linaria linota, CUVIER), s. A small singing bird.
This species is subject to much variety with respect to the red markings which, at certain ages and seasons, are found upon the head and breast, and this has occasioned it to be multiplied into two distinct species by various ornithologists, all of whom seem to agree that the general colour of both are alike, but assert that the greater redpole has none of this colour upon the breast. On comparing the various authors who have given this as a distinct species, we find they all make it nearly the same as the redpole, but not quite so rufous on the upper parts. The principal distinction seems to be in the breast being of a fine crimson colour, and none of that colour on the head.
The male in full plumage has the bill bluish; irides hazel; the head light brown; the feathers on the crown darkest in their middle; sides of the neck inclining to ash-colour; the forehead rosy red; the back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings, fine deep rufous brown, lightest on the rump, and palest on the margin of each feather; the breast is brown, with more or less spots like that on the head; belly light rufous brown; vent almost white; quill-feathers dusky black, with more or less white on the exterior and interior webs, which forms a conspicuous bar of that colour on the wing; the tail is forked, the feathers, like those of the quills, black, margined with white, which colour predominates on the inner webs; coverts of the tail black, edged with grey; legs brown. The weight of the male is about five drachms, that of the other sex rather less. The plumage of the female is more dusky brown; the coverts of the wings rufous-brown; sides of the throat plain dirty white, the middle part streaked; breast and sides pale brown, with dusky streaks; quills and tail like the other sex, but the former not so deeply margined with white, and of course no perceptible bar on the wing.
These birds fly in flocks during winter, at which time the males have little or none of the red markings which, on the return of spring, they put forth.
This linnet is very common throughout Britain, extending as far as the Orkneys, where it is abundant. During the summer it resorts to waste land and commons, in the upper parts of the country, where it breeds. Furzy commons seem to be the favourite resorts of these birds during that season; the bushy furze being admirably adapted to conceal the nest from the prying eye, and sometimes a quickset or gooseberry-bush answers the purpose. The nest is composed of moss woven with wool, and lined with wool and hair, very neatly put together; the eggs are four in number, of a bluish white, with a few purplish specks and short lines; their weight from twenty-four to thirty grains. In the month of April they pair, and commence building their nest, and in May the first broods are hatched; but if the nest should be destroyed, they will build another as late as the month of August, appearing dissatisfied until the object of their visit is accomplished. During the time of nidification, and until the young are hatched, the song of the linnet, although short, possesses much sweetness. At once brilliant and soft, the song of the linnet consists of many irregular notes, tastefully put together in a clear and sonorous tone, which continues during the whole year, except at the moulting season. Besides its own natural note, it will soon acquire the notes of other birds, particularly the nightingale; and may be taught in a very short time to imitate any of our tunes, if they are whistled to it. After describing the mature bird, Bechstein says, “a male of three years old is distinguished in the spring, by the name of the red linnet (Linotte Sanguine); the forehead is then of a bright blood-red colour; the remainder of the head being of a reddish ash-colour; the top a little speckled with black. After the moulting in autumn, we no longer see the red upon the forehead, that colour being hid by the white feathers; the coverts of the breast then assume a deep brown-colour, and blackish spots begin to appear; the interior feathers on the breast, which were formerly red, are now of a brownish grey, mixed with red. In this plumage it is known by the name of the grey linnet.
“After the time of its second moulting, if we part the reddish grey feathers on the forehead and breast, we find that they are still red at the tips, and only hid by the yellowish white borders of the new feathers.”
In this state it is the rock or mountain linnet (Linotte de Roche).
“I have even,” he adds, “had these birds with the forehead and breast of a rich reddish yellow.” To this variety bird catchers give the name of the yellow linnet. These varieties of plumage do not occur with the female, which is besides considerably smaller. In addition to these, there are many changes produced by season and age; for instance, as the bird increases in age, the red colour on the head increases also.—Bechstein—Selby—Montagu.
LINSEED, s. The seed of flax.
Linseed, or flax-seed, abounds with oil and mucilage, and is useful in the composition of those emollient drinks given in inflammations of the bladder and bowels, or complaints of the urinary passages. A strong mucilaginous drink may be made without bruising the seeds, either by decoction or infusion.
Linseed Cake is that part of the linseed which remains after the oil has been pressed out. It is employed to fatten cattle, and is given, occasionally, to horses. When ground it is sold as linseed meal and linseed powder, and often used in the composition of poultices.
Linseed Oil is sometimes employed as a laxative, and, though very inferior to castor, and even olive oil, may be occasionally substituted for it, on account of its being much less expensive. It is used in making pectoral emulsions, liniments, and ointments; but even for these purposes olive oil is preferable, on account of the drying quality of linseed oil.
LINT, s. The soft substance commonly called flax; linen scraped into soft woolly substance to lay on sores.
LIP, s. The outer part of the mouth, the muscles that shoot beyond the teeth; the edge of anything.
LITTER, s. A kind of portable bed; a carriage hung between two horses; the straw laid under animals; a brood of young; any number of things thrown sluttishly about; a birth of animals.
LITTER, v. To bring forth, used of beasts; to cover with things negligently; to cover with straw.
LIVER, s. One who lives; one who lives in any particular manner; one of the entrails.
LIVERGROWN, a. Having an increased liver.
LIZARD, s. An animal resembling a serpent, with legs added to it.
LOACH, s. A little fish.
This little fish is found in small brooks among the gravel, or where there is a soil of mud and gravel together, with weeds, and in several of our rivers by the sides of sharp streams; it seldom rises to the top of the water, keeping at the bottom on the gravel, upon which it feeds, and is, on that account, in some places, called the groundling; it is frequent in the stream near Amesbury, in Wiltshire, where, out of frolic, the sportsmen swallow it down alive, in a glass of white wine.
It is a slimy fish without scales, and of rather a long make; the mouth is small, placed beneath, and has no teeth; it is bearded like the gudgeon and the barbel, having on the upper mandible six small beards, one at each corner of the mouth, and four at the end of the nose; the body is smooth and slippery, and almost of the same thickness; the colour of the head, back, and sides, is in some white, in others of a dirty yellow, very elegantly marked with large spots, consisting of numberless minute black specks; the pectoral, dorsal, and caudal fins are also spotted; the belly and ventral fins of a pure white; the tail broad, and rather rounded. One of the largest ever heard of by Mr. Pennant, was four inches and three quarters in length, but they seldom exceed three inches. The flesh of the loach is singularly nutritious, and from that circumstance, and its being equally grateful to the palate, it is recommended to the sick. The females, during summer, are generally full of spawn; these fish are to be taken with a very small red worm, the bait touching the ground. The loach is used as a bait for other fish, and for eels perhaps it is the best.
LOAD, v. To burden, to freight; to encumber; to charge a gun; to make heavy.
LOAD, s. The leading vein in a mine; the charge of a gun.
Loading.—Much as may be said on this important head, I shall attempt to explain it by one simple example: for instance, to load a single gun of six, or double gun of seven, eight, or nine pounds’ weight, take a steel charger, which holds precisely an ounce and a half of shot; fill it brimful of powder, from which first prime, and then put the remainder into the barrel; to this add the same measure bumperful of shot, and then regulate the tops of your flasks and belts accordingly.
Some little difference of charge will, of course, be required between a twenty-two and a fourteen gauge; and, in this, we may be guided by the shoulder, observing, at the same time, the proportion of each here recommended: but, unless the gun is very heavy, a gauge of fourteen will recoil more than one of twenty-two; so that, after all, the above charge might do equally well for both.
For those who have scales at hand, another way will be to ascertain this by weight; for instance, to the guns above mentioned, put one drachm and a half of powder, exclusive of priming, to an ounce and a half of shot. The proportion for a twelve pounds’ gun to be doubled; eighteen pounds’ trebled; twenty-four pounds’ quadrupled, &c. with one trifling deviation; viz.—the larger the gun the less should be the proportion of shot, as the larger and longer the calibre the more powder may be damaged in going down it.—Hawker.
LOB, s. Any one clumsy, or sluggish; a large worm.
LOBE, s. A division, a distinct part; used commonly for a part of the lungs.
LOBSTER, s. A small crustaceous fish, having a cylindrical body with a long tail and long antennæ. It is found on all the rocky coasts of the United Kingdom.
LOCK, s. An instrument composed of springs and bolts, used to fasten doors and chests; the part of the gun by which fire is struck; a hug, a grapple; any enclosure; a quantity of hair or wool hanging together; a tuft; a contrivance to raise the water on a river or canal made navigable.
To dissect a gun-lock.—Place the lock on full cock, screw on the cramp, let down the cock, and the main-spring will fall off; replacing it when necessary, by letting down the cock, hooking the spring, full cocking, and then removing the cramp. I need not detail the mode of taking to pieces the whole of the lock; but I may remind you, that, in separating the cock from the tumbler, the turnscrew should on no account be placed between the cock and the lock-plate, but a small blow should be struck on the end of the tumbler, which may protrude through the cock, or, if level with it, the end of a turnscrew may be placed upon it, and the other end struck as a punch; while the plate of the lock itself, disencumbered of course of all the other movements, is held in the palm of the left hand, the turnscrew being held in its place by the finger and thumb of the same hand. In inserting the scear, it is well to remember that this is to be done after re-fixing the feather spring, by hooking the end in the tumbler before the re-adjustment of the mainspring, and pressing back the other end by force till the screw is put in its place. This, I confess, is somewhat more difficult than half securing the bridle, and putting on the feather spring last by pushing it into its place when the screw is through it, though not tight; but I like the first-mentioned of these ways the best. Let me recommend you to clarify the oil you use for the purpose of lubricating the locks, by filling the bottle with shot, drawing off the clear oil, and repeating the process again and again at your leisure. See here is some I have had eleven years, and you will observe it is free from that cloudy deposit which oil not thus or otherwise clarified contains, and which is apt to leave a black stain behind it. But we are to be up early—so good night.—Hints to Sportsmen.
LOCKJAW, s.
Castration, nicking, docking, punctures, particularly of the feet; lacerations, and even contusions, will bring it on. I have seen it follow a fall, which presented nothing more than a moderate contusion in the shoulder. In America, it is not an unfrequent result of castration; and in some tropical climates compression of the cord in the operation must always be avoided, so apt is any irritation to produce it in these regions. It is considered as most apt to follow wounds of tendinous and ligamentous parts.
It commences usually by a certain stiffness about the throat, and difficulty in swallowing, or in turning the head, which soon extends itself to the jaws, and occasions a contracted state of the mouth, with the usual inclination to masticate, but painfully and imperfectly performed. As this increases, the jaws can hardly be separated at all, when farriers say the horse is ‘jaw set.’ By the tetanic action of the retractor muscle, the haw is drawn partly over the globe, at the same time that the tension of the other ocular muscles gives the eyes a vivid appearance and retroverted aspect, which ill accords with the more placid effect of a protruded haw. As the disease extends over the voluntary muscles of the trunk and extremities, the appearances are distressing in the extreme. The head is raised, the ears pointed forwards, the nostrils dilated, and the nose is carried out. The legs straddle wide, the tail is cocked, and quivers with the constant fatigue of the levator muscles; and the abdominal muscles are drawn tight over the belly, giving to the horse an appearance of having just completed some extraordinary exertion. The complaint presents a few moments of relaxation sometimes, from the extreme and powerful contractions of the over-strained muscles; while profuse sweats mark the distress and exertions of convulsion. The circulation is, in most instances, at first not much affected; but as the disease increases, the pulse quickens, and becomes tremulous and irregular. The respiration also gradually becomes hurried and irregular; costiveness is usually present, and the urine is sparingly made. In this state the suffering animal may remain from six to ten days, when, worn out by inanition and irritation, he often falls lifeless, or expires after a short state of convulsion.
The general curative practice in tetanic cases among veterinarians, foreign and English, of the present day, leans to the free use of the lancet, to complete opening of the bowels, and to a liberal administration of opiates, as being every one of them powerful antispasmodics singly, but in this painful affection proving doubly so conjointly; to which are added, blistering the spine; and the beneficial effects of this practice, as exemplified by experience, warrant its being at once proceeded on to the exclusion of every other, until it has totally failed.—Blaine.
LODGE, s. A small house in a park or forest; a keeper’s hut.
LOGGATS, s. A play or game, now called skittles.
LOGWOOD, s. A wood much used in dyeing.
LOIN, s. The back of an animal; loins, the reins.
The loins occupy the attention of all good judges in their consideration of a horse, and for the purposes of strength they can hardly be too broad: the back extends to the posterior part of a common sized saddle, and where the back ends, the loins begin. Sometimes, from a defect in the sacral processes of the vertebræ, this junction of the back and loins presents an indentation, as though the union was incomplete. This may be considered, in some degree, as a defect, inasmuch as it deprives the part of muscular attachment, and such horses are said to be badly loined. The strength of the loins depends on the length of the transverse processes of the lumbar vertebræ, which should be long, that there may be an extensive surface for the attachment of the muscles of the back: the muscles themselves should also be powerful on each side, giving width to the loins, and seeming by their enlargement, as it were, to swallow the back bone. When the protuberances of the ilium are very prominent, the horse is called ragged hipped, which is injurious to the appearance only, except in cases where it seems to arise from a paucity of muscle to fill up the intervening spaces. From the loins to the setting on of the tail, the line should be long and very slightly rounded; by which means, also, the distance between the hip and the point of the buttock will be considerable. This formation is peculiar to the improved or blood breed, and in every point of view appears the most perfect; for it affords a very increased surface for the insertion of the powerful muscles of these parts.—Blaine.
LONGOPEN, s. The second long feather in the hawk’s wing.
LOO, s. A game at cards.
Loo or lue, subdivided into limited and unlimited loo, a game, the complete knowledge of which can be easily acquired, is played with five or three cards, though most commonly with five, dealt from a whole pack, either first three and then two, or by one at a time. Several persons may play together, but the greatest number can be admitted when played with three cards only.
After five cards have been given to each player, another is turned up for trump; the knave of clubs generally, or sometimes the knave of the trump suit, as agreed upon, is the highest card, and styled Pam; the ace of trumps is next in value, and the rest in succession, as at whist. Each player has the liberty of changing for others from the pack all or any of the five cards dealt, or of throwing up the hand in order to escape being looed. Those who play their cards either with or without changing, and do not gain a trick, are looed; as likewise is the case with all who have stood the game, if a flush occur, which obliges each, except a player holding Pam, or an inferior flush, to deposit a stake to be divided among the winners at the ensuing deal, according to the tricks which may then be made. For instance, if every one at dealing should stake half-a-crown, the tricks are entitled to sixpence apiece, and whoever is looed must put down half-a-crown, exclusive of the deal: sometimes it is settled that each person looed shall pay a sum equal to what happens to be on the table at the time. Five cards of a suit, or four with Pam, compose a flush, which sweeps the board, and yields only to a superior flush, or an equal one in the elder hand. When the ace of trumps is led, it is usual to say “Pam be civil,” the holder of Pam is then expected to let the ace pass.
When loo is played with three cards, they are dealt by one at a time, Pam is omitted, and the cards are not exchanged, nor permitted to be thrown up.—Hoyle.
LOOM, s. A bird.
LOOP, s. A double through which a string or lace is drawn, an ornamental double or fringe. LOOPS or RINGS are placed along the fishing rod to conduct the line from the reel to the upper extremity.
LORD-WARDEN, s. An officer in forestry.
Under him are two distinct appointments of officers, the one to preserve the venison of the forest, and the other to preserve its vert: the former term, in the language of the forest law, comprehends every species of game; the latter signifies every thing that bears a green leaf within a forest that may cover a deer, but especially great and thick coverts.
LORE, (Lorum, LINN.) in ornithology, is the space between the bill and the eye, which in the grebe genus is bare, but in other birds is generally covered with feathers.
LORIMER or LORINER, s. Bridle cutter.
LOT, s. Fortune; a chance; a die, or anything used in determining chances.
LOUGH, s. A lake, a large inland standing water.
LOWBELL, s. A kind of fowling in the night, in which the birds are awakened by a bell, and lured by a flame.
LOWLAND, s. The country that is low in respect of neighbouring hills.
LUBRICITATE, v. To smooth, to make slippery.
LUCK, s. Chance, accident, fortune, hap; fortune, good or bad.
LUG, s. A land measure, a pole or perch; a worm found by digging in oozy sand, an excellent bait for flat fish; the sail of a lugger.
LUGGER, s. A fast-sailing vessel with three masts, much used for smuggling and privateering. They vary in size from fifty to one hundred and fifty tons, and are useful vessels for any purposes requiring dispatch.
The lugger is, I think, the most inconvenient rig, especially for a yacht; the spars are so heavy that they require all hands to move them. They generally have two sets of lugs—large ones, which require dipping every time you tack; and small working lugs, which do not require dipping, the tack coming to the foot of the mast. The latter are generally used, except in making long reaches, as across Channel, &c. &c.
Another great objection to a lugger is, your decks are so encumbered with the spare spars and sails, which take up a great deal of room; besides the latter being exposed almost continually to the weather, which they must be while kept bent ready for setting; and, thirdly, a lugger is seldom fit to be altered to any thing but a schooner, not having breadth enough for one mast, which, after all, for beauty and speed, is the best: indeed, sailing men are so perfectly aware of this now, that you never see a schooner or lugger enter against a cutter at all near their tonnage. Take them to sea, and they might have a chance; though even there (setting aside accidents) I would back the cutter in a trial; but in fine weather or smooth water there is no comparison.—Sport. Mag.
LUMPFISH, s. A sort of fish.
LUNAR, a. Relating to the moon, under the dominion of the moon.
LUNGS, s. The lights, the organs of respiration.
Each side of the cavity of the chest is occupied by soft, spongy, and slightly elastic masses, called lungs, having the heart appended between them. In a state of distension they completely fill the parietes of the thorax, to which their figure is exactly adapted. The lungs have a distinct division into a right and left mass, each of which presents deep fissures, partially dividing its substance into what are called its lobes. These divisions are not always the same in every subject, but in the majority of instances the right and largest lung presents three lobuli, the left two only. As already described, the pleura first lines the thoracic cavity, and is then reflected over the lungs, affording them a dense covering: a second reflection from each lung by a union of its laminæ, forms a septum, or a complete division of the chest, into two distinct cavities, and thus effectually shuts out all communication between one lung and the other, except by their vessels. The colour of the lungs varies considerably: in the colt they present a lively pinky hue; in the adult horse they are darker, and in very old subjects they have a greyish cast and granulated appearance.—Blaine.
LURCH, s. A term at cards.
LURCH, v. To win two games instead of one at cards.
LURCHER (Canis indagator), s. A dog.
This variety is smaller than the greyhound, with its limbs stronger and shorter, the head less acute, with short, erect, and half-pricked ears; the whole body and tail are covered with rough coarse hair; it is grizzly about the muzzle, and is of a pale sand colour, or iron grey.
The lurcher is supposed to be originally produced, first, by a cross of the greyhound and harrier, and afterwards re-crossed with the terrier; hence the quickness of his scent, which he possesses in a strong degree. The habits of this dog lead him to concealment and cunning; and he is often employed in killing hares and rabbits under the cloud of night, for which nature seems eminently to have fitted him. When taken to the warren, he lies squat, or steals out with the utmost precaution, when he either sees or scents the rabbits feeding, and, like his progenitor, the greyhound, darts upon them with exceeding quickness, without barking or making the least noise. He is trained to bring the booty to his master, who often waits at some distance to receive it. One of these dogs will kill a great many rabbits in the course of a night. Bewick says, that they were so destructive, that they are now with great propriety proscribed, and the breed is almost extinct.
LURE, s. Something held out to call a hawk; any enticement.
The use of this important implement in breaking falcons, is thus described by Sir John Sebright:—
The hawk is to be fed upon the lure, being first made to come to it when held very near him, then when held a little farther off; it is to be next thrown upon the ground to a small distance, and thus he is to be brought by degrees to fly to it, and to seize it eagerly, however far it may be thrown.
An assistant is now to swing the lure at some distance from the falconer, who casts off the hawk.
It is to be thrown into the air when the hawk is flying towards it, but so that he cannot attain it until it falls to the ground, lest he should be hurt by striking it in his flight.
When this lesson has been repeated, until the hawk has become eager to take the lure, the assistant is to swing it as before, but is to take it into his hand when the hawk is coming; he is then to swing it again as soon as the hawk has passed; and finally, to throw it upon the ground, when the hawk is returning towards him.
In this way the hawk will soon be taught to fly round the falconer, bending his flight inwards when the lure is shown to him, or when he hears the call of the falconer, who should always halloo when he is luring. He may thus be made to follow the falconer wherever he pleases; this is called waiting on.
When the hawk has alighted upon the lure, the falconer is to walk round him, whistle to him while he is feeding, and reward him with a good meal when he is taken up.
It is thus that hawks are made obedient to the lure, and that they are exercised when they cannot be flown at game, but they must not be kept too long upon the wing, or they would acquire the habit of flying low; and it is the perfection of a slight falcon to soar as high as possible.—Sebright.
LURID, a. Gloomy, dismal; a yellow colour bordering on a blue.
LURK, v. To lie in wait, to lie hidden, to lie close.
LURKINGPLACE, s. Hiding place, secret place.
LUSTRE, s. Brightness, splendour, glitter; a sconce with lights; the space of five years.
LUSTY, a. Stout, vigorous, healthy, able of body.
LUXATE, v. To put out of joint; to disjoint; to displace a limb.
LUXATION, s. The act of disjointing; anything disjointed; the displacing a limb.
LUXURIANT, a. Exuberant, superfluous, plenteous.
LYMPHATIC, s. A vessel containing lymph.
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MACAW, s. A foreign bird of the parrot kind; its plumage is very splendid, and its feathers valuable in tying salmon flies. Shop flies are frequently tied with imitation feathers, which, on exposure to the sun, become faded and useless.
MACKEREL, s. A sea fish. Vide SEA FISHING.
MACKEREL-GALE, s. A strong breeze, favourable for killing mackerel.
MAD, a. Disordered in the mind; enraged, furious.
MADNESS, s. Distraction; fury, wildness, rage. Vide HYDROPHOBIA.
MAGGOT, s. A small grub which turns into a fly.
MAGNETIC, a. Relating to the magnet; having powers correspondent to those of the magnet; attractive, having the power to draw things distant.
MAGPIE or PIANET (Corvus pica, LINN.; La Pie, BUFF.) s. A bird.
Its length is about eighteen inches; bill strong and black; eyes hazel; the head, neck, and breast are of a deep black, which is finely contrasted with the snowy whiteness of the under parts and scapulars; the neck-feathers are long, as are also those on the back, which extend towards the rump, leaving only a small space, of a greyish ash-colour, between them and the tail coverts, which are black; the plumage in general is glossed with green, purple, and blue, which catch the eye in different lights; the tail is very long, and rather wedge-shaped; the under-tail coverts, thighs, and legs are black: on the throat and part of the neck there is a kind of feathers, mixed with the others, resembling strong, whitish hairs.
This beautiful bird is everywhere common in England; it is likewise found in various parts of the continent, but not so far north as Lapland, nor farther south than Italy: it is met with in America, but not commonly, and is migratory there. It feeds, like the crow, on almost every thing animal as well as vegetable. The female builds her nest with great art, leaving a hole in the side for her admittance, and covering the whole upper-part with an interweaving of thorny twigs, closely entangled, thereby securing her retreat from the rude attacks of other birds: but it is not safety alone she consults; the inside is furnished with a sort of mattrass, composed of wool and other soft materials, on which her young repose: she lays seven or eight eggs, of a pale green-colour, spotted with black.
The magpie is crafty and familiar, and may be taught to pronounce words, and even short sentences, and will imitate any particular noise which it hears. It is addicted, like other birds of its kind, to stealing, and will hoard up its provisions. It is smaller than the jackdaw, and its wings are shorter in proportion; accordingly its flight is not so lofty, nor so well supported: it never undertakes long journeys, but flies only from tree to tree, at moderate distances.
* * * * *
To destroy magpies.—Wait till the female sits hard on her eggs; and then go, late in the evening, with some large shot in a duck-gun, by which means you may either take her as she flies out of the tree, or blow up the whole concern by firing through the nest.—Bewick—Hawker.
MAGPIE HAWKING, s.
Magpies may be flown with eyess slight falcons, and afford excellent sport.
A down or common, where low trees or thorn bushes are dispersed at the distance of from thirty to fifty yards apart, is the place best calculated for this diversion.
When a magpie is seen at a distance, a hawk is immediately to be cast off. The magpie will take refuge in a bush the moment that he sees the falcon, and will remain there until the falcon arrives, with the hawk waiting on in the air. The magpie is to be driven from his retreat, and the hawk, if at a good pitch, will stoop at him as he passes to another bush, from whence he is to be driven in the same way, another hawk having been previously cast off, so that one or the other may always be so situated as to attack him to advantage.
The second hawk is necessary, for the magpie shifts with great cunning and dexterity to avoid the stoop; and when hard pressed, owing to the bushes being rather far apart, will pass under the bellies of the horses, flutter along a cart rut, and avail himself of every little inequality of the ground in order to escape.
Four or five assistants, besides the falconer, (who should attend solely to his hawks) are required for this sport. They should be well mounted and provided with whips; for the magpie cannot be driven from a bush by a stick; but the crack of a whip will force him to leave it, even when he is so tired as hardly to be able to fly. Nothing can be more animating than this sport; it is, in my opinion, far superior to every other kind of hawking. The object of the chase is fully a match for its pursuers—a requisite absolutely necessary to give an interest to any sport of this kind; and it has the advantage of giving full employment to the company, which is not the case in partridge-hawking.
The magpie will always endeavour to make his way to some strong cover; care, therefore, must be taken to counteract him, and to drive him to that part of the ground, where the bushes are farthest from each other. It is not easy to take a magpie in a hedge. Some of the horsemen must be on each side of it; some must ride behind, and some before him; for, unless compelled to rise, by being surrounded on all sides, he will flutter along the hedge, so as to shelter himself from the stoop of the falcon. Many requisites are necessary to afford this sport in perfection—a favourable country, good hawks, and able assistants.—Sebright.
MAID or MAIDEN-RAY, s. A species of skate fish. They are amazingly plenty on the North West Coast of Ireland, and only used as food by the poorer classes.
MAIZE, s. Indian wheat.
MALANDERS, s. A dry scab on the pastern of horses.
Malanders is a disorder that attacks the back part, or flexure, of the knee joint, and depends upon a combination of mange and grease. It appears as a scurfy or scabby eruption, and is often very painful, causing some degree of lameness from the pain the animal feels in moving the joint. Sometimes it is not so considerable as to produce lameness, or any apparent inconvenience, but generally becomes troublesome and obstinate unless attended to. Salanders occur in the fore part, or flexure, of the hock joint, and are of the same nature as malanders. They should first be well washed with soap and water, and all the scurf and loose cuticle completely removed. They may then be cured by the following ointments:—
OINTMENT FOR MALANDERS AND SALANDERS.
No. 1. Ointment of nitrate of mercury, commonly named citrine ointment.
No. 2. Hog’s lard, two ounces; red precipitate, finely powdered, two drachms.
No. 3. Hog’s lard, four ounces; melt, and stir in Goulard’s extract, one ounce.—White.
MALE, a. Of the sex that begets young, not female.
MALE, s. The he of any species.
MALEFEATHERS, s. Those on the breast of a hawk.
MALLARD, s. The drake of the wild duck.
The mallard, or wild-drake, weighs from thirty-six to forty ounces, and measures twenty-three inches in length, and thirty-five in breadth: the bill is of a yellowish-green colour, not very flat, about an inch broad, and two and a half long, from the corners of the mouth to the tip of the nail: the head and upper-half of the neck, are of a glossy, deep, changeable, green, terminated in the middle of the neck by a white collar, with which it is nearly encircled: the lower part of the neck, breast, and shoulders, are of a deep vinous chestnut: the covering scapular feathers are of a kind of silvery white; those underneath, rufous; and both are prettily crossed with small waved threads of brown: wing-coverts ash; quills brown; and between these intervenes the beauty-spot (common in the duck tribe) which crosses the closed wing in a transverse, oblique, direction; it is of a rich, glossy, purple, with violet or green reflections, and bordered by a double streak of black and white. The belly is of a pale grey, delicately pencilled and crossed with numberless narrow-waved, dusky lines, which, on the sides and long feathers that reach over the thighs, are more strongly and distinctly marked: the upper and under tail-coverts, lower part of the back, and rump, are black; the latter glossed with green: the four middle tail-feathers are also black, with purple reflections, and, like those of the domestic drake, are stiffly curled upwards; the rest are sharp pointed, and fade off to the exterior sides, from a brown to a dull white; legs, toes, and webs red.
The plumage of the female is very different from that of the male, and partakes of none of his beauties, except the spot on the wings. All the other parts are plain brown, marked with black. She makes her nest, lays from ten to sixteen greenish-white eggs, and rears her young generally in the most sequestered mosses or bogs, far from the haunts of man, and hidden from his sight among reeds and rushes. To her young helpless unfledged family (and they are nearly three months before they can fly), she is a fond, attentive, and watchful parent, carrying or leading them from one pool to another, as her fears or inclinations direct her; and she is known in this country to use the same wily stratagems to mislead the sportsman and his dog, as those before noticed respecting the partridge.
Like the rest of the duck tribes, the mallards, in prodigious numbers, quit the north at the end of autumn, and, migrating southward, arrive at the beginning of winter in large flocks, and spread themselves over all the loughs and marshy wastes in the British isles. They pair in the spring, when the greatest part of them again retire northward to breed; but many straggling pairs stay with us: they, as well as preceding colonists of their tribes, remain to rear their young, who become natives, and continue with us throughout the year.—Bewick.
MALLEABLE, a. Capable of being spread by beating.
MALMSEY, s. A sort of grape; a kind of wine.
MALT, s. Grain steeped in water and fermented, then dried on a kiln.
Malt is very serviceable to horses that are recovering from fever: it is useful, also, when the system is weakened by large abscesses which discharge copiously, and in almost every case depending on debility.
It appears to be easy of digestion, and very nutritious, though not so stimulating as oats. Green malt has been recommended for improving the condition of horses, and giving them a smooth, glossy coat. Infusion of malt is sometimes given with advantage to sick horses; but they generally require to be drenched with it, which is a great inconvenience.—White.
MALT, v. To make malt.
MAMMALIA, s. The first class of animals in the system of Linnæus.
MANAGE, v. To carry on; to train a horse to graceful action; to tame or break hawks in.
MANCHINEEL, s. A large tree, a native of the West Indies; a dyewood.
MANDIBLE, s. The jaw, the instrument of manducation.
MANE, s. The hair which hangs down on the neck of horses.
When a horse’s mane stares or lies irregularly, it should he neatly platted; leaded at the ends, and kept damp with a wet sponge.
MANED, a. Having a mane.
MANGE, s. The itch or scab in cattle.
The canine mange is a chronic inflammation of the skin, dependent, in some instances, on a morbid constitutional action: it is infectious also, from miasms produced from animal exhalations; and it is notoriously contagious from personal communication with one affected. It is not, however, so completely contagious, in all its varieties, as is supposed, for I have known dogs to sleep with affected ones for some time without becoming mangy; but in the majority of cases it is otherwise; and in some the predisposition to it is such, that almost simple and momentary contact will produce it. The mange which is received by contagion is more readily given to another than that which is generated. The uniform presence of animalculi within the psoric pustules has revived the idea that it originates in the attack of acari.
Mange is also hereditary. A bitch, lined by a mangy dog, is very liable to produce mangy puppies; but the progeny of a mangy bitch is certain to become affected sooner or later; and I have seen puppies covered with it when a few days old. The morbid action by which mange is generated is excited in various ways, and by various causes. When a number of dogs are confined together, the acrid effluvia of their transpiration and urine begets a miasm productive of a virulent mange, very difficult to be removed. Close confinement, with salted food, is even more certainly productive of mange; thus dogs who have come from distant countries, on ship-board, are generally affected with it. Very high living, with little exercise, is a frequent cause: a state nearly approaching to starvation is also not unfavourable to it. In both these apparent contrarieties, the balance between the skin and the digestive functions is not preserved, and the disease follows as a necessary consequence. The disease has some permanent and fixed varieties; it has also some anomalies; but the pruritus or itching is common to all.
The scabby mange, one of the most common forms under which this eruptive complaint appears, is an extension of the secretory pores of the skin in very minute red vesicles, that at first are distinct, but as they extend become pustular, confluent, and scabby. Sometimes simple linear cracks of the cuticle seem to pour out a serous fluid, which concretes into scab. It is occasionally confined to the back; at others it is found principally in the joints of the extremities.
* * * * *
The red mange, so called from a redness of both skin and hair in the parts affected, is likewise not unfrequent, and partakes much of an herpetic character. In this variety there is less pustular eruption, but nearly the whole skin of the body, particularly in white-haired dogs, is in a state of active inflammation: it is also hot to the feel, and itches intolerably. In the red mange, the hair itself becomes morbidly affected, and alters in its colour, particularly about the extremities: it also falls off, and leaves the skin bare, much thickened, and puckered into stubborn wrinkles. Dogs with the strong coarse hair called wired are very liable to this state; in which a magnifying glass applied will often detect innumerable minute ulcerations, covered by furfuraceous scales.
* * * * *
Acute mange.—Besides that variety just noticed, there is yet a more directly acute form of the complaint, which puts on an appearance not unlike erysipelas in some instances; in others it is a pure erythema, or red efflorescence; but more frequently it is accompanied with some ulceration. It commences by a direct febrile attack, with panting heat, and restlessness; next some part of the body (usually the head) begins to swell, which, the second or third day, gives place to ulceration of the nose, eyelids, lips, ears, neck, &c. This ulceration proves superficial, but extensive; and continues a longer or a shorter period, as the treatment is more or less judicious. Bleeding, aperients, and febrifuges, form the constitutional remedies: the topical ones are tepid fomentations the first two days; and, when the tumefaction has given place to ulceration, the application of a cooling unguent of superacetate of lead (sugar of lead), with spermaceti ointment, will be proper. What remains of the affection, in a week or ten days’ time, may be treated as common mange.
* * * * *
Mange is apt to be considered more troublesome than hurtful, which is a great error; for it is not only invariably hurtful, but very often fatal also: when long continued, it frequently ends in dropsy. It sometimes diseases the mesenteric glands, and the subjects of it die tabid: neither in any case can it be neglected with impunity. In sporting dogs it is injurious to their qualities as well as their health: their scent invariably becomes impaired, and their general powers are always weakened by its irritation.
The following formulæ are adapted for the first described form of mange:—
No. 1. Powdered sulphur, yellow or black 4 oz. Muriate of ammonia (sal ammoniac), crude powdered ½ oz. Aloes, powdered 1 dr. Venice turpentine ½ oz. Lard, or other fatty matter 6 oz.—Mix.
Or,
No. 2. Tobacco in powder ½ oz. White hellebore in powder ½ oz. Sulphur in powder 4 oz. Aloes in powder 2 dr. Lard, or other fatty matter 6 oz.
Or,
No. 3. Powdered charcoal 2 oz. Sulphur powdered 4 oz. Potash 1 dr. Lard, &c. 6 oz. Venice turpentine ½ oz.
Or,
No. 4. Sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) 1 dr. Lard 6 oz. Tar 2 oz. Powdered lime 1 oz.
Or,
No. 5. Decoction of tobacco 3 oz. Decoction of white hellebore 3 oz. Oxymuriate of quicksilver (corrosive sublimate) 5 gr.
Dissolve the corrosive sublimate in the decoctions, which should be of a moderate strength; when dissolved, add two drachms of powdered aloes, to render the mixture nauseous, and prevent its being licked off, which ought to be very carefully guarded against: the best means for this purpose is a muzzle having a very fine wire capping or mouth-piece, which will effectually prevent the dog from getting his tongue applied to the ointment, which would prove his almost certain destruction.
The formulæ for red mange are as follow:—
No. 6. Of either of the ointments already prescribed, 1, 2, or 3 6 oz. Mercurial ointment, mild 1 oz.—Mix.
Or,
No. 7. Powdered charcoal 1 oz. Prepared chalk 1 oz. Superacetate, or sugar of lead 1 dr. White precipitate of quicksilver 2 dr. Sulphur 2 oz. Lard 5 oz.
In some cases, the mange ointment, No. 4, alternated with No. 6, one being used one day, and the other the next, will be found beneficial. In others, benefit has been derived from the wash, No. 5, united with lime water. In slight cases of red mange, the following has been found singularly successful:
No. 8. Oxymuriate of quicksilver (corrosive sublimate) powdered 6 gr. Sulphuretted potash (liver of sulphur) ½ oz. Lime water 6 oz.—Mix.
The third variety requires a considerable difference in the treatment. When the little spongy openings, piercing the cellular tissue, will admit of it, they should be injected, by means of a very minute syringe, with the wash No. 8. The general surface should also be anointed with the following:
No. 9. Ointment of nitrated quicksilver 2 dr. Superacetate of lead 1 scruple. Washed flowers of sulphur ½ oz. Lard 1 oz.—Mix.
For the Red Mange.—Two ounces of white hellebore in powder, mixed in one quart of the grounds of strong beer, made warm; rub the dog well all over, and dry it in with a good fire; be careful that it does not touch his eyes: put the dog in a warm place, and keep him from water four hours after the application.—Blaine.
MANGEL WURZEL, s. A kind of beet, shaped like a carrot, but larger. It is excellent fattening winter fodder. In Germany it has been used for human food in times of scarcity; hence its name, which literally means “the root of scarcity.”—Crabbe.
MANGER, s. The place or vessel in which animals are fed with corn.
MANGINESS, s. Scabbiness, infection with the mange.
MANTLING, s. In falconry, the lowering of a hawk’s feathers down to her feet.
MAPLE-TREE, s. A tree frequent in hedge-rows.
Maple is much used in making gun-stocks, and, from the closeness of its grain, and its being susceptible of a high polish, is generally preferred by gun-makers to every other wood. Of late, to stain stocks black has become very fashionable, and come into general use among the leading gun-makers.
MARE, s. The female of a horse.
MARITIME, a. Performed on the sea, marine; relating to the sea, naval; bordering on the sea.
MARK, s. A token by which anything is known; anything at which a missile weapon is directed; the evidence of a horse’s age; a sum of thirteen shillings and fourpence; a character made by those who cannot write their names.
MARKSMAN, s. A shot; a man skilful to hit a mark.
MARL, s. A kind of clay, much used for manure.
MARROW, s. An oleaginous substance contained in the bones.
MARSH, s. A fen, a bog, a swamp; a morass; a snipe haunt.
MARSH MALLOW, s. A plant useful in making mucilaginous or emollient drinks, clysters, or fomentations.
The root is the best part, and, if carefully dried, may be kept a long time. These mucilaginous drinks are useful when the bowels or bladder are inflamed or irritated by strong physic, or when there is any pain in the urinary passages. They should be given frequently in the course of the day, and may occasionally be made the vehicle for more active medicines. Any thing which contains mucilage in sufficient quantity may be employed for the purpose of making emollient drinks.—White.
MARSHY, a. Foggy, fenny, swampy; produced in marshes.
MARTEN, s. A large kind of weasel, whose fur is much valued; a kind of swallow that builds in houses, a martlet.
This is the most beautiful, and the most destructive to pheasants, of the British beasts of prey. The marten is about eighteen inches long, the tail ten, or, if measured to the end of the hair at the point, where it is also the thickest and darkest, twelve inches; the head is small, and elegantly shaped: the eyes are lively, and all its motions agile and graceful; the ears are broad, rounded and open; the back, sides, and tail, are covered with a fine thick ash-coloured down at bottom, with long hair intermixed, of a bright chestnut, tipped with black, giving a darkish brown appearance to the whole; the head brown, with a slight cast of red; the legs and upper side of the feet, chocolate—the under sides are covered with similar thick down, to the body; the feet are broad; the claws white, large, and sharp, but incapable of being, at pleasure, sheathed or dilated; they are well suited for climbing trees, in which, in this country, it constantly resides: the throat and breast are white; belly of the same colour with the back, except being rather paler; but martens vary in their colours, inclining, more or less, to ash colour, according to their age, or the seasons of the year they are taken in.
The skin and excrements of this animal have an agreeable, musky scent, and are free from that disgusting rankness which distinguishes the other species of this genus, as the pole-cat, &c. The fur is valuable, and much used to line or trim the gowns of magistrates, aldermen, &c. The marten lives in the woods, and in winter very often shelters itself in magpies’ nests, breeds in the hollows of trees, and brings from four to six young ones at a time; they are brought forth with their eyes unopened, but quickly arrive at a state of perfection. The female has but a small quantity of milk in proportion to her size, but she amply compensates for this natural defect by bringing home eggs and live birds to her offspring, thus early habituating them to a life of carnage and plunder. As soon as the young are able to leave the nest, they are led by the dam through the woods, where the birds at once recognise their enemies, and fail not to attend them, as they do the fox, with every mark of animosity and terror. When taken young, the marten is easily tamed, is extremely playful and good-humoured; its attachment, however, is not to be relied on if it gets loose, for it will immediately take advantage of its liberty, and retire to the woods, its natural haunts. A farmer in the parish of Turling, in Essex, was famous for taming this animal, and had seldom less than two. Some years since, one used to run tame about the kitchen of the Bald-faced Stag inn, on Epping forest.
M. Buffon affirms of a marten that he had tamed (it should seem but imperfectly), that it drank frequently, sometimes slept two days successively, and at other times continued as long awake. When preparing for sleep, it folded itself round, covering its head with its tail. He describes its motions as so violent, incessant, and troublesome, that it was necessarily kept chained. After escaping from its fetters, and returning once or twice, it at last went entirely away.
The pine marten (whose skin is considered of a far superior quality to the common), which is distinguished by a yellow throat and breast, and of which such numbers are sold at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s sales—at one of which, 12,370 good skins, and 2360 damaged ones, were sold; and about the same time the French brought into the port of Rochelle, from Canada, no less than 30,325 skins—is sometimes found in Wales, in the counties of Merioneth and Carnarvon. In Scotland it is the only kind of marten; where it inhabits the fir forests, frequently usurping the drays or nests of the squirrel, building its own nest at the top of the trees, and produces seven or eight young at a birth.
The marten’s food is poultry, game, and small birds; it will not eat mice, rats, and moles, and is said to feed also on grain, and to be extremely fond of honey. It is said to be a great enemy to cats, and will even attack the wild cat, which, although much stronger, is always worsted, and often killed in the combat, and a contest is sure to take place whenever they meet.
The scent of the marten is very sweet to hounds, and it is the best animal to enter young fox-hounds at. The marten, by running to the thickest bushes it can find, teaches hounds to run cover, which is of infinite service to them. When closely pursued, it climbs a tree, and its agility is astonishing, for though it falls frequently from a tree into the midst of a pack of hounds, each intent on the catching it, the instances are very few of a marten being caught by them in that situation. They are not found in any great numbers; the most ever met with by the compiler, was in the large woods near Rayleigh, in Essex.
They attack the pheasants when at roost, and make great havoc. The steel trap, baited with a piece of pheasant or wood-pigeon, will generally be successful. Some prefer the box trap (such as is used in warrens), which should be baited with a bird in the centre, and the feathers strewed through the inside of the trap, from one end to the other; but a more certain way of catching them, in a park or cover paled in, is the following: as they constantly run the pales and posts to dry themselves in the morning, have a groove cut in some of the posts and gate-posts where they run, sufficient to contain a strong hawk or rat-trap; the trap must be set in this groove, without a bait: in leaping upon the place, they are sure to be taken. A small chain should be fixed to the trap, and fastened to the post.
The common house cat, turned wild, is another mortal foe to pheasants, and does more mischief than many sorts of naturally wild vermin. In Moulsham Thrift, a large cover belonging to Sir H. St. John Mildmay, sixteen of these animals were killed by a pack of fox-hounds, in four days, drawing the cover for foxes. They may be destroyed in traps, like the marten; but the bait must be sprinkled with valerian, and if the hutch or box-trap be used, valerian should be scattered in and about the trap, which will certainly allure them, for of this drug they are immoderately fond.
Another way to take either the wild or the pole cat, is to set box-traps in the bottom of the ditches, or under walls or pales, with the ends of the traps fenced up, for four or five yards aslant, and two or three yards wide at the entrance, with earth, bushes, or broken pales, so that the vermin shall not pass without entering the traps. This is the method used by warreners. When the traps are so placed, a trail of rabbits’ paunches should be drawn from one trap to another, and the baits are red herrings half broiled. Each end of the traps is to be rubbed with them, and a part of the herring is to be afterwards hung upon the nail over the bridges of the traps. This is a mode that will cause great destruction amongst them. A thin bag, sufficiently large to admit an end of the trap, is to be provided and slipped over it, when any of the traps are sprung, and by rattling at the other end of the trap, the creature will spring into the bag; for without precaution, if it be a wild cat, the moment the light is admitted, it will fly in the face of the person opening it. By having both ends of the box-traps painted white, and rubbed over with the entrails of any animal, the hares will be deterred from entering, at the same time it will allure the vermin to go into the traps.
MARTLET, s. A kind of swallow; the bank swallow.
Industry of Birds.—Dr. Steel, who lives near the mineral springs of Saratoga, in New York, has ascertained that the bank swallow (hirundo riparia) knows how to vary, according to necessity, the construction of its nest. If it finds sandy banks, it bores holes in them, and thus forms for its future family a commodious habitation, into which none of their enemies can enter. When this resource is wanting, it approaches the houses, and, although less accustomed to man than the swallow of the windows, it attaches its nest to granaries, farm-yard sheds, and similar edifices; and then, it being necessary to build instead of to dig, it selects materials, transports them, and puts them in their proper places. It thus appears that this species of swallow has not essentially the habits indicated by its specific name; but that it will live contentedly wherever it can find food, safety, and the charms of society; for isolated families, or solitary nests, are never seen. A little colony, which established itself in the neighbourhood of Saratoga in 1828, increased so rapidly that in 1830 it consisted of several hundreds of nests.
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For some time after they appear, the hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of the winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird always builds against a perpendicular wall without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum; and thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast; but by building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half-an-inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful workmen when they build mud walls (informed at first perhaps by this little bird) raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist; lest the work should become top-heavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm; and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than for the house sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as his own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its on manner.
After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered, and secure from the injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic-work full of knobs and protuberances on the outside; nor is the inside of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all; but is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of small straws, grasses, and feathers; and sometimes by a bed of moss interwoven with wool. In this nest they tread, or engender, frequently during the time of building; and the hen lays from three to five white eggs.—White’s Selborne.
MARTINGAL, s. A broad strap made fast to the girths under the belly of a horse, which runs between the two legs to fasten the other end under the noseband of the bridle.
The martingal is generally attached to a horse who throws his head up. It is unsafe in the field, and only efficient when used by a light handed and practised rider.
MASH, s. Anything mingled or beaten together into an undistinguished or confused body; a mixture for a horse.
Bran mashes are made by pouring boiling water on fresh sweet bran in a pail, so that the mixture, when stirred, may be about the consistency of a soft poultice; it is then to be covered over, and not given to the horse until sufficiently cold. When it is thought necessary to steam the head, as it is termed, the mash is put into the manger while hot. Steaming the head is recommended in strangles, colds, and sore throats.
Bran mashes are proper in fever and all inflammatory complaints. They are useful also as a preparative to physic, serving to remove indurated fæces, and to facilitate the operation of the medicine. Mashes are a necessary diet while physic is operating. In making malt mashes, the water should be below the boiling point, otherwise the malt would be spoiled. Mashes are given for recruiting strength, when a horse is debilitated from fever or any other cause. When a horse has been fed high for some time with oats and beans, a change to bran mashes for two or three days will often do a great deal of good. The bran should be fresh, and perfectly free from any musty smell. There is a finer kind of bran, named gurgings or pollard, which, though more nutritious, is not so fit for medicinal purposes.—White.
MASH, v. To beat into a confused mass; to mix malt and water together in brewing.
MASTER-SINEW, s. A large sinew that surrounds the hough, and divides it from the bone by a hollow place, where windgalls are usually seated.
MASTIC, s. A kind of gum gathered from trees of the same name; a kind of mortar or cement.
MASTICATION, s. The act of chewing.
Hay, as often given, is too dry for mastication or digestion. If it has been suffered to stand until the seed becomes ripe, it is very deficient in nutriment, and difficult of digestion; and, however perfectly it may be masticated, will only serve to oppress the stomach without affording any thing that is capable of being formed into good chyle. Hay that has been kept more than one year becomes dry and deficient in nutriment, especially when kept in small mows and exposed to the wind. When such hay therefore is given to horses, it requires to be moistened with water, and given in moderate quantity. From eight to twelve pounds of hay and one peck of oats is a sufficient allowance, both as to proportion and quantity, for any saddle horse of whatever size he may be, provided he has only moderate work; but when his exertions exceed that degree which may be termed moderate, then an additional allowance is necessary, and that addition should be in oats or beans.
The teeth may be imperfect, and often are so; the grinders wear in a different manner from that in which they would, were the animals in a state of nature: consequently sharp edges are sometimes formed on the outside of the higher grinders, and on the inside of the lower grinders; and the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, with the skin or membrane connected with it, are thereby wounded, which prevents the horse from masticating, without considerable pain, and induces him to swallow his food imperfectly chewed; this is more especially the case with hay; and when hay is swallowed in this state it does harm, being difficult of digestion, as then its nutritive matter is not easily extracted by the gastric power; hence arise indigestion, flatulency, and numerous disorders. Mastication may be impeded or prevented by that state of the mouth which generally attends teething: it may also be affected by an injudicious use of the bit (as is well known in regiments of cavalry where it is too common), and has been attributed to the spiculæ of the squirrel-tail grass. The consequence of this imperfection is worms, in addition to indigestion and all its consequences.—White.
MASTIFF (Canis Anglicus, LINN.), s. A dog of the largest size.
This is a large and powerful animal, much stronger than the bull dog; his ears are longer and more pendulous; his lips are full and loose, the upper one hanging considerably over the lower at the two extremities; his aspect is grave and somewhat sullen; and his bark loud, deep-toned, and terrific, particularly during the night.
The mastiff differs in form from the bull-dog in being much longer in the legs, and not so deep in the chest; and while his head is large in proportion to his body, he wants the projecting under jaw of the latter.
Buffon was of opinion that the mastiff is not an original race, but a mongrel generated betwixt the Irish greyhound and the bull-dog. This, however, must be mere conjecture; for the mastiff, in his pure and uncontaminated state, has a much more dignified aspect than either of these dogs; and we are rather inclined to believe him to be an original breed peculiar to Britain. We are borne out in this opinion, as we find it on record that so early as the time of the Roman emperors, this country was celebrated on account of its dogs of this kind. At the period Great Britain was under the Roman yoke, an officer was appointed to live here, whose sole business it was to breed, select, and send to Rome such as promised, by their size and strength, to become fit for the combats of the amphitheatre. Dr. Caius, in his Treatise on British Dogs, tells us that three mastiffs were reckoned a match for a bear, and four for a lion.
This dog, from his large size and commanding aspect, is naturally calculated to intimidate strangers, and he is admirably suited for and principally used in protecting large and extensive premises containing property of value, which he watches with most scrupulous care and assiduity. He is so instinctively impressed with the importance of his charge, that he will only quit it with the loss of his life, which he will rather forfeit than betray the confidence reposed in him. With his naturally commanding and imposing appearance, calculated to keep at a distance the ill-intentioned, he is nevertheless possessed of the greatest mildness of manners, and is as solicitous to gain attention and as faithfully grateful for favours bestowed, as the most diminutive of the canine tribe. The mastiff displays one peculiarity which seems inherent,—his ferocity is always increased by the degree of restraint in which he is kept. If constantly on the chain he is much more dangerous to approach than when in a state of liberty; from whence it evidently appears that what may be considered as a friendly kindness on one side, is always productive of confidence on the other.
The mastiff usually shows a remarkable and peculiar warmth in his attachments, and, on the other hand, he is equally distinguished for inveteracy in his dislike. If he is once severely corrected or insulted, it is almost impossible to eradicate the feeling from his memory, and it is no less difficult to obtain a reconciliation with him. He seems conscious of his own strength, power, and authority, and will seldom condescend to lower his dignity by servile fawning, while he appears to consider his services as only befitting a trust of the highest importance. This dog is naturally possessed of strong instinctive sensibility, speedily obtains a knowledge of all the duties required of him, and discharges them too with the most punctual assiduity. In the protection of gardens, houses, woodyards, and widely extended manufactories, his vigilance is very striking; he makes regular rounds of the whole premises like a watchman, examines every part of them with a careful eye; his penetration reaches even the remotest corner, and not a spot is passed by until he is satisfied that all is in a state of perfect security. During the night he gives a signal of his presence by repeated and vociferous barkings, which are increased upon the least cause of alarm; and, contrary to the spirit of the bull-dog, whose invariable practice is to bite before he barks, the mastiff always warns before he attacks. This breed is very difficult to be obtained in purity, from the various admixtures and experimental crosses which have taken place. The genuine old English mastiff is now rarely to be seen, although we have dogs of various sizes and colours which go under that name.
This animal, conscious of his superior strength, has been known to chastise, with great propriety, the impertinence of an inferior:—a large dog of this kind, belonging to the late M. Ridley, Esq., of Heaton, near Newcastle, being frequently molested by a mongrel, and teased by its continual barking, at last took it up in his mouth by the back, and with great composure dropped it over the quay into the river, without doing any further injury to an enemy so much beneath his notice.—Sporting Anecdotes.
MASTLIN, s. Mixed corn, as wheat and rye.
MAT, s. A texture of sedge, flags, or rushes.
MAT, v. To cover with mats; to twist together, to join like a mat.
MATADORE, s. A term used in the games of quadrille and ombre. The matadores are the two black aces when joined with the two black deuces, or red sevens in trumps.
MATCH, s. Anything that catches fire; a contest, a game; one equal to another. Vide RACING.
MATCH, v. To be equal to; to equal; to suit, to proportion; to marry.
MATE, s. A husband or wife; a companion, male or female; the male or female of animals; one that sails in the same ship; one that eats at the same table; a kind of toothed instrument to pull up wood; a pickaxe.
MAW, s. The stomach of animals; the craw of birds.
MAW-WORM, s. Gut-worms frequently creep into the stomach, whence they are called stomach or maw-worms.
MAY-FLY, s. An insect; a very killing artificial fly.
MEAD, s. A kind of drink made of water and honey.
MEADOW, s. Rich pasture ground from which hay is made.
MEAL, s. The act of eating at a certain time; a repast; the flour or edible part of corn.
MEALY, a. Having the taste or soft insipidity of meal; besprinkled as with meal.
MEASE, s. A mease of herrings is five hundred.
MEASLES, s. A kind of eruptive and infectious fever; a disease of swine.
MEASLY, a. Scabbed with the measles.
MEATHE, s. A kind of drink.
MEDICATE, v. To tincture or impregnate with anything medicinal.
MEDICINAL, a. Having the power of healing, having physical virtue; belonging to physic.
MEDICINE, s. Any remedy administered by a physician.
MEDULLAR or MEDULLARY, a. Pertaining to the marrow.
MEER, s. A lake, a boundary.
MEERSHAUM, s. A fine sort of Turkish clay, of which pipes are made in Germany of various forms. It assumes a beautiful brown colour after it has been used for smoking some time.—Crabbe.
MELOE, s. Insects, of which the two principal species are the oil beetle, so called because, on being handled, it exudes from its legs drops of a clear deep-yellow oil or fluid, of a very peculiar or penetrating smell; and the meloë vesicatorius, or Spanish fly, which is used for blistering.—Ibid.
MELWEL, s. A kind of fish.
MEMBRANE, s. A membrane is a web of several sorts of fibres interwoven together for the covering and wrapping up of some parts.
MEMBRANOUS, a. Consisting of fibres.
MENAGE, s. A collection of animals.
MENAGERIE, s. A place for keeping foreign birds, and other curious animals.
MENSTRUUM, s. All liquors are called menstruums which are used as dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by infusion or decoction.
MERCURIAL, a. Under the influence of Mercury; active, sprightly; consisting of quicksilver.
Mercurial ointment is made by rubbing together in a mortar quicksilver and hogs’ lard, in various proportions, according to the strength required, until the former disappears, and the mixture assumes a dark blue or lead colour.
In the strongest mercurial ointment there are equal parts of quicksilver and lard; these are the best proportions in which it can be made, as it is easily weakened by the addition of lard.
Mercurial ointment is employed in veterinary practice as an application to callous swellings or enlarged joints. It is mixed with camphor in those cases, and is certainly much more efficacious when converted into a blister by the addition of cantharides or euphorbium. In this state it is a good remedy for bog spavin or other swellings of the hock joint.
Mercurial ointment is said to be an effectual remedy for the scab in sheep, and is often an ingredient in ointments for the mange.—White.
MERCURY, s. A mineral or metallic fluid vulgarly called quicksilver, and distinguished from all other metals by its extreme fusibility, which is such that it does not assume the solid state until cooled to the thirtieth degree below 0 on Fahrenheit’s thermometer; and of course is always fluid in temperate climates. It is volatile, and rises in small portions at the common temperature of the air. It readily combines with gold, silver, lead, tin, bismuth, and zinc, and on that account is usefully employed in silvering looking-glasses, making barometers and thermometers, and for various other purposes.—Crabbe.
MERE, s. A pool, commonly a large pool or lake; a boundary.
MERGANSER, s. (Mergus serrator, LINN.)
This species is about twenty-one inches in length; weight two pounds. The bill is three inches long; the upper mandible dusky, the lower red; irides purplish red. The head and part of the neck black, glossed with green; on the back of the head the feathers are long, forming a sort of pendant crest; the rest of the neck and under part of the body white; breast ferruginous, mixed with black and white; upper part of the back glossy black; rump marked with brown and cinereous transverse streaks; the scapulars and wing coverts are some black and some white; quills dusky; tail brown; legs orange; claws black.
Mr. Pennant says this species breeds in the Isle of Ely, on the shores amongst the loose stones. They sometimes appear in the south of England in winter, but more frequently in the north, and are said to breed in Scotland in some of the lochs. They are found in the Russian dominions, about the great rivers of Siberia.
They are also said to breed on the shores of Greenland, and are observed at Hudson’s Bay in large flocks, breeding there as well as at Newfoundland, chiefly on the islands. The nest, which is built on the margin of lakes and rivers, is said to be made with dry grass, lined with down; the eggs are generally eight in number, of a bluish white; sometimes as many as thirteen in a nest, about the size of those of a duck. The young may be distinguished from the adult, by the black band on the wing spot.—Montagu.
MERGUS, s. A genus in ornithology.
Birds of this genus have roundish slender bills, furnished at the end with a hard, horny, crooked nail; edges of the mandibles very sharply toothed, or serrated; the nostrils small, subovated, and placed near the middle of the bill: tongue rough, with hard indented papillæ turned backward; legs short; feet webbed; toes long, and the outer ones about the same length as the middle; the head is small, but the quantity of soft silky feathers with which it is furnished, and which they can bristle up from the nape of the neck to the brow, give it a large appearance. They are a broad, long-bodied, and flat-backed kind of birds, and swim very squatly on the water, the body seeming nearly submerged, with only the head and neck clearly seen. They are excellent divers, remaining a long while under water, and getting to a great distance before they appear again. They fly near the surface of the water, and, notwithstanding the shortness of their wings, with great swiftness, though seldom to any great distance. They devour a large quantity of fish; and their pointed sharp-toothed, and hooked bills, are well calculated for holding fast their slippery prey, none of which, when once within their gripe, can escape. Latham enumerated six species and three varieties of this genus, five of which are accounted British birds. George Strickland, Esq., of Ropin, enumerates six species of this genus, which are all met with in Great Britain and its adjacent isles: the author agrees with him likewise in opinion, that much remains to be done in order to clear up the doubts in which their history is involved, and by which the classification of different species is confused: he says, “The genus mergus, though only a very small tribe of birds, still remain in the greatest obscurity, and I have not yet met with any ornithologist, who has not, in my opinion, multiplied the number of the species, by considering birds of this genus as of different kinds, when they differ only in sex.” His arrangement is as follows:—
GENUS MERGUS.
Species 1 Merganser Goosander 2 Castor Dun Diver 3 Serrator Less Dun Diver 4 Albellus Smew 5 ———————— Lough Diver 6 Minutus Red-headed Smew.
For a particular description of each species, vide Bewick, Montagu, &c. &c.
MERLIN, s. A kind of hawk.
The Merlin—(Falco Æsalon, LINN.; L’Emerillon, BUFF.)—The smallest of all the hawk kind, scarcely exceeding the size of a black bird. Its bill is blue; cere and irides yellow; the head is of a rust colour, streaked with black; back and wings of a deepish brown, tinged with ash, streaked down the shafts with black, and edged with rust colour: quill feathers dark tipped and margined on the inner webs with reddish white: the breast and belly are of a yellowish white, with streaks of rusty brown pointing downwards; the tail is long, and marked with alternate dusky and pale bars; the wings, when closed, do not reach quite to the end of the tail; the legs are yellow; claws black.
The merlin, though small, is not inferior in courage to any of the falcon tribe. It was used for taking larks, partridges, and quails, which it would frequently kill by one blow, striking them on the breast, head, or neck. Buffon observes, that this bird differs from the falcons, and all the rapacious kind, in the male and female being of the same size. The merlin does not breed here, but visits us in October; it flies low, and with great celerity and ease. It preys on small birds, and breeds in woods, laying five or six eggs.
MERRYTHOUGHT, s. A forked bone in the body of fowls.
MESENTERY, s. That round which the guts are convolved.
MESH, s. The space between the threads of a net.
MESH, v. To catch in a net; to insnare.
METAL, s. A hard compact body, malleable and capable of fusion. The metals are six in number; first, gold; second, silver; third, copper; fourth, tin; fifth, iron; and sixth, lead.
METALLIC, a. Partaking of metal, containing metal, consisting of metal.
METALLINE, a. Impregnated with metal; consisting of metal.
METTLE, s. Spirit, sprightliness, courage.
METTLESOME, a. Sprightly, lively, brisk.
MEW, s. A cage, an enclosure, a place where a thing is confined; cry of a cat; a sea fowl; the place where a hawk changes her feathers.
The mew is the place where hawks are put to moult. They are sometimes kept loose in a room; but it is, in my opinion, much better to mew them on perches or on blocks.
Hawks must be fed very high, and kept very quiet when they mew; they are also kept unhooded, and frequently bathed.—Sebright.
MIDGE, s. A small fly, a gnat. The artificial midge is very serviceable in evening fishing.
MIDRIFF, s. The diaphragm.
MIDSTREAM, s. Middle of the stream.
MIGRATION, s. Act of changing place.
What has so often been said of herrings, mackerel, and other gregarious fish moving in vast shoals from Shetland to the Orkneys, and of their then dividing and surrounding the Islands of Great Britain and Ireland, is, I think, liable to some objections.
During the last month (April) large shoals of mackerel came on the shallows, a few miles from Brighton, one day, and disappeared the next. This is constantly observed to be the case, not only there but in other places, and may perhaps be accounted for in this way. We must consider that there are probably as many mountains, and valleys, and plains in the sea as we know there are on land. We are to recollect that those mountains and valleys are covered with weeds of various kinds, which afford food and shelter to an infinite number of fish and marine animals and insects; and we know that all fish come into shallow water for the purpose of depositing their ova, which the influence of the air, not, as has been commonly supposed, of the sun, is required for bringing to maturity. Is it not probable, then, that the shoals of fish which are found on our fishing banks, have left some neighbouring deep, where they had retired for the winter, till they are rendered buoyant by the quantity of roe within them, and are directed by instinct to go and deposit it in the adjacent shallows? If, as is generally supposed, all fish, both great and small, from the whale to the herring, have each their respective haunts and localities, why should we suppose that they quit those haunts to go many hundred miles in search of spawning ground, when that ground is to be found near their winter retreats? It appears more probable that the large shoals of fish which are found are quite unconnected with each other, and that they have all just quitted some neighbouring deep for the nearest shallow, only moving on as the ground is occupied, or till they have paired and the roe is ready to be deposited.—Jesse.
MILE, s. The usual measure of roads in England, one thousand seven hundred and sixty yards; eight furlongs, or five thousand two hundred and eighty feet.
MILK, s. The liquor with which animals feed their young; emulsion made by contusion of seeds.
To dry up a Bitch’s Milk.—Take goose grease and rum, equal portions, rub the teats once or twice a day; if the case is bad, for three or four days.
Brandy and salad oil, used in the same way, will have a similar effect.
MILKTOOTH, s. Milkteeth are those small teeth which come forth before when a foal is about three months old.
MILKWHITE, a. White as milk.
MILLDAM, s. The mound by which the water is kept up to raise it for the mill.
MILLEPEDES, s. Wood-lice, so called from their numerous feet.
MILLER’S-THUMB, s. A small fish found in brooks, called likewise a bull’s head.
MILLET, s. A plant; a kind of fish.
MINERAL, s. Fossil body, matter dug out of mines.
MINNOW, s. A very small fish, a pink.
This beautiful little fish abounds in many of our small gravelly streams, where they keep in shoals; it is sometimes called the pink, and when in right season and not sick, which only happens just after spawning, is dappled, its sides inclining to a greenish watery sky colour, its belly white, and its back almost black, but these colours are not universal; the body is slender and smooth, the scales being extremely small; it seldom exceeds three inches in length; the lateral line is of a golden colour, the back flat and of a deep olive; the sides and belly vary greatly in different fish, as a few are of a rich crimson, others are bluish, and others white. The tail is forked, and marked near the base with a dusky spot. The minnow appears first in March, continues until Michaelmas, and then betakes himself to the mud, weed-roots, or wood in rivers, to secure himself from floods and fishes of prey. They are usually full of spawn all the summer (for they breed often), and quickly arrive at their growth and perfection.
Although so diminutive in size, the minnow may be compared for the excellency of its taste to many of the most famed fish; they are in some places made into minnow tansies; after being gutted and well washed in salt and water, their heads and tails cut off, they are then to be put with yolks of eggs well beat with cowslips and primrose flowers, and a little tansy shred very small, and fried in good butter; the sauce to them is butter, vinegar, or verjuice, and sugar. To the young sportsman, who has not possessed himself of the patience requisite to form the angler, the minnow yields plenty of amusement. They will in hot weather bite eagerly all day, and are frequently drawn out of the water from their adhering to the end of the worm, without being touched by the hook; the best way to catch them, is, to have three or four very small hooks, baited with the least red worm, or a piece of one, and a crow quill float; fish deeper than midwater, or near the ground in shallow places, in eddies, and at the sides of small streams.
Minnows are very excellent baits for many fish, as will hereafter be specified, and when wanted in haste for that purpose, a small meshed casting-net will save much time and trouble, as enough for a day’s diversion may be caught at a throw or two in shallow streams.
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Minnow Fishing.—The tackle for minnow fishing for trouts, should be of the same sort as that for salmon, with this difference, that it must be finer, with a stout single silk worm gut at bottom, and the hook No. 2, 3, or 4, according to the bigness of the trout in the water where angled for: the middle-sized and whitest minnows are the best (of which those caught in streams are far brighter than those procured from ditches or stagnated waters), and the way of baiting recommended by Walton, is,
“To put the hook in at the mouth and draw it out through the gill about three inches; then again put the hook in at the mouth, and let the point and beard come out at the tail; then tie the hook and the tail about with a fine white thread, which will make it spin quicker; pull back that part of the line which was slack when the hook was thrust in the second time, which will fasten the head of the minnow, so as to make it be almost straight on the hook; try if it turns well, which it cannot do too fast. Angle with the point of the rod down the stream, drawing the minnow against the current gradually, and near the surface: when descried, the trout will freely come at it; be careful not to snatch it away, nor strike until he has turned with the bait. For this angling the winch and ringed rod is to be always used; and there should be two or three swivels on the line, which will assist the spinning of the minnow.”
Walton’s method may be altered and improved, by first thrusting the hook in at the lower side of the minnow’s under, and also quite through the upper chap, drawing it two or three inches on the line, and putting the hook in at the mouth as before directed; this will keep the minnow’s mouth closed, which otherwise should be stitched up.
Various hooks are recommended in minnow fishing; one much used consists of a large hook, with two very small ones fastened back to back to a piece of gut about two inches long, with a small hook to another gut something shorter, to fasten the head of the minnow: these pieces of gut are so attached to the link, that the two small hooks may be about the middle of the minnow when baited, and the other reach the head; a small lead cap (which renders other weight unnecessary) slides upon the link, keeps the short pieces of gut close, and falls upon the head of the minnow. The advocates for this plan boast of the certainty of hooking the trout with the two small hooks; this may be true, says an angler of no inconsiderable skill, but he asks if these small hooks (which seldom exceed No. 12) are sufficient to kill a trout of any bigness; and when a fish is hooked by these, the other hooks are entirely useless, from the situation in which they are placed. Another objection started by the same gentleman, is, that when the gut to which they are tied has been a short time in the water, it will not sustain the weight of the hooks, but they will sink below the minnow, and are continually foul of weeds and rubbish at the bottom; besides, the lead cap, falling upon the minnow’s head, totally conceals the eyes, parts which add life and attraction to the bait, and are, on that account, so essential to be seen.
Some use about three feet of stout silkworm gut for the bottom links, with two or three small swivels, which prevents the line from being entangled, and assists the twirling of the minnow. If these hooks are used as directed for pike, it will be successful; the bottom swivel must be open at one end, that the link on which the hooks are may be taken off occasionally to be baited; the proper size of these hooks is No. 7; if the old method of a large hook and a smaller above it, be preferred, the proper sizes are Nos. 2 and 6, with a running line; the angler can permit the minnow to be carried by the current under bushes, banks, &c.; this will be effected by his suffering the stream to gain upon it when he pulls it back, which also prevents its sinking to the bottom, and entangling the hooks; as he draws it gently against the stream, favouring the direction to which he would have the bait driven, it will of course spin round very quick, and this is the moment the trout usually takes it; by holding the rod firm, he will infallibly hook himself; will then spring out of the water several times, and, by an astonishing strength and agility, endeavour to get quit of the hook. The angler must not be too hasty, but lower his right hand, which will raise the top of his rod and keep it bent; by this means the trout may be tired, but he will not readily suffer himself to be got into the landing-net; the best way therefore, instead of bringing the fish to the surface (where he will so violently plunge, as to endanger breaking the rod, line, or hook), is to keep him as deep in the water as possible.
Artificial minnows made of mother of pearl, &c., fitted to single, two, or more hooks, and bent in various attitudes, are to be purchased at all the tackle makers.—Daniel.
MINT, s. A valuable herb that grows very abundantly. There are two kinds used in horse medicine, spearmint and peppermint. The former is an excellent carminative, generally affording relief in flatulency of the stomach and bowels, and the complaints which arise from it, termed gripes and flatulent colic.
MINUTE, s. The sixtieth part of an hour; any small space of time.
MINUTE-GLASS, s. A glass of which the sand measures a minute.
MINUTE-WATCH, s. A watch in which minutes are more distinctly marked than in common watches which reckon by the hour. Such are generally used by judges of a course, &c.
MISS, v. Not to hit; to mistake.
MISSEL THRUSH (Turdus viscivorus, LINN.; La Drainé, BUFF.) s. A bird.
The length of this bird is about eleven inches. The bill is dusky, the base of the lower bill yellow; the eyes hazel; the head, back, and lesser coverts of the wings, are of a deep olive brown, the latter tipped with white: the lower part of the back and rump tinged with yellow; the cheeks are of a yellowish white, spotted with brown, as are also the breast and belly, which are marked with larger spots of a dark brown colour; the quills are brown, with pale edges; tail feathers the same, the three outermost tipped with white; the legs are yellow, claws black. The female builds her nest in bushes or low trees, and lays four or five eggs, of a greenish blue colour, marked with red spots. Its nest is made of moss, leaves, &c., lined with dry grass, strengthened on the outside with small twigs. It begins to sing very early, often on the turn of the year in blowing showery weather, whence in some places it is called the storm-cock. Its note of anger is very loud and harsh, between a chatter and a shriek, which accounts for some of its names. It feeds on various kinds of berries, particularly those of the misletoe, of which birdlime is made. It was formerly believed that the plant of that name was only propagated by the seed which passed the digestive organs of this bird, whence arose the proverb—“Turdus malum sibi cacat;” likewise feeds on caterpillars and various kinds of insects, with which it also feeds its young.
This bird is found in various parts of Europe, and is said to be migratory in some places, but continues in England the whole year, and frequently has two broods.—Bewick.
MISSILE, a. Thrown by the hand, striking at a distance.
MIST, s. A low thin cloud, a small thin rain, the drops of which are hardly perceptible.
MISLETOE, s. The name of one of those plants which draw their nourishment from some other plant. It generally grows on the apple tree, sometimes on the oak, and was held in great veneration by the ancient Druids.
MITE, s. A small insect found in cheese or corn; a weevil; vermin found about the head and nares of hawks.
MITHRIDATE, s. Mithridate was formerly, before medicine was simplified, one of the capital medicines of the shops, consisting of a great number of ingredients, and has its name from its inventor, Mithridates, king of Pontus.
The following is the recipe for Mithridate, or Confection of Democrites.
Cinnamon twenty-four drachms; Indian spikenard, ginger, saffron, shepherd’s-purse seed, frankincense, Chian turpentine, of each ten drachms; Zedoary mace, long pepper, juice of hypocistus, storax, opoponax, galbanum, opobalsam and castor, of each one ounce; scordium, cubebs, white pepper, carrot seed, bdellium, of each seven drachms; celtic nard, gentian, dittany of Crete, red roses, wild parsley seed, cardamoms, sweet fennel seeds, gum arabic, strained opium, dissolved in wine, of each five drachms; aromatic reed, valerian root, sagapenum, aniseed, of each three drachms; catechu, St. John’s wort, skinks, of each two ounces and a half, &c. &c.
Another of these absurd preparations is composed of seventy-two articles.
MITTENS, s. Coarse gloves for the winter; gloves that cover the arm without covering the fingers.
MOB, v. To harass or overbear by tumult; a term in hunting.
MOHAIR, s. Thread or stuff made of camel’s or other hair; an excellent article for sporting dresses.
MOLE, s. A mole is a formless concretion of extravasated blood, which grows into a kind of flesh in the uterus; a natural spot or discolouration of the body; a mound, a dyke; a little beast that works whilst under ground.
MOLECATCHER, s. One whose employment is to catch moles.
MOLEHILL, s. Hillock thrown up by the mole working underground.
MOLLUSCA, s. An order of the class Vermes of Linnæus. It comprehends naked simple animals not included in a shell, but furnished with limbs, as snails, star fish, sea urchins, cuttle fish, &c.
MOON-EYED, a. Having eyes affected by the revolutions of the moon; dim-eyed, purblind.
MOONFISH, s. Moonfish is so called, because the tail fin is shaped like a half moon.
MOOR, s. A marsh, a fen, a bog, a tract of low and watery ground; a negro.
MOORCOCK, s. The male of the moorhen.
MOORHEN, s. A fowl that feeds in the fens, without web feet.
MOOSE, s. A large American deer. They were formerly found in Ireland, and their gigantic remains are frequently discovered in the bogs and morasses.
MOP, s. Pieces of cloth, or locks of wool, fixed to a long handle, to clean floors, carriages, &c. &c.
MORASS, s. Fen, bog, moor.
MORBID, a. Diseased, in a state contrary to health.
MORBIDNESS, s. State of being diseased.
MORDANT, a. Biting, pungent, acrid.
MORELAND, s. A mountainous or hilly country.
MORILLON, (Anas Glaucion, LINN.; Le Morillon, BUFF.) s. An aquatic bird.
Bill brown, orange from the nostrils to the point, the knob of which is black; it is an inch and a half long, rather narrow towards the apex; the nostrils are placed very forward; head brown, cheeks tinged with black; irides straw colour; a broad white circle round the neck, the back part of which is mottled with brown; breast, sides of the body, and scapular feathers, white, barred with black; belly white; thighs and vent feathers brown and white; inner coverts of the wings brown; back and coverts of the wings black, mottled with white; quill feathers and tertials black; secondaries white; tail rounded and grey; legs and toes yellow brown, with a greenish tinge; webs and claws black. Length, one foot four inches; breadth, two feet four inches; weight, one pound seven ounces.
They are generally seen in small flocks, diving for their food, near the shore.—Bewick.
MORTAR, s. A strong vessel in which materials are broken by being pounded with a pestle; a short wide cannon, out of which bombs are thrown; cement made of lime and sand with water, and used to join stones or bricks.
MORTIFICATION, s. The state of corrupting or losing the vital qualities, gangrene; humiliation, vexation, trouble; to humble, to depress, to vex.
MORTISE, s. A hole cut into wood that another piece may be put into it.
MOSS, s. A plant.
MOTH, s. A small winged insect that eats cloths and hangings; an evening fishing fly.
MOULT, v. To shed or change the feathers, to lose the feathers.
MOUNTAIN, s. A large hill, a vast protuberance of the earth.
MOUNTAIN, a. Found on the mountains, as mountain hares, mountain partridges.
MOUNTAINOUS, a. Hilly, full of mountains; large as mountains, huge; inhabiting mountains.
MOUSE, s. The smallest of all beasts, a little animal haunting houses and corn-fields. Vide FIELD MOUSE.
MOUTH, s. The aperture in the head of any animal at which the food is received; the opening, the entrance; the instrument of speaking.
MOUTH, v. To chew, to eat; to seize in the mouth; to injure with the teeth.
MOW, s. A loft or chamber where any hay or corn is laid up.
MOW, v. To cut with a scythe; to put in a mow.
MUCILAGE, s. A slimy or viscous body, a body with moisture sufficient to hold it together.
Mucilage is made by dissolving gum arabic in water. There are other cheaper gums, however, that will answer the same purpose: mucilage may be made also from quince seeds and starch. For internal use it is most cheaply and abundantly obtained from flax-seed, or linseed. Eight ounces infused in two or three quarts of boiling water, forms a good mucilage.—White.
MUCILAGINOUS, a. Slimy, viscous, soft with some degree of tenacity.
MUCOUS, a. Slimy, viscous.
MUCUS, s. The viscous substance discharged at the nose; any viscous matter.
MUD, s. The slime at the bottom of still water; earth well moistened with water.
MUE, v. To moult, to change feathers.
MUFFLE, v. To cover from the weather; to blindfold; to conceal; to involve, to hood a hawk.
MULE, s. An animal generally between a he-ass and a mare, or between a horse and a she-ass.
These useful and hardy animals are the offspring of the horse and ass, or ass and mare; those produced between the two last are esteemed the best, as the mule is observed to partake less of the male than of the female parent; yet it is a general remark, that they almost always inherit, in some degree, the obstinacy of the parent ass, though it must be confessed that this vice is heightened by their being injudiciously broke in.
Savoy produces very large mules, but the finest are bred in Spain. They are chiefly used in countries where there are rocky and stony roads, as about the Alps and Pyrenees, &c. Great numbers of them are kept in these places, they are usually black, and are strong, well-made, and large, being mostly bred out of fine Spanish mares. They are sometimes fifteen or sixteen hands high, and a good one of this kind is worth fifty or sixty pounds. No creature is so proper for carrying large burdens, or more surefooted. They are much stronger for draught than our horses; often as thick-set as our dray-horses, and will travel for several months together with six or eight hundred weight on their backs.
The mule far excels the horse for travelling in a mountainous country, the former being able to tread securely where the latter can hardly stand. Their manner of going down the precipices of the Alps, the Andes, &c., is very extraordinary. In these passages, on one side are steep eminences, and on the other frightful abysses, and as they generally follow the direction of the mountain, the road, instead of lying on a level, forms at every little distance, deep declivities of several hundred yards downward. These can be descended only by mules, and these animals seem sensible of the danger, and the caution that is to be used in such descents. When they come to the edge of one of these precipices, they stop, without being checked by the rider, and if he inadvertently attempts to spur them on, they continue immovable, apparently ruminating on the danger that lies before them, and preparing themselves for the encounter. They not only attentively view the road, but tremble and snort at the danger. Having prepared for the descent, they place their fore-feet in a posture as if they were stopping themselves, they then put their hind-feet together, but a little forward, as if they were going to lie down. In this attitude, having taken, as it were, a survey of the road, they slide down with the swiftness of a meteor. In the mean time, all that the rider has to do, is to keep himself fast on the saddle without checking the rein, for the least motion is sufficient to disorder the equilibrium of the mule, in which case they both unavoidably perish. But their address in this rapid descent is truly wonderful, for in their swiftest motion, when they seem to have lost all government of themselves, they follow exactly the different windings of the road, as if they had previously settled in their mind the route they were to follow, and had taken every precaution for their safety.
In these journeys the natives place themselves along the sides of the mountains, and holding by the roots of the trees, animate the beasts with shouts, and encourage them to persevere. Some mules, after being long used to such travelling, acquire a kind of reputation for their safety and skill, and their value rises in proportion to their fame.
The Roman ladies had equipages drawn by mules, as appears from the medals of Julia and Agrippina, and at this day, in Spain, the carriages of the nobility, and even of princes, are usually drawn by them. We are assured that M. de Thou, first president of the parliament, had the fourth coach in France, in 1505, till which time every body rode to court and parliament on mules.
* * * * *
The progeny between the pheasant and the common fowl, are necessarily mules, as proceeding from different species, although of the same genus. They may be obtained with some little difficulty, which they scarcely repay, as being neither an improvement in form nor goodness of the flesh. It is recommended, as the best method, to confine a cock-pheasant half grown with two pullets of the same age, either game, bantam, or common, as may be desired; or to make a house for common hens in a pheasant preserve near home, where they will soon associate with the pheasants, and be trodden by the cocks. Hybrids, or mules, between the pheasant and black grouse, have been occasionally found on the moors.—Le Keux—Moubray.
MULLET, s. A sea fish.
The mullet is found in great plenty on several of our sandy coasts, and, in particular, haunts those small bays that have influxes of fresh water; they are very cunning, and when surrounded with a net, the whole shoal frequently escapes by leaping over it; for when one takes the lead, the others are sure to follow.
They come in great shoals into the rivers with the tide during the summer, and keep rooting, like hogs, in the sand or mud, leaving their traces in the form of large round holes; but return back when the water ebbs, never stopping in the rivers. They are something like the dace in shape, yet much thicker; the head is almost square and flat on the top; the nose blunt; lips thick; they have no teeth, only the upper-lip is a little rough, as is also the tongue; between the eyes and mouth is a hard callus; the pupil of the eye is black, encircled with a small silvery line; the colour of the back is dusky, varied with blue and green; the sides silvery, marked with broad, dusky, parallel lines, reaching from head to tail, which is much forked; the scales are large and deciduous, and are also upon the covers of the gills and head, and extend as far as the nostrils. The largest are nearly half a yard long, and the flesh is excellent.
Although the mullet are generally first seen here in the month of June, from the wetness of this summer the shoals are later in their appearance than usual. Mullet are taken in draught-nets like salmon, but on this coast a different mode of fishing is pursued. The shoals in hot weather run in with the tide, and after remaining on the shores and estuaries during flood they return with the ebbing water. The following method we employed in our fishing to-day: being provided with a sufficient quantity of herring-nets and a number of spars and poles, we selected, at low water, a sandy creek for our operations, and commenced erecting a line of poles across the entrance of the cove. The nets were then extended along these uprights, and also secured firmly to the bottom of the spars; the lower part of the net is kept upon the bottom by a row of stones, and the remainder laid flat upon the sands. With the flowing tide the fish pass over the prostrate net, and run along the estuary; at high water the buoy-ropes are raised and secured to the upright poles; with the assistance of a boat the whole is effected in a few minutes, and a net-work barrier effectually cuts off the retreat of all within. When the ebb of tide commences, the mullet begin to retire, and when they discover that their egress is obstructed, their attempts to effect a passage are both constant and curious—now running down the nets, trying for a broken mesh by which to force an aperture—now with a bold spring endeavouring to clear the buoy-ropes, and, even after repeated failures, leaping at it again and again. The last effort is directed to the bottom, but there the heavy stones resist every attempt to dislodge them, and deserted by the treacherous water, the mullet are left upon the bare sands.
* * * * *
The general length of the common mullet (mugil) is from twelve to eighteen inches. When used immediately after being taken, the fish is excellent; carriage, even for a short distance, injures it. Dr. Blotch recommends oil and lemon-juice to be used with it at table. Vinegar, with parsley and melted butter, is better—“probatum est.”
* * * * *
This fish is sometimes preserved by salting; and from its spawn an inferior kind of caviar, called botargo, is prepared, by using the common process of curing and drying.—Wild Sports.
MULTIPAROUS, a. Bringing many at a birth.
MUM, s. Ale brewed with wheat.
MUNGREL, s. Anything generated between different kinds; anything partaking of the qualities of different causes or parents.
MUNGREL, a. Generated between different natures, baseborn, degenerate.
MUNITION, s. Ammunition; materials for war.
MURIATES, s. Combinations of muriatic acid, with alkalies, earths, or metals.
Muriate of Ammonia, commonly named crude sal ammoniac.—When dissolved in vinegar, it has been found a useful application for splents when in a state of inflammation.
Muriate of ammonia, powdered 2 dr. Vinegar 1 oz. Alcohol 1 oz. Water 2 oz.—Mix.
Muriate of Antimony, or Butter of Antimony.—A strong and useful caustic, employed by smiths, in canker, punctured wounds from picking up a nail, bruises of the foot, &c.
Muriate of Copper.—A solution of verdigris in muriatic acid or spirit of salt. A mild caustic, and diluted occasionally with water.
Muriate of Soda.—Common salt, or the salt employed with food. This is an excellent laxative for cattle, and, in small doses, promotes digestion. Mow-burnt hay, or bad hay of any kind, is made more palatable to horses and cattle by being moistened with water in which a small quantity of salt has been dissolved, and it is, perhaps, rendered more easy of digestion also.—White.
MURKY, a. Dark, cloudy, wanting light.
MURREY, a. Darkly red.
MUS, s. A tribe of order Glires, and class Mammalia. In it are included the common rat and mouse, Norway rat, musk rat, &c. &c.
MUSCADINE, s. A kind of sweet grape, sweet wine.
MUSCLE, s. A bivalve shell-fish.
MUSCOVY, CAIRO, GUINEA, or INDIAN DUCK (Anas moschatus, LINN.; Le Canard Musque, BUFF.), s.
This species is much larger than the common duck, measuring about two feet in length. The bill is two inches long; the tip and nostrils brown; the other parts of it red, as is also the red warty skin which joins its base, and surrounds the eyes. The crown of the head is rather tufted or crested, and black; the cheeks, throat, and fore part of the neck, white, irregularly marked with black; the belly, from the breast to the thighs, white. The general colour of the rest of the plumage is deep brown, darkest, and glossed with green on the back, rump, quills, and tail; the two outside feathers of the latter, and the first three of the former, are white: the legs and feet are red, short, and thick. This is the general appearance of the musk duck; but, as it is domesticated in almost every country, it varies very much, like all other birds in that state. In the female, the bare warty or carunculated skin which is spread from the bill over the eyes, is of a much duller red, and does not cover so large a portion of the head as it does in the male: she is also of a less size.
These birds have obtained the name of Musk Duck, from their musky smell, which arises from the liquor secreted in the glands on the rump. They are a thriving and prolific species, and their flesh, which is highly flavoured, is by many very much esteemed. They will associate with the common ducks; and instances are not wanting of their producing a mixed breed.—Bewick.
MUSCULAR, a. Performed by muscles.
MUSK, s. A very powerful perfume; it is procured from a kind of Indian goat.
MUSKET, s. A soldier’s gun; a male hawk of a small kind.
MUSKETEER, s. A soldier whose weapon is his musket.
MUSKETOON, s. obs. A blunderbuss, a short gun of a large bore.
MUSLIN, s. A fine stuff made of cotton.
MUSTARD, s. A plant.
MUSTY, a. Mouldy, spoiled with damp, moist and fetid; stale.
MUTE, a. Silent, not vocal, not having the use of voice.
MUTE, s. The excrement of hawks.
MUTE, v. To dung as birds.
MUTTON, s. The flesh of sheep dressed for food; a sheep.
MUZZLE, s. The mouth of any thing; a fastening for the mouth which hinders to bite; a contrivance to prevent a horse from eating hay or litter.
MUZZLE, v. To secure the mouth.
MYOPY, s. Shortness of sight.
MYRRH, s. A precious kind of gum. Myrrh is sometimes used in veterinary practice. The tincture is a favourite remedy with grooms and farriers, for recent wounds. The dose of myrrh is from one or two to three drachms.
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NAG, s. A small horse; a horse in familiar language.
NAIL, s. The horny substance at the ends of the fingers and toes; the talons of birds and beasts; a spike of metal by which things are fastened together; a stud, a boss; a kind of measure, two inches and a quarter.
NAPE, s. The joint of the neck behind.
NARCOTIC, a. Producing torpor, or stupefaction.
NARES, s. The hawk’s nostrils.
NARROW, a. Not broad or wide.
NARROW-HEELS, s. A disease in horses.
Chronic lameness may exist in various degrees, and, in the early stages of the disorder, a horse may do considerable work, by paring his feet properly, and keeping them cool and moist; by paring the soles, putting on a wide hollow shoe, and keeping them stopped with tar ointment. By such management the progress of the disease may be retarded, and the horse much relieved; but it can never be cured. Most commonly the disease gradually gets worse, and at length the horse becomes unfit for every kind of work. At this period the horse is generally blistered or fired, and turned to grass. But this never does any good; shoes with claws, or hinges and screws, have been proposed, and employed with a view to open the heels; but of course they have never done any good, either in the way of prevention or cure. The hoof has been all rasped away, and the horse turned to grass until a new hoof has grown down of a proper form, but it has never done any good. That cruel operation of tearing off the sole, technically termed drawing the sole, was formerly practised for it, but is now, I trust, completely discontinued. In short, every thing that human ingenuity can devise has been tried, but nothing has ever been found to cure this disorder. I believe at this time all veterinarians agree in the opinion of its being absolutely incurable.—Blaine.
NATIVE, a. Produced by nature, not artificial; natural, such as is according to nature; conferred by birth; pertaining to the time or place of birth, original.
NATURAL, a. Produced or effected by nature.
The natural fly delights in hovering over the stream, and performs it with that ease and beauty, which cannot be attained with the artificial, but the former often drowns when tired of making its airy evolutions, and it is then the latter best resembles it, and as a drowned fly is the artificial one taken by the fish, no art being able to make that play upon the water like the living one.
This way of angling is chiefly adapted to warm weather, when the water is low and clear; and is best in small rivers and brooks, where the angler can keep more out of sight than near large waters, that are more exposed. He must have a long rod, as before described for artificial fly fishing; the line fine for nearly the whole length of it (which is not to exceed three fourths of that of the rod), with a fine short shanked hook, in size proportioned to the baits.
NAVE, s. The middle part of the wheel in which the axle moves; the middle part of the church, distinct from the aisles or wings.
NAVELGALL, s. Navelgall is a bruise on the top of the chine of the back, behind the saddle, right against the navel.
NEAP, a. Low, decrescent.
NEAT, s. Black cattle, oxen; a cow or ox.
NEAT’S-FOOT OIL, s. Is extracted from the feet of oxen, &c.; it is used in lubricating stiff joints, old sprains, &c., and is an excellent preservative of harness and leather.
NEB, s. Nose, beak, mouth. In Scotland, the bill of a bird.
NEBULA, s. It is applied to appearances like a cloud in the human body, as to films upon the eye.
NECK, s. The part between the neck and the body; a long narrow part.
The neck should form from the head to the withers, an elegant but moderate curve, with which it should unite with a very moderate depression only; while its under surface ought to be but very slightly incurvated, and should enter the chest rather above the point of his shoulders. A large prominent windpipe adds to the perfection of the lower surface of the neck. In point of length, it is of consequence that the neck be duly proportioned. The long neck, when thin withal, seldom presents a firm or proper resistance against the pressure of the bit. When, on the contrary, the neck is too short, the head is frequently ill placed, and the lever in the hand of the rider will be also too short. Such necks are often likewise weighty, and overloaded with flesh. It is evident, also, that such cannot be reined up without danger of suffocation; and it is seldom that a short-necked horse is speedy. When the upper surface of the neck is thick and heavy, it is a very strong presumption of a sluggish disposition, particularly in geldings and mares. In stallions, it is a distinctive sexual mark, and hence less to be depended on. Now and then, the neck is arched downwards, which is called ewe-necked. When the deformity is considerable, it prevents the head from being carried in its true angle; instead of which, the nose, from being projected upwards and forwards, has occasioned such horses to be called stargazers; to remedy which, it is usual to draw the head down by a martingal. In the horse, as well as in all the grazing tribes, the length of the well proportioned neck is such, that, adding to it the angle resulting from the head, the length of both is equal to the height of the shoulders from the ground. It may not, also, be amiss to mention, that, in the purchase of a horse, it is prudent to observe whether the upper part of the neck bears any marks of a tight collar having been worn: when such an appearance does exist, it commonly arises either from a strap worn to prevent the action of crib-biting, or such a horse is apt to unloose himself, which is almost an equal defect.—Blaine.
NEEDLE, s. A small instrument pointed at one end to pierce cloth, and perforated at the other to receive the thread; the small steel bar which, in the mariner’s compass, stands regularly north and south.
NEIGH, v. To utter the voice of a horse.
NEIGH, s. The voice of a horse.
NERVE, s. The nerves are the organs of sensation passing from the brain to all parts of the body; it is used by the poets for sinew or tendon.
Neurotomy.—A question has arisen how far a horse that has undergone the operation of the division of the nerve of the leg, and has recovered from the lameness with which he was before affected, and stands his work well, may be considered to be sound. In our opinion there cannot be a doubt about the matter. Does the operation of neurotomy render a horse as capable of work as he was before he became affected with the disease on account of which, and to relieve him from the torture of which, the nerve was divided? Is the operation of neurotomy so invariably followed by capability, and continued capability of ordinary and even extraordinary work, that they may regularly be considered as cause and effect? The most strenuous defenders of the nerve operation cannot affirm this. They can only say that they partially succeed in almost every fair case,—that they perfectly succeed in the majority of cases; but they cannot deny that the horse will batter and bruise that foot, when he has lost sensation in it, which should have been tenderly used; that even the hoof will sometimes be lost, after operations performed with the greatest judgment; that the lameness will sometimes return, after the animal has gone sound, one, two, or three years; and that, after all, there is a little unpleasantness, and even unsafeness in the action of the horse, from the peculiar manner in which the foot meets the ground when its feeling is destroyed; and that the horse is more liable to accidents, for he will travel on without warning his rider of the evil, after a piece of glass has penetrated his foot, or a stone has insinuated itself between the sole and the shoe; and thus irreparable mischief will be done, before the cause of it can possibly be detected. A horse on whom this operation has been performed may be improved—may cease to be lame, may go well for many years; but there is no certainty of his continuing to do so, and he is unsound.
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Poiet.—These, as well as the omens of death watches, dreams, &c., are for the most part founded upon some accidental coincidences; but spilling of salt on an uncommon occasion may, as I have known it, arise from a disposition to apoplexy, shown by an incipient numbness of the hand, and may be a fatal symptom; and persons dispirited by bad omens sometimes prepare the way for evil fortune, for confidence in success is a great means of ensuring it.
I knew a man of very high dignity, who was exceedingly moved by these omens, and who never went out shooting without a bittern’s claw fastened to his button-hole by a riband.
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Under these circumstances a man must either pick his shots or occasionally miss, though his gun be every time held straight. I venture to say there is no sportsman living who has not been known to miss the fairest shots, and there are very few but now and then in a season will shoot badly for a whole day. It stands to reason when the most skilful may become for a time unnerved for shooting by ill health, oppression of mind, one night’s debauch, or anything that will operate on the temper or nerves.—The Horse—Sir Humphry Davy—Hawker.
NEST, s. The bed formed by the bird for incubation; any place where insects are produced; an abode; boxes of drawers, little conveniences.
NEST, v. To build nests. Vide NIDIFICATION.
NESTEGG, s. An egg left in the nest to keep the hen from forsaking it.
NESTLE, v. To house, as in a nest; to cherish, as a bird her young.
NESTLING, s. A bird taken out of the nest.
NET, s. A texture woven with large interstices or meshes, used for taking fish and birds. Game is frequently thus poached, and to the smaller kinds, particularly snipes, the net is very destructive.
The snipe net seems to be the most destructive, and is used with great success in Ireland, as follows: it must be about half as long again as the partridge-net, with the meshes much smaller and not quite so deep; two strong men hold each end of the net, and run down the wind with it, as fast as possible, having not time even to look where they are going, as they must constantly mind the net, to see when a bird strikes it, that they may let it fall, by which means they secure these birds; they get, of course, very severe falls, from the attention they are obliged to pay to the net, but are amply repaid, it being no uncommon circumstance for them to take one or two hundred brace, in a very few hours (especially if the day is dark and windy, which is the most favourable time both for gun and net). The top part of the net gets so forward, that by the time the snipe perceives it, and rises, on striking the lower part of it, he is secured. One netted snipe is worth twenty that are shot.
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Anecdote of Netting Snipes.—Visionary in the extreme were many of the devices which entered into his head in regard to compassing the wild fowl, that resorted hither in astonishing abundance; in two only of those which he put into execution was he successful; namely with the talking hare, and the snipe net. Of his numberless expeditions with the latter, one is worthy of recital. It was at the close of a cold winter’s day, when John and an attendant sallied forth from Grenton for the moor, anticipating much sport, as the wind and the complexion of the evening seemed particularly favourable; moreover they soon encountered a hail-storm, which made the birds lie to their perfect satisfaction.
They had at length taken a quantity of snipes, and were thinking about returning, when something struck the net with unusual force, and struggled so, that the poles were with difficulty kept to the ground. What have we here, said the attendant, calf, sheep, hog, dog, or goat? It is the d——l, I believe, replied John, and if we can but hold him fast, we shall have made a tolerable night’s work of it. The net had enclosed a goose of a coarse dun-coloured plumage, no one knew what sort of a goose it was, but it was allowed to be the largest aquatic bird, the hooper excepted, ever taken on King’s Sedgmoor.—Thornhill—Sporting Anecdotes.
NETWORK, s. Anything resembling the work of a net.
NEUROLOGY, s. A description of the nerves.
NEUROTOMY, s. Vide NERVE.
NEWFOUNDLAND DOG (Canis Sensilis), s.
In a state of purity, and uncontaminated by a mixture of any inferior race, this is certainly the noblest of the canine tribe. His great size and strength, and majestic look, convey to the mind a sort of awe, if not fear, but which is quickly dispelled when we examine the placid serenity and the mild expressive intelligence of his countenance, showing at once that ferocity is no part of his disposition.
The full-sized Newfoundland dog from the nose to the end of the tail measures about six feet and a half, the length of the tail being two feet; from the one fore foot to the other, over the shoulders, five feet eight inches; girth behind the shoulders three feet four inches; round the head, across the ears, two feet; round the upper part of the fore leg, ten inches; length of the head, fourteen inches; and his feet are webbed, by which means he can swim with great ease. He is covered with long shaggy hair, has feathered legs, and an extremely villous tail, which is curvilinear.
This dog is but of recent introduction into this country from the island whose name he bears, and may be considered as a distinct race. I cannot agree with some naturalists who hold the opinion that the Siberian, Lapland, and Iceland dogs are from the same stock as the Newfoundland, because the formation of the head in this last is very different, and his muzzle, though long, is not nearly so acute as in the others; he also differs materially in his shape, but more especially in the length of his body.
This dog is not remarkable for symmetry of form, or in the setting on of his legs, whence his motion is somewhat awkward and loose, and consequently he is not distinguished for speed,—a defect which might be remedied by breeding, were an improvement in that particular thought desirable.
The Newfoundland dog is docile to a very great degree, and nothing can exceed his affection. Naturally athletic and active, he is ever eager to be employed, and seems delighted to perform any little office required of him. Nature has given him a great share of emulation, and hence to be surpassed or overcome is to him the occasion of great pain. Active on every emergency, he is the friend of all, and is naturally without the least disposition to quarrel with other animals. He seldom or never offers offence, but will not receive an insult or injury with impunity. Such is the capacity of his understanding, that he can be taught almost everything which man can inculcate, and of which his own strength and frame are capable. His sagacity can only be exceeded by his energies, and he perseveres with unabated ardour in whatever shape he is employed, and while he has a hope of success he will never slacken in his efforts to attain it. The amazing pliability of his temper peculiarly fits him for the use of man, and he never shrinks from any service which may be required of him, but undertakes it with an ardour proportionate to the difficulty of its execution. Taking a singular pride in being employed, he will carry a stick, a basket, or a bundle, for miles in his mouth, and to deprive him of any of these is more than a stranger could accomplish with safety.
Sagacity and a peculiar faithful attachment to the human species are characteristics inseparable from this dog, and hence he is ever on the alert to ward off from his master every impending danger, and to free him from every peril to which he may be exposed. He is endowed with an astonishing degree of courage, whether to resent an insult or to defend his friends, even at the risk of his own life.
Habitually inclined to industrious employment, such dogs are as useful to the settlers of the coast from which they are brought, as our ponies and galloways are to us. It is easy to accustom them to daily labour. From three to five of them are harnessed to a sledge or other vehicle, containing a load of wood or lumber, amounting to twenty or thirty stone, which they steadily draw for miles with ease. This they do without the aid of a driver, when they are acquainted with the road, and having delivered their burden, they return home to their master, and receive as a reward for their labour their accustomed food, which generally consists of dried fish, of which they are said to be extremely fond. The qualifications of this dog are extensive indeed; as a keeper or defender of the house, he is far more intelligent, more powerful, and more to be depended upon than the mastiff, and has of late years been much substituted for him in England; indeed he may with great propriety entirely supersede that breed. As a watch dog, and for his services upon navigable rivers, none can compete with him; and various sportsmen have introduced him into the field as a pointer with great success, his kind disposition and sagacity rendering his training an easy task.
The usual fate of other fine dogs attends this generous race among us; they are too often degraded and degenerated by inferior crosses, which with so noble an animal should be avoided by every possible means.
At the commencement of the action which took place between the Nymph and Cleopatra, during the late war, there was a large Newfoundland dog on board the former vessel, which the moment the firing began ran from below deck, in spite of the endeavours of the men to keep him down, and climbing up into the main-chains he there kept up a continual barking, and exhibited the most violent rage during the whole of the engagement.
When the Cleopatra struck, he was among the foremost to board her, and there walked up and down the decks, seemingly conscious of the victory he had gained.
NEWT, s. Eft, small lizard.
NIBBLE, v. To bite by little at a time, to eat slowly; to bite as a fish does the bait; not to bite sportingly.
NICK, s. A notch cut in anything; in hazard, a winning throw.
NICK, v. To hit, to touch luckily; to cut in nicks or notches; to suit, as tallies cut in nicks; a term at hazard; to shorten a horse’s tail.
The operation of nicking is thus performed. The side line is put on the horse, or some deem it more prudent to cast him, and that precaution we should be disposed to recommend. The hair at the end of the tail is securely tied together for the purpose of afterwards attaching a weight to it. The operator then grasps the tail in his hand, and lifting it up, feels for the centre of one of the bones (the prominences at the extremities will guide him to this), from two to four inches from the root of the tail, according to the size of the horse. He then with a sharp knife divides the muscles deep from the edge of the tail on one side to the centre, and continuing the incision across the bone of the tail, he makes it as deep on the other side. One continued incision, steadily, yet rapidly, made, will accomplish this. If it be a blood horse this will be sufficient. For a hunter, two incisions are usually made, the second being about two inches below the first, and likewise as nearly as possible in the centre of one of the bones; the reason of which is, that the incision, in order perfectly to divide the muscles that bring down the tail, must not be so deep, as, in the neighbourhood of a joint, to endanger the wounding of the ligament which ties the bones together, or the substance which is interposed between the joints, and thus by destroying the joint to render the tail deformed.
On a hackney, or cocktail, a third incision is made; for fashion has decided that his tail shall be still more elevated and curved. Two incisions only are made in the tail of a mare, and the second not very deep.
When the second incision is made, some fibres of the muscles between the first and second incisions will project into the wounds, and which must be removed with a pair of curved scissors. The same must be done with the projecting portions from between the second and third incisions; and the wounds should be carefully examined to ascertain that the muscles have been equally divided on each side, otherwise the tail will be carried awry. This being done, pledgets of tow must be introduced deeply into each gap, and confined, but not too tightly, by a bandage. A very profuse bleeding will alone justify any tightness of bandage; and the ill consequences which have resulted from re-nicking are mainly attributable to the unnecessary force which is used in confining these pledgets. Even if the bleeding, immediately after the operation, should have been very great, the roller must be loosened in two or three hours, otherwise swelling and inflammation, or death, may possibly ensue. Twenty-four hours after the operation, the bandage must be quite removed; and then, all that is necessary, so far as the healing of the wounds is concerned, is to keep them clean.
NIDE, s. A brood, as a nide of pheasants.
NIDIFICATION, s. The act of building nests.
It is curious to observe with what different degrees of architectonic skill Providence has endowed birds of the same genus, and so nearly correspondent in their general mode of life; for while the swallow and the house martin discover the greatest address in raising and securely fixing crusts or shells of loam as cunabula for their young, the bank martin terebrates a round and regular hole in the sand or earth, which is serpentine, horizontal, and about two feet deep. At the inner end of this burrow does this bird deposit, in a good degree of safety, her rude nest, consisting of fine grasses and feathers, usually goose feathers, very inartificially laid together.
Perseverance will accomplish any thing: though at first one would be disinclined to believe that this weak bird, with her soft and tender bill and claws, should ever be able to bore the stubborn sandbank without entirely disabling herself; yet with these feeble instruments have I seen a pair of them make great despatch: and could remark how much they had scooped that day by the fresh sand which ran down the bank, and was of a different colour from that which lay loose and bleached in the sun.
In what space of time these little artists are able to mine and finish these cavities I have never been able to discover, for reasons given above; but it would be a matter worthy of observation, where it falls in the way of any naturalist to make his remarks. This I have often taken notice of, that several holes of different depths are left unfinished at the end of summer. To imagine that these beginnings were intentionally made in order to be in the greater forwardness for next spring, is allowing perhaps too much foresight and rerum prudentia to a simple bird. May not the cause of these latebræ being left unfinished, arise from their meeting in those places with strata too harsh, hard, and solid, for their purpose, which they relinquish, and go to a fresh spot that works more freely? Or may they not in other places fall in with a soil as much too loose and mouldering, liable to founder, and threatening to overwhelm them and their labours?
One thing is remarkable—that, after some years, the old holes are forsaken and new ones bored; perhaps because the old habitations grow foul and fetid from long use, or because they may so abound with fleas, as to become untenantable. This species of swallow, moreover, is strangely annoyed with fleas; and we have seen fleas, bed fleas, (Pulex irritans,) swarming at the mouths of these holes, like bees on the stools of their hives.—White’s Selborne.
NIGHTCROW, s. A bird that cries in the night.
NIGHT-FISHING, s.
Night-fishing is carried on when the river is low, and the night moonless. The poacher, with a gaff and torch, selects some gravelly ford—for there, by a law of nature, the salmon resort, to form beds in the stream, wherein to deposit their ova; and they continue working on the sand, until they are discovered by torch-light, and gaffed by the plunderer. Hundreds of the breeding fish are annually thus destroyed; and although the greater fisheries may be tolerably protected, it is impossible to secure the mountain streams from depredation.—Wild Sports.
NIGHTINGALE, s. A bird that sings in the night with remarkable melody.
One of the finest songsters of the feathered race, generally visiting us, about London, the beginning of April; in Somersetshire it seldom arrives till the middle or latter end of that month, and sometimes not till the beginning of May; Devonshire, and Cornwall, and some other counties, it does not visit at all: it generally leaves us again the beginning of September. Its song, when wild, is very fine, but lasts but a few weeks; to have it in the greatest perfection is to have a good bird in a cage, where, if it be a very kindly one, it will begin singing the beginning of December, and continue till June. I had a very fine one that only left off singing the latter end of June last; it began again a little in September, and the 1st of December it was in full song, and continued to sing through the whole of the month, and nearly all day long, as fine as if at Midsummer, and would have continued on had not the frost set in so severe; when singing in a cage none of the soft notes are lost, they are all heard quite clear, which is not the case when heard in the woods or hedges.
The best way to be certain of a good nightingale is to get one that is just caught in spring; for there is no dependence on a young one bred up from the nest, or a young brancher, except it be kept with a good old bird, to learn its proper notes from; a young one being apt to catch all it hears, good or bad, and to be deficient of many of its natural ones. I had one three years, and it never sang worth any thing; the year before last I turned it out, and it continued in the gardens round the house until it left the country in autumn; it returned back to the same place last spring, where I recognised it by its bad song, and it continued about the same place all the summer, and bred up a nest of young ones. A female that I had also been keeping for six years, to see if she would breed, I also turned out with him, but whether she came back and was partner in the nest I cannot say, as I had no mark to know her by: this female I kept four years, and it never attempted to sing; the fifth year it sang frequently, a pretty soft nightingale’s note. I have found that the case with several female birds; they do not sing till they become aged; but it is not a general rule, as I have had a female willow wren that sang when quite young.
I treat my nightingales in exactly the same manner as the before-mentioned birds, which is at variance with the bird-fanciers’ method, who feed them on grated beef and egg, and German paste; but I have never heard of any thing being kept many years on that food: the German paste I do not approve of at all, as the maw-seeds, honey, sugar, and such out of the way ingredients, I am convinced must be very injurious to their health. The best thing to keep them in good health and spirits, is to give them as much insect food as possible, and there are scarcely any insects they will refuse, except the common earth-worm and the hairy caterpillars; they are particularly fond of ants and their eggs, for which they will leave any other food; they are also very partial to all sorts of smooth caterpillars, earwigs, crickets, grasshoppers, cockroaches, common maggots, and meal-worms; but there is nothing that all the birds of this tribe are so fond of, as the young larvæ in the combs of wasps and hornets—they will even eat them after they become winged. I have, when a boy, kept nightingales, blackcaps, the greater pettychaps, and whitethroats, for two months at a time, on nothing else.—White of Selborne.
NIMBLE, a. Quick, active, ready, speedy, lively, expeditious.
NINEPINs, s. A play where nine pieces of wood are set up on the ground to be thrown down by a bowl.
The kayle-pins were afterwards called kettle or kittle-pins; and hence, by an easy corruption, skittle-pins, an appellation well known in the present day. The game of skittles as it is now played, differs materially from that of nine-pins, though the same number of pins are required in both. In performing the latter, the player stands at a distance settled by mutual consent of the parties concerned, and casts the bowl at the pins: the contest is, to beat them all down in the fewest throws. In playing at skittles there is a double exertion; one by bowling, and the other by tipping: the first is performed at a given distance, and the second standing close to the frame upon which the pins are placed, and throwing the bowl through in the midst of them; in both cases, the number of pins beaten down before the return of the bowl, for it usually passes beyond the frame, are called fair, and reckoned to the account of the player; but those that fall by the coming back of the bowl are said to be foul, and of course not counted. One chalk or score is reckoned for every fair pin; and the game of skittles consists in obtaining thirty-one chalks precisely: less loses, or at least gives his antagonist a chance of winning the game; and more requires the player to go again for nine, which must also be brought exactly, to secure himself.
Hanmer intimates that the kittle-pins were sometimes made with bones; and his assertion is strengthened by the language of a dramatic writer, the author of the Merry Milk-maid of Islington, in 1680, who makes one of his characters speak thus to another: “I’ll cleave you from the skull to the twist, and make nine skittles of thy bones.”—Strutt.
NITRATE OF POTASH, NITRE, or SALTPETRE, s. A neutral salt, formed by the combination of nitrous acid and potash.
This is a medicine of great utility in veterinary practice. It possesses a cooling and diuretic property, which renders it extremely useful in fevers, and complaints of an inflammatory nature.
In fevers, it is often joined with emetic tartar, or antimonial powder. In catarrh or cold, nitre is the best remedy; and in troublesome coughs it gives relief, if mixed with some emollient drink and a little honey.
The medium dose of nitre is about one ounce, though farriers often give double that quantity, but large doses are apt to irritate the stomach and do mischief. In urgent cases half an ounce may be given every fourth hour, in a mucilaginous drink, or in water-gruel.—White.
NITROUS, a. Impregnated with nitre.
NOBLE, a. Of ancient and splendid family; exalted to a rank above commonalty; great, illustrious; exalted.
NODE, s. A knot, a knob; a swelling on the bone.
NOMBLES, s. The entrails of a deer.
NOPE, s. A kind of bird called a bull-finch or red-tail.
NOSE, s. The prominence on the face, which is the organ of scent and the emunctory of the brain; scent; sagacity.
NOSE, v. To scent, to smell.
NOSTRIL, s. The cavity in the nose. Nostrils linear, in ornithology,—when they are extended lengthwise in a line with the bill, as in divers; Nostrils pervious,—when they are open, and may be seen through from side to side, as in gulls, &c.
NOSTRUM, s. A medicine not yet made public, but remaining in some single hand.
NOTCH, s. A nick, a hollow cut in anything.
NOZZLE, s. The nose, the snout, the end.
NUT, s. The fruit of certain trees: it consists of a kernel covered by a hard shell; a small body with teeth, which correspond with the teeth of wheels.
NUTBROWN, a. Brown like a nut kept long.
NUTHATCH, NUTJOBBER, or NUTPECKER, s. A bird.
NUTRITIOUS, a. Having the quality of nourishing.
NUX VOMICA, s. A flat compressed round fruit, about the breadth of a shilling, brought from the East Indies. It is a certain poison for dogs, &c. Vide POISON.
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OAK, s. A tree; the wood of the tree.
A decoction of oak-bark is a good vehicle for tonic and astringent medicines. When finely powdered and given as a drench with ginger, it may be of service in those complaints, the continuance of which depends upon debility. It is said, however, to be much less efficacious than Peruvian-bark; yet, when that cannot be procured, it may be found a useful substitute. The dose is about two ounces.—White.
OAKAPPLE, s. A kind of spongy excrescence in the oak.
OAKEN, a. Made of oak, gathered from oak.
OAKUM, s. Cords untwisted and reduced to hemp.
It is somewhat extraordinary that I and other sportsmen, as well as the gun-makers, should never have discovered that a punched wadding on the powder is not the best means of loading a gun. We were all content, because it was ten times better than paper, and therefore it is, and has long been, the universal method of loading. But I was induced to try an experiment at quires of paper, having, as I always do, a clerk, the same as at a cricket match, to take down the advantages of strength and closeness, and then to sum up the evidence and pronounce, like a judge, the grand aggregate of the gun’s performance; which, on such occasions, is seldom so undecided as to be merely a matter of opinion. I first tried a pasteboard wadding of Mr. Joseph Manton’s, and no one, I presume, will dispute, that both the punch and the wadding, as well as every thing else from Mr. Joseph Manton, must be of the best quality; the one as to fitting well, and the other as to being of good pasteboard. I then tried this duck-gun system of loading, viz.: a piece of coarse tarred oakum (precisely what ships’ ropes are made of,) first wound round the finger, so as to be quite hard, and then rolled up in as large a ball as will fit tight into the muzzle, and go with moderate force down the calibre of the gun. (The balls thus rolled up may be readily made and carried in the pocket; and, if of the proper size, will force down the calibre rather quicker than punched wadding. Let the calibre be as large as it may, you of course, with this wadding, require nothing more on the powder.) I then put a common pasteboard wadding (with air vent) on the shot, and I found, that even in small guns, where pasteboard is far less apt to swerve, this mode of loading threw the shot closer, stronger, and, above all, with less variation in its performance.
In the experiment, I anticipated an increase of recoil, particularly when I came to try it with a detonater; but, on the contrary, the recoil was less from the oakum than from the wadding. The case, I conceive, must be this: the punched wadding gives a severe check at first, but before the powder is half burned, it slips a little on one side, and allows it to mix with the shot; while the oakum has an elastic rotundity, that springs to every gradation, of the calibre; and therefore will never suffer any powder to escape, till it has left the muzzle of the gun.
Moreover, on the other hand, the pasteboard being once a little contracted by the friction, or rendered soft on its edges by the elastic fluid in the barrel, allows the powder to escape where the calibre becomes relieved, and therefore makes the gun, in comparison, shoot thin, weak, and irregular.—Hawker.
OAR, s. A long pole with a broad end by which boats are propelled.
OATCAKE, s. Cake made of the meal of oats.
OATEN, a. Made of oats, bearing oats.
OATMALT, s. Malt made of oats.
OATMEAL, s. Flour made by grinding oats.
OATS, s. A grain with which horses are fed.
In the choice of oats for horses, such as are heavy and clean, and sweet, are preferable. New oats are injurious, being difficult of digestion, and apt to scour; but this quality may be, in a great measure, corrected by drying them gradually on a kiln.
Kiln-dried oats are seldom used in Ireland, it being supposed that they are injurious to a horse’s wind.
OCULAR, a. Depending on the eye, known by the eye.
ODD, a. Not even, not divisible into equal numbers; particular, uncouth, extraordinary.
ODDS, s. Inequality; more than an even wager; advantage, superiority.
OFFAL, s. Waste meat, that which is not eaten at the table; carrion; coarse flesh, refuse, that which is thrown away; the food of hounds.
OIL, s. Any fat, greasy, unctuous, thin matter.
Oils are fixed or volatile. The former are procured from animal and vegetable substances by heat and pressure, and hence they have been named expressed oils; and are termed fixed, because they do not evaporate, except at a very high temperature. Volatile oils, on the contrary, evaporate readily, and are obtained from vegetables by distillation; and as they commonly contain all the essential qualities of the substance they are procured from, they have been named also essential oils. The numerous officinal oils prescribed in old dispensations are now totally disused.
Oil of Bay.—Is liker an ointment than an oil, of a light green colour. It is used as an external application in cutaneous complaints, as mange. Sometimes it is substituted for hog’s lard in making mercurial ointment, and is supposed to render it more active. When to this mixture is added cantharides and oil of origanum, a strong blister is formed, which is recommended for the removal of splents and spavins.
Oil of Castor.—An useful laxative. The dose is about a pint.
Oil of Olive.—This also is a very pure and sweet oil; and in the dose of a pint generally operates as a laxative. When castor oil cannot be easily procured, this may with great propriety be substituted for it. It is used also in making emulsions, liniments, and ointments.
Oil of Linseed.—This also has a laxative quality, but is not so certain in its effect as the castor or olive oil. It is employed as a remedy for coughs; and on such occasions the cold-drawn oil is preferred, i. e. that which is expressed from the seed without the assistance of heat.
Oil of Palm or Palm Oil.—This, though termed an oil, is of the consistence of hogs’ lard, and very similar to it in its medical qualities.—White.
OIL, v. To smear or lubricate with oil.
OILY, a. Consisting of oil, containing oil, having the qualities of oil; fat, greasy.
OINTMENT, s. Unguent, unctuous matter; a sort of cataplasm.
Ointments are composed generally of lard, suet, tallow, bees’ wax, oils, resins, and turpentines. The following are those principally used.
SIMPLE OINTMENT.
Olive oil 1 lb. Bees’ wax 3 oz. Palm oil 2 oz.
Melt over a slow fire, and continue stirring until cold.
For common purposes hogs’ lard makes a good simple ointment, but becomes rancid by keeping. The simple ointment may be readily converted into a detergent, a digestive, or an astringent, by the addition of red precipitate, verdigris, or blue vitriol finely powdered, finely powdered alum, superacetate of lead (sugar of lead), or a solution of subacetate of lead.
The following is a very useful ointment for chapped heels, harness galls, &c.
GOULARD OINTMENT.
Simple ointment 1 lb. Solution of subacetate of lead, commonly called Goulard’s extract 3 oz. Olive oil 1 oz.
Melt the ointment by a very gentle heat, and add the oil, then let it be removed from the fire, and stir it in the Goulard’s extract; continue stirring until cold.
SULPHURIC OINTMENT.
Oil of turpentine 6 oz. Sulphuric acid 2 oz.
Mix cautiously in the open air, or in a chimney, in a vessel large enough to hold one pound and a half; stir the mixture, and, when they are perfectly combined, add one pound and half of hogs’ lard: continue stirring until cold. By the addition of cantharides, this ointment forms a strong blister, and with sulphur vivum, finely powdered, or flower of sulphur and train oil, it becomes a good mange ointment.
DIGESTIVE OINTMENT.
Hogs’ lard 1 lb. Common turpentine 1 lb.—Melt, and add Verdigris 2 oz.
Continue stirring until cold.
HOOF OINTMENT.
Tallow 1 lb. Tar 1 lb.
Melt; continue stirring until cold.
Ointments are not so generally applied to wounds or inflamed parts, as they were formerly; as powders, washes, and fomentations are often found more efficacious. Vide ASTRINGENTS, DIGESTIVES, DETERGENTS, CAUSTICS, EMOLLIENTS, BLISTERS, &c.—White.
OLD, a. Past the middle of life; not young.
OLIVE, s. A plant producing oil; the emblem of peace; a colour.
To dye a fine Golden Olive.—Take as much of fine sappy green heath tops as will half fill a pot which holds eight gallons, put one pound and a half of strawall (wild French weed, dyer’s weed) in the bottom while dry; spread over that a little of the heath to cover it; put in half a pound of fur, or more if you like; cover that with the remainder of the heath, and put on your frame and lid; press it down and fill it with water, and boil it twelve or eighteen hours. Divide the time to make different shades in your drawings, and do not let your liquor boil away too much without adding fresh water to keep it up. If you have your shades to your wish, you will have the finest golden olives that ever were dyed, and in the simplest way. Wash them, and they are finished.
To dye fine Green Olives.—Take a pound of strawall, put it down with eight quarts of water, and half a pound of fur. Cut your strawall short, and put it down. (You ought to have a frame or wooden crop, and a broad piece of lead, to keep down the stuff, as it takes so very long to give out the dye.) When it has boiled about half an hour, see if it is anything of a fine greenish yellow. Draw then for the first shade. Boil half an hour longer; look at it, and if you like it draw it, as it is not right to have your shades too near. For the next shade give double the time, and so on to about four shades. The last ought to get six hours’ boiling, and you ought, by rights, to divide the time amongst them all. When you have made out four shades, lift out the dye stuff, and put in the size of a small horse-bean of copperas with the liquor; and, when dissolved, put in each shade, and whip it out, and so on with the whole. If not enough of the olive, add a little more copperas with each, and dip each of them over again. Thus you have four very fine green olives. Wash out the copperas immediately.—Old Recipe.
OMBRE, s. A game at cards played by three.
OMENTUM, s. The caul, the double membrane spread over the entrails, called also reticulum, from its structure, resembling that of a net.
OOZE, s. Soft mud, mire at the bottom of water, slime.
OPACITY, s. Cloudiness, want of transparency.
OPERATION, s. Agency; action, effect; in chirurgery, that part of the art of healing which depends on the use of instruments.
OPHTHALMY, s. A disease of the eyes.
OPIATE, s. A medicine that causes sleep.
Opiate confection is composed of opium, long pepper, and other stimulants. One ounce of the confection does not contain more than fourteen or fifteen grains of opium; it may therefore be given in doses from one to two ounces, though in this quantity it would be a powerful stimulant.
In veterinary medicine, an electuary may be advantageously substituted for the opiate confection of the London dispensatory.
OPIATE CONFECTION, OR ELECTUARY OF OPIUM.
Opium 1½ oz.
Macerate in hot water until it forms a thin paste, or, by stirring, is uniformly mixed, and free from lumps.
Powdered ginger 3 oz. Powdered caraway seeds 6 oz. Powdered allspice 6 oz. Treacle 1½ oz.
Let these ingredients be well mixed, and kept in a closed jar or pot. The dose is about one-twentieth part of the mass. It is a warm cordial and diaphoretic, and may be given in flatulent colic mixed with a little warm beer, or infusion of peppermint, or other aromatic herbs. This electuary is a good cordial for cattle.—White.
OPIUM, s. A medicine used to promote sleep.
The anodyne quality which renders opium so valuable in human medicine, is not so manifest when given to the horse.
If injudiciously given, opium frequently aggravates the disease, and does injury: and I have several times seen it increase pain, when it has been improperly given as an anodyne. In flatulency or spasm of the bowels it is an excellent remedy, particularly if joined with aromatic powder, ginger, or some other stimulant. In diarrhœa it is an effectual remedy, but must be given cautiously. In diabetes I have found it very beneficial, when joined with bark and ginger. Sometimes it is given with emetic tartar, and some cordial composition, with good effect, and in this way it proves a good diaphoretic.
I have given opium and squill, in obstinate coughs, with success; but the effect is not permanent.
Opium is very apt to produce costiveness in horses; but this may be in a great measure counteracted by exercise: when it does take place, it may be removed by clysters, bran mashes, or a laxative ball.
The medium dose of opium is half a drachm, or two scruples; but if given in the form of clysters, which it sometimes is with the best effect, two drachms will not be too much.
Opium is brought to this country in chests from Turkey and India. The Turkey opium is in flat pieces, covered with leaves and the reddish capsules of some species of dock, which is considered an indication of its goodness, as the inferior kinds of opium have none of these capsules adhering to them. Turkey opium generally contains about one fourth part of impurities. India opium is less pure, is in round masses, covered with leaves to the thickness nearly of one fourth of an inch. Mr. Kerr relates that, at Bahar, it is frequently adulterated with cow dung, the extract of the poppy procured by boiling, and various other substances. It is made also from lettuces, in India.
A celebrated preparation of opium, named the black drop, is thus prepared:—
Opium sliced ½ pound. Good verjuice 3 pints. Nutmegs 1½ oz. Saffron ½ oz.
Boil them to a proper thickness, then add a quarter of a pound of sugar and two spoonfuls of yeast. Set the whole in a warm place near the fire for six or eight weeks, then place it in the open air until it becomes a syrup; lastly decant, filter, and bottle it up, adding a little sugar to each bottle. One drop of this is said to be equal to three drops of the tincture of opium.
The diseases of the horse in which opium is the most beneficial, are locked jaw and flatulent colic; in the former it has been given in large doses, with the best effect, generally joined with camphor, and sometimes with assafœtida and other antispasmodics. In flatulent colic, smaller doses have been found sufficient, which have generally been joined with sweet spirit of nitre, and other carminatives.—White.
OPODELDOC, s. Soap and camphor dissolved in spirit of rosemary.
It is either liquid or solid. The former is made with soft, and the latter with hard soap. In the solid state it seems to be the same as the celebrated Steers’s opodeldoc.
It is employed for strains and bruises, after the inflammation which accompanies those complaints at first has subsided.
LIQUID OPODELDOC, OR SOAP LINIMENT.
Soft soap 4 oz. Water 8 oz.
Mix, and add one pint of rectified spirit of wine, in which there has been previously dissolved—
Camphor 2 oz. Oil of rosemary 1 oz.
STEERS’S OPODELDOC.
Hard soap ½ oz. Rectified spirit of wine 8 oz. Camphor ½ oz. Oil of rosemary 2 dr. Oil of lavender, or oil of origanum 2 dr. Compound spirit of ammonia 4 oz.
Digest in a moderate heat, so as to dissolve the soap, which should be cut up in thin shavings. For these expensive preparations, the following may be substituted:—
VETERINARY OPODELDOC.
Soft soap 4 oz. Water 8 oz.
Mix over the fire; when cold, add—
Rectified spirit 1 pint. Oil of rosemary 2 oz. Strong liquid ammonia 4 oz.—Mix.
ORANGE, s. The orange tree; the fruit of the tree.
ORANGE, a. Belonging to an orange, of the colour of an orange.
To dye a fine Orange.—If you have half a pound of stuff to dye, you must get an ounce and a half of black grain (cochineal), and pound it fine; put down the stuff in six or eight quarts of water, with turmeric, to bring it to the finest highest yellow that is possible; take it out, and put in the black grain; stir it about well, boil it half an hour. Then put in the stuff for ten minutes, and draw half for the first shade; keep the remainder of the stuff for thirty minutes, then take it out, put two teaspoonfuls of Brazil dust into the pot, and let it boil up. Throw in the light shade, and be watchful lest it get too dark; lift out the stuff, and put in two more spoonfuls of dust, and watch as before, and boil on for a blood orange. This is certainly the best way for oranges in the world.
Should you make your shades too dark, infuse six drops of spirit into the liquor while hot, and any shade you want to brighten throw it in, press it well, and lift out in an instant; and if not to your wish, put in three drops more, and throw the other shades into it, and it will enliven the colour exceedingly. The same may be done with gold colours, and it will brighten them also.
To dye Orange Hackles.—Get white hackles; prepare them as already directed. Ground them richly in turmeric, then put in some cochineal, boil it well, and if you do not soon get a fine rich orange, put in some more cochineal with a pinch of Brazil dust. Let it boil for a time, and then draw for bright orange; put in more cochineal, and a teaspoonful of Brazil dust; boil it well, and you will have a full or deep orange. Draw the hackles, and put in a spoonful or two of Brazil dust, and boil on till you see a fine blood red. These three shades may be distinguished as a bright orange, a blood orange, and a blood red. Archil will give a fourth shade.
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Take care not to dry your hackles too quickly, neither put them too near the fire. Finish one bunch at a time, and draw them constantly through your fingers till dry, as that keeps the hackles in proper form. You should keep the wet hackles rolled up in paper, as, if they dry too fast, they will get ragged and staring, which is a great fault, and can seldom be cured. To stain fine bright golden yellows, follow the same process, with this difference,—that the quantity of turmeric and madder used must be very small, and only two drops of spirits should be infused, if any be necessary.—Old Recipe.
ORBITS (Orbita, LINN.), s. In ornithology, the skin which surrounds the eye. It is generally bare, but particularly in the parrot and the heron.
ORC, s. A sort of sea-fish.
ORNITHOLOGY, s. Natural history of birds.
A good ornithologist should be able to distinguish birds by their air as well as by their colours and shape; on the ground as well as on the wing, and in the bush as well as in the hand. For, though it must not be said that every species of birds has a manner peculiar to itself, yet there is somewhat in most genera at least, that at first sight discriminates them, and enables a judicious observer to pronounce upon them with some certainty. Put a bird in motion
“——et vera incessu patuit.”
Thus kites and buzzards sail round in circles with wings expanded and motionless: and it is from their gliding manner that the former are still called in the north of England gleads, from the Saxon verb glidan, to glide. The kestrel or wind-hover has a peculiar mode of hanging in the air in one place, his wings all the while being briskly agitated. Hen-harriers fly low over heaths or fields of corn, and beat the ground regularly like a pointer or setting-dog. Owls move in a buoyant manner, as if lighter than the air; they seem to want ballast. There is a peculiarity belonging to ravens that must draw the attention even of the most incurious—they spend all their leisure time in striking and cuffing each other on the wing in a kind of playful skirmish; and when they move from one place to another, frequently turn on their backs with a loud croak, and seem to be falling to the ground. When this odd gesture betides them, they are scratching themselves with one foot, and thus lose the centre of gravity. Rooks sometimes dive and tumble in a frolicsome manner; crows and daws swagger in their walk; woodpeckers fly volatu undoso, opening and closing their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or falling in curves. All of this genus use their tails, which incline downward, as a support while they run up trees. Parrots, like all other hook-clawed birds, walk awkwardly, and make use of their bill as a third foot, climbing and descending with ridiculous caution. All the Gallinæ parade and walk gracefully, and run nimbly; but fly with difficulty, with an impetuous whirring, and in a straight line. Magpies and jays flutter with powerless wings, and make no despatch; herons seem encumbered with too much sail for their light bodies, but their vast hollow wings are necessary in carrying burthens, such as large fishes, and the like; pigeons, and particularly the sort called smiters, have a way of clashing their wings the one against the other over their backs with a loud snap; another variety called tumblers turn themselves over in the air. Some birds have movements peculiar to the season of pairing; thus ringdoves, though strong and rapid at other times, yet in the spring hang about on the wing in a toying and playful manner: thus the cock-snipe, while breeding, forgetting his former flight, fans the air like the wind-hover; and the greenfinch in particular exhibits such languishing and faltering gestures as to appear like a wounded and dying bird; the kingfisher darts along like an arrow; fern-owls, or goat-suckers, glance in the dusk over the tops of trees like a meteor; starlings, as it were, swim along, while missel-thrushes use a wild and desultory flight; swallows sweep over the surface of the ground and water, and distinguish themselves by rapid turns and quick evolutions; swifts dash round in circles; and the bank martin moves with frequent vacillations like a butterfly. Most of the small birds fly by jerks, rising and falling as they advance. Most small birds hop, but wagtails and larks walk, moving their legs alternately. Skylarks rise and fall perpendicularly as they sing; woodlarks hang poised in the air; and titlarks rise and fall in large curves, singing in their descent. The whitethroat uses odd jerks and gesticulations over the tops of hedges and bushes. All the duck kind waddle; divers and auks walk as if fettered, and stand erect on their tails; these are the compedes of Linnæus. Geese and cranes, and most wild fowls, move in figured flights, often changing their position. The secondary remiges of Tringæ, wild ducks, and some others, are very long, and give their wings, when in motion, a hooked appearance. Dabchicks, moorhens, and coots, fly erect, with their legs hanging down, and hardly make any despatch; the reason is plain, their wings are placed too forward out of the true centre of gravity, as the legs of auks and divers are situated too backward.—White’s Selborne.
ORTOLAN, s. A small bird accounted very delicious.
OSIER, s. A tree of the willow kind, growing by the water.
OSPREY, s. The sea eagle. Vide EAGLE.
Buffon observes that the osprey is the most numerous of the large birds of prey, and is scattered over the extent of Europe, from Sweden to Greece, and that it is found even in Egypt and Nigritia. Its haunts are on the sea shore, and on the borders of rivers and lakes. Its principal food is fish; it darts upon its prey with great rapidity, and with undeviating aim.
OSSIFICATION, s. Change of carneous, membranous, or cartilaginous, into bony substance.
Ossification of the cartilages frequently accompanies ringbone, but it may exist without any affection of the pastern joint. It is oftenest found in horses of heavy draught. It arises not so much from concussion, as from a species of sprain, for the pace of the horse is slow. The cause, indeed, is not well understood, but of the effect we have too numerous instances. Very few heavy draught horses arrive at old age without this change of structure.
In the healthy state of the foot, these cartilages will readily yield to the pressure of the fingers on the coronet over the quarters, but, by degrees, the resistance becomes greater, and at length bone is formed, and the parts yield no more. No evident inflammation of the foot, or great, or perhaps even perceptible lameness accompanies this change; a mere slight degree of stiffness may have been observed, which, in a horse of more rapid pace, would have been lameness. Even when the change is completed, there is not in many cases any thing more than a slight increase of stiffness, little or not at all interfering with the usefulness of the horse. When this altered structure appears in the lighter horse, the lameness is more decided, and means should be taken to arrest the progress of the change: these are blisters or firing; but, after those parts have become bony, no operation will restore the cartilage.—The Horse.
OSSIFRAGE, s. A kind of eagle.
OSTEOLOGY, s. A description of the bones.
OSTLER, s. The man who takes care of horses at an inn.
OTTER, s. An amphibious animal that preys upon fish.
The description of this animal and the mode of destroying it are mentioned on account of its being so inveterate a foe to the fisherman’s amusement, for the otter is as destructive in a pond as a polecat in a hen-house. This animal seems to link the chain of gradation between terrestrial and aquatic creatures, resembling the former in its shape, and the latter in being able to remain for a considerable space of time under water, and being furnished with membranes like fins between the toes, which enable it to swim with such rapidity as to overtake fish in their own element. The otter, however, properly speaking, is not amphibious; he is not formed for continuing in the water, since, like other terrestrial creatures, he requires the aid of respiration; for if, in pursuit of his prey, he accidentally gets entangled in a net, and has not time to cut with his teeth the sufficient number of meshes to effectuate his escape, he is drowned. The usual length of the otter, from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, is twenty-three inches; of the tail itself, which is broad at the insertion and tapers to a point, sixteen; the weight of the male is from eighteen to twenty-six, of the female from thirteen to twenty pounds. One, in October, 1794, was snared in the river Lea between Ware and Hertford, which weighed upwards of forty pounds. The head and nose are broad and flat; the eyes are brilliant, although small; are nearer the nose than is usual in quadrupeds, and placed in such a manner as to discern every object that is above, which gives the otter a singular aspect, not unlike the eel; but this property of seeing what is above gives it a particular advantage when lurking at the bottom for its prey, as the fish cannot discern any object under them, and the otter seizing them from beneath by the belly readily takes any number with little exertion; the ears are extremely short, and their orifice narrow; the opening of the mouth is small, the lips are capable of being brought very close, somewhat resembling the mouth of a fish; are very muscular, and designed to close the mouth firmly while in the action of diving, and the nose and corners of the mouth are furnished with very long whiskers; it has thirty-six teeth, six cutting and two canine above and below; of the former the middlemost are the least; it has besides five grinders on each side in both jaws. The legs are very short, but remarkably broad and muscular; the joints articulated so loosely, that the otter can turn them quite back, and bring them on a line with its body and use them as fins; each foot has five toes, connected by strong webs like those of a water-fowl; thus nature in every particular has attended to the way of life allotted to an animal whose food is fish, and whose haunts must necessarily be about waters. The otter has no heel, but a round ball under the sole of the foot, by which its track in the mud is easily distinguished, and is termed the seal. The general shape of the otter is somewhat similar to that of an overgrown weasel, being long and slender; its colour is entirely a deep brown, except two small spots of white on each side the nose, and one under the chin; the skin is valuable, if killed in the winter, and makes gloves more durable, and which at the same time will retain their pliancy and softness after being repeatedly wetted, beyond any other leather.
The otter destroys large quantities of fish, for he will eat none unless it be perfectly fresh, and what he takes himself; by his mode of eating them he causes a still greater consumption. So soon as the otter catches a fish, he drags it on shore, devours it to the vent, but, unless pressed by extreme hunger, always leaves the remainder, and takes to the water in quest of more. In rivers it is always observed to swim against the stream, to meet its prey; it has been asserted, that two otters will hunt in concert that active fish the salmon; one stations itself above, the other below where the fish lies, and being thus chased incessantly the wearied salmon becomes their victim. To suppose the otter never uses the sea is a mistake, for they often have been seen in it, both swimming and seeking for their booty, which, in the Orkneys, has been observed to be cod and conger.
In very hard weather, when its natural sort of food fails, the otter will kill lambs, sucking pigs, and poultry, and one was caught in a warren, where he had come to prey on rabbits.
The hunting of the otter was formerly considered as excellent sport, and hounds were kept solely for that purpose. The chase of the otter has still, however, its staunch admirers, who are apparently as zealous in this pursuit as in any other we read of. In 1796, near Bridgnorth, on the river Worse, four otters were killed: one stood three, another four hours, before the dogs, and was scarcely a minute out of sight. The hearts, &c., were eaten by many respectable people who attended the hunt, and allowed to be very delicious; the carcasses were also eaten by the men employed, and found to be excellent; what is a little extraordinary, the account does not state that the partakers of this hard-earned fare were Carthusians.
* * * * *
As he spoke, I remarked the occurrence which the commander noticed. The fish, which upon our first arrival had risen merrily at the natural flies, ceased on a sudden altogether—now they rushed confusedly through the water, or threw themselves for yards along the surface. It was not the sullen plunge at an insect, or the vertical spring, when sport, not food, brings the salmon over water; but it was evident that there was some hidden cause of alarm, and we were not long left in doubt. Near the neck of the pool, an otter of the largest size showed himself for a moment, then darting under water, the same commotion ensued again. Before a minute elapsed, Andy Bawn pointed silently to a shoal beneath an overhanging bush, and there was the spoiler, apparently resting himself after his successful exertions, and holding a four-pound white-trout in his mouth. Either he noticed us, or had some more favourite haunt to feed in, for he glided into the deep water, and we saw no more of him.
Although we found out that the otter and ourselves could not manage to fish in company, we ascertained that the pool was abundantly stocked with salmon:—during the period of the greatest alarm, at least half a dozen fish were breaking the surface at the same time.
A curious incident, however, supplied us with an excellent white fish. The servant who brought the post bag, when in the act of crossing the river, which in his route from the lodge he was obliged to do repeatedly, most unexpectedly encountered a large otter carrying off a salmon he had just seized. The postman attacked the poacher vigorously, who, dropping his prey, glided off into the deep water at the tail of the ford. The spoil proved to be a fresh salmon not twenty hours from the sea, and consequently in prime condition. The otter showed himself the best artist of the day, for while the Colonel and his companion returned with empty baskets, the little animal managed to secure the finest and freshest salmon in the river.—Wild Sports.
OTTERHOUND (Canis Latrans), s.
The otter hound is a mixed breed between the hardy southern hound and the large rough terrier. His head is large and broad, his ears long and pendulous; he is in size betwixt the harrier and the fox hound; is thick quartered and shouldered; his hair strong and wiry, and somewhat shaggy. He is a bold and fierce dog, and has a full and harmonious voice. He is usually sandy-coloured on the back, the sides, and the neck, with the lower parts white; he carries his tail, which is rough, in the manner of a fox-hound.
Otter hunting, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was a favourite amusement amongst the young gentry of Great Britain, at which period that animal was much more numerous than at the present time, being greatly reduced since population became more dense, and gamekeepers more generally used, who employ all kinds of traps and gins to destroy them. Cultivation has also contributed to lessen this destructive creature.
Otter hounds were kept in small packs of from six to sixteen, seldom exceeding that number. The sport of otter hunting is now little understood, and is quite on the decline in this country.
OVAL, a. Oblong, resembling the longitudinal section of an egg.
OVERREACH, v. A horse is said to over-reach, when he brings his hinder feet too far forwards, so as to strike against his fore-feet.
Under this term are comprised bruises and wounds of the coronet, produced usually in the hind-feet, by the awkward habit of setting one foot upon another, and in the fore-feet, by the hinder one over-reaching it, and wounding the other near the heel. When properly treated, a tread is seldom productive of much injury. If the dirt be well washed out of it, and a pledget of tow dipped in Friar’s balsam be bound over the wound, it will, in the majority of cases, speedily heal. Should the bruise be extensive, or the wound deep, a poultice may be applied for one or two days, and then the Friar’s balsam, or digestive ointment. Sometimes a soft tumour will form on the part, which will be quickly brought to suppuration by a poultice, and when the matter has run out the ulcer will heal by the application of the Friar’s balsam, or a weak solution of blue vitriol.
OVERSET, v. To turn the bottom upwards, to throw off the basis; to throw out of regularity; to upset a carriage.
OVIPAROUS, a. Bringing forth eggs, not viviparous.
OUNCE, s. The sixteenth part of a pound in Avoirdupoise weight, the twelfth part of a pound in Troy weight.
OUTSTRIP, v. To outgo, to leave behind.
OWL or OWLET, s. A bird that flies in the night and catches mice.
The owl is distinguished, among birds of the rapacious kind, by peculiar and striking characters; its outward appearance is not more singular than its habits and dispositions. Unable to bear the brighter light of the sun, the owl retires to some lonely retreat, where it passes the day in silence and obscurity; but on the approach of evening, when all nature is desirous of repose, and the smaller animals, which are its principal food, are seeking their nestling places, the owl comes forth from its lurking holes in quest of its prey. Its eyes are admirably adapted for this purpose, being so formed as to distinguish objects with greater facility in the dusk than in broad day-light. Its flight is low and silent during its nocturnal excursions, and when it rests, it is then only known by its frightful and reiterated cries, with which it interrupts the silence of the night. During the day, the owl is seldom seen, but, if forced from his retreat, his flight is broken and interrupted, and he is sometimes attended by numbers of small birds of various kinds, who, seeing his embarrassment, pursue him with incessant cries, and torment him with their movements: the jay, the thrush, the blackbird, the red-breast, and the titmouse, all assemble to hurry and perplex him. During all this, the owl remains perched upon the branch of a tree, and answers them only with awkward and insignificant gestures, turning his head, eyes, and body, with all the appearance of mockery and affectation. All the species of owls, however, are not alike dazzled and confused with the light of the sun; some of them being able to fly, and see distinctly in open day.
Nocturnal birds of prey are generally divided into two kinds—that which hath horns or ears, and that which is earless or without horns. These horns consist of small tufts of feathers, standing up like ears on each side of the head, which are erected or depressed at the pleasure of the animal; and in all probability are of use in directing the organs of hearing, which are very large, to their proper object. Both kinds agree in having their eyes so formed as to be able to pursue their prey with much less light than other birds. The general character of the owl is as follows:—The eyes are large, and are surrounded with a radiated circle of feathers, of which the eye itself is the centre; the beak and talons are strong and crooked; the body very short, but thick, and well covered with a coat of the softest and most delicate plumage; the external edges of the outer quill feathers in general are finely fringed, which adds greatly to the smoothness and silence of its flight.
The Great-eared Owl. (Strix Bubo, LINN.; Le Grand Duc, BUFF.)—This bird is not much inferior in size to an eagle. Its head is very large, and is adorned with two tufts, more than two inches long, which stand just above each eye, its bill is strong and much hooked; the eyes large, and of a bright yellow; the whole plumage is of a rusty brown, finely variegated with black and yellow lines, spots, and specks; its belly is ribbed with bars of brown colour, confusedly intermixed; its tail is short, marked with dusky bars; its legs are strong, and covered to the claws with a thick close down, of a rust colour; its claws are large, much hooked, and of a dusky colour. Its nest is large, being nearly three feet in diameter; it is composed of sticks bound together by fibrous roots, and lined with leaves. It generally lays two eggs, somewhat larger than those of a hen, and variegated like the bird itself. The young ones are very voracious, and are well supplied with various kinds of food by the parents. This bird has been found, though rarely, in Great Britain; it builds its nest in the caverns of rocks, in mountains, and almost inaccessible places, and is seldom seen on the plains, or perched on trees; it feeds on young hares, rabbits, rats, mice, and reptiles of various kinds.
The Long-eared Owl. (Horn Owl, Strix Otus, LINN.; Le Hibou, BUFF.)—Its length is fourteen inches; breadth, somewhat more than three feet. Its bill is black; irides of a bright yellow; the radiated circle round each eye is of a light cream colour, in some parts tinged with red; between the bill and the eye there is a circular streak, of a dark brown colour; another circle of a dark rusty brown entirely surrounds the face; its horns or ears consist of six feathers, closely laid together, of a dark brown colour, tipped and edged with yellow; the upper part of the body is beautifully pencilled with fine streaks of white, rusty, and brown; the breast and neck are yellow, finely marked with dusky streaks, pointing downwards; the belly, thighs, and vent feathers are of a light cream colour; upon each wing there are four or five large white spots; the quill and tail feathers are marked with dusky and reddish bars: the legs are feathered down to the claws, which are very sharp; the outer claw is movable, and may be turned backwards.
This bird is common in various parts of Europe, as well as in this country; its usual haunts are in old ruined buildings, in rocks, and in hollow trees. M. Buffon observes, that it seldom constructs a nest of its own, but not unfrequently occupies that of the magpie: it lays four or five eggs; the young are at first white, but acquire their natural colour in about fifteen days.
The Short-eared Owl. (Strix Brachyotus, PHIL. TRANS. vol. 62, p. 384.)—Length fourteen inches; breadth three feet. The head is small, and hawklike; bill dusky; the irides are of a bright yellow, and when the pupil is contracted, shine like gold; the circle round each eye is of a dirty white, with dark streaks pointing outwards; immediately round the eye there is a circle of black; the two horns or ears consist of not more than three feathers, of a pale brown or tawny colour, with a dark streak in the middle of each; the whole upper part of the body is variously marked with dark brown and tawny, the feathers are mostly edged with the latter; the breast and belly are of a pale yellow, marked with dark longitudinal streaks, which are most numerous on the breast: the legs and feet are covered with feathers of a pale yellow colour; the claws are much hooked and black: the wings are long, and extend beyond the tail; the quills are marked with alternate bars of a dusky and pale brown; the tail is likewise marked with bars of the same colours, and the middle feathers are distinguished by a dark spot in the centre of the yellow space; the tip is white. Of several of these birds, both male and female, with which this work has been favoured, both sexes had the upright tufts or ears: in one which was alive, they were very conspicuous, and appeared more erect while the bird remained undisturbed; but, when frightened, were scarcely to be seen: in the dead birds they were hardly descernible.
Mr. Pennant seems to be the first describer of this rare and beautiful species, which he supposes to be a bird of passage, as it only visits us in the latter part of the year, and disappears in the spring. It flies by day, and sometimes is seen in companies: twenty eight were once counted in a turnip-field in November. It is found chiefly in wooded or mountainous countries: its food is principally field-mice.
The Female Horned Owl.—This bird is somewhat larger than the former; the colours and marks were the same, but much darker, and the spots on the breast larger and more numerous; the ears were not discernible. Being a dead bird, and having not seen any other at the time, the editors suppose it to be a distinct kind; but having since seen several both males and females, they are convinced of the mistake.
The White Owl, Barn Owl, Church Owl, Gillihowt, Screech Owl, (Strix Flammea, LINN.; L’Effraie, ou, La Fresaie, BUFF.)—Length fourteen inches. Bill pale horn colour; eyes dark; the radiated circle round the eye is composed of feathers of the most delicate softness, and perfectly white; the head, back, and wings, are of a pale chestnut, beautifully powdered with very fine grey and brown spots, intermixed with white; the breast, belly, and thighs, are white; on the former are a few dark spots: the legs are feathered down to the toes, which are covered with short hairs; the wings extend beyond the tail, which is short, and marked with alternate bars of dusky and white; the claws are white. Birds of this kind vary considerably: of several which were in the hands of the editors, the differences were very conspicuous, the colours being more or less faint according to the age of the bird; the breast in some was white, without spots, in others pale yellow.
The white owl is well known, and is often seen in the most populous towns, frequenting churches, old houses, maltings, and other uninhabited buildings, where it continues during the day, and leaves its haunts in the twilight in quest of its prey. It has obtained the name of screech owl from its cries, repeated at intervals, and rendered loud and frightful from the stillness of the night. During its repose it makes a blowing noise, resembling the snoring of a man. It makes no nest, but deposits its eggs in the holes of walls, and lays five or six, of a whitish colour. It feeds on mice and small birds, which it swallows whole, and afterwards emits the bones, feathers, and other indigestible parts, at its mouth, in the form of small round cakes, which are often found in the empty buildings it frequents.
The Tawny Owl, Common Brown Ivy Owl, or Howlet. (Strix stridula, LINN.; Le Chat-huant, BUFF.)—This bird is about the size of the last. Its bill is white; eyes dark blue; the radiated feathers round the eyes are white, finely streaked with brown; the head, neck, back, wing coverts, and scapulars, are of a tawny brown colour, finely powdered and spotted with dark brown and black; on the wing coverts and scapulars are several large white spots, regularly placed so as to form three rows; the quill feathers are marked with alternate bars of light and dark brown; the breast and belly are of a pale yellow, marked with narrow dark streaks pointing downwards, and crossed with others of the same colour; the legs are feathered down to the toes; the claws are large, much hooked, and white. This species is found in various parts of Europe; it frequents woods, and builds its nest in the hollows of trees.
The Little Owl. (Strix passerina, LINN.; La Chevêche, ou Petite Chouette, BUFF.)—This is the smallest of the owl kind, not being larger than a blackbird. Its bill is brown at the base, and of a yellow colour at the tip; eyes pale yellow; the circular feathers on the face are white, tipped with black; the upper part of the body is of an olive brown colour; the top of the head and wing coverts are spotted with white; the breast and belly white, spotted with brown; the feathers of the tail are barred with rust colour and brown, and tipped with white; the legs are covered with down of a rusty colour mixed with white; the toes and claws are of a brownish colour. It frequents rocks and caverns and ruined buildings, and builds its nest, which is constructed in the rudest manner, in the most retired places; it lays five eggs, spotted with white and yellow. It sees better in the day time than other nocturnal birds, and gives chase to swallows and other small birds on the wing; it likewise feeds on mice, which it tears in pieces with its bill and claws, and swallows them by morsels; it is said to pluck the birds which it kills before it eats them, in which it differs from the other owls. It is rarely met with in England; it is sometimes found in Yorkshire, Flintshire, and in the neighbourhood of London.
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Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owl, I find that it casts up the fur of mice, and the feathers of birds in pellets, after the manner of hawks; when full, like a dog, it hides what it cannot eat.
The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised, as they want a constant supply of fresh mice: whereas the young of the brown owl will eat indiscriminately all that is brought; snails, rats, kittens, puppies, magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal.—Bewick—White’s Selborne.
OWLER, s. One who catches owls. OWLING, Owl catching.
OWLERY, s. A place where owls are kept.
The Owlery at Arundel Castle.—We were unwilling to leave this venerable castle without the sight of the owls, which are said to be the finest in Great Britain. We were introduced to an utterly ruined part of the ancient castle, where, upon entering the inclosure, we saw a number of these strange looking creatures, hopping about with an ungraceful gait, and staring at us with looks of wonderful sagacity. One stood at the mouth of a subterraneous excavation, and upon the keeper pronouncing “bow, wow,” the owl instantly returned the expression, retiring at the same time back again into his hole, till it actually got out of sight. The other owls were driven by the keeper into one corner of the yard; they ranged themselves along a piece of old timber, altogether presenting a spectacle which raised in my mind some singular emotions. The countenance of the largest of them was marked by an unusual degree of solemnity.
These owls are the finest of the horned kind, and the keeper showed no small pride in the exhibition of them. “Beauty, Beauty,” was the name by which he called them together, and they seemed to recognise the propriety of the appellation with a becoming consciousness. Upon the justness of this term, however, the keeper and myself were by no means agreed.
With respect to the sight of the owls, they are so overpowered by the brightness of the day, that they are obliged to remain in the same spot without stirring; and when they are forced to leave their retreat, their flight is tardy and interrupted, being afraid of striking against the intervening obstacles. The other birds, perceiving their constrained situation, delight to insult them: the titmouse, the finch, the redbreast, the jay, the thrush, &c. assemble to enjoy the sport. The bird of night remains perched upon a branch, motionless and confounded; hears their cries, which are incessantly repeated, but it answers them only with insignificant gestures, turning round its head and its body with a foolish air. It even suffers itself to be assaulted without making resistance; the smallest, the weakest of its enemies, are the most eager to torment and turn it into ridicule. The keep in which the owls are shown is an undoubted remnant of the original Saxon building, and well worth the attention of the antiquary.
This owlery is thus spoken of by another visiter: “The owls, which are still to be seen, are uncommonly elegant birds, and extremely large, some of them measuring across the wings, when extended, from eight to ten feet. Their plumage is particularly beautiful, and their eyes brilliant. The late duke procured them from North America.”—Evans.
OX, s. The general name for black cattle; a castrated bull.
OXALIC ACID, s. Is extracted from wood sorrel, or from sugar combined with potash. It is commonly sold under the name of salt of lemon, and is useful in removing stains from linen, cleaning boot-tops, &c. It is a deadly poison, and in appearance like Epsom salts. As oxalic acid is a necessary article in a hunting establishment, too great care cannot be taken to prevent those unhappy results which have arisen from mistaking it for Epsom salts, which it so strikingly resembles.
OXFLY, s. A kind of fly.
OYSTER, s. A bivalve testaceous fish. Oysters are taken by a small bag-net extended on an iron frame, which, like the trawl, is swept along the ground by a sailing or row boat.
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PACE, s. Step, single movement in walking; gait, manner of walking; degree of celerity; a particular movement which horses are taught, though some have it naturally, made by lifting the legs on the same side together; amble.
PACE, v. To move on slowly.
PACK, s. A large bundle of anything tied up for carriage; a burden; a due number of cards; a number of hounds hunting together; a covey or brood of grouse.
PACK, v. To bind up for carriage; to sort the cards so that the game shall be iniquitously secured. Birds are said to pack where several broods collect together. This is particularly the case with grouse and black game.
PACKHORSE, s. A horse of burden, a horse employed in carrying goods.
PAD, s. A footpath; an easy-paced horse; a low soft saddle.
PADDLE, v. To row; to beat water as with oars; to play in the water.
PADDLE, s. An oar, particularly that which is used by a single rower in a boat; anything broad like the end of an oar.
PADDOCK, s. A great frog or toad; a small enclosure for pasture.
PANCREAS, s. The sweetbread.
PAR, s. A fish.
The natural history of the samlet, or par, is very doubtful. Some assert it to be a mule produced by the salmon and trout, and as a corroboration of this theory, it is stated that the rivers where the par is found are always resorted to by salmon. Others conjecture it to be a hybrid of the sea and river trout; and Sir Humphry Davy mentions, that fishing in October, in a small stream communicating with the Moy, near Ballina, he caught a number of sea trout, who all proved males, and accordingly infers that “these fish, in which the spermatic system was fully developed, could only have impregnated the ova of the common river trout.”
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The par differs from the small mountain trout in colour, and in having additional spines in the pectoral fin. It has also certain olive-bluish marks upon the side, similar to impressions made by the pressure of a man’s fingers.
Great numbers of samlet are found in the upper streams of the Ballycroy river. They will rise voraciously at a fly, provided it be gay and small enough. I remember my friend Sir Charles Cuyler and I amused ourselves on a blank shooting day, when there was neither a sufficiency of wind nor water to warrant salmon fishing, in angling for this hybridous diminutive. We nearly filled our basket; we reckoned them, and they amounted to above two hundred.—Wild Sports.
PARTRIDGE, (Tetrao Perdix, LINN.; Le Perdrix Grise, BUFF.) s. A bird of game.
The length of this bird is about thirteen inches. The bill is light brown; eyes hazel; the general colour of its plumage is brown and ash, elegantly mixed with black; each feather is streaked down the middle with buff colour; the sides of the head are tawny; under each eye there is a small saffron-coloured spot, which has a granulated appearance, and between the eye and the ear a naked skin of a bright scarlet, which is not very conspicuous but in old birds; on the breast there is a crescent of a deep chestnut colour; the tail is short; the legs are of a greenish white; and are furnished with a small knob behind. The female has no crescent on the breast, and her colours in general are not so distinct and bright as those of the male. Partridges are found chiefly in temperate climates; the extremes of heat and cold are equally unfavourable to them, they are nowhere in greater plenty than in this island, where, in their season, they contribute to our most elegant entertainments. It is much to be lamented, however, that the means taken to preserve this valuable bird should, in a variety of instances, prove its destruction: the proper guardians of the eggs and young ones, tied down by ungenerous restrictions, are led to consider them as a growing evil, and not only connive at their destruction, but too freely assist in it.
Partridges pair early in the spring; the female lays from fourteen to eighteen, or twenty eggs, making her nest of dry leaves and grass upon the ground. The young birds learn to run as soon as hatched, frequently encumbered with part of the shell sticking to them. It is no uncommon thing to introduce partridges’ eggs under the common hen, who hatches and rears them as her own, in this case the young birds require to be fed with ants’ eggs, which are their favourite food, and without which it is almost impossible to bring them up; they likewise eat insects, and when full grown, feed on all kinds of grain and young plants. The affection of the partridge for her young is peculiarly strong and lively; she is greatly assisted in the care of rearing them by her mate; they lead them out in common, call them together, point out to them their proper food, and assist them in finding it by scratching the ground with their feet; they frequently sit close to each other, covering the chickens with their wings like the hen. In this situation they are not easily flushed; the sportsman, who is attentive to the preservation of his game, will carefully avoid giving any disturbance to a scene so truly interesting, but should the pointer come too near, or unfortunately run in upon them, there are few who are ignorant of the confusion that follows; the male first gives the signal of alarm by a peculiar cry of distress, throwing himself at the same moment more immediately into the way of danger. In order to deceive or mislead the enemy he flies, or rather runs, along the ground, hanging his wings, and exhibiting every symptom of debility, whereby the dog is decoyed, in the too eager expectation of an easy prey, to a distance from the covey; the female flies off in a contrary direction and to a greater distance, but returning soon after by secret ways, she finds her scattered brood closely squatted among the grass, and collecting them with haste she leads them from the danger, before the dog has had time to return from his pursuit. Vide SHOOTING.
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A hen partridge came out of a ditch, and ran along shivering with her wings, and crying out as if wounded and unable to get from us. While the dam acted this distress, the boy who attended me saw her brood, which was small and unable to fly, run for shelter into an old fox-earth under the bank. So wonderful a power is instinct.
It is not uncommon to see an old partridge feign itself wounded, and run along on the ground fluttering and crying before either dog or man, to draw them away from its helpless unfledged young ones. I have seen it often, and once in particular I saw a remarkable instance of the old bird’s solicitude to save its brood. As I was hunting with a young pointer, the dog ran on a brood of very small partridges; the old bird cried, fluttered, and ran tumbling along just before the dog’s nose till she had drawn him to a considerable distance, when she took wing and flew still farther off, but not out of the field: on this the dog returned to me, near the place the young ones lay concealed in the grass, which the old bird no sooner perceived than she flew back again to us, settled just before the dog’s nose again, and by rolling and tumbling about drew off his attention from her young, and thus preserved her brood a second time. I have also seen, when a kite has been hovering over a covey of young partridges, the old birds fly up at the bird of prey, screaming and fighting with all their might to preserve their brood.
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Partridges manifest great caution in choosing the place where they intend having their nest. I have observed them to remain near the same spot for some weeks before the female lays her eggs; and if in the mean time they should discover the retreat of any animal in the neighbourhood, who is likely to be injurious to them, they shift their quarters. I have generally noticed that partridges lodge themselves at night near the middle of a field, probably being aware that they are safer in this situation from the attacks of stoats or weasels, than if they got nearer hedges, under the roots or banks of which these animals conceal themselves.—Bewick—White of Selborne—Markwick.
PASSERINE ORDER, s. Birds of the sparrow tribe.
This numerous class constitutes the fifth order in Mr. Pennant’s arrangement of British birds, and includes a great variety of different kinds: of these we have detached the stare, the thrush, and the chatterer, and have joined them to the pies, to which they seem to have a greater affinity. Those which follow are distinguished by their lively and active disposition, their beautiful plumage, and delightful melody. Of this order consist those amazing flocks of small birds of almost every description—those numerous families, which universally diffused throughout every part of the known world, people the woods, the fields, and even the largest and most populous cities, in countless multitudes, and every where enliven, diversify, and adorn the face of nature.
The characters of the Passerine order, which are as various as their habits and dispositions, will be best seen in the description of each particular species. It may be necessary, however, to observe, that they naturally divide themselves into two distinct kinds, namely, the hard-billed or seed birds, and the slender or soft-billed birds; the former are furnished with stout bills of a conical shape, and very sharp at the point, admirably fitted for the purpose of breaking the hard external coverings of the seeds of plants from their kernels, which constitute the principal part of their food; the latter are remarkable for the softness and delicacy of their bills; their food consists altogether of small worms, insects, the larvæ of insects, and their eggs, which they find deposited in immense profusion on the leaves and bark of trees, in chinks and crevices of stones, and even in small masses on the bare ground, so that there is hardly a portion of matter that does not contain a plentiful supply of food for this diligent race of beings.—Bewick.
PASTERN, s. The distance between the joint next the foot and the coronet of a horse.
PASTURAGE, s. The business of feeding cattle; lands grazed by cattle; the use of pasture.
PEACOCK, s. A fowl eminent for the beauty of his feathers, and particularly of his tail.
The peacock and peahen are always kept by the London dealers, whence any person in the country, desirous of breeding them, may be supplied with breeding stock. Exclusive of the consideration of ornament to a poultry-yard, the peacock is very useful for the destruction of all kinds of reptiles, but at the same time some peacocks are said to be vicious, and apt to tear to pieces and devour young chicks and ducklings, suffered to be within their reach. They are also destructive in a garden.
It is asserted by the ancient writers, that the first peacock was honoured with a public exhibition at Athens; that many people travelled thither from Macedonia, to be spectators of that beautiful phenomenon, the paragon of the feathered race. It is probable the ancients, as well as the moderns, introduced the peacock upon the table, rather as an ornament than a viand. There are varieties of this bird, some white: they perch on trees, like the turkey. Their age extends to twenty years, and at three, the tail of the cock is full and complete. The cock requires from two to four hens, and, where the country agrees with them, they are very prolific. They are granivorous like other domestic fowls, preferring barley.—Moubray.
PECK, s. The fourth part of a bushel; the stroke of a bird’s bill.
PECK, v. To strike with the beak as a bird; to pick up food with the beak.
PELICAN (Pelicanus, LINN.), s. There are two sorts of pelicans, one lives upon fish, the other keeps in deserts, and feeds upon serpents; the pelican is supposed to admit its young to suck blood from its breast.
The bill of this genus is long and straight; the end either hooked or sloping; the nostrils placed in a furrow that runs along the sides of the bill, and in most of the species not distinguishable. The face generally destitute of feathers, being covered only with a bare skin: gullet naked, and capable of great distension: body long, heavy, flat: legs placed far backward; toes four in number, and all webbed together.
Latham, following the example of Linnæus, includes the pelican, man-of-war bird, cormorant, shag, gannet, and booby, in this genus, of which he enumerates thirty distinct species, and two varieties; four only of this number, and one variety, are British birds. In confining the present account to these, it is proper to remark that they are not the inhabitants of this country only, but are widely dispersed over the globe, being met with in almost every climate which navigators have visited, whether temperate, hot, or cold. The gannet only is migratory, large flocks of this species arrive in the spring of the year, and disperse themselves in colonies over the rocky promontories of Scotland, and its isles, in various parts of which they breed and rear their young, and as soon as that office is performed, they retire in the autumn to their unknown abodes. Their return each season points out also that of the shoals of the herrings, which they hover over, pursue, and chiefly feed upon. These shoals, at that season of increasing warmth, are poured forth on their southern route, gliding forward in wide glittering columns of myriads upon myriads, from the unknown but prolific regions of the northern pole. These prodigious shoals with their divisions and subdivisions, in their branched course around the British isles, are attended by the gannet. On our southern coasts the pilchard affords these birds another supply of food, in pursuit of which they are enticed as far southward as the Mediterranean sea.
The cormorant and the shag remain with us throughout the year, but particularly on our more northern shores, upon whose rocky shelving precipices they station themselves, and perform the offices of incubation, while stragglers occasionally taking a wider range, with outstretched neck and vigorous wing sweep along the coast, and entering the mouths of the rivers, follow their course in quest of food, to the lakes inland.—Bewick.
PELLET, s. A little ball; a bullet, a ball.
PERCH, s. A measure of five yards and a half; a pole; something on which birds roost or sit; a kind of fish peculiar to ponds and rivers.
Perch have one particularity, which is contrary to the nature of all fish of prey in fresh water (and they are so voracious as to attack their own kind), that they are gregarious, swimming in shoals. The body of the perch is deep, the scales very rough, the back much arched, and the side-line approaches near it: the irides are golden, the teeth small, disposed in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth, which is large; the edges of the cover of the gills serrated, on the lower end of the largest in a sharp spine, and the head is said to consist of no fewer than eighty bones; the colours of the perch are beautiful, the back and part of the sides being of a deep green, marked with broad black bars pointing downwards; the belly is white, tinged red; the ventral fins of a rich scarlet; the anal fins and tail (which is a little forked,) of the same colour but rather paler.
The perch affords the angler great diversion, and not only the baits are various, but the modes of using them. Of worms, the best kinds are small lob-worms which have no knot, brandlings, red dunghills, or those found in rotten tan, all well scoured; the hook may be varied from No. 2 to 6, being well whipt to a strong silk-worm gut, with a shot or two a foot from it: put the point of the hook in at the head of the worm, out again a little lower than the middle, pushing it above the shank of the hook upon the gut; take a smaller one, beginning the same way, and bring its head up to the middle of the shank only; then draw the first worm down to the head of the latter, so that the tails may hang one above the other, keeping the point of the hook well covered. This is the most enticing method that can be adopted in worm-fishing; use a small cork float, to keep the bait at six or twelve inches from the bottom, or sometimes about midwater: in angling near the bottom, raise the bait very frequently from thence almost to the surface, letting it gradually fall again. Should a good shoal be met with, they are so greedy, that they may be all caught, unless one escapes that has felt the hook: then all is over, the fish that has been hooked becomes restless, and soon occasions the whole shoal to leave the place. Two or three rods may be employed, as they require time to gorge sufficient to allow the angler to be prepared to strike them.
Baits for the perch are loaches, sticklebacks, with the spines cut off, miller’s-thumbs, horse-beans boiled (after the place has been well-baited with them, put one at a time on the hook), cad-bait, bobs, and gentles.
Although generally termed a bold biter, the perch is extremely abstemious in winter, and scarcely ever bites in that season, but in the middle of a warm sunshiny day; he bites best in the latter part of the spring, from seven to eleven in the forenoon, and from two to six in the afternoon, except in hot and bright weather, and then from sunrise to six in the morning, and in the eve from six to sunset. If a day be cool and cloudy, with a ruffling south wind, perch will bite during the whole of it. In clear water, sometimes a dozen or more of perch have been observed in a deep hole, sheltered by trees or bushes; by using fine tackle and a well-scoured worm, the angler may see them strive which shall first seize it, until the whole shoal have been caught.
The perch may be angled for and taken until the end of September, and indeed at particular times all the year round; but the preferable season is from the beginning of May, to the middle of July.
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Mr. Young mentions that, at Pakenham, Lord Longford informed him respecting the quantities of fish in the lakes in his neighbourhood, that the perch were so numerous, that a child with a packthread and a crooked pin would catch enough in an hour for the daily use of a whole family, and that his lordship had seen five hundred children fishing at the same time; that, besides perch, the lakes produced pike five feet long, and trout of ten pounds each.
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Great numbers of perch are bred in the Hampton Court and Bushy Park ponds, all of which are well supplied with running water, and with plenty of food, yet they seldom arrive at a large size. In a neighbouring pond, which is only fed with drainage water, I have caught very large perch. The perch in the water in the Regent’s Park are very numerous. Those I have taken, however, are almost invariably of one size, from half to three-quarters of a pound. Why they should have arrived at this weight and not go on increasing in size, is a circumstance which it is not easy to account for. I have, however, remarked it to be the case in other ponds.—Daniel—Wild Sports—Jesse.
PERCUSSION, s. The impression a body makes in falling or sticking upon another. It is direct or oblique. Direct when the impulse is made in the direction of a perpendicular line to the point of impact. Such is the action of a cock upon the copper cap. Vide GUN, RIFLE, APPENDIX.
PEWET, s. A waterfowl; the lapwing.
PEWTER, s. A composition of lead and tin.
PHEASANT, (Phasianus Colchicus, LINN.; Le Faisan, BUFF.) s. A kind of wild cock; a beautiful large bird of game.
The pheasant is rather less than the common cock. The bill is of a pale horn colour; the nostrils are hid under an arched covering; the eyes are yellow, and surrounded by a space, in appearance like beautiful scarlet cloth, finely spotted with black; immediately under each eye there is a small patch of short feathers of a dark glossy purple; the upper parts of the head and neck are of a deep purple, varying to glossy green and blue; the lower parts of the neck and breast are of a reddish chestnut, with black indented edges; the sides and lower parts of the breast are of the same colour, with pretty large tips of black to each feather, which in different lights vary to a glossy purple; the belly and vent are dusky; the back and scapulars are beautifully variegated with black and white or cream-colour speckled with black, and mixed with deep orange, all the feathers are edged with black; on the lower part of the back there is a mixture of green; the quills are dusky, freckled with white, wing coverts brown, glossed with green and edged with white; rump plain reddish brown; the two middle feathers of the tail are about twenty inches long, the shortest on each side less than five, of a reddish brown colour, marked with transverse bars of black; the legs are dusky, with a short blunt spur on each, but in some old birds the spurs are as sharp as needles; between the toes there is a strong membrane.
The female is less, and does not exhibit that variety and brilliancy of colours which distinguish the male; the general colours are light and dark brown, mixed with black, the breast and belly finely freckled with small black spots on a light ground; the tail is short, and barred somewhat like that of the male; the space round the eye is covered with feathers.
The ring pheasant is a fine variety of this species; its principal difference consists in a white ring, which encircles the lower part of the neck; the colours of the plumage in general are likewise more distinct and vivid. A fine specimen of this bird was sent us by the Rev. William Turner, of Newcastle, from which the figure was engraven. They are sometimes met with in the neighbourhood of Alnwick, whither they were brought by his grace the Duke of Northumberland. That they intermix with the common breed is very obvious, as in some we have seen the ring was hardly visible, and in others a few feathers only, marked with white, appeared on each side of the neck, forming a white spot. It is much to be regretted that this beautiful breed is likely soon to be destroyed, by those who pursue every species of game with an avaricious and indiscriminating rapacity.
There are many varieties of pheasants of extraordinary beauty and brilliancy of colours; in many gentlemen’s woods there is a kind as white as snow, which will intermix with the common ones. Many of the gold and silver kinds, brought from China, are also kept in aviaries in this kingdom; the common pheasant is likewise a native of the East, and is the only one of its kind that has multiplied in our island. Pheasants are generally found in low woody places, on the borders of plains, where they delight to sport; during the night they perch on the branches of trees. They are very shy birds, and do not associate together, except during the months of March and April, when the male seeks the female; they are then easily discoverable by the noise which they make in crowing and clapping their wings, which may be heard at some distance. The hen breeds on the ground like the partridge, and lays from twelve to fifteen eggs, which are smaller than those of the common hen; the young follow the mother as soon as they are freed from the shell. During the breeding season the cocks will sometimes intermix with the common hen, and produce a hybrid breed, of which we have known several instances.
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For shooting pheasants it often becomes necessary to start very early in the morning, as they are apt to lie during the day in high covert, where it is almost impossible to shoot them till the leaf has fallen from the trees. We can never be at a loss in knowing where to go for pheasants, as we have only to send some one the previous evening, for the last hour before sun-set, to watch the different barley or oat stubbles of a woodland country, and on these will be regularly displayed the whole contents of the neighbouring coverts. It then remains to be chosen, which woods are the best calculated to shoot in; and, when we begin beating them, it must be remembered to draw the springs, so as to intercept the birds from the old wood. If the coverts are wet, the hedge-rows will be an excellent beginning, provided we here also attend well to getting between the birds and their places of security. If pheasants, when feeding, are approached by a man, they generally run into covert; but if they see a dog, they are apt to fly up.
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There are very few old sportsmen but what are aware that this is by far the most sure method of killing pheasants, or any other game, where they are tolerably plentiful in covert; and although to explore and beat several hundred acres of coppice, it becomes necessary to have a party with spaniels, yet, on such expeditions, we rarely hear of any one getting much game to his own share, except some sly old fellow, who has shirked from his companions to the end of the wood, where the pheasants, and particularly the cock birds, on hearing the approach of a rabble, are all running like a retreating army, and perhaps flying in his face faster than he can load and fire.
For one alone to get shots in a thick underwood, a brace or two of very well broke spaniels would, of course, be the best. But were I obliged to stake a considerable bet (taking one beat with another, where game was plentiful), I should back against the sportsman using them, one who took out a very high couraged old pointer, that would keep near him, and would, on being told, break his point to dash in, and put the pheasants to flight before they could run out of shot. This office may be also performed by a Newfoundland dog; but, as first getting a point would direct the shooter where to place himself for a fair shot, the Newfoundland dog would always be best kept close to his heels, and only made use of to assist in this; and particularly for bringing the game; as we rarely see a pointer, however expert in fetching his birds, that can follow and find the wounded ones half so well as the real St. John’s Newfoundland dog.
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Lord Stawell sent me from the great lodge in the Holt a curious bird for my inspection. It was found by the spaniels of one of his keepers in a coppice, and shot on the wing. The shape, air, and habit of the bird, and the scarlet ring round the eyes, agreed well with the appearance of a cock pheasant; but then the head and neck, and breast and belly, were of a glossy black: and though it weighed three pounds three ounces and a half, the weight of a large full-grown cock pheasant, yet there were no signs of any spurs on the legs, as is usual with all grown cock pheasants, who have long ones. The legs and feet were naked of feathers, and therefore it could be nothing of the grouse kind. In the tail were no long bending feathers, such as cock pheasants usually have, and are characteristic of the sex. The tail was much shorter than the tail of a hen pheasant, and blunt and square at the end. The back, wing-feathers and tail, were all of a pale russet, curiously streaked, somewhat like the upper parts of a hen partridge. I returned it with my verdict, that it was probably a spurious or hybrid hen bird, bred between a cock pheasant and some domestic fowl. When I came to talk with the keeper who brought it, he told me that some pea-hens had been known last summer to haunt the coppices and coverts where this mule was found.
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The pheasant is not a long-lived bird; but it is probable the period of existence assigned to it by some writers, namely, six or seven years, is too short. The wholesomeness of its flesh was proverbial among the old physicians; it is of a high flavour and alkalescent quality, and in perfection during autumn. A young pheasant very fat is reckoned an exquisite dainty. In a wild state, the hen lays from eighteen to twenty eggs in a season, but seldom more than ten in a state of confinement. Pheasants are not to be tamed by domestication, like other fowls; nor is the flesh of those brought up in the house, in any degree comparable to that of the wild pheasant: thence they are bred at home, either merely for show, or for the purpose of replenishing the proprietor’s grounds, both with regard to number or particular varieties. However good nursing mothers in a wild state, pheasant hens are far otherwise in the house, whence their eggs are always hatched at home by the common hen,—generally, at present, by the smooth-legged bantam.
The natural nest of the pheasant is composed of dry grass and leaves, which being provided for her in confinement she will sometimes properly dispose. The cock is bold, voracious, and cruel; and one which I had many years ago, caught a canary bird which had accidentally escaped, and was observed with it beneath his talons, in the proper attitude of the hawk, tearing it to pieces and devouring it. Pheasants have been seen preying upon a dead carcase, in company with carrion crows; and it has been said that they will fall upon a diseased and weak companion of their own species, and devour it. They feed upon all kinds of insects and vermin, like the peacock, and are said to be particularly greedy of toads, provided they be not too large to swallow; whereas, according to report, they will not touch the frog, of which ducks are so fond. A pheasant was shot by T. Day, Esq. of Herts, the crop of which contained more than half a pint of that destructive insect the wire-worm. And the number of 1606 grains of barley were taken from the crop of a pheasant, at Bury, in Suffolk, in 1727.
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The best known varieties of the pheasant, are the golden, the silver, the peacock or spotted, and the common European or English, generally brown, with a less brilliancy of colour. Mr. Castang, however, enumerates six distinct varieties, exclusive of the common, as follow: the gold and silver, natives of China, and very hardy in this country, and good breeders. The ring-necks, natives of Tartary, bred in China, very scarce; their plumage very beautiful. The white and pied; both sorts will intermix readily with our common breed, as will the Bohemian, one of the most beautiful of its kind, and equally scarce. The golden variety is generally of the highest price, the common most hardy and of the largest size.
Breeding Pheasants.—Eggs being provided, put them under a hen that has kept the nest three or four days; and if you set two or three nests on the same day, you will have the advantage of shifting the good eggs. At the end of ten or twelve days, throw away those that are bad, and set the same hen or hens again, if sitting hens should not be plenty.
The hens having sat their full time, such of the young pheasants as are already hatched put into a basket, with a piece of flannel, till the hen has done hatching.
The brood, now come, put under a frame with a net over it, and a place for the hen, that she cannot get to the young pheasants, but that they may go to her: and feed them with boiled egg cut small, boiled milk and bread, alum curd, ants’ eggs, a little of each sort, and often.
After two or three days, they will be acquainted with the call of the hen that hatched them, may have their liberty of running on the grass-plot, or elsewhere, observing to shift them with the sun, and out of the cold winds. They should not have their liberty in the morning till the sun is up; and they must be shut in with the hen in good time in the evening.
Every thing now going on properly, you must be very careful (in order to guard against the distemper to which they are liable) in your choice of a situation for breeding the birds up; and be less afraid of foxes, dogs, pole-cats, and all sorts of vermin, than the distemper. I had rather encounter all the former than the latter; for those, with care, may be prevented, but the distemper, once got in, is like the plague, and destroys all your hopes. What I mean by a good situation, is nothing more than a place where no poultry, pheasants, or turkeys, &c. have ever been kept; such as the warm side of a field, orchard, pleasure-ground, or garden, or even on a common, or a good green lane, under circumstances of this kind; or by a wood-side; but then it is proper for a man to keep with them under a temporary hovel, and to have two or three dogs chained at a proper distance, with a lamp or two at night. I have known a great number of pheasants bred up in this manner, in the most exposed situations. It is proper for the man always to have a gun, that he may keep off the hawks, owls, jays, magpies, &c. The dogs and lamps intimidate the foxes beyond any other means; and the dogs will give tongue for the man to be on his guard if smaller vermin are near, or when strollers make their appearance.
The birds going on as before mentioned, should so continue till December, or, if very early bred, the middle of August. Before they begin to shift the long feathers in the tail, they are to be shut up in the basket with the hen, regularly every night; and when they begin to shift their tail the birds are large, and begin to lie out, that is, they are not willing to come to be shut up in the basket. Those that are intended to be turned out wild should be taught to perch (a situation they have never been used to); this is done by tying a string to the hen’s leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all night: be sure you put her in the tree before sun-set; and if she falls down, you must persevere in putting her up again, till she is contented with her situation; then the young birds will follow the hen, and perch with her. This being done, and the country now covered with corn, fruits, and shrubs, &c. &c. they will shift for themselves.
For such young pheasants as you make choice of for your breeding stock at home, and likewise to turn out in the spring following, provide a new piece of ground, large and roomy, for two pens, where no pheasants, &c. have been kept, and there put your young birds in as they begin to shift their tails. Such of them as you intend to turn out at a future time, or in another place, put into one pen netted over, and leave their wings as they are; and those you wish to keep for breeding put into the other pen, cutting one wing of each bird. The gold and silver pheasants you must pen earlier, or they will be off. Cut the wing often; and, when first penned, feed all your young birds with barley-meal, dough, corn, and plenty of green turnips.
A Receipt to make Alum Curd.—Take new milk, as much as your young birds require, and boil it with a lump of alum, so as not to make the curd hard and tough, but custard like.
N.B.—A little of this curd twice a day, and ants’ eggs after every time they have had a sufficient quantity of the other food. If they do not eat heartily, give them some ants’ eggs to create an appetite, but by no means in such abundance as to be considered their food.
The distemper alluded to above, is not improbably of the same nature as the roup in chickens; contagious, and dependent on the state of the weather; and, for prevention, requiring similar precaution.
General Directions.—Not more than four hens to be allowed in the pens to one cock; and in the out covers, three hens to one cock may be sufficient, with the view of allowing for accidents, such as the loss of a cock or hen. Never put more eggs under a hen than she can well and closely cover, the eggs fresh and carefully preserved. Short broods to be joined and shifted to one hen. Common hen pheasants in close pens, and with plenty of cover, will sometimes make their nests and hatch their own eggs, but they seldom succeed in rearing their brood, being so naturally shy; whence, should this method be desired, they must be left entirely to themselves, as they feel alarm even in being looked at. Eggs for setting are generally ready in April. Period of incubation the same in the pheasant as in the common hen. Pheasants, like the pea-owl, will clear grounds of insects and reptiles, but will spoil all wall-trees within their reach, by pecking off every bud and leaf.
Feeding.—Strict cleanliness to be observed, the meat not to be tainted with dung, and the water to be pure and often renewed. Ants’ eggs being scarce, hog-lice, earwigs, or any insects, may be given; or artificial ants’ eggs substituted, composed of flour beaten up with an egg and shell together, the pellets rubbed between the fingers to the proper size. After the first three weeks, in a scarcity of ants’ eggs, Castang gives a few gentles, procured from a good liver tied up, the gentles, when ready, dropping into a pan or box of bran; to be given sparingly, and not considered as common food.
Food for grown pheasants, barley or wheat; generally the same as for other poultry. In a cold spring, hemp-seed, or other warming seeds, are comfortable, and will forward the breeding stock.
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A New Species of Pheasant.—Amongst the numerous interesting natural productions recently brought from China by Mr. Reeves, it was with pleasure we observed a magnificent new species of pheasant, which will be a most interesting addition to the aviaries of Europe; and as it comes from the same part of the world as the gold and silver kind, there is scarcely a doubt but that, with a little care, it may be induced to breed in this country. It is about three times the size of the common pheasant, and has a tail from five to six feet long; it is of a pale bay colour, ornamented with black moons, and the head, wing, and under part of the body, black varied with white; the tail feathers are black and brown banded. Mr. Reeves brought with him from Canton two living specimens; but one of them unfortunately died in the Channel; the other is now in the gardens of the Zoological Society, where it will most probably recover its fine tail. A beautiful specimen, in nearly perfect plumage, brought by Mr. Reeves for General Hardwicke, has been presented by that gentleman to the collection of the British Museum. The tail feathers of this bird have been long known, two having been exhibited in the Museum for many years; but the bird which bore them was first described in General Hardwick’s Illustrations of Indian Zoology, from a drawing sent by Mr. Reeves, where it is called Reeves’s pheasant (Phasianus Reevesii).—Daniel—Hawker—Moubray.
PHRASEOLOGY, s. Style, diction; a phrase-book; technical terms.
There was a peculiar kind of language invented by sportsmen of the middle ages, which it was necessary for them to be acquainted with, and some of the terms are still continued.
A sege of herons and of bitterns; an herd of swans, of cranes, and of curlews; a dopping of sheldrakes; a spring of teals; a covert of coots; a gaggle of geese; a badelynge of ducks; a sord or sute of mallards; a muster of peacocks; a nye of pheasants; a bevy of quails; a covey of partridges; a congregation of plovers; a flight of doves; a dule of turkeys, a walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks; a brood of hens; a building of rooks; a murmuration of starlings; an exaltation of larks; a flight of swallows; a host of sparrows; a watch of nightingales; and a charm of goldfinches.
When beasts went together in companies, there was said to be a pride of lions; a lepe of leopards; an herd of harts, of bucks, and of all sorts of deer; a bevy of roes; a sloth of bears; a singular of boars; a sownder of wild swine; a dryft of tame swine; a route of wolves; a harass of horses; a rag of colts; a stud of mares; a pace of asses; a baren of mules; a team of oxen; a drove of kine; a flock of sheep; a tribe of goats; a skulk of foxes; a cete of badgers; a richness of martins; a fesynes of ferrets; a huske or a down of hares; a nest of rabbits; a clowder of cats, and a kendel of young cats; a shrewdness of apes; and a labour of moles; and, when animals were retired to rest, a hart was said to be harboured, a buck lodged, a roebuck bedded, a hare formed, a rabbit set, a fox kennelled, a martin tree’d, an otter watched, a badger earthed, a boar couched: hence, to express their dislodging they say, unharbour the hart, rouse the buck, start the hare, bolt the rabbit, unkennel the fox, untree the martin, vent the otter, dig the badger, and rear the boar. Two greyhounds were called a brace; three a leash; but two spaniels or harriers were called a couple, and three, a couple and a half; there was also a mute of hounds for a number; a litter of whelps, and a cowardice of curs.—Strutt—Ascham—Daniel—Book of St. Alban’s.
PIANET, s. A bird, the lesser woodpecker; the magpie.
PIE, s. A magpie, a particoloured bird.
Birds of this kind are found in every part of the known world, from Greenland to the Cape of Good Hope; the general character of this kind is chiefly as follows:—The bill is strong, and has a slight curvature along the top of the upper mandible; the edges are thin, and sharp or cultrated; in many of the species there is a small notch near the tip; the nostrils are covered with bristles; tongue divided at the end; three toes forward, one behind, the middle toe connected to the outer as far as the first joint.—Bewick.
PIEBALD, a. Of various colours, diversified in colour.
PIED, a. Variegated, particoloured.
PIG, s. A young sow or boar; an oblong mass of lead or unforged iron.
This instinctive sagacity, which guides animals who have been taken from their old haunts, in making their way back to them, appears in some to whom we should have been least disposed to attribute it. I have an anecdote from a gentleman, who resided some years on an estate high up the Susquehanna, of some pigs, which, having been brought in a sack fifteen miles through an American wood, by the next morning had found their way back, from their new to their old home.—Jesse.
PIGEON (Columba, LINN.), s. A domestic bird.
PIGEONS (Columbidæ, LEACH; Rasores, ILLIGER), s. A family of snatching birds.
Of these the varieties and intermixtures are innumerable, and partake of all those varied hues which are the constant result of domestication. The manners of pigeons are well known, few species being more universally diffused, and having a very powerful wing, they are enabled to perform very distant journeys; accordingly wild and tame pigeons occur in every climate, and although they thrive best in warm countries, yet with care they succeed also in very northern latitudes. Every where their manners are gentle and lively; they are fond of society, and the very emblem of connubial attachment; they are faithful to their mates, whom they solicit with the softest cooings, the tenderest caresses, and the most graceful movements. The exterior form of the pigeon is beautiful and elegant: the bill is weak straight and slender, and has a soft protuberance at the base, in which the nostrils are placed: the legs are short and red, and the toes divided to the origin.
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Buffon enumerates upwards of thirty varieties of the pigeon, which, according to his usual systematic plan—its convenience, perhaps, being rather more obvious than its accuracy—he derives from one root, namely, the stock-dove, or common wild pigeon. All the varieties of colour and form which we witness, he attributes to human contrivance and fancy. There exist, nevertheless, essential specific differences in these birds, which seem rather attributable to the nature of the region, soil, or climate, to which they are indigenous, than to the art of man.
The pigeon is monogamous, that is, the male attaches and confines himself to one female, and the attachment is reciprocal: the fidelity of the dove to its mate being proverbial. Young pigeons are termed squeakers, and begin to breed at about the age of six months, when properly managed: their courtship, and the well known tone of voice in the cock, just then acquired and commencing, are indications of their approaching union. Nestlings, whilst fed by the cock and hen, are termed squabs, and are at that age sold and used for the table. The dove-house pigeon is said to breed monthly, being well supplied with food, more particularly when the ground is bound by frost, or covered with snow. At any rate, it may be depended on, that pigeons of almost any healthy and well established variety, will breed eight or ten times in the year; whence it may be conceived how immense are the quantities which may be raised.
The first step towards pigeon keeping, is, undoubtedly, to provide a commodious place for their reception, of which I shall afterwards speak; the next, to provide the pigeons themselves. These will be had in pairs, but if not actually matched, pains must be afterwards taken, to that end, that no time be lost; indeed, they may be matched according to the fancy of the keepers, for the purpose of varying the colours, or with any other view. But it is necessary to give a caution on the subject of old pigeons, of which a bargain may offer, since the difficulty of retaining them is so great, indeed insuperable, without the strictest vigilance. Nothing short of cutting their wings, and confining them closely until they have young to attach them to the place, will be a security; and even afterwards, they have been known to take flight with the first use of their wings, and leave their nests. I have had several examples of this. Thence it is always preferable to purchase squeakers, or such as have not yet flown: these, being confined, in a short time, well fed, and accustomed gradually to the surrounding scenery, before they have acquired sufficient strength of wing wherewith to lose themselves, will become perfectly domesticated.
The dove-cote, or pigeon-loft, as to its situation or extent, will necessarily depend on convenience, one general rule, however, must be invariably observed,—that every pair of pigeons have two holes, or rooms, to nest in. Without this indispensable convenience there will be no security, but the prospect of constant confusion, breaking of eggs, and destruction of the young. Pigeons do well near dwellings, stables, bake-houses, brew-houses, or such offices; or their proper place is in the poultry-court. A dove-cote is a good object, situate upon an island, in the centre of a piece of water: indeed, such is a proper situation for aquatic poultry, and rabbits also; and may be rendered extremely beautiful and picturesque by planting, and a little simple ornamental and useful building. Where pigeons are kept in a room, some persons prefer making their nests upon the floor, to escape the danger of the young falling out; but in all probability this is to guard against one risk, and incur a great number, particularly that of rats and other vermin.
The front of the pigeon-room, or cote, should have a south-west aspect; and if a room be selected for the purpose, it is usual to break a hole in the roof of the building for the passage of the pigeons, which can be closed at convenience. A platform is laid by the carpenter at the entrance, for the pigeons to alight and perch upon, with some kind of defence against strange cats, which will often depopulate a whole dove-house; cats are yet necessary, for the defence of the pigeons against rats and mice, as they will both destroy the birds and suck the eggs; thence cats of a known good breed should be trained up familiarly with the pigeons. The platform should be painted white, and renewed as the paint wears off, white being a favourite colour with pigeons, and also most conspicuous as a mark to enable them to find their home. The boxes also should be so coloured, and renewed as necessary, for which purpose lime and water will be sufficient.
Cleanliness is one of the first and most important considerations, the want of it in a dove-cote will soon render the place a nuisance not to be approached, and the birds, both young and old, will be so covered with vermin, and besmeared with their own excrement, that they can enjoy no health or comfort, and mortality is often so induced. Ours were cleaned daily; thoroughly once a week, a tub standing at hand for the reception of their dung, the floor covered with sifted gravel, often renewed. Pigeons are exceedingly fond of water, and having a prescience of rain, will wait its coming until late in the evening, upon the house-top, spreading their wings to receive the refreshing shower. When they are confined in a room, they should be allowed a wide pan of water, to be often renewed, as a bath, which cools, refreshes and assists them to keep their bodies clear of vermin. In the attendance upon pigeons, caution is necessary with respect to their fighting, to which they are more prone than might be expected, often to the destruction of eggs or young, or driving the weakest away.
The common barrel dove-cote needs no description, at the same time it is adapted to every situation in which it is desirable to keep pigeons for ordinary use. To return to the room, or loft; the shelves should be placed sufficiently high, for security against vermin, a small ladder being a necessary appendage. The usual breadth of the shelves is about twenty inches, with the allowance of eighteen between shelf and shelf, which will be sufficient not to incommode the tallest pigeons. Partitions between the shelves may be fixed at the distance of about three feet, making a blind, by a board nailed against the front of each partition, whence there will be two nests in the compass of every three feet, so that the pigeons will sit in privacy, and not liable to be disturbed. Or a partition may be fixed between each nest;—a good plan, which prevents the young from running to the hen, sitting over fresh eggs, and perhaps occasioning her to cool and addle them, for when the young are about a fortnight or three weeks old, a good hen will leave them to the care of the cock and lay again.
Some prefer breeding-holes entirely open in front, for the greater convenience in cleaning the nests; but it is from those that the squabs are likely to fall, thence a step of sufficient height is preferable. The tame pigeon seldom taking the trouble to make a nest, it is better to give her one of hay, which prevents her eggs from rolling. Or a straw basket, or unglazed earthen pan, may be placed in every nest, apportioned to the size of the pigeons you breed. A pan of three inches high, eight inches over the top, and sloping to the bottom like a basin, will be of sufficient size for a tumbler, or a small pigeon, whilst one of double those dimensions will be required for a large runt. A brick should always be placed in contiguity to the pan, to enable the cock and hen to alight with greater safety upon the eggs.
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The pigeon-trap on the house-top is the well-known contrivance of those London rascals, who lie in wait, as has been said, to entrap the property of others. A trap of another description, and for a very different purpose, is sometimes used; it is an area, on the outside of a building, for the purpose of confining in the air valuable breeds of pigeons which cannot be trusted to flight. Some are erected to the extent of twenty yards long and ten yards in width, with shelves on every side for the perching of the pigeons; thus they are constantly exercised in the air, retiring at their pleasure to the room or loft within.
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Very convenient baskets are now made of the cradle form, with partitions, or separate apartments. They serve for the carriage of pigeons for matching, or putting them up to fatten, or for any of the usual purposes. I have seen them lately, in the basket-shops on the Greenwich road, two or three miles from London.
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Food and water should be given in such a way as to be as little as possible contaminated with the excrement, or any other impurity. Our pigeons having been constantly attended, we have never found the need of any other convenience than earthen pans; but there have been ingenious inventions for this purpose, of which the meat-box and water-bottle following are specimens. The meat-box is formed in the shape of a hopper, covered at the top to keep clean the grain, which descends into a square shallow box. Some fence this with rails or holes on each side, to keep the grain from being scattered over; others leave it quite open that the young pigeons may the more easily find their food.
The water-bottle is a large glass bottle, with a long neck, holding from one to five gallons, its belly shaped like an egg, so that the pigeons may not light and dung upon it. It is placed upon a stand or three-footed stool, made hollow above, to receive the belly of the bottle, and let the mouth into a small pan beneath: the water will so gradually descend out of the mouth of the bottle as the pigeons drink, and be sweet and clean, and always stop when the surface reaches the mouth of the bottle.
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To match or pair a cock and hen, it is necessary to shut them together, or near and within reach of each other; and the connexion is generally formed in a day or two. Various rules have been laid down, by which to distinguish the cock from the hen pigeon; but the masculine forwardness and action of the cock, is for the most part distinguishable.
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The following singular detection of a thief occurred on a late examination at Queen Square, Westminster:—Mr. Bepy, in the Wandsworth road, had his pigeon-house robbed. A known thief was stopped on the road with six fancy pigeons in his possession, by Sergeant Reardon of the police, and taken before the magistrates, but no evidence appearing against him, he was discharged, and suffered to take away the birds, which he claimed as having purchased them. Cooper, an officer of the court, being somewhat up to the pigeon fancy, and seeing them above the common sort, purchased them, and very commendably determined to find out the real owner, which he effected in the following ingenious mode. Selecting a fine bald-head, he attached a note to its foot, with his address, and then threw up the pigeon, which instantly flew to its own home, and was recovered by its owner, who returned it to Cooper, making him a present of the half-dozen as a reward for his sagacity.
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The starling is a great enemy to pigeons, by sucking their eggs, and even destroying their young. In October, 1800, seven hundred and eighty starlings were taken in one night in a dove-cot belonging to Mr. Slater, of Chalton, near Lincoln.
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In 1807, was in the possession of Mr. Knight, of Chichester, a hen pigeon of the pouter species, who, in that summer, hatched three pair of young. She is twenty-one years old, and is considered a remarkable instance of longevity, as Buffon, and other naturalists, have not allowed this bird, from the heat of its nature, above eight or nine years of life, and to be incapable of procreation after seven.
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The penalty for shooting them is 20_s._ for each pigeon. (Under statute of 1 Jac. I.)
For shooting at pigeons, with intent to kill, the penalty would (by 2 Geo. II.) be the same as for killing one pigeon, viz. 20_s._ Informations for these offences must be commenced within two months.
In pigeon-shooting the most extraordinary performance was by Tupor, the gamekeeper of Sir H. Mildmay, (the same person who broke the sow to stand to game,) who, for a considerable wager, shot six pigeons out of ten with a single ball.
Tupor afterwards, to decide a bet, hit a cricket-ball, with common shot, twelve times successively, betwixt the wickets, bowled by Harris, one of the sharpest bowlers in the Hambleton Club. He is also said to have killed swallows with a single ball.
The next was effected by Mr. Elliot, at Rudgewick, in Sussex, who undertook to kill fifty pigeons at fifty shots; it was decided near Petworth, at Tillington, and notwithstanding the wind was high, he killed forty-five: it was allowed he hit every bird, and that he would have succeeded but for the above circumstance. He had but one gun, the touch-hole of which fairly melted.
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Four gentlemen of Camberwell undertook, for a wager of five guineas a side, to shoot at twelve pigeons, and great bets were depending, but to the mortification of the persons present, they neither of them brought down a single bird.
Mr. Keene, of Hammersmith, killed twenty pigeons in twenty-one shots, from a trap at the regular twenty-one yards’ distance, and in March, 1811, he killed, in a match against Mr. Elliot, the same number, beating his adversary by one.
In Wiltshire, the same year, Captain Hicks shot against the gamekeeper of Mr. Maurice, at fifteen pigeons, turned off at the same distance; each killed the whole, and in shooting off the ties, the former missed his sixth bird, and lost the match, which was for two hundred guineas.—Moubray—Daniel.
PIKE, s. A long lance used by the foot soldiers to keep off the horse, to which bayonets have succeeded; a fork used in husbandry; among turners, two iron springs between which anything to be turned is fastened; a large fish of prey.
The pike, termed for its voracity the fresh-water shark, is found in most of the larger lakes and rivers of Great Britain. It grows to an immense size—is easily produced as a pond fish—and, being a bold determined biter, affords excellent sport to the lovers of the art. It is taken with natural and artificial baits, as frogs, mice, minnows or any kind of fry; and when the weather is favourable very little skill is requisite to obtain abundant sport in a well-stocked water. The best mode of pike-fishing is trolling. Vide TROLLING.
The pike’s voraciousness is well known: what is here mentioned of it is singular. In 1810, a hook baited with a roach, was set in the manor-pond, at Toddington, Bedfordshire; the next morning a large pike was caught, which with difficulty was got out. It appeared that a pike of three and a half pounds weight was first caught, which was afterwards swallowed by another, weighing thirteen pounds and a half, and both were taken.
It has been before remarked, that pike are frequently shot, when floating near the surface of the water. Other sorts of fish are often so destroyed. In June, 1808, Mr. Byrne, the Earl of Lonsdale’s gamekeeper, shot in the river Eden, at Beaumont, near Carlisle, the extraordinary number of eighty-six fish, at two shots; the smallest fish was seven inches in length.
The smaller lakes, which are so profusely scattered over the surface of this county, vary in the species of fish which they respectively produce, as much as they do in their own natural size and character. Some of them afford trouts, others pike only, and many are stocked with both. That this union cannot long subsist, I should be inclined to infer from one remarkable circumstance, and it is a convincing proof of the rapid destruction which the introduction of pike into a trout lake will occasion. Within a short distance of Castlebar there is a small bog-lake, called Derreens; ten years ago it was celebrated for its numerous and well-sized trouts. Accidentally pike effected a passage into the lough from the Minola river, and now the trouts are extinct or, at least, none of them are caught or seen. Previous to the intrusion of the pikes, half-a-dozen trouts would be killed in an evening in Derreens, whose collective weight often amounted to twenty pounds.
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Indeed the appetite of one of my pike was almost insatiable. One morning I threw to him, one after the other, five roach, each about four inches in length. He swallowed four of them, and kept the fifth in his mouth for about a quarter of an hour, when it also disappeared.
Fish appear, also, to be capable of entertaining affection for each other. I once caught a female pike during the spawning season, and nothing could drive the male away from the spot at which the female disappeared, whom he had followed to the very edge of the water. A person who had kept two small fish together in a glass, gave one of them away; the other refused to eat, and showed evident symptoms of uneasiness till his companion was restored to him.
The boldness of a pike is very extraordinary. I have seen one follow a bait within a foot of the spot where I have been standing; and the head keeper of Richmond Park assured me that he was once washing his hand at the side of a boat in the great pond in that Park, when a pike made a dart at it, and he had but just time to withdraw it.
A gentleman (Major Payne) now residing at Weybridge, in Surrey, informed me, that, walking one day by the side of the river Wey, near that town, he saw a large pike in a shallow creek. He immediately pulled off his coat, tucked up his shirt-sleeves, and went into the water to intercept the return of the fish to the river, and to endeavour to throw it upon the bank by getting his hands under it. During this attempt, the pike, finding he could not make his escape, seized one of the arms of the gentleman, and lacerated it so much that the wound is still very visible.
The digestion of the pike is so rapid, that, in a few hours, not a single bone of a roach which it has swallowed can be discovered. This may account for the fact of a pike, who has gorged himself to the full, holding a small fish in his mouth whilst the digestion of his previously taken prey has been going on, and swallowing it as soon as that process had been effected.
The rapid growth of some fish is very extraordinary. I saw three pikes taken out of a pond in Staffordshire belonging to the present Sir Jervoise Clark Jervoise, two of which weighed thirty-six pounds each, and the other thirty-five pounds. The pond was fished every seven years, and, supposing that store pike of six or seven pounds weight were left in it, the growth of the pike in question must have been at the rate of at least four pounds a year.
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About seventeen years since, when visiting the late Marquis of Clanricarde at Portumna Castle, two gentlemen brought to the marquis an immense pike, which they had just caught in the river Shannon, on the banks of which they had been taking their evening walk. Attracted by a noise and splashing of the water, they discovered in a little creek a number of perch driven on shore, and a fish which, in pursuit of them, had so entangled himself with the ground, as to have a great part of its body exposed, and out of water. They attacked him with an oar, that by accident lay on the bank, and killed him. Never having seen any fish of this species so large, they judged it worth the observation of the marquis, who, equally surprised at its magnitude, had it weighed, and to our astonishment it exceeded the balance at ninety-two pounds; its length was such, that when carried across the oar by the two gentlemen, who were neither of them short, the head and tail touched the ground.
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Now that I am speaking of pike I may observe that eagles, which were rather numerous hereabout, were not unfrequently seen to pounce on those fish whilst basking near the surface. It was said, however, that when the pike was very large, he had been known to carry the eagle under water; when, from the latter being unable to disengage his talons, he was of course drowned. Indeed, Dr. Mellerborg, a medical gentleman attached to the Uddeholm establishment when I first visited Wermeland, vouched for this being the fact, he himself having once seen an enormous pike, with an eagle fastened to his back, lying dead on a piece of ground which had been overflown, but from which the water had then retreated.
Captain Eurenius also informed me, that he himself was once an eye-witness to a similar occurrence. This was on the Götha river, and at no great distance from Wenersborg. In this instance, when the eagle first seized the pike, he was enabled to lift him a short distance into the air; but the weight of the fish, together with its struggles, soon carried them back again to the water, under which for a while they both disappeared: presently, however, the eagle again came to the surface, uttering at the same time the most piercing cries, and making apparently every endeavour to extricate his talons, but all was in vain, and, after a deal of struggling, he was finally carried under the water.
Captain Eurenius said, moreover, that pike were occasionally taken alive with only the legs and talons of the eagle attached to their backs, the body of the bird having previously rotted off. This, if true, is a curious circumstance; for one would naturally have supposed, that with such a knapsack the fish would have been unable to procure his food, and that he consequently must soon have perished.
In corroboration of these stories I may mention, that when I was in the Orkney Islands a few years ago, I was told of the eagle striking turbot and other fish at sea, when similar results to what I have just stated occasionally took place. At that time, however, I confess, I was a little incredulous on the subject.
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There are no waters in Great Britain, with the exception of the river Shannon, where larger pikes are caught than those taken in Loughs Mask and Corrib. 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 the landlords by their 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 five to fifteen 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. If any doubt remained touching the fecundity of the perch, some of the Mayo waters would prove it satisfactorily. Half a century since, I have been assured that pike and perch were almost unknown in the rivers of Belcarra and Minola, and the chain of lakes with which they communicate, and that 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.—Jesse—Lloyd—Daniel—Wild Sports.
PILCHER or PILCHARD, s. A fish like a herring.
The pilchard has a general likeness to the herring, but, when comparatively described, is essentially different. The body of the pilchard is less compressed, being thicker and rounder; the back is more elevated, the belly less sharp, the nose turns up, and, as well as the under jaw, is shorter, the dorsal fin is placed exactly in the centre of gravity, so that when taken up by it, the body preserves an equilibrium; that of the herring dips at the head. The scales of the pilchard adhere closely, whereas those of the herring very easily drop off; besides the pilchard is fatter, or more full of oil.
About the middle of July, the pilchards in vast shoals approach the Cornish coasts; the beginning of winter they disappear, a few returning after Christmas. Their winter retreat, and their motives for migrating, are the same with the herring. During summer, they affect a warmer latitude, no quantities being found on any of our coasts, except those of Cornwall; namely, from Fowey harbour to the Scilly Isles, between which places, for some weeks, the shoals keep shifting.
The appearance of the pilchard is known by the birds and larger fishes attendant upon them, and persons called Huers are placed on eminences, to point to the boats stationed off the land the course of the fish, by whose directions sometimes a bay of several miles’ extent is enclosed with their nets, called seines. By the first of James I. c. 23, fishermen are empowered to go on the grounds of others to hue, without being liable to action for trespass, which before occasioned frequent law-suits. The numbers that are taken at one shooting of the nets is astonishing. Upon the fifth of October, 1767, there were at one time inclosed in St. Ive’s Bay, 7,000 hogsheads, each cask containing 35,000 fish, in all 245,000,000.
PINT, s. Half a quart; in medicine, twelve ounces; a liquid measure.
PINTADO, s. Guinea fowls: before rain, the pintados, called comebacks, squall more than usual, as do peacocks.—Foster.
PINTAIL DUCK, LEA PHEASANT, CRACKER, WINTER DUCK (Anas acuta, LINN.; Le Canard à longue Queue, BUFF.), s.
This handsome-looking bird is twenty eight inches in length, and thirty eight in breadth, and weighs about twenty four ounces. The bill is rather long, black in the middle, and blue on the edges; the irides reddish; the head and throat are of a rusty brown, mottled with small dark spots, and tinged behind the ears with purple; the nape and upper part of the neck are dusky, margined by a narrow white line, which runs down on each side, and falling into a broader stripe of the same colour, extends itself on the fore part as far as the breast; the rest of the neck, the breast, and the upper part of the back, are elegantly pencilled with black and white waved lines; the lower back and sides of the body are undulated in the same manner, but with lines more freckled, less distinct, and paler; the scapulars are long and pointed, each feather black down the middle with white edges; the coverts of the wings are ash-brown, tipped with dull orange; below these the wing is obliquely crossed by the beauty spot of glossy bronze purple green, with a lower border of black and white; this spangle is formed by the outer webs and tips of the middle quills; the rest of the quills are dusky. All the tail feathers are of a brown ash-colour, with pale edges, except the two middle ones, which are black, slightly glossed with green, considerably longer than the others, and end in a point; the belly and sides of the vent are white; under tail-coverts black; legs and feet small, and of a lead colour.
The female is less than the male, and her plumage is of a much plainer cast, all the upper parts being brown, with each feather margined more or less with white, inclining to red or yellow; the greater coverts and secondary quills are tipped with cream-colour and white which form a bar across the wings. The fore-part of the neck, the breast, and the belly to the vent, are of a dull white, obscurely spotted with brown. The tail is long and pointed, but the two middle feathers do not extend themselves beyond the rest, like those of the male.
These birds do not visit the temperate and warm climates in great numbers, except in very severe winters, the great bulk of them dropping short, and remaining during that season in various parts of the Russian dominions, Sweden, Norway, &c., and also in the same latitudes in both Asia and America. They are seldom numerous in England, but flocks of them are sometimes abundantly spread along the isles and shores of Scotland and Ireland, and on the interior lakes of those countries, as well as those of the continent as far south as Italy, and in America as far south as New York. They are esteemed excellent eating.
The pintail duck is of a taller or more lengthened shape than any of the species, and, in the opinion of the Count de Buffon, seems to form the link between the duck and the garganey.—Latham—Bewick.
PIP, s. A defluxion with which fowls are troubled; a horny pellicle that grows on the tip of their tongues; a spot on the cards.
PIPE, s. Any long hollow body, a tube; a tube of clay through which the fume of tobacco is drawn into the mouth; an instrument of wind music; the organs of voice and respiration, as the windpipe; the key of the voice; a liquid measure containing two hogsheads.
PIPE, v. To play on the pipe; to have a shrill sound as birds have.
PIPKIN, s. A small earthen boiler.
PIQUET, s. A game at cards.
Piquet is played by two persons, with thirty-two cards: the ace, king, queen, knave, ten, nine, eight, and seven of each suit. The ace is the superior, and equal to eleven points; the king ranks above the queen, and the queen above the knave, &c. The three court cards are each equal to ten points; the ten, ten; the nine, nine; and so of the rest, each counting for as many points as it has pips.
The game consists of 101 points. The players begin with shuffling the cards; then they are to cut; he who cuts the lowest deals, but the great advantage is in being elder hand. The dealer then shuffles the cards again, and presents them to his adversary, who may also shuffle, but the dealer must have the last shuffle. If the adversary should scatter the cards, or cut but one off, or leave but one at the bottom, the dealer may mix and shuffle them again. The dealer is to give twelve a piece, by two at a time, and the eight cards which remain must be placed upon the table, and are called the talon or stock.
In this game there are three superior chances, viz. the repique, the pique, and the capot, all which may be made in one deal, as thus: suppose one of the players to have four tierce-majors, his point to be good, and he is eldest hand: he begins by counting three for his point, then twelve for his four tierce-majors, next fourteen for the four aces, fourteen for the four kings, and fourteen for the four queens, then sixty for the repique, thirteen he gains in playing the cards; and he has forty for the capot, which make together one hundred and seventy: this stroke, perhaps, has never happened; but it is just if it ever should.
To pique the adversary, you must be elder hand; for if youngest, your adversary counts one for the first card he plays, and then you having counted only twenty-nine in hand, even if you take the first trick, it will not authorise you to count sixty, but only thirty.
The carte blanche precedes every thing, then follows the point, then the huitièmes, the septièmes, the sixièmes, the quints, the quarts, the tierces, the four aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens; then the three aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens; then the points gained in playing the cards; and the last is the ten for winning the cards, or the forty for the capot. After sorting the cards, the first thing to be considered is, whether you have a carte blanche, if so, let your adversary discard, and when he is going to take in lay your twelve cards on the table, counting them one after another.
The players having examined their hands, the elder hand may discard five cards or fewer as he may deem for his advantage, and, laying them aside, he takes as many from the talon or heap; the youngest hand can lay out three only, unless any of the five allotted to his adversary be left, which he may take or not, as he pleases.
In discarding, the first intention in skilful players is, to gain the cards, and to have the point, which most commonly engages them to keep in that suit, of which they have the most cards, or that which is their strongest; for it is convenient to prefer, sometimes, forty-one in one suit to forty-four in another, in which a quint is not made; sometimes, even having a quint, it is more advantageous to hold the forty-one, where, if one card only be taken in, it may make it a quint-major, and gain the point, or the cards, which could not have been done by holding the forty-four, at least, without an extraordinary take-in. Also endeavour, in laying out, to get a quatorze; that is, four aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens, each of which counts for fourteen, and is therefore called a quatorze. The fourteen aces in your hand hinder the counting fourteen kings in the adversary’s, &c., and by this superiority you may count a lesser quatorze, as of tens, notwithstanding your adversary may have fourteen kings, &c., because the stronger (viz. the aces) annuls the weaker: and also, in the want of a lesser quatorze you may count three aces, three kings, three queens, three knaves, or three tens. Three aces are better than three kings; and he who has them may by virtue thereof count his three tens, although the adversary may have three kings; in favour of a quatorze you count not only any lesser quatorze, but also all the threes which you have, except of nines, eights, and sevens. The same is to be observed in regard to the huitièmes, septièmes, sixièmes, quints, quarts, and tierces, to which the player must have regard in his discarding, so that what he takes in may make them for him.
The point being selected, the eldest hand declares what it is, and asks if it be good: if his adversary have not so many, he answers it is good; if he have just as many, he answers it is equal; and if he have more, he answers it is not good; for whoever has the point, whether eldest or youngest, counts it first; but if the points be equal, neither can count: it is the same when the players have equal tierces, quarts, quints, &c., and whoever should hold several other sequences, either of the same goodness or lesser cannot count them.
After the elder hand has counted the point, he should examine if he have not tierce, quart, quint, &c., and then if any quatorze, or three aces, kings, &c., that he may reckon them, should his adversary not hinder him by having better.
The points, the tierces, quarts, quints, &c., are to be shown on the table, that their value may be seen and reckoned; but you are not obliged to show quatorzes, or three aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens.
After each has examined his game, and the elder, by the questions asked, seen every thing that is good in his hand, he begins to reckon. The carte blanche is first reckoned, then the point, next the sequences, and lastly, the quatorzes, as well as threes of aces, kings, &c., after which he begins to play his cards, counting one for each, except it be a nine or an inferior card.
After the elder hand has led his first card, the younger shows his point, if it be good, also the sequences, quatorzes, or threes of aces, kings, &c., and having reckoned them all together, he takes the first trick if he can with the same suit, and counts one for it; if he cannot, the other turns the trick and continues; and when the younger hand can take the trick, he may lead what suit he pleases.
A good player is principally known from an indifferent one by his manner; and it is not possible to play well without knowing the strength of the game; that is to say, by your own hand you should know what your adversary may hold, and what he must have discarded, and great notice should be taken of what he has shown or reckoned. There are no trumps at piquet, but the highest card of the suit, if played, takes the trick.
Should the elder hand have the misfortune to hold neither point, sequence, quatorze, or threes which are good, he must begin to count by playing that card which he judges most proper, and continue until his adversary has played a superior, to gain the lead in his turn. This method must be continued till all the twelve cards are played, and he who takes the last trick counts two. Then each player counts how many tricks he has taken, and he who has the most reckons the cards; but should they be equal, neither side can count any thing for the cards.
As soon as a deal is finished, each player should mark how many points he has made, and so proceed until the game be completed; and after every deal the cards must be shuffled and cut for the next; each player taking his turn, unless the game be concluded in one deal.
When you begin another game, the cards must be cut afresh for the deal, unless it be agreed upon at first, that the deal shall go on.
TERMS USED AT PIQUET.
Capot is when either of the players makes every trick, for which he scores forty.
Cards signify the majority of tricks, which reckon for ten points.
Carte Blanche means a hand without a court card in the twelve dealt, which counts for ten, and takes place of every thing else.
Huitième, eight successive cards of the same suit, counts eighteen points.
Pique, is when the elder hand has reckoned thirty in hand, and plays before the adversary has gained one; in which case, instead of thirty it is called sixty, and he adds thereto as many points as are obtained above thirty.
Point, the greatest number on the cards of the same suit in hand, after having taken in, reckoned by their pips, scores for as many points as cards.
Quart, four cards in sequence of the same suit counts four points: there are five kinds of quarts, the first called quart-major, consisting of ace, king, queen, and knave; the second quart, of king, queen, knave, and ten; the third quart, of queen, knave, ten, and nine; the fourth quart, of knave, ten, nine, and eight; the fifth, a basse-quart or quart-minor of ten, nine, eight, and seven.
Quatorze, the four aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens, scores fourteen points.
Quint means five cards of the same suit in sequence, and reckons fifteen points: there are four sorts of quints; a quint-major of ace, king, queen, knave, and ten, down to knave, ten, nine, eight, and seven, styled a quint-minor.
Repique signifies when one of the players counts thirty or more in hand, before the adversary obtains one, when it is called ninety, reckoning besides as many points above ninety as were gained above thirty in pique.
Sixième, or six cards of the same suit in sequence, reckons for sixteen points; there are three sorts of sixièmes, viz. sixième-major from the ace, sixième from the king, and sixième-minor from the queen.
Septième, or seven of the same suit in sequence, counts for seventeen points; there are two septièmes, one from the ace, the other from the king.
Threes of aces, &c., down to tens, reckon three points.
Talon or Stock means the eight remaining cards after twelve are dealt to each player.
Tierce or sequence of three, reckons for three: there are six kinds of tierces, tierce-major, of ace, king, queen; down to nine, eight, seven, styled tierce-minor.—Hoyle.
PISCATION, s. The act or practice of fishing.
PISCATORY, a. Relating to fishes.
PISCIVOROUS, a. Fish-eating, living on fish.
PISMIRE, s. An ant, an emmet.
PISTOL, s. A small sort of firearms.
PISTOL, v. To shoot with a pistol.
We were awakened early the next morning by some of our party, who had come to Versailles for the express purpose of witnessing the great shooting match which was to take place at six o’clock in the gardens of the manufactory. Accordingly we repaired to the appointed spot, attended by M. Boute, one of the principal overseers. I naturally imagined, that the pistols to be tried on this occasion were those of the manufactory, but I found this was not the case, the locks only having been constructed there.
The first match being read, whereby Mr. Tripper had engaged that an Italian gentleman named Dance, would hit a cork of an ordinary size, at sixteen yards’ distance, four times out of five, for two hundred guineas, Mr. Dance begged leave to state, that his friend must have laboured under an error, as he never pretended to hit more than once in five shots, and consequently declined any other. The forfeit money was therefore paid to me as judge, and an elegant dinner agreed on for a subsequent day.
The second bet was between Mr. Tripper, and Mr. H—— when the former wagered twenty guineas that Mr. H—— could not hit a cork at the same distance once in ten shots. At the first trial Mr. H—— very nearly struck the cork, and bets were keenly laid on his side, but notwithstanding he made good mark he proved unsuccessful.
Mr. Dance was then matched to hit a card-wafer, twice in four shots, at sixteen yards for thirty guineas. His aim proved accurate three times, and he consequently won the wager. Mr. Boute came forward and hit the wafer four times successively, but missed in two other trials.—Thornton.
PIT, s. A hole in the ground; abyss; the area on which cocks fight; the middle part of the theatre; any hollow of the body, as the pit of the stomach, the arm-pit; a dint made by the finger.
PITCH, s. A black and impure resinous substance, used by farriers in making charges, obtained by boiling or distilling tar to the desired consistence.
PITFALL, s. A pit dug and covered, into which animals fall unexpectedly.
PLAICE, s. A flat fish. Although properly a sea fish, plaice will not only live in fresh water, but thrive apace. They will take any sort of small worm, and to the sand-worm, called in Ireland the lug, they appear particularly partial.
PLAIN, s. Level ground, open flat.
PLASH, s. A small lake or puddle of water; branch partly cut off and bound to other branches.
PLASTER, s. Substance made of water and some absorbent matter, such as chalk or lime well pulverised, with which walls are overlaid; a glutinous or adhesive salve.
PLATE, s. A piece of metal beat out into breadth; wrought silver; a small shallow vessel of metal or porcelain, on which meat is eaten; the prize run for by horses.
PLATES, s. Light horse shoes. Vide RACING.
PLATINA, s. A species of metal, much used in bushing touch-holes, and generally preferred to gold for that purpose.
PLAY, s. Amusement, sport; game, practice of gaming; contest at a game; practice in any contest.
PLEDGET, s. A small mass of lint.
PLETHORA, s. The state in which the vessels are fuller of humours than is agreeable to a natural state of health.
PLEURISY, s. An inflammation of the pleura.
PLIERS, s. An instrument by which anything is laid hold of to bend it.
PLOVER, s. A lapwing.
This genus is distinguished by a large full eye; the bill is straight, short, and rather swollen towards the tip; the head is large; the legs are naked above the knee; and most of the species are without the hind toe.
Although the plover has generally been classed with those birds whose business is wholly among water, we cannot help considering the greater part of them as partaking entirely of the nature of land birds. Many of them breed upon our loftiest mountains, and though they are frequently seen upon the sea coast, feeding with birds of the water kind, yet it must be observed that they are no more water birds than any of our small birds which repair thither for the same purpose. The long legged plover and the sanderling are waders, and belong more immediately to the water birds, to which we refer them; the great plover and the lapwing we consider as entirely connected with birds of the plover kind; the former has usually been classed with the bustard, and the latter with the sandpiper; but they differ very materially from both, and seem to agree in more essential points with this kind. We have therefore given them a place in this part of our work, where, with the rest of the plovers, they may be considered as connecting the two great divisions of land and water birds, to both of which they are in some degree allied.
The Great Plover, Thick-kneed, Bustard, Stone Curlew, Norfolk Plover. (Charadrius œdicnemus, LINN.; Le Grand Pluvier, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is about sixteen inches. Its bill is long, yellowish at the base, and black at the tip; its irides and eyelids are pale yellow; above each eye there is a pale streak, and beneath one of the same colour extends to the bill, the throat is white, the head, neck, and all the upper parts of the body are of a pale tawny brown; down the middle of each feather there is a dark streak; the forepart of the neck and the breast are nearly of the same colour, but much paler; the belly, thighs, and vent, are of a pale yellowish white, the quills are black; the tail is short and rounded, and a dark band crosses the middle of each feather; the tips are black, the rest white: the legs are yellow, and naked above the knees, which are very thick as if swollen, hence its name, the claws are black.
This bird is found in great plenty in Norfolk and several of the southern counties, but is nowhere to be met with in the northern parts of our island; it prefers dry and stony places on the sides of sloping banks. It makes no nest: the female lays two or three eggs on the bare ground, sheltered by a stone or in a small hole formed in the sand; they are of a dirty white, marked with spots of a deep reddish colour, mixed with slight streaks. Although this bird has great power of wing, and flies with great strength, it is seldom seen during the day, except it is surprised, when it springs to some distance, and generally escapes before the sportsman comes within gun-shot; it likewise runs on the ground almost as swiftly as a dog; after running some time it stops short, holding its head and body still, and on the least noise it squats close on the ground. In the evening it comes out in quest of food and may then be heard at a great distance: its cry is singular, resembling a hoarse kind of whistle, three or four times repeated, and has been compared to the turning of a rusty handle.
Buffon endeavours to express it by the words turlui, turlui, and says it resembles the sound of a third flute, dwelling on three or four tones from a flat to a sharp. Its food consists chiefly of worms. It is said to be good eating when young, the flesh of the old ones is hard, black, and dry. Mr. White mentions them as frequenting the district of Selborne, in Hampshire. He says, that the young run immediately from the nest almost as soon as they are excluded, like partridges; that the dam leads them to some stony field where they bask, skulking among the stones, which they resemble so nearly in colour as not easily to be discovered.
Birds of this kind are migratory; they arrive in April, live with us all the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn prepare to take leave, by getting together in flocks: it is supposed that they retire to Spain, and frequent the sheep-walks with which that country abounds.
The Golden Plover, Yellow Plover. (Charadrius pluvialis, LINN.; Le Pluvier doré, BUFF.)—The size of the turtle; bill dusky; eyes dark; all the upper parts of the plumage are marked with bright yellow spots upon a dark brown ground; the fore part of the neck and breast are the same, but much paler; the belly is almost white; the quills are dusky; the tail is marked with dusky and yellow bars; the legs are black. Birds of this species vary very much from each other; in some which we have had the breast was marked with black and white; in others it was almost black; but whether this difference arose from age or sex we are at a loss to determine.
The golden plover is common in this country and all the northern parts of Europe; it is very numerous in various parts of America, from Hudson’s Bay as far as Carolina, migrating from one place to another, according to the seasons. It breeds on high and heathy mountains; the female lays four eggs, of a pale olive colour, variegated with blackish spots. They fly in small flocks, and make a shrill whistling noise, by an imitation of which they are sometimes enticed within gun shot.
The male and female do not differ from each other. In young birds the yellow spots are not very distinguishable, as the plumage inclines more to grey.
The Grey Plover. (Tringa squaturola, LINN.; Le Vanneau Pluvier, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is about twelve inches; its bill is black; the head, back, and wing coverts, are of a dusky brown, edged with greenish ash-colour, and some with white; the cheeks and throat are white, marked with oblong dusky spots; the belly, sides, and rump, are white: the sides are marked with a few dusky spots; the outer webs of the quills are black; the lower parts of the inner webs of the first four are white; the tail is marked with alternate bars of black and white; the legs are of a dull green; the hind toe is small. In the Planches Enluminées this bird is represented with eyes of an orange colour; there is likewise a dusky line extending from the bill underneath each eye, and a white one above it.
We have placed this bird with the plovers, as agreeing with them in every other respect but that of having a very small hind toe; but this is so slight a difference as not to render it necessary to exclude it from a place in the plover family, to which it evidently belongs. The grey plover is not very common in Britain; it appears sometimes in small flocks on the sea coasts. It is somewhat larger than the golden plover. Its flesh is said to be very delicate.
Long-legged Plover, Long-shanks, or Long-leg. (Charadrius himantopus, LINN. L’Echasse, BUFF.)—Its slender black bill is two inches and a half long, from the tip of which to the end of the tail it measures only about thirteen inches, but to the toes a foot and a half; the wings are long, measuring from tip to tip twenty-nine inches; irides red; the crown of the head, back, and wings, a glossy black; tail light grey, except the two outside feathers, which are white, as are all the other parts of its plumage, except a few dusky spots on the back of the neck. Its long, weak, and disproportionate legs are of a blood red, and measure from the foot to the upper naked part of the thigh about eight inches; the toes are short, and the outer and middle ones are connected by a membrane at the base.
Ornithologists mention only a few instances of this singular looking species having been met with in Great Britain, but it is common in other countries.
Latham says it is common in Egypt, being found there in the marshes in October; its food is said to consist principally of flies. It is likewise plentiful about the salt lakes, and is often seen on the shores of the Caspian Sea, as well as by the rivers which empty themselves into it, and in the southern deserts of Independent Tartary. We have also seen it on Chinese paintings, and it is known at Madras in the East Indies. It is also often met with in the warmer parts of America; is sometimes seen as far north as Connecticut, and also in Jamaica.
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Plover Shooting.—There is, in shooting plovers, a common remark made by sportsmen that the second is always the more productive barrel. The rapidity with which they vary their position when on the ground, seldom admits of a grand combination for a sitting, or rather a running-shot. But when on the wing, their mode of flight is most favourable for permitting the shot to tell; and it is by no means unusual to bring down a number. When disturbed, they frequently wheel back directly above the fowler, and offer a tempting mark if he should have a barrel in reserve; and even when too high for the shot to take effect, I have often thrown away a random fire; for the plovers, on hearing the report, directly make a sweep downwards on the wing, and I have by this means brought them within range of the second barrel.
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Golden plovers were formerly killed in great plenty by means of a stalking-horse. If you fire at these birds as they fly over you, they will dart down for the moment, and spread in every direction; so that by taking a random shot with your first barrel, you may often bring down the birds to a fair one for your second.—Bewick.
PLUCK, v. To pull with nimbleness or force; to snatch, to pull, to draw; to strip off feathers.
PLUCK, s. A pull, a draw, a single act of plucking; the heart, liver, and lights of an animal.
PLUMAGE, s. Feathers, suit of feathers.
I believe that no attention has been paid to the effects of different kinds of food on the colours of birds. The linnet and redpole, in confinement, lose, after the first moult, their red colour, and it does not return. Is this owing to the want of the peculiar food they would take in the spring, if at liberty, or to their being less exposed to the sunshine? I once saw the English white water-lily blow of a pale rose colour, after a week of unusual heat in July. Birds that change their colours at different seasons, always put on their bright garb in the warm season. I have repeatedly observed, in a splendid nondescript finch which I possess, that, although it moults partially twice in the year, the colour of the larger feathers on the wings and back changes gradually from yellowish brown to scarlet, and fades again at the approach of winter. In this bird, the change to grey red is very clearly occasioned by the increase of temperature. I have observed, in the spring, that the supervention of cold weather stops its progress. In the Whidah bird, the mutation of dress is rapid, accompanying the moult in June and July. The American blue bird pushes brown feathers in its summer moult, which are very suddenly turned to blue. There is a mystery in these mutations which we do not understand.
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It is not easy to account for the variation we sometimes perceive in the plumage of birds of the same species. I have observed a rook with one white wing, during the last three years, in the rookery in Hampton Court park; and I saw a sparrow nearly white, amongst a flock of those birds, at West Molesey. A linnet was shot and brought to me from the same place, which was beautifully mottled with white and brown. Some years ago I was shown some white blackbirds, in the grounds of a nobleman at Blackheath, which had been bred there; and what showed this was not an accidental circumstance, they produced young of the same colour as themselves.—White of Selborne—Jesse.
PLUME, s. Feather of birds; feather worn as an ornament; the colour of a hawk’s feathers, by which her age and condition are ascertained.
PLUME, v. To pick and adjust feathers; to strip off feathers.
PLUMING, p. The hawk in the act of tearing feathers from her prey.
PLUMIPEDE, s. A fowl that has feathers on the foot.
PLUMMET, s. A weight of lead hung to a string, by which depths are sounded, and perpendicularity is discerned. A plummet and line will be very serviceable to the bait fisher, in ascertaining the depth of the water, and enabling him thus to regulate the position of the float.
PLUMP, a. Somewhat flat, sleek, full, and smooth.
PLUNGE, v. To sink suddenly in water; to dive.
POACH, v. To steal game; to carry off game privately in a bag.
POACHER, s. One who steals game.
POCHARD, POKER, DUNBIRD, GREAT-HEADED WIGEON, (Anas Ferina, LINN.; Penelope, La Millouin, BUFF.) s.
The pochard is nineteen inches in length, and two feet and a half in breadth, and weighs about one pound thirteen ounces. The bill is of a dark lead-colour, with the tip and sides near the nostrils, black: irides fine deep yellow: the head and neck are of a glossy chestnut, joined to a large space of sooty black, which covers the breast, and is spread over the shoulders: the lower part of the back, rump, tail-coverts, and vent, are also black: the rest of the plumage, both above and below, is wholly covered with prettily freckled, slender, dusky threads, disposed transversely in close-set zig-zag lines, on a pale ground, more or less shaded off with ash, and deepest on the wing-coverts. The primary quills are brown, with dusky tips; the secondaries lead-colour, tinged with brown, and slightly tipped with dull white. The tail consists of twelve short feathers, of a dark-brownish ash, which have also a hoary grey appearance: the legs and toes are lead-colour, shaded and dashed with black. This species is without the beauty-spot on the wings, and has altogether a more plain and half-mourning kind of look than others of this tribe. The specimen from which the above figure was drawn, was shot at Axwell-park, in the county of Durham: the description was taken from one shot in January, near Holy Island. The former differed from the latter in wanting the black on the rump and vent, and in some other slight variations in the shadings of its colours.
The head of the female is of a pale reddish-brown; the breast is of rather a deeper colour; the coverts of the wings plain ash-colour; the back marked like that of the male; the belly ash-coloured.
These birds leave the north on the approach of winter, and migrate southward as far, it is said, as Egypt, in Africa, and Carolina and Louisiana, in America. They arrive in the marshes of France about the end of October, in tolerably numerous flocks; and considerable numbers of them are caught in the fens of Lincolnshire during the winter season, and sold in the London markets, where they and the female wigeons are indiscriminately called dunbirds, and esteemed excellent eating. It has not yet been discovered whether any of them remain to breed in England.
The pochard is of a plump, round shape, and its walk is heavy, ungraceful, and waddling; but when on the wing they fly with greater rapidity than the mallard, and in flocks of from twenty to forty, commonly in a close compact body, whereby they may be easily distinguished from the triangular-shaped flocks of the wild duck, as well as by the difference of the noise of their wings.
The few attempts which have been made to domesticate this species have failed of success. They do pretty well where they have plenty of water, but it is said that they cannot bear walking about on hard, pebbly ground.—Bewick.
POCK, s. A pustule raised by the small pox.
POD, s. The capsule of legumes, the case of seeds.
POINT, s. The sharp end of any instrument; a string with a tag; headland, promontory.
POINT, v. To sharpen, to forge or grind to a point; to indicate, as dogs do to sportsmen; to show.
POINTER, s. Anything that points; a dog that points out game to sportsmen.
The Spanish Pointer. (Canis Avicularis, variety α, LINN.)—This dog, as his name implies, is a native of the Peninsula, and was introduced into this country at a very early period. Great attention was paid by sportsmen for a long series of years to preserve, in purity, this important breed; but lately it has in a great measure been set aside in field sports, a more improved race having been produced by crossing, usually called the English pointer.
The Spanish pointer is much larger and stronger than the English, and is also more steady. He seems to have an inherent aptness for receiving instruction. Indeed it requires but little tuition to render him fit for the field; as, in most instances, young dogs of this breed will point of their own accord, whilst the more improved kinds require considerable drilling to initiate them, and make them do their work steadily.
The Spanish breed is the most staunch of all dogs, and if they had speed and activity in proportion to their steadiness, they would excel all others which are auxiliary to man in the sports of the field. From their weight, however, they are not so well suited for an extensive range, nor are they so hardy as the English dog, on which account they are ill adapted for the laborious amusement of grouse-shooting. They are now chiefly used by those who confine their sport to the pheasant and partridge.
The English Pointer (Canis Avicularis, variety β.)—This dog is sprung from the Spanish pointer, but is of a much lighter form, and much more rapid in his movements. He was obtained originally by a cross of the latter and the fox-hound, and has since been recrossed with the harrier. The English pointer is of a great variety of sizes, being in this particular bred according to the taste of the sportsman.
This dog possesses a beautiful symmetry of frame, and in this respect is, perhaps, the most elegant of all the canine tribe. His docility and pliability of temper, too, are truly astonishing, and he enjoys, at the same time, the sense of smelling in an exquisite degree.
About sixty years ago, the breed of pointers was nearly white, or mostly variegated with liver-coloured spots, except the celebrated dogs of the then Duke of Kingston, whose black pointers were considered superior to all others in the kingdom, and sold for immense sums after his death. Since that time they have been bred of all sizes and colours, and have at length attained that degree of perfection for which they are now so justly prized all over Europe.
Dogs of the middle size are now generally considered the best by experienced sportsmen; the larger kinds, like the Spanish pointer, are too heavy, and soon tire in warm weather, although they are best adapted for hunting in the high turnips, heath, and broomfields.
In proportion as the breed of pointers diverges in blood from their Spanish original, the difficulty of training them, and rendering them staunch for the field, increases, as they seem to lose a quality inherent in the latter dog.
Pointers are never considered complete in training, unless they are perfectly staunch to bird, dog, and gun, which implies, first, standing singly to a bird or covey; secondly, to backing or pointing the moment he perceives another dog to stand at game; and, thirdly, not to stir from his own point at the rising of any bird, or the firing of any gun in the field, provided the game is neither sprung nor started at which he himself originally pointed.
The pointer possesses a degree of mildness and pliability of disposition most admirably adapted for receiving instruction, and his mental faculties are extremely acute. He is most susceptible of impressions; serene in his general habits, and unwearied in his attachments. With all these good points, he is well qualified to secure the esteem and confidence of man, whom he is always solicitous to please, and obedient to all that is inculcated upon him. Whenever he is conscious of his own powers and education, he makes it his whole business to serve and amuse his master. At the same time, he will also perform his work to others to whom he may be lent, and is sensible of the duty required of him the moment he enters the field.
Pointers are seldom used in any other kind of shooting than that of grouse, partridge, and snipe; in the two last of which sports their merits are the more conspicuous.
Mr. Daniel informs us, that he once had a pointer that would always go round close to the hedges of a field before he would quarter his ground; the dog being sensible that he most frequently found his game in the course of this circuit, and therefore very naturally took the middle road to discover it.
The Small Pointer (Canis Avicularis, minor variety, γ.)—I have just seen an extremely small pointer, in the possession of C. G. Stewart Menteath, Esq. of Closeburn. His length, from the tip of the nose to the point of the tail, is only two feet and half an inch; from the one fore-foot to the other, across the shoulders, two feet; length of the head, six inches; round the chest, one foot three inches. He is an exquisite miniature of the English pointer, being in all respects similar to him. His colour is white, with dark liver-coloured patches on each side of the head, extending half down the neck; the ears, with some patches on the back, are also of the same colour; and numerous small dark brown spots appear over his whole body and legs. This beautiful little animal has an exquisite sense of smell; and it is said that some of the same variety, possessed by the Earl of Lauderdale, have been broken in, and make excellent pointers; although, from their minute size, it cannot be expected that they will be able to do much work. When intent on any object, the dog assumes the same attitude as other pointers, holding up one of his feet.
I have not been able to ascertain the native county of this variety, although I have been informed it is common in the south of Germany.
Sir James Colquhoun has a dog of the same breed, which is even smaller than that belonging to Mr. Menteath.
The Russian Pointer (Canis Avicularis, variety δ.)—This variety seems only to be a descendant of the Spanish pointer, which he strongly resembles in shape, with rough wiry hair all over his body, probably arising from the coldness of the climate, as nature seems to provide all the dogs of boreal regions with a covering fitted to resist the inclemency of the sky. Even his legs are invested with hair, which is generally of a uniform black colour, or of a dark umber brown. There is one peculiarity about him, which is, that his nose is so deeply cleft that it appears to be split in two; on which account he is termed, in Russia, the double-nosed pointer. His scent is said to be superior to that of the smooth dogs. His cleft nose is found to be inconvenient when he is beating in cover, as the face is apt to be torn where the brushwood is thick.
Russian sportsmen generally feed their pointers on oatmeal boiled, and they are kept about their houses.
Colour of Pointers.—Respecting the colour of pointers (as before observed), a great deal depends entirely on fancy, but that most esteemed is the liver and white, although there are as good dogs of every other colour, indeed there is hardly a colour but some reason may be assigned for its being either good or bad. A white dog is to be preferred on two accounts; the first is, being all white, he is void of any thing phlegmatic in his constitution, which does not hinder him from retaining the lesson he has been taught, and prevent his being obedient; besides, he has always a good nose: secondly, in grouse shooting, he can be discerned at any distance, whereas a brown one cannot. A white pointer, if good, is a treasure to a keen sportsman. Pointers of lemon, or setters of a red or chestnut colour, are always the most difficult to be brought to obedience, by reason of the bilious humour which prevails in them, and which causes this irregularity. The white pointer is full of stratagems and cunning, and is not so easily tired as dogs of the lemon colour, which are very giddy and impatient, as choler is the most predominant humour in them it in some measure accounts for their being so; they are very uneasy under correction, and are certainly more subject to diseases than any other dogs. Pointers of a brown colour are generally good ones; but one great objection to this colour is, they are difficult to be seen on a mountain, and are sometimes lost, which gives the sportsman a vast deal of trouble before he can discover them; but let any sportsman be asked, if he has not remarked that a brown-coloured dog will bring him closer to game than any other, by reason that they are not so easily perceived by the birds or game, as one of a white or any other colour. The compiler, from many years’ experience, is confident a sportsman will get more shots with a brown dog than one of any other colour, and has found him very useful when birds become shy, and the season is far advanced.—Thornhill.
POISON, s. That which destroys or injures life by a small quantity, and by means not obvious to the senses, venom.
Corrosive sublimate, or oxymuriate of quicksilver, is a most deadly and unmanageable poison to dogs, in doses as small even as five or six grains. Its effects are observed soon after it is taken, by the distress of the animal, by his frequent retchings, insatiable thirst, panting, and anxiety for a cool situation. The mouth becomes swollen; if the dose has been large, it appears ulcerated also, and emits a very fœtid odour, which circumstance forms a very strong characteristic, both with regard to the animal’s having been poisoned, and also to the article employed for the purpose. As the symptoms advance the retchings are tinged with blood; the stools become liquid and bloody also; the heart beats faintly, but with rapidity; the extremities become cold; violent tremblings, paralysis, or convulsions follow, and death relieves the sufferer. On examination of the body afterwards, the whole alimentary canal, beginning at the mouth and proceeding backwards, exhibits marks of the corrosive nature of the matter taken. The stomach, on being opened, will appear covered with highly inflamed patches, and the villous folds of its inner and rugose surface will present gangrenous and ulcerated spots, and a ready separation of the mucous from the muscular coat, with blood often suffused between them; which circumstances only take place when a most acrid poison has been swallowed. The intestines also show appearances of great inflammation, particularly of their inner surface, which will be found sprinkled with gangrenous specks, and, moreover, frequently filled with a thick bloody mucus. Such are the usual morbid appearances; but satisfactorily to detect the presence of a poison, and the immediate nature of it, some of the liquid contents of the stomach and bowels, both before and after death, should be saved, and undergo a rigid chemical analysis. In general cases the addition of potash to some of these liquid contents will occasion a light yellow precipitate when corrosive sublimate has been the poisonous agent; but a practical chemist will employ many other tests.
The medical treatment to be pursued in these cases consists in both endeavouring to envelope and to neutralise the acrid matter: the former may be attempted by means of a glairy fluid, for which purpose the whites of eggs have proved the most effectual remedies, beaten into a liquid, given in large quantities, and repeated as often as they have been ejected; when these are not immediately at hand, milk may be substituted. Mild clysters should also be thrown up. When the stomach is somewhat appeased, give an opiate and castor oil. Large doses of soap, dissolved in water, have been recommended as a counter poison to corrosive minerals, or their preparations, and, in the absence of eggs, should be tried.
Arsenic.—This powerful oxide is often given to dogs, and not unfrequently they find it for themselves in a state of mixture with other matters placed to poison rats. The effects produced by it resemble those occasioned by corrosive sublimate, except that, although they prove equally fatal, they are not apparently so intense. The mouth, likewise, is not usually affected, in an equal degree, by this poison as by the other. Dissection, also, detects similar morbid appearances to those above detailed; but, unless a very large dose has been taken, there is not such complete lesion of the coats of the stomach and intestines, but the gangrenous spots and the excess of inflammation are fully sufficient to detect the disorganising action of a mineral poison. Instead of subjecting the liquid contents of the stomach and bowels to the action of potash, as directed when corrosive sublimate is looked for, it is usual to detect arsenic by applying the blue ammoniacal sulphate of copper, which will produce a lively green if arsenic is present. A red hot iron will also occasion these contents to give out a garlic-like smell under similar circumstances.
The treatment proper, in cases of arsenical poisoning, is to give sugar dissolved in milk, in considerable quantities, until it may be supposed that all the poison is evacuated from the stomach, when a similar treatment is to be pursued to that before recommended.
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In speaking of poisons White makes the following curious remark.—I once gave two drachms of stavesacre to a glandered horse; he died in great pain the following night. It is probable that more horses have been killed by aloes, than by any other vegetable preparation. That is to say, by strong physic, or by neglecting the horse during its operation. The best antidote in this case, is gruel made of arrow-root or fine wheat flour. The animal poisons are the stings of venomous reptiles, for which stimulating embrocations seem to be better remedies than fomentations. The matter which flows from the nose of a glandered horse is a strong poison, whether applied to a recent scratch in the skin, or swallowed with food or water. The saliva of a mad dog is a dreadful poison to man, and to all animals.—Blaine—White.
POISON, v. To infect with poison; to injure, or kill by poison given; to taint.
POISONOUS, a. Venomous, having the qualities of poison.
POLE, s. A long staff; a tall piece of timber erected; a measure of length containing five yards and a half; an instrument of measuring.
POLEAXE, s. An axe fixed to a long pole.
POLECAT, s. The fitchew; it is of the weasel tribe, and emits a most fetid smell.
This animal is known by various names or local appellations. In some parts of the country it is called a fitchet, in others a foumart, in others again a fillemark. The polecat is larger than the ferret, which, however, it very much resembles in appearance and disposition. But, according to the accounts which have been given us by naturalists, there are, it seems, internal differences which distinctly mark these two animals: the polecat has but fourteen ribs; whereas the ferret has fifteen; and it also wants one of the breast bones which is found in the ferret. The ferret is more slender and elongated than the polecat, and has also a more pointed or sharper snout. It is, for the most part, of a deep chocolate colour; it is white about the mouth; the ears are short, rounded, and tipped with white; a little beyond the corners of the mouth a stripe commences, which runs backward, partly white and partly yellow. Its hair is of two sorts, the long and the furry, and the two kinds are of different colours: the longer is black, and the shorter a dull or dirty yellow, which produces the general chocolate colour already mentioned; the feet and tail are blacker than any other parts: the claws are white underneath and brown above; and its tail is about two inches and a half long.
The polecat, like the fox, avoids as much as possible the human countenance; and, like the fox too, possesses the most undaunted courage. However, in comparing these two animals, though they happen to agree in the two particulars just mentioned, yet they are enemies to each other: or, in other words, the fox will not fail to kill the polecat whenever they meet; in fact, the fox may be regarded as the unrelenting enemy of all the smaller vermin. Reynard will kill and eat the wild cat, or any other cat which might happen to come in his way; as well as the polecat, the weasel, the stoat, the rat, &c.
The polecat evinces an insatiate thirst for blood, and is very destructive to all kinds of young game; and if it is not openly so to that which is full grown, it is because it is not so easily caught: it will surprise hares on their seats, will seize partridges or pheasants on the nest; and is incredibly destructive in a rabbit warren: it will, like all the other animals of the weasel tribe, kill much more than it can devour; in fact, so fond are these animals of sucking the blood of their victims, that, in a place like a rabbit warren, or wherever their food is presented in such abundance, the polecat (and the same of the weasel and stoat) would continue destroying, if undisturbed, merely for the sake of the blood.
The polecat is particularly destructive among pigeons, when it happens to get into a dove-house:—it despatches each bird with a single wound near to, or in, the head; and, after killing all it can, and sucking their blood, will convey them to its retreat. This the animal will carefully perform, going and returning, and bringing them one by one to its hole; but if it should happen that the opening by which it got into the dove-house be not large enough for the body of the pigeon to pass through, this mischievous animal contents itself with carrying away the heads, and makes a most delicious feast upon the brains.
The polecat is also fond of honey, frequently robbing the bee hives in winter, a period when its prey is not so easily found in the woods and fields.
Their retreat is generally in banks well sheltered with brambles or underwood, or amongst brakes or woods, or other similar situations. They burrow in the ground, making a tolerably large hole, about two feet deep, which may easily be known by any one who has once noticed the hole of a polecat. In winter, they will frequently approach houses or buildings, and will rob the hen-roost, the pigeon-house, or even the dairy, when pressed by hunger: on these occasions, they contrive to form a retreat in or under some of the walls; and if they are unable to secure an asylum of this sort, they will make their way under the corn stacks, and whenever this happens to be the case, all the rats in the immediate vicinity remove to a greater distance; the polecat is a deadly enemy to the rat, and of this the latter is very well aware; and yet it would appear that the polecat (from its size) is unable to follow it through its burrows or runs; and the rat, as if conscious of this incapacity in the former, removes no further from the presence of its enemy than what may suit its convenience. The writer witnessed an instance, where a great number of rats were found in a stack of wheat, but all of them in the upper part; for several feet from the ground not a rat was to be met with, which excited some surprise; but the circumstance developed itself on reaching the bottom, where it was found an enormous polecat had taken up its abode.
The female brings forth her young in the spring, to the number of from four to six. To “stink like a polecat” is a common observation in some parts; and indeed so impregnated does every part of the animal appear to be with a very offensive fetid matter, that even the fur, which is soft and warm, can scarcely be divested of it. Whenever the polecat happens to be killed, the fetid matter just mentioned issues from the pores of its body in great quantities, forming a very unpleasant effluvium, which is perceptible even at some distance.
There are farmers to be met with who, whenever a polecat approaches their barns, buildings, or houses, afford it every possible protection, on account of its enmity to rats; but as its chief propensities are in direct opposition to the views of the sportsman, so gamekeepers should be careful to destroy it wherever it is to be met with.
If taken young, the polecat is not difficult to tame; nor in a domestic state is it offensive to the human olfactory organs; as although it is impregnated with a fetid matter, yet it would seem that the effluvium which thence arises is only thrown off when the animal is killed or very much alarmed.
The polecat is seldom seen during the day, unless compelled by hunger to quit its retreat; but, as soon as night sets in, it leaves its hole in quest of prey, when it may be pursued and killed by terriers. In the midland counties hunting the polecat by moonlight forms a diversion for schoolboys and the younger branches. After night-fall, when the polecat rambles abroad, its hole (if known) is stopped, the terriers are thrown off, one of which, upon whom the greatest dependence can be placed, has a small bell fastened round his neck, in order that the hunters may know where the dogs are questing. When they hit upon the scent, the terriers give tongue; and as soon as the polecat finds himself pursued, he makes directly for his hole, which, if stopped, he cannot of course enter, and is compelled to seek some other retreat, during which he is perhaps killed; if run to ground, he is very unceremoniously dug out and worried on the spot, it being a general opinion amongst the vulgar (in Leicestershire for instance), that whenever or wherever a polecat is run to ground, they have a right to dig him out.
The above method, however, is not the mode in which I would recommend gamekeepers to destroy the polecat; for the accomplishment of their purpose, they can go a much shorter and surer way to work: this animal seems possessed of little cunning, and is trapped with little difficulty. The steel trap is generally used for this animal; but it may be taken in the following manner:—box traps may be set in the bottom of ditches, or under walls or pales, with the ends of the traps fenced up to, for four or five yards aslant, and two or three yards wide at the entrance, with earth, bushes, or broken pales, so that the animal cannot pass without entering the trap. A trail of red herrings, half broiled, should be drawn from one trap to another, and the traps should be baited with the same material, with which also the ends of the traps may be rubbed. By having both ends of box-traps painted white, and rubbed with herrings or the entrails of any animal, hares will be deterred from entering. This mode is well calculated to catch the wild cat, or indeed any kind of quadrupedal vermin. Therefore, when any of the traps are sprung, a bag sufficiently large to admit an end of the trap is to be provided and slipped over it; and by rattling at the other end of the trap, the creature will spring into the bag; for, without some such precaution, should a wild cat be caught, the moment the light is admitted it will fly in the face of the person opening it This is the method generally adopted by warreners.
The steel-trap, however, is by far the best and surest method of taking the polecat—and indeed the best method of catching all kinds of vermin. It is more portable, more easily prepared, and very rarely fails in its operation.—Gamekeeper’s Directory.
POLISH, v. To smooth, to brighten by attrition.
POLISH, s. Artificial gloss, brightness given by attrition.
POLISHER, s. The person or instrument that gives a gloss.
POLL, s. The head; a fish called generally a chub, a cheven.
POLLARD, s. A tree lopped; the chub fish.
POLLEN, s. A fine powder, commonly understood by the word farina, as also a sort of fine bran.
POLLEVIL, s. Pollevil is a large swelling, inflammation, or imposthume in the horse’s poll or nape of the neck.
POLLOCK, s. A kind of fish. This species is abundant on the British coasts.
POLYGON, s. A figure of many angles.
POMMEL, s. A round ball or knob; the knob that balances the blade of the sword; the protuberant part of the saddle before.
POND, s. A small pool or lake of water, a basin, a water not running or emitting any stream.
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 brick-work, 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 three large barbel I had, and six good-sized perch, probably partook of them.
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Jesse, p. 86, says, I will now give an account published by Mr. Neill, in the Scots’ Magazine, of some sea-fish kept in a small pond into which sea-water could be introduced. This pond was from time to time replenished with fish. The following fishes were in it:—
1. Cod.—They were lively, and caught greedily at shell-fish which were thrown into the pond. They kept chiefly, however, in the deep water, and, after approaching with a circular sweep, and making a snatch at the prey, descended out of sight to devour it.
2. Haddock.—These, contrary to expectation, were found to be the tamest fishes in the pond. At ebb tide they came to the inner margin, and ate limpets from the hand of a little boy, the son of a keeper. They appeared white, and rather sickly.
3. Coalfish.—Some of these were of a large size, exceeding in dimensions the largest cod in the pond. They were bold and familiar, floating about slowly and majestically, till some food was thrown to them; this they seized voraciously, whether it consisted of shell-fish or ship biscuit. They would also occasionally approach the margin, and take their food from the keeper’s hand.
4. Whiting.—These were scarce in the pond, and very shy.
5. Pollack.—This was pretty common, and has been found to answer well as a pond fish.
6. Salmon.—This was the wildest and quickest in its motions of all the inhabitants. When a muscle or limpet, freed from the shell, was thrown on the surface of the water, the salmon very often darted forward and took the prey from all the competitors, disappearing with a sudden jerk and turn of the body.
7. Flat fish or flounders, of two sorts, were also in the pond, but they naturally kept at the bottom, and were not seen.
The food given to the fishes consisted chiefly of sand-eels and of shell-fish, particularly limpets and muscles. In the herring-fishery season, herrings were cut in pieces for this purpose.
It is remarkable that all the kinds of sea-fish above enumerated, seemed to agree very well together. No fighting had ever been observed by the keeper, and seldom any chasing of one species by another. None of the fish ever bred.
Dr. Fleming has remarked, that when a salt-water fish is put into fresh water, its motions speedily become irregular, its respiration appears to be affected, and, unless released, it soon dies; and that the same consequences follow when a fresh-water fish is suddenly immersed in salt water.
This is not, however, the case with all fish. A cod will not only live, but thrive well in fresh water, if properly fed. A respectable fishmonger assured me that he had tried the experiment, and succeeded, and offered to send me some live cod in a well-boat, for my piscatorium in Bushy Park.
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Immense value of pond fish.—The fish in the ponds of Lucullus, sold, after his decease, for 3,000,000 of sesterces (24,218_l._ 15_s._ sterling). Caius Hirtus first introduced the keeping of lampreys in stews, and lent Cæsar, during the time of his triumph, 600 of these fish, for which he would receive no equivalent in money, nor any other commodity, but conditioned the repayment to be the same number and weight of lampreys. His ponds and fish about his house, which was itself extremely small, were sold for one million more than the above sum (32,291_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._)
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In August 1799, the Earl of Essex fished a large pond near Radnor Forest, which had been stocked fifty-eight years. Carp and eels were the only fish found in it; of the former, 100 brace were taken that weighed from fourteen to fifteen pounds each carp; of the latter, the largest exceeded eight pounds.—Jesse—Daniel.
PONY, s. A small horse.
POODLE (Canis aquaticus minor), s. Vide WATER DOG.
A friend of mine had a poodle-dog possessed of more than ordinary sagacity; but he was, however, under little command. In order to keep him in better order, my friend purchased a small whip, with which he corrected the dog once or twice during a walk. On his return the whip was put on a table in the hall, and the next morning it was missing. It was soon afterwards found concealed in an out-building, and again made use of in correcting the dog. It was, however, again lost, but found hidden in another place. On watching the dog, who was suspected of being the culprit, he was seen to take the whip from the hall-table, and run away with it, in order again to hide it. The late James Cumming, Esq. was the owner of the dog, and related this anecdote to me.—Jesse.
POOKA, s. A mode of fishing sometimes used in the Irish lakes.
By mesh-nets immense numbers of pike are annually taken; and with night-lines, and a very simple contrivance, called the pooka, these fish, with the largest trout and perch, are constantly killed.
This latter implement is formed of a piece of flat board, having a little mast and sail erected on it. Its use is to carry out the extremity of a long line, of considerable stoutness, to which, at regulated distances, an infinity of droppers or links are suspended, each armed with a hook and a bait. Corks are affixed to the principal line or back, to keep it buoyant on the surface; and from a weather-shore, if there be a tolerable breeze, any quantity of hooks and baits can be floated easily across the water. The corks indicate to the fisherman when a fish is on the dropper, and in a small punt, or curragh, he attends to remove the spoil and renew the baits when necessary. Two hundred hooks may be used on the same line, and the pooka at times affords much amusement, and often a well-filled pannier.—Wild Sports.
POOL, s. A lake of standing water.
PORE, s. A spiracle of the skin, the passage of perspiration; any narrow spiracle or passage.
PORK, s. Swine’s flesh.
PORKER, s. A hog, a pig.
POROUS, a. Having small spiracles or passages.
PORRIDGE, s. Food made by boiling meat and other ingredients in water.
PORT, s. A harbour, a safe station for ships; the aperture in a ship at which the gun is run out; carriage, air, mien; the name of the wine of Oporto in Portugal.
PORTABLE, a. Manageable by the hand; such as may be borne along with one; such as is transported or carried from one place to another.
POSTHASTE, s. Haste like that of a courier.
POSTHORSE, s. A horse stationed for the use of couriers.
POT, s. A vessel in which meat is boiled on the fire; vessel to hold liquids; a vessel made of earth; a pewter vessel or mug, holding a quart or pint of beer.
POTATO, s. An esculent root. Potatoes are given very much in Ireland to fatten lean horses. When only given in small quantities they are not objectionable for horses who do but little work.
POUCH, s. A small bag; a pocket.
POULT, s. A young chicken, particularly of a turkey or grouse.
POULTERER, s. One whose trade is to sell fowls ready for the table.
POULTICE, s. A cataplasm, a soft mollifying application.
Poultices or cataplasms are used for promoting suppuration in inflamed tumours, and in grease, scratches, cracks, &c. The poultices commonly employed on those occasions are of the emollient kind.
EMOLLIENT POULTICES.
No. 1. Linseed meal ½ lb. Bran 3 quarts. Hogs’ lard 4 oz.
Boiling water enough to make a soft poultice.
No. 2. Turnips thoroughly boiled and mashed; any quantity. Linseed meal enough to form the poultice.
Either of the simple poultices may be converted into an anodyne poultice by the addition of opium; into a fomenting poultice, by the addition of yeast, and by substituting oatmeal for linseed meal: into an astringent poultice, by the addition of Goulard’s extract, sugar of lead, or powdered alum; and into a detergent poultice, by the addition of white or blue vitriol.
In obstinate cases of virulent grease, where there is much pain, and a stinking dark-coloured discharge, and especially when emollients are found ineffectual, the detergent poultice has quickly cured the disease, and in such cases even a solution of corrosive sublimate has been used with the best effect.—White.
POULTICE, v. To apply a poultice or cataplasm.
POULTRY, s. Domestic fowls.
POUNCE, s. The claw or talon of a bird of prey; the powder of gum sandarach.
POUND, s. A certain weight, consisting, in Troy weight, of twelve, in Avoirdupoise, of sixteen ounces; the sum of twenty shillings; a penfold, an enclosure, a prison in which beasts are enclosed.
POWDER, s. Dust, any body comminuted; gunpowder.
POWDER FLASK, s. A flask to hold powder.
To obviate the danger of the powder being inflamed and communicated to that in the flask whilst loading, have a brass top made to go over that which screws on the flask, and which the opening of the spring supplies from it; by putting the charge of powder into the detached brass covering, and from that pouring it into the barrel; should there be any tow, after cleaning and flashing off some powder, or, after discharging, any wadding remaining on fire within, (which last may happen when paper, but never can when hat or leather wadding is used,) the whole of the powder that can explode will be the single charge in the brass covering.
Mr. Egg and Mr. Sykes have each got patents for powder flasks, in which, if a charge is blown up, all communication is so effectually prevented, that no farther damage can be done. I have seen the one of Mr. Egg repeatedly tried by himself. To do this, he dropped a red hot nail into the barrel, which, of course, instantly fired the measure put into it. He then unscrewed the top, and showed me the remainder of the powder in the horn, having only guarded his right hand by a shield of pasteboard, to avoid being burnt by the charge from the barrel.
The principle of it is so secure as to render it impossible for the powder in the flask to ignite, while in the act of loading, by the passage being completely cut off, from the lever being placed on the top of a strong plate instead of underneath. It also prevents the flash out of the barrel from injuring the hand, as the charger is fixed in an octant position, with a vent to let out the flame.
The springs of these powder horns must be kept very clean and free, or, like many ingenious patents, they will fall victims to the abuse of slovenly sportsmen. Mr. Egg says, he “begs leave to caution gentlemen of a trumpery Sheffield flask (sold in the shops), with an upright charger, not being calculated to answer the purpose intended, though it is an infringement on his patent.”—Hawker.
POWDERHORN, s. A horn case in which powder is kept for guns.
As to your horn, the best thing you can do, when it remains pretty full at the end of a day, is to leave it in a very dry place in a warm room. For my own part, being persuaded that so much depends upon this, I always have my powder packed in half-pounds, a spare one of which I usually carry about me, and never open it until my horn is empty; and I am certain that more depends upon the quality and state of the powder than is usually ascribed to it.—Hints to Sportsmen.
POWDERMILL, s. The mill in which the ingredients for gunpowder are ground and mingled.
POWDER PROVER, s.
Powder Prover.—The proper “epreuvette” is very correctly made; the wheel on which the gradations are marked is large, and the spring strong, consequently the resistance to the force of the powder is considerable. The stronger it is the better; for without the resistance is strong, a correct proof cannot be obtained; because if not sufficiently strong to detain the powder in the chamber long enough for all the particles to ignite, many of them (especially in powder of good firm grain) will fly off unburnt, and of course a part only of the charge would be proved.
The part attached to the wheel of the epreuvette, which shuts the mouth of the chamber, should be so nicely adjusted, that on looking closely at the parts when in contact, no light can be seen between them; for if any light, there is of course so much vacancy, and consequently so much windage; and in proportion to the windage the proof will be lower, and therefore incorrect.
Three fires at least should always be made in proving, and the average taken as the mean amount, for variations frequently happen in fires immediately following each other, although made with considerable attention. Care should be taken after every fire to clean the chamber nicely, or otherwise the foulness left by the preceding discharge would lessen the space, by which the succeeding charge would become proportionally less.—Hawker.
PRECIPITATE, s. A corrosive medicine made by precipitating mercury.
Red precipitate, nitric oxide of mercury, or red nitrated quicksilver, is a mild caustic, and an efficacious remedy in foul ulcers. It may be used alone, finely powdered and sprinkled on the affected part; or mixed with various ointments. It is made from quicksilver and nitrous acid, but is considerably weaker than a solution of that metal in nitrous acid. It becomes, however, a strong and very efficacious caustic, when dissolved in nitrous acid. This solution may also be mixed with unctuous substances, forming with them good detergent ointments; or it may be diluted with water so as to form a detergent lotion of considerable strength.—White.
PREDACEOUS, a. Living by prey.
PRESERVE, s. Fruit preserved whole in sugar; a place set apart for breeding and protecting game.
To preserve Birds.—Large birds should be carefully skinned; the head, tail, and feet, left entire. The skin may then be either put into a vessel of spirits, or rubbed well on the inside with the following mixture:—One pound of salt, four ounces of alum, and two ounces of pepper, pounded together. Small birds may be thus treated:—Take out the entrails, open a passage to the brain, which should be scooped out through the mouth; introduce into the cavities of the skull and the whole body some of the above mixture, putting it also through the gullet and entire length of the neck; hang the bird in a cool, airy place, first by the feet, that the body may be impregnated by the salts, and afterwards by a thread through the under mandible of the bill, till it appears to be sweet; then expose it in the sun, or near a fire. After it is well dried, clean out what remains loose of the mixture, and fill the cavity of the body with wool, oakum, or any soft substance.
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If you shoot a curious bird, and have not the means of getting it stuffed while fresh, you may preserve the skin of it for many months by putting therein dry tow and powdered ginger. May and June are the only months that you need fear the moth; and just then cedar shavings or camphor would be a good addition. To skin a bird, open him either on one side or down the back.
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To send grouse any distance, put some pepper to the parts where they have been shot, as well as into their mouths, and then pack them carefully, separated from each other, and keep as air tight as possible in boxes of hops.—Hawker.
PRICK, v. To pierce with a small puncture; to erect with an acuminated point; to set up the ears; to animate by a puncture or mark; to spur, to goad.
PRICKET, s. A buck in his second year.
PRICKLE, s. A small sharp point.
PRICKLY, a. Full of sharp points.
PRIME, v. To put in the first powder, to put powder in the pan of a gun.
PRIMERO, s. A game at cards.
PRIVATEER, s. A ship fitted out by private men to plunder enemies.
PRODUCE, s. Product, that which anything yields or brings.
PRODUCE STAKES. Vide RACING.
PROJECTILE, s. A body thrown forward with violent force, as a stone from a sling, or a ball discharged from a cannon.
PROOF, s. Evidence, testimony, convincing token; test, trial, experiment; firm temper, impenetrability; armour hardened till it will abide a certain trial.
Proof of Barrels.—There has been lately cast in the foundery at Ruelle, near Angoulême, a cannon, after a model differing a little from that formerly adopted, and which has been submitted to an extraordinary trial, called “proof to the utmost.” This trial, the result of which was to burst the piece, was composed of two series, one of fifty, the other of fifty-seven shots, in which the charge was successively increased, so that the quantity of powder in the charge was raised to twenty-eight pounds instead of six, and the number of balls amounted to twelve. For the last six shots they succeeded in filling the barrel entirely with clay over the balls; and besides, in some of the last shots they secured each by four iron wedges, fastened on in such a manner that the number of these wedges was sixteen for the 106th shot, and as many for the last.
PROPHYLACTIC, s. A preventive against canine madness.
The oldest prophylactic with which we are acquainted is suction. We have very ancient records of its employment, and, if we can believe these legends, a particular family enjoyed the privilege, or devoted themselves to this process of drawing, by the application of the mouth to the wound, the poison inserted by a venomous animal. A ligature has also been recommended to stop the progress of the rabid poison, but, according to the present theories, it can have no preventive efficacy whatever.
Cold-bathing, but particularly sea-bathing, as a preventive, is a practice also of great antiquity, and, even yet, the uninformed classes place implicit reliance on it. Its incapability of insuring safety was, however, early noted; and Palmerius, Ambrose Parey, Desault, and others, were at much pains to discredit the practice: nevertheless, both hot and cold bathing long retained some powerful advocates. However respectable the authorities in its favour, the lamentable experience of many who have trusted to its efficacy, even when performed, as Van Swieten has it, ad sufficationem usque, but too well proves. Among the well informed, therefore, no reliance is now placed on it.
Mercury has long been employed as a prophylactic. Sauvages must have been greatly deceived by its ill-deserved reputation. Sir G. Cobb’s famous Tonquin remedy, so highly extolled by Claude Duchoisee, in India, was prepared from the native and factitious cinnabars, with musk. Turpeth mineral, which is a sub-sulphate of this metal, was highly extolled by Tissot, and has been very generally used among the dogs of this country. Many other authorities of note have extolled the preventive efficacy of mercury, from its power in counteracting the effects of the syphilitic poison; but as it has entirely failed in man and beast, under every advantage of administration, so it has ceased to be relied on as solely sufficient to guard the constitution. Neither has arsenic any more claim to the character of a preventive than it has as a curative.
Dr. Mead’s pulvis antilyssus, composed of lichen cinereus and black pepper, has wholly lost its reputation, although, during his practice, he expressed a wish that he knew as certain a preventive for any other disease. The Ormskirk remedy is also another striking proof how easily a reputation may be gained, and how undeservedly: for although palpable instances of its failure are numerous, it once enjoyed great reputation, and is even yet occasionally trusted to. The water plantain (alisma plantago) has also proved one of those unfortunate articles offered to notice, which only served to raise hopes it was doomed never to realise. As it came recommended by a Russian counsellor of state, M. Jalowsky, at the express direction of his government, it met with a cordial reception, and a full trial in England and elsewhere, but everywhere it proved fallacious, both as a preventive and cure.
To enumerate all the other articles, particularly of the vegetable world, that at some period or other have been deemed prophylactics, would be endless. Among the most popular we may mention the eglantine, or wild rose (rosa sylvestris, Linn.), pimpernel (anagallis), deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna), rue (ruta), garlic (allium sativum), sage (salvia), daisy (bellis), vervain (subena), fern (polypodium), wormwood (artemisia arborescens), mugwort (artemisia vulgaris), betony (betonica), and the tree-box (buxus).—Blaine.
PROWL, v. To wander for prey, to plunder.
PROWLER, s. One that roves about for prey.
PRUNE, v. To dress, to prink; to smooth a bird’s feathers.
PRUSSIAN BLUE, s. A dark blue pigment obtained from bullock’s blood, carbonate of potash, vitriol of iron, alum, and muriatic acid.
PRUSSIC ACID, s. A deadly poison.
PUET, s. A kind of water-fowl.
PUFFIN, COULTERNEB, MULLET, SEA PARROT, POPE, or WILLCOCK, (_Alca arctica_, LINN.; Le Macareux, BUFF.) s. A water-fowl; a kind of fish; a kind of fungus filled with dust.