TABLE OF THE ODDS.7 to 4is2 to 1.⎫6 .. 4..5 .. 3.⎪5 .. 4..4 .. 3.⎪7 .. 9..3 .. 2.⎪7 .. 6⎧3 .. 2, barring the two trois.⎪⎩6 .. 5, with the two trois.⎪ against7 .. 5..3 .. 2.⎬ the6 .. 5⎧even, barring the two trois.⎪ caster.⎩5 .. 4 with the two trois.⎪8 .. 5⎧even, barring the two fours⎪⎩5 .. 4 with the two fours.⎪9 .. 5..even.⎪9 .. 4..4 .. 3.⎭
The nick of seven is 7 to 2, often laid 10 to 3.
The nick of six and eight is 5 to 1.
It is necessary to be perfectly master of these odds, in order to play the prudent game, and to make use of them by way of insuring bets in what is called hedging, in case the chance happens to be unlikely; for, by taking the odds a ready calculator secures himself, and often stands part of his bet to a certainty. For example, if seven be the main, and four the chance, and he should have 5l.depending on the main, by taking 6l.to 3l.he must either win 2l.or 1l.; and on the contrary, if he should not like his chance, by laying the odds against himself, he must save in proportion to the bet he has made.—Hoyle.
Hazard,v. To expose to chance.
Haze,s.Fog, mist.
Hazel,s.A nut-tree.
Hazel,a.Light brown, of the colour of hazel.
Head,s.The part of the animal that contains the brain or the organ of sensation and thought; chief, principal person, one to whom the rest are subordinate; state of a deer’s horns, by which his age is known; the top of anything bigger than the rest; the forepart of anything, as of a ship; that which rises on the top of liquors; upper part of a bed; source of a stream.
The head of the horseis a very important part, considered with a view to the beauty of the animal; and in no part is an improvement in the breed so soon detected as in this. Can any thing be conceived more dissimilar than the small inexpressive features attached to the enormous head of a cart-horse, compared with the bold striking lines which grace that of the blood-horse? The head, in the improved breeds, is small and angular, the eyes prominent, the ears spirited, small, and pointed; the forehead wide, straight, and sometimes slightly curved inwards at the lower part: in them the facial angle is about 25°, whereas, in the heavy breed, it is more generally 23°: its junction with the neck, also, is less easy and elegant than in the improved kind.—Blaine.
Head,v.To lead; to direct; to behead; to kill by taking away the head; to lop trees at the top; to get before a deer or fox, to make him take another course.
Headland,s.Promontory, cape; ground under hedges.
Headstall,s.Part of the bridle that covers the head.
Headstrong,a.Unrestrained; violent, ungovernable.
Heal,v.To cure; to restore from sickness or wounds.
Healing,a.Mild, mollifying; assuasive.
Health,s.Freedom from bodily pain or sickness; strength.
Healthy,a.In health, free from sickness; in good condition.
Hearing,s.The sense by which sounds are perceived; reach of the ear.
Heart,s.The muscle which by its contraction and dilatation propels the blood through the course of circulation, and is therefore considered as the source of vital motion. It is situated in the thorax, and divided externally into the base, the superior and inferior surface, and the anterior and posterior margin. Internally it comprises two ventricles called the right and left.
Heartless,a.Without courage, spiritless, out of condition.
Hearty,a.Sincere, warm; in full health; vigorous, strong.
Heat,s.The sensation caused by the approach or touch of fire; hot weather; state of any body under the action of fire; a term in racing.In gun-makingthree degrees of heat are employed; blood-red heat, the lowest flame; white heat, the second; and sparkling or welding heat, the most intense.
Heath,s.A plant; a place overgrown with heath.
Heathcock,s.A large fowl that frequents heaths.VideGrouse.
Heathpeas,s.A species of bitter vetch.
Hedge,s.A fence made round grounds with prickly bushes.
Hedge,v.To enclose with a hedge; to encircle; to shut up within an enclosure. In betting, hedging means to bet upon and against the same event.
Hedgehog,s.An animal set with prickles like thorns in a hedge.
Hedgehogs abound in my gardens and fields. The manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my grass walk is very curious: with their upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very troublesome weed; but they deface the walks in some measure by digging little round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June last I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which appeared to be about five or six days old; they, I find, like puppies, are born blind, and could not see when they came to my hands. No doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, or else the poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical moment of parturition: but it is plain that they soon harden; for these little pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides as would easily have fetched blood, had they not been handled with caution. Their spines are quite white at this age; and they have little hanging ears, which I do not remember to be discernible in the old ones. They can, in part, at this age draw their skin down over their faces; but are not able to contract themselves into a ball, as they do, for the sake of defence, when full grown. The reason, I suppose, is, because the curious muscle that enables the creature to roll itself up into a ball has not then arrived at its full tone and firmness. Hedgehogs make a deep and warm hybernaculum with leaves and moss, in which they conceal themselves for the winter: but I never could find that they stored in any winter provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do.
Jesse says, “I had also a tame hedge-hog, which nestled before the fire, on the stomach of an old lazy terrier dog, who was much attached to it, and the best understanding existed between them.”
Sagacity of the Hedgehog.—During the summer of 1818, as Mr. Lane, gamekeeper to the Earl of Galloway, was passing by the wood of Glascaden, near Garlieston, in Scotland, he fell in with a hedgehog, crossing the road at a small distance before him, carrying on its back six pheasant’s eggs, which upon examination he found it had pilfered from a pheasant’s nest hard by. The ingenuity of the creature was very conspicuous, as several of the remaining eggs were holed, which must have been done by it, when in the act of rolling itself over the nest, in order to make as many adhere to its prickles as possible. After watching the motions of the urchin for a short time longer, Mr. Lane saw it deliberately crawl into a furze bush, where its nest was, and where the shells of several eggs were strewed around, which had at some former period been conveyed thither in the same manner.—White’s Selborne—Jesse.
Hedgerow,s.The series of trees or bushes planted for enclosures.
Hedgesparrow, orChanter, (Accentor Modularis,Cuvier),s.A sparrow that lives in bushes.
This well known species, commonly called hedge sparrow, needs little description. The length is five inches and three quarters; weight near six drams. Bill dusky; irides light hazel; head and neck brown, mixed with ash-colour; back and wing coverts darker brown, edged with rufous brown; throat and breast dull ash-colour; belly dirty white; sides and vent tawny brown. The female has less ash-colour about the head and breast.
The hedge sparrow is found in all parts of England; has a pleasing song, which it begins with the new year, if the weather is mild; breeds early, making a nest in March, composed of green moss and wool, and lined with hair, which is placed in some low evergreen shrub, thick brush, or cut hedge; frequently builds in faggot piles. The eggs are four or five in number, blue; their weight about twenty-eight grains.
This bird is one of the few of the warbler tribe that remains with us the whole year. The food is insects and worms; but like the redbreast, it will, in defect of these, pick up crumbs of bread; and seems to prefer situations near the habitation of man.—Montagu.
Heel,s.The part of the foot that protuberates behind.
Heeler,s.A cock that strikes well with his heels.
Heifer,s.A young cow.
Hemorrhage,s.A violent flux of blood.
Hen,s.The female of a house cock; the female of any bird.
Henroost,s.The place where the poultry rest.
Herb,s.Herbs are those plants whose stalks are soft, and have nothing woody in them, as grass and hemlock.
Herbaceous,a.Belonging to herbs; feeding on vegetables.
Herbage,s.Herbs collectively; grass, pasture.
Herd,s.A number of beasts together; it anciently signified a keeper of cattle, as goat-herd.
Herd,v.To run in herds or companies; to associate.
Herdsman,s.One employed in tending herds.
Hermaphrodite,s.An animal uniting two sexes.
Hernia,s.Any kind of rupture.
Heron,Common Heron,Heronsewgh, orHeronshaw, (Ardea Major,Linn.;Le Heron huppé,Buff.)s.A bird that feeds on fish.
Although the heron is of a long, lank, awkward shape, yet its plumage gives it, on the whole, an agreeable appearance; but when stripped of its feathers, it looks as if it had been starved to death. It seldom weighs more than between three and four pounds, notwithstanding it measures about three feet in length, and in the breadth of its wings, from tip to tip, above five. The bill is six inches long, straight, pointed, and strong, and its edges are thin and slightly serrated; the upper mandible is of a yellowish horn colour, darkest on the ridge, the under one yellow; a bare skin, of a greenish colour, is extended from the beak beyond the eyes; the irides of which are yellow, and give them a fierce and piercing aspect.—The brow and crown of the head are white, bordered above the eyes by black lines, which reach the nape of the neck, where they join a long flowing pendent crest of the same colour. The upper part of the neck, in some, is white, in others pale ash, the forepart lower down is spotted with a double row of black feathers, and those which fall over the breast are long, loose, and unwebbed; the shoulders and scapular feathers are also of the same kind of texture, of a grey colour generally streaked with white, and spread over its down-clothed back. The ridge of the wing is white; coverts and secondaries lead colour; bastard wings and quills of a bluish black, as are also the long, soft feathers, which take their rise on the sides under the wings; and, falling down, meet at their tips, and hide all the under parts: the latter, next the skin, are covered with a thick, matted, dirty-white down, except about the belly and vent, which are almost bare. The tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers of a cinereous or brownish lead-colour; the legs are dirty-green, long, bare above the knees, and the middle claw is jagged on the inner edge.
The female has not the long flowing crest, or the long feathers which hang over the breast of the male, and her whole plumage is more uniformally dull and obscure. In the breeding-season they congregate in large societies; and, like the rooks, build their nests on trees, with sticks, lined with dried grass, wool, and other warm materials. The female lays from four to six eggs, of a pale, greenish-blue colour.
The heron is described by Buffon as exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, anxiety, and indigence, condemned to struggle perpetually with misery and want, and sickened by the restless cravings of a famished appetite, &c. However faithful this ingenious naturalist may have been in pourtraying the appearance of the heron, yet others are not inclined to adopt his sentiments in describing its habits and manners, or to agree with him in opinion that it is one of the most wretched of animated beings. It is probable that it suffers no more than other birds, many species of which employ equal attention in looking for their prey, and it is not unlikely that the heron derives pleasure from it instead of pain. This bird, however, is of a melancholy deportment, a silent and patient creature; and will, in most severe weather, stand motionless a long time in the water, fixed to a spot, in appearance like the stump or root of a tree, waiting for its prey, which consists of frogs, waternewts, eels, and other kinds of fish; and it is also said that it will devour field-mice.
The heron traverses the country to a great distance in quest of some convenient or favourite fishing spot, and in its aerial journeys soars to a great height, to which the eye is directed by its harsh cry, uttered from time to time while on the wing. In flying it draws the head between the shoulders, and the legs stretched out, seem, like the longer tails of some birds, to serve the office of a rudder. The motion of their wings is heavy and flagging, and yet they get forward at a greater rate than would be imagined.
In England herons were formerly ranked among the royal game, and protected as such by the laws; and whoever destroyed their eggs was liable to a penalty of twenty shillings for each offence. Heron hawking was at that time a favourite diversion among the nobility and gentry of the kingdom, at whose tables this bird was a favourite dish, and was as much esteemed as pheasants and peacocks.
Great White Heron.(Ardea alba,Linn.;Le Heron blanc,Buff.)—The great white heron is of nearly the same hulk as the common heron, but its legs are longer. It has no crest, and its plumage is wholly white; its bill yellow, and its legs black.
Its character and manner of living are the same as those of the common heron, and it is found in the same countries, though this species is not nearly so numerous. It has rarely been seen in Great Britain. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says it is found in the Russian dominions, about the Caspian and Black Seas, the lakes of Great Tartary, and the river Irtisch, and sometimes as far north as latitude 53°. Latham says it is met with in New York, in America, from June to October; at different seasons of the year it is found in Jamaica, and in the Brazils: and our circumnavigators have met with it at New Zealand.
The Night Heron, Lesser Ash-coloured Heron or Night Raven.(Ardea Nycticorax,Linn.;Le Bihoreau,Buff.)—The length of this bird is about twenty inches; the bill is three inches and three quarters long, slightly arched, strong, and black, inclining to yellow at the base; the skin from the beak round the eye is bare, and of a greenish colour; irides yellow. A white line is extended from the beak, over each eye a black patch, glossed with green, covers the crown of the head and nape of the neck, from which three long narrow white feathers tipped with brown, hang loose and waving: the hinder part of the neck, coverts of the wing, sides and tail, are ash-coloured; throat white, forepart of the neck, breast, and belly, yellowish white or buff; the back black, the legs a greenish yellow. The female is nearly of the same size as the male, but she differs considerably in her plumage, which is less bright and distinct, being more blended with clay or dirty white, brown, grey, and rusty ash-colour, and she has not the delicate plumes which flow from the head of the male.
The night heron frequents the sea shores, rivers, and inland marshes, and lives upon crickets, slugs, frogs, reptiles, and fish. It remains concealed during the day, and does not roam abroad until the approach of night, when it is heard and known by its rough, harsh, and disagreeable cry, which is by some compared to the noise made by a person straining to vomit. Some ornithologists affirm that the female builds her nest on trees, others that she builds it on rocky cliffs: probably both accounts are right. She lays three or four white eggs.
This species is not numerous, although widely dispersed over Europe, Asia, and America.
The bird is indeed very uncommon in this country. Latham mentions one in the Leverian Museum, which was shot, not many miles from London, in May 1782.
Voracity of the Heron.—In the month of April 1818, as a person was walking a short distance from the river Mole, in the neighbourhood of Cobham Park, Surrey, where H. C. Combe, Esq. has a heronry, he was surprised by a pike in weight full 2lbs. dropping from the air immediately before him: on looking up, he perceived a large heron hovering over him, which had no doubt dropped the fish from its beak. And also, during the same month, another individual near the above spot, saw a heron take a fish from the water, and after carrying it to a bank insert its bill into the vent of the fish, beginning to suck its entrails; he drove away the bird, and on taking up the fish, found it to be a pike weighing a pound and upwards.
Some hawks will not attack a heron, when it is first shown to them; but they may generally be brought to it by flying them at a cock, of a light colour, and by tying meat upon a heron’s back, and allowing them to feed there. Small pieces of elder are put upon the heron’s beak, to prevent him from wounding the hawk in training. The herons are caught by a slip-knot at the end of a long string, so arranged round their nests as to be drawn about their legs when they come upon their eggs. This is best done about sun-set; and the man who is to draw the string, must place himself to leeward of the nest. Herons will not feed when they are first taken; it is therefore necessary to cram them with food, and to tie a piece of mat round their necks, to prevent them from throwing it up again.
A well-stocked heronry in an open country is necessary for this sport. The herons go out in the morning to rivers and ponds at a very considerable distance, in search of food, and return to the heronry towards the evening.
It is at this time that the falconers place themselves in the open country, down wind of the heronry; so that when the herons are intercepted on their return home, they are obliged to fly against the wind to gain their place of retreat. When a heron passes,a cast(a couple) of hawks is let go. The heron disgorges his food when he finds that he is pursued, and endeavours to keep above the hawks by rising in the air; the hawks fly in a spiral direction to get above the heron, and thus the three birds frequently appear to be flying in different directions. The first hawk makes his stoop as soon as he gets above the heron, who evades it by a shift, and thus gives the second hawk time to get up and to stoop in his turn. In what is deemed a good flight, this is frequently repeated, and the three birds often mount to a great height in the air. When one of the hawks seizes his prey, the other soonbinds to him, as it is termed, and buoyant from the motion of their wings, the three descend together to the ground with but little velocity. The falconer must lose no time in getting hold of the heron’s neck when he is on the ground, to prevent him from injuring the hawks. It is then, and not when he is in the air, that he will use his beak in his defence. Hawks have, indeed, sometimes, but very rarely, been hurt by striking against the heron’s beak when stooping, but this has been purely by accident, and not (as has been said) by the heron’s presenting his beak to his pursuer as a means of defence.
When the heron flies down wind, he is seldom taken, the hawks are in great danger of being lost, and as the flight is in a straight line, it affords but little sport.—Bewick—Pennant—Sebright.
Heronry, orHeronshaw,s.A place where herons breed.
Belon mentions it as one of the extraordinary feats performed by the divine king Francis I., that he formed two artificial heronries at Fontainebleau,—“the very elements themselves,” he adds, “obeying the commands of this divine king (whom God absolve!!!), for to force nature is a work partaking of divinity.” In order to enhance the merits of these French heronries, he undertakes to assert, that they were unknown to the ancients, because they are not mentioned in any of their writings; and for the same reason he concludes that there are none in Britain. Before Belon’s time, on the contrary, and before the “Divine” constructor of heronries in France was born, there were express laws enacted in England for the protection of herons, it being a fine of ten shillings to take the young out of the nest, and six shillings and eight-pence for a person, without his own grounds, killing a heron, except by hawking, or by the long-bow; while in subsequent enactments, the latter penalty was increased to twenty shillings, or three months’ imprisonment. At present, however, in consequence of the discontinuance of hawking, little attention is paid to the protection of heronries, though, I believe, none of the old statutes respecting them have been repealed. Not to know a hawk from a heron-shaw (the former name for a heron) was an old adage, which arose when the diversion of heron-hawking was in high fashion: it has since been corrupted into the absurd vulgar proverb, “not to know a hawk from a hand-saw.”
In the breeding season they congregate, and make their nests very near each other. Mr. Pennant mentions having seen eighty nests on one tree. We once saw a heronry on a small island in a lake in the north of Scotland, whereon there was only one scrubby oak tree, which not being sufficient to contain all the nests many were placed on the ground.—Sebright—Montagu.
Herring,s.A small sea-fish.
Of all migrating fish, the herring and the pilchard take the most adventurous voyages.
This mighty army begins to put itself in motion from the Icy Sea early in the spring: this body is distinguished by that name, for the word herring is derived from the German heer, an army, to express their number, which is so vast, that were all the men in the world loaded with herrings, they could not carry the thousandth part away. No sooner, however, is their asylum quitted, but millions of enemies collect to thin their squadrons. The fin fish and cacholot swallow barrels at a yawn; the porpoise, the grampus, the shark, and the whole numerous tribe of dog-fish, desist from making war upon each other, and make the herring their easy prey. The unnumbered flocks of sea fowl, that chiefly inhabit near the pole, watch the outset of their migration and spread extensive ruin. In this exigence the defenceless emigrants find no other safety but by crowding closer together, and leaving to the outermost the danger of being first devoured. Thus, like frighted sheep (which ever run together in a body), each finding some protection in being but one of many that are equally liable to invasion, they separate into shoals: those to the west visit the American shores, while those holding to the east pour down towards Europe, endeavouring to evade their merciless pursuers by approaching the first shore that presents itself, which is that of Iceland, in the beginning of March. Upon their arrival on that coast, this phalanx, notwithstanding its diminutions, is still of amazing extent, depth, and closeness, covering an extent of shore as large as the island itself; the whole water seems alive, and by their foes the herrings are cooped up so closely, that any hollow vessel put into it takes them out of the water without further trouble. The power of increasing in these animals exceeds our idea, as it would in a very short time outstrip all calculation. A single herring, it is affirmed, if suffered to multiply unmolested and undiminished for twenty years, would show a progeny greater in bulk than ten such globes as that we live upon; but happily the balance of nature is exactly preserved, and their consumption is equal to their fecundity. Upon this account, we must consider the fish and fowl that so incessantly attack them, not as plunderers, but as the benefactors of mankind: without their aid the sea would soon be overcharged with the burden of its own productions, and that element, which at present distributes health and plenty to the shore, would but load it with putrefaction.
These collective masses that come upon our coasts, begin to appear off the Shetland Isles in April and May; these are only the fore-runners of the grand shoal which comes in June, and their arrival is marked by the numbers of birds, such as gannets and others, which follow them as their prey. But when the main body approaches, its breadth and depth alters the very appearance of the ocean. They divide into distinct columns of five or six miles long, and three or four broad, while the water before them ripples as if forced out of its bed; sometimes they sink for ten or fifteen minutes, then rise again to the surface, on which in bright weather they reflect a variety of splendid colours, like a field bespangled with the most precious gems, in which, or rather in a much more valuable light, should this stupendous gift of Providence be considered by the inhabitants of the British Isles. The fishermen are ready prepared for their reception, and by nets made for the occasion they sometimes take above two thousand barrels at a single draught.
After this check from the Shetland Isles, which divide the army into two parts, one wing takes to the eastern shores of Great Britain, and fills every bay and creek with its numbers; the other pushes on towards Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings; they then pass through the British Channel, and after that in a manner disappear. Those which take to the west, after offering themselves to the Hebrides, where the great stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of Ireland, where being interrupted they make a second division; that to the western side is scarcely perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic, whilst the other, which passes into the Irish Sea, rejoices and feeds the inhabitants of most of the coasts that border upon it.
The herring is always found in shoals, and on some occasions are crowded so close together, as to fill the sea, at least so far as our implements can reach, from top to bottom. Ships are said to have been retarded in their course in passing through these shoals, and instances are recorded where these little fishes have been left by the ebbing of the tide in heaps three feet deep upon the shores for many miles in extent. It is universally credited among those conversant in the herring fishery, that no other fish will go into the middle of a shoal. The whale, to whom they are a favourite repast, and who swallows a thousand at once, never ventures into the shoal, but hovers about the skirts of it, and regularly follows their course. The dog-fish, which in vast troops assiduously attend the herrings wherever they go, carefully keep aloof from the great mass of them; so it is with other fishes, who delight in the herring as a prey, but as a body seem to dread their multitudes.
Herring Fishing.—To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty. The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so frequent, that much skill was necessary to penetrate this hempen labyrinth, without fouling the back ropes. Warning cries directed our course, and with some delay we treaded the crowded surface, and, guided by buoys and puckawns, found ourselves in the very centre of the flotilla.
It was an interesting scene; momently the boats glided along the back ropes, which were supported at short intervals by corks, and at greater by inflated dog-skins, and raising the curtain network, which these suspended, the herrings were removed from the meshes, and deposited in the boats. Some of the nets were particularly fortunate, obliging their proprietors to frequently relieve them of the fish; while others, though apparently stretched within a few yards, and consequently in the immediate run of the herrings, were favoured with but a few stragglers; and the indolent fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful ditty, or in moody silence watched the dark sea “like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks staying for waftage.”
The darkness of the night increased the scaly brilliancy which the phosphoric properties of these beautiful fish produce. The bottom of the boat, now covered with some thousand herrings, glowed with a living light, which the imagination could not create, and the pencil never imitate. The shades of gold and silvery gems were rich beyond description: and much as I had heard of phosphoric splendour before, every idea I had formed fell infinitely short of its reality.—Buffon—Wild Sports.
Herring Gull(Larus fuscus,Linn.)s.A genus thus characterised:—
This species weighs about thirty-three ounces; length twenty-three inches; bill yellow; on the lower mandible a reddish-orange spot; irides light yellow; orbits red. Head, neck, tail, and under parts, white; back, scapulars, and wing coverts, ash-colour; quill-feathers, dusky, the five first black towards their ends, with a white spot near the tip; legs pale flesh-colour.
Whether these immatured birds breed we cannot be certain, but are inclined to think they do, as we saw a great many of them intermixed with the perfect ones in the gullery on an island off St. David’s, where the nests were innumerable: they seemed equally clamorous with the others when disturbed. The nests were on the top of the island, amongst the grass and loose stones, composed of a small quantity of long dry grass, the eggs, which were two in number, of a dark olive-brown, with dusky blotches. Like others of the genus, this bird feeds indiscriminately on fish, and various other productions of the sea, particularly the star-fish. It is sometimes observed to trample the soft sand, by moving its feet alternately in the same place: for what purpose this singular action is intended, we cannot say, unless it is to force up the sand eels or other hidden prey, as the one mentioned above did the worms.—Montagu.
Hide,s.The skin of any animal, either raw or dressed; the human skin.
Hidebound,v.A horse is said to be hide-bound, when his skin sticks so hard to his ribs and back, that you cannot with your hand pull up or loosen the one from the other; in trees, being in the state in which the bark will not give way to the growth.
Highland,s.Mountainous region.
Highway,s.Great road, public path.
Hill,s.An elevation of ground less than a mountain.
Hillock,s.A little hill.
Hilly,a.Full of hills, unequal in the surface.
Hind,s.The she to a stag; a servant; a peasant, a boor.
Hip,s.The joint of the thigh; the fleshy part of the thigh; the fruit of the briar.
Hip,v.To sprain or shoot the hips.
Hipshot,a.Sprained or dislocated in the hip.
Hirundo,s.Swallow, a genus thus characterised:—
Bill short, much depressed, and wide at the base; the upper mandible being keeled and bent at the tip; gape extending as far backwards as the eyes; nostrils at the base of the bill, oblong, and partly covered by a membrane; legs with the shank short; the toes slender, three before and one behind; the outer toe united to the middle one as far as the first joint; tail of twelve feathers, generally forked; wings long and acuminated, the first quill being the longest.—Montagu.
Hit,v.To strike, to touch with a blow; to touch the mark, not to miss; to reach the point; a lucky chance; a game at backgammon.
Hitch,s.A knot or noose taken on a rope.
Hive,s.The habitation or cell of bees; the bees inhabiting a hive.
Hoar,a.White; grey with age; white with frost.
Hobby,s.A species of hawk; an Irish or Scottish horse.
The Hobby.(Falco subbuteo,Linn.;Le Hobereau,Buff.)—The length of the male is twelve inches; breadth about two feet. The bill is blue; cere and orbits of the eyes yellow; the irides orange; over each eye there is a light-coloured streak; the top of the head and back are of a bluish black; the wing coverts the same, but in some edged with rust colour; the hinder part of the neck is marked with two pale yellow spots; a black mark from behind each eye, forming almost a crescent, is extended downwards on the neck; the breast and belly are pale, marked with dusky streaks; the thighs rusty, with long dusky streaks; the wings brown; the two middle feathers of the tail are of a deep dove colour, the others are barred with rusty and tipped with white. The female is much larger, and the spots on her breast more conspicuous than those of the male; the legs and feet are yellow.
The hobby breeds with us, but is said to emigrate in October. It was formerly used in falconry, chiefly for larks and other small birds, which were caught in a singular manner: when the hawk was cast off, the larks, fixed to the ground through fear, became an easy prey to the fowler, who drew a net over them. Buffon says that it was used in taking partridges and quails.
A male hobby perceiving a goldfinch in a cage, within a window which happened to be open, dashed at the imprisoned bird, notwithstanding several persons were in the room; but being alarmed at the natural vociferations of some young ladies for the safety of their darling, the intruder mistook the passage by which he entered, and flew against the glass, when his retreat was cut off, and he was secured.
This species was formerly trained for hawking, but more commonly used for taking partridges and larks with a net, which was termed daring, that is, the hobby was cast off, which so frightened the birds, that they readily suffered a net to be drawn over them.—Montagu.
Hock,s.The joint between the knee and fetlock; old strong Rhenish.
Hoe,s.An instrument to cut up the earth.
Hog,s.The general name of swine; a castrated boar.
To prepare Hog’s Fur.—Take according to the quantity of fur you have: if a pound, four quarts of water; cut down into it two ounces of soap with a noggin of stale urine; throw in your fur, and let it come to a high scald, and while it is coming to that, keep it constantly under the liquor. Lay it by to cool, and when cool enough gently squeeze and press with your hands, and throw it into cold water. Then in some clean water, about two quarts, dissolve about the size of two walnuts of alum, and when it boils throw in your fur, press it well, and throw it into clean water; press it, and throw off the water, pour in more, and do the same at least three times. You must open your fur before you can dye it, as this process will cement it together. As to mohair it needs nothing more than washing with soap and water, to be boiled as above in alum, and washed.—Old Recipe.
Hoggerel,s.A two-years-old ewe.
Hogshead,s.A measure of liquids containing sixty gallons; any large barrel.
Hog’s Lard,s.An article of some importance in veterinary surgery, being the basis of almost every ointment.
Hog’s lard possesses a laxative quality, and may be given to the extent of half a pound, melted or mixed with warm water or peppermint water, as a substitute for castor oil, olive oil, or linseed oil, when neither of those can be procured. Fresh hog’s lard melted, and mixed with a little salad oil, forms a good softening ointment for horses’ heels that are subject to cracks.—White.
Hold,s.The act of seizing; gripe, grasp, seizure; something to be held; hold of a ship, all that part which lies between the keelson and the lower deck; a lurking-place.
Hole,s.A cavity narrow and long; a cave, hollow place; cell of an animal.
Hollow,v.To shout, to hoot.View hollow!The hunter’s halloo! given when the game is viewed by the hounds.
Holly,s.A tree.
Honey,s.A thick, viscous, luscious substance, which is collected and prepared by bees. Honey is divided into three kinds; virgin honey, the first produce of the swarm, obtained by drawing, without pressing the comb; a second, or thicker kind, produced by pressure; and a third and worst description extracted by heating, and then pressing the comb.
Honeycomb,s.The cells of wax in which the bee stores her honey.
Honeycombed,a.Flawed with little cavities; a term used to describe the injuries produced by rust on cannon and gun barrels.
Hood,s.Anything drawn upon the head, and wrapping round it; a cap of leather put on the hawk’s head immediately after he is taken. It is so constructed as to prevent him from seeing, but to allow him to feed; and may be put on or taken off at pleasure. To hood a hawk requires a degree of manual dexterity that is not easily acquired.
Hood,v.To blind as with a hood.
HoodedorRoyston Crow(Corvus cornix,Linn.;La Corneille mantelée,Buff.)s.
This bird is somewhat larger and more bulky than the rook, measuring twenty-two inches in length. Its bill is black, and two inches long; the head, fore part of the neck, wings, and tail, are black; the back and all the under parts are of a pale ash-colour; legs black.
These birds arrive with the woodcock, and on their first coming frequent the shores of rivers. They depart in the spring to breed in other countries, but it is said that they do not all leave us, as they have been seen during the summer months in the northern quarters of our island, where they frequent the mountainous parts of the country, and breed in the pines. In more northern parts of the world they continue the whole year, and subsist on sea-worms, shell-fish, and other marine productions. With us they are seen to mix with and to feed in the same manner as the crow. During the breeding season they live in pairs, lay six eggs, and are said to be much attached to their offspring.—Bewick.
Hooded Gull, (Larus atricilla,Linn.)s.
The bill and feet are deep lake red; hood of dark bluish ash-colour; quill feathers all black, and two inches longer than the tail; length of the shank one inch and three-fourths. In the month of August, 1774, we saw five of them together feeding in a pool upon the shingley flats near Winchelsea; two only were black on the head; the others were mottled all over with brown. We also saw two others near Hastings, in Sussex. It is found in Russia and America, and, according to Natterer, on the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.—Montagu—Temminck.
Hoodwink,v.To blind with something bound over the eyes.
Hoof,s.The hard horny substance which composes the feet of several sorts of animals.
Hoof Ointment.—Tar and tallow in equal parts: when melted let the mixture be removed from the fire, and stirred until it is cold. This ointment is applied to the coronet and heels, when dry and cracking.—White.
Hook,s.Any thing bent so as to catch hold; the bended wire on which the bait is hung for fishes, and with which the fish is pierced; a snare, a trap; a sickle to reap corn; an iron to seize the meat in the caldron; an instrument to cut or lop with; the part of the hinge fixed to the post.
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.
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.
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.
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.VideOwl.
Horse,s.A quadruped used in war, draught, and carriage.