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.VideTrolling.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
PilcherorPilchard,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.
TERMS USED AT PIQUET.
TERMS USED AT PIQUET.
Capotis when either of the players makes every trick, for which he scores forty.
Cardssignify the majority of tricks, which reckon for ten points.
Carte Blanchemeans 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.
Quintmeans 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.
Repiquesignifies 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 inpique.
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.
Threesof aces, &c., down to tens, reckon three points.
TalonorStockmeans the eight remaining cards after twelve are dealt to each player.
Tierceor 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.VideRacing.
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 wordsturlui, 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, orLong-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.
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.
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.
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.