ADDITIONAL RECIPES FOR INTERNAL ASTRINGENTS.
ADDITIONAL RECIPES FOR INTERNAL ASTRINGENTS.
ADDITIONAL RECIPES FOR INTERNAL ASTRINGENTS.
For diabetes, or an excessive discharge of urine:
Syrup enough to form the ball. One dose.
To be mixed with a decoction of oak bark, or a strong infusion of camomile flowers, and given as a drench. Either of these may be given early in the morning, and repeated at night, should it be found necessary.—White.
Athletic,a.Belonging to wrestling; strong of body, vigorous, lusty, robust.
Auburn,a.Brown, of a tan colour.
Aucupation,s. obs.Fowling, bird-catching.
Auk,s.(Alca impennis,Linnæus).
This species appears to have become extremely rare on the north coast of Britain. The natives in the Orkneys informed Mr. Bullock, in his late tour through those islands, that one male only had made his appearance for a long time, which had regularly visited Papa Westra for several years. The female (which the natives call the Queen of the Auks) was killed just before Mr. Bullock’s arrival. The King, or male, Mr. Bullock had the pleasure of chasing for several hours, in a six-oared boat, but without being able to kill him, for though he frequently got near him, so expert was the bird in its natural element, that it appeared impossible to shoot him. The rapidity with which he pursued his course under water was almost incredible.
The length is three feet. The bill is black, very strong, compressed, and marked with several furrows. The base of the upper mandible is covered with short velvet-like feathers; between the bill and the eye is a large patch of white; the head, neck, back, and wings, glossy black; lesser quill-feathers tipped with white; legs black.
The smallness of the wings renders them useless for flight, the longest quill-feather not exceeding four inches in length. These, however, are admirably adapted to its mode of life, and are of peculiar use in diving under water, where they act as fins; by which means it pursues its prey with astonishing velocity.
This bird is only found in the most northern parts of the kingdom; it is said to breed in the isle of St. Kilda, from which Dr. Fleming had one in 1822. Like the rest of this genus it lays only one egg, white, sometimes irregularly marked with purplish lines, or blotched with ferruginous and black at the larger end: length six inches. It feeds on fish, but the young birds will eat rose root (Rhodiola rosea), or other plants.—Montagu.
Auriculars,s.(InOrnithology). Feathers which cover the ears.
Avoirdupois,a.A kind of weight, of which a pound contains sixteen ounces, and is in proportion to a pound Troy as 17 to 14.
Avoset, Scooper, Crooked-Bill, or Yelper.s.(Recurvirostra Avosetta,Linnæus.L’Avosette,Buffon.)
This bird, which is the only British species of Avosets, does not much exceed the lapwing in the bulk of its body; but from the length of its legs it is much taller. It measures about eighteen inches in length, to the end of the toes twenty-two, and from tip to tip thirty; and weighs from twelve to fourteen ounces. The bill is black, about three inches and a half long, and of a singular conformation; looking not unlike flexible flat pieces of whalebone, curved upwards to the tip: the irides are hazel; the head round, black on the upper part to below the nape of the neck: above and beneath each eye, in most specimens, there are small white spots; but in the one from which the above figure was taken, a streak of that colour passed over each eye towards the hinder part of the head. The thighs are naked, and, as well as the legs and feet, are of a fine pale blue colour. The whole plumage of the Avoset is white, intersected with black; and, like most of the variegated or piebald birds, the patches of these colours are not placed exactly the same in every individual; therefore, as the bird cannot be mistaken, a more minute description is unnecessary.
These birds are common in the winter about the lakes, mouths of rivers, and marshes, in the southern parts of England; and they assemble in large flocks on the fens, in the breeding season. When the female is frightened off her nest she counterfeits lameness; and when a flock is disturbed they fly with their necks stretched out, and their legs extended behind over the head of the spectator, much in the same way as the peewit or lapwing, making a shrill noise, and uttering a yelping cry of twit, twit, all the time. The places where they have been feeding may be traced out by the semicircular marks left in the mud or sand by their bills, in scooping out their food, which consists of spawn, worms, insects, &c. Latham says, “They lay two eggs, the size of those of a pigeon, an inch and three quarters in length, of a cinereous grey, singularly marked with deep brownish dark patches, of irregular sizes and shapes, besides some under markings of a dusky hue.” They keep near the shore, wading about, up to the belly in the water, and sometimes swimming. In all their motions they are smart, lively, and volatile, and do not remain long stationary in one spot.
The Scooper is the only species found in England. It breeds in the fens of Lincolnshire, and on Romney Marsh in Kent. It does not migrate, like other birds of similar habits, but is found at all seasons, though in winter it chiefly frequents the sea-shore; and, besides on the coast of Kent, it is found about the mouth of the Severn, in Gloucestershire, as well as on the eastern coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, and sometimes in Shropshire. During the breeding season, the Avosets are seen in considerable numbers near Fossdike, in Lincolnshire, and also in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and similar localities. Temminck says it is common in North Holland. It seems, indeed, to be very widely diffused, being found in Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Siberia, the Caspian Sea, and particularly about the Salt Lakes in the deserts of Tartary.—Bewick—Latham—Montagu.
Awning,s.A cover spread over a boat or vessel to keep off the weather.
Axle,Axle-tree,s.The pin which passes through the midst of the wheel, on which the circumvolutions of the wheel are performed.
Azure,a.Blue, faint blue.