The puffin weighs about twelve ounces, and measures twelve inches in length, and twenty-one in breadth. Its singular bill looks not unlike a kind of sheath slipped over both mandibles; and, from its appearance, the bird is not improperly named coulterneb, or knife-bill. At the base, where it is about an inch and a half in depth, it is rimmed with a white callous border, the two corners of which project above the brow, and below the chin. It is about the same in length, curved towards the point, compressed vertically, very flat, and transversely furrowed on the sides; the half of it adjoining to the head is smooth, and of a fine lead-coloured blue; the other part, to the tip, red: the nostrils are placed in long narrow slits, near the edge of the bill; the corners of the mouth, when closed, are curiously puckered, and form a kind of small star, or rose; the eyes are protected by small callous protuberances, both above and below; the edges of the eye-lids are crimson; irides grey; the chin and cheeks are white, bordered with grey—the latter much puffed up with feathers, which makes the head look large and round. From behind the corner of each eye the feathers are curiously separated, forming a narrow line, which reaches to the hinder part of the head: the crown of the head, hinder part of the neck, and upper part of the plumage, are black, and a collar of the same colour encircles the neck; the under parts are white; the tail consists of sixteen feathers; the legs are reddish orange.
The puffin, like others of the same genus, takes wing with great difficulty, and walks upon the whole length of the leg and foot, with a wriggling awkward gait. In tempestuous weather it takes shelter in caverns and holes in the nearest rocks, or in those made by the rabbit on the beach among the bent grass, in which it sits dozing, in snug security, till the return of the calm weather; for these birds cannot brave the storm, and it is not uncommon, when they have been overtaken by it, to find them drowned and cast on shore. Various kinds of fish, such as small crabs, shrimps, sprats, and also seaweeds, are said to be the food upon which they live; but it is evident from the structure, great strength, and sharpness of the bill, that they are furnished with powers to crush and pluck out other kinds of shell-fish, which ornithologists have not noticed.
The female makes no nest; she deposits her single whitish-coloured egg upon the bare mould, in a hole, dug out and formed in the ground, by her mate and herself, for that purpose; or in those which they find ready made by the rabbits, whom they easily dislodge. The parent birds are very attentive to their young, which they will defend to the last, by severely biting whatever enemy attempts to molest them, and will suffer themselves to be taken rather than desert them: and yet, notwithstanding this uncommon attachment, when the day of migration comes, the young, which are not able to fly, are left behind, and mostly perish of want, or are destroyed by birds of prey.
The bite of these birds is very severe: one sent to the author in a box, covered with netting, caught hold of the finger of a poor man, and brought away the fleshy part, as if it had been cut out with a knife; but they may be tamed, and soon become familiar. They are fed on fish and other animal substances.—These birds are spread over various parts of the northern world, and are met with on almost all the rocky cliffs on the coasts of Britain and Ireland, and on many of the surrounding isles, in immense numbers. They congregate in flocks of magnitude, regulated by the accommodations afforded them at their breeding places, at which they first assemble early in April, but do not settle to prepare for the business of incubation till May. They hatch their young in the beginning of July; from which time until nearly the middle of August, they are employed in returning and rearing their brood: when this is accomplished, the whole associated swarm leaves the place at once, and pursues its route to other regions, more suited to their future exigencies, there to spend the remainder of the varied year.
Astonishing emigration of puffins.—A most extraordinary event took place at the great island of Arran, lying at the mouth of the bay leading to Galway, in Ireland, some years ago. The stupendous cliffs to the southwest of the island, which, from time immemorial, had been the place of resort, or rather the natural habitation of such numbers of rock-birds or puffins, as is almost incredible, were at once deserted, on the 24th of June, by that entire species of fowl, which abandoned their nests, eggs, and young ones, and went off to sea. The like incident is said to have happened forty years before, and no reason whatever could be assigned for these most extraordinary derelictions.
Puffy,a.Windy, flatulent; tumid, turgid; out of wind.
Pug,s.A kind name for a monkey, or anything tenderly loved.
Pug Dog(Canis Pricator,Gmelin),s.
This variety is so nearly allied to the bull-dog (from which he is descended by a cross with the small Danish) in form and general appearance, that a detailed description is quite unnecessary. The chief difference is in its size, being much smaller, and its tail curled upon its back. It differs extremely in another particular, which is in courage, this animal being as timid as the other is valiant.
This dog was formerly very common in many parts of Great Britain, but is now becoming very scarce, from the circumstance, we have no doubt, of its being so useless. It may be prized as a pet, but certainly not for its beauty. Although its admirers in this country are becoming very limited in number, we are informed by Mrs. Piozzi, that in Italy it is a great favourite, more particularly at Padua.
There is a Sunday market at Moscow, where German pug dogs, which are so dear in London, can be bought for a sum of money equivalent to a shilling.
Pullet,s.A young hen.
Pulse,s.The motion of any artery as the blood is driven through it by the heart, and as it is perceived by the touch; vibration; leguminous plants.
It seems, by the nicest observations, that the pulsations of a healthy horse seldom exceed from forty to forty-five in a minute; exceeding which, in any material degree, there is then reason to believe inflammatory heat is predominant in the frame, and that fever is rapidly advancing in proportion to the increased velocity of the blood.
Pulverise,v.To reduce to powder, to reduce to dust.
Pumice,s.A light and spongy cinder of some fossil. It is ejected from volcanic mountains, or procured in melting glasses.
Punch,v.To bore or perforate by driving a sharp instrument.
Punch,s.A pointed instrument, which, driven by a blow, perforates bodies; a liquor made by mixing spirit with water, sugar, and the juice of lemons or oranges; an implement for cutting out hat or card waddings.
To make Punch.—A wine-glass nearly full of best refined lump sugar pounded. Twelve ditto of cold spring water, a lime, and half a lemon, (or if no lime, a whole lemon, which might yield about half a wineglassful of juice). Two wineglasses brim full of old Jamaica rum. Let the sugar be well melted, and the lemons thoroughly amalgamated with it and the water, before you add the spirit.
It is better to make the punch with boiling water the night before it is required for use. Strain it in the morning, and place the bottles in a well or stream of water, sheltered from the sun. When wanted at dinner time, you will have a cooler and much more mellow beverage than if the water had been taken from the spring.—Hawker—Wild Sports.
Puncture,s.A hole made with a sharp point.
Pungent,a.Pungent, sharp on the tongue, acrid; piercing, sharp, acrimonious, biting.
Punt,s.A light flat boat for fishing and shooting.
Dressing for Punts and Canoes.—To keep gunning punts and canoes from leaking, or, as those who use them call it, weeping, melt a pint of tar with a pound of pitch, and either half a pint of common oil, or a proportional quantity of suet. You have then only to pour a little of this mixture into the seams of your punt, and, instead of bedaubing her all over the bottom, as we did in the old school, seven or eight years ago, have the bottom painted with one or two coats of red lead, which will last much longer, and with which the boat rows much lighter.
White resin and mutton suet is even a better dressing, and by far the lightest of any.
Punt Shooting.—The punt shooters (men who earn their livelihood in winter by attacking the wild fowl, night and day, according as the tide serves) kill great numbers. The pursuit is hazardous, especially when there is much ice in the river, by which they sometimes get encircled, and then can only float with the current, and are kept often two or three tides before they can extricate themselves, and their punt is ill calculated to sustain pressure against its sides, which are not twenty inches high from the surface of the water; in this the punter by night drops down with the tide, or uses his paddles after the fowl; he knows their haunts, and takes every advantage of wind, tide, moon, &c.; his gun, which carries as much as a little cannon, is laid with the muzzle over the stem of the punt, in a hitch, which regulates the line of aim: at the bottom of the punt he lies upon his belly, and gets as near the rout of fowl that are upon the water as possible; when within the range of his gun, he rattles with his feet against the bottom of his punt, and when the fowl begin to spring at this unexpected sound, at that moment he pulls the trigger, and cuts a lane through their ranks, he instantly follows the direction of his shot, and gathers up those that are killed, or just expiring, for very seldom he makes it answer to row after fowl only wounded. He then charges his gun, and drifts further down the river, in hopes of a second, third, and successive shots. By this mode a man has brought home from fourscore to an hundred wild fowls, of various kinds, in one night’s excursion; and this will not seem an exaggerated account, when the multitudes which, in hard frosty weather, with the wind at east or north-east, haunt the Blackwater river are known. The numbers that are seen in their day-flights, and the noises of the various kinds of a night, are almost beyond belief: to the compiler, prepared as he was to behold amazing quantities, they exhibited far beyond what he was led to expect, and to others who have seen their throngs, the astonishment has been perhaps still greater. A punt shooter of the name of Bowles, has been known to clear upwards of an hundred pounds in a season by his gun; the wild fowl were sold to the higlers, &c., at two shillings a couple, one with the other; allowing his expenses to be only thirty pounds, here were two thousand six hundred birds brought home; an immense destruction, when the whole period allotted for it does not much exceed five months. Forty-two wigeons have been killed at a single shot in the day-time, and the difficulty of approaching the great flocks of fowl in the light is tenfold. A man, in whose punt the compiler was, got eighteen wigeons at one shot, and many that were crippled, escaped. If in the day, or at night, the punters get a shot at the fowl at feed upon the ooze, they tie on their plashes (similar to the mud-pattens used in Hampshire), and collect their spoil.
The best time for this shooting is the first or second day’s thaw after a sharp frost, and when deep snow has long covered the ground; the fowl are then flying in every direction to dabble in the fresh water, which then appears all around inviting them. Another favourable opportunity is at the commencement of a frost, with the wind strong at east, and a sleet or snow falling: if the guns can but be kept dry, there is no complaint about the using them, and the fowl in such weather always fly lower than when the atmosphere is clear.—Daniel—Hawker.
Pup,v.To bring forth whelps, used of a bitch bringing young.
All dogs that are much domesticated and confined, appear particularly subject to difficulty in bringing forth; consequently during pregnancy much exercise should be given, as nothing tends more to easy parturition than full exercise. Sometimes the constitution itself, in these tender and artificial breeds, is not equal to the exertion of labour; and sometimes false presentation increases the obstruction. Whenever a difficulty in pupping occurs, which has existed more than four or five hours, the bitch should be examined by means of a finger passed up the vagina; and, if any portion of a pup should be found to present itself, so as to be within reach of the finger, a skein of worsted ought, if possible, to be fastened around it; and, during the throes, or labour pains of the animal, it should be gently drawn away. If it cannot be reached in this way, a little longer time may be allowed; but, after all, should it not advance, a pair of forceps may be used to assist the extraction. It is a good practice to give a laxative as soon as any symptoms of pupping appear; and, when delivery seems much delayed, it will be prudent, in all cases, to bathe in warm water, and to give nutriment if the labour is protracted: occasional doses of laudanum united with æther must be given if any convulsive appearances come on. The patience of bitches in labour is extreme, and their distress, if not relieved, is most striking and affecting. Their look is, at such times, particularly expressive, and apparently imploring.—Blaine.
Puppy,s.A whelp, a progeny of a bitch; a name of contempt to an impertinent fellow.
Purgative,a.Cathartic, having the power to cause evacuation downwards.
Purge,v.To cleanse, to clear from impurities; to evacuate the body by stool; to have frequent stools.
Purge,s.A cathartic medicine, a medicine that evacuates the body by stool.
Purl,s.A kind of medicated malt liquor, in which wormwood and aromatics are infused.
Purple,a.Red, tinctured with blue.
Purple,v.To make red, to colour with purple.
Pursenet,s.A net of which the mouth is drawn together by a string.
Pursiness,s.Shortness of breath.
Purulent,a.Consisting of pus or the running of wounds.
Pus,s.The matter of a well-digested sore.
Puss,s.The fondling name for a cat; the sportsman’s term for a hare.
Pustule,s.A small swelling, a pimple, an efflorescence.
Pustulous,n.Full of pustules, pimply.
Put,s.A clown; a vulgar game at cards.
Put, played with a complete pack, generally by two people, sometimes by three, and often by four, is a game at which the cards rank differently from all others, tray being the best, next the deuce, then ace, king, and so on in the usual order, as at whist. After cutting for deal, &c., at which the highest put card wins, three cards, by one at a time, are given to each player, then the game is played in the following way. If the non-dealer throw up his cards he loses a point; if he play, and the dealer do not lay down another to it, he gains a point; but should the dealer either win the same, pass it, or lay down one of equal value, forming what is styled a tie, the non-dealer is still at liberty to put, that is play, or not, and his opponent then only gains a point; then if both parties agree to go on, whoever gains all the tricks or two out of three, wins five points, which are the game; if each player win one trick, and the third be a tie, then neither party scores.
Four-handed put differs only in this, that on both sides, one of the players gives his best card to his partner, who lays out one in lieu of it, and the game is afterwards played as in two-handed put.
If the dealer turn up any of his adversary’s cards in dealing another deal may be demanded; but if he turn up his own he is to abide by it. Should a faced card occur, the pack must be shuffled and dealt again. When more cards than necessary are given to the non-dealer, he may either claim a fresh deal, or have the extra cards drawn; but should the dealer give himself too many, then his opponent is entitled to a point, and may either have another deal, or draw the supernumerary cards. Bystanders ought never to interfere, under penalty of paying the stakes. Either party saying, I put, must abide the event of the game, or pay the stakes.—Hoyle.
Putrefaction,s.The state of growing rotten; the act of making rotten.
Puttock,s.A buzzard.
Puzzle,v.To perplex, to confound, to embarrass, to entangle.
Pyrotechny,s.The art of managing fire; the art of making fireworks.