If I mistake not, you are shooting grouse with No. 4.
Agilis.I was told that so large a bird required large shot.
Peritus.No doubt there is greater difficulty in reaching a vital part through a large opposing substance than a small one; but you must remember that at this season the whole plumage of birds has not yet grown, the muscles and sinews are not yet so strong and firm as they will be; and the flight of all birds is slower than in winter; on such account I would use much smaller shot now than later in the season; and indeed you will find sevens now as efficient as fours will be in two months’ time. You must remember that to bring down a bird you must either strike it in a vital part, or impede its flight, and the fewer the shots that strike, the less likely you are to attain that object. I once fired a small bullet through a black cock, and he flew so far that he was only found by accident afterwards. But I will repeat to you my ideas as to the sizes of shot best calculated both for England and Scotland, as we are upon the subject:—
Partridge, hare.—From September 1 to October 1, No. 7.
Partridge, hare, woodcock, rabbit, pheasant.—From October 1 to the end of the season, No. 6.
Ducks.—No. 5 or 4.
Roe deer.—B Bat all times.
Grouse—From August 12 to September 1, No. 7; from September 1 to September 25, No. 6; from September 25 to the end of the season, No. 5.
Black game.—From August 20 to September 1, No. 7; from September 1 to September 10, No. 6; from September 1 to October 10, No. 5; from October 10 to the end of the season, No. 4 or 5, as the gun may shoot close or scatter: if it scatter, the smaller shot of the two.
The greater or lesser diameter of the bore cannot produce any sensible difference in the closeness or wideness with which the shot is thrown, provided the charge he the same in both pieces. We have subjected this matter to the test of experiment, and the result has accordingly been that a barrel of 22 or 24, which is the largest calibre usually employed in fowling-pieces, threw its shot as closely as one of the smallest calibre, viz. of 30 or 32.
There is a curious circumstance attending the shot of barrels, which is, that sometimes the grains of lead, instead of being equally distributed over the space they strike, are thrown in clusters of ten, twelve, fifteen, or more, whilst several considerable spaces have not a single grain in them; sometimes a cluster of this kind consists of one-third or one-half of the charge, and it also happens sometimes, though more rarely, that the whole charge collects itself into one mass, so as to pierce a board near an inch thick, at the distance of forty or forty-five paces. Small barrels are said to be more liable to this than large ones, and M. de Marolles says that this is especially the case when barrels are new, and when they are fresh washed. He mentions a double-barrelled piece of 52 calibre, which was particularly liable to this clustering and lumping of the shot, but adds that the same thing did not happen to him with other barrels of 26 and 28 calibre, which he had used before. The lumping also may perhaps depend upon the wadding employed.
With regard, then, to the extraordinary closeness with which some pieces are said to throw the shot, we certainly shall not take it upon us to assert that persons who speak of them wish to deceive us; but we do most firmly believe that they deceive themselves, and that their accounts proceed either from their belief that a gunsmith, by superior skill and care, is able to make such, or from their once having seen a piece accidentally lump its shot in the manner described above. The result of our experience, however, is very unfavourable to this prevailing opinion, for we do affirm that after having fired at a mark times without number, we have never yet found a barrel, which, at the distance of fifty paces, would throw its whole charge with regularity, we will not say into the breadth of a hat, but into a space of three feet square.
Patent Shot.—It is a fact stated to have been determined by repeated observation, that a bird killed with patent shot will turn green twenty-four hours sooner than one killed at the same time with the common shot; and this accelerated putrefaction is said to arise from the quantity of copperas used in preparing the lead for this particular manufacture.—Essay on Shooting—Hawker—Hints to Grown Sportsmen.
Shot Belt.—Always have the tops of your shot belts made to fit nicely into the muzzle of your gun; by which means, in the process of drawing your charge, you can empty your shot into them without losing a grain.—Hawker.
Shotten,a.Having ejected the spawn.
Shovelboard,s.A long board on which they play by sliding metal pieces at a mark.
Shough,s.A kind of shaggy dog, a shock.
Shoulder,s.The joint which connects the arm to the body; the upper joint of the foreleg of a beast; the upper part of the back; the shoulders are used as emblems of strength.
Shoulderbelt,s.A belt that comes across the shoulder.
Shouldershotten,a.Strained in the shoulder.
Shoulderslip,s.Dislocation of the shoulder.
Shoveller,s.A bird of the duck tribe.
Blue Wing Shoveller, Kertlucock, or Broad Bill(Anas Clypeata,Linn.;Le Souchet,Buff.)—The shoveller is less than the wild duck, commonly weighing about twenty-two ounces, and measuring twenty-one inches in length. The bill is black, three inches long, very broad or spread out, and rounded like a spoon at the end, with the nail hooked inward, and small.
The female is smaller than the male, from which she also differs greatly in the colours of her plumage, the coverts and spangle-spot on her wings being less brilliant, and the other parts composed of white, grey, and rusty, crossed with curved dusky lines, giving her much the appearance of the common wild duck. She makes her nest, lined with withered grasses, on the ground, in the midst of the largest tufts of rushes or coarse herbage, in the most inaccessible parts of the shaky marsh. She lays ten or twelve pale, rusty-coloured eggs; and as soon as the young are hatched, they are conducted to the water by the parent birds, who watch and guard them with the greatest care.
They are at first very shapeless and ugly, for the bill is then almost as broad as the body, and seems too great a weight for the little bird to carry. Their plumage does not acquire its full colours until after the second moult.
It has not yet been ascertained whether the shoveller breeds in England, where, indeed, it is a scarce bird.
This species is of so wild, shy, and solitary a disposition, that all attempts hitherto made to domesticate them have failed.
The anas muscaria of Linnæus (Le Souchet à ventre blancof Brisson) differs only from this in having the belly white, and is considered merely as a variety of the same species.
Red-breasted Shoveler.—Size of a common duck. This species is sometimes taken in the decoys of Lincolnshire.—Bewick.
Shrewmouse,s.A mouse of which the bite was anciently supposed venomous.
Shrill,a.Sounding with a piercing, tremulous, or vibratory sound.
Shrimp,s.A small crustaceous vermiculated fish; a little wrinkled man, a dwarf.
Shrub,s.A small tree; spirit, acid, and sugar, mixed.
Shufflecap,s.A play at which money is shaken in a hat.
Shuttlecock,s.A cork stuck with feathers, and beaten backward and forward.
Shy,a.Cautious; keeping at a distance, unwilling to approach.
Sickly,a.Not healthy, disordered; faint, weak, languid.
Sidesaddle,s.A woman’s seat on horseback.
Sieve,s.Hair or lawn strained upon a hoop, by which flour is separated from bran; an implement to winnow corn.
Sift,v.To separate by a sieve; to separate, to part.
Sight,s.Perception by the eye, the sense of seeing; act of seeing or beholding; eye, instrument of seeing; aperture pervious to the eye, or other points fixed to guide the eye, as the sight of a quadrant, gun, &c.
Silicious,a.Made of hair.
Silken,a.Made of silk; soft, dressed in silk.
Silver,s.A white and hard metal, next in weight to gold. It is harder but not so malleable: it ignites before it melts, and requires intense heat to fuse it.
Silver,a.Made of silver; white like silver; having a pale lustre; soft of voice.
Sinew,s.A tendon, the ligament by which the joints are moved.
Sinewed,a.Furnished with sinews; strong, firm, vigorous.
Sinewy,a.Consisting of a sinew; nervous, strong, vigorous.
Siphon,s.A pipe through which liquors are conveyed.
Sire,s.A father; it is used of beasts, and particularly horses.
Sitter,s.One that sits; a bird that broods.
Size,s.Bulk, comparative magnitude; condition; any viscous or glutinous substance.
Skate,s.A flat sea fish; a sort of shoe armed with iron, for sliding on the ice.
Skegger,s.Skeggers are the produce of such sick salmon as might not go to sea.
Skein,s.A knot or thread of silk wound; a knot of gimp or gut.
Skin,s.The natural covering of the flesh; hide, pelt, that which is taken from animals to make parchment or leather.
Skin,v.To flay or divest of the skin.
Skirt,v.To border, to go along the edge, as to skirt a cover.
Skittish,a.Shy, easily frighted; wanton, volatile; changeable, fickle.
Skittle,s.A piece of wood like a sugar loaf used in the play of skittles.
Skittles,s.A game called ninepins.
Skua(Lestris catarractes,Temminck),s.A species of eagle.
This species is rather superior in size to the raven; weight three pounds; length two feet; the bill is an inch and three quarters long, black, and much hooked at the end; is covered, for more than half its length, with a kind of black cere; the upper part of the head, neck, back, and wings, deep brown; the feathers margined with ferruginous; about the forehead and chin tinged with ash-colour; the breast, and all beneath, pale dusky ferruginous; the quills are brown, white at the base; tail deep brown; roots and shafts white; the legs are black, rough, and scaly; talons black, strong, and much hooked.
This is a bold rapacious bird, and preys on the lesser gulls, as well as fish; it is said to attack the eagle, and even man, if he approaches their nest. It breeds in the Orkney Islands, and is much esteemed in the Isle of Foulah, from a supposition that it defends the flocks from the eagle: it is rarely seen in the south. One in the museum of Dr. Latham, was killed at Greenwich; and the only other instance we are furnished with, of this species being observed in the south of England, was shot at Sandwich, in Kent, in the winter of 1800.—Montagu.
Skulk,v.To hide, to lurk in fear or malice.
Skull,s.The bone that encloses the head; a shoal of fishes, herrings particularly.
Skycolour,s.An azure colour, the colour of the sky.
Skylark(Alauda arvensis,Linn.),s.A lark that mounts and sings.
The length of this species is seven inches; bill dusky; the base of the upper mandible yellowish; the feathers on the top of the head are dusky, bordered with rufous brown; they are rather long, and erectable in form of a short crest; the hind part is plain, inclining to ash-colour; on the upper parts of the body the feathers are reddish brown, darker in their middle, their edges pale; the under parts are dirty buff-colour, darkest on the neck and breast, which parts are streaked with dusky; quills brown, lighter on the outer webs and tips; the tail is dusky brown, the two middle feathers darkest, with light rufous margins; the outer feather is white on the outer web and tip of the inner; the second feather white on the outer web only; the third is inclining to white on the margin of the outer web; legs dusky in old birds, but lighter in young; claws dusky; the hind one very long and straight.
This bird is common in the greater part of this kingdom, but most plentiful in the more open and highest cultivated situations abounding with corn, and rarely seen on the extended moors at a distance from arable land. The nest is placed on the ground, amongst grass or corn; it is formed of dry grass and other vegetable stalks, lined with a fine dry grass.—Montagu.
Skyrocket,s.A kind of firework, which flies high, and burns as it flies.
Slam,v.To win all the tricks in a hand at whist.
Slaver,s.To be smeared with spittle; to emit spittle.
Sled,s.A carriage drawn without wheels, generally used upon the ice.
Sledge,s.A large heavy hammer; a carriage without wheels, or with very low wheels.
Sleek,a.Smooth, glossy; the state of a horse’s or dog’s skin when in condition.
Sleep,s.Repose, rest, suspension of the mental powers, slumber.
Sleep of Birds.—Like horses and some other quadrupeds, a great number of birds sleep standing; the perchers, (Insessores,Vigors,) for example, usually sleep standing on one leg upon some tree, bush, or other elevation, with the head turned behind, and the bill thrust under the feathers on the back, or under the wing. Indeed, these appear to be the general habits of the whole race of birds, in regard to their mode of resting and sleep; for the duck and goose, although they do not perch, will frequently sleep standing on one leg upon the ground, with their heads turned round, and the bills under the wing. Poultry, although they invariably perch, if a perch can be obtained, do not, when sleeping, rest usually on one leg; but they sink down with their bodies upon the perch, having their legs compressed under them. The sky lark sleeps upon the ground with his legs also similarly compressed. It is probable also that all the tribes of birds, even the perchers, occasionally sink down with their bodies resting on the perch during their soundest sleep. What is very remarkable in the structure of their feet and legs is, that the greater the weight upon the muscles, the more firmly the claws grasp whatever they lay hold of; hence the cause that birds do not fall down in sleep, although most of their senses are dormant.
The motion of the branches of trees produced by the wind increases, doubtless, the disposition for sleep in many birds; this may be exemplified in the common fowl; for placing its bill under the wing, even in broad day-light, and swaying it to and fro in the hand for a very short time, will produce sleep. Most of the tribe of birds sleep during the night; but there are many exceptions to this. Owls in particular are, during the night, much more active than in the day; their sight, similar to that of cats, appears to serve them best in the dark. Many of the duck tribe are not only wakeful, but feed during the night; so also do the nightjars. The nightingale, and a few other song-birds, are also wakeful while in song, during at least some portion of the night.—Montagu.
Slime,s.Viscous mire, any glutinous substance.
Slimy,a.Overspread with slime; viscous, glutinous, as the skin of an eel.
Sling,s.A missile weapon made by a strap; a kind of hanging bandage.
Sling,v.To throw by a sling; to throw, to cast; to hang loosely by a string; the strap attached to a rifle, and used by the marksman to steady his aim when a rest is not to be had.
Slip,v.To let loose; to throw off anything that holds one; to unloose a greyhound.
Slip,s.The act of slipping, a false step; mistake; a twig torn from the main stock; a leash or string in which a dog is held; an escape; a long narrow piece.
Slipknot,s.A bow knot, a knot easily untied.
Sloop,s.A small ship.
Slot,s.The track of a deer.
Slough,s.A deep miry place; the skin which a serpent casts off at his periodical renovation; the part that separates from a foul sore.
Slow,a.Not swift, not quick of motion; late, not happening in a short time; not ready, not quick; dull, inactive.
Slug,s.An idler, a drone; a kind of slow creeping snail; a cylindrical or oval piece of metal shot from a gun.
Smell,v.To perceive by the nose; to find out by mental sagacity.
Smell,s.Power of smelling; the sense of which the nose is the organ; scent.
Smelt,s.A small sea fish. It is of the salmon species, and in the spawning season ascends the rivers in great numbers.
The smelt derives its name from having, in the opinion of some, the scent of a violet, of others, that of a cucumber; they are met with in the seas that wash our coasts the whole year, and seldom go far from shore, except when they ascend the rivers, which they do with the tide; and in certain of which it is remarked, that they appear a long time before they spawn, being taken in abundance in the Thames and Dee in November and two succeeding months; in other rivers not until February, and in March and April they spawn, and are very prolific; after which they all return to the salt water, and are not seen in the rivers until the next season. It has been observed, that they never come into the Mersey so long as there is any snow water in its current; and that in the spring and beginning of summer they will run further up than in the decline of the year; they are also to be met with in the docks that are opened for the reception of ships. The smelt is of a very beautiful form and colour, the head is transparent, and the skin in general so thin that with a good microscope the circulation of its blood may be seen; the irides are silvery, the pupil of a full black, the under jaw is rather prominent, in the front of the upper are four large teeth, those in the sides of both are small; in the roof of the mouth are two rows, and on the tongue two others of large teeth; the colour of the back is whitish, with a cast of green, beneath which it is varied with blue, and then succeeds a beautiful gloss of a silvery hue; the scales are small and readily drop off; the tail is forked; the flesh is tender, and of a delicate taste. These fish vary greatly in size, the largest Mr. P. ever heard of was thirteen inches long, and weighed half a pound; they are often sold in the London streets under the name of dried sparlings, being split and dried, and are recommended by the gentlemen who take their gills of a morning, as adding to the wine a particular relish.
The smelt is to be angled for (when the tide runs up is preferable) with a paternoster line, having five or six hooks as many inches from each other, and baited differently. The best bait is very small fresh shrimps (not boiled), or the tail of a boiled one; next to these are gentles and red paste; also that made of boiled shrimps, fine white bread, and a little honey; cadis, blood-worms; and they will sometimes take a bit of their own species; some crumbs of bread steeped in water should be now and then thrown in to keep them together.
Walton mentions, that, many years since, in the month of August, such vast quantities of smelts came up the Thames, that women and children became anglers for them; and that in one day, between London bridge and Greenwich, not fewer than 2,000 persons were thus employed.
Smerlin,s.A fish.
Smith,s.One who forges with his hammer; one who works in metals.
Smithy,s.The workshop of a smith.
Snaffle,s.A bridle which crosses the nose; a kind of bit for a bridle.
Snaffle,v.To bridle, to hold in bridle, to manage.
Snake,s.A serpent of the oviparous kind, distinguished from the viper. The snake’s bite is harmless.
Snap,v.To break at once; to break short; to bite; to catch suddenly and unexpectedly.
Snap,s.The act of breaking with a quick motion; a quick eager bite; a catch.
Snappish,a.Eager to bite; peevish; sharp in reply.
Snare,s.Anything set to catch an animal, a gin, a net; anything by which one is entrapped or entangled. The wire by which hares and rabbits are poached; horsehair loops to take small birds.
Snare,v.To entrap, to entangle.
Snarl,v.To growl, as an angry animal.
Snet,s. obs.The fat of a deer.
Snipe,s.A small fen fowl with a long bill.
The weight of this species is about four ounces; length near twelve inches; the bill three inches long, dusky; in some the base is lighter, flattish, and rough at the end; irides dusky; crown of the head black, with a longitudinal light rufous line down the middle; from the base of the upper mandible another line of the same colour passes on each side over the eyes; between the bill and eye is a dusky line; the throat white; cheeks, neck, and upper breast, mottled with black and light ferruginous; the back and scapulars are black, barred with ferruginous-brown, and striped with yellowish buff-colour, in longitudinal lines; the quills are black, the first edged with white; the secondaries tipped with the same; those next the body are, with their coverts, striated, and barred with light ferruginous; lower breast and belly white; vent brown; upper tail coverts brown, barred with black; the tail consists of fourteen black feathers, barred and spotted with dull orange-red towards the end, with a narrow bar of black near the tip, where it is pale rufous; legs vary; in some dusky or lead-colour, others green.
This is a plentiful species in most parts of England; and is found in all situations, in high as well as low lands, depending much on the weather. In very wet times it resorts to the hills; at other times frequents marshes, where it can penetrate its bill into the earth after worms, which are its principal food.
Some few remain with us the whole year, and breed in the more extensive marshes and mountainous bogs. We have frequently taken the young before they could fly, in the north of England, and in Scotland. Near Penryn, in Cornwall, there is a marsh where several breed annually, and where we have taken their eggs, which are four in number, of an olivaceous colour, blotched and spotted with rufous-brown; some with dusky blotches at the larger end. The nest is made of the materials around it; coarse grass, and sometimes heath. It is placed on a stump or dry spot, near a plash or swampy place; the eggs like those of the lapwing, placed invariably with their ends inwards, being much pointed; their weight three drachms and a half.
In the breeding season, the snipe changes its note entirely from that it makes in the winter. The male will keep on wing for an hour together, mounting like a lark, uttering a shrill, piping noise; it then descends with great velocity, making a bleating sound, not unlike an old goat, which is repeated alternately round the spot possessed by the female, especially while she is sitting on her nest. This bird has been met with in almost every part of the world.
Great Snipe, (Scolopa Media).—Size between the woodcock and snipe; weight eight ounces; length sixteen inches; bill four inches long, and like that of the woodcock; crown of the head black, divided down the middle by a pale stripe; over and beneath each eye another of the same; the upper part of the body very like the common snipe; beneath white; the feathers edged with dusky black on the neck, breast, and sides; and those of the belly spotted with the same, but the middle of it is plain white; quills dusky; tail reddish, the two middle feathers plain, the others barred with black; legs black. He adds, “this is a rare species.” A fine specimen of it was shot in Lancashire, now in the Leverian Museum, said also to have been met with in Kent.
There are a good many snipes in the vicinity of that place; the marshes, however, frequented by those birds, are not very extensive, and may easily be hunted in much less than a day; but if a person be well acquainted with the ground, better snipe shooting is hardly to be met with in any country. As a proof of this, I have bagged upwards of thirty brace of those birds in seven or eight hours. These were either the common or double snipe, as I was careless of wasting my powder and shot about the jack or half snipe.
The double or solitary snipe, I usually found singly, or at most in pairs. They were generally so fat as hardly to be able to fly; indeed, if flushed, their flight was usually very short, and they presently settled again. They were nearly twice as large as the common snipe, and from their heavy and steady flight they presented the easiest mark possible. They are considered to be most delicious eating; four couple was the greatest number of those birds that I ever killed in Sweden in any one day. They were by no means plentiful in the vicinity of Gottenburg.
The double snipe is a bird of passage, and among those which arrive the latest; in colour speckled grey, with a long bill. At the end of July, when the meadows are mowed, the shooting of these birds with the pointer commences, and continues till towards the end of September. They may also be shot during the spring; but I have observed this has diminished the autumn shooting. In the whole round of sporting, this affords one of the greatest pleasures. These birds are easy to shoot; and in some places, fifty or sixty, and considerably more, may be shot in a day, particularly in autumn, when they are so fat that they almost burst their skins. They are most delicious eating.
In the heather surrounding a small lake in the island of Hoy, in the Orkneys, I found in the month of August, in 1817, the nests of ten or twelve couple of snipes. I was grouse shooting and my dog continually pointed them, and as there were sometimes three young ones and two old ones in the nest, the scent was very powerful.
Snipes are usually fattest in frosty weather, which I believe is owing to this, that in such weather they haunt only warm springs, where worms are abundant, and they do not willingly quit these places, so that they have plenty of nourishment and rest, both circumstances favourable to fat. In wet open weather they are often obliged to make long flights, and their food is more distributed. The jack-snipe feeds upon smaller insects than the snipe, small white larvæ, such as are found in black bogs, are its favourite food, but I have generally found seeds in its stomach, once hempseed, and always gravel. I know not where the jack-snipe breeds, but I suspect far north. I never saw their nests or young ones in Germany, France, Hungary, Illyria, or the British Islands.
In 1828, in the drains about Labach, in Illyria, common snipes were seen in the middle of July. The first double snipes appeared the first week in September, when likewise woodcocks were seen; the first jack-snipe seen, did not appear until three weeks later than the 29th of September. I was informed at Copenhagen, that the jack-snipe certainly breeds in Zealand, and I saw a nest with its eggs, said to be from the island of Sandholm, opposite Copenhagen, and I have no doubt that this bird and the double snipe sometimes make their nests in the marshes of Holstein and Hanover. An excellent sportsman and good observer informs me, that in the great royal decoy, or marsh preserve, near Hanover, he has had ocular proof of double snipes being raised from the nest there; but these birds require solitude and perfect quiet, and, as their food is peculiar, they demand a great extent of marshy meadow. Their stomach is the thinnest among birds of the scolopax tribe, and, as I have said before, their food seems to be entirely the larvae of the tribuæ, or congenerous flies.
Snipe Shooting.—Snipes when plenty afford very excellent sport, it being allowed to be the pleasantest, on account of the quick succession of shots; this is also the best shooting for practice, seldom failing to make indifferent shots most excellent ones. There is no shooting that presents such a variety of shots, scarcely any two being alike.
These birds usually fly against the wind, therefore every snipe-shooter should walk down it, as by that means the bird, if he rises before him, will fly back, and coming round him, describe a kind of circle; or at least his flight, for a certain distance, will not lengthen the shot, allowing him a certain time to cover the bird and take good aim; for if he gets up before him, and should by chance go down the wind, or from him, it is then the most difficult shot. It will be proper, in this case, to let the bird get a little distance from him, as then he will fly steadier and the slightest grain will fetch him to the ground.
When shooting snipes in the vicinity of Gottenburg, one’s sport mainly depends on the weather. If it blows hard from the westward, a strong current sets into the river from the North Sea; this impedes its course, and causes it to overflow its bounds, in which case many of the marshes become partially overflown, when the snipes, from finding little shelter, usually lie light, and are difficult to approach. If, on the countrary, the wind should be moderate, or from the eastward, and the water consequently low, those birds have abundance of cover, and it is easy therefore to get within range of them.
Pointers are made use of by many in shooting this species of birds, and, what is very singular, although these birds are so diminutive, in comparison with game which pointers are most accustomed to, yet they will stand equally staunch to them; even to the jack-snipe, which is the smallest of these birds. If you make use of a pointer it ought to be a very old staunch one, for two reasons; the first is, that this diversion not only spoils young ones, but slacks their mettle, as the points come so fast upon them, that if they become habituated to snipes, they will not look for other game, by reason of their getting a number of points without any exertion; secondly, a young pointer will be too quick for the snipe,—on the contrary, an old one would not be able to go out of a very slow pace, and, if under good command, will give the most satisfaction. When these birds are very plenty, the snipe-shooters never make use of a dog, as they always walk them up, which is found to answer best, and afford the most sport.
A pointer that is much used for grouse or partridge, should never be taken out snipe or pheasant shooting; for if he once gets accustomed to snipes, he will often baulk you on the moors in the grousing season; for as snipes are frequently met with at that time on them, if he points one, he may often give you a good walk and trouble, before you get to him, supposing it is game, and you are not a little mortified to find it only a snipe: and if accustomed to pheasants, he will be always puzzling about hedges, and not beat his ground as he ought to do. An old pointer may also be made use of for pheasants, as well as snipes.
The jack-snipe (VideJudcock) is esteemed the most difficult shot, although he seldom, on rising, makes any twistings or twinings, and will alight or pitch again, after being fired at, within a couple of hundred yards. Every sportsman that has been much accustomed to snipe-shooting, will allow, that a jack-snipe will suffer himself to be fired at twenty times in the same field, and will pitch each time so close to the shooter, that he frequently conceives that he has wounded him. They lie so close, that a staunch pointer might remain at his point until the moon changed, as this bird will not rise until forced to do so. A most curious circumstance which occurred respecting a jack-snipe that was sprung several times by a Mr. Molloy, formerly a quarter-master of the 64th regiment, while he was quartered at Geneva barracks, Ireland, is well worth relating: he regularly, after his duty was done, or if he could possibly obtain leave for a day, used to equip himself for shooting, and always sprung this jack-snipe, at which he fired and followed, and the bird used to pitch so close to him at times, that he was confident he had shot it, and used to run to take it up, when, to his great surprise, it would rise and fly a little farther; he actually acknowledged he fired, one day, eighteen times at this bird, and after shooting at it for the whole season, he happened to be crossing the bog it lay in, when he put it up, and exclaiming, “there’s my old friend,” threw his stick at it, and killed it on the spot. Whenever, after, any of his brother officers found a jack-snipe, they were always sure to say, “there goes Quartermaster Molloy.”
In Ireland, in the bottoms of the county of Limerick, about Charleville, these birds are in the greatest abundance, as it is not uncommon to hear of a person shooting twenty brace of them in the morning. The late Sir George Dunbar, of the 14th regiment of Light Dragoons, when quartered at Charleville, won a considerable wager by shooting forty-three brace between ten o’clock in the morning and four in the afternoon; and what appears still more extraordinary is, that although there are so many sportsmen about that place, who follow these birds, and others who net them, yet you find always enough of sport the day following; for there seem to be as many snipes, after two months’ destruction, as there were at the beginning of the season. The compiler himself has shot twenty brace, frequently, in a day, in the county of Cork; and, in the county of Limerick, has fired so often, that he has been forced to wait for the barrel of the gun to cool, before he durst attempt to reload.—Thornville—Daniel—Lloyd—Latham—Grieff.
Snort,v.To blow through the nose, as a high-mettled horse.
Snoud,s.The finer part of the line to which, in sea-fishing, the hook is immediately attached.
Soap,s.A substance used in washing.
Soar,v.To fly aloft, to tower; to fly without visible action of the wings.
Soar,s.Towering flight; the flight of the eagle and falcon.
Soar Hawk,s.So termed from the time she leaves the eyrie until she mews her feathers.
Sociable,s.A kind of phaeton, with two seats facing each other, and a box for the driver.
Soil,s.Dirt, spot, foulness; land, country; dung, compost; cut grass given to cattle;to take soil, in hunting; to go into water.
Solder,v.To unite or fasten with any kind of metallic cement; to mend, to unite anything broken.
Solder,s.Metallic cement.
Sole,s.The bottom of the foot; the bottom of the shoe; the part of any thing that touches the ground; a kind of sea fish. Soles will take a bait freely; but they are generally taken with a trawl net.
Solid,a.Not fluid; not hollow, compact, dense.
Soluble,a.Capable of dissolution or separation of parts.
SolundorSolan Goose,s.A fowl in bigness and feather very like a tame goose, but his bill longer.VidePuffin.
Song,s.Anything modulated in the utterance; a ballad, a poem, lay, strain; poetry, poesy; notes of birds; an old song, a trifle.
Song of Birds.—As the song of birds is not allowed to be the effect of love, by an honourable author on the subject of singing birds (Daines Barrington), we shall endeavour to elucidate this matter from experiments on birds in their natural wild state; and also endeavour to prove that their notes are innate, contrary to that author’s opinion. That confined birds will learn the song of others they are constantly kept with, there is no doubt; but then it is generally blended with that peculiar to the species. In the spring, the very great exertions of the male birds in their vociferous notes are certainly the calls to love; and the peculiar note of each is an unerring mark for each to discover its own species. If a confined bird had learned the song of another, without retaining any part of its natural notes, and was set at liberty, it is probable it would never find a mate of its own species; and even supposing it did, there is no reason to believe the young of that bird would be destitute of its native notes; for if nestling birds have no innate notes peculiar to the species, and their song is only learned from the parent bird, how are we to account for the invariable note each species possesses, when it happens that two different species are bred up in the same bush, or in one very contiguous, or when hatched or fostered by a different species.
Although there appears considerable force in these arguments of Montagu, I am disposed to be of opinion, that birds sing most frequently from joy and buoyancy of spirits, and not unfrequently in triumphant defiance of rivalry or attack. I have a red-breast at present, who will sing out whenever I snap my fingers at him; and the sedge-bird sings when a stone is thrown into the bush where he may be.
Syme’s remarks upon the songs of birds, are worth quoting. The notes, he says, of soft-billed birds, are finely-toned, mellow, and plaintive; those of the hard-billed species are sprightly, cheerful, and rapid. This difference proceeds from the construction of the larynx; as a large pipe of an organ produces a deeper and more mellow-toned note than a small pipe, so the trachea of the nightingale, which is wider than that of the canary, sends forth a deeper and more mellow-toned note. Soft-billed birds, also, sing more from the lower part of the throat than the hard-billed species. This, together with the greater width of the larynx of the nightingale and other soft-billed warblers, fully accounts for their soft, round, mellow notes, compared with the shrill, sharp, and clear notes of the canary and other hard-billed songsters. In a comprehensive sense, the complete song of birds includes all the notes they are capable of uttering; and, taken in this sense, it is analogous to the speech of man. It is the vehicle through which these little creatures communicate and convey to each other their mutual wishes and their wants. It may be divided into six distinct separate sounds or parts, each of which is very expressive, even to us, of the feelings which agitate the bird at the moment. To describe their song more fully, we shall divide it in the following manner:—
First—The call-note of the male in spring.
Second—The loud, clear, ardent, fierce notes of defiance.
Third—The soft, tender, full, melodious, love warble.
Fourth—The notes of fear or alarm, when danger approaches the nest.
Fifth—The note of alarm, or war-cry, when a bird of prey appears.
Sixth—The note the parent-birds utter to their brood, and the chirp or note of the young.
The note of the young may be again divided into two; that which they utter while in the nest, and the chirp after they have left it; for they are very distinct sounds or notes; to which may be added, a soft, murmuring kind of note, emitted by the male, while he is feeding the female in the nest; and also by her while she is receiving the food. The call-note; the warble of love; and the notes of defiance, or prelude to battle, seem only to be understood by birds of the same species, at least in a wild state. Perhaps, in a state of domestication, birds of different genera, if nearly allied, may partially comprehend these notes, as the canary bird does the notes of the siskin, the goldfinch, and the linnet.
All the notes comprised in the song of birds convey delight to the mind of a lover of nature; but the bird-fanciers only prize their love warble, and notes of defiance; these notes, and these only, he considers to be their song. The musical notes of birds, whether of love or war, are sweet, and really charming in themselves; but they perhaps pour on the mind a greater degree of pleasure than mere sound is capable of conveying—we mean the recollections of youthful days, of endearing incidents, or of scenes connected with country pleasure. We ourselves prefer the mellow, plaintive melody of the soft-billed species; but others give the palm to the cheerful warble of the hard-billed tribe; which of these two styles is the sweetest melody we cannot determine. Both warbles may be equally fine; and the preference, perhaps, may depend on taste and feeling. But it is allowed, by all who have an ear for music, or rather, we should say, who have an ear and love for simple natural melody, that the song or warble of birds is truly delightful; but all their musical notes cease as soon as the brood is hatched.—Montagu—Syme—Rennie.
Soporific,a.Causing sleep, opiate.
Sorel,s.A buck of the third year.
Soup,s.Strong decoction of flesh for the table.
Hawker’s recipe for a mountain soup is simple and excellent—Probatum est.—Ed.
Three pounds of meat, a large carrot, two onions, and two turnips. (The Frenchman adds also a cabbage; here John Bull may please himself.) Put them into two quarts of water, to simmer away till reduced to three pints. Let him season the soup to the taste, with pepper, salt, herbs, &c. He must then cut off square, a pound of the fattest part of the meat, and put it aside, letting the rest boil completely to pieces. After he has well skimmed off the fat, and strained the soup, let him put it by till wanted.
On your return, while seeing your dogs fed, which every sportsman ought to do, let the soup be put on the fire for twenty minutes, with some fresh vegetables, (if you like to have them,) and, for the last ten minutes, boil again the square piece of meat which was reserved. Another necessary part of the recipe also should be prescribed, lest the dish should fall into disrepute. To prevent the deputy cook from helping himself, and filling it up with water, let him have a partnership in the concern, and when he has occasion to quit the room, he should either lock the door, or leave one of your relay dogs for a sentry.
You will then have a good wholesome gravy-soup to begin with, and afterwards some tender meat, which, if eaten with mustard, a little raw parsley chopped fine, and a few anchovies, you will, it is presumed, find an excellent dish. A pot of anchovies might easily be carried in a portmanteau, being, of all the luxuries from an oil-shop, one of the most portable and most useful.—Hawker.
Sow,s.A female pig, the female of a boar; an oblong mass of lead; an insect, a millepede.
Spade,s.The instrument of digging; a suit of cards.
Spadille,s.The ace of spades at ombre and quadrille.
Spancounter, orSpanfarthing,s. obs.A play at which money is thrown within a span or mark.
Spaniel,s.A dog used for sport in the field, remarkable for sagacity and obedience.