Macaw,s.A foreign bird of the parrot kind; its plumage is very splendid, and its feathers valuable in tying salmon flies. Shop flies are frequently tied with imitation feathers, which, on exposure to the sun, become faded and useless.
Mackerel,s.A sea fish.VideSea Fishing.
Mackerel-gale,s.A strong breeze, favourable for killing mackerel.
Mad,a.Disordered in the mind; enraged, furious.
Madness,s.Distraction; fury, wildness, rage.VideHydrophobia.
Maggot,s.A small grub which turns into a fly.
Magnetic,a.Relating to the magnet; having powers correspondent to those of the magnet; attractive, having the power to draw things distant.
MagpieorPianet(Corvus pica,Linn.;La Pie,Buff.)s.A bird.
THE MAGPIE.
THE MAGPIE.
THE MAGPIE.
Its length is about eighteen inches; bill strong and black; eyes hazel; the head, neck, and breast are of a deep black, which is finely contrasted with the snowy whiteness of the under parts and scapulars; the neck-feathers are long, as are also those on the back, which extend towards the rump, leaving only a small space, of a greyish ash-colour, between them and the tail coverts, which are black; the plumage in general is glossed with green, purple, and blue, which catch the eye in different lights; the tail is very long, and rather wedge-shaped; the under-tail coverts, thighs, and legs are black: on the throat and part of the neck there is a kind of feathers, mixed with the others, resembling strong, whitish hairs.
This beautiful bird is everywhere common in England; it is likewise found in various parts of the continent, but not so far north as Lapland, nor farther south than Italy: it is met with in America, but not commonly, and is migratory there. It feeds, like the crow, on almost every thing animal as well as vegetable. The female builds her nest with great art, leaving a hole in the side for her admittance, and covering the whole upper-part with an interweaving of thorny twigs, closely entangled, thereby securing her retreat from the rude attacks of other birds: but it is not safety alone she consults; the inside is furnished with a sort of mattrass, composed of wool and other soft materials, on which her young repose: she lays seven or eight eggs, of a pale green-colour, spotted with black.
The magpie is crafty and familiar, and may be taught to pronounce words, and even short sentences, and will imitate any particular noise which it hears. It is addicted, like other birds of its kind, to stealing, and will hoard up its provisions. It is smaller than the jackdaw, and its wings are shorter in proportion; accordingly its flight is not so lofty, nor so well supported: it never undertakes long journeys, but flies only from tree to tree, at moderate distances.
To destroy magpies.—Wait till the female sits hard on her eggs; and then go, late in the evening, with some large shot in a duck-gun, by which means you may either take her as she flies out of the tree, or blow up the whole concern by firing through the nest.—Bewick—Hawker.
Magpie Hawking,s.
Magpies may be flown with eyess slight falcons, and afford excellent sport.
A down or common, where low trees or thorn bushes are dispersed at the distance of from thirty to fifty yards apart, is the place best calculated for this diversion.
When a magpie is seen at a distance, a hawk is immediately to be cast off. The magpie will take refuge in a bush the moment that he sees the falcon, and will remain there until the falcon arrives, with the hawk waiting on in the air. The magpie is to be driven from his retreat, and the hawk, if at a good pitch, will stoop at him as he passes to another bush, from whence he is to be driven in the same way, another hawk having been previously cast off, so that one or the other may always be so situated as to attack him to advantage.
The second hawk is necessary, for the magpie shifts with great cunning and dexterity to avoid the stoop; and when hard pressed, owing to the bushes being rather far apart, will pass under the bellies of the horses, flutter along a cart rut, and avail himself of every little inequality of the ground in order to escape.
Four or five assistants, besides the falconer, (who should attend solely to his hawks) are required for this sport. They should be well mounted and provided with whips; for the magpie cannot be driven from a bush by a stick; but the crack of a whip will force him to leave it, even when he is so tired as hardly to be able to fly. Nothing can be more animating than this sport; it is, in my opinion, far superior to every other kind of hawking. The object of the chase is fully a match for its pursuers—a requisite absolutely necessary to give an interest to any sport of this kind; and it has the advantage of giving full employment to the company, which is not the case in partridge-hawking.
The magpie will always endeavour to make his way to some strong cover; care, therefore, must be taken to counteract him, and to drive him to that part of the ground, where the bushes are farthest from each other. It is not easy to take a magpie in a hedge. Some of the horsemen must be on each side of it; some must ride behind, and some before him; for, unless compelled to rise, by being surrounded on all sides, he will flutter along the hedge, so as to shelter himself from the stoop of the falcon. Many requisites are necessary to afford this sport in perfection—a favourable country, good hawks, and able assistants.—Sebright.
MaidorMaiden-ray,s.A species of skate fish. They are amazingly plenty on the North West Coast of Ireland, and only used as food by the poorer classes.
Maize,s.Indian wheat.
Malanders,s.A dry scab on the pastern of horses.
Malanders is a disorder that attacks the back part, or flexure, of the knee joint, and depends upon a combination of mange and grease. It appears as a scurfy or scabby eruption, and is often very painful, causing some degree of lameness from the pain the animal feels in moving the joint. Sometimes it is not so considerable as to produce lameness, or any apparent inconvenience, but generally becomes troublesome and obstinate unless attended to. Salanders occur in the fore part, or flexure, of the hock joint, and are of the same nature as malanders. They should first be well washed with soap and water, and all the scurf and loose cuticle completely removed. They may then be cured by the following ointments:—
OINTMENT FOR MALANDERS AND SALANDERS.
OINTMENT FOR MALANDERS AND SALANDERS.
OINTMENT FOR MALANDERS AND SALANDERS.
No. 1. Ointment of nitrate of mercury, commonly named citrine ointment.
No. 2. Hog’s lard, two ounces; red precipitate, finely powdered, two drachms.
No. 3. Hog’s lard, four ounces; melt, and stir in Goulard’s extract, one ounce.—White.
Male,a.Of the sex that begets young, not female.
Male,s.The he of any species.
Malefeathers,s.Those on the breast of a hawk.
Mallard,s.The drake of the wild duck.
The mallard, or wild-drake, weighs from thirty-six to forty ounces, and measures twenty-three inches in length, and thirty-five in breadth: the bill is of a yellowish-green colour, not very flat, about an inch broad, and two and a half long, from the corners of the mouth to the tip of the nail: the head and upper-half of the neck, are of a glossy, deep, changeable, green, terminated in the middle of the neck by a white collar, with which it is nearly encircled: the lower part of the neck, breast, and shoulders, are of a deep vinous chestnut: the covering scapular feathers are of a kind of silvery white; those underneath, rufous; and both are prettily crossed with small waved threads of brown: wing-coverts ash; quills brown; and between these intervenes the beauty-spot (common in the duck tribe) which crosses the closed wing in a transverse, oblique, direction; it is of a rich, glossy, purple, with violet or green reflections, and bordered by a double streak of black and white. The belly is of a pale grey, delicately pencilled and crossed with numberless narrow-waved, dusky lines, which, on the sides and long feathers that reach over the thighs, are more strongly and distinctly marked: the upper and under tail-coverts, lower part of the back, and rump, are black; the latter glossed with green: the four middle tail-feathers are also black, with purple reflections, and, like those of the domestic drake, are stiffly curled upwards; the rest are sharp pointed, and fade off to the exterior sides, from a brown to a dull white; legs, toes, and webs red.
The plumage of the female is very different from that of the male, and partakes of none of his beauties, except the spot on the wings. All the other parts are plain brown, marked with black. She makes her nest, lays from ten to sixteen greenish-white eggs, and rears her young generally in the most sequestered mosses or bogs, far from the haunts of man, and hidden from his sight among reeds and rushes. To her young helpless unfledged family (and they are nearly three months before they can fly), she is a fond, attentive, and watchful parent, carrying or leading them from one pool to another, as her fears or inclinations direct her; and she is known in this country to use the same wily stratagems to mislead the sportsman and his dog, as those before noticed respecting the partridge.
Like the rest of the duck tribes, the mallards, in prodigious numbers, quit the north at the end of autumn, and, migrating southward, arrive at the beginning of winter in large flocks, and spread themselves over all the loughs and marshy wastes in the British isles. They pair in the spring, when the greatest part of them again retire northward to breed; but many straggling pairs stay with us: they, as well as preceding colonists of their tribes, remain to rear their young, who become natives, and continue with us throughout the year.—Bewick.
Malleable,a.Capable of being spread by beating.
Malmsey,s.A sort of grape; a kind of wine.
Malt,s.Grain steeped in water and fermented, then dried on a kiln.
Malt is very serviceable to horses that are recovering from fever: it is useful, also, when the system is weakened by large abscesses which discharge copiously, and in almost every case depending on debility.
It appears to be easy of digestion, and very nutritious, though not so stimulating as oats. Green malt has been recommended for improving the condition of horses, and giving them a smooth, glossy coat. Infusion of malt is sometimes given with advantage to sick horses; but they generally require to be drenched with it, which is a great inconvenience.—White.
Malt,v.To make malt.
Mammalia,s.The first class of animals in the system of Linnæus.
Manage,v.To carry on; to train a horse to graceful action; to tame or break hawks in.
Manchineel,s.A large tree, a native of the West Indies; a dyewood.
Mandible,s.The jaw, the instrument of manducation.
Mane,s.The hair which hangs down on the neck of horses.
When a horse’s mane stares or lies irregularly, it should he neatly platted; leaded at the ends, and kept damp with a wet sponge.
Maned,a.Having a mane.
Mange,s.The itch or scab in cattle.
The canine mange is a chronic inflammation of the skin, dependent, in some instances, on a morbid constitutional action: it is infectious also, from miasms produced from animal exhalations; and it is notoriously contagious from personal communication with one affected. It is not, however, so completely contagious, in all its varieties, as is supposed, for I have known dogs to sleep with affected ones for some time without becoming mangy; but in the majority of cases it is otherwise; and in some the predisposition to it is such, that almost simple and momentary contact will produce it. The mange which is received by contagion is more readily given to another than that which is generated. The uniform presence of animalculi within the psoric pustules has revived the idea that it originates in the attack of acari.
Mange is also hereditary. A bitch, lined by a mangy dog, is very liable to produce mangy puppies; but the progeny of a mangy bitch is certain to become affected sooner or later; and I have seen puppies covered with it when a few days old. The morbid action by which mange is generated is excited in various ways, and by various causes. When a number of dogs are confined together, the acrid effluvia of their transpiration and urine begets a miasm productive of a virulent mange, very difficult to be removed. Close confinement, with salted food, is even more certainly productive of mange; thus dogs who have come from distant countries, on ship-board, are generally affected with it. Very high living, with little exercise, is a frequent cause: a state nearly approaching to starvation is also not unfavourable to it. In both these apparent contrarieties, the balance between the skin and the digestive functions is not preserved, and the disease follows as a necessary consequence. The disease has some permanent and fixed varieties; it has also some anomalies; but the pruritus or itching is common to all.
The scabby mange, one of the most common forms under which this eruptive complaint appears, is an extension of the secretory pores of the skin in very minute red vesicles, that at first are distinct, but as they extend become pustular, confluent, and scabby. Sometimes simple linear cracks of the cuticle seem to pour out a serous fluid, which concretes into scab. It is occasionally confined to the back; at others it is found principally in the joints of the extremities.
The red mange, so called from a redness of both skin and hair in the parts affected, is likewise not unfrequent, and partakes much of an herpetic character. In this variety there is less pustular eruption, but nearly the whole skin of the body, particularly in white-haired dogs, is in a state of active inflammation: it is also hot to the feel, and itches intolerably. In the red mange, the hair itself becomes morbidly affected, and alters in its colour, particularly about the extremities: it also falls off, and leaves the skin bare, much thickened, and puckered into stubborn wrinkles. Dogs with the strong coarse hair called wired are very liable to this state; in which a magnifying glass applied will often detect innumerable minute ulcerations, covered by furfuraceous scales.
Acute mange.—Besides that variety just noticed, there is yet a more directly acute form of the complaint, which puts on an appearance not unlike erysipelas in some instances; in others it is a pure erythema, or red efflorescence; but more frequently it is accompanied with some ulceration. It commences by a direct febrile attack, with panting heat, and restlessness; next some part of the body (usually the head) begins to swell, which, the second or third day, gives place to ulceration of the nose, eyelids, lips, ears, neck, &c. This ulceration proves superficial, but extensive; and continues a longer or a shorter period, as the treatment is more or less judicious. Bleeding, aperients, and febrifuges, form the constitutional remedies: the topical ones are tepid fomentations the first two days; and, when the tumefaction has given place to ulceration, the application of a cooling unguent of superacetate of lead (sugar of lead), with spermaceti ointment, will be proper. What remains of the affection, in a week or ten days’ time, may be treated as common mange.
Mange is apt to be considered more troublesome than hurtful, which is a great error; for it is not only invariably hurtful, but very often fatal also: when long continued, it frequently ends in dropsy. It sometimes diseases the mesenteric glands, and the subjects of it die tabid: neither in any case can it be neglected with impunity. In sporting dogs it is injurious to their qualities as well as their health: their scent invariably becomes impaired, and their general powers are always weakened by its irritation.
The following formulæ are adapted for the first described form of mange:—
Dissolve the corrosive sublimate in the decoctions, which should be of a moderate strength; when dissolved, add two drachms of powdered aloes, to render the mixture nauseous, and prevent its being licked off, which ought to be very carefully guarded against: the best means for this purpose is a muzzle having a very fine wire capping or mouth-piece, which will effectually prevent the dog from getting his tongue applied to the ointment, which would prove his almost certain destruction.
The formulæ for red mange are as follow:—
In some cases, the mange ointment, No. 4, alternated with No. 6, one being used one day, and the other the next, will be found beneficial. In others, benefit has been derived from the wash, No. 5, united with lime water. In slight cases of red mange, the following has been found singularly successful:
The third variety requires a considerable difference in the treatment. When the little spongy openings, piercing the cellular tissue, will admit of it, they should be injected, by means of a very minute syringe, with the wash No. 8. The general surface should also be anointed with the following:
For the Red Mange.—Two ounces of white hellebore in powder, mixed in one quart of the grounds of strong beer, made warm; rub the dog well all over, and dry it in with a good fire; be careful that it does not touch his eyes: put the dog in a warm place, and keep him from water four hours after the application.—Blaine.
Mangel Wurzel,s.A kind of beet, shaped like a carrot, but larger. It is excellent fattening winter fodder. In Germany it has been used for human food in times of scarcity; hence its name, which literally means “the root of scarcity.”—Crabbe.
Manger,s.The place or vessel in which animals are fed with corn.
Manginess,s.Scabbiness, infection with the mange.
Mantling,s.In falconry, the lowering of a hawk’s feathers down to her feet.
Maple-tree,s.A tree frequent in hedge-rows.
Maple is much used in making gun-stocks, and, from the closeness of its grain, and its being susceptible of a high polish, is generally preferred by gun-makers to every other wood. Of late, to stain stocks black has become very fashionable, and come into general use among the leading gun-makers.
Mare,s.The female of a horse.
Maritime,a.Performed on the sea, marine; relating to the sea, naval; bordering on the sea.
Mark,s.A token by which anything is known; anything at which a missile weapon is directed; the evidence of a horse’s age; a sum of thirteen shillings and fourpence; a character made by those who cannot write their names.
Marksman,s.A shot; a man skilful to hit a mark.
Marl,s.A kind of clay, much used for manure.
Marrow,s.An oleaginous substance contained in the bones.
Marsh,s.A fen, a bog, a swamp; a morass; a snipe haunt.
Marsh Mallow,s.A plant useful in making mucilaginous or emollient drinks, clysters, or fomentations.
The root is the best part, and, if carefully dried, may be kept a long time. These mucilaginous drinks are useful when the bowels or bladder are inflamed or irritated by strong physic, or when there is any pain in the urinary passages. They should be given frequently in the course of the day, and may occasionally be made the vehicle for more active medicines. Any thing which contains mucilage in sufficient quantity may be employed for the purpose of making emollient drinks.—White.
Marshy,a.Foggy, fenny, swampy; produced in marshes.
Marten,s.A large kind of weasel, whose fur is much valued; a kind of swallow that builds in houses, a martlet.
This is the most beautiful, and the most destructive to pheasants, of the British beasts of prey. The marten is about eighteen inches long, the tail ten, or, if measured to the end of the hair at the point, where it is also the thickest and darkest, twelve inches; the head is small, and elegantly shaped: the eyes are lively, and all its motions agile and graceful; the ears are broad, rounded and open; the back, sides, and tail, are covered with a fine thick ash-coloured down at bottom, with long hair intermixed, of a bright chestnut, tipped with black, giving a darkish brown appearance to the whole; the head brown, with a slight cast of red; the legs and upper side of the feet, chocolate—the under sides are covered with similar thick down, to the body; the feet are broad; the claws white, large, and sharp, but incapable of being, at pleasure, sheathed or dilated; they are well suited for climbing trees, in which, in this country, it constantly resides: the throat and breast are white; belly of the same colour with the back, except being rather paler; but martens vary in their colours, inclining, more or less, to ash colour, according to their age, or the seasons of the year they are taken in.
The skin and excrements of this animal have an agreeable, musky scent, and are free from that disgusting rankness which distinguishes the other species of this genus, as the pole-cat, &c. The fur is valuable, and much used to line or trim the gowns of magistrates, aldermen, &c. The marten lives in the woods, and in winter very often shelters itself in magpies’ nests, breeds in the hollows of trees, and brings from four to six young ones at a time; they are brought forth with their eyes unopened, but quickly arrive at a state of perfection. The female has but a small quantity of milk in proportion to her size, but she amply compensates for this natural defect by bringing home eggs and live birds to her offspring, thus early habituating them to a life of carnage and plunder. As soon as the young are able to leave the nest, they are led by the dam through the woods, where the birds at once recognise their enemies, and fail not to attend them, as they do the fox, with every mark of animosity and terror. When taken young, the marten is easily tamed, is extremely playful and good-humoured; its attachment, however, is not to be relied on if it gets loose, for it will immediately take advantage of its liberty, and retire to the woods, its natural haunts. A farmer in the parish of Turling, in Essex, was famous for taming this animal, and had seldom less than two. Some years since, one used to run tame about the kitchen of the Bald-faced Stag inn, on Epping forest.
M. Buffon affirms of a marten that he had tamed (it should seem but imperfectly), that it drank frequently, sometimes slept two days successively, and at other times continued as long awake. When preparing for sleep, it folded itself round, covering its head with its tail. He describes its motions as so violent, incessant, and troublesome, that it was necessarily kept chained. After escaping from its fetters, and returning once or twice, it at last went entirely away.
The pine marten (whose skin is considered of a far superior quality to the common), which is distinguished by a yellow throat and breast, and of which such numbers are sold at the Hudson’s Bay Company’s sales—at one of which, 12,370 good skins, and 2360 damaged ones, were sold; and about the same time the French brought into the port of Rochelle, from Canada, no less than 30,325 skins—is sometimes found in Wales, in the counties of Merioneth and Carnarvon. In Scotland it is the only kind of marten; where it inhabits the fir forests, frequently usurping the drays or nests of the squirrel, building its own nest at the top of the trees, and produces seven or eight young at a birth.
The marten’s food is poultry, game, and small birds; it will not eat mice, rats, and moles, and is said to feed also on grain, and to be extremely fond of honey. It is said to be a great enemy to cats, and will even attack the wild cat, which, although much stronger, is always worsted, and often killed in the combat, and a contest is sure to take place whenever they meet.
The scent of the marten is very sweet to hounds, and it is the best animal to enter young fox-hounds at. The marten, by running to the thickest bushes it can find, teaches hounds to run cover, which is of infinite service to them. When closely pursued, it climbs a tree, and its agility is astonishing, for though it falls frequently from a tree into the midst of a pack of hounds, each intent on the catching it, the instances are very few of a marten being caught by them in that situation. They are not found in any great numbers; the most ever met with by the compiler, was in the large woods near Rayleigh, in Essex.
They attack the pheasants when at roost, and make great havoc. The steel trap, baited with a piece of pheasant or wood-pigeon, will generally be successful. Some prefer the box trap (such as is used in warrens), which should be baited with a bird in the centre, and the feathers strewed through the inside of the trap, from one end to the other; but a more certain way of catching them, in a park or cover paled in, is the following: as they constantly run the pales and posts to dry themselves in the morning, have a groove cut in some of the posts and gate-posts where they run, sufficient to contain a strong hawk or rat-trap; the trap must be set in this groove, without a bait: in leaping upon the place, they are sure to be taken. A small chain should be fixed to the trap, and fastened to the post.
The common house cat, turned wild, is another mortal foe to pheasants, and does more mischief than many sorts of naturally wild vermin. In Moulsham Thrift, a large cover belonging to Sir H. St. John Mildmay, sixteen of these animals were killed by a pack of fox-hounds, in four days, drawing the cover for foxes. They may be destroyed in traps, like the marten; but the bait must be sprinkled with valerian, and if the hutch or box-trap be used, valerian should be scattered in and about the trap, which will certainly allure them, for of this drug they are immoderately fond.
Another way to take either the wild or the pole cat, is to set box-traps in the bottom of the ditches, or under walls or pales, with the ends of the traps fenced up, for four or five yards aslant, and two or three yards wide at the entrance, with earth, bushes, or broken pales, so that the vermin shall not pass without entering the traps. This is the method used by warreners. When the traps are so placed, a trail of rabbits’ paunches should be drawn from one trap to another, and the baits are red herrings half broiled. Each end of the traps is to be rubbed with them, and a part of the herring is to be afterwards hung upon the nail over the bridges of the traps. This is a mode that will cause great destruction amongst them. A thin bag, sufficiently large to admit an end of the trap, is to be provided and slipped over it, when any of the traps are sprung, and by rattling at the other end of the trap, the creature will spring into the bag; for without precaution, if it be a wild cat, the moment the light is admitted, it will fly in the face of the person opening it. By having both ends of the box-traps painted white, and rubbed over with the entrails of any animal, the hares will be deterred from entering, at the same time it will allure the vermin to go into the traps.
Martlet,s.A kind of swallow; the bank swallow.
Industry of Birds.—Dr. Steel, who lives near the mineral springs of Saratoga, in New York, has ascertained that the bank swallow (hirundo riparia) knows how to vary, according to necessity, the construction of its nest. If it finds sandy banks, it bores holes in them, and thus forms for its future family a commodious habitation, into which none of their enemies can enter. When this resource is wanting, it approaches the houses, and, although less accustomed to man than the swallow of the windows, it attaches its nest to granaries, farm-yard sheds, and similar edifices; and then, it being necessary to build instead of to dig, it selects materials, transports them, and puts them in their proper places. It thus appears that this species of swallow has not essentially the habits indicated by its specific name; but that it will live contentedly wherever it can find food, safety, and the charms of society; for isolated families, or solitary nests, are never seen. A little colony, which established itself in the neighbourhood of Saratoga in 1828, increased so rapidly that in 1830 it consisted of several hundreds of nests.
For some time after they appear, the hirundines in general pay no attention to the business of nidification, but play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all, or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of the winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird always builds against a perpendicular wall without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum; and thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast; but by building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half-an-inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. Thus careful workmen when they build mud walls (informed at first perhaps by this little bird) raise but a moderate layer at a time, and then desist; lest the work should become top-heavy, and so be ruined by its own weight. By this method in about ten or twelve days is formed an hemispheric nest with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm; and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than for the house sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as his own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its on manner.
After so much labour is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as Nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered, and secure from the injuries of weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic-work full of knobs and protuberances on the outside; nor is the inside of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all; but is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of small straws, grasses, and feathers; and sometimes by a bed of moss interwoven with wool. In this nest they tread, or engender, frequently during the time of building; and the hen lays from three to five white eggs.—White’s Selborne.
Martingal,s.A broad strap made fast to the girths under the belly of a horse, which runs between the two legs to fasten the other end under the noseband of the bridle.
The martingal is generally attached to a horse who throws his head up. It is unsafe in the field, and only efficient when used by a light handed and practised rider.
Mash,s.Anything mingled or beaten together into an undistinguished or confused body; a mixture for a horse.
Bran mashes are made by pouring boiling water on fresh sweet bran in a pail, so that the mixture, when stirred, may be about the consistency of a soft poultice; it is then to be covered over, and not given to the horse until sufficiently cold. When it is thought necessary to steam the head, as it is termed, the mash is put into the manger while hot. Steaming the head is recommended in strangles, colds, and sore throats.
Bran mashes are proper in fever and all inflammatory complaints. They are useful also as a preparative to physic, serving to remove indurated fæces, and to facilitate the operation of the medicine. Mashes are a necessary diet while physic is operating. In making malt mashes, the water should be below the boiling point, otherwise the malt would be spoiled. Mashes are given for recruiting strength, when a horse is debilitated from fever or any other cause. When a horse has been fed high for some time with oats and beans, a change to bran mashes for two or three days will often do a great deal of good. The bran should be fresh, and perfectly free from any musty smell. There is a finer kind of bran, named gurgings or pollard, which, though more nutritious, is not so fit for medicinal purposes.—White.
Mash,v.To beat into a confused mass; to mix malt and water together in brewing.
Master-sinew,s.A large sinew that surrounds the hough, and divides it from the bone by a hollow place, where windgalls are usually seated.
Mastic,s.A kind of gum gathered from trees of the same name; a kind of mortar or cement.
Mastication,s.The act of chewing.
Hay, as often given, is too dry for mastication or digestion. If it has been suffered to stand until the seed becomes ripe, it is very deficient in nutriment, and difficult of digestion; and, however perfectly it may be masticated, will only serve to oppress the stomach without affording any thing that is capable of being formed into good chyle. Hay that has been kept more than one year becomes dry and deficient in nutriment, especially when kept in small mows and exposed to the wind. When such hay therefore is given to horses, it requires to be moistened with water, and given in moderate quantity. From eight to twelve pounds of hay and one peck of oats is a sufficient allowance, both as to proportion and quantity, for any saddle horse of whatever size he may be, provided he has only moderate work; but when his exertions exceed that degree which may be termed moderate, then an additional allowance is necessary, and that addition should be in oats or beans.
The teeth may be imperfect, and often are so; the grinders wear in a different manner from that in which they would, were the animals in a state of nature: consequently sharp edges are sometimes formed on the outside of the higher grinders, and on the inside of the lower grinders; and the inside of the cheeks and the tongue, with the skin or membrane connected with it, are thereby wounded, which prevents the horse from masticating, without considerable pain, and induces him to swallow his food imperfectly chewed; this is more especially the case with hay; and when hay is swallowed in this state it does harm, being difficult of digestion, as then its nutritive matter is not easily extracted by the gastric power; hence arise indigestion, flatulency, and numerous disorders. Mastication may be impeded or prevented by that state of the mouth which generally attends teething: it may also be affected by an injudicious use of the bit (as is well known in regiments of cavalry where it is too common), and has been attributed to the spiculæ of the squirrel-tail grass. The consequence of this imperfection is worms, in addition to indigestion and all its consequences.—White.
Mastiff(Canis Anglicus,Linn.),s.A dog of the largest size.
This is a large and powerful animal, much stronger than the bull dog; his ears are longer and more pendulous; his lips are full and loose, the upper one hanging considerably over the lower at the two extremities; his aspect is grave and somewhat sullen; and his bark loud, deep-toned, and terrific, particularly during the night.
The mastiff differs in form from the bull-dog in being much longer in the legs, and not so deep in the chest; and while his head is large in proportion to his body, he wants the projecting under jaw of the latter.
Buffon was of opinion that the mastiff is not an original race, but a mongrel generated betwixt the Irish greyhound and the bull-dog. This, however, must be mere conjecture; for the mastiff, in his pure and uncontaminated state, has a much more dignified aspect than either of these dogs; and we are rather inclined to believe him to be an original breed peculiar to Britain. We are borne out in this opinion, as we find it on record that so early as the time of the Roman emperors, this country was celebrated on account of its dogs of this kind. At the period Great Britain was under the Roman yoke, an officer was appointed to live here, whose sole business it was to breed, select, and send to Rome such as promised, by their size and strength, to become fit for the combats of the amphitheatre. Dr. Caius, in his Treatise on British Dogs, tells us that three mastiffs were reckoned a match for a bear, and four for a lion.
This dog, from his large size and commanding aspect, is naturally calculated to intimidate strangers, and he is admirably suited for and principally used in protecting large and extensive premises containing property of value, which he watches with most scrupulous care and assiduity. He is so instinctively impressed with the importance of his charge, that he will only quit it with the loss of his life, which he will rather forfeit than betray the confidence reposed in him. With his naturally commanding and imposing appearance, calculated to keep at a distance the ill-intentioned, he is nevertheless possessed of the greatest mildness of manners, and is as solicitous to gain attention and as faithfully grateful for favours bestowed, as the most diminutive of the canine tribe. The mastiff displays one peculiarity which seems inherent,—his ferocity is always increased by the degree of restraint in which he is kept. If constantly on the chain he is much more dangerous to approach than when in a state of liberty; from whence it evidently appears that what may be considered as a friendly kindness on one side, is always productive of confidence on the other.
The mastiff usually shows a remarkable and peculiar warmth in his attachments, and, on the other hand, he is equally distinguished for inveteracy in his dislike. If he is once severely corrected or insulted, it is almost impossible to eradicate the feeling from his memory, and it is no less difficult to obtain a reconciliation with him. He seems conscious of his own strength, power, and authority, and will seldom condescend to lower his dignity by servile fawning, while he appears to consider his services as only befitting a trust of the highest importance. This dog is naturally possessed of strong instinctive sensibility, speedily obtains a knowledge of all the duties required of him, and discharges them too with the most punctual assiduity. In the protection of gardens, houses, woodyards, and widely extended manufactories, his vigilance is very striking; he makes regular rounds of the whole premises like a watchman, examines every part of them with a careful eye; his penetration reaches even the remotest corner, and not a spot is passed by until he is satisfied that all is in a state of perfect security. During the night he gives a signal of his presence by repeated and vociferous barkings, which are increased upon the least cause of alarm; and, contrary to the spirit of the bull-dog, whose invariable practice is to bite before he barks, the mastiff always warns before he attacks. This breed is very difficult to be obtained in purity, from the various admixtures and experimental crosses which have taken place. The genuine old English mastiff is now rarely to be seen, although we have dogs of various sizes and colours which go under that name.
This animal, conscious of his superior strength, has been known to chastise, with great propriety, the impertinence of an inferior:—a large dog of this kind, belonging to the late M. Ridley, Esq., of Heaton, near Newcastle, being frequently molested by a mongrel, and teased by its continual barking, at last took it up in his mouth by the back, and with great composure dropped it over the quay into the river, without doing any further injury to an enemy so much beneath his notice.—Sporting Anecdotes.
Mastlin,s.Mixed corn, as wheat and rye.
Mat,s.A texture of sedge, flags, or rushes.
Mat,v.To cover with mats; to twist together, to join like a mat.
Matadore,s.A term used in the games of quadrille and ombre. The matadores are the two black aces when joined with the two black deuces, or red sevens in trumps.
Match,s.Anything that catches fire; a contest, a game; one equal to another.VideRacing.
Match,v.To be equal to; to equal; to suit, to proportion; to marry.
Mate,s.A husband or wife; a companion, male or female; the male or female of animals; one that sails in the same ship; one that eats at the same table; a kind of toothed instrument to pull up wood; a pickaxe.
Maw,s.The stomach of animals; the craw of birds.
Maw-worm,s.Gut-worms frequently creep into the stomach, whence they are called stomach or maw-worms.
May-fly,s.An insect; a very killing artificial fly.
Mead,s.A kind of drink made of water and honey.
Meadow,s.Rich pasture ground from which hay is made.
Meal,s.The act of eating at a certain time; a repast; the flour or edible part of corn.
Mealy,a.Having the taste or soft insipidity of meal; besprinkled as with meal.
Mease,s.A mease of herrings is five hundred.
Measles,s.A kind of eruptive and infectious fever; a disease of swine.
Measly,a.Scabbed with the measles.
Meathe,s.A kind of drink.
Medicate,v.To tincture or impregnate with anything medicinal.
Medicinal,a.Having the power of healing, having physical virtue; belonging to physic.
Medicine,s.Any remedy administered by a physician.
MedullarorMedullary,a.Pertaining to the marrow.
Meer,s.A lake, a boundary.
Meershaum,s.A fine sort of Turkish clay, of which pipes are made in Germany of various forms. It assumes a beautiful brown colour after it has been used for smoking some time.—Crabbe.
Meloe,s.Insects, of which the two principal species are the oil beetle, so called because, on being handled, it exudes from its legs drops of a clear deep-yellow oil or fluid, of a very peculiar or penetrating smell; and the meloë vesicatorius, or Spanish fly, which is used for blistering.—Ibid.
Melwel,s.A kind of fish.
Membrane,s.A membrane is a web of several sorts of fibres interwoven together for the covering and wrapping up of some parts.
Membranous,a.Consisting of fibres.
Menage,s.A collection of animals.
Menagerie,s.A place for keeping foreign birds, and other curious animals.
Menstruum,s.All liquors are called menstruums which are used as dissolvents, or to extract the virtues of ingredients by infusion or decoction.
Mercurial,a.Under the influence of Mercury; active, sprightly; consisting of quicksilver.
Mercurial ointment is made by rubbing together in a mortar quicksilver and hogs’ lard, in various proportions, according to the strength required, until the former disappears, and the mixture assumes a dark blue or lead colour.
In the strongest mercurial ointment there are equal parts of quicksilver and lard; these are the best proportions in which it can be made, as it is easily weakened by the addition of lard.
Mercurial ointment is employed in veterinary practice as an application to callous swellings or enlarged joints. It is mixed with camphor in those cases, and is certainly much more efficacious when converted into a blister by the addition of cantharides or euphorbium. In this state it is a good remedy for bog spavin or other swellings of the hock joint.
Mercurial ointment is said to be an effectual remedy for the scab in sheep, and is often an ingredient in ointments for the mange.—White.
Mercury,s.A mineral or metallic fluid vulgarly called quicksilver, and distinguished from all other metals by its extreme fusibility, which is such that it does not assume the solid state until cooled to the thirtieth degree below 0 on Fahrenheit’s thermometer; and of course is always fluid in temperate climates. It is volatile, and rises in small portions at the common temperature of the air. It readily combines with gold, silver, lead, tin, bismuth, and zinc, and on that account is usefully employed in silvering looking-glasses, making barometers and thermometers, and for various other purposes.—Crabbe.
Mere,s.A pool, commonly a large pool or lake; a boundary.
Merganser,s.(Mergus serrator,Linn.)
This species is about twenty-one inches in length; weight two pounds. The bill is three inches long; the upper mandible dusky, the lower red; irides purplish red. The head and part of the neck black, glossed with green; on the back of the head the feathers are long, forming a sort of pendant crest; the rest of the neck and under part of the body white; breast ferruginous, mixed with black and white; upper part of the back glossy black; rump marked with brown and cinereous transverse streaks; the scapulars and wing coverts are some black and some white; quills dusky; tail brown; legs orange; claws black.
Mr. Pennant says this species breeds in the Isle of Ely, on the shores amongst the loose stones. They sometimes appear in the south of England in winter, but more frequently in the north, and are said to breed in Scotland in some of the lochs. They are found in the Russian dominions, about the great rivers of Siberia.
They are also said to breed on the shores of Greenland, and are observed at Hudson’s Bay in large flocks, breeding there as well as at Newfoundland, chiefly on the islands. The nest, which is built on the margin of lakes and rivers, is said to be made with dry grass, lined with down; the eggs are generally eight in number, of a bluish white; sometimes as many as thirteen in a nest, about the size of those of a duck. The young may be distinguished from the adult, by the black band on the wing spot.—Montagu.
Mergus,s.A genus in ornithology.
Birds of this genus have roundish slender bills, furnished at the end with a hard, horny, crooked nail; edges of the mandibles very sharply toothed, or serrated; the nostrils small, subovated, and placed near the middle of the bill: tongue rough, with hard indented papillæ turned backward; legs short; feet webbed; toes long, and the outer ones about the same length as the middle; the head is small, but the quantity of soft silky feathers with which it is furnished, and which they can bristle up from the nape of the neck to the brow, give it a large appearance. They are a broad, long-bodied, and flat-backed kind of birds, and swim very squatly on the water, the body seeming nearly submerged, with only the head and neck clearly seen. They are excellent divers, remaining a long while under water, and getting to a great distance before they appear again. They fly near the surface of the water, and, notwithstanding the shortness of their wings, with great swiftness, though seldom to any great distance. They devour a large quantity of fish; and their pointed sharp-toothed, and hooked bills, are well calculated for holding fast their slippery prey, none of which, when once within their gripe, can escape. Latham enumerated six species and three varieties of this genus, five of which are accounted British birds. George Strickland, Esq., of Ropin, enumerates six species of this genus, which are all met with in Great Britain and its adjacent isles: the author agrees with him likewise in opinion, that much remains to be done in order to clear up the doubts in which their history is involved, and by which the classification of different species is confused: he says, “The genus mergus, though only a very small tribe of birds, still remain in the greatest obscurity, and I have not yet met with any ornithologist, who has not, in my opinion, multiplied the number of the species, by considering birds of this genus as of different kinds, when they differ only in sex.” His arrangement is as follows:—
For a particular description of each species,vide Bewick, Montagu, &c. &c.
Merlin,s.A kind of hawk.