Saccade,s. obs.A violent check the rider gives his horse by drawing both the reins suddenly.
Sack,s.A bag, a pouch, commonly a large bag; the measure of three bushels; a kind of sweet wine now brought chiefly from the Canaries.
Saddle,s.The seat which is put upon the horse for the accommodation of the rider.
Saddle,v.To cover with a saddle; to fix the saddle on.
Saddlebacked,a.Horses saddlebacked have their backs low, and a raised head and neck.
Saddlegall,s.An injury on the horse’s back, arising from a defective or ill-fitted saddle.
Saddle or harness galls may be considered as bruises, and when it can be done should be poulticed, until the swelling has been dispersed or has suppurated. If the matter has not sufficient vent, the opening may be enlarged or the sinus laid open, if there is any. It must then be dressed with digestive ointment, and when it has been reduced to the state of a clear open sore, the cure may be finished by the astringent paste.—White.
Saddler,s.One whose trade is to make saddles.
Saffron,a.Yellow, having the colour of saffron.
Sagacious,a.Quick of scent; quick of thought; acute.
Sagittal,a.Belonging to an arrow.
Sakeret,s.The male of a sakerhawk.
Saline,a.Consisting of salt.
Saliva,s.Every thing that is spit up; but it more strictly signifies that juice which is separated by the glands called salival.
Salivate,v.To purge by the salival glands.
Dogs, when fully salivated, lose their teeth very early, and their breath continues offensive through life. The whole of the feline tribe are also easily affected by mercury. I was requested to inspect the very large lion that so long graced Pidcock’s menagerie. It may be remembered by many, that this noble animal’s tongue constantly hung without his mouth; which arose from his having been injudiciously salivated, many years before, by a mercurial preparation applied by the keeper for the cure of mange. The submuriate of mercury (calomel) is, likewise, very irregular in its action on dogs; I have seen eight grains fail to open the bowels of a small one, while, on the contrary, I have been called to a pointer fatally poisoned by ten grains. It forms however, a useful auxiliary to purgatives, in doses of three or four grains; and as it not unfrequently acts on the stomach, so it may be used with advantage as an emetic in some cases, particularly in conjunction with tartarised antimony (tartar emetic). When, therefore, a purgative is brought up again, in which calomel was a component part, it may be suspected to arise from this source, and, if it is necessary to repeat the purge, the mercurial should be omitted.—Blaine.
Salmon,s.The king of freshwater fish.
THE SALMON.
THE SALMON.
THE SALMON.
At the latter end of the year, and some in November, salmon begin to press up the rivers as far as they can reach, in order to spawn; when that period approaches, and they have accommodated themselves with a fit place, nature supplies the male with a bony excrescence, growing out of the end of the lower jaw, to the length of half an inch or more: this, it is said, aids him in the removal of the gravel, but both male and female assist in forming a proper receptacle for the spawn, in the sand or gravel, about eighteen inches deep. In this the ova and milt are deposited, and carefully covered by the parent fish, who afterwards hasten to cleanse and recover themselves (the male loses the gristle at the jaw); for, after spawning, they become very poor and lean, and then are called kipper. At their first entrance into the fresh water, salmon are observed to have abundance of insects adhering to them, especially above the gills: these animals denote the fish to be in high season, and die and drop off soon after the salmon’s leaving the sea.
The spawn lies buried until spring, and, without any other care, is nourished and brought to perfection, if not disturbed by violent floods, or by depredations from other fish, of which the eel, roach, dace, and grayling, are dangerous neighbours. About the latter end of March, the spawn begins to exclude the young, which gradually increase to four or five inches in length, and are then termed smelts, or smouts; about the beginning of May the river seems to be alive, and there is no framing an idea of the numbers without seeing them. A seasonable flood, however, hurries them to the sea, very few being left in the river. About the middle of June the earliest fry commence their return from the sea into the river (at that period from twelve to sixteen inches long), and progressively augment in number and size, until about the end of July, which is, at Berwick, the height of the grilse time (the name there given to the fish of that age). Early in August they lessen in number, but advance in bigness, some being from six to as high as nine pounds’ weight. This increase appears surprisingly quick; yet a gentleman of Warrington has given an instance of still more rapid growth: a kipper salmon, weighing seven pounds three quarters, taken on the 7th of February, was marked with scissors on the back fin and tail, and turned into the river; he was again taken on the 17th of the following March, and then weighed seventeen pounds and a half. In this case the remark of Walton seems to have been more than verified, “that the samlet becomes a salmon in as short a time as a gosling becomes a goose.”
The salmon in Lough Erne increase in size wonderfully, and young ones, which were caught and marked when going into the lake, have been caught on their return, and found so large, that they must have increased at the rate of one pound per week.
The migratory habits of the salmon, and the instinct with which it periodically revisits its native river, are curious circumstances in the natural history of this fish. As the swallow returns annually to its nest, as certainly the salmon repairs to the same spot in which to deposit its ova. Many interesting experiments have established this fact. M. De Lande fastened a copper ring round a salmon’s tail, and found that for three successive seasons it returned to the same place. Dr. Bloch states, that gold and silver rings have been attached by eastern princes to salmon, to prove that a communication existed between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian and Northern Seas, and that the experiment succeeded. Shaw, in his Zoology, mentions that a salmon of seven pounds and three quarters was marked with scissors on the back fin and tail, and turned out on the 7th of February, and that it was retaken in March of the succeeding year, and found to have increased to the amazing size of seventeen pounds and a half. This statement, by the by, is at variance with the theory of Dr. Bloch, who estimates the weight of a five or six year old salmon at but ten or twelve pounds.
That the salmon should lose condition rapidly on quitting the sea for the fresh water, may be inferred from a fact agreed upon by naturalists, that during the period of spawning the fish neglects feeding. In this peculiar habit the salmon is not, however, singular; animals of the Phocæ tribe, in breeding-time, exercise a similar abstinence. On opening a salmon, at any season, no food will be discovered, and the contents of the stomach will be confined to a small quantity of yellowish fluid and tape-worms, which are generated there. Sir Humphry Davy believes that occasionally food may be found. I have seen thousands opened preparatory to being salted, and I never observed anything but this fluid and tape-worms. Another circumstance may be stated as a curious proof of health, as well as of the period of time the salmon has been resident in a river. When the fish leaves the sea, and of course is in its best condition, insects (the Lernæ Salmoneæ of Linnæus) will be perceived firmly adhering to the skin. Immediately on entering the fresh water, these insects begin to detach themselves from the salmon, and after a short time they gradually drop off and disappear.
Ireland (particularly the north) abounds with salmon; the most considerable fishery is at Crarma, on the river Ban, near Coleraine. (Some account of this fishery is mentioned in the list of the rivers, &c. of this country.) The nets used are eighteen score, or three hundred and sixty yards long, and are continually drawing, night and day, the whole season (nearly four months), two sets of sixteen men each alternately relieving one another. The best drawing is when the tide is coming in.
The salmon are cured by being first split, and rubbed with fine salt; and, after laying in pickle, in great tubs or reservoirs, are packed up with layers of coarse brown Spanish salt, in casks, six of which make a ton. These are exported to Leghorn and Venice.
Immediately near to Katrineberg, at a hamlet called Deje Forsa, there is a valuable fishery for salmon, ten or twelve thousand of these fish being taken there annually. They are, however, of a small size, the largest of them rarely exceeding twenty pounds in weight; one with another, indeed, they probably do not average more than six or seven pounds a-piece.
These salmon are bred in the Wenern lake, but, in consequence of the considerable cataracts at Deje, they never have access to the sea; from this cause, they are said to be inferior, in point of flavour, to those found in most other rivers.
I subjoin a statement of the numbers taken in eight successive years:—
In the river Beaulie, below the falls, is a valuable salmon fishery, and in the months of July and August many of these come to the foot of the falls. When a flood occurs, they endeavour to get up the stream, but as the water in which they swim is constantly agitated and frothy, on account of the height from which it descends, they cannot see before them, often mistake their direction, and leap upon the dry rock. It is a constant practice with the people in the neighbourhood to lay branches of trees along the side of the water, to prevent the fish tumbling back into the river. Twenty salmon have by these means been frequently taken in a morning. The last Lord Lovat is said to have performed a curious experiment here. He made a fire upon the rock, and placed on it a large pot of water; speedily a salmon, making a leap, tumbled into the pot where it was soon boiled, and no doubt eaten. This was done that his lordship might be enabled to boast in the south of the wonders that existed in the Highlands, which were then little known, and to say that in his country provisions abounded so much, that if a fire was made, and a pot set to boil on the banks of the river, the salmon would of themselves leap into the pot to be boiled, without requiring to be caught by a fisherman.
The fifteenth of February, 1809, Harry Fenn, a fish-salesman at Billingsgate, sold an uncrimped Severn salmon, weighing nineteen pounds, for the immense sum of one guinea per pound to Phillips, the fishmonger in Bond Street. N.B. It was the only salmon at market.
La Fontaine gives an anecdote of a gourmand, who having despatched an entire salmon with the exception of the jowl, was taken so ill that the physician pronounced his recovery to be impossible. “Is it so?” said the dying fish-fancier—the doctor gave a desponding nod—“Bring me then the remainder of my salmon.”
Salmon Colour.—Take two ounces of annotto, tie it up in a bag, then throw it into clean cold water, and squeeze it in the rag often, till you melt a quantity of it down; pour off some of this liquor into your dye-pot, put in your stuff and boil it, and if it is pretty red, put in some madder, a little at a time, and if you see it is come to the colour, draw, squeeze out the remainder, put it into your pot, and sparingly add more madder. By using Brazil instead of madder, you will get flesh colour.
Salmon fishing.—In salmon fishing you must alter your manner of moving the fly. It must not float quietly down the water; you must allow it to sink a little, and then pull it back by a gentle jerk, not raising it out of the water, and then let it sink again till it has been shown in motion, a little below the surface, in every part of your cast.
Salmon often in this season haunt the streams in pairs; but so far from rising again after being pricked, they appear to me to learn when they have been some time in the river, that the artificial fly is not food, even without having been touched by the hook. In the river at Galway, in Ireland, I have seen above the bridge some hundreds of salmon lying in rapid streams, and from five to ten fishermen tempting them with every variety of fly, but in vain. After a fish had been thrown over a few times, and risen once or twice and refused the fly, he rarely ever took any notice of it again in that place. It was generally nearest the tide that fish were taken, and the place next the sea was the most successful stand, and the most coveted; and when the water is low and clear in this river, the Galway fishermen resort to the practice of fishing with a naked hook, endeavouring to entangle it in the bodies of the fish; a most unartist-like practice. In spring-fishing, I have known a hungry, half-starved salmon rise at the artificial fly a second time, after having been very slightly touched with it; but even this rarely happens, and when I have seen it the water has been coloured.
I made several unsuccessful casts—“A bad look out, friend Julius; Heaven forefend that the cook has placed any dependence on the angle!” Again I tried the pool, and, like all disappointed fishermen, began to prognosticate a change of weather. “I had remarked mares’ tails in the sky yesterday evening, and there was rain over head, for a hundred.” My cousin smiled; when suddenly my nebulous speculations were interrupted by a deep sluggish roll at the dropper. “Monamondiaoul!” exclaimed Mortien Beg, as he caught a momentary glance of the broad and fan-like tail, “he is fifteen pound weight!” Obedient to the directions of my Mentor, I left the spot the salmon leaped in, and commenced casting a dozen yards below it. Gradually I came over him again. “A light cast, Frank, and you have him.” I tried, and succeeded gallantly. I sent the fly across the water with the lightness of the thistle’s down—at the same moment the breeze eddied up the stream, and curled the surface deliciously. A long, dull ruffle succeeded. Whish, span the wheel: wish-h-h-h-h, whish-h-h, whish—I have him!
Nothing, my dear George, can be more beautiful than the play of a vigorous salmon. The lubberly struggles of a pond fish are execrable to him who has felt the exquisite pleasure that attends the conquest of “the monarch of the stream.” His bold rushes—his sudden and rapid attempts to liberate himself from the fisher’s thrall—the energy with which he throws his silver body three or four feet above the surface of the water, and the unwearied and incessant opposition he makes until his strength is exhausted by the angler’s science. All this must be experienced, to be adequately conceived. In ten minutes I mastered my beautiful victim; and Mortien Beg gaffed and landed a splendid summer fish, which, if the cook’s scales be correct, weighed thirteen pounds and seven ounces.
Salmon laws.—The Scotch in early times had most severe prohibitions against the killing of the salmon. In the Regiam Majestatem are preserved several laws relating to their fisheries, couched in terms expressive of the simplicity of the times. From Saturday night until Monday morning they were obliged to leave a free passage for the fish, which is called the “Saterdaye’s sloppe.”
Alexander I. enacted “that the streame of the water sal be in all parts swa free, that ane swine of the age of three years, well feed, may turn himself within the stream round about, swa that his snowt nor taile sal not tuch the bank of the water.” By a law of James IV. the third offence was made capital (before that, the offender had power to redeem his life). “Slayers of reide fish, or smoltes of salmond, the third time are punished with death; and sic like he quha commands the samine to be done.” Salmon were in the reign of Henry VI. thought a present worthy of a crowned head, for in that reign, the Queen of Scotland sent to the Duchess of Clarence ten casks of salted salmon, which Henry directed to pass duty free.
Salmon Rod.—The salmon rod is, all but the top, made of ash, as being the lightest wood. The structure of the trout or fly rod has been variously recommended; the most ancient is, the butt to be made of yellow deal, seven feet long; next, a straight hazel, of about six feet; and then a delicate piece of fine-grained yew, exactly tapered, and ending in a point of whalebone, both making about two feet: to colour the stock, a feather dipped in aquafortis, and rubbed into the deal, gives it a cinnamon colour; for a nut-brown colour, a quartern of spirit lacquer, half an ounce of gamboge, the like quantities of gum sandarach and dragon’s-blood (the three last to be powdered very fine), and as much of each of them as will lie upon a sixpence, put into the spirit lacquer, which must be kept stirring, until properly mixed: the phial must be warmed as well as the wood, and the mixture gradually laid on with a camel’s-hair brush; after it is dried, a second and third coat is to be applied. To make the colour redder put double the quantity of dragon’s-blood; to make the rod mottled, get green copperas and dissolve in spring water; dip linen tape in the liquid, and while wet twist it round about, and let it remain on the rod eight or ten hours in the cool; unbind the tape, which will be dry, and use the above-mentioned varnish, which will give the desired effect. The varnish also preserves the rings and the bindings that fix them to the rod. To fasten a fly rod of the above make properly, a piece of shoemaker’s wax was rubbed upon each splice; a handle of a knife, or any hard thing, was rubbed over them, until they were smooth; they were then tied neatly together, and were as firm as any part of the rod.
The following comparison is made by Sir Humphry Davy, between trout and salmon:—The salmon is broader, has a tail rather more forked, and teeth in proportion are rather smaller. The trout, likewise, has larger and more black-brown spots on the body; and the head of the trout is a little larger in proportion. The salmon has fourteen spines in the pectoral fins, ten in each of the ventral, thirteen in the anal, twenty-one in the caudal, and fifteen in the dorsal. The salmon measures thirty-eight inches and a half in length, and twenty-one inches in girth; and his weight, as you see, is twenty-two pounds and a quarter. The trout has one spine less in the pectoral, and two less in the anal fin, and measures thirty inches and a quarter in length, and sixteen inches in girth, and his weight is eleven pounds. When opened, the stomach of the salmon contains nothing but a little yellow fluid, and, though the salmon is twice as large, does not exceed much in size that of the trout. The stomach of the trout, unlike that of the salmon, will be found full of food.—Daniel—Wild Sports—Lloyd—Davy, &c.
Salmon-trout,s.A trout that has some resemblance to a salmon.
The salmon trout is handsome in its form, is more richly adorned, and is longer, thicker, rounder in proportion than a salmon; the scales are small, beautifully intermixed on both sides of the lateral line, and also the covers of the gills, with spots; the fins are strong, and the tail shorter, but not so much forked as the salmon’s; the flesh is exceedingly rich, and in some countries better esteemed than any fish of the salmon kind; they are generally from two to six pounds weight, some run larger; they are often taken when angling for salmon or large trout, their haunts being the same. Early in the spring they enter the rivers, are in prime season from the end of April until July, and spawn chiefly in September; but that period varies in different waters; the rod should be as for salmon, the reel line strong, and foot length about three yards of fine twisted silkworm gut, or the strongest single, with the knots well whipped.—Daniel.
Salt,s.Salt is a body whose two essential properties seem to be solubility in water and a pungent sapor.
Salt,a.Having the taste of salt, as salt fish; impregnated with salt; abounding with salt.
Salt,v.To season with salt.
Saltcat,s.A contrivance to attach pigeons to their dovecot.
The last dietetic, or rather, perhaps, medicinal article necessary to be described, is the saltcat, so called from an old fancy of baking a real cat with spices for the use of pigeons, which, however, I never observed to eat animal food. In compliance with this custom, I caused to be placed in the middle of the pigeon loft a dish of the following composition:—Loam, sand, old mortar, fresh lime, bay-salt, cummin, coriander, caraway seed, and allspice, moistened into a consistence with urine. The pigeons were constantly pecking at this, and were in a constant state of good health; how much of which may be attributed to the use of the cat I cannot determine; but certainly they are extremely fond of it, and if it have no other merit, it prevents them from pecking the mortar from the roof of the house, to which otherwise they are much inclined. The cat was mixed and heaped up in the dish, a piece of board being placed upon the summit to prevent the birds from dunging upon it; when become too hard it was occasionally broken for them.
The regular old formula for this cat is as follows: gravel or drift-sand, unctuous loam, the rubbish of an old wall, or lime, a gallon of each—should lime be substituted for rubbish, a less quantity of the former will suffice—one pound of cummin-seed, one handful of bay-salt; mix with stale urine. Inclose this in jars, corked or stopped, holes being punched in the sides, to admit the beaks of the pigeons. These may be placed abroad—Moubray.
Saltpetre,s.Nitrate of potash. The chief ingredient in the composition of gunpowder.
Saltwater,s.The water of the sea.
When on the sea, always use linseed oil for every part of your gun, except the works of the locks; because sweet oil has not body enough to repel the effect of the salt water.
If the salt water should have stained your barrels, you will, I think, find yellow soap and warm water the best recipe to restore their colour.—Hawker.
Salve,s.A glutinous matter applied to wounds and hurts, a plaster.
Samlet,s.A little salmon; a par.VidePar.
Sanable,a.Curable, susceptive of remedy.
Sandblind,a.Having a defect in the eyes, by which small particles appear before them.
Sandcrack,s.A disease in the horse’s hoof.
This is an accident that happens to dry brittle hoofs, and is in fact a breaking or fracture of the horn in the weakest part, that is, at the upper part of the inner quarter. A sandcrack almost always extends to the sensible parts, and can seldom be cured if the horse is kept in work. The first thing to be done is to open the crack with a drawing knife, for it generally runs obliquely under the horn, and cut out every hollow part completely, however far it may extend under the crust. Every particle of horn that is hollow or detached from the sensible parts must be completely cut away; some tar ointment should then be applied, or at first a solution of blue vitriol. If there is much lameness or inflammation in the foot, it should be poulticed for several days or a week, and then the horse should be turned to grass without shoes, or with a bar shoe, for three weeks at least, or until an inch of new hoof appears above the crack. A little blister ointment just above the crack often does good, and tar ointment on the crack and adjacent horn. Observe, too, that the quarter where the crack is must be rasped away as thin as possible. In this way sandcracks may be always cured without difficulty. The brittle state of the hoof, however, must be corrected when the horse returns from grass, by paring the soles rather thin, applying a wide hollow shoe, and keeping the foot stopped, not with cow-dung or clay, as has been advised, but with the tar ointment; this will be absorbed through the horn, stimulate the secreting vessels, and cause a plentiful effusion of that odorous vapour which is constantly escaping from the bottom of the foot. The vessels being thus unloaded, the temperature of the foot will be reduced, and the secretion of horn will be at the same time so increased, that the horse will soon be able to go with a narrower shoe.—White.
Sanderling,Torvillee, orCurwillet(Charadrius Calidris,Linn.;Maubeche,Buff.)s.A bird.
This bird weighs almost two ounces, is about eight inches in length, and fifteen in breadth from tip to tip. The bill is an inch long, slender, black, and grooved on the sides nearly from the tip to the nostril; the brow, to the eyes, white; the rest of the head, pale ash-colour, mottled in brown streaks from the forehead to the hinder part of the neck, and on each side of the upper part of the breast; back scapulars and greater coverts brownish ash, edged with dull white, and irregularly marked with dark brown spots. The pinions, lesser coverts, and bastard wings, dark brown; the quills, which extend beyond the tail, are of the same colour on the exterior webs and points, except four of the middle ones, which are white on the outer webs, forming, when the wing is closed, a sharp wedge-shaped spot; the inner webs brownish ash; the secondary quills brown, tipped with white; the rump and tail coverts are also brown, edged with dirty white; the tail feathers brownish ash edged with a lighter colour—the two middle ones much darker than the rest; the throat, fore part of the neck, breast, belly, thighs, and vent, are white; the toes and legs black, and bare a little above the knees. This bird is of a slender form, and the plumage has a hoary appearance among the stints, with which it associates on the sea shore in various parts of Great Britain. It wants the hinder toe, and has, in other respects, the look of the plover and dotterell, to which family it belongs.
Latham says, this bird, like the purre, and some others, varies considerably, either from age or the season; for those he received in August had the upper parts dark ash-coloured, and the feathers deeply edged with ferruginous colour; but others sent to him in January were of a plain dove-coloured grey. They differ also in some other trifling particulars.
Sandpiper,s.A bird.
The tongue of the sandpiper is slender; toes divided, or very slightly connected at the base by a membrane; hinder toe weak; their bills are nearly of the same form as those of the preceding species, but shorter: their haunts and manner of life are also very similar. Latham has enumerated thirty-seven species and nine varieties of this genus, seventeen of which are British, exclusive of those which, in this work, are placed among the plovers; but the history and classifications of this genus are involved in much uncertainty.
Common Sandpiper.(Tringa hypoleucus,Linn.;La Guignette,Buff.)—This bird weighs about two ounces, and measures seven inches and a half in length. The bill is about an inch long, black at the tip, fading into pale-brown towards the base. The head, and hinder part of the neck, are brownish-ash, streaked downwards with dark narrow lines: the throat is white, and a streak of the same colour surrounds and is extended over each eye; the cheeks and auriculars are streaked with brown; the forepart of the neck, to the breast, is white, mottled and streaked with spots and lines of a brown colour, pointing downwards; in some the breast is plain white; belly and vent white. The ground-colour of all the upper parts of the plumage is ash, blended with glossy olive bronze; the coverts, scapulars, lower part of the back, and tail-coverts, are edged with dull white, and most elegantly marked with transverse dark-coloured narrow, waved lines; the first two quills are plain brown; the next nine are marked on the middle of their inner webs, with white spots; the secondaries are also marked in the same manner, on both webs, and tipped with white. The tail consists of twelve feathers; the four middle ones are of an olive brown, dark at the tips; those next to them, on each side, are much lighter coloured, mottled with dark-brown and tipped with white; the two outside ones are edged and tipped in the same manner, but are barred on their webs with dark-brown; legs pale dull-green, faintly blushed with red.
This elegant little bird breeds in this country, but the species is not numerous; yet they are frequently seen in pairs during the summer months; and are well known by their clear piping note, by their flight, by jerking up their tails, and by their manner of running after their insect prey on the pebbly margins of brooks and rivers. The female makes her nest in a hole on the ground near their haunts; her eggs, commonly five in number, are much mottled and marked with dark spots, on a yellowish ground. They leave England in the autumn; but whither they go is not particularly noticed by ornithologists. Buffon says they retire far north; and Pennant and Latham, that they are met with in Siberia and Kamtschatka, and are also not uncommon in North America.
Brown Sandpiper.(Fusca.)—Pennant describes this bird, which, he says, was bought in a London market, and preserved in the collection of the late M. Tunstall, Esq., of Wycliffe:—Size of a jacksnipe; the bill is black; the head, upper part of the neck, and back, are of a pale-brown, spotted with black; coverts of the wings dusky, edged with dirty white; under side of the neck white, streaked with black; the belly white; tail cinereous: legs black.
Greenwich Sandpiper.(Greenovicensis.)—Size of the redshank; weight nearly eight ounces; length twelve inches and a half; bill an inch and a half long, black; crown of the head reddish-brown, streaked with black; nape, cheeks, and neck, ash-colour; the middle of the feathers dusky, down the shaft; lower part of the neck and back, black; the feathers margined on the sides with pale ferruginous, and some of those of the back at the tips also; chin nearly white; forepart of the neck very pale ash-colour, as far as the breast, which is a dusky white; belly, sides, vent, and upper tail-coverts on each side, and the whole of the under ones, white; lesser wing-coverts ash-colour; the greater, the same, obscurely margined with pale ferruginous; greatest tipped with white; under wing coverts pure white; prime quills dusky, the shafts more or less white; secondaries and scapulars nearly the colour of the back; the secondaries and primaries very little differing in length; the lower part of the back, rump, and middle of the tail-coverts, ash-colour; tail a little rounded at the end, brownish ash-colour, somewhat mottled with brownish near the tips, and fringed near to the end with pale ferruginous; legs dusky olive-green, bare an inch above the knee; the outer and middle toe connected at the base.
Black Sandpiper.(Tringa cinerea.)—Size of a thrush; the beak short, blunt at the point, and dusky; nostrils black; the irides yellow: the head small, and flattened at the top; the colour white, most elegantly spotted with grey; the neck, shoulders, and back, mottled in the same manner, but darker, being tinged with brown; in some lights these parts appeared of a perfect black, and glossy; the wings were long; the quill feathers black, crossed near the base with a white line; the throat, breast, and belly white, with faint brown and black spots of a longish form, irregularly disposed, but on the belly become larger and more round; the tail short, entirely white, except the two middle feathers, which are black; legs long and slender, and of a reddish brown colour.
Spotted Sandpiper.(Tringa macularia,Linn.;La Grive d’Eau,Buff.)—This bird measures about eight inches in length; the bill is black at the tip, and fades into a reddish colour towards the base; a white streak is extended over each eye, and a brownish patch between them and the bill; the whole upper part of the plumage is of a glossy lightish brown, with green reflections; the head and neck are marked with longish small dark spots; on the back, scapulars, and wing coverts, the spots are larger, and of a triangular shape; the rump is plain; the greater quills are dusky; secondaries tipped with white, as are also the greater and lesser coverts, which form two white oblique lines across the extended wings; the two middle feathers of the tail are greenish brown; the sides ones white, crossed with dusky lines; the breast, belly, and vent, are white, but in the female spotted with brown; legs of a dirty flesh colour. This species is not common in England.
Red-legged, Sandpiper.(Tringa erythropus.)—This bird measures from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail ten inches; the bill is an inch and three-eighths long, black at the tip, and reddish towards the base; the crown of the head is spotted with dark brown, disposed in streaks, and edged with pale brown and grey; a darkish patch covers the space between the corners of the mouth and eyes; the chin is white; the brow and cheeks pale brown, prettily freckled with small dark spots; the hinder part of the neck is composed of a mixture of pale brown, grey, and ash, with a few distinct dusky spots; the forepart and breast are white, clouded with a dull cinnamon colour, and sparingly and irregularly marked with black spots, reflecting a purple gloss; the shoulder and scapular feathers are black, edged with pale rust colour, and have the same glossy reflections as those on the breast; the tertials are nearly the same length as the quills; the ridges of the wings are a brownish ash colour; the coverts, back, and rump, are nearly the same, but inclining to olive, and the middle of each feather is of a deeper dusky brown; the primary quills are deep olive brown; the exterior webs of the secondaries are also of that colour, but lighter, edged and tipped with white, and the inner webs are mostly white towards the base; the tail coverts are glossy black, edged with pale rust colour, and tipped with white, but in some of them a streak of white passes from the middle upwards nearly the whole length. The tail feathers are lightish brown, except the two middle ones, which are barred with spots of a darker hue; the belly and vent are white; legs bare above the knees, and red as sealing-wax; claws black. The female is less than the male, and her plumage more dingy and indistinct; an egg taken out of her previous to stuffing was surprisingly large considering her bulk, being about the size of that of a magpie, of a greenish white colour, spotted and blotched with brown, of a long shape, and pointed at the smaller end. This bird is a constant inhabitant of the fens, and is known to sportsmen by its singular notes, which are very loud and melodious, and are heard even when the bird is beyond the reach of sight.
The description of this bird, which, it seems, is common in the fen countries, has been more particularly attended to, because it has not been described in any of the popular works on ornithology; at least not so accurately as to enable a naturalist to distinguish it by the proper name.
Red Sandpiper,Aberdeen Sandpiper. (Tringa Icelandica,Linn.)—Latham describes this bird in the following manner:—Length from eight to ten inches; bill brown, one inch and a half long, and a little bent downwards; head, hinder part of the neck, and beginning of the back, dusky, marked with red; forepart of the neck and breast cinereous, and mixed with rust colour, and obscurely spotted with black; lesser wing coverts cinereous; quills dusky; secondaries tipped with white; the two middle tail feathers dusky; the other cinereous; legs long and black.
Ash-coloured Sandpiper.(Tringa Cinerea,Linn.)—This bird weighs between four and five ounces, and measures ten inches in length, and about nineteen in breadth. The whole upper parts of the plumage are of a brownish ash-colour: the head is spotted, and the neck streaked with dusky lines: the feathers of the back, scapulars, and wing coverts, are elegantly marked or bordered on their ridges and tips, with two narrow lines of dull white, and dark brown. Some specimens have black spots on the breast, but most commonly the whole under parts are pure white; the tail is cinereous, edged with white, and its coverts are barred with black; legs dirty green; toes edged with a fine narrow scalloped membrane.
The ash-coloured sandpiper, it is said, breeds in the northern parts of both Europe and America. Pennant says they appear in vast flocks on the shores of Flintshire in the winter season; and Latham, that they are seen in vast numbers on the Seal Islands, near Chateau Bay; and also that they breed and remain the whole summer at Hudson’s Bay, where they are called by the natives sasqua pisqua nishish.
Shore Sandpiper.(Tringa Littorea,Linn.;Le Chevalier Variée,Buff.)—Under this name Latham describes this bird, which it is said migrates from Sweden into England at the approach of winter. He makes it a variety of the last species, and says it does not differ materially from it. “The spots on the back are ferruginous instead of white: the shaft of the first quill is white, as in the green sandpiper; and the secondaries have white tips: the legs are brown.” Brunnich mentions a further variety, wherein the first quill has a black shaft, and the spots on the back and wings are less; and observes, that they differ in age and sex.
Green Sandpiper.(Tringa Ochropus,Linn.;Le Becasseau, ou Cul-blanc,Buff.)—This bird measures about ten inches in length, to the end of the toes nearly twelve, and weighs about three ounces and a half: the bill is black, and an inch and a half long: a pale streak extends from it over each eye; between which and the corners of the mouth; there is a dusky patch. The crown of the head and hinder part of the neck are of a dingy brownish ash-colour, in some specimens narrowly streaked with white; the throat white; fore part of the neck mottled or streaked with brown spots, on a white or pale ash-coloured ground. The whole upper parts of the plumage are of a glossy bronze, or olive brown, elegantly marked on the edge of each feather with small roundish white spots; the quills are without spots, and are of a darker brown; the secondaries and tertials are very long; the inside of the wings are dusky, edged with white grey; and the inside coverts next the body are curiously barred, from the shaft of each feather to their edges, with narrow white lines, formed nearly of the shape of two sides of a triangle. The belly, vent, tail coverts, and tail, are white; the last broadly barred with black, the middle feathers having four bars, and those next to them decreasing in the number of bars towards the outside feathers, which are quite plain: the legs are green.
This bird is not any where numerous, and is of a solitary disposition, seldom more than a pair being seen together, and that chiefly in the breeding season. It is a scarce bird in England, but is said to be more common in the northern parts of the globe as far as Iceland. It is reported that they never frequent the sea shores, but their places of abode are commonly on the margins of the lakes in the interior and mountainous parts of the country.—Bewick—Latham.
Sanguine,a.Red, having the colour of blood; abounding with blood more than any other humour.
Sap,s.The vital juice of plants, the juice that circulates in trees and herbs.
Sarcelle, (Clangula Glacialis,Flem.)s.A bird of the duck tribe.
This species is about the size of a widgeon, length twenty-two inches, including the long feathers of the tail; the bill is black; down the middle and across the tip, orange; irides red; the fore part and sides of the head are reddish grey; on each side of the neck, just below the head, is an oval black spot; the hind part of the head, the throat, and remaining part of the neck and breast, white; back and rump black; sides of the upper tail coverts white, the middle black; the lower belly and vent white; the scapulars white long, and pointed; the wings chiefly black, with a mixture of chestnut; the four middle tail feathers are black, the others white; the two middle ones are narrow, and exceed the others three inches and a half; legs of a dull red; claws black.
Such is the description of the male; but in some the black spots are more or less of a chocolate colour, and the spot on the neck occupies half of it. The length of the tail also varies.
The female has been described by some authors for a different species. The bill, however, which is the same in this sex, seems to be an unerring guide. The sides of the head are white, behind cinereous; the rest of the head, the neck, breast, and back, dusky black; the lower part of the breast and scapulars chestnut; belly white; upper tail coverts and wings like the male; legs dusky reddish brown. This sex is also subject to some variation; most commonly, the middle tail-feathers are not much longer than the rest. It is seldom met with in England, but is frequent in the north of Scotland and the Orkneys in winter, where they assemble in large flocks; it is common in Sweden, Lapland, and Russia, and is said to breed in Greenland and at Hudson’s Bay, where it makes a nest of grass near the sea, and lays ten or more bluish-white eggs. The down of this bird is said to be as valuable as that of the eider duck.—Montagu.
Savage,a.Wild, uncultivated; uncivilised, barbarous.
Savin,s.A plant formerly used in veterinary and canine diseases.
Scab,s.An incrustation formed over a sore by dried matter; the itch or mange of horses.
Scabbed,a.Covered or diseased with scabs; paltry, sorry.
Scad,s.A kind of fish, probably the same as shad.
Scale,s.A balance, a vessel suspended by a beam against another; the small shells or crusts which, lying one over another, make the coats of fishes; anything exfoliated; a thin lamina; regular gradation; anything marked at equal distances.
Scale,v.To climb as by ladders; to measure or compare; to take off a thin lamina; to pare off a surface; to clean fishes.
Scaled,a.Squamous, having scales like fishes.
Scallop,s.A fish with a hollow pectinated shell.
Scalp,v.To deprive the skull of its integuments.
Scaly,a.Covered with scales.
Scapula,s.The shoulder blade.
Scapulars,s.In ornithology, are feathers which take their rise from the shoulders, and cover the sides of the back.
Scar,s.A mark made by hurt or fire, a cicatrix.
Scar,v.To mark as with a sore or wound.
Scarfskin,s.The cuticle; the epidermis.
Scarification,s.Incision of the skin with a lancet, or such like instrument.
Scarlet,a.Of the colour of scarlet.
Scate,s.A kind of wooden shoe on which people slide; a fish of the species of thornback. Scates are exceedingly abundant on the Irish coasts: they are a coarse fish, and little valued.
Scate,v.To slide on scates.
Scating,a.The art of sliding.
Scaup Duck, orSpoonbill Duck(Nyroca marila,Flem.),s.
The length of this species is about twenty-one inches; weight sometimes as much as thirty-five ounces; the bill is broad, and not so much compressed as usual in this genus; colour bluish-lead; nail black; irides light gold-colour; the head and upper part of the neck black, glossed with green, and, from being well clothed with feathers, appears large; the lower part of the neck and breast black; back and scapulars pale grey, undulated with innumerable small transverse lines of black; the wing coverts the same, but minutely small; lower part of the back, rump, and vent, black; the primores are dusky, lightest on their inner webs, and black at the ends; the secondary quills, except a few next the body, are white tipped with black, forming a broad bar of white across the wing; the under part of the body is white, sprinkled between the thighs with dusky; the tail is composed of dusky-black feathers; legs lead-colour. In some we have seen, the white in the wing is edged with rust-colour: it is also subject to other varieties.
The scaup duck is not uncommon in most parts of this kingdom in winter, and is frequently found in fresh waters. It is supposed to take its name from feeding on broken shells called scaup. This, like most of the genus, breeds in the more northern parts; is common in Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Lapland; and is found at Hudson’s Bay, in the warmer months.—Montagu.
Scent,s.The power of smelling; the smell; the object of smell; chace followed by the smell.
Scent cannot be ascertained by the air only, it depends also on the soil. Doubtless, the scent most favourable to the hound, is when the effluvia constantly perspiring from the game as it runs, is kept by the gravity of the air to the height of his breast; for then it is neither above his reach, nor need he stoop for it: this is what is meant when scent is said to be breast high. Experience tells us that difference of soil alters the scent. When the leaves begin to fall, and before they are rotted, scent lies ill in cover—a sufficient proof that it does not depend on the air only. Scent also varies by difference of motion; the faster the animal goes the less scent it leaves. When game has been ridden after, and hurried on by imprudent sportsmen, hounds will with difficulty pick out the scent; and one reason may be, that the particles of scent are then more dissipated: but if the game should have been run by a dog not belonging to the pack, very seldom will any scent remain.
Scent frequently alters in the same day; and without asserting what scent exactly is, it may be said to depend chiefly on two things—the condition of the ground, and the temperature of the air, which should be moist without being wet. When both are in this state, the scent is then perfect; andvice versa, when the ground is hard and the air dry, there seldom will be any scent. It scarce ever lies with a north or an east wind; a southerly wind without rain, and a westerly one that is not rough, are the best. Storms in the air seldom fail to destroy scent. A fine sunshiny day is not good for hunting; but a day warm without sun, is generally a perfect one: there are not many such in a whole season. In some fogs scent lies high, in others not at all, depending, probably, on the quarter the wind is then in. It sometimes lies very high in a mist, when not too wet; but if the wet continues to hang upon the boughs and bushes, it will fall upon the scent and deaden it. When the dogs roll, and also when cobwebs hang on the bushes, there is seldom much scent. During a white frost, the scent lies high, as it also does when the frost is quite gone; at the time of its going off (which is a critical minute for hounds, in which their game is frequently lost), scent never lies. In a hard rain, with the air mild, scent will sometimes be very good. A wet night often produces the best chases, game not then liking to run the cover or the roads. In heathy countries, where the game brushes as it goes along, scent seldom fails; yet, from the inclosures of poor land surrounding them, the scent is, at times, very difficult for hounds; the sudden change from a good to a bad scent confuses their noses; a scent therefore which is less good, but less unequal, is more favourable to hounds. When the ground carries the scent is bad for an obvious reason, which hare-hunters who pursue their game over greasy fallows and dirty roads have great cause to complain of. A remark has been generally made, that scent lies best in the richest soils, and those countries which are favourable to horses are not so to hounds; and it has likewise been observed in some particular spots in almost every country, let the temperature of the air be as it may, that hounds can never carry a scent across them.
The morning is the part of the day which usually affords the best scent, and the animal itself, which you are at this time more than ever desirous of killing, is then least able to escape; the want of rest, added perhaps to a full belly, give hounds a decided superiority over an early found fox.—Daniel.
Scent,v.To smell, to perceive by the nose; to perfume, or to imbue with odour good or bad.
Schooner,s.A vessel with two masts.