Few creatures defend themselves better, or bite with greater keenness,
than the badger: on that account it is frequently baited with dogs
trained for that purpose, and defends itself from their attacks with
astonishing agility and success. Its motions are so quick, that a dog is
often desperately wounded in the moment of assault, and obliged to fly.
The thickness of the badger’s skin, and the length and coarseness of its
hair, are an excellent defence against the bites of the dogs; its skin
is so loose as to resist the impression of their teeth, and gives the
animal an opportunity of turning itself round, and wounding its
adversaries in their tenderest parts. In this manner this singular
creature is able to resist repeated attacks both of men and dogs, from
all quarters, till, being overpowered with numbers, and enfeebled by
many desperate wounds, it is at last obliged to yield.
In hunting the badger, you must seek the earths and burrows where he
lies, and, in a clear moonlight night, go and stop all the burrows
except one or two, and therein place some sacks, fastened with drawing
strings, which may shut him in as soon as he strains the bag. Some only
place a hoop in the mouth of the sack, and so put it into the hole; and
as soon as the badger is in the sack, and strains it, the sack slips
from the hoop, and secures him in it, where he lies trembling till he is
taken from his prison.
The sacks or bags being thus set, cast off the hounds, beating about all
the woods, hedges, and tufts round about, for the compass of a mile or
two, and what badgers are abroad, being alarmed by the hounds, will soon
betake themselves to their burrows. Observe that the person who is
placed to watch the sacks, must stand close, and upon a clear wind,
otherwise the badger will discover him, and immediately fly some other
way into his burrow.
But if the dogs can encounter him before he can take his sanctuary, he
will then stand at bay like a boar, and make good sport, vigorously
biting and clawing the dogs. In general, when they fight, they lie on
their backs, using both teeth and nails; and, by blowing up their skins,
defend themselves against the bites of the dogs and the blows given by
the men. When the badger finds that the terriers yearn him in his
burrow, he will stop the hole between him and the terriers; and if they
still continue baying, he will remove his couch into another chamber or
part of the burrow, and so from one to another, barricading the way
before them as he retreats, till he can go no farther.
If you intend to dig the badger out of his burrow, you must be provided
with such tools as are used for digging out a fox: you should also have
a pail of water ready to refresh the terriers when they come out of the
earth to take breath and cool themselves.
It is no unusual thing to put some small bells about the necks of the
terriers, which, making a noise, will cause the badger to bolt out.
In digging, the situation of the ground must be observed and considered;
or instead of advancing the work, you probably may hinder it. In this
order you may besiege them in their holds, or castles, and break their
platforms, parapets, and casemates, and work to them with mines and
countermines, till you have overcome them.
We must do this animal the justice to observe, that, though nature has
furnished it with formidable weapons of offence, and has besides given
it strength sufficient to use them with great effect, it is,
notwithstanding, very harmless and inoffensive, and, unless attacked,
employs them only for its support.
The badger is an indolent animal, and sleeps much: it confines itself to
its hole during the whole day, and feeds only in the night. It is so
cleanly as never to defile its habitation with its ordure. Immediately
below the tail, between that and the anus, there is a narrow transverse
orifice, from whence a white substance, of a very fœtid smell,
constantly exudes. The skin, when dressed with the hair on, is used for
pistol furniture. Its flesh is eaten: the hind quarters are sometimes
made into hams, which, when cured, are not inferior in goodness to the
best bacon. The hairs are made into brushes, which are used by painters
to soften and harmonise their shades.
In walking, the badger treads on its whole heel, like the bear, which
brings its belly very near the ground.
_Extraordinary Affection in the Badger._—Two persons were on a short
journey, and passing through a hollow way, a dog which was with them,
started a badger, which he attacked, and pursued, till he took shelter
in a burrow under a tree. With some pains they hunted him out, and
killed him. Being a very few miles from a village, called Chapellatiere,
they agreed to drag him there, as the commune gave a reward for every
one which was destroyed; besides, they purposed selling the skin. Not
having a rope, they twisted some twigs, and drew him along the road by
turns. They had not proceeded far, when they heard a cry of an animal in
seeming distress, and stopping to see from whence it proceeded, another
badger approached them slowly. They at first threw stones at it,
notwithstanding which it drew near, came up to the dead animal, began to
lick it, and continued its mournful cry. The men, surprised at this,
desisted from offering any further injury to it, and again drew the dead
one along as before; when the living badger, determining not to quit its
dead companion, lay down on it, taking it gently by one ear, and in that
manner was drawn into the midst of the village; nor could dogs, boys, or
men, induce it to quit its situation by any means, and, to their shame
be it said, they had the inhumanity to kill it, and afterwards to burn
it, declaring it could be no other than a witch.—_Buffon_—_Daniel._
BAG, _s._ A sack, a pouch; that part of animals in which some
particular juices are contained, as the poison of vipers.
BAG, _v._ To put into a bag. In sporting parlance, to kill.
BAGATELLE, _s._ A trifle; a game.
BAIT, _v._ To put meat to tempt animals.
BAIT, _s._ Meat set to allure animals to a snare; a temptation; an
enticement; a refreshment on a journey. In Fishing, worms,
paste, &c.
BALANCE, _s._ A pair of scales; the overplus of weight; equipoise.
BALANCE, _v._ To weigh in a balance; to counterpoise.
BALD, _a._ Without hair; without natural covering.
BALK, _s._ A ridge of land left unploughed; disappointment when
least expected. In Hunting, a term used when a horse refuses his
leap.
BALK, _v._ To disappoint; to frustrate. In Hunting, to swerve off
from a fence; to refuse a jump.
BALL, _s._ Anything made in a round form; a round thing to play
with, a hand-ball, a billiard-ball.
_Balls_ (_in farriery_) are boluses given to horses, and should not
exceed in size a hen’s egg. Though named balls, they are generally
rolled up in a cylindrical form, about one inch in diameter, and two and
a half in length; but the form of an egg is preferable. There is
sometimes difficulty in giving balls, without using a balling iron; and
there are horses that will not take a ball by any other means. In giving
it, the horse’s tongue is drawn out on the off or right side, and held
firmly with the left hand, while with the right the ball is passed over
the tongue into the pharynx, or top of the gullet. The hand should be
kept as near to the roof of the mouth as possible; there will then be
much less danger of being wounded by the teeth. The moment the right
hand is withdrawn from the mouth, the tongue is let loose, and the ball
generally swallowed.
Balls should be made at the time they are wanted; as by keeping they
become so hard as to be insoluble in the stomach, and pass through the
intestines unchanged. By keeping they also lose much of their strength,
particularly when the ingredients are evaporable in the common
temperature of the atmosphere, which is the case with camphor, ammonia,
essential oils, &c. But the most serious inconvenience which arises from
giving balls that have been kept until they become very hard, is, that
they are liable to stick in the throat or gullet, and thereby endanger
the horse’s life.
Balls cannot be conveniently given unless wrapped up in paper: but for
this purpose the softest and thinnest should be chosen.
In holding the tongue with the left hand while the ball is introduced,
great care is required, as the rough and violent manner in which this is
sometimes done, injures the tongue or lacerates the under part of it,
named the bridle. The muscles by which swallowing is effected may also
be seriously injured in this way. In violent colds, strangles, &c. there
is so much soreness of the throat as to render swallowing very painful
and difficult; in such cases neither balls nor drenches should be given,
as they are sure to do mischief by irritating the throat, and may even
suffocate the animal by getting into the wind-pipe.
When a ball is found to exceed the proper size, it should be divided and
given at twice, as much injury has been done by giving balls too large,
especially when they have become dry and hard, or been wrapped in thick
paper. In making balls, the dry ingredients should be finely powdered
and well mixed, and the liquid for forming them should be adapted to the
nature of the other ingredients. When a ball contains any acrid, or very
powerful ingredient, such as sublimate or arsenic, flour and paste may
be employed for mixing it up, and a small bran mash should be given a
little before or after it. After giving a ball, grooms sometimes press
or pinch the throat for the purpose of making the horse swallow it; but
this should never be done, as it is apt to excite coughing, by which
swallowing is prevented. The only thing necessary after the hand is
withdrawn is to keep the mouth shut, and press the nose downwards, in a
moderate degree, towards the chest.—_White._
BALLING-IRON, _s._ An instrument used in administering balls to
horses. It is intended to keep the mouth open while the ball is
being introduced, and answers the double purpose of assisting
the groom in the operation, and saving his hand from injury from
the horse’s teeth. In its use, it should be carefully covered
with cloth, to prevent the tongue of the animal from being
lacerated.
BALM, _s._ The sap or juice of a shrub, remarkably odoriferous, and
of healing qualities; any valuable or fragrant ointment;
anything that soothes or mitigates pain.
BALSAM, _s._ A thick fluid soluble in spirit of wine.
_Balsams_ are a kind of resinous juice, united with some of the
extractive matter of the various plants they are obtained from, in
combination with an essential oil. All the balsams are occasionally in
use in veterinary medicine, and were formerly in very high estimation,
for their supposed salutary action in chronic diseases of the lungs.
They were also considered as a sovereign vulnerary for abraded urinary
passages. It is the modern doctrine to think their efficacy overrated,
and which is probably in some respects true, particularly as regards
their expectorant qualities: nevertheless they are far from being inert;
on the contrary, they appear to act favourably in some instances, as a
warm terebinthinated stimulant. The principal balsams dispensed in
veterinary practice are these:—
_Balsam of Canada._—A strong diuretic, used in chronic cough and
diseases of the lungs.
_Balsam of Copaiba_, or _Capivi_.—Possesses similar properties to that
of Canada.
_Balsam of Friars._—Now called _Tincture of Benjamin_, an excellent
traumatic.
_Balsam of Gilead._—Similar in its properties to Copaiba.
_Balsam of Peru._—A stimulant; used externally to irritable ulcers.
_Balsam of Tolu._—Same properties and uses as _Peru_.
_Balsam of Sulphur._—An expectorant; in inflammatory coughs, however,
its use is dangerous.—_Outlines of Vet. Art._—_White._
BALSAMIC, _a._ Unctuous, mitigating.
BAMBOO, _s._ An Indian plant of the reed kind.
BANDALEERS, _s._ Small wooden cases covered with leather, each of
them containing powder that is a sufficient charge for a musket.
_Obs._
BANDOG, (_Canis Villaticus_,) _s._ A mastiff.
[Illustration]
This variety is lighter, smaller, and more active than the mastiff,
from which he is descended by a cross with the foxhound. He is not
near so powerful a dog as the former, but is more fierce in his
natural disposition. From his descent, he possesses a finer sense of
smelling than that dog. His hair is rougher, generally of yellowish or
sandy grey, streaked with shades of black or brown, and semi-curled
almost over his whole body; his legs, however, are smooth. Although he
generally attacks his adversary in front, like the mastiff and bull
dog, it is not his invariable practice, for he is sometimes seen to
seize cattle by the flank. His bite is said to be severe and
dangerous.—_Brown._
BANDY, _s._ A club turned round at bottom for striking a ball.
BANDY-LEG, _s._ A crooked leg.
BANE, _s._ Poison, mischief.
BANK SWALLOW, RIVER SWALLOW, BANK MARTIN, or SAND SWALLOW, _s._ This
is the smallest species of British Swallow; length four inches
and three quarters. The whole upper parts of the plumage are of
a mouse-coloured brown; the under parts white, except across the
breast, which is brown; legs dusky, a little feathered behind;
bill dusky; irides hazel. The Bank Swallow is not near so
plentiful, and is more local than the other species.—_Montagu._