This species weighs about an ounce and a half; length near six inches
and a half; bill strong, both mandibles convex, and crossing each other
at the points, which are hooked; colour brown; eyes small; irides dusky.
The plumage of the male varies from a beautiful red to orange-colour on
the head, neck, breast, back, and rump; the wing coverts rufous brown;
quills and tail dusky; vent almost white; under tail coverts spotted
dusky; tail forked; legs short; claws strong.
The females also vary somewhat in colour. In general, they are of a dull
olive-green on those parts where the male is red; but the feathers on
the back are mottled with dusky; the wings and tail similar to that of
the male, but not so dark. We have observed that the crossing of the
mandibles is not constantly on the same side.
That rare bird, the crossbill, occasionally visits the orchards in our
neighbourhood, coming in little parties to feed on the seeds of the
apple, and, seldom as it appears, it is always noticed by the mischief
it does to the fruit, cutting it asunder with its well constructed
mandibles, in order to obtain the kernels. A native of those extensive
pine forests in the neighbourhood of the Rhine, it makes excursions into
various parts of Europe in search of change of food; and though several
instances are recorded of its visits to our islands, I know but one
mentioned of its having bred in England. A pair was brought to me very
early in August, and the breast of the female being nearly bare of
feathers, as is observed in sitting birds, it is very probable that she
had a nest in the neighbourhood.—_Knapp_—_Montagu._
CROSS-BOW, _s._ A missive weapon formed by placing a bow athwart a
stock.
CROSS-GRAINED, _a._ Having the fibres transverse or irregular;
perverse, vexatious.
CROTTLE, _s._ A lichen which grows principally on sand stone, used
in dyeing hackles and wools.
The power of crottle can never be known but by length of boiling; for
which reason, get the largest copper pot you can. It ought to hold
thirty or forty quarts; then put three quarts of crottle in, and fill it
with water. Separate the wool according to the number of shades you wish
for, put it into as many bags, and let them boil _eight whole days_, or
_as long as you can stay_ out of bed. You may draw a bag every six
hours, and if you wish lighter shades, sooner. You are to get a round
thin deal board, (see there is no turpentine in it,) bore it with holes
that will receive your fingers, put your lid over that, and be careful
of keeping your pot full of water. After three days’ boiling, you must
put in two quarts more crottle, to bring up your dark shades. I followed
this plan for a whole six days, and I got the finest colours my eyes
ever saw. I got so high a shade as a rich claret brown under; and it was
a very rich cinnamon over head. The reason I have mentioned eight days
is on account of the bags, which prevent the dye. I also mention a
copper pot, and you must use no other in any dye. I never could clean
the crottle properly out of the fur for want of being in bags. Strong
muslin bags will answer much better; particularly as by using them the
operator may enjoy his bed _four nights_ out of _the eight
specified_.—_Ancient Recipe._
CROUP, _s._ The rump of a fowl; the buttocks of a horse.
CROUPADES, _s. obs._ Are higher leaps than those of curvets.
CROW, _s._ A large black bird that feeds upon the carcases of
beasts; a piece of iron used as a lever; the voice of a cock, or
the noise which he makes in his gaiety.
This species weighs about nineteen ounces; length eighteen inches; bill
black; irides dusky. The whole plumage black, glossed above with a
purplish blue; legs black.
Distinguished from the rook by the bill, which is rather more convex
towards the end, and the nares, or reflected bristles, at the base being
always perfect; but these are only obvious in adults. In young birds the
note is the only criterion of distinction, which in this is much more
hoarse than that of the rook.
The crow feeds on flesh, insects, and grain; but is particularly fond of
carrion. It frequently attacks the eyes of dying animals, and destroys
weakly lambs; it will also pursue birds on wing, when pressed by hunger.
We once saw this bird in pursuit of a pigeon, at which it made several
pounces, like a hawk; but the pigeon escaped, by flying in at the door
of a house. We have also seen it strike a pigeon dead from the top of a
barn. It is a great destroyer of young game and poultry.
It is a bold bird, always at war with the lesser species of hawks; nor
does the kite, the buzzard, or the raven, approach its nest without
being attacked and driven away. At that season, even the peregrine
falcon is insulted, who frequently at one pounce brings it to the
ground.
The eggs are four or five in number, of a greenish colour, spotted with
dusky and ash-colour, their weight about five drachms. Colonel Montagu
observed two crows by the sea-shore, busy in removing small fish beyond
the flux of the flowing tide, and depositing them just above high-water
mark, under the broken rocks, after having satisfied the calls of
hunger. This species, like the magpie, is extremely garrulous at the
sight of a fox or other small quadrupeds, and attacks and makes prey of
a half-grown hare. In a summer evening ramble, Colonel Montagu saw one
of these birds make repeated pounces at some animal in a field where the
grass was nearly a foot high, which appeared to raise itself on its hind
legs, and defend itself stoutly; upon a nearer approach he discovered it
to be a young hare.—_Rennie._
CROWNSCAB, _s._ A stinking filthy scab round a horse’s hoof.
Crown Scab and Rat Tails are of the same nature as mallenders, and may
be cured by the same means. They generally, however, leave a blemish,
consisting in a loss of hair and thickening of the cuticle. Crown scab
occurs on the coronet, and rat tails in lines on the back part of the
leg, extending from the fetlock upwards.—_Vide_ MALLENDERS.
CRUDE, _a._ Raw, not subdued by fire; not brought to perfection,
immature.
CRUPPER, _s._ That part of the horse’s furniture that reaches from
the saddle to the tail.
CRURAL, _a._ Belonging to the leg.
CRUST, _s._ Any shell, or external coat; an incrustation, collection
of matter into a hard body; the outer hard part of bread.
CRUSTACEOUS, _a._ Shelly, with joints; not testaceous.
CRY, _v._ To utter an inarticulate voice, as an animal; to yelp, as
a hound on a scent.
CRY, _s._ Yelping of dogs; yell, inarticulate noise; a pack of dogs.
CRYSTAL, _s._ A clear transparent substance, like glass.
CRYSTAL, _a._ Consisting of crystal; bright, clear, transparent,
lucid.
CRYSTALLINE HUMOUR, _s._ The second humour of the eye, that lies
immediately next to the aqueous, behind the uvea.
CUB, _s._ The young of a beast, generally of a bear or fox.
CUB, _v. obs._ To bring forth.
CUB-HUNTING. The pursuit or chace of young foxes—dangerous for
horses, and destructive to game.
Previous to the month of November no man who has any thing else to amuse
himself with, or who has a regard for his neck, or his horse, should be
seen by a covert’s side, unless it be on a hack cub-hunting, which after
all is but a melancholy recreation.
CUBE, _s._ A regular small body, consisting of six square and equal
faces or sides, and the angles all right, and therefore equal.
CUBEBS, _s._ A very efficient pepper. It has been lately much used
in medicine.
CUCKOO, _s._ A bird which appears in the spring, and is said to suck
the eggs of other birds, and lay her own to be hatched in their
place; a name of contempt.
[Illustration]
_Cuckoo_, or _Gowk_.—(_Cuculus Canorus_, LINN.; _Le Coucou_,
BUFF.)—Length fourteen inches, breadth twenty-five; its bill is black
and somewhat bent; eyes yellow; inside of the mouth red; its head, neck,
back, and wing coverts are of a pale blue, or dove colour, which is
darkest on the head and back, and palest on the fore part of the neck
and rump; its breast and belly are white, elegantly crossed with wavy
bars of black; the quill feathers are dusky, their inner webs marked
with large oval white spots; the tail is long; the two middle feathers
are black, with white tips; the others dusky, marked with alternate
spots of white on each side the shaft: the legs are short and of a
yellow colour; toes two forward, and two backward; claws white.
The cuckoo visits us early in the spring; its well-known cry is
generally heard about the middle of April, and ceases the latter end of
June; its stay is short, the old cuckoos being said to quit this country
early in July. Cuckoos build no nest; and, what is more extraordinary,
the female deposits her solitary egg in the nest of another bird, by
which it is hatched. The nest she chooses for this purpose is generally
selected from the following, viz., the hedge sparrows, water wagtails,
titlarks, yellow hammers, green linnets, or the winchats. Of these it
has been observed that she shows a much greater partiality to that of
the hedge sparrow than to any of the rest.—_Bewick._
CUP, _v._ To draw blood by applying cupping glasses.
CUR, _s._ A worthless degenerate dog.
CURB, _s._ An iron chain, made fast to the upper part of the
branches of the bridle, running over the beard of the horse;
restraint.
Curb is an enlargement at the back of the hock, about three or four
inches below the point of the hock. It is either a strain in the
ring-like ligament which binds the tendons down in their place, or in
the sheath of the tendons; oftener, we are inclined to think, of the
ligament than of the sheath. Any sudden action of the limb of more than
usual violence may produce it, and therefore horses are found to ‘throw
out curbs’ after a hardly contested race, an extraordinary leap, a
severe gallop over heavy ground, or a sudden check in the gallop. Young
horses are particularly liable to it, and horses that are _cow-hocked_
or whose hocks and legs resemble those of the cow, the hocks being
turned inward, and the legs forming a considerable angle outwards. This
is intelligible enough; for in hocks so formed, the annular ligament
must be continually on the stretch to confine the tendon.
Curbs are generally accompanied by considerable lameness at their first
appearance, but the swelling is not always great; indeed, it sometimes
presents so gradual a curve, that it is scarcely perceivable when we
stand behind the horse, and both the horseman and the veterinary surgeon
have overlooked it. It is best detected by observing the leg sideway.
The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflammation, and
this will be most readily accomplished by cold evaporating lotions,
frequently applied to the part. Equal portions of spirit of wine, water,
and vinegar, will afford an excellent application. It will be almost
impossible to keep a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are
considerable, it will be prudent to physic the horse, and to bleed from
the subcutaneous vein. Whether the injury be of the annular ligament, or
the sheath of the tendon, more active means will be necessary to perfect
the cure. Either a liquid blister should be rubbed on the part,
consisting of a vinous or turpentine tincture of cantharides, and this
daily applied until some considerable swelling takes place, which should
be allowed to subside, and then the liniment again resorted to; or, what
is the preferable plan, the hair should be cut off, and the part
blistered as soon as the heat has been subdued. The blister should be
repeated until the horse goes sound, and the swelling has disappeared.
In severe cases it may be necessary to fire, but we cannot recommend the
indiscriminate recourse to the hot iron in every case of curb, and we
would uniformly give a fair trial to milder measures. If the iron be
used, the strokes should be in straight lines.
There are few complaints in which absolute and long continued rest is
more requisite, than in curb. An injury so serious leaves the parts very
materially weakened, and, if the horse be soon put to work again, the
lameness will frequently return. No horse that has had curbs should be
put even to ordinary work in less than a month after the apparent cure,
and even then he should very gradually resume his former habits. A horse
with a curb is manifestly unsound.
CURB, _v._ To guide a horse with a curb; to restrain; to check.
CURD, _s._ The coagulation of milk.
CURE, _s._ Remedy, restorative; act of healing.
CURE, _v._ To heal, to restore to health, to remedy.
CURLEW, (_Scolopax arquata_, LINN.; _Le Courlis_, BUFF.), _s._ A
kind of waterfowl.
[Illustration]
The bill is long, equally incurvated, and terminated in a blunt point;
nostrils linear, and longitudinal near the base; tongue short and
sharp-pointed; and the toes are connected as far as the first joint, by
a membrane.
With the curlew, Linnæus begins a numerous tribe of birds under the
generic name of _scolopax_, which, in his arrangement, includes all the
snipes and godwits, amounting, according to Latham, to forty-two species
and eight varieties, spread over various parts of the world, but nowhere
very numerous.
Buffon describes fifteen species and varieties of the curlew, and Latham
ten, only two or three of which are British birds. They feed upon worms,
which they pick up on the surface, or with their bills dig from the soft
earth: on these they depend for their principal support; but they also
devour the various kinds of insects which swarm in the mud, and in the
wet boggy grounds, where these birds chiefly take up their abode.
The curlew generally measures about two feet in length, and from tip to
tip above three feet. The bill is about seven inches long, of a regular
curve, and tender substance at the point, which is blunt. The upper
mandible is black, gradually softening into brown toward the base; the
under one flesh-coloured. The head, neck, upper part of the back, and
wing-coverts, are of a pale brown, the middle of each feather black,
edged and deeply indented with pale rust colour, or light grey. The
breast, belly, and lower part of the beak, are dull white, the latter
thinly spotted with black, and the two former with oblong strokes more
thickly set, of the same colour. The quill-feathers are black, the inner
webs crossed or spotted with white; the tail is barred with black, on a
white ground tinged with red; the legs are bare a little above the
knees, of a blueish colour, and the toes are thick, and flat on the
under side.
These birds differ much in size, as well as in the different shades of
their plumage; some of them weighing not more than twenty-two ounces,
and others as much as thirty-seven. In the plumage of some the white
parts are much more distinct and clear than in others, which are more
uniformly grey, and tinged with pale brown.
The female is so nearly like the male, that any particular description
of her is unnecessary: she makes her nest upon the ground, in a dry tuft
of rushes or grass, of such withered materials as are found near, and
lays four eggs, of a greenish cast, spotted with brown.
The curlew is met with by travellers in most parts of Europe, from
Iceland to the Mediterranean islands. In Britain their summer residence
is upon the large heathy, boggy moors, where they breed. Their food
consists of worms, flies, and insects, which they pick out of the soft
mossy ground by the marshy pools, which are common in such places. In
winter they depart to the sea-side, where they are seen in great
numbers, and then live upon the worms, marine insects, and other fishy
substances which they pick up on the beach and among the loose rocks and
pools left by the retiring tide. The flesh of the curlew has been
characterised by some as very good, and of a fine flavour—by others as
directly the reverse; the truth is, that, while they are in health and
season, and live on the moors, scarcely any bird can excel them in
goodness; but when they have lived some time on the sea shore, they
acquire a rank and fishy taste.—_Bewick._
CURRICLE, _s._ An open two-wheeled chaise, made to be drawn by two
horses abreast.
CURRY, _v._ To dress leather; to rub a horse with scratching
instruments, so as to clean his coat.
CURRYCOMB, _s._ An iron instrument used for currying horses.
CURVE, _s._ Anything bent, a flexure or crookedness.
CURVE, _v._ To bend, to crook, to inflect.
CURVET, _v._ To leap, to bound.
CUT, _v._ To penetrate with an edged instrument; to make its way by
dividing obstructions; to perform the operation of cutting for
the stone.
CUT, _s._ The action of a sharp or edged instrument; the impression
or separation of continuity made by an edge; a wound made by
cutting; a channel made by art; the act or practice of dividing
a pack of cards; form, shape.
CUTANEOUS, _a._ Relating to the skin.
CUTICLE, _s._ The first and outermost covering of the body, commonly
called the scarf-skin.
CUTTER, _s._ An agent or instrument that cuts any thing; the teeth
that cut the meat; a fore and aft-rigged vessel with one mast
and a running boltsprit.
[Illustration]
Cutters have been always favourite vessels, from their excellent sailing
qualities, and, consequently, are much employed as revenue cruisers,
smugglers, privateers, and packets, and in any trade requiring much
despatch. A cutter under one hundred tons is sufficiently handy and
manageable, but when the size increases to that of the larger yachts and
cruisers, a very strong crew is necessary, as the spars are immensely
heavy, and a number of men requisite to set or shorten sail.
A single-masted vessel is objectionable, because in the event of
springing a spar, she becomes perfectly helpless; hence large cutters
are only used in short voyages, or as coasting cruisers. Their peculiar
qualities of beating well to windward, and working on short tacks, adapt
them for channel cruising; and in case of accident, they can always
manage to reach some harbour or anchorage where they can repair the
damage they may have sustained.
Some years back, large cutters were confined principally to the navy and
revenue, but the Royal Yacht Club have not only exceeded them in size,
but also in beauty and sailing. Some of the finest and fastest cutters
in the world are the property of this celebrated and truly national
club; and two of them, the _Alarm_ (Mr. Wild’s), and the _Arundel_ (the
Duke of Norfolk’s), measure 193 and 188 tons.
The inconvenient size of a cutter’s boom and mainsail has caused the
introduction very generally of a ketch rig; which, by the addition of a
mizen, enables the boom to be dispensed with, and reduces the mainsail
considerably. This rig, when the mizen stands well, is very elegant,
and, if a vessel is short-handed, exceedingly handy.—_Vide_ YACHT.
CYGNET, _s._ A young swan.
Living on the banks of the Thames, I have often been pleased with seeing
the care taken of the young swans by the parent birds. Where the stream
is strong, the old one will sink herself sufficiently low to bring her
back on a level with the water, when the cygnets will get upon it, and
in this manner are conveyed to the other side of the river, or into
stiller water. Each family of swans on the river has its own district;
and if the limits of that district are encroached upon by other swans, a
pursuit immediately takes place, and the intruders are driven away.
Except in this instance, they appear to live in a state of the most
perfect harmony. The male is very attentive to the female, assists in
making the nest, and when a sudden rise of the river takes place, joins
her with great assiduity in raising the nest sufficiently high to
prevent the eggs being chilled by the action of the water, though
sometimes its rise is so rapid, that the whole nest is washed away and
destroyed.—_Jesse._
CYGNETICS, _s. obs._ The art of hunting.
CYST, _s._ A bag containing some morbid matter.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAB, _s._ A kind of small flat fish.
DAB-CHICK, _s._ A water-fowl.
DACE, _s._ A small river-fish, resembling a roach.
[Illustration: DACE.]
Dace or Dare, is gregarious, is a great breeder, very lively, and during
summer is fond of frolicking near the surface. Its head is small, the
irides of a pale yellow; the body long and slender; its scales are
smaller than those of the roach, and is upon the whole a handsomer fish;
the back is varied with dusky, and a cast of yellowish green; the sides
and belly silvery, the ventral, anal, and caudal fins are sometimes of a
pale red hue; the tail is very much forked. The dace is seldom above ten
inches long, although in a list of fish sold in the London markets, with
the greatest weight of each, communicated to Mr. Pennant, there is an
account of one that weighed a pound and half, and according to Linnæus,
it grows to a foot and half in length.
The haunts of Dace are deep water, near piles of bridges, where the
stream is gentle, over gravelly, sandy, and clayey bottoms; deep holes
that are shaded, water-lily leaves, and under the foam caused by an
eddy; in the warm months they are to be found in shoals on the shallows
near to streams; the dace spawn in March, are in season about three
weeks after; they improve, and are very good, about Michaelmas, but are
best in February, and are said in that month, when just taken, scotched,
and broiled, to be more palatable than a fresh herring.
This is a fish affording great sport to the angler, indeed more pleasure
than profit, for the flesh is insipid, and full of bones. The baits for
dace are the red worm, brandling, gilt-tail, cow-dung, and earth-bob,
and indeed any worm bred on trees or bushes, that is not too big for his
mouth, and almost every kind of fly and caterpillar. Flesh flies upon
the surface with the hook put into the back, between the wings, the line
from the middle downwards of single hairs, and a trifle longer than the
rod, which ought to be eighteen feet at least, and as light as possible;
the flies can be kept in a phial; fix three very small hooks upon single
hair links, not above four inches along the line, and in a summer’s
evening, at the smoothest part of the end of a mill-stream, from seven
or eight, so long as light continues, the dace will yield diversion. In
the same manner, they will rise in the morning at the ant-fly, if used
at the foot of a current or mill-stream, or on a scour before the sun
comes on the water.
After rains, when the river is nearly level with its banks, use a
caterpillar-fly, or a small red palmer and yellow-gentle (the yellower
the better), run the hook through its skin, and draw it up to the tail
of the fly, then whip on the surface, the dace will rise freely.
Another way to take this fish, from the middle of April until the
beginning of October, is by artificial fly-fishing, with a long
line.—_Daniel._
DALMATIAN, (_Canis Dalmatianus_), _s._ The coach-dog.
[Illustration]
This dog has been erroneously called the Danish dog by some authors, and
Buffon, and some other naturalists, imagine him to be the harrier of
Bengal; but his native country is Dalmatia, a mountainous district of
European Turkey. He has been domesticated in Italy for upwards of two
centuries, and is the common harrier of that country.
The Dalmatian is also used as a pointer, to which his natural propensity
more inclines him than to be a dog of the chase; he is said to be easily
broken, and to be very staunch. He is handsome in shape, something
betwixt the British foxhound and English pointer; his head is more acute
than that of the latter, and his ears fully longer: his general colour
is white, and his whole body and legs are covered with small irregular
sized black or reddish brown spots. He is much smaller than the large
Danish dog. A singular opinion prevailed at one time in this country,
that this beautiful dog was rendered more handsome by having his ears
cropped: this barbarous fancy is now quickly dying away.
I have never heard of the Dalmatian being trained to the sports of the
field in Great Britain. His only use seems to be an elegant attendant
upon a carriage, for which the symmetry of his form and beauty of his
skin peculiarly fit him. A most erroneous notion has prevailed among
some breeders, that neither this nor the great Danish dog has the sense
of smell. They have been indiscriminately called the coach-dog.—_Brown._
DAM, _s._ The mother; a mole or bank to confine water.
DAMASCENE, _s._ _Vide_ BARREL.
DAPPLE, _a._ Marked with various colours; variegated.
DAPPLE, v. To streak, to vary.
DAR, or DART, _s._ A fish found in the Severn.
DARE, _s._ _Vide_ DACE.
DARE, _v._ _To Dare Larks_, to catch them by means of a
looking-glass.
DAW, _s._ A bird.
DEAL, _s._ The art or practice of dealing cards; fir-wood; the wood
of pines.
DEALER, _s._ A person who deals the cards; one who buys and sells
horses and dogs.
A gownsman of Cambridge, anxious to purchase a particular horse in the
possession of Mr. Fordham, horse-dealer of that place, called upon him
to make proposals, but disagreeing as to price, the collegian waited
upon him several times to see if he could possibly bring him over to his
terms.—In the interim, however, Mr. Fordham was taken dangerously ill
and died. Next day, the gownsman, unacquainted with the circumstance of
his death, called and asked a groom for his master.—“My master is dead,
sir, (said one of the stable-boys) but he left word you should have the
horse.”—_Sporting Anecdotes._
DECOCTION, _s._ The act of boiling any thing; a preparation made by
boiling in water.
The vessel in which _decoctions_ are made should be covered, and when
the substance contains any aromatic or volatile principle, the boiling
should be continued only a short time. Decoctions should be strained
while hot, as some of them, Peruvian bark for example, deposit some
active and useful matter in cooling. Decoctions soon ferment, and are
spoiled by keeping; they should be used therefore soon after they are
made.
* * * * *
A decoction of _marsh-mallows_, it is useful in fevers as a vehicle for
nitre or other medicine; also as an emollient clyster and fomentation.