_False Quarter_ is a defect in the hoof of a horse, originally
occasioned by some injury producing a destruction of parts, as quitter,
canker, wounds, treads, bruises, or such formation of matter by which a
part of the hoof has been unavoidably destroyed, or necessarily taken
away. In the regeneration of parts, the incarnation (from the rigid and
horny nature of the hoof) is irregular and imperfect, forming a sort of
cleft (or artificial union) with the sound part upon the surface,
productive of a sensible weakness underneath. This imperfect and
defective junction renders such quarter, as it is called, inadequate to
the weight it is destined to bear; in which case much judgment is
required, and may be exerted, in the palliation, as perfect cure is not
to be expected. Care must be taken in forming the shoe to relieve the
tender part from the pressure, by hollowing it at that particular spot,
and letting the bearing be fixed entirely upon the sound parts. By
constant attention in reducing the prominent edges of the irregular
projection with the fine side of the rasp, and a few occasional
impregnations with fine spermaceti oil, the hoof may be sometimes
restored to its original formation.—_Taplin._
FARCY, s. The leprosy of horses.
Farcy is intimately connected with glanders; they will run into each
other, or their symptoms will mingle together, and before either arrives
at its fatal termination its associate will almost invariably appear. An
animal inoculated with the matter of farcy will often be afflicted with
glanders, while the matter of glanders will frequently produce farcy.
They are different types or stages of the same disease. There is,
however, a very material difference in their symptoms and progress, and
this most important of all, that while glanders are generally incurable,
farcy, in its early stage and mild form, may be successfully treated.
Veterinary writers tell us that it is a disease of the absorbents in the
skin, and therefore the first indication of this disease, even before
any drooping, or loss of condition, or of appetite, is generally the
appearance of little tumours—_farcy buds_—close to some of the veins,
following the course of the veins, and connected together by a kind of
cord, which farriers call _corded veins_. When they are few and small
they may possibly exist for several weeks without being observed; but at
length they increase in number and in size, and become painful and hot,
and some of them begin to ulcerate. They appear usually about the face
or neck, or inside of the thigh, and in the latter case there is some
general enlargement of the limb, and lameness.
In some cases, however, the horse will droop for many a day before the
appearance of the _buttons_ or _farcy buds_; his appetite will be
impaired;—his coat will stare;—he will lose flesh. The poison is
evidently at work, but has not gained sufficient power to cause the
absorbents to swell. In a few instances these buds do not ulcerate, but
become hard and difficult to disperse. The progress of the disease is
then suspended, and possibly for many months the horse will appear to be
restored to health; but he bears the seeds of the malady about him, and,
all at once, the farcy assumes a virulent form, and hurries him off.
These buds have sometimes been confounded with the little tumours, or
lumps of _surfeit_. They are generally higher than these tumours; not so
broad; have a more knotty feel, and are principally found on the inside
of the limbs, instead of the outside.
Few things are more unlike, or more perplexing, than the different forms
which farcy assumes at different times. One of the legs, and
particularly one of the hinder legs, will suddenly swell to an enormous
size. At night the horse will appear to be perfectly well, and, in the
morning, one leg will be three times the size of the other, with
considerable fever, and scarcely the power of moving the limb.
At other times the head will be subject to this enlargement—the muzzle
will particularly swell, and a stinking discharge will issue from the
nose. Sometimes the horse will gradually lose flesh and strength; he
will be hide-bound—mangy eruptions will appear in different parts; the
legs will swell; cracks will appear at the heels, and the inexperienced
person may conceive it to be a mere want of condition combined with
grease.
Farcy, like glanders, springs from infection, or from bad stable
management. It is produced by all the causes which give rise to
glanders; but with this difference, that it is more frequently
generated, and is sometimes strangely prevalent in particular districts.
The treatment of farcy varies with the form it assumes. In the button or
bud farcy, a mild dose of physic should be first administered. The buds
should be then carefully examined, and if any of them have broken, the
budding iron, of a dull red heat, should be applied to them; or if
matter should be felt in them, showing that they are disposed to break,
they should be penetrated with the iron. These wounds should be daily
inspected, and if, when the slough of the cautery comes off, they look
pale, and foul, and spongy, and discharge a thin matter, they should be
frequently washed with a lotion, composed of a drachm of corrosive
sublimate dissolved in an ounce of rectified spirit; the other buds
should likewise be examined, and opened with the iron as soon as they
evidently contain matter. When the wounds begin to look red, and the
bottom of them is even and firm, and they discharge a thick white or
yellow matter, the friar’s balsam will speedily heal them. As, however,
the constitution is now tainted, local applications will not be
sufficient, and the disease must be attacked by internal medicines, as
soon as the physic has ceased to operate. The corrosive sublimate will
be the best alterative, and may be given in doses of ten grains,
gradually increased to a scruple, with two drachms of gentian and one of
ginger, and repeated morning and night until the ulcers disappear,
unless the horse is violently purged, or the mouth becomes sore, when a
drachm of blue vitriol may be substituted for the corrosive sublimate.
During this, the animal should be placed in a large box, with a free
circulation of air; and green meat, or carrots, the latter more
particularly, should be given him, with a fair allowance of corn. If he
could be turned out during the day, it would be advantageous; but at all
events he should be daily exercised. It is related by Mr. Blaine, that a
horse so reduced as not to be able to stand, was drawn into a field of
tares, and suffered to take his chance: the consequence was, that when
he had eaten all within his reach, he was able to rise and search for
more, and eventually recovered. In an early stage of the disease, and if
glanders have not appeared, this treatment will frequently succeed. If,
after the wounds have healed, the absorbents should continue to be
corded, a blister, or light firing, will probably be serviceable.—_The
Horse._
FAULT, _s._ Offence; defect; puzzle, difficulty; a term in hunting.
FAVOURITE, _s._ A person or thing beloved. In racing, the term is
used to express supposed superiority, as “first favourite for
the Leger.”
FAWN, _s._ A young deer.
FAWN, _v._ To bring forth a young deer; to court by frisking before
one as a dog.
FEATHER, _s._ The plume of birds; upon a horse, a sort of natural
frizzling hair.
At the root of the first quill in each wing of the woodcock, is a small
pointed narrow feather, very elastic, and much sought after by painters,
by whom it is used as a pencil. A feather of a similar kind is found in
the whole of this tribe, and also in every one of the tringas and
plovers which the author has examined.—_Bewick._
FEATHER, _v._ To dress in feathers; to fit with feathers; to tread
as a cock; to strike feathers from a bird fired at.
FEBRIFUGE, s. Any medicine serviceable in fever. _Vide_ FEVER.
FEED, _v._ To supply with food; to graze; to consume by cattle; to
take food; to prey.
FEED, _s._ Food, that which is eaten; a certain portion of corn
given to a horse.
FEEDER, _s._ One that gives food; one that eats; a kennel servant.
FEELER, _s._ One that feels; the horns or antennæ of insects.
FEET, _s._ The plural of foot.
_Feet of Birds._—Technical terms:—
_Pinnatus._—Finfooted or scalloped, a term applied to the feet of coots.
_Pes lobatus._—Applied when the toes are furnished with broad plain
membranes, as in the foot of the red-necked grebe.
_Semi-palmatus_—Semi-palmated: when the middle of the webs reach only
about half the length of the toes.
When the middle toe claw is notched like a saw, it is called _serrated_;
and _pectinated_ when toothed like a comb.
* * * * *
The large crooked talons of birds of prey, and their hooked beaks, are
well formed for securing and tearing their victims. The formation of the
feet of the woodpeckers, the toes being placed two forward and two
backward, is well calculated for climbing, and the cuneiform shape of
the extremity of their bills is suited to the purpose of cutting holes
in decayed trees; their tongue is also wonderfully contrived to search
out insects beyond the reach of their bill, by its great length, which
is double that of the tongue at least. The wryneck has this singularity,
as well as the like formation of toes; which last is also found in the
cuckoo: but neither of these birds is seen to climb up the bodies of
trees, nor have either the stiff sharp-pointed feathers in the tail, as
in the woodpecker, so admirably adapted to support them when in the act
of hewing. This agrees with the observations of an ingenious living
naturalist, the Rev. Revett Shepherd. “The cuckoo,” says he, “is
furnished with two toes before and two behind, and yet is never known
actually to climb, a convincing proof that such conformation does not
necessarily bring with it the power of climbing, more especially when we
consider that the nuthatch (_Sitta Europæa_), and the creeper (_Certhia
familiaris_), have their toes placed in the usual manner, and yet run up
and down trees with as much facility as the woodpeckers. The use of the
_pedes scansorii_, as they evidently in this case conduce not to
climbing, I judge to be this; it is well known that this bird will
oftentimes sit by the half-hour together on the bough of a tree,
vociferating its loud and pleasing note; in doing this, it sits
remarkably forward, and appears in constant agitation, continually
moving its body up and down with great elegance; now, as it sits so
forward, while using this exertion, it would be liable to lose its
balance and quit its hold, had it only one toe behind; whereas, by the
contrivance of two, it is enabled strongly to adhere to the branch.”
The legs and feet of aquatic birds are wonderfully formed for
accelerating their motion in that element, which is their greatest
security. The bone of the leg is sharp, and vastly compressed sideways:
the toes, when the foot is brought forward, close in behind each other
in such a manner as to expose a very small surface in front, so that, in
the action of swimming, very little velocity is lost in bringing the
legs forward; this is very conspicuous in the diver. Some aquatic birds
are web-footed before the whole length of the toes, as in the ducks;
others only half the length of the toes, like the avoset. Some again
have all four toes webbed, as in the cormorant; others whose feet are
furnished with a fin-like membrane or each side of the toes; these are
either plain, as in the grebe, or lobed, as in the coot and phalarope.
There are also some who swim and dive well, whose toes are long and
slender, and not furnished with webs or fins, such as the water-hen and
rail; but these live as much on land as in water. The gulls and terns,
although web-footed, seem incapable of diving; the latter, indeed, we
never observed to settle on the water; the former is so buoyant that it
floats elegantly on the surface. The avoset, whose feet bespeak it an
inhabitant of the water, does not seem to have the power of swimming;
the water-ouzel, on the other hand, has not the least appearance of an
aquatic, nor can it swim; but it will dive, and remain a long time under
water. The serrated claw in the heron and nightjar is a singular
structure, which we have not discovered the use of. The bill as well as
the feet of birds, makes one of the strong natural divisions; but these
are described under the head of each genus.
* * * * *
_Of Horses._—Contraction is the most general evil among the feet of our
horses, and some breeds appear more liable to it than others: it is
peculiarly the case with blood-horses. Colour also seems to have some
influence in contracting the feet; hence I have observed dark chestnuts
particularly prone to it. A good foot should exhibit a proper line of
obliquity: when the horn is very upright, however wide and open the
heels, such feet soon become defective. This is but seldom attended to,
even among those who esteem themselves judges; but no rule admits of
fewer exceptions, than that such a foot soon becomes faulty. There
should also be a proper height of horn: when there is too much, it
disposes to contraction: when too little, the heels, quarters, and soles
must, of necessity, be weak, and tenderness in going must be the
consequence.
The _heels_ should be particularly attended to; they must be wide, and
the frog healthy, firm, yet pliable and elastic. Contraction of their
cleft is their most common defect, and is frequently accompanied with a
general lessening of the circumference of the foot. Such a foot will
probably feel hotter than natural; the frog also will be compressed and
small, and very likely thrushy.
When a horse’s foot is held up, the sole should present a concave
surface: if it be less concave than natural, that sole is weak, and will
not bear much pressure; and it is more than probable it will continue
lessening in concavity until it becomes a plane, when every subsequent
shoeing will endanger the laming of the animal. _White feet_ are very
objectionable on this account, for they are particularly liable to
become flat in the sole: their quarters, also, are commonly weak, and
fall in; and when neither of these evils take place, they yet have
seldom strength enough to resist contraction: and it may be determined
on, that, when there are three dark and one white foot, in nineteen
instances out of twenty, the white foot becomes defective sooner than
the dark ones.
Another very serious complaint is a brittleness of hoof, which may be
generally be detected by the marks of the fragile parts detaching
themselves from every old nail-hole. This kind of foot, particularly in
hot weather, breaks away, till there is no room for the nails to hold,
when the horse, of course, becomes useless. In an examination of the
foot, the eye should also be directed to the wearing of the shoe: if it
be unequally worn, particularly if the toe be worn down, such a horse is
probably a stumbler, and does not set his foot evenly on the ground,
either from defective feet or natural gait.
* * * * *
The feet of horses being the very basis of support, upon which the
safety and expedition of the frame entirely depends, they are entitled
to every possible degree of care and attention; more particularly in the
winter season, when, from neglect, so many ills and inconveniences are
known to arise. The injuries, accidents, and diseases, to which the feet
are constantly liable, consist of cracks in the heels, scratches or
lacerations, stubs and bruises of the outer sole, or upon the verge of
the coronet between hair and hoof, corns, sandcracks, thrushes, canker,
quitter, ringbone, and footfounder; exclusive of the frequent injuries
sustained in shoeing, by the ignorance, indolence, or obstinacy of those
smiths who, having no professional reputation to support, are too
innately confident in their own ability to bear instruction.
As the defects thus enumerated will be found individually enlarged upon
under distinct and separate heads, it becomes only necessary here to lay
down such general rules for the regular management of the feet, as may
(properly attended to) prove the means of prudent prevention; not more
in respect to the trouble and expense of disease, than of the most
mortifying and repentant anxiety. These defects and disquietudes are
seldom found but in the stables where the master rarely or ever
condescends to obtrude his person and commands upon the tenacious
dignity of a self-important groom; the preserving industry of whose
careful endeavours, and the pliability and elasticity of whose joints,
if properly exerted, would prove the truest and most infallible
preventive of swelled legs and cracked heels, in preference to all the
nostrums ever yet brought into private practice or public use. And those
who unfortunately encounter these ills, may generally, and with justice,
attribute them much more to the constitutional tardiness of the
professed groom (or occasional strapper) than any defect in the
constitution of the horse.
The feet of different horses vary exceedingly in what may be termed the
texture or property of the hoof, and this is in general regulated by the
colour of the legs and feet. There are few horses with white heels but
what have white hoofs also; and these are always more liable to, and
susceptible of, defects and weakness, than those of an opposite
description. The sound, firm, dark-coloured hoof of the bay, brown, or
black horse, is seldom found defective; but those of other coloured
horses are most subject to weak, thin soles, displaying a prominence on
each side the frog occasioned by a too feeble and inadequate resistance
to the force of the membranous mass within; feet of which description
are also frequently found to have the corresponding concomitant of a
brittle hoof, the edges of which are incessantly splitting, and throwing
out a constant threatening of sandcracks, with the additional
mortification of being subject to inveterate thrushes, or an almost
constantly diseased or putrefied state of the frog.
Feet so exceedingly different in the nature of their construction, must
certainly require as different a mode of treatment, according to such
circumstances as happen to exist. To preserve feet perfectly sound, and
free from the ills to which they are subject, cleanliness is the leading
step. After exercise or use, so soon as the body is drest, the dirt or
gravel should be carefully taken from under the shoes with a picker, the
feet well washed, the legs and heels rubbed dry, the bottom stopped with
cow-dung, and the hoofs oiled with a brush impregnated with spermaceti
oil. Horses left with wet legs and heels after a severe chase, or long
journey, particularly in sharp easterly winds, or during frost and snow,
constitute cracks or scratches to a certainty. So severe a rigidity is
occasioned in the very texture of the integument, and it becomes
partially ruptured or broken in various places, upon being brought into
expeditious action; which, with the friction and irritation then
occasioned by the sharp particles of gravel in dirty roads, soon produce
lacerations of the most painful description.
The state of the shoes should be constantly attended to. Permitted to
remain too long upon the feet, the growth of the hoof brings the shoe
forward, rendering it too short at the heel, when it begins to indent,
and sinking upon the foot, soon presses upon the outer sole,
constituting pain or disquietude in some horses, laying the foundation
of corns in others. Horses in moderate work require new shoes once a
month upon an average, never varying more than two or three days from
that time: indeed, it is not right that they should go longer. The
penurious plan of removing shoes half worn, is truly ridiculous; they
never render service adequate to the expense, and the practice only
tends to a more frequent destruction of the hoof. Thrushes should be
counteracted upon their first appearance, without being permitted to
acquire a corroding virulence. Swelled legs are hardly ever seen in
stables where a proper course of discipline and regular routine of
business is observed; they proceed from a viscid, sizy state of the
blood, a languor in the circulation, a want of exercise out of the
stable, or a sufficiency of friction, leg-rubbing, care, and attention
within.
* * * * *
Pointers’ and setters’ feet, particularly the former, are frequently
chafed; their feet should always, after being hunted, be thoroughly
washed with salt and water, and, half an hour afterwards, be well rubbed
with hog’s-lard.—_Montagu_—_Blaine_—_Taplin_—_Thornhill._
FELINE, _a._ Like a cat, pertaining to a cat.
FELL, _s._ The skin, the hide.
FELLOE, _s._ The circumference of a wheel.
FELLOW, _s._ An associate, one united in the same affair; one of the
same kind or litter.
FELT, _s._ Cloth made of wool united without weaving; a hide or
skin.
FEMALE, _s._ A she, one of the sex which brings young.
FEMORAL, _a._ Belonging to the thigh.
FEN, _s._ A marsh, flat and moist ground, a moor, a bog.
FENBERRY, _s._ A kind of blackberry.
FENCE, _s._ Guard, security; enclosure, mound, hedge.
FENCER, _s._ One who teaches or practises the use of weapons; a
horse that leaps.
FERINE, _a._ Wild, savage.
FERMENTATION, _s._ A slow motion of the intestine particles of a
mixed body, arising usually from the operation of some active
acid matter.
FERN, _s._ A plant.
FERNY, _a._ Overgrown with fern.
FERRET, _s._ A quadruped of the weasel kind, used to catch rabbits.
FERRET, _v._ To drive out of lurking places; to hunt rabbits with a
ferret.
FETLOCK, _s._ A tuft of hair that grows behind the pastern joint.
FETTER, _s._ Chains for the feet.
FEVER, _s._ A disease in which the body is violently heated, and the
pulse quickened, or in which heat and cold prevail by turns. It
is sometimes continual, sometimes intermittent.
In horses fever begins frequently with a cold or shivering fit, although
this is not essential to fever. The horse is dull, unwilling to move,
with a staring coat, and cold legs and feet. This is succeeded by warmth
of the body; unequal distribution of warmth to the legs; one hot, and
the other three cold, or some unnaturally warm, and others unusually
cold, although not the deathy coldness of inflammation of the lungs; the
pulse quick, soft, and often indistinct; breathing somewhat laborious;
but no cough, or pawing, or looking at the flanks. The animal will
scarcely eat, and is very costive. While the state of pure fever lasts,
the shivering fit returns at nearly the same hour every day, and is
succeeded by the warm one, and that often by a very slight sweating one;
and this goes on for several days until local inflammation appears, or
the fever gradually subsides. No horse ever died of pure fever; if he is
not destroyed by inflammation of the lungs, or feet, or bowels
succeeding to the fever, he gradually recovers.
What we have said of the treatment of local inflammation will
sufficiently indicate that which we should recommend in fever. Fever is
general increased action of the heart and arteries, and therefore
evidently appears the necessity for bleeding, regulating the quantity of
blood taken by the degree of fever, and usually continuing to take it
(the finger being kept on the artery) until some impression is made upon
the system. The bowels should be gently opened; but the danger of
inflammation of the lungs, and the uniformly injurious consequence of
purgation in that disease, will prevent the administration of an active
purgative. One drachm and a half of aloes may be given morning and night
with the proper fever medicine, until the bowels are slightly relaxed,
after which nothing more of an aperient quality should be administered.
Digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre, should be given morning and night,
in proportions regulated by the circumstances of the case, and these
should give way to white hellebore in doses of half a drachm twice in
the day, if symptoms of inflammation of the lungs should appear. The
horse should be warmly clothed, but be placed in a cool and
well-ventilated stable.
Symptomatic fever is generally increased arterial action, proceeding
from some local cause. No organ of consequence can be long disordered or
inflamed without the neighbouring parts being disturbed, and the whole
system gradually participating in the disturbance. Inflammation of the
feet or of the lungs never existed long to any material extent, without
being accompanied by some degree of fever.
The treatment of symptomatic fever should resemble that of simple fever,
except that particular attention should be paid to the state of the part
originally diseased. If the inflammation which existed there can be
subdued, the general disturbance will usually cease.—_Blaine._
FIBULA, _s._ The outer and lesser bone of the leg, smaller than the
tibia.
FIELD, _s._ Ground not inhabited, not built on; cultivated tract of
ground; the open country; horsemen collected at a hunt; horses
collectively.
FIELDFARE, (_Turdus Pilarus_, LINN.; _La Litorne, ou Tourdelle_,
BUFF.) _s._ A bird.
This is somewhat less than the missel-thrush; its length is ten inches.
The bill is yellow; each corner of the mouth is furnished with a few
black bristly hairs; the eye is light brown; the top of the head and
back part of the neck are of a light ash-colour; the former spotted with
black; the back and coverts of the wings are of a deep hoary brown; the
ramp ash-coloured; the throat and breast are yellow, regularly spotted
with black; the belly and thighs of a yellowish white; the tail brown,
inclining to black; the legs dusky yellowish brown; in young birds
yellow.
We have seen a variety of this bird, of which the head and neck were of
a yellowish white; the rest of the body was nearly of the same colour,
mixed with a few brown feathers; the spots on the breast were faint and
indistinct: the quill feathers were perfectly white, except one or two
on each side, which were brown; the tail was marked in a similar manner.
The field-fare is only a visitant in this island, making its appearance
about the beginning of October, in order to avoid the rigorous winters
of the north, whence it sometimes comes in great flocks, according to
the severity of the season, and leaves us about the latter end of
February or the beginning of March, and retires to Russia, Sweden,
Norway, and as far as Siberia and Kamtschatka. Buffon observes that they
do not arrive in France till the beginning of December, that they
assemble in flocks of two or three thousand, and feed on ripe crevises,
of which they are extremely fond; during the winter they feed on haws
and other berries; they likewise eat worms, snails, and slugs.
Field-fares seem of a more sociable disposition than the throstles or
the missels: they are sometimes seen singly, but in general form very
numerous flocks, and fly in a body; and though they often spread
themselves through the fields in search of food, they seldom lose sight
of each other, but, when alarmed, fly off, and collect together upon the
same tree.—_Bewick._
FIELDMOUSE, _s._ A mouse that burrows in banks.
An extraordinary instance of the rapid increase of mice, and of the
injury they sometimes do, occurred a few years ago in the new
plantations made by order of the crown in Dean Forest, Gloucestershire,
and in the New Forest, Hampshire. Soon after the formation of these
plantations, a sudden and rapid increase of mice took place in them,
which threatened destruction to the whole of the young plants. Vast
numbers of these were killed,—the mice having eaten through the roots of
five-year-old oaks and chestnuts, generally just below the surface of
the ground. Hollies also, which were five and six feet high, were barked
round the bottom; and in some instances the mice had crawled up the
tree, and were seen feeding on the bark of the upper branches.
* * * * *
The following account will show the numbers of mice caught in the
different inclosures in Dean Forest in three months, from September to
January, with the number of acres, and the proportion between the long
and the short-tailed mice.
Short- Long-
tailed tailed
Acres. Mice. Mice. Total.
Haywood Inclosure 418 12,850 8 12,858
Oiley Hill ditto 41 1,161 11 1,172
Crabtree Hill do. 372 7,851 7,851
Park Hill ditto 113 2,665 2,665
Shutcastle ditto 163 484 33 517
Sallow Vallets do. 386 1,361 1,361
Barnhill ditto 50 70 70
Birchwood ditto 50 3 3
Whitemead Park do. 100 1,559 15 1,574
———— ——————
Total Acres, 1,693 Total Mice, 28,071
I should not forget to mention that, in New Forest, foxes were
frequently seen hunting, after the mice, and eating them
greedily.—_Jesse._
FILLY, _s._ A young mare; opposed to a colt or young horse.
FILM, _s._ A pellicle or thin skin.
FILTER, _v._ To clear by drawing off liquor by depending threads; to
strain; to percolate.
FIN, _s._ The wing of a fish.
FIN-FOOTED, _a._ Having feet with membranes between the toes.
FINCH (_Fringilla_), _s._ A small bird; of which we have three
kinds, the goldfinch, the chaffinch, and bullfinch.
The transition from the bunting to the finch is very easy, and the shade
of difference between them, in some instances, almost imperceptible; on
which account they have been frequently confounded with each other. The
principal difference consists in the beak, which in the finch is
conical, very thick at the base, and tapering to a sharp point: in this
respect it more nearly resembles the grosbeak. Of this tribe many are
distinguished as well for the liveliness of their song, as for the
beauty and variety of their plumage, on which accounts they are much
esteemed. They are very numerous, and assemble sometimes in immense
flocks, feeding on seeds and grain of various kinds, as well as on
insects and their eggs.—_Bewick._
FINGER, _s._ The flexible member of the hand by which men catch and
hold; a small measure of extension.
FIR, _s._ The tree of which deal boards are made.
FIRE, _v._ To set on fire; to kindle; to inflame the passions; to
discharge any fire-arms.
FIRE-ARMS, _s._ Arms which owe their efficacy to fire; guns.
FIRING, _p._ The application of a red hot iron to the skin, so as to
burn without penetrating through it; to cauterise a horse.
The violent inflammation firing occasions, rouses the absorbent vessels
into action, by which callous or even bony swellings are sometimes
dispersed. The diseases in which it is most efficacious are spavins,
ring-bones, and callous swellings about the back sinews, the
consequences of strains and windgalls. Firing draws blood to the
affected part, thickens and strengthens it, and makes the skin act as a
permanent bandage. A blister is often applied to the part immediately
after firing, or on the following day, to render it more effectual. It
is necessary to observe that the milder remedies should be tried before
this severe operation is had recourse to. Firing has been recommended
for the purposes of strengthening the back sinews and hocks of colts, to
prevent strains, and what is termed breaking-down.
It has been erroneously asserted, that when firing is employed to a
callus of the back sinews, the swelling should be previously reduced by
blistering; that firing would then prevent a return; whereas if the
firing were performed in the first place, it would fix the swelling, and
render it incurable. In inflammation, certainly firing will do harm,
therefore it must be first removed by the frequent application of a
cooling lotion, such as diluted vinegar, in which a little sugar of lead
has been dissolved.—_Percival._
FIRELOCK, _s._ A soldier’s gun; a gun discharged by striking steel
with flint.
FISH, _s._ An animal that inhabits the water.
FISH, _v._ To be employed in catching fish.
Fishes in general are male and female; the former possessing the melt
and the latter the roe, although some individuals of the cod and
sturgeon are said to contain both. The spawn of the greater number of
fishes is deposited in the sand or gravel; and in that state, it is
probable that the roe and melt are mixed together. A fish whose weight,
at twenty years old, shall be thirty pounds, generates the first or
second year, when perhaps it does not weigh more than half a pound; and
it is certain that the male seems more attached to the eggs than the
female, for when she ceases to drop them, the male instantly abandons
her, and with ardour follows the eggs which are carried down by the
stream, or dispersed amongst the waves by the wind, passing and
repassing many times over every spot where he finds the eggs.
Summer is the usual spawning time, because at that season the water is
tepified by the beams of the sun, and is therefore better adapted for
quickening the eggs into life. How the eggs of fishes are impregnated is
wholly unknown. All that obviously offers is, that in ponds, the sexes
are often seen together among the long grass at the edge of the water;
that there they seem to struggle, and are in a state of suffering, as
they grow thin, lose their appetite, whilst their flesh becomes flabby,
and in some, the scales grow rough and lose their lustre; on the
contrary, when the time of coupling is over, their appetite returns,
their natural agility is resumed, and their scales become brilliant and
beautiful. The spawn continues in the state of eggs a longer or shorter
period, but this is for the most part proportioned to the size of the
animal. The young animal remains in the form of an egg from December
until April in the salmon kind; the carp not above three weeks, and the
gold fish from China is produced in a still less time. With all the
advantages of minuteness and agility when excluded from the egg, there
is not one, perhaps, of a thousand, that survives the dangers of its
youth. Among the spinous fishes there is no trace of parental affection;
they abandon their eggs to be hatched by the warmth of the season, and
if they ever return to the spot where their young first received life,
the parents that gave them birth, become their most formidable enemies.
By the rapacity of one another although the fishes perish by millions,
yet they have other destroyers. Many of the quadrupeds and a great
proportion of the sea fowls, either feed on fish, are the merciless
invaders of the small fry, or devour the spawn. In a savage state,
numbers of the human race wander round the lakes and rivers, whence a
considerable proportion of their sustenance is derived, and among those
nations whom arts and agriculture have rendered less dependent on this
precarious support, superstition has usurped the place of want, and
given a new edge to their avidity for this species of food; but the
munificent Author of nature, notwithstanding the annual consumption of
fishes is constant and immense, has made a kind provision for his
creatures, in which the glory of his providence is remarkable in a
twofold manner. First, by giving fishes at certain fixed seasons of the
year, a particular inclination to approach the land; and this always at
a time when they are the fattest, and not emaciated by breeding; as the
salmon in the spring, mackerel about midsummer, herrings in the autumn,
cod in the winter, &c. Secondly, by the amazing fertility which he has
conferred on this class of beings. The fecundity of fishes far surpasses
that of any other animals; if we should be told of a being so prolific,
that it would bring forth in one season as many of its kind as there are
inhabitants in England, our surprise would be deeply excited, yet
upwards of 9,000,000 of ova have been found in the spawn of a single
cod. 1,357,400 have been taken from the belly of a flounder; the
mackerel, carp, tench, and a variety of others, are endowed with a
fertility but little inferior. Such an astonishing progeny, were it
allowed to arrive at maturity, would soon overstock the element allotted
them; but their numbers, by the means above-mentioned, are considerably
lessened, and thus two important purposes are answered in the economy of
nature; by the extraordinary fruitfulness of fishes, amongst a host of
foes it preserves the species, and furnishes the rest with an aliment
adapted to their nature.
* * * * *
Fishes are the most voracious animals in nature. Many species prey
indiscriminately on everything digestible that comes in their way, and
devour not only other species of fishes, but even their own. As a
counter-balance to this voracity, they are amazingly prolific. Some
bring forth their young alive; others produce eggs. The viviparous
blenny brings forth 200 or 300 live fishes at a time. Those which
produce eggs are all much more prolific, and seem to proportion their
stock to the danger of consumption. Leuwenhoek affirms that the cod
spawns above 9,000,000 in a season. The flounder produces above
1,000,000, and the mackerel above 500,000. Scarcely one in a hundred of
these eggs, however, is supposed to come to maturity; but two wise
purposes are answered by this amazing increase: it preserves the species
in the midst of numberless enemies, and serves to furnish the rest with
a sustenance adapted to their nature.
* * * * *
How long a fish, that seems to have scarce any bounds put to its growth,
continues to live, is not ascertained; the date prescribed as the age of
man, would not perhaps be sufficient to measure the life of the
smallest. In the royal ponds at Marli, in France, there are some fishes
that have been preserved tame since the time, it is said, of Francis the
First, and which have been individually known to the persons who have
succeeded to the charge of them, ever since that period. These have now
attained a size much beyond the common bulk of fishes of the same kind;
and although there are certain peculiarities distinguishing them from
younger fishes, yet they evince no symptoms of that decrepitude and
disease, which inevitably accompany a life protracted much beyond the
usual space, among quadrupeds.
* * * * *
When any fish is hog-backed, with a small head, this is a sure sign of
that fish being in season, of whatever sort it is.
* * * * *
Very little is known of the habits and economy of fish from the nature
of the element in which they live. When I resided in Bushy Park, I
caused the sides and bottom of a place to be bricked, through which a
stream of very clear water ran, and stocked it with most of the
varieties of our English fresh-water fish, supplying them abundantly
with food; but though I constantly watched them, and could see all they
did at any time of the day, the result of my observations was far from
being satisfactory. The perch were the boldest and most familiar of any
of the fish, as I found no difficulty in soon getting them to come with
eagerness to take a worm out of my hand. The barbel were the shyest, and
seemed most impatient of observation, although in the spring, when they
could not perceive any one watching them, they would roll about and rub
themselves against the brickwork, and show considerable playfulness.
There were some large stones in my _piscatorium_, round which they would
wind their spawn in considerable quantities. The trout appeared to bear
their confinement with less philosophy than any of the others, making
high leaps against the grating which admitted the water, and seeming at
all times out of sorts and out of condition. The chub were also very
restless, being continually on the move, but they never could resist a
cockchafer when thrown to them. My flounders only moved at night, and
the eels always made their escape, but in what way I never could
conjecture, except, indeed, they had the power of crawling up the
brickwork, which was about five feet from top to bottom, and generally
two feet above the edge of the water. They certainly could not get
through the grating, which was sufficiently close to confine bleak and
gudgeons; and some of the eels were of a large size. The pike, of which
I had eight of about five pounds’ weight each, kept up their character
for voracity. Out of 800 gudgeons, which were brought to me by a Thames
fisherman, and which I saw counted into the reservoir, some few of which
however died, there were scarcely any to be seen at the end of three
weeks, though I should mention that the three large barbel I had, and
six good-sized perch, probably partook of them.
* * * * *
The author of the Wild Sports of the West, in speaking of the immense
Loughs Masks and Corrib, says—“It would appear, that in these lakes the
fish are commensurate to the waters they inhabit. It is no unusual event
for pikes of thirty pounds weight to be sent to their landlords by the
tenants; and fish of even fifty pounds have not unfrequently been caught
with nets and night-lines. The trouts in those loughs are also immensely
large. From fifteen to sixteen pounds is no unusual size, and some have
been found that reached the enormous weight of thirty. The perch tribe
appear the smallest in the scale of relative proportion. These seldom
exceed a herring size; but they too have exceptions, and perch of three
or four pounds weight have been sometimes seen. Within fifty years this
latter fish has increased prodigiously, and in the lakes and rivers
where they abound, trouts have been found to diminish in an equal
ratio.”
* * * * *
Pike and perch were almost unknown in the rivers of Belcarra and Minola,
and the chain of lakes with which they communicate, and these waters
were then second to none for trout-fishing. Within ten years, my cousin
tells me that he often angled in them, and that he frequently killed
from three to six dozen of beautiful middle-sized red trouts. Now
fly-fishing is seldom practised there. The trout is nearly extinct, and
quantities of pike and perch infest every pool and stream. The simplest
methods of taking fish will be here found successful, and the lakes of
Westmeath will soon be rivalled by the loughs of Mayo.
* * * * *
It is a curious fact, that the loughs where the party angled, though
situate in the same valley, and divided only by a strip of moorland not
above fifty yards across, united by the same rivulet, and in depth and
soil at bottom, to all appearance, precisely similar, should produce
fish as different from each other as it is possible for those of the
same species to be. In the centre lake, the trout are dull, ill-shaped,
and dark-coloured; the head large, the body lank, and though of double
size, compared to their neighbours, are killed with much less
opposition. In the adjacent loughs, their hue is golden and pellucid,
tinted with spots of a brilliant vermilion. The scales are bright, the
head small, the shoulder thick, and from their compact shape, they prove
themselves, when hooked, both active and vigorous. At table they are red
and firm, and their flavour is particularly fine—while the dark trout
are white and flaccid, and have the same insipidity of flavour which
distinguishes a spent from a healthy salmon.
* * * * *
It is remarkable that only three kinds of fish have been transported
from foreign parts into Great Britain—the carp, the tench, and the
gold-fish.
* * * * *
_Maxims on fishing._—The following hints are quaint and useful.
“Do not imagine that, because a fish does not instantly dart off on
first seeing you, he is the less aware of your presence; he almost
always on such occasion ceases to feed, and pays you the compliment of
devoting his attention to you, whilst he is preparing for a start
whenever the apprehended danger becomes sufficiently imminent.”
“If you pass your fly neatly and well three times over a trout, and he
refuses it, do not wait any longer for him; you may be sure he has seen
the line of invitation which you have sent over the water to him, and
does not intend to come.”
“Remember that, in whipping with the artificial fly, it must have time,
when you have drawn it out of the water, to make the whole circuit, and
to be at one time straight behind you, before it can be driven out
straight before you. If you give it the forward impulse too soon, you
will hear a crack: take this as a hint that your fly is gone to grass.”
“It appears to me that, in whipping with an artificial fly, there are
only two cases in which a fish taking the fly will infallibly hook
himself without your assistance, viz.:—1st, when your fly first touches
the water at the end of a straight line: 2d, when you are drawing out
your fly for a new throw. In all other cases, it is necessary that, in
order to hook him when he has taken the fly, you should do something
with your wrist which is not easy to describe.”
“If your line should fall loose and wavy into the water, it will either
frighten away the fish, or he will take the fly into his mouth, without
fastening himself; and when he finds that it does not answer his
purpose, he will spit it out again before it has answered yours.”
“Never mind what they of the old school say about ‘playing him till he
is tired.’ Much valuable time, and many a good fish, may be lost by this
antiquated proceeding. Put him into your basket as soon as you can.
Every thing depends on the manner in which you commence your
acquaintance with him. If you can at first prevail upon him to walk a
little way down the stream with you, you will have no difficulty
afterwards in persuading him to let you have the pleasure of seeing him
at dinner.”
“Do not leave off fishing early in the evening, because your friends are
tired. After a bright day, the largest fish are to be caught by whipping
between sunset and dark. Even, however, in these precious moments, you
will not have good sport, if you continue throwing after you have
whipped your fly off. Pay attention to this; and, if you have any doubt
after dusk, you may easily ascertain the point, by drawing the end of
the line quickly through your hand, particularly if you do not wear
gloves.”
“When you have got hold of a good fish which is not very tractable, if
you are married, gentle reader, think of your wife, who, like the fish,
is united to you by very tender ties, which can only end with her death,
or her going into weeds. If you are single, the loss of the fish, when
you thought the prize your own, may remind you of some more serious
disappointment.”
“Never angle in glaring-coloured clothes; perhaps green is that which
the fish discern least, as varying less from those objects, such as
trees, and herbage on the sides, to which they are familiarised. The
angler should shelter himself (unless the water is muddy from rain) far
from the bank, or behind a bush or tree, where he can just see the
float, and so that his shadow does not, at any time, lie upon the water,
especially where it is shallow, and the gravelly bottom can be
discerned.”
* * * * *
The angler should always have the wind at his back, the sun or moon
before him, as much as possible; in cold, windy weather especially, he
should be on the weather-shore, where the fish then resort for warmth,
and the calmness of the water. The east wind, for angling, has been
universally execrated, but probably this may not hold good in rivers
running from east to west.
* * * * *
At the conflux of rivers that ebb and flow, it is best angling at the
ebb; sometimes, when the tide is not strong, they will bite at flood,
but very rarely at high water.
* * * * *
Deep waters are best to angle in, as the fish are not then disturbed by
wind or weather.
The best periods are from April to October; from three until nine in the
morning, and from three in the afternoon, so long as there is light; the
later, the better sport. In winter, the weather and times are much
alike; the warmest is most preferable.
* * * * *
During the summer, even when the water is quite low and clear, no wind
stirring, and the sun shining in its utmost lustre, and in the hottest
part of the day, it is insisted, trout may be taken (although very few
anglers are disposed to credit it), with a small wren’s-tail, grouse,
smoky dun, and black hackles, fishing straight down the water by the
sides of streams and banks; keeping out of sight, and with as long a
line as can conveniently be managed, with the foot-length very fine:
they may be often seen with their fins above water, at which time they
will eagerly snap at the abovementioned flies; and though upon hooking
one the rest will fly off, they will soon be composed, and return for
two or three times.
_Right of Fishing._—It has been held that where the lord of the manor
hath the soil on both sides of the river, it is a good evidence that he
hath right of fishing; and it puts the proof upon him who claims liberam
piscariam; but, where a river ebbs and flows, and is an arm of the sea,
there it is common to all, and he who claims a privilege to himself,
must prove it; for if the trespass is brought for fishing there, the
defendant may justify that the place is brachium maris, in quo
unusquique subditus domini regis habet et habere debet liberam
piscariam. In the Severn the soil belongs to the owners of the land on
each side; and the soil of the river Thames is in the king, but the
fishing is common to all. He who is owner of the soil of a private
river, hath separata piscaria; and he that hath libera piscaria, hath a
property in the fish, and may bring a possessory action for them; but
communis piscaria is like the case of all other commons. One that has a
close pond, in which there are fish, may call them pisces suas, in an
indictment, &c.; but he cannot call them bona et catalla, if they be not
in tanks. There needs no privilege to make a fish-pond, as there doth in
case of a warren.—_Ency. Brit._—_Daniel_—_Jesse_—_Wild Sports, &c._
FISH-HOOK, _s._ A hook for catching fish.
FISH-POND, _s._ A small pool for fish. _Vide_ POND.
FISHER, _s._ One who is employed in catching fish.
FISHERMAN, _s._ One whose employment and livelihood is to catch
fish.
FISHERY, _s._ The business of catching fish.
FISHING, _s._ Commodity of taking fish.
FISHING-ROD, _s._ An implement for angling. _Vide_ ROD.
FISHY, _a._ Consisting of fish; having the qualities of fish.
FISTULA, _s._ A sinuous ulcer callous within.
FISTULOUS, _a._ Having the nature of a fistula.
FIT, _s._ A paroxysm of any intermittent distemper; any short return
after intermission.
_For a dog that has fits when hunting._—Strike him smartly with a whip
or stick until he is roused; the stimulus from the blows will recover as
well as letting blood, and prevent a too great effusion, which is often
the case when bled in the field.
FITCHAT or FITCHEW, _s._ A stinking little beast, that robs the
henroost and warren.
FIVES, _s._ A kind of play with a ball; a disease of horses.
FIXTURE, _s._ The place where hounds meet.
FIZGIG, _s._ A kind of dart or harpoon, with which seamen strike a
fish.
FLAGWORM, _s._ A grub bred in watery places among flags or sedge.
FLAME, _s._ Light emitted from fire; a stream of fire.
FLANK, _s._ The part of the side of a quadruped near the hinder
thigh; in men, the latter part of the lower belly.
FLAP, _s._ Any thing that hangs broad and loose.
FLASK, _s._ A bottle, a vessel, a powder-horn.
FLAW, _s._ A crack or breach in any thing; a fault, a defect; a
sudden gust; a violent blast.
FLAX, _s._ The fibrous plant of which the finest thread is made; the
fibres of flax cleansed and combed for the spinner.
FLAY, _v._ To strip off the skin; to take off the skin or surface of
anything.
FLEA, _s._ A small insect. _Vide_ VERMIN.
Hares are very subject to _fleas_. Linnæus tells us, that cloth made of
their fur will attract these insects, and preserve the wearer from their
troublesome attacks.
FLEAM, _s._ An instrument to bleed cattle.
FLEDGE, _v._ To furnish with wings, to supply with feathers.
FLEDGED, _a._ Full feathered, able to fly.
FLEW, _s._ The large chaps of a deep-mouthed hound; a kind of net.
Flews may be described as of two kinds, the one for drawing, the other
to be placed either as a stop to a drag-net, or to be set and left
quietly standing in a pond or river, to intercept the fish. Those for
drawing should be made of stouter materials, and the lint of all should
be of silk. The expense is greater at the first; but the compiler has
had silk flews of both sorts, where the lint has outlasted three sets of
walling, and still remained perfectly good. It must, however, be
understood, that great care was observed in the washing and drying his
nets; for silk has no peculiar power, any more than hemp, to defend
itself against the heat, which a few hours will generate when thrown
together full of mud and weeds; and both, by such slovenly inattention,
are as quickly spoiled: yet carefully managed, a silk net will endure to
the utmost wishes of the proprietor; and such is the quality of the
silk, when wet, that the fish which touches it is sure to be entangled;
the texture is so pliant, that a fish is enveloped before being sensible
of it, and the more he struggles the faster he is confined.
For a dragging-flew, the lint two inches and a quarter mesh, seventy
meshes deep, and fifty-two yards in length (to be hung twenty yards long
and eight feet deep), it will take four pounds and a half of silk.
For a setting flew, of a similar mesh, and ninety deep, with the same
length of lint and depth of hanging, five pounds and a quarter of silk;
from these may be calculated any larger or smaller size. Never tan or
colour flews, it renders them easier to be discerned by the fish.
The walls or trammels of flews should be at least eighteen inches square
(but two feet is preferable), those of nine or twelve inches, hung
diamond fashion, are only calculated to receive a fish that strikes
point blank; it is impossible for a good sized fish to get in sideways,
(whereby they are more entangled than by touching the flew in any other
direction), besides, these small wallings render a net more cumbersome,
and are, for the most part, useless. Flews should be very lightly
leaded, the floats or corks nicely adjusted, and where the fish run very
large, the mesh of the lint may be extended; always recollecting that in
thread nets, the materials for the lint must be three twisted, and
cannot be too strong or too fine.
In carp-fishing, drawing with flews is the most killing mode yet
devised, they slide so lightly over the mud, and hamper the fish in
their progress through the water, which the drag-net does not.
FLEWED, _a._ Chapped, mouthed.
FLEXOR, _s._ The general name of the muscles which act in
contracting the joints.
FLIGHT, _s._ The act of using wings; removal from place to place by
means of wings; a flock of birds flying together; the birds
produced in the same season, as the harvest flight of pigeons;
the space passed by flying.
FLINT, _s._ A kind of stone used in firelocks; any thing eminently
or proverbially hard.
None are better than the most transparent of the common black flints.
Great quantities (considered as good as any) come to London from Lord
Cadogan’s estate at Brandon. They should be put in with the flat side
upwards, and stand well clear of the hammer, and yet be long enough to
throw it. Screw them in with leather, as lead strains the cock, and
cloth is dangerous from being liable to catch fire. If very particular
about the neat appearance of your gun, get a punch for stamping the
leathers, and change them as often as you put new flints.
To make a flint strike lower you have only to reverse the usual way of
putting it in; but, if you want to strike higher, you must either put a
very thick leather, or screw the flint in with a bit of something under
it. This temporary way of regulating a lock, so as to make the hammer
fall, is worth knowing, as it often saves vexation and loss of
time.—_Hawker._
FLIX, _s._ Down, fur, soft hair.
FLOAT, _v._ To swim on the surface of the water; to pass with a
light irregular course.
FLOAT, _s._ The act of flowing; any body so contrived or formed as
to swim on the water; the cork or quill by which the angler
discovers the bite.
Floats are of many kinds; of swan, goose, muscovy duck, and porcupine
quills. The first is preferable, when light baits are used in rivers or
deep waters, and the others for slow streams and ponds, where the water
is not very deep, and where the baits are pastes, &c. The quills of the
bustard some anglers use, believing that the small black spots with
which they are (erroneously) said to be mottled, appear to the fish as
so many little flies, and attract them by this deception. For heavy
fishing with worm or minnow, and in rapid eddies, the cork float is
best, and is made by taking a cork free from flaws, and with a small red
hot iron bore a hole lengthways through the centre; it is then to be cut
across the grain with a sharp knife, about two-thirds of the length, and
the remaining third (which is the top of the float) rounded with it, and
then neatly finished with pumice stone, the whole resembling in shape a
child’s peg top. For pike, barbel, and large chub, the cork should be
the size of a small bergamot pear; for trout, perch, eels, not bigger
than a walnut when the green rind is removed. A quill is fitted to the
hole, and used formerly to be cut off close to the cork at each end of
it. Some direct cork floats to be proportioned to the number of hairs
the line is made of, and no larger than a horsebean for a single hair;
but so diminutive a cork is of no use, and the quill floats will answer
better.
Some recommend the shape of a cork like a pear, and not to exceed the
size of a nutmeg, and the quill that passes through it not to be more
than half an inch above and below the cork; they are now made with a cap
at the top, and wire for the line to pass through at the bottom. The
advantage the cork float has over the bare quill is that it allows the
line to be loaded so heavily, that the hook sinks almost as soon as put
into the water; whereas, when lightly loaded, it does not reach the
bottom until near the end of the swim.
* * * * *
Quill floats are thus made: the barrel part is cut off from that where
the feathers grow, the inside cleared from the film, and a small piece
of pitch fixed close to the end; a piece of cotton is then introduced,
and upon that another piece of pitch, which not only confines the
cotton, but assists in making the float discernible in water. A piece of
soft wood, the size of the quill, about two inches long, of which nearly
one inch is to be introduced into the quill, after being dipped into a
melted cement of bees-wax, resin, and chalk, in equal quantities; the
lower end of this plug is to be tapered, with a fine awl, a piece of
brass twisted wire, with a round eye at the end, is to be passed as a
screw into the plug, with a pair of pliers, turning round in the float;
the line passes through this eye of the wire, and the upper part of the
quill is fastened to the line by a hoop made of a larger sized quill, so
as to admit the thickness of the line, and which ought to fasten nearly
an inch from the top of the quill. (These caps should be secured by fine
waxed silk, varnished over, which prevents their splitting; as also
should the end of the quill round the plug, which will greatly preserve
the float.) These hoops upon the top of the float may be dyed red (which
will render them more conspicuous), by putting as much powdered Brazil
wood into stale chamber-ley as will make it a deep red, which may be
seen by applying it upon a piece of white paper; then take some
spring-water, and put a handful of salt and a small quantity of argal
into it; stir them until they are dissolved, and boil them well in a
saucepan; when the water is cold, scrape the quills, and steep them a
little time in the mixture; afterwards let them remain in the
chamber-ley for a fortnight, and, after drying, rub them with a woollen
cloth, and they will be transparent.
If two quills are wanted to be joined together, it may be done by a plug
a little thicker in the middle than at the ends, which is to go into the
mouth of the quills; dip the two ends into the above cement warmed, and
fix the quills upon it, or by dipping the two ends of both quills,
without the plug, into the cement, and inserting one into the other
while thoroughly warm, the cement, when cold, will strongly fix them;
rub the float all over with wet coal-dust and a woollen cloth, dry it
with one of linen, and, after that, dry coal-dust will polish it
effectually. Quill floats should be so leaded as to just suffer their
tops to appear above the surface, that the slightest nibble may be
perceived; if either a cork or a quill float fall on one side, the lead
is either on the ground, or insufficient to keep them in a proper
position.
In fishing with a float, the line should be a foot shorter than the rod;
if longer, it is inconvenient when a fish is wanted to be disengaged;
and the rod should be fourteen or fifteen feet long, light, stiff, and
so smart in the spring as to strike at the extremity of the
whalebone.—_Daniel_—_Fisher’s Guide, &c._
FLOCK, _s._ A company of birds or beasts; a company of sheep,
distinguished from herds, which are of oxen; a lock of wool.
FLOCK, _v._ To gather in crowds or large numbers.
FLOG, _v._ To lash, to whip.
FLOOD, _s._ A body of water; a deluge, an inundation; flow, flux,
not ebb.
FLOP, _v._ To clap the wings with noise.
FLOUNDER, _s._ The name of a small flat fish.
The flounder inhabits every part of the British sea, and is found,
although at a great distance, in all the rivers that communicate with
it; numbers of them that are not taken, lose themselves, continuing and
breeding with vast fecundity in the rivers, and those grow to be the
largest and best flavoured. They will likewise live in ponds, and are a
profitable fish to stock them with, as they soon get fat, will live many
hours out of their element, and consequently may be carried to a great
distance; but they will not breed when confined. The colour of the upper
part of the body is a pale brown, sometimes marked with a few spots of
dirty yellow; the belly is white. It may easily be distinguished from
the plaice, or any other fish of this genus, by a row of sharp small
spines that surround its upper sides, and are placed just at the
juncture of the fins with the body; another row marks the side line, and
runs half way down the back. Mr. Pennant mentions hearing of one that
weighed six pounds; but a flounder of half that weight is not common.
Flounders spawn in May and June, and are in season the rest of the year.
They swim in shoals, and bite freely at all hours of the day, but
particularly on the rise of the water by flood or tide, and in warm
weather, with a little wind, and are to be fished for with a strong line
and good gut at the bottom, as some of them are large, and struggle
much. The best places to angle for them, are by the sides and at the
tails of deep streams, where the bottom consists of fine gravel, sand,
or loam, or in still places of the same quality near the banks; two or
three rods may be used, with a bullet on the lines, to lie on the ground
in streams; and when in still water, a shot or two on the line, and the
hook small. Brandlings that are taken from rotten tan, well scoured, are
the best baits. They will take the lobworm, and even the minnow; a
flounder weighing twenty-three ounces being caught in 1799 with the
latter.
FLOUNDER, _v._ To struggle with violent and irregular motions.
FLOUR, _s._ The edible part of the corn, or any grain reducible to
powder.
FLUE, _s._ A small pipe or chimney to convey air; soft down or fur.
FLUID, _s._ In physic, an animal juice; any thing that flows.
FLUSH, _v._ To colour, to redden; to elate; to spring birds.
FLUSH, _s._ Afflux, sudden impulse, violent flow; cards all of a
sort.
FLUTTER, _v._ To take short flights with great agitation of the
wings; to move irregularly.
FLY, _v._ To move through the air with wings; to pass through the
air; to pass swiftly; to fly at; to burst asunder with a sudden
explosion; to shiver; to run away; to attempt to escape.
FLY, _s._ A small winged insect; that part of a machine which, being
put into a quick motion, regulates the rest.
From my own experience I should suppose that in all the habitable parts
of the globe, certain water-flies exist wherever there is running water.
Even in the most ardent temperature, gnats and musquitoes are found,
which lay their congeries of eggs on the water, which, when hatched,
become, first worms, afterwards small shrimp-like aurelia, and, lastly,
flies. There are a great number of the largest species of these flies on
stagnant waters and lakes, which form a part of the food of various
fishes, principally of the carp kind; but the true fisherman’s fly—those
which are imitated in our art—principally belong to the northern, or at
least temperate parts of Europe, and I believe are nowhere more abundant
than in England. It appears to me, that since I have been a fisherman,
which is now the best part of half a century, I have observed in some
rivers where I have been accustomed to fish habitually, a diminution of
the numbers of flies. There were always some seasons in which the
temperature was favourable to a quantity of fly; for instance, fine warm
days in spring for the grannam, or brown-fly; and like days in May and
June for the alder-fly, May-fly, and stone-fly: but I should say, that
within the last twenty years I have observed a general diminution of the
spring and autumnal flies, except in those rivers which are fed from
sources that run from chalk, and which are perennial—such as the Wandle,
and the Hampshire and Buckinghamshire rivers; in these streams the
temperature is more uniform, and the quantity of water does not vary
much. I attribute the change of the quantity of flies in the rivers to
the cultivation of the country. Most of the bogs or marshes which fed
many considerable streams are drained; and the consequence is, that they
are more likely to be affected by severe droughts and great floods—the
first killing, and the second washing away the larvæ and aurelias.
May-flies, thirty years ago, were abundant in the upper part of the Teme
river, in Herefordshire, where it receives the Clun: they are now rarely
seen.
In December and January there are a few small gnats or waterflies on the
water in the middle of the day, in bright days, or when there is
sunshine. These are generally black, and they escape the influence of
the frost by the effects of light on their black bodies, and probably by
the extreme rapidity of the motions of their fluids, and generally of
their organs. They are found only at the surface of the water, where the
temperature must be above the freezing point. In February a few
double-winged water-flies which swim down the stream are usually found
in the middle of the day—such as the willow-fly; and the cow-dung fly is
sometimes carried on the water by winds. In March there are several
flies found on most rivers. The grannam or green-tail fly, with a wing
like a moth, comes on generally morning and evening, from five till
eight o’clock, A. M. in mild weather in the end of March and through
April. Then there are the blue and brown, both ephemeral, which come on,
the first in dark days, the second in bright days; these flies, when
well imitated, are very destructive to fish. The first is a small fly
with a palish yellow body, and slender, beautiful wings, which rest on
the back as it floats down the water. The second, called the cob in
Wales, is three or four times as large, and has brown wings, which
likewise protrude from the back, and its wings are shaded like those of
a partridge, brown and yellow-brown. These three kinds of flies lay
their eggs in the water, which produce larvæ that remain in the state of
worms, feeding and breathing in the water till they are prepared for
their metamorphosis and quit the bottoms of the rivers, and the mud and
stones, for the surface, and the light and air. The brown fly usually
disappears before the end of April, likewise the grannam; but of the
blue dun, there is a succession of different tints, or species, or
varieties, which appear in the middle of the day, all the summer and
autumn long. These are the principal flies on the Wandle—the best and
clearest stream near London. In early spring these flies have dark olive
bodies; in the end of April and beginning of May they are found yellow;
and in the summer they become cinnamon-coloured; and again, as the
winter approaches, gain a darker hue. I do not, however, mean to say
that they are the same flies, but more probably successive generation of
ephemera of the same species. The excess of heat seems equally
unfavourable as the excess of cold, to the existence of the smaller
species of water insects, which, during the intensity of sunshine,
seldom appear in summer, but rise morning and evening only. The blue dun
has, in June and July, a yellow body; and there is a water-fly which in
the evening is generally found before the moths appear, called the red
spinner. Towards the end of August, the ephemera appear again in the
middle of the day—a very pale, small ephemera, which is of the same
colour as that which is seen in some rivers in the beginning of July. In
September and October, this kind of fly is found with an olive body, and
it becomes darker in October, and paler in November. There are two other
flies which appear in the end of September, and continue during October,
if the weather be mild; a large yellow fly with a fleshy body and wings
like a moth, and a small fly with four wings, with a dark or
claret-coloured body, that when it falls on the water has its wings like
the great yellow fly, flat on its back. This, or a claret-bodied fly,
very similar in character, may be likewise found in March or April, on
some waters. In this river I have often caught many large trout in April
and the beginning of May, with the blue dun, having the yellow body; and
in the upper part of the stream below St. Alban’s, and between that and
Watford, I have sometimes, even as early as April, caught fish in good
condition; but the true season for the Colne is the season of May-fly.
The same may be said of most of the large English rivers containing
large trouts, and abounding in May-fly: such as the Test and the Kennet;
the one running by Stockbridge, the other by Hungerford. But in the
Wandle at Carshalton and Beddington, the May-fly is not found: and the
little blues are the constant, and, when well imitated, killing flies on
this water; to which may be joined a dark alder fly, and a red evening
fly. In the Avon, at Ringwood and Fordingbridge, the May-fly is likewise
a killing fly; but as this is a grayling river, the other flies,
particularly the grannam and blue and brown, are good in spring, and the
alder-fly or pale blue later, and the blue dun in September and October,
and even November. In the streams in the mountainous parts of Britain,
the spring and autumnal flies are by far the most killing. The Usk was
formerly a very productive trout stream, and the fish being well fed by
the worms washed down by the winter floods, were often in good season,
cutting red in March and the beginning of April: and at this season the
blues and browns, particularly when the water was a little stained after
a small flood, afforded the angler good sport.
* * * * *
As we are on the subject of tying, I must observe, that the advantage
one derives from being able to construct his own flies is wonderful; in
fact, without attaining this accomplishment in the ‘gentle art,’ no one
can fish comfortably or successfully. No stock, however extensive, will
afford a supply adapted for every change of weather and water, and a man
may lose a day overlooking an interminable variety of kinds and colours,
in a vain search after one killing fly. Not so the artist: the favourite
insect being once ascertained, he speedily produces an imitation and
fills his basket, while his less fortunate neighbour is idly turning the
pages of his over-stocked fishing-book.
I had two sporting friends, who were excellent instances of this.
Colonel S—— was an ardent, and, I may add, a very tolerable angler. No
one went to more trouble and expense in procuring the most approved
flies; he never tied, or attempted to tie one, and he assured me he had
many hundred dozens in his possession. To find a new fly, was with him
sometimes the labour of a day: and when about to try another water, he
would spend hours toiling through his immense variety, before he could
succeed in discovering the necessary colour and description. I have seen
him with Job-like patience, labouring through endless papers and parcels
in search of a paltry insect, that I could fabricate in five minutes.
His companion, Captain B——, ran into an opposite extreme. He rarely had
a second casting line, and seldom a second set of flies. Did the day
change, or the river fill or lower, he sat down on the bank, ripped
wings and dubbings from his hooks, and prepared a new outfit in a
twinkling. I never met an angler who was so certain of filling a basket
as my friend B——. His system, however, I would totally disapprove of.
Without burthening oneself with enough to furnish out a tackle-shop, a
small and effective collection is desirable, and it is absurd to lose a
fortunate half-hour tying on the river bank, what could be more
conveniently fabricated during the tedium of a wet day within doors. An
accident may rob the most discreet angler of his flies, and surely it is
necessary to have a fresh relay to put up? But though I take a
sufficiency along with me, I never leave home without being provided
with the materials for constructing new ones. An hour may bring ephemeræ
on the waters, which you must imitate, or you will cast in vain; before
evening they will have vanished, and given place to some new variety of
the insect world. Thus far, at least, the tier possesses an advantage
over him who cannot produce a fly, that no collection which human
ingenuity can form will compensate.
* * * * *