Bill of middle size, strong, conical, straight, compressed, higher than
broad at the base; ridge advancing upon the forehead, and expanding into
a naked plate; points of both mandibles compressed and of equal length,
the upper slightly curved, and widened at the base. Nostrils at the
side, in the middle of the bill, slit lengthwise, half closed by a
membrane which covers the widening, pierced from part to part. Legs
long, slender, naked above the knee; three toes before and one behind;
all the toes very long, and re-united at their base, and furnished on
the sides with a scallopped membrane. Wings of middle size, the first
quill shorter than the second and third, which are the longest in the
wing.—_Montagu._
FULVOUS, _a._ A colour which may be described as brownish.
FUMIGATE, _v._ To smoke, to perfume by smoke or vapour; to medicate
or heal by vapours.
FUMIGATION, _s._ Scents raised by fire; the application of medicines
to the body in fumes.
Fumigations are used to prevent the spreading of epidemic distempers.
When a stable is contaminated with glanders, the best means are to
remove litter, hay, dust, &c., carefully, as well as the pail, collar,
and every thing belonging to the infected horse. The rack and manger are
to be well scraped, and afterwards washed with hot water and soft soap.
After this, the manger, &c. should be well washed with water; the floor
or pavement of the stall is also to be carefully washed and swept, and
finally the whole to be washed with slaked lime, and a solution of glue.
Before horses are admitted into the stable, the following fumigation may
be employed; the number of pans in which the materials are placed being
adapted to the size of the stable.
Common salt 8 oz.
Magnesia, powdered 6 oz.
Let them be well mixed, and placed in an earthen dish; then pour on,
gradually, four ounces of sulphuric acid. As soon as the latter is
added, shut the door and windows. During the whole day the stable door
and windows are to be kept shut; but at night they may be thrown open,
that there may be no danger in entering the stable the next
morning.—_White._
FUNDAMENT, _s._ The back part of the body; the aperture from which
the excrements are ejected.
FUNGUS, _s._ Strictly a mushroom; a word used to express such
excrescences of flesh as grow out upon the lips of wounds, or
any other excrescence from trees or plants not naturally
belonging to them.
FUR, _s._ Skin with soft hair, with which garments are lined for
warmth; soft hair of beasts found in cold countries; hair in
general.
FUSE, _v._ To melt, to put into fusion.
FUSIL, _s._ A firelock, a small neat musket.
FUSTIAN, _s._ A kind of cloth made of linen and cotton.
FUSTIC, _s._ A sort of dye-wood brought from the West Indies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GADFLY, _s._ A fly that stings cattle.
GADWALL, or GRAY, (_Anas strepera_, LINN.; _Le Chipeau_, BUFF.),
_s._ a bird.
[Illustration: GADWALL.]
The gadwall is less than the mallard, measuring about nineteen inches in
length, and twenty-three in breadth.
Birds of this species breed in the desert marshes of the north, and
remain there throughout the spring and summer. On the approach of winter
they leave the European and Siberian parts of Russia, Sweden, &c., and,
aided by the first strong north-east wind, commonly make their
appearance about the month of November, on the French, British, and
other more southern shores, where they remain till the end of February,
and then return to their northern haunts. They are very shy and wary
birds, feeding only in the night, and lurking concealed among the rushes
in the watery waste during the day, in which they are seldom seen on the
wing.
These birds show themselves expert in diving as well as in swimming, and
often disappoint the sportsman in his aim; for the instant they see the
flash of the pan, they disappear, and dive to a distant secure
retreat.—_Bewick._
GAFF, _s._ A harpoon, or large hook.
GAGGLE, _v._ To make a noise like a goose; _s._ a flock of geese.
GALBANUM, _s._ A kind of gum.
GALL, _s._ The bile, an animal juice remarkable for its supposed
bitterness; the part which contains the bile; any thing
extremely bitter; a slight hurt by fretting off the skin; an
astringent medicine.
Galls are lacerations occasioned by the too tight pressure and friction
of an uneasy and ill-fitted saddle, or heavy harness. They are seldom
seen with either the judicious or enlightened; experience having taught
both how to appreciate prevention. The prudent sportsman will never take
his horse to the field, nor the humane driver his carriage-horse to the
road, till personal examination has convinced him the necessary
apparatus is not only firm, but proportionably easy; and this should
become the more predominant in memory because it is natural to conclude,
no man existing would, by neglect or inattention, give pain to the very
animal from whose exertions he is to derive his own pleasure.
Injuries of this description, if unexpectedly sustained, should be
immediately attended to; a repetition, and that so soon, upon the part
so injured, is frequently productive of trouble, expense, loss of time,
and disappointment. When the side of a horse is galled, as it sometimes
is, by the girth buckle having been most improperly placed upon the edge
of the pad, it is not unlikely, for want of early or proper attention,
to terminate in a sitfast, and then can only be completely cured by
extirpation with the knife. The withers being affected in the same way,
and the saddle, or harness, continued in use, by which the injury is
originally occasioned, the foundation of fistula may be laid, and will
be likely to ensue. In all slight and superficial galls, two or three
moistenings of the part with cold vinegar, will allay the inflammation,
and harden the surface; but where the long-continued heat and friction
has occasioned a destruction of parts, it must be dressed and managed as
a wound, which can only be completely cured by incarnation.—_White._
GALL, _v._ To hurt by fretting the skin.