7 to 4 is 2 to 1. ⎫
6 .. 4 .. 5 .. 3. ⎪
5 .. 4 .. 4 .. 3. ⎪
7 .. 9 .. 3 .. 2. ⎪
7 .. 6 ⎧ 3 .. 2, barring the two trois. ⎪
⎩ 6 .. 5, with the two trois. ⎪ against
7 .. 5 .. 3 .. 2. ⎬ the
6 .. 5 ⎧ even, barring the two trois. ⎪ caster.
⎩ 5 .. 4 with the two trois. ⎪
8 .. 5 ⎧ even, barring the two fours ⎪
⎩ 5 .. 4 with the two fours. ⎪
9 .. 5 .. even. ⎪
9 .. 4 .. 4 .. 3. ⎭
The nick of seven is 7 to 2, often laid 10 to 3.
The nick of six and eight is 5 to 1.
It is necessary to be perfectly master of these odds, in order to play
the prudent game, and to make use of them by way of insuring bets in
what is called hedging, in case the chance happens to be unlikely; for,
by taking the odds a ready calculator secures himself, and often stands
part of his bet to a certainty. For example, if seven be the main, and
four the chance, and he should have 5_l._ depending on the main, by
taking 6_l._ to 3_l._ he must either win 2_l._ or 1_l._; and on the
contrary, if he should not like his chance, by laying the odds against
himself, he must save in proportion to the bet he has made.—_Hoyle._
HAZARD, _v_. To expose to chance.
HAZE, _s._ Fog, mist.
HAZEL, _s._ A nut-tree.
HAZEL, _a._ Light brown, of the colour of hazel.
HEAD, _s._ The part of the animal that contains the brain or the
organ of sensation and thought; chief, principal person, one to
whom the rest are subordinate; state of a deer’s horns, by which
his age is known; the top of anything bigger than the rest; the
forepart of anything, as of a ship; that which rises on the top
of liquors; upper part of a bed; source of a stream.
_The head of the horse_ is a very important part, considered with a view
to the beauty of the animal; and in no part is an improvement in the
breed so soon detected as in this. Can any thing be conceived more
dissimilar than the small inexpressive features attached to the enormous
head of a cart-horse, compared with the bold striking lines which grace
that of the blood-horse? The head, in the improved breeds, is small and
angular, the eyes prominent, the ears spirited, small, and pointed; the
forehead wide, straight, and sometimes slightly curved inwards at the
lower part: in them the facial angle is about 25°, whereas, in the heavy
breed, it is more generally 23°: its junction with the neck, also, is
less easy and elegant than in the improved kind.—_Blaine._
HEAD, _v._ To lead; to direct; to behead; to kill by taking away the
head; to lop trees at the top; to get before a deer or fox, to
make him take another course.
HEADLAND, _s._ Promontory, cape; ground under hedges.
HEADSTALL, _s._ Part of the bridle that covers the head.
HEADSTRONG, _a._ Unrestrained; violent, ungovernable.
HEAL, _v._ To cure; to restore from sickness or wounds.
HEALING, _a._ Mild, mollifying; assuasive.
HEALTH, _s._ Freedom from bodily pain or sickness; strength.
HEALTHY, _a._ In health, free from sickness; in good condition.
HEARING, _s._ The sense by which sounds are perceived; reach of the
ear.
HEART, _s._ The muscle which by its contraction and dilatation
propels the blood through the course of circulation, and is
therefore considered as the source of vital motion. It is
situated in the thorax, and divided externally into the base,
the superior and inferior surface, and the anterior and
posterior margin. Internally it comprises two ventricles called
the right and left.
HEARTLESS, _a._ Without courage, spiritless, out of condition.
HEARTY, _a._ Sincere, warm; in full health; vigorous, strong.
HEAT, _s._ The sensation caused by the approach or touch of fire;
hot weather; state of any body under the action of fire; a term
in racing. _In gun-making_ three degrees of heat are employed;
blood-red heat, the lowest flame; white heat, the second; and
sparkling or welding heat, the most intense.
HEATH, _s._ A plant; a place overgrown with heath.
HEATHCOCK, _s._ A large fowl that frequents heaths. _Vide_ GROUSE.
HEATHPEAS, _s._ A species of bitter vetch.
HEDGE, _s._ A fence made round grounds with prickly bushes.
HEDGE, _v._ To enclose with a hedge; to encircle; to shut up within
an enclosure. In betting, hedging means to bet upon and against
the same event.
HEDGEHOG, _s._ An animal set with prickles like thorns in a hedge.
[Illustration]
Hedgehogs abound in my gardens and fields. The manner in which they eat
the roots of the plantain in my grass walk is very curious: with their
upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under
the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves
untouched. In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very
troublesome weed; but they deface the walks in some measure by digging
little round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the
turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June
last I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which appeared
to be about five or six days old; they, I find, like puppies, are born
blind, and could not see when they came to my hands. No doubt their
spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, or else the
poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical moment of
parturition: but it is plain that they soon harden; for these little
pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides as would easily
have fetched blood, had they not been handled with caution. Their spines
are quite white at this age; and they have little hanging ears, which I
do not remember to be discernible in the old ones. They can, in part, at
this age draw their skin down over their faces; but are not able to
contract themselves into a ball, as they do, for the sake of defence,
when full grown. The reason, I suppose, is, because the curious muscle
that enables the creature to roll itself up into a ball has not then
arrived at its full tone and firmness. Hedgehogs make a deep and warm
hybernaculum with leaves and moss, in which they conceal themselves for
the winter: but I never could find that they stored in any winter
provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do.
* * * * *
Jesse says, “I had also a tame hedge-hog, which nestled before the fire,
on the stomach of an old lazy terrier dog, who was much attached to it,
and the best understanding existed between them.”
* * * * *
_Sagacity of the Hedgehog._—During the summer of 1818, as Mr. Lane,
gamekeeper to the Earl of Galloway, was passing by the wood of
Glascaden, near Garlieston, in Scotland, he fell in with a hedgehog,
crossing the road at a small distance before him, carrying on its back
six pheasant’s eggs, which upon examination he found it had pilfered
from a pheasant’s nest hard by. The ingenuity of the creature was very
conspicuous, as several of the remaining eggs were holed, which must
have been done by it, when in the act of rolling itself over the nest,
in order to make as many adhere to its prickles as possible. After
watching the motions of the urchin for a short time longer, Mr. Lane saw
it deliberately crawl into a furze bush, where its nest was, and where
the shells of several eggs were strewed around, which had at some former
period been conveyed thither in the same manner.—_White’s
Selborne_—_Jesse._
HEDGEROW, _s._ The series of trees or bushes planted for enclosures.
HEDGESPARROW, or CHANTER, (_Accentor Modularis_, CUVIER), _s._ A
sparrow that lives in bushes.
This well known species, commonly called hedge sparrow, needs little
description. The length is five inches and three quarters; weight near
six drams. Bill dusky; irides light hazel; head and neck brown, mixed
with ash-colour; back and wing coverts darker brown, edged with rufous
brown; throat and breast dull ash-colour; belly dirty white; sides and
vent tawny brown. The female has less ash-colour about the head and
breast.
The hedge sparrow is found in all parts of England; has a pleasing song,
which it begins with the new year, if the weather is mild; breeds early,
making a nest in March, composed of green moss and wool, and lined with
hair, which is placed in some low evergreen shrub, thick brush, or cut
hedge; frequently builds in faggot piles. The eggs are four or five in
number, blue; their weight about twenty-eight grains.
This bird is one of the few of the warbler tribe that remains with us
the whole year. The food is insects and worms; but like the redbreast,
it will, in defect of these, pick up crumbs of bread; and seems to
prefer situations near the habitation of man.—_Montagu._
HEEL, _s._ The part of the foot that protuberates behind.
HEELER, _s._ A cock that strikes well with his heels.
HEIFER, _s._ A young cow.
HEMORRHAGE, _s._ A violent flux of blood.
HEN, _s._ The female of a house cock; the female of any bird.
HENROOST, _s._ The place where the poultry rest.
HERB, _s._ Herbs are those plants whose stalks are soft, and have
nothing woody in them, as grass and hemlock.
HERBACEOUS, _a._ Belonging to herbs; feeding on vegetables.
HERBAGE, _s._ Herbs collectively; grass, pasture.
HERD, _s._ A number of beasts together; it anciently signified a
keeper of cattle, as goat-herd.
HERD, _v._ To run in herds or companies; to associate.
HERDSMAN, _s._ One employed in tending herds.
HERMAPHRODITE, _s._ An animal uniting two sexes.
HERNIA, _s._ Any kind of rupture.
HERON, COMMON HERON, HERONSEWGH, or HERONSHAW, (_Ardea Major_,
LINN.; _Le Heron huppé_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird that feeds on fish.
[Illustration]
Although the heron is of a long, lank, awkward shape, yet its plumage
gives it, on the whole, an agreeable appearance; but when stripped of
its feathers, it looks as if it had been starved to death. It seldom
weighs more than between three and four pounds, notwithstanding it
measures about three feet in length, and in the breadth of its wings,
from tip to tip, above five. The bill is six inches long, straight,
pointed, and strong, and its edges are thin and slightly serrated; the
upper mandible is of a yellowish horn colour, darkest on the ridge, the
under one yellow; a bare skin, of a greenish colour, is extended from
the beak beyond the eyes; the irides of which are yellow, and give them
a fierce and piercing aspect.—The brow and crown of the head are white,
bordered above the eyes by black lines, which reach the nape of the
neck, where they join a long flowing pendent crest of the same colour.
The upper part of the neck, in some, is white, in others pale ash, the
forepart lower down is spotted with a double row of black feathers, and
those which fall over the breast are long, loose, and unwebbed; the
shoulders and scapular feathers are also of the same kind of texture, of
a grey colour generally streaked with white, and spread over its
down-clothed back. The ridge of the wing is white; coverts and
secondaries lead colour; bastard wings and quills of a bluish black, as
are also the long, soft feathers, which take their rise on the sides
under the wings; and, falling down, meet at their tips, and hide all the
under parts: the latter, next the skin, are covered with a thick,
matted, dirty-white down, except about the belly and vent, which are
almost bare. The tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers of a
cinereous or brownish lead-colour; the legs are dirty-green, long, bare
above the knees, and the middle claw is jagged on the inner edge.
The female has not the long flowing crest, or the long feathers which
hang over the breast of the male, and her whole plumage is more
uniformally dull and obscure. In the breeding-season they congregate in
large societies; and, like the rooks, build their nests on trees, with
sticks, lined with dried grass, wool, and other warm materials. The
female lays from four to six eggs, of a pale, greenish-blue colour.
The heron is described by Buffon as exhibiting the picture of
wretchedness, anxiety, and indigence, condemned to struggle perpetually
with misery and want, and sickened by the restless cravings of a
famished appetite, &c. However faithful this ingenious naturalist may
have been in pourtraying the appearance of the heron, yet others are not
inclined to adopt his sentiments in describing its habits and manners,
or to agree with him in opinion that it is one of the most wretched of
animated beings. It is probable that it suffers no more than other
birds, many species of which employ equal attention in looking for their
prey, and it is not unlikely that the heron derives pleasure from it
instead of pain. This bird, however, is of a melancholy deportment, a
silent and patient creature; and will, in most severe weather, stand
motionless a long time in the water, fixed to a spot, in appearance like
the stump or root of a tree, waiting for its prey, which consists of
frogs, waternewts, eels, and other kinds of fish; and it is also said
that it will devour field-mice.
The heron traverses the country to a great distance in quest of some
convenient or favourite fishing spot, and in its aerial journeys soars
to a great height, to which the eye is directed by its harsh cry,
uttered from time to time while on the wing. In flying it draws the head
between the shoulders, and the legs stretched out, seem, like the longer
tails of some birds, to serve the office of a rudder. The motion of
their wings is heavy and flagging, and yet they get forward at a greater
rate than would be imagined.
In England herons were formerly ranked among the royal game, and
protected as such by the laws; and whoever destroyed their eggs was
liable to a penalty of twenty shillings for each offence. Heron hawking
was at that time a favourite diversion among the nobility and gentry of
the kingdom, at whose tables this bird was a favourite dish, and was as
much esteemed as pheasants and peacocks.
_Great White Heron._ (_Ardea alba_, LINN.; _Le Heron blanc_, BUFF.)—The
great white heron is of nearly the same hulk as the common heron, but
its legs are longer. It has no crest, and its plumage is wholly white;
its bill yellow, and its legs black.
Its character and manner of living are the same as those of the common
heron, and it is found in the same countries, though this species is not
nearly so numerous. It has rarely been seen in Great Britain. Pennant,
in his Arctic Zoology, says it is found in the Russian dominions, about
the Caspian and Black Seas, the lakes of Great Tartary, and the river
Irtisch, and sometimes as far north as latitude 53°. Latham says it is
met with in New York, in America, from June to October; at different
seasons of the year it is found in Jamaica, and in the Brazils: and our
circumnavigators have met with it at New Zealand.
_The Night Heron, Lesser Ash-coloured Heron or Night Raven._ (_Ardea
Nycticorax_, LINN.; _Le Bihoreau_, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is
about twenty inches; the bill is three inches and three quarters long,
slightly arched, strong, and black, inclining to yellow at the base; the
skin from the beak round the eye is bare, and of a greenish colour;
irides yellow. A white line is extended from the beak, over each eye a
black patch, glossed with green, covers the crown of the head and nape
of the neck, from which three long narrow white feathers tipped with
brown, hang loose and waving: the hinder part of the neck, coverts of
the wing, sides and tail, are ash-coloured; throat white, forepart of
the neck, breast, and belly, yellowish white or buff; the back black,
the legs a greenish yellow. The female is nearly of the same size as the
male, but she differs considerably in her plumage, which is less bright
and distinct, being more blended with clay or dirty white, brown, grey,
and rusty ash-colour, and she has not the delicate plumes which flow
from the head of the male.
The night heron frequents the sea shores, rivers, and inland marshes,
and lives upon crickets, slugs, frogs, reptiles, and fish. It remains
concealed during the day, and does not roam abroad until the approach of
night, when it is heard and known by its rough, harsh, and disagreeable
cry, which is by some compared to the noise made by a person straining
to vomit. Some ornithologists affirm that the female builds her nest on
trees, others that she builds it on rocky cliffs: probably both accounts
are right. She lays three or four white eggs.
This species is not numerous, although widely dispersed over Europe,
Asia, and America.
The bird is indeed very uncommon in this country. Latham mentions one in
the Leverian Museum, which was shot, not many miles from London, in May
1782.
* * * * *
_Voracity of the Heron._—In the month of April 1818, as a person was
walking a short distance from the river Mole, in the neighbourhood of
Cobham Park, Surrey, where H. C. Combe, Esq. has a heronry, he was
surprised by a pike in weight full 2lbs. dropping from the air
immediately before him: on looking up, he perceived a large heron
hovering over him, which had no doubt dropped the fish from its beak.
And also, during the same month, another individual near the above spot,
saw a heron take a fish from the water, and after carrying it to a bank
insert its bill into the vent of the fish, beginning to suck its
entrails; he drove away the bird, and on taking up the fish, found it to
be a pike weighing a pound and upwards.
* * * * *
Some hawks will not attack a heron, when it is first shown to them; but
they may generally be brought to it by flying them at a cock, of a light
colour, and by tying meat upon a heron’s back, and allowing them to feed
there. Small pieces of elder are put upon the heron’s beak, to prevent
him from wounding the hawk in training. The herons are caught by a
slip-knot at the end of a long string, so arranged round their nests as
to be drawn about their legs when they come upon their eggs. This is
best done about sun-set; and the man who is to draw the string, must
place himself to leeward of the nest. Herons will not feed when they are
first taken; it is therefore necessary to cram them with food, and to
tie a piece of mat round their necks, to prevent them from throwing it
up again.
* * * * *
A well-stocked heronry in an open country is necessary for this sport.
The herons go out in the morning to rivers and ponds at a very
considerable distance, in search of food, and return to the heronry
towards the evening.
It is at this time that the falconers place themselves in the open
country, down wind of the heronry; so that when the herons are
intercepted on their return home, they are obliged to fly against the
wind to gain their place of retreat. When a heron passes, _a cast_ (a
couple) of hawks is let go. The heron disgorges his food when he finds
that he is pursued, and endeavours to keep above the hawks by rising in
the air; the hawks fly in a spiral direction to get above the heron, and
thus the three birds frequently appear to be flying in different
directions. The first hawk makes his stoop as soon as he gets above the
heron, who evades it by a shift, and thus gives the second hawk time to
get up and to stoop in his turn. In what is deemed a good flight, this
is frequently repeated, and the three birds often mount to a great
height in the air. When one of the hawks seizes his prey, the other soon
_binds to him_, as it is termed, and buoyant from the motion of their
wings, the three descend together to the ground with but little
velocity. The falconer must lose no time in getting hold of the heron’s
neck when he is on the ground, to prevent him from injuring the hawks.
It is then, and not when he is in the air, that he will use his beak in
his defence. Hawks have, indeed, sometimes, but very rarely, been hurt
by striking against the heron’s beak when stooping, but this has been
purely by accident, and not (as has been said) by the heron’s presenting
his beak to his pursuer as a means of defence.
When the heron flies down wind, he is seldom taken, the hawks are in
great danger of being lost, and as the flight is in a straight line, it
affords but little sport.—_Bewick_—_Pennant_—_Sebright._
HERONRY, or HERONSHAW, _s._ A place where herons breed.
Belon mentions it as one of the extraordinary feats performed by the
divine king Francis I., that he formed two artificial heronries at
Fontainebleau,—“the very elements themselves,” he adds, “obeying the
commands of this divine king (whom God absolve!!!), for to force nature
is a work partaking of divinity.” In order to enhance the merits of
these French heronries, he undertakes to assert, that they were unknown
to the ancients, because they are not mentioned in any of their
writings; and for the same reason he concludes that there are none in
Britain. Before Belon’s time, on the contrary, and before the “Divine”
constructor of heronries in France was born, there were express laws
enacted in England for the protection of herons, it being a fine of ten
shillings to take the young out of the nest, and six shillings and
eight-pence for a person, without his own grounds, killing a heron,
except by hawking, or by the long-bow; while in subsequent enactments,
the latter penalty was increased to twenty shillings, or three months’
imprisonment. At present, however, in consequence of the discontinuance
of hawking, little attention is paid to the protection of heronries,
though, I believe, none of the old statutes respecting them have been
repealed. Not to know a hawk from a heron-shaw (the former name for a
heron) was an old adage, which arose when the diversion of heron-hawking
was in high fashion: it has since been corrupted into the absurd vulgar
proverb, “not to know a hawk from a hand-saw.”
In the breeding season they congregate, and make their nests very near
each other. Mr. Pennant mentions having seen eighty nests on one tree.
We once saw a heronry on a small island in a lake in the north of
Scotland, whereon there was only one scrubby oak tree, which not being
sufficient to contain all the nests many were placed on the
ground.—_Sebright_—_Montagu._
HERRING, _s._ A small sea-fish.
Of all migrating fish, the herring and the pilchard take the most
adventurous voyages.
This mighty army begins to put itself in motion from the Icy Sea early
in the spring: this body is distinguished by that name, for the word
herring is derived from the German heer, an army, to express their
number, which is so vast, that were all the men in the world loaded with
herrings, they could not carry the thousandth part away. No sooner,
however, is their asylum quitted, but millions of enemies collect to
thin their squadrons. The fin fish and cacholot swallow barrels at a
yawn; the porpoise, the grampus, the shark, and the whole numerous tribe
of dog-fish, desist from making war upon each other, and make the
herring their easy prey. The unnumbered flocks of sea fowl, that chiefly
inhabit near the pole, watch the outset of their migration and spread
extensive ruin. In this exigence the defenceless emigrants find no other
safety but by crowding closer together, and leaving to the outermost the
danger of being first devoured. Thus, like frighted sheep (which ever
run together in a body), each finding some protection in being but one
of many that are equally liable to invasion, they separate into shoals:
those to the west visit the American shores, while those holding to the
east pour down towards Europe, endeavouring to evade their merciless
pursuers by approaching the first shore that presents itself, which is
that of Iceland, in the beginning of March. Upon their arrival on that
coast, this phalanx, notwithstanding its diminutions, is still of
amazing extent, depth, and closeness, covering an extent of shore as
large as the island itself; the whole water seems alive, and by their
foes the herrings are cooped up so closely, that any hollow vessel put
into it takes them out of the water without further trouble. The power
of increasing in these animals exceeds our idea, as it would in a very
short time outstrip all calculation. A single herring, it is affirmed,
if suffered to multiply unmolested and undiminished for twenty years,
would show a progeny greater in bulk than ten such globes as that we
live upon; but happily the balance of nature is exactly preserved, and
their consumption is equal to their fecundity. Upon this account, we
must consider the fish and fowl that so incessantly attack them, not as
plunderers, but as the benefactors of mankind: without their aid the sea
would soon be overcharged with the burden of its own productions, and
that element, which at present distributes health and plenty to the
shore, would but load it with putrefaction.
These collective masses that come upon our coasts, begin to appear off
the Shetland Isles in April and May; these are only the fore-runners of
the grand shoal which comes in June, and their arrival is marked by the
numbers of birds, such as gannets and others, which follow them as their
prey. But when the main body approaches, its breadth and depth alters
the very appearance of the ocean. They divide into distinct columns of
five or six miles long, and three or four broad, while the water before
them ripples as if forced out of its bed; sometimes they sink for ten or
fifteen minutes, then rise again to the surface, on which in bright
weather they reflect a variety of splendid colours, like a field
bespangled with the most precious gems, in which, or rather in a much
more valuable light, should this stupendous gift of Providence be
considered by the inhabitants of the British Isles. The fishermen are
ready prepared for their reception, and by nets made for the occasion
they sometimes take above two thousand barrels at a single draught.
After this check from the Shetland Isles, which divide the army into two
parts, one wing takes to the eastern shores of Great Britain, and fills
every bay and creek with its numbers; the other pushes on towards
Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings; they then pass through
the British Channel, and after that in a manner disappear. Those which
take to the west, after offering themselves to the Hebrides, where the
great stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of Ireland, where
being interrupted they make a second division; that to the western side
is scarcely perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic,
whilst the other, which passes into the Irish Sea, rejoices and feeds
the inhabitants of most of the coasts that border upon it.
* * * * *
The herring is always found in shoals, and on some occasions are crowded
so close together, as to fill the sea, at least so far as our implements
can reach, from top to bottom. Ships are said to have been retarded in
their course in passing through these shoals, and instances are recorded
where these little fishes have been left by the ebbing of the tide in
heaps three feet deep upon the shores for many miles in extent. It is
universally credited among those conversant in the herring fishery, that
no other fish will go into the middle of a shoal. The whale, to whom
they are a favourite repast, and who swallows a thousand at once, never
ventures into the shoal, but hovers about the skirts of it, and
regularly follows their course. The dog-fish, which in vast troops
assiduously attend the herrings wherever they go, carefully keep aloof
from the great mass of them; so it is with other fishes, who delight in
the herring as a prey, but as a body seem to dread their multitudes.
* * * * *
_Herring Fishing._—To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty.
The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so frequent, that much
skill was necessary to penetrate this hempen labyrinth, without fouling
the back ropes. Warning cries directed our course, and with some delay
we treaded the crowded surface, and, guided by buoys and puckawns, found
ourselves in the very centre of the flotilla.
It was an interesting scene; momently the boats glided along the back
ropes, which were supported at short intervals by corks, and at greater
by inflated dog-skins, and raising the curtain network, which these
suspended, the herrings were removed from the meshes, and deposited in
the boats. Some of the nets were particularly fortunate, obliging their
proprietors to frequently relieve them of the fish; while others, though
apparently stretched within a few yards, and consequently in the
immediate run of the herrings, were favoured with but a few stragglers;
and the indolent fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful ditty,
or in moody silence watched the dark sea “like a strange soul upon the
Stygian banks staying for waftage.”
The darkness of the night increased the scaly brilliancy which the
phosphoric properties of these beautiful fish produce. The bottom
of the boat, now covered with some thousand herrings, glowed with
a living light, which the imagination could not create, and the
pencil never imitate. The shades of gold and silvery gems were
rich beyond description: and much as I had heard of phosphoric
splendour before, every idea I had formed fell infinitely short of
its reality.—_Buffon_—_Wild Sports._
HERRING GULL (_Larus fuscus_, LINN.) _s._ A genus thus
characterised:—
This species weighs about thirty-three ounces; length twenty-three
inches; bill yellow; on the lower mandible a reddish-orange spot; irides
light yellow; orbits red. Head, neck, tail, and under parts, white;
back, scapulars, and wing coverts, ash-colour; quill-feathers, dusky,
the five first black towards their ends, with a white spot near the tip;
legs pale flesh-colour.
* * * * *
Whether these immatured birds breed we cannot be certain, but are
inclined to think they do, as we saw a great many of them intermixed
with the perfect ones in the gullery on an island off St. David’s, where
the nests were innumerable: they seemed equally clamorous with the
others when disturbed. The nests were on the top of the island, amongst
the grass and loose stones, composed of a small quantity of long dry
grass, the eggs, which were two in number, of a dark olive-brown, with
dusky blotches. Like others of the genus, this bird feeds
indiscriminately on fish, and various other productions of the sea,
particularly the star-fish. It is sometimes observed to trample the soft
sand, by moving its feet alternately in the same place: for what purpose
this singular action is intended, we cannot say, unless it is to force
up the sand eels or other hidden prey, as the one mentioned above did
the worms.—_Montagu._
HIDE, _s._ The skin of any animal, either raw or dressed; the human
skin.
HIDEBOUND, _v._ A horse is said to be hide-bound, when his skin
sticks so hard to his ribs and back, that you cannot with your
hand pull up or loosen the one from the other; in trees, being
in the state in which the bark will not give way to the growth.
HIGHLAND, _s._ Mountainous region.
HIGHWAY, _s._ Great road, public path.
HILL, _s._ An elevation of ground less than a mountain.
HILLOCK, _s._ A little hill.
HILLY, _a._ Full of hills, unequal in the surface.
HIND, _s._ The she to a stag; a servant; a peasant, a boor.
HIP, _s._ The joint of the thigh; the fleshy part of the thigh; the
fruit of the briar.
HIP, _v._ To sprain or shoot the hips.
HIPSHOT, _a._ Sprained or dislocated in the hip.