In some of the rich grazing counties, as Meath and Roscommon, a large
long blood horse is reared of considerable value, but he seldom has the
elegance of the English horse; he is larger headed, more leggy,
ragged-hipped, angular, yet with great power in the quarters, much depth
beneath the knee, stout and hardy, full of fire and courage, and the
best leaper in the world.
The Irish horse is generally smaller than the English. He is stinted in
his growth, for the poverty and custom of the country have imposed upon
him much hard work, at a time when he is unfit for labour of any kind.
For this reason, too, the Irish horse is deficient in speed. There is,
however, another explanation of this. The Irish thorough-bred horse is
not equal to the English. He is comparatively a weedy, leggy, worthless
animal, and very little of him enters into the composition of the hunter
or the hackney.
For leaping, the Irish horse is unrivalled. It is not, however, the
leaping of the English horse, striding as it were over a low fence, and
stretched at his full length over a higher one; it is the proper jump of
the deer, beautiful to look at, difficult to sit, and, both in height
and extent, unequalled by the English horse.
IRON, _s._ A hard, fusile, malleable metal.
Iron is found in every part of the globe, in the soil, in the water, and
as a constituent of vegetable and animal bodies. The preparations of
iron, used in medicine, are, 1st, sulphate of iron, or salt of steel;
2d, muriate of iron; 3d, subcarbonate of iron; 4th, tartarised iron;
5th, red oxide of iron, or colcothar of vitriol; 6th, rust of iron; and,
7th, scales of iron. They are all powerful tonics in the human body, but
not often given to horses. The dose of No. 1, is from 1 drachm to 3. No.
2, 1 drachm to 2 or 3. No. 3, 2 drachms to 4. No. 4, 3 drachms to 5. No.
5, 4 drachms to 6. No. 6, 2 drachms to 4. No. 7, 2 drachms to 4, finely
powdered. Preparations of iron are generally mixed with aromatics, and
sometimes with soda. Metallic preparations should be used with great
caution. Iron is the most innocent, and possessed of considerable tonic
power; but, before it is employed, wholesome food, moderate exercise,
and good grooming, should have a fair trial.
IRON, _a._ Made of iron; resembling iron in colour; hard,
impenetrable.
IRONWOOD, _s._ A kind of wood extremely hard, and so ponderous as to
sink in water.
ISINGLASS, _s._ A fine kind of glue made from the intestines of a
large fish resembling a sturgeon. It is chiefly made from dried
sounds of codfish.
ISLAND, _s._ A tract of land surrounded by water.
ISSUE, _s._ The act of passing out; termination; a vent made in a
muscle for the discharge of humours; evacuation; progeny,
offspring.
ITCH, _s._ A cutaneous disease extremely contagious; the sensation
of uneasiness in the skin which is eased by rubbing; a constant
teasing desire. Itch is supposed to be caused by a small insect
of the acarus tribe. On microscopic examination it appears to be
white with red legs, and will be found in the small pellucid
vesicles which are observable on the parts infected.
ITCH, _v._ To feel that uneasiness in the skin which is removed by
rubbing; to long.
ITCHY, _a._ Infected with the itch.
JUDCOCK, JACKSNIPE, GID or JETCOCK, (_Scolopax gallinula_, LINN.;
_La Petite Becassine_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird.
[Illustration]
The judcock, in its figure and plumage, nearly resembles the common
snipe; but it is only about half its weight, seldom exceeding two
ounces, or measuring more, from the tip of its beak to the end of its
tail, than eight inches and a half: the bill is black at the tip, and
light towards the base, and rather more than an inch and a half in
length. A black streak divides the head lengthwise from the base of the
bill to the nape of the neck, and another, of a yellowish colour, passes
over each eye to the hinder part of the head: in the midst of this,
above the eye, is a narrow black stripe running parallel with the top of
the head from the crown to the nape. The neck is white, spotted with
brown and pale red. The scapulars and tertials are very long and
beautiful; on their exterior edges they are bordered with a stripe of
yellow, and the inner webs are streaked and marked with bright rust
colour on a deep brown, or rather bronze ground, reflecting in different
lights a shining purple or green. The quills are dusky. The rump is of a
glossy violet or bluish purple; the belly and vent white. The tail
consists of twelve pointed feathers of a dark brown, edged with rust
colour; the legs are of a dirty or dull green.
The judcock is of nearly the same character as the snipe, it feeds upon
the same kinds of food, lives and breeds in the same swamps and marshes,
and conceals itself from the sportsman with as great circumspection,
among the rushes or tufts of coarse grass. It, however, differs in this
particular, that it seldom rises from its lurking place until it is
almost trampled upon, and, when flushed, does not fly to so great a
distance. It is as much esteemed as the snipe, and is cooked in the same
manner.
The eggs are not bigger than those of a lark; in other respects they are
very like those of the snipe.—_Bewick._
JUGULAR, _a._ Belonging to the throat.
JUGULARES, _s._ That order of fishes, according to Linnæus, which
have the ventral fins placed before the pectoral, as cod,
haddock, and whiting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
KALENDAR, _s._ An account of time.
KAW, _v._ To cry as a raven, crow, or rook.
KAYLE, _s._ Ninepins; nine holes.
KEEN, _a._ Sharp, well edged: severe, piercing; eager, vehement;
acrimonious; bitter of mind.
KEG, _s._ A small barrel, commonly used for a fish barrel.
KELL, _s._ The omentum, that which inwraps the guts.
KENNEL, _s._ A cot for dogs; a number of dogs kept in a kennel; the
hole of a fox, or other beast; the water-course of a stream.
_Kennel._—Is the place where hounds are kept; upon the judicious
construction of which, their health, safety, and preservation, are known
greatly to depend. Those who take to, or become possessed of, kennels
ready built, frequently continue them in the form they fall into their
hands; but such as encounter the expense of new erections, cannot do
better than take a previous survey of the most approved plans; amongst
which the Duke of Bedford’s at Woburn Abbey; the Duke of Richmond’s at
Goodwood, in Sussex; and Sir William Rawley’s at Tendring Hall, Suffolk,
are supposed, for extent and convenience, to take the lead of most
others in the kingdom. Taste and fashion may go a great way in the
external glare of such establishments; but health and convenience should
always prove the most predominant considerations. It is universally
admitted, by all who have a practical knowledge of this subject, that in
large and regularly hunted packs, two kennels are indispensably
necessary to the success and well doing of the whole. When there is but
one, it can in the winter season be but seldom cleaned; and even then
the hounds are in a comfortless state, from the dampness of the
situation so long as it remains. Cleanliness is so essentially necessary
in every apartment and department of a kennel, that no continuance of
health in the hounds, or excellence in the field, can be expected
without it. They are individually innately clean; and will never, if
they can avoid it, dung near where they lie. Air, fresh straw, and ample
room for the occasional expansion of their weary limbs, are requisite
for the invigoration of the frame, and the preservation of health.
Hounds confined in a body are more liable to disease than the same
animal single, and in a state of unrestrained liberty; hence the
necessity for counteraction, by every means the most prudent precaution
can adopt. Hounds thus subject to, and constantly attacked with disease,
and even madness, under the best and most judicious management, must be
evidently much more so if surrounded with filth and nastiness.
That some idea may be formed of the grandeur of the buildings, and the
liberal scale, of the most celebrated hunting establishments, it is only
necessary to introduce a few explanatory remarks upon the kennels of
eminence already mentioned. The superb edifice of the Duke of Richmond
is said (and probably with great truth) to have cost £10,000, in its
erection; to which his Grace contributed no small proportion of personal
assistance. He is reported to have been his own architect and builder;
to have dug his own flints, burnt his own lime, made his own bricks, and
framed the woodwork in his own shops. The dog kennel, abstracted from
all other buildings, stands alone, in such part of the park as to form a
grand and striking object from the principal rooms of the mansion; the
materials are flints, finished at all the angles by a light grey-brick,
like the Lymington white stock.
The distribution of the building is into five compartments: two of them
thirty-six feet by fifteen, and three more thirty by fifteen; these are
called kennels, to which are annexed two feeding rooms, twenty-eight by
fifteen. In each of these are openings at top, for the admission of
external air when necessary, and stoves to qualify the air when too
cold. There are supplies of water, and drains into a tank a considerable
depth below, full of rain water, from the surface of which to the rise
of the arch is eleven feet, so that no inconvenience arises from smell,
and the whole can be occasionally cleared off by drains to more
dependent depths and dung pits, where it becomes contributory to the
purposes of agriculture. Round the whole building is a pavement five
feet wide; airing yards, places for breeding, and other conveniences,
making a part of each wing. To constitute a uniformity of elegance,
neatness, and perfection, the huntsman and whipper-in have each a
parlour, kitchen, and sleeping-room, appropriated to their own
particular purpose.
The Duke of Bedford’s is an immense establishment, upon a scale of too
much extent for particular description, as it includes tennis court,
riding-house, &c., &c., in one stone-fronted building, of 266 feet in
length, with two wings of stables, containing stalls for thirty-six
hunters; and eleven loose houses for horses sick and lame. As the dog
kennel, however, is the only part entitled to notice under this head, it
will create no surprise that the richest subject should possess the most
complete in England.
It is in length 405 feet, having the boiling house in the centre, with
feeding rooms adjoining, and a granary behind. On the right of the
centre are apartments for two kennel-keepers, two long lodging rooms for
the hunting hounds, with flues running along the wall to preserve an
equal temperature in the severity of the winter season; spacious yards
to each, furnished with a fountain in the middle, for the dogs to drink
at; and water-cocks fixed at proper distances to cleanse the pavement
when it may be required; adjoining to these are seven hospitals for sick
and lame hounds, with yards to each. On the left are divisions for
litter, straw, &c.; eleven apartments for bitches and puppies, with
yards to each; eleven ditto for bitches in pup, with yards also; and a
large division for bitches at heat. In the front is a large reservoir of
water, which supplies the fountains and different cocks in the several
yards within. Behind the whole is a large airing-ground, flesh-house,
and all requisite conveniences. The huntsman’s dwelling-house is a
handsome building adjoining. The number of hunting hounds kept in the
kennel are usually from sixty to seventy couple.
The kennel of Sir William Rawley is by no means equal to the external
grandeur of the two already described, but replete with every internal
convenience that an establishment upon a somewhat smaller scale can
possibly require. It is situate about half a mile from the family
mansion, from the garden of which it constitutes a picturesque
appearance. It is erected in a valley of the park, a spot well adapted
to the purpose, being equally defended from the cutting easterly winds,
and the heat of the sun in its meridian, by a thick skirting of the park
and forest trees. Not having the advantage of a rivulet to the water
courts, that want is amply supplied by a pump which, by means of
different cocks, turns the water to every part of the premises,
consisting of the hunting kennel, or principal lodging-room, which is
twenty feet by eighteen in the clear, eighteen feet high, and paved with
flag-stones. The beds or benches which cover almost the whole area, are
of original and most admirable contrivance, being lathed like some
bedsteads, and are made to fold up with joints, for the convenience of
washing the floor beneath them. This room, by means of a flue of a
peculiar construction, is heated to any required temperature; and the
hounds after severe chases and in wet weather are rendered dry and
comfortable in a much less time than they could be by any other means.
There is also a kennel or lodging room for the young hounds, of the same
dimensions as the former, and possessing the same conveniences except
the flue, which here would have been superfluous. Several small kennels
for bitches in a state of gestation, as well as a proportional number
for those with puppies; a paved court to the hunting kennel; a feeding
house, one-half of which is open, the other under cover; a paved court
to the kennel for the young hounds; a pump and a stone water cistern; a
large grass yard for airing the hounds belonging to the hunting kennel,
containing about an acre and three-quarters, in which are a variety of
lime, chestnut, and other trees, forming an excellent shade for the
hounds during the summer season; the young hounds have a similar
convenience. To these are annexed twelve small kennels for puppies, well
constructed for the purpose. The hunting hounds generally consist of
about thirty-six couple, and the establishment is conducted in such a
style of punctuality, order, and excellence, that it is universally
acknowledged equal to any and inferior to none upon a similar scale,
from one extremity of the kingdom to the other.
Next to the choice of a proper spot for, and a judicious as well as a
convenient structure of the kennel, the management of the hounds, when
there, becomes a matter of serious consideration, and requires a feeder
of strict sobriety, indefatigable industry, invariable punctuality,
great humanity, personal fidelity to his employer, and a constant
attention to the business in which he is engaged, as upon him in a great
degree depends the health and preservation of the hounds. Mr. Beckford
observes (in great proof of his practical knowledge and personal
experience) that no part of the hunting establishment goes on so well as
when the master becomes an occasional superintendent of his own
concerns. He says, as the sport in the field depends on the exquisite
sense of smelling so peculiar to the hound, so care should be taken to
preserve it, and cleanliness is the surest means. The keeping of the
kennel sweet and clean, cannot therefore be too strongly inculcated and
impressed upon the mind of the feeder; if he seems habitually disposed
to deviate from which, he is not at all calculated for the office he has
undertaken.
The preparation for feeding, as boiling the meat, mixing the meal, and
getting it ready at the hours agreed on, is a matter that the huntsman
will of course take care (on his part) never to have neglected; but
there are other considerations equally important, which become entitled
to attention. Hounds cannot be properly fed by a single person; two are
(for a variety of reasons) unavoidably necessary, and those two should
be the feeder and the huntsman, as hounds should be drafted and fed
according to their state of flesh and condition. Some are much more
voracious than others, and will require a greater portion of food;
others look and work well with half the quantity. The eye of the
huntsman should discriminate between the opposite descriptions; in want
of which attention the pack will never be of equal appearance. When any
of the hounds are observed to be low in flesh, off their appetites, bad
feeders, or kept under by the old and master hounds, it will be a matter
of advantage to draft them, and let them feed under less restraint.
Young and impatient feeders fall into the very common fault of feeding
hounds with their meat too hot; it is both a prevalent and injurious
error that should be totally abolished.
Mr. Beckford is of opinion, that hounds poorer than the rest should be
fed again, and that they cannot be fed too often; as well as that those
hounds which become too fat, if any, should be drafted off, and not
permitted to fill themselves. All hounds (particularly young ones)
should be often called over in kennel; their names become more familiar
to them, and it teaches them obedience; this lesson is practised, or
should be, at the time of feeding. Hounds should all be let out into the
airing ground to empty themselves after feeding, to prevent an
unnecessary accumulation of filth and consequent effluvia in the kennel.
It may be a custom with some to shut up the hounds for two or three
hours after they return from hunting, before they are fed; if so, it is
more entitled to contempt than imitation. No plea can justify the
practice; they should have their meat ready for feeding immediately on
their return; once gratified they enjoy their rest undisturbed, the best
and most natural foundation for renovation of strength. Plenty of
vegetables, boiled in the meat copper once a week, is a custom in most
kennels, as it is also to throw in a pound or two of sulphur (in
proportion to the number), particularly in the summer season, when there
is a greater tendency in the blood to morbidity, particularly to
cutaneous diseases.
During the hot months, when hounds do not work, they require but a small
proportion of substantial food, compared to what is necessary in the
severity of the hunting season; flesh may then be given very sparingly;
the less it is used in the summer, the less likelihood there will be of
seeing that malignant and unwelcome visiter, the mange, amongst them.
Various opinions has been promulgated upon the best, cheapest, and most
nutritious food for the support of the hounds in general; but experience
seems to have justified the consistency of occasional changes, according
to the different seasons, and the different degrees of work; without
adhering too closely to one particular mode, unassisted by such
deviations as circumstances may render not only prudent and proper, but
sometimes unavoidable. Horseflesh, sheep’s trotters, raspings, greaves,
bullocks’ paunches, (in a scarcity of flesh,) oatmeal, and barley meal,
constitute the principal articles upon which hounds are known to
subsist; although they are differently prepared, and differently
administered, according to the judgment, experience, whim, or caprice,
of the parties concerned. It is, however, universally admitted, after a
number of fair and impartial trials, that, in respect to the two meals,
they act much more profitably and advantageously, when used in a mixed
state of nearly equal proportions, than when either is given alone.
Mr. Beckford says, his feeder, who was a good one, and of much
experience, mixed the meal in equal quantities; that the oatmeal he
boiled for half an hour; and then put out the fire, adding the barley
meal, and mixing both together; his reason for boiling one, and not the
other, was, that boiling made the oatmeal thick, and the barley meal
thin; and that when he fed with the barley meal only, it should not be
put into the copper, but mixed up with the scalding liquor in a proper
tub, or hogshead, kept for the purpose. There are many little things
within the department of the feeder, which, if neglected, become of
serious consequence. Nice observation should be made upon the state of
the bitches at all times; upon the least indication of their going to
heat, they should be instantly removed; a few hours’ delay may be the
destruction of some of the best hounds in the kennel. After their return
on a hunting day, he should ascertain whether there are any hounds who
have sustained injuries in the feet by thorns, flints, &c., in which
case a fomentation of warm pot liquor (or bran water), followed by a
washing of cold vinegar, or salt and water, will generally effect a
speedy cure. Hounds, seriously lame, or palpably sick, should be
separated from the rest, and placed where they can be more at ease, and
have better attention.
* * * * *
Kennel, is a sporting term for the den in which a fox deposits himself
after his nocturnal depredations, and to which he retires about the dawn
of day: being found by the hounds in drawing covert, he is then said to
be unkennelled, and the chase begins. When safe in some burrow, or hole,
below the surface, he is then said to lie at earth.—_Taplin._
KENNEL, _v._ To lie, to put or keep in kennel.
KESTREL, STONEGALL, STANNEL HAWK, or WINDHOVER, (_Falco
Tinnunculus_, LINN.; _La Cresserelle_, BUFF.), _s._ A kind of
bastard hawk.
[Illustration: THE KESTREL.]
The male of this species differs so much from the female, that we have
given a figure of it from one we had in our possession, probably an old
one. Its length is fourteen inches; breadth two feet three inches: its
bill is blue; cere and eyelids yellow; eyes black, the forehead dull
yellow; the top of the head, back part of the neck, and sides as far as
the points of the wings, are of a lead colour, faintly streaked with
black; the cheeks are paler; from the corner of the mouth on each side
there is a dark streak pointing downwards; the back and coverts of the
wings are of a bright vinous colour, spotted with black; quill feathers
dusky, with light edges; all the under part of the body is of a pale
rust colour, streaked and spotted with black; thighs plain; the tail
feathers are of a fine blue grey, with black shafts; towards the end
there is a broad black bar both on the upper part and under sides; the
tips are white: the legs are yellow, and the claws black.
The kestrel is widely diffused throughout Europe, and is found in the
most temperate parts of North America: it is a handsome bird; its sight
is acute, and its flight easy and graceful: it breeds in the hollows of
trees, and in the holes of rocks, towers, and ruined buildings it lays
four or five eggs, of a pale reddish colour: its food consists of small
birds, field-mice, and reptiles; after it has secured its prey, it
plucks the feathers very dexterously from the birds, but swallows the
mice entire and discharges the hair, in the form of round balls from its
bill. This bird is frequently seen hovering in the air, and fanning with
its wings by a gentle motion, or wheeling slowly round, at the same time
watching for its prey, on which it shoots like an arrow. It was formerly
used in Great Britain for catching small birds and young partridges.
_The Female Kestrel._—This beautiful bird is distinguished from every
other hawk by its variegated plumage: its bill is blue; cere and feet
yellow; eyes dark coloured, surrounded with a yellow skin; its head is
rust coloured, streaked with black: behind each eye there is a light
spot; the back and wing coverts are elegantly marked with numerous
undulated bars of black; the breast, belly, and thighs are of a pale
reddish colour, with dusky streaks pointing downwards, vent plain; the
tail is marked by a pretty broad black bar near the end; a number of
smaller ones, of the same colour, occupy the remaining part; the tip is
pale.
* * * * *
This is one of our most common species, being very generally spread
throughout the kingdom, especially in the more rocky situations and high
cliffs on our coast, where they breed. The nest is made of a few sticks,
loosely put together, and lined with wool and other soft materials,
built in trees, in some crevice, or projecting rocky shelf, and
sometimes they content themselves with the deserted nest of a crow or
magpie. It lays four or five eggs of a dirty white, blotched over with
rust-colour of various shades; sometimes wholly covered with a deep
rusty red; these are rather inferior in size to those of the sparrow
hawk.—_Bewick_—_Montagu._
KIBE, _s._ An ulcerated chilblain, a chap in the heel.
KID, _s._ The young of a goat; a bundle of heath or furze.
KID, _v._ To bring forth kids.
KIDNEY, _s._ One of the two glands that separate the urine from the
blood.
KILDERKIN, _s._ A small barrel of eighteen gallons’ capacity.