Bill of middle size, strong, much compressed; the upper mandible
strongly curved towards the point, where it forms a hook; the base
without a cere, but furnished with coarse hairs directed forward;
nostrils at the side of the base, almost round, half shut by a vaulted
membrane, often in part concealed by the hairs; feet with the shank
longer than the middle toe; three toes before and one behind, quite
divided; wings, the first quill of middle length, the second a little
shorter than the third and fourth, which are the longest in the
wing.—_Montagu._
LANNER, (_Falco lanarius_, LINN.; _Le Lanier_, BUFF.) _s._ A species
of hawk.
[Illustration]
This bird is somewhat less than the buzzard. Its bill is blue; cere
inclining to green; eyes yellow: the feathers on the upper part of the
body are brown, with pale edges; above each eye there is a white line,
which runs towards the hinder part of the head, and beneath it is a
black streak pointing downwards towards the neck; the throat is white;
the breast of a dull yellow, marked with brown spots; thighs and vents
the same; the quill feathers are dusky, marked on the inner webs with
oval spots of rust colour; the tail is spotted in the same manner; the
legs are short and strong, and of a bluish colour.
The lanner is not common in England; it breeds in Ireland, and is found
in various parts of Europe. It derives its name from its mode of tearing
its prey into small pieces with its bill.—_White._
LANSQUENET, _s._ A common foot-soldier; a game at cards.
This game may be played by almost any number of people, although only
one pack of cards is used at a time, during each deal. The dealer, who
has rather an advantage, begins by shuffling the cards, and having them
cut by any other person of the party; after which he deals out two cards
on his left hand, turning them up; then one for himself and a fourth,
which he places in the middle of the table for the company, called the
_rejouissance_ card. Upon this card any, or all of the company, except
the dealer, may put their money, either a limited or unlimited sum, as
may be agreed on, which the dealer is obliged to answer, by staking a
sum equal to the whole that is put upon it by different persons. He
continues dealing, and turning the cards upwards, one by one, till two
of a sort appear; for instance two aces, two deuces, &c., which, in
order to separate, and that no person may mistake for single cards, he
places on each side of his own card; and as often as two, three, or the
fourth card of a sort come up, he always places them in the same manner,
on each side of his own. Any single card the company has a right to take
and put money upon, unless the dealer’s own card happens to be double,
which often occurs by this card being the same as one of the two cards
which he first of all dealt out on his left-hand. Thus he continues
dealing till he brings either their cards, or his own. As long as his
own card remains undrawn he wins; and whichever card comes up first
loses. If he draw or deal out the two cards on his left, which are
called the hand-cards, before his own, he is entitled to deal again; the
advantage of which is merely his being exempted from losing when he
draws a similar card to his own immediately after he has turned up one
for himself.
This game is often played more simply without the _rejouissance_ card,
giving every person round the table a card to put money upon. Sometimes
it is played by dealing only two cards, one for the dealer and another
for the company.—_Hoyle._
LANTERN, _s._ A transparent case for a candle; a lighthouse; a light
hung out to guide ships.
LAP, _v._ To wrap or twist round anything; to involve in anything.
LAPDOG, _s._ A little dog, fondled by ladies in the lap; generally a
common nuisance.
In one of the ships of the fleet, that sailed lately from Falmouth, for
the West Indies, went passengers, a lady and her seven lap-dogs, for the
passage of each of which she paid thirty pounds, on the express
condition, that they were to dine at the cabin-table, and lap their wine
afterwards. Yet these happy dogs do not engross the whole of their good
lady’s affection; she has also, in Jamaica, forty cats and a
husband.—_Country Newspaper._
LAPWING, BASTARD PLOVER, or PEE WIT, (_Tringa vanellus_, LINN.; _Le
Vanneau_, BUFF.) _s._ A clamorous bird with long wings.
[Illustration]
This bird is about the size of a pigeon. Its bill is black; eyes large
and hazel; the top of the head is black, glossed with green; a tuft of
long, narrow feathers issues from the back part of the head, and turns
upwards at the end; some of them are four inches in length; the sides of
the head and neck are white, which is interrupted with a blackish streak
above and below the eye; and the back part of the neck is a very pale
brown; the forepart, as far as the breast, is black; the back and the
wing coverts are of a dark green, glossed with purple and blue
reflections; the quills are black, the first four tipped with white; the
breast and belly are of a pure white; the upper-tail coverts and vent
pale chestnut; the tail is white at the base, and the rest of it is
black, with pale tips; the outer feathers almost wholly white, the legs
are red; claws black; hind-claw very short.
This bird is a constant inhabitant of this country; but as it subsists
chiefly on worms, it is forced to change its place in quest of food, and
is frequently seen in great numbers by the sea-shore, where it finds an
abundant supply. It is everywhere well known by its loud and incessant
cries, which it repeats without intermission whilst on the wing, and
from which, in most languages, a name has been given it, imitative of
the sound. The peewit is a lively, active bird, almost continually in
motion; it sports and frolics in the air in all directions, and assumes
a variety of attitudes; it remains long upon the wing, and sometimes
rises to a considerable height; it runs along the ground very nimbly,
and springs and bounds from spot to spot with great agility. The female
lays four eggs of a dirty olive, spotted with black: she makes no nest,
but deposits them upon a little dry grass hastily scraped together: the
young birds run very soon after they are hatched: during this period the
old ones are very assiduous in their attention to their charge; on the
approach of any person to the place of their deposit they flutter round
his head with cries of the greatest inquietude, which increase as he
draws nearer to the spot where the brood are squatted; in case of
extremity, and as a last resource, they run along the ground as if lame,
in order to draw off the attention of the fowler from any farther
pursuit. The young lapwings are first covered with a blackish down,
interspersed with long white hairs, which they gradually lose, and about
the latter end of July, they acquire their beautiful plumage. At this
time they assemble in flocks, which hover in the air, saunter in the
meadows, and after rain disperse among the ploughed fields. In October
the lapwings are very fat, and are then said to be excellent eating.
Their eggs are considered as a great delicacy, and are sold in London at
three shillings a dozen.
The following anecdote communicated by the late Rev. J. Carlyle, is
worthy of notice, as it shows the domestic nature of this bird, as well
as the art with which it conciliates the regard of animals differing
from itself in nature, and generally considered as hostile to every
species of the feathered tribe. Two of these birds, given to Mr.
Carlyle, were put into a garden, where one of them soon died; the other
continued to pick up such food as the place afforded, till winter
deprived it of its usual supply: necessity soon compelled it to draw
nearer the house, by which it gradually became familiarised to
occasional interruptions from the family. At length one of the servants,
when she had occasion to go into the back-kitchen with a light, observed
that the lapwing always uttered his cry ‘pee wit’ to obtain admittance.
He soon grew more familiar; as the winter advanced he approached as far
as the kitchen, but with much caution, as that part of the house was
generally occupied by a dog and a cat, whose friendship the lapwing at
length conciliated so entirely, that it was his regular custom to resort
to the fireside as soon as it drew dark, and spend the evening and night
with his two associates, sitting close by them, and partaking of the
comfort of a warm fireside. As soon as spring appeared, he left off
coming to the house, and betook himself to the garden; but on the
approach of winter he had recourse to his old shelter and his old
friends, who received him very cordially. Security was productive of
insolence; what was at first obtained with caution, was afterwards taken
without reserve: he frequently amused himself with washing in the bowl
which was set for the dog to drink out of, and while he was thus
employed, he showed marks of the greatest indignation if either of his
companions presumed to interrupt him. He died in the asylum he had
chosen, being choked with something he had picked up from the floor.
During his confinement, crumbs of wheaten bread were his principal food,
which he preferred to any thing else.
LARD, _s._ The grease of swine; the chief ingredient in composing
ointments.
LARK, _s._ A small singing bird.
From the peculiar construction of the hinder claws, which are very long
and straight, larks generally rest upon the ground; those which frequent
trees perch only on the larger branches. They all build their nests upon
the ground, which exposes them to the depredations of the smaller kinds
of voracious animals, such as the weasel, stoat, &c., which destroy
great numbers of them. The cuckoo, likewise, which makes no nest of its
own, frequently substitutes its eggs in the place of theirs. The general
characters of this species are thus described:—
The bill is straight and slender, bending a little towards the end,
which is sharp pointed; the nostrils are covered with feathers and
bristles: the tongue is cloven at the end; tail somewhat forked; the
toes divided to the origin; claw of the hinder toe very long, and almost
straight; the fore claws very short, and slightly curved.
_Twirling for larks_ is a species of amusement peculiar to the French,
and is thus described:—
These birds are attracted to any given spot in great numbers, by a
singular contrivance, called a mirror.
This is a small machine, made of a piece of mahogany, shaped like a
chapeau bras, and highly polished, or else it is made of common wood,
inlaid with small bits of looking-glass, so as to reflect the sun’s rays
upwards; it is fixed on the top of a thin iron rod, on an upright
spindle, dropped through an iron loop, or ring, attached to a piece of
wood to drive into the ground. By pulling a string, fastened to the
spindle, the mirror twirls, and the reflected light unaccountably
attracts the larks, who hover over it, and become a mark for the
sportsman. In this way, says an old sportsman, I have had capital sport.
A friend of mine actually shot six dozen before breakfast; while he sat
on the ground he pulled the twirler himself, and his dogs fetched the
birds as they dropped. However, I go on in the common way, and employ a
boy to work the twirler. Ladies often partake of the amusement, on a
cold dry morning, not by shooting, but by watching the sport: so many as
ten or a dozen parties are sometimes out together, firing at a distance
of five or six hundred yards, and in this way the larks are constantly
kept on the wing. The most favourable mornings are when there is a
gentle light frost, with little or no wind, and a clear sky; for when
there are clouds, the larks will not approach. One would think the birds
themselves enjoyed their destruction, for the fascination of the twirler
is so strong, as to rob them of the usual fruits of experience; after
being fired at several times, they return to the twirler, and form again
into groups, above it; some of them even fly down, and settle upon the
ground within a yard or two of the astonishing instrument, looking at it
this way and that way, and all ways together, as if nothing had
happened.—_Sporting Anecdotes._—_Bewick._
LARVA, _s._ The enica or caterpillar.
LARUS (_Auctores_), _s._ Gull, a genus thus characterised.
Bill long or middle sized, strong, hard, compressed, cutting, curved
towards the point, the under mandible forming a saliant angle. Nostrils
at the sides, in the middle of the bill, slit lengthwise, straight,
pierced from part to part. Legs slender, naked to the knee; shank long;
three toes before, wholly webbed; the hind toe free, short, and jointed
high upon the shank. Tail with the feathers of equal length; wings long,
the first quill almost of equal length with the second.—_Montagu._
LASH, _s._ A stroke with anything pliant and tough; the thong or
point of the whip; a leash, or string in which an animal is
held.
LAUDANUM, _s._ A soporific tincture; liquid opium.