OTTERHOUND (_Canis Latrans_), _s._

[Illustration]

The otter hound is a mixed breed between the hardy southern hound and

the large rough terrier. His head is large and broad, his ears long and

pendulous; he is in size betwixt the harrier and the fox hound; is thick

quartered and shouldered; his hair strong and wiry, and somewhat shaggy.

He is a bold and fierce dog, and has a full and harmonious voice. He is

usually sandy-coloured on the back, the sides, and the neck, with the

lower parts white; he carries his tail, which is rough, in the manner of

a fox-hound.

Otter hunting, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, was a favourite

amusement amongst the young gentry of Great Britain, at which period

that animal was much more numerous than at the present time, being

greatly reduced since population became more dense, and gamekeepers more

generally used, who employ all kinds of traps and gins to destroy them.

Cultivation has also contributed to lessen this destructive creature.

Otter hounds were kept in small packs of from six to sixteen, seldom

exceeding that number. The sport of otter hunting is now little

understood, and is quite on the decline in this country.

OVAL, _a._ Oblong, resembling the longitudinal section of an egg.

OVERREACH, _v._ A horse is said to over-reach, when he brings his

hinder feet too far forwards, so as to strike against his

fore-feet.

Under this term are comprised bruises and wounds of the coronet,

produced usually in the hind-feet, by the awkward habit of setting one

foot upon another, and in the fore-feet, by the hinder one over-reaching

it, and wounding the other near the heel. When properly treated, a tread

is seldom productive of much injury. If the dirt be well washed out of

it, and a pledget of tow dipped in Friar’s balsam be bound over the

wound, it will, in the majority of cases, speedily heal. Should the

bruise be extensive, or the wound deep, a poultice may be applied for

one or two days, and then the Friar’s balsam, or digestive ointment.

Sometimes a soft tumour will form on the part, which will be quickly

brought to suppuration by a poultice, and when the matter has run out

the ulcer will heal by the application of the Friar’s balsam, or a weak

solution of blue vitriol.

OVERSET, _v._ To turn the bottom upwards, to throw off the basis; to

throw out of regularity; to upset a carriage.

OVIPAROUS, _a._ Bringing forth eggs, not viviparous.

OUNCE, _s._ The sixteenth part of a pound in Avoirdupoise weight,

the twelfth part of a pound in Troy weight.

OUTSTRIP, _v._ To outgo, to leave behind.

OWL or OWLET, _s._ A bird that flies in the night and catches mice.

[Illustration]

The owl is distinguished, among birds of the rapacious kind, by peculiar

and striking characters; its outward appearance is not more singular

than its habits and dispositions. Unable to bear the brighter light of

the sun, the owl retires to some lonely retreat, where it passes the day

in silence and obscurity; but on the approach of evening, when all

nature is desirous of repose, and the smaller animals, which are its

principal food, are seeking their nestling places, the owl comes forth

from its lurking holes in quest of its prey. Its eyes are admirably

adapted for this purpose, being so formed as to distinguish objects with

greater facility in the dusk than in broad day-light. Its flight is low

and silent during its nocturnal excursions, and when it rests, it is

then only known by its frightful and reiterated cries, with which it

interrupts the silence of the night. During the day, the owl is seldom

seen, but, if forced from his retreat, his flight is broken and

interrupted, and he is sometimes attended by numbers of small birds of

various kinds, who, seeing his embarrassment, pursue him with incessant

cries, and torment him with their movements: the jay, the thrush, the

blackbird, the red-breast, and the titmouse, all assemble to hurry and

perplex him. During all this, the owl remains perched upon the branch of

a tree, and answers them only with awkward and insignificant gestures,

turning his head, eyes, and body, with all the appearance of mockery and

affectation. All the species of owls, however, are not alike dazzled and

confused with the light of the sun; some of them being able to fly, and

see distinctly in open day.

Nocturnal birds of prey are generally divided into two kinds—that which

hath horns or ears, and that which is earless or without horns. These

horns consist of small tufts of feathers, standing up like ears on each

side of the head, which are erected or depressed at the pleasure of the

animal; and in all probability are of use in directing the organs of

hearing, which are very large, to their proper object. Both kinds agree

in having their eyes so formed as to be able to pursue their prey with

much less light than other birds. The general character of the owl is as

follows:—The eyes are large, and are surrounded with a radiated circle

of feathers, of which the eye itself is the centre; the beak and talons

are strong and crooked; the body very short, but thick, and well covered

with a coat of the softest and most delicate plumage; the external edges

of the outer quill feathers in general are finely fringed, which adds

greatly to the smoothness and silence of its flight.

_The Great-eared Owl._ (_Strix Bubo_, LINN.; _Le Grand Duc_, BUFF.)—This

bird is not much inferior in size to an eagle. Its head is very large,

and is adorned with two tufts, more than two inches long, which stand

just above each eye, its bill is strong and much hooked; the eyes large,

and of a bright yellow; the whole plumage is of a rusty brown, finely

variegated with black and yellow lines, spots, and specks; its belly is

ribbed with bars of brown colour, confusedly intermixed; its tail is

short, marked with dusky bars; its legs are strong, and covered to the

claws with a thick close down, of a rust colour; its claws are large,

much hooked, and of a dusky colour. Its nest is large, being nearly

three feet in diameter; it is composed of sticks bound together by

fibrous roots, and lined with leaves. It generally lays two eggs,

somewhat larger than those of a hen, and variegated like the bird

itself. The young ones are very voracious, and are well supplied with

various kinds of food by the parents. This bird has been found, though

rarely, in Great Britain; it builds its nest in the caverns of rocks, in

mountains, and almost inaccessible places, and is seldom seen on the

plains, or perched on trees; it feeds on young hares, rabbits, rats,

mice, and reptiles of various kinds.

_The Long-eared Owl._ (_Horn Owl_, _Strix Otus_, LINN.; _Le Hibou_,

BUFF.)—Its length is fourteen inches; breadth, somewhat more than three

feet. Its bill is black; irides of a bright yellow; the radiated circle

round each eye is of a light cream colour, in some parts tinged with

red; between the bill and the eye there is a circular streak, of a dark

brown colour; another circle of a dark rusty brown entirely surrounds

the face; its horns or ears consist of six feathers, closely laid

together, of a dark brown colour, tipped and edged with yellow; the

upper part of the body is beautifully pencilled with fine streaks of

white, rusty, and brown; the breast and neck are yellow, finely marked

with dusky streaks, pointing downwards; the belly, thighs, and vent

feathers are of a light cream colour; upon each wing there are four or

five large white spots; the quill and tail feathers are marked with

dusky and reddish bars: the legs are feathered down to the claws, which

are very sharp; the outer claw is movable, and may be turned backwards.

This bird is common in various parts of Europe, as well as in this

country; its usual haunts are in old ruined buildings, in rocks, and in

hollow trees. M. Buffon observes, that it seldom constructs a nest of

its own, but not unfrequently occupies that of the magpie: it lays four

or five eggs; the young are at first white, but acquire their natural

colour in about fifteen days.

_The Short-eared Owl._ (_Strix Brachyotus_, PHIL. TRANS. vol. 62, p.

384.)—Length fourteen inches; breadth three feet. The head is small, and

hawklike; bill dusky; the irides are of a bright yellow, and when the

pupil is contracted, shine like gold; the circle round each eye is of a

dirty white, with dark streaks pointing outwards; immediately round the

eye there is a circle of black; the two horns or ears consist of not

more than three feathers, of a pale brown or tawny colour, with a dark

streak in the middle of each; the whole upper part of the body is

variously marked with dark brown and tawny, the feathers are mostly

edged with the latter; the breast and belly are of a pale yellow, marked

with dark longitudinal streaks, which are most numerous on the breast:

the legs and feet are covered with feathers of a pale yellow colour; the

claws are much hooked and black: the wings are long, and extend beyond

the tail; the quills are marked with alternate bars of a dusky and pale

brown; the tail is likewise marked with bars of the same colours, and

the middle feathers are distinguished by a dark spot in the centre of

the yellow space; the tip is white. Of several of these birds, both male

and female, with which this work has been favoured, both sexes had the

upright tufts or ears: in one which was alive, they were very

conspicuous, and appeared more erect while the bird remained

undisturbed; but, when frightened, were scarcely to be seen: in the dead

birds they were hardly descernible.

Mr. Pennant seems to be the first describer of this rare and beautiful

species, which he supposes to be a bird of passage, as it only visits us

in the latter part of the year, and disappears in the spring. It flies

by day, and sometimes is seen in companies: twenty eight were once

counted in a turnip-field in November. It is found chiefly in wooded or

mountainous countries: its food is principally field-mice.

_The Female Horned Owl._—This bird is somewhat larger than the former;

the colours and marks were the same, but much darker, and the spots on

the breast larger and more numerous; the ears were not discernible.

Being a dead bird, and having not seen any other at the time, the

editors suppose it to be a distinct kind; but having since seen several

both males and females, they are convinced of the mistake.

_The White Owl_, _Barn Owl_, _Church Owl_, _Gillihowt_, _Screech Owl_,

(_Strix Flammea_, LINN.; _L’Effraie, ou, La Fresaie_, BUFF.)—Length

fourteen inches. Bill pale horn colour; eyes dark; the radiated circle

round the eye is composed of feathers of the most delicate softness, and

perfectly white; the head, back, and wings, are of a pale chestnut,

beautifully powdered with very fine grey and brown spots, intermixed

with white; the breast, belly, and thighs, are white; on the former are

a few dark spots: the legs are feathered down to the toes, which are

covered with short hairs; the wings extend beyond the tail, which is

short, and marked with alternate bars of dusky and white; the claws are

white. Birds of this kind vary considerably: of several which were in

the hands of the editors, the differences were very conspicuous, the

colours being more or less faint according to the age of the bird; the

breast in some was white, without spots, in others pale yellow.

The white owl is well known, and is often seen in the most populous

towns, frequenting churches, old houses, maltings, and other uninhabited

buildings, where it continues during the day, and leaves its haunts in

the twilight in quest of its prey. It has obtained the name of screech

owl from its cries, repeated at intervals, and rendered loud and

frightful from the stillness of the night. During its repose it makes a

blowing noise, resembling the snoring of a man. It makes no nest, but

deposits its eggs in the holes of walls, and lays five or six, of a

whitish colour. It feeds on mice and small birds, which it swallows

whole, and afterwards emits the bones, feathers, and other indigestible

parts, at its mouth, in the form of small round cakes, which are often

found in the empty buildings it frequents.

_The Tawny Owl_, _Common Brown Ivy Owl_, or _Howlet_. (_Strix stridula_,

LINN.; _Le Chat-huant_, BUFF.)—This bird is about the size of the last.

Its bill is white; eyes dark blue; the radiated feathers round the eyes

are white, finely streaked with brown; the head, neck, back, wing

coverts, and scapulars, are of a tawny brown colour, finely powdered and

spotted with dark brown and black; on the wing coverts and scapulars are

several large white spots, regularly placed so as to form three rows;

the quill feathers are marked with alternate bars of light and dark

brown; the breast and belly are of a pale yellow, marked with narrow

dark streaks pointing downwards, and crossed with others of the same

colour; the legs are feathered down to the toes; the claws are large,

much hooked, and white. This species is found in various parts of

Europe; it frequents woods, and builds its nest in the hollows of trees.

_The Little Owl._ (_Strix passerina_, LINN.; _La Chevêche, ou Petite

Chouette_, BUFF.)—This is the smallest of the owl kind, not being larger

than a blackbird. Its bill is brown at the base, and of a yellow colour

at the tip; eyes pale yellow; the circular feathers on the face are

white, tipped with black; the upper part of the body is of an olive

brown colour; the top of the head and wing coverts are spotted with

white; the breast and belly white, spotted with brown; the feathers of

the tail are barred with rust colour and brown, and tipped with white;

the legs are covered with down of a rusty colour mixed with white; the

toes and claws are of a brownish colour. It frequents rocks and caverns

and ruined buildings, and builds its nest, which is constructed in the

rudest manner, in the most retired places; it lays five eggs, spotted

with white and yellow. It sees better in the day time than other

nocturnal birds, and gives chase to swallows and other small birds on

the wing; it likewise feeds on mice, which it tears in pieces with its

bill and claws, and swallows them by morsels; it is said to pluck the

birds which it kills before it eats them, in which it differs from the

other owls. It is rarely met with in England; it is sometimes found in

Yorkshire, Flintshire, and in the neighbourhood of London.

* * * * *

Having some acquaintance with a tame brown owl, I find that it casts up

the fur of mice, and the feathers of birds in pellets, after the manner

of hawks; when full, like a dog, it hides what it cannot eat.

The young of the barn-owl are not easily raised, as they want a constant

supply of fresh mice: whereas the young of the brown owl will eat

indiscriminately all that is brought; snails, rats, kittens, puppies,

magpies, and any kind of carrion or offal.—_Bewick_—_White’s Selborne._

OWLER, _s._ One who catches owls. OWLING, Owl catching.

OWLERY, _s._ A place where owls are kept.

_The Owlery at Arundel Castle._—We were unwilling to leave this

venerable castle without the sight of the owls, which are said to be the

finest in Great Britain. We were introduced to an utterly ruined part of

the ancient castle, where, upon entering the inclosure, we saw a number

of these strange looking creatures, hopping about with an ungraceful

gait, and staring at us with looks of wonderful sagacity. One stood at

the mouth of a subterraneous excavation, and upon the keeper pronouncing

“bow, wow,” the owl instantly returned the expression, retiring at the

same time back again into his hole, till it actually got out of sight.

The other owls were driven by the keeper into one corner of the yard;

they ranged themselves along a piece of old timber, altogether

presenting a spectacle which raised in my mind some singular emotions.

The countenance of the largest of them was marked by an unusual degree

of solemnity.

These owls are the finest of the horned kind, and the keeper showed no

small pride in the exhibition of them. “Beauty, Beauty,” was the name by

which he called them together, and they seemed to recognise the

propriety of the appellation with a becoming consciousness. Upon the

justness of this term, however, the keeper and myself were by no means

agreed.

With respect to the sight of the owls, they are so overpowered by the

brightness of the day, that they are obliged to remain in the same spot

without stirring; and when they are forced to leave their retreat, their

flight is tardy and interrupted, being afraid of striking against the

intervening obstacles. The other birds, perceiving their constrained

situation, delight to insult them: the titmouse, the finch, the

redbreast, the jay, the thrush, &c. assemble to enjoy the sport. The

bird of night remains perched upon a branch, motionless and confounded;

hears their cries, which are incessantly repeated, but it answers them

only with insignificant gestures, turning round its head and its body

with a foolish air. It even suffers itself to be assaulted without

making resistance; the smallest, the weakest of its enemies, are the

most eager to torment and turn it into ridicule. The keep in which the

owls are shown is an undoubted remnant of the original Saxon building,

and well worth the attention of the antiquary.

This owlery is thus spoken of by another visiter: “The owls, which are

still to be seen, are uncommonly elegant birds, and extremely large,

some of them measuring across the wings, when extended, from eight to

ten feet. Their plumage is particularly beautiful, and their eyes

brilliant. The late duke procured them from North America.”—_Evans._

OX, _s._ The general name for black cattle; a castrated bull.

OXALIC ACID, _s._ Is extracted from wood sorrel, or from sugar

combined with potash. It is commonly sold under the name of salt

of lemon, and is useful in removing stains from linen, cleaning

boot-tops, &c. It is a deadly poison, and in appearance like

Epsom salts. As oxalic acid is a necessary article in a hunting

establishment, too great care cannot be taken to prevent those

unhappy results which have arisen from mistaking it for Epsom

salts, which it so strikingly resembles.

OXFLY, _s._ A kind of fly.

OYSTER, _s._ A bivalve testaceous fish. Oysters are taken by a small

bag-net extended on an iron frame, which, like the trawl, is

swept along the ground by a sailing or row boat.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

PACE, _s._ Step, single movement in walking; gait, manner of

walking; degree of celerity; a particular movement which horses

are taught, though some have it naturally, made by lifting the

legs on the same side together; amble.

PACE, _v._ To move on slowly.

PACK, _s._ A large bundle of anything tied up for carriage; a

burden; a due number of cards; a number of hounds hunting

together; a covey or brood of grouse.

PACK, _v._ To bind up for carriage; to sort the cards so that the

game shall be iniquitously secured. Birds are said to pack where

several broods collect together. This is particularly the case

with grouse and black game.

PACKHORSE, _s._ A horse of burden, a horse employed in carrying

goods.

PAD, _s._ A footpath; an easy-paced horse; a low soft saddle.

PADDLE, _v._ To row; to beat water as with oars; to play in the

water.

PADDLE, _s._ An oar, particularly that which is used by a single

rower in a boat; anything broad like the end of an oar.

PADDOCK, _s._ A great frog or toad; a small enclosure for pasture.

PANCREAS, _s._ The sweetbread.

PAR, _s._ A fish.

The natural history of the samlet, or par, is very doubtful. Some assert

it to be a mule produced by the salmon and trout, and as a corroboration

of this theory, it is stated that the rivers where the par is found are

always resorted to by salmon. Others conjecture it to be a hybrid of the

sea and river trout; and Sir Humphry Davy mentions, that fishing in

October, in a small stream communicating with the Moy, near Ballina, he

caught a number of sea trout, who all proved males, and accordingly

infers that “these fish, in which the spermatic system was fully

developed, could only have impregnated the ova of the common river

trout.”

* * * * *

The par differs from the small mountain trout in colour, and in having

additional spines in the pectoral fin. It has also certain olive-bluish

marks upon the side, similar to impressions made by the pressure of a

man’s fingers.

Great numbers of samlet are found in the upper streams of the Ballycroy

river. They will rise voraciously at a fly, provided it be gay and small

enough. I remember my friend Sir Charles Cuyler and I amused ourselves

on a blank shooting day, when there was neither a sufficiency of wind

nor water to warrant salmon fishing, in angling for this hybridous

diminutive. We nearly filled our basket; we reckoned them, and they

amounted to above two hundred.—_Wild Sports._

PARTRIDGE, (_Tetrao Perdix_, LINN.; _Le Perdrix Grise_, BUFF.) _s._

A bird of game.

[Illustration: THE PARTRIDGE.]

The length of this bird is about thirteen inches. The bill is light

brown; eyes hazel; the general colour of its plumage is brown and ash,

elegantly mixed with black; each feather is streaked down the middle

with buff colour; the sides of the head are tawny; under each eye there

is a small saffron-coloured spot, which has a granulated appearance, and

between the eye and the ear a naked skin of a bright scarlet, which is

not very conspicuous but in old birds; on the breast there is a crescent

of a deep chestnut colour; the tail is short; the legs are of a greenish

white; and are furnished with a small knob behind. The female has no

crescent on the breast, and her colours in general are not so distinct

and bright as those of the male. Partridges are found chiefly in

temperate climates; the extremes of heat and cold are equally

unfavourable to them, they are nowhere in greater plenty than in this

island, where, in their season, they contribute to our most elegant

entertainments. It is much to be lamented, however, that the means taken

to preserve this valuable bird should, in a variety of instances, prove

its destruction: the proper guardians of the eggs and young ones, tied

down by ungenerous restrictions, are led to consider them as a growing

evil, and not only connive at their destruction, but too freely assist

in it.

Partridges pair early in the spring; the female lays from fourteen to

eighteen, or twenty eggs, making her nest of dry leaves and grass upon

the ground. The young birds learn to run as soon as hatched, frequently

encumbered with part of the shell sticking to them. It is no uncommon

thing to introduce partridges’ eggs under the common hen, who hatches

and rears them as her own, in this case the young birds require to be

fed with ants’ eggs, which are their favourite food, and without which

it is almost impossible to bring them up; they likewise eat insects, and

when full grown, feed on all kinds of grain and young plants. The

affection of the partridge for her young is peculiarly strong and

lively; she is greatly assisted in the care of rearing them by her mate;

they lead them out in common, call them together, point out to them

their proper food, and assist them in finding it by scratching the

ground with their feet; they frequently sit close to each other,

covering the chickens with their wings like the hen. In this situation

they are not easily flushed; the sportsman, who is attentive to the

preservation of his game, will carefully avoid giving any disturbance to

a scene so truly interesting, but should the pointer come too near, or

unfortunately run in upon them, there are few who are ignorant of the

confusion that follows; the male first gives the signal of alarm by a

peculiar cry of distress, throwing himself at the same moment more

immediately into the way of danger. In order to deceive or mislead the

enemy he flies, or rather runs, along the ground, hanging his wings, and

exhibiting every symptom of debility, whereby the dog is decoyed, in the

too eager expectation of an easy prey, to a distance from the covey; the

female flies off in a contrary direction and to a greater distance, but

returning soon after by secret ways, she finds her scattered brood

closely squatted among the grass, and collecting them with haste she

leads them from the danger, before the dog has had time to return from

his pursuit. _Vide_ SHOOTING.

* * * * *

A hen partridge came out of a ditch, and ran along shivering with her

wings, and crying out as if wounded and unable to get from us. While the

dam acted this distress, the boy who attended me saw her brood, which

was small and unable to fly, run for shelter into an old fox-earth under

the bank. So wonderful a power is instinct.

It is not uncommon to see an old partridge feign itself wounded, and run

along on the ground fluttering and crying before either dog or man, to

draw them away from its helpless unfledged young ones. I have seen it

often, and once in particular I saw a remarkable instance of the old

bird’s solicitude to save its brood. As I was hunting with a young

pointer, the dog ran on a brood of very small partridges; the old bird

cried, fluttered, and ran tumbling along just before the dog’s nose till

she had drawn him to a considerable distance, when she took wing and

flew still farther off, but not out of the field: on this the dog

returned to me, near the place the young ones lay concealed in the

grass, which the old bird no sooner perceived than she flew back again

to us, settled just before the dog’s nose again, and by rolling and

tumbling about drew off his attention from her young, and thus preserved

her brood a second time. I have also seen, when a kite has been hovering

over a covey of young partridges, the old birds fly up at the bird of

prey, screaming and fighting with all their might to preserve their

brood.

* * * * *

Partridges manifest great caution in choosing the place where they

intend having their nest. I have observed them to remain near the same

spot for some weeks before the female lays her eggs; and if in the mean

time they should discover the retreat of any animal in the

neighbourhood, who is likely to be injurious to them, they shift their

quarters. I have generally noticed that partridges lodge themselves at

night near the middle of a field, probably being aware that they are

safer in this situation from the attacks of stoats or weasels, than if

they got nearer hedges, under the roots or banks of which these animals

conceal themselves.—_Bewick_—_White of Selborne_—_Markwick._

PASSERINE ORDER, _s._ Birds of the sparrow tribe.

This numerous class constitutes the fifth order in Mr. Pennant’s

arrangement of British birds, and includes a great variety of different

kinds: of these we have detached the stare, the thrush, and the

chatterer, and have joined them to the pies, to which they seem to have

a greater affinity. Those which follow are distinguished by their lively

and active disposition, their beautiful plumage, and delightful melody.

Of this order consist those amazing flocks of small birds of almost

every description—those numerous families, which universally diffused

throughout every part of the known world, people the woods, the fields,

and even the largest and most populous cities, in countless multitudes,

and every where enliven, diversify, and adorn the face of nature.

The characters of the Passerine order, which are as various as their

habits and dispositions, will be best seen in the description of each

particular species. It may be necessary, however, to observe, that they

naturally divide themselves into two distinct kinds, namely, the

hard-billed or seed birds, and the slender or soft-billed birds; the

former are furnished with stout bills of a conical shape, and very sharp

at the point, admirably fitted for the purpose of breaking the hard

external coverings of the seeds of plants from their kernels, which

constitute the principal part of their food; the latter are remarkable

for the softness and delicacy of their bills; their food consists

altogether of small worms, insects, the larvæ of insects, and their

eggs, which they find deposited in immense profusion on the leaves and

bark of trees, in chinks and crevices of stones, and even in small

masses on the bare ground, so that there is hardly a portion of matter

that does not contain a plentiful supply of food for this diligent race

of beings.—_Bewick._

PASTERN, _s._ The distance between the joint next the foot and the

coronet of a horse.

PASTURAGE, _s._ The business of feeding cattle; lands grazed by

cattle; the use of pasture.

PEACOCK, _s._ A fowl eminent for the beauty of his feathers, and

particularly of his tail.

The peacock and peahen are always kept by the London dealers, whence any

person in the country, desirous of breeding them, may be supplied with

breeding stock. Exclusive of the consideration of ornament to a

poultry-yard, the peacock is very useful for the destruction of all

kinds of reptiles, but at the same time some peacocks are said to be

vicious, and apt to tear to pieces and devour young chicks and

ducklings, suffered to be within their reach. They are also destructive

in a garden.

It is asserted by the ancient writers, that the first peacock was

honoured with a public exhibition at Athens; that many people travelled

thither from Macedonia, to be spectators of that beautiful phenomenon,

the paragon of the feathered race. It is probable the ancients, as well

as the moderns, introduced the peacock upon the table, rather as an

ornament than a viand. There are varieties of this bird, some white:

they perch on trees, like the turkey. Their age extends to twenty years,

and at three, the tail of the cock is full and complete. The cock

requires from two to four hens, and, where the country agrees with them,

they are very prolific. They are granivorous like other domestic fowls,

preferring barley.—_Moubray._

PECK, _s._ The fourth part of a bushel; the stroke of a bird’s bill.

PECK, _v._ To strike with the beak as a bird; to pick up food with

the beak.

PELICAN (_Pelicanus_, LINN.), _s._ There are two sorts of pelicans,

one lives upon fish, the other keeps in deserts, and feeds upon

serpents; the pelican is supposed to admit its young to suck

blood from its breast.

[Illustration]

The bill of this genus is long and straight; the end either hooked or

sloping; the nostrils placed in a furrow that runs along the sides of

the bill, and in most of the species not distinguishable. The face

generally destitute of feathers, being covered only with a bare skin:

gullet naked, and capable of great distension: body long, heavy, flat:

legs placed far backward; toes four in number, and all webbed together.

Latham, following the example of Linnæus, includes the pelican,

man-of-war bird, cormorant, shag, gannet, and booby, in this genus, of

which he enumerates thirty distinct species, and two varieties; four

only of this number, and one variety, are British birds. In confining

the present account to these, it is proper to remark that they are not

the inhabitants of this country only, but are widely dispersed over the

globe, being met with in almost every climate which navigators have

visited, whether temperate, hot, or cold. The gannet only is migratory,

large flocks of this species arrive in the spring of the year, and

disperse themselves in colonies over the rocky promontories of Scotland,

and its isles, in various parts of which they breed and rear their

young, and as soon as that office is performed, they retire in the

autumn to their unknown abodes. Their return each season points out also

that of the shoals of the herrings, which they hover over, pursue, and

chiefly feed upon. These shoals, at that season of increasing warmth,

are poured forth on their southern route, gliding forward in wide

glittering columns of myriads upon myriads, from the unknown but

prolific regions of the northern pole. These prodigious shoals with

their divisions and subdivisions, in their branched course around the

British isles, are attended by the gannet. On our southern coasts the

pilchard affords these birds another supply of food, in pursuit of which

they are enticed as far southward as the Mediterranean sea.

The cormorant and the shag remain with us throughout the year, but

particularly on our more northern shores, upon whose rocky shelving

precipices they station themselves, and perform the offices of

incubation, while stragglers occasionally taking a wider range, with

outstretched neck and vigorous wing sweep along the coast, and entering

the mouths of the rivers, follow their course in quest of food, to the

lakes inland.—_Bewick._

PELLET, _s._ A little ball; a bullet, a ball.

PERCH, _s._ A measure of five yards and a half; a pole; something on

which birds roost or sit; a kind of fish peculiar to ponds and

rivers.

[Illustration]

Perch have one particularity, which is contrary to the nature of all

fish of prey in fresh water (and they are so voracious as to attack

their own kind), that they are gregarious, swimming in shoals. The body

of the perch is deep, the scales very rough, the back much arched, and

the side-line approaches near it: the irides are golden, the teeth

small, disposed in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth, which is

large; the edges of the cover of the gills serrated, on the lower end of

the largest in a sharp spine, and the head is said to consist of no

fewer than eighty bones; the colours of the perch are beautiful, the

back and part of the sides being of a deep green, marked with broad

black bars pointing downwards; the belly is white, tinged red; the

ventral fins of a rich scarlet; the anal fins and tail (which is a

little forked,) of the same colour but rather paler.

The perch affords the angler great diversion, and not only the baits are

various, but the modes of using them. Of worms, the best kinds are small

lob-worms which have no knot, brandlings, red dunghills, or those found

in rotten tan, all well scoured; the hook may be varied from No. 2 to 6,

being well whipt to a strong silk-worm gut, with a shot or two a foot

from it: put the point of the hook in at the head of the worm, out again

a little lower than the middle, pushing it above the shank of the hook

upon the gut; take a smaller one, beginning the same way, and bring its

head up to the middle of the shank only; then draw the first worm down

to the head of the latter, so that the tails may hang one above the

other, keeping the point of the hook well covered. This is the most

enticing method that can be adopted in worm-fishing; use a small cork

float, to keep the bait at six or twelve inches from the bottom, or

sometimes about midwater: in angling near the bottom, raise the bait

very frequently from thence almost to the surface, letting it gradually

fall again. Should a good shoal be met with, they are so greedy, that

they may be all caught, unless one escapes that has felt the hook: then

all is over, the fish that has been hooked becomes restless, and soon

occasions the whole shoal to leave the place. Two or three rods may be

employed, as they require time to gorge sufficient to allow the angler

to be prepared to strike them.

Baits for the perch are loaches, sticklebacks, with the spines cut off,

miller’s-thumbs, horse-beans boiled (after the place has been

well-baited with them, put one at a time on the hook), cad-bait, bobs,

and gentles.

Although generally termed a bold biter, the perch is extremely

abstemious in winter, and scarcely ever bites in that season, but in the

middle of a warm sunshiny day; he bites best in the latter part of the

spring, from seven to eleven in the forenoon, and from two to six in the

afternoon, except in hot and bright weather, and then from sunrise to

six in the morning, and in the eve from six to sunset. If a day be cool

and cloudy, with a ruffling south wind, perch will bite during the whole

of it. In clear water, sometimes a dozen or more of perch have been

observed in a deep hole, sheltered by trees or bushes; by using fine

tackle and a well-scoured worm, the angler may see them strive which

shall first seize it, until the whole shoal have been caught.

The perch may be angled for and taken until the end of September, and

indeed at particular times all the year round; but the preferable season

is from the beginning of May, to the middle of July.

* * * * *

Mr. Young mentions that, at Pakenham, Lord Longford informed him

respecting the quantities of fish in the lakes in his neighbourhood,

that the perch were so numerous, that a child with a packthread and a

crooked pin would catch enough in an hour for the daily use of a whole

family, and that his lordship had seen five hundred children fishing at

the same time; that, besides perch, the lakes produced pike five feet

long, and trout of ten pounds each.

* * * * *

Great numbers of perch are bred in the Hampton Court and Bushy Park

ponds, all of which are well supplied with running water, and with

plenty of food, yet they seldom arrive at a large size. In a

neighbouring pond, which is only fed with drainage water, I have caught

very large perch. The perch in the water in the Regent’s Park are very

numerous. Those I have taken, however, are almost invariably of one

size, from half to three-quarters of a pound. Why they should have

arrived at this weight and not go on increasing in size, is a

circumstance which it is not easy to account for. I have, however,

remarked it to be the case in other ponds.—_Daniel_—_Wild

Sports_—_Jesse._

PERCUSSION, _s._ The impression a body makes in falling or sticking

upon another. It is _direct_ or _oblique_. Direct when the

impulse is made in the direction of a perpendicular line to the

point of impact. Such is the action of a cock upon the copper

cap. _Vide_ GUN, RIFLE, APPENDIX.

PEWET, _s._ A waterfowl; the lapwing.

PEWTER, _s._ A composition of lead and tin.

PHEASANT, (_Phasianus Colchicus_, LINN.; _Le Faisan_, BUFF.) _s._ A

kind of wild cock; a beautiful large bird of game.

[Illustration]

The pheasant is rather less than the common cock. The bill is of a pale

horn colour; the nostrils are hid under an arched covering; the eyes are

yellow, and surrounded by a space, in appearance like beautiful scarlet

cloth, finely spotted with black; immediately under each eye there is a

small patch of short feathers of a dark glossy purple; the upper parts

of the head and neck are of a deep purple, varying to glossy green and

blue; the lower parts of the neck and breast are of a reddish chestnut,

with black indented edges; the sides and lower parts of the breast are

of the same colour, with pretty large tips of black to each feather,

which in different lights vary to a glossy purple; the belly and vent

are dusky; the back and scapulars are beautifully variegated with black

and white or cream-colour speckled with black, and mixed with deep

orange, all the feathers are edged with black; on the lower part of the

back there is a mixture of green; the quills are dusky, freckled with

white, wing coverts brown, glossed with green and edged with white; rump

plain reddish brown; the two middle feathers of the tail are about

twenty inches long, the shortest on each side less than five, of a

reddish brown colour, marked with transverse bars of black; the legs are

dusky, with a short blunt spur on each, but in some old birds the spurs

are as sharp as needles; between the toes there is a strong membrane.

The female is less, and does not exhibit that variety and brilliancy of

colours which distinguish the male; the general colours are light and

dark brown, mixed with black, the breast and belly finely freckled with

small black spots on a light ground; the tail is short, and barred

somewhat like that of the male; the space round the eye is covered with

feathers.

The ring pheasant is a fine variety of this species; its principal

difference consists in a white ring, which encircles the lower part of

the neck; the colours of the plumage in general are likewise more

distinct and vivid. A fine specimen of this bird was sent us by the Rev.

William Turner, of Newcastle, from which the figure was engraven. They

are sometimes met with in the neighbourhood of Alnwick, whither they

were brought by his grace the Duke of Northumberland. That they intermix

with the common breed is very obvious, as in some we have seen the ring

was hardly visible, and in others a few feathers only, marked with

white, appeared on each side of the neck, forming a white spot. It is

much to be regretted that this beautiful breed is likely soon to be

destroyed, by those who pursue every species of game with an avaricious

and indiscriminating rapacity.

There are many varieties of pheasants of extraordinary beauty and

brilliancy of colours; in many gentlemen’s woods there is a kind as

white as snow, which will intermix with the common ones. Many of the

gold and silver kinds, brought from China, are also kept in aviaries in

this kingdom; the common pheasant is likewise a native of the East, and

is the only one of its kind that has multiplied in our island. Pheasants

are generally found in low woody places, on the borders of plains, where

they delight to sport; during the night they perch on the branches of

trees. They are very shy birds, and do not associate together, except

during the months of March and April, when the male seeks the female;

they are then easily discoverable by the noise which they make in

crowing and clapping their wings, which may be heard at some distance.

The hen breeds on the ground like the partridge, and lays from twelve to

fifteen eggs, which are smaller than those of the common hen; the young

follow the mother as soon as they are freed from the shell. During the

breeding season the cocks will sometimes intermix with the common hen,

and produce a hybrid breed, of which we have known several instances.

* * * * *

For shooting pheasants it often becomes necessary to start very early in

the morning, as they are apt to lie during the day in high covert, where

it is almost impossible to shoot them till the leaf has fallen from the

trees. We can never be at a loss in knowing where to go for pheasants,

as we have only to send some one the previous evening, for the last hour

before sun-set, to watch the different barley or oat stubbles of a

woodland country, and on these will be regularly displayed the whole

contents of the neighbouring coverts. It then remains to be chosen,

which woods are the best calculated to shoot in; and, when we begin

beating them, it must be remembered to draw the springs, so as to

intercept the birds from the old wood. If the coverts are wet, the

hedge-rows will be an excellent beginning, provided we here also attend

well to getting between the birds and their places of security. If

pheasants, when feeding, are approached by a man, they generally run

into covert; but if they see a dog, they are apt to fly up.

* * * * *

There are very few old sportsmen but what are aware that this is by far

the most sure method of killing pheasants, or any other game, where they

are tolerably plentiful in covert; and although to explore and beat

several hundred acres of coppice, it becomes necessary to have a party

with spaniels, yet, on such expeditions, we rarely hear of any one

getting much game to his own share, except some sly old fellow, who has

shirked from his companions to the end of the wood, where the pheasants,

and particularly the cock birds, on hearing the approach of a rabble,

are all running like a retreating army, and perhaps flying in his face

faster than he can load and fire.

For one alone to get shots in a thick underwood, a brace or two of very

well broke spaniels would, of course, be the best. But were I obliged to

stake a considerable bet (taking one beat with another, where game was

plentiful), I should back against the sportsman using them, one who took

out a very high couraged old pointer, that would keep near him, and

would, on being told, break his point to dash in, and put the pheasants

to flight before they could run out of shot. This office may be also

performed by a Newfoundland dog; but, as first getting a point would

direct the shooter where to place himself for a fair shot, the

Newfoundland dog would always be best kept close to his heels, and only

made use of to assist in this; and particularly for bringing the game;

as we rarely see a pointer, however expert in fetching his birds, that

can follow and find the wounded ones half so well as the real St. John’s

Newfoundland dog.

* * * * *

Lord Stawell sent me from the great lodge in the Holt a curious bird for

my inspection. It was found by the spaniels of one of his keepers in a

coppice, and shot on the wing. The shape, air, and habit of the bird,

and the scarlet ring round the eyes, agreed well with the appearance of

a cock pheasant; but then the head and neck, and breast and belly, were

of a glossy black: and though it weighed three pounds three ounces and a

half, the weight of a large full-grown cock pheasant, yet there were no

signs of any spurs on the legs, as is usual with all grown cock

pheasants, who have long ones. The legs and feet were naked of feathers,

and therefore it could be nothing of the grouse kind. In the tail were

no long bending feathers, such as cock pheasants usually have, and are

characteristic of the sex. The tail was much shorter than the tail of a

hen pheasant, and blunt and square at the end. The back, wing-feathers

and tail, were all of a pale russet, curiously streaked, somewhat like

the upper parts of a hen partridge. I returned it with my verdict, that

it was probably a spurious or hybrid hen bird, bred between a cock

pheasant and some domestic fowl. When I came to talk with the keeper who

brought it, he told me that some pea-hens had been known last summer to

haunt the coppices and coverts where this mule was found.

* * * * *

The pheasant is not a long-lived bird; but it is probable the period of

existence assigned to it by some writers, namely, six or seven years, is

too short. The wholesomeness of its flesh was proverbial among the old

physicians; it is of a high flavour and alkalescent quality, and in

perfection during autumn. A young pheasant very fat is reckoned an

exquisite dainty. In a wild state, the hen lays from eighteen to twenty

eggs in a season, but seldom more than ten in a state of confinement.

Pheasants are not to be tamed by domestication, like other fowls; nor is

the flesh of those brought up in the house, in any degree comparable to

that of the wild pheasant: thence they are bred at home, either merely

for show, or for the purpose of replenishing the proprietor’s grounds,

both with regard to number or particular varieties. However good nursing

mothers in a wild state, pheasant hens are far otherwise in the house,

whence their eggs are always hatched at home by the common

hen,—generally, at present, by the smooth-legged bantam.

The natural nest of the pheasant is composed of dry grass and leaves,

which being provided for her in confinement she will sometimes properly

dispose. The cock is bold, voracious, and cruel; and one which I had

many years ago, caught a canary bird which had accidentally escaped, and

was observed with it beneath his talons, in the proper attitude of the

hawk, tearing it to pieces and devouring it. Pheasants have been seen

preying upon a dead carcase, in company with carrion crows; and it has

been said that they will fall upon a diseased and weak companion of

their own species, and devour it. They feed upon all kinds of insects

and vermin, like the peacock, and are said to be particularly greedy of

toads, provided they be not too large to swallow; whereas, according to

report, they will not touch the frog, of which ducks are so fond. A

pheasant was shot by T. Day, Esq. of Herts, the crop of which contained

more than half a pint of that destructive insect the wire-worm. And the

number of 1606 grains of barley were taken from the crop of a pheasant,

at Bury, in Suffolk, in 1727.

* * * * *

The best known varieties of the pheasant, are the golden, the silver,

the peacock or spotted, and the common European or English, generally

brown, with a less brilliancy of colour. Mr. Castang, however,

enumerates six distinct varieties, exclusive of the common, as follow:

the gold and silver, natives of China, and very hardy in this country,

and good breeders. The ring-necks, natives of Tartary, bred in China,

very scarce; their plumage very beautiful. The white and pied; both

sorts will intermix readily with our common breed, as will the Bohemian,

one of the most beautiful of its kind, and equally scarce. The golden

variety is generally of the highest price, the common most hardy and of

the largest size.

_Breeding Pheasants._—Eggs being provided, put them under a hen that has

kept the nest three or four days; and if you set two or three nests on

the same day, you will have the advantage of shifting the good eggs. At

the end of ten or twelve days, throw away those that are bad, and set

the same hen or hens again, if sitting hens should not be plenty.

The hens having sat their full time, such of the young pheasants as are

already hatched put into a basket, with a piece of flannel, till the hen

has done hatching.

The brood, now come, put under a frame with a net over it, and a place

for the hen, that she cannot get to the young pheasants, but that they

may go to her: and feed them with boiled egg cut small, boiled milk and

bread, alum curd, ants’ eggs, a little of each sort, and often.

After two or three days, they will be acquainted with the call of the

hen that hatched them, may have their liberty of running on the

grass-plot, or elsewhere, observing to shift them with the sun, and out

of the cold winds. They should not have their liberty in the morning

till the sun is up; and they must be shut in with the hen in good time

in the evening.

Every thing now going on properly, you must be very careful (in order to

guard against the distemper to which they are liable) in your choice of

a situation for breeding the birds up; and be less afraid of foxes,

dogs, pole-cats, and all sorts of vermin, than the _distemper_. I had

rather encounter all the former than the latter; for those, with care,

may be prevented, but the distemper, once got in, is like the plague,

and destroys all your hopes. What I mean by a good situation, is nothing

more than a place where no poultry, pheasants, or turkeys, &c. have ever

been kept; such as the warm side of a field, orchard, pleasure-ground,

or garden, or even on a common, or a good green lane, under

circumstances of this kind; or by a wood-side; but then it is proper for

a man to keep with them under a temporary hovel, and to have two or

three dogs chained at a proper distance, with a lamp or two at night. I

have known a great number of pheasants bred up in this manner, in the

most exposed situations. It is proper for the man always to have a gun,

that he may keep off the hawks, owls, jays, magpies, &c. The dogs and

lamps intimidate the foxes beyond any other means; and the dogs will

give tongue for the man to be on his guard if smaller vermin are near,

or when strollers make their appearance.

The birds going on as before mentioned, should so continue till

December, or, if very early bred, the middle of August. Before they

begin to shift the long feathers in the tail, they are to be shut up in

the basket with the hen, regularly every night; and when they begin to

shift their tail the birds are large, and begin to lie out, that is,

they are not willing to come to be shut up in the basket. Those that are

intended to be turned out wild should be taught to perch (a situation

they have never been used to); this is done by tying a string to the

hen’s leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all night: be sure you put

her in the tree before sun-set; and if she falls down, you must

persevere in putting her up again, till she is contented with her

situation; then the young birds will follow the hen, and perch with her.

This being done, and the country now covered with corn, fruits, and

shrubs, &c. &c. they will shift for themselves.

For such young pheasants as you make choice of for your breeding stock

at home, and likewise to turn out in the spring following, provide a new

piece of ground, large and roomy, for two pens, where no pheasants, &c.

have been kept, and there put your young birds in as they begin to shift

their tails. Such of them as you intend to turn out at a future time, or

in another place, put into one pen netted over, and leave their wings as

they are; and those you wish to keep for breeding put into the other

pen, cutting one wing of each bird. The gold and silver pheasants you

must pen earlier, or they will be off. Cut the wing often; and, when

first penned, feed all your young birds with barley-meal, dough, corn,

and plenty of green turnips.

_A Receipt to make Alum Curd._—Take new milk, as much as your young

birds require, and boil it with a lump of alum, so as not to make the

curd hard and tough, but custard like.

N.B.—A little of this curd twice a day, and ants’ eggs after every time

they have had a sufficient quantity of the other food. If they do not

eat heartily, give them some ants’ eggs to create an appetite, but by no

means in such abundance as to be considered their food.

The distemper alluded to above, is not improbably of the same nature as

the roup in chickens; contagious, and dependent on the state of the

weather; and, for prevention, requiring similar precaution.

_General Directions._—Not more than four hens to be allowed in the pens

to one cock; and in the out covers, three hens to one cock may be

sufficient, with the view of allowing for accidents, such as the loss of

a cock or hen. Never put more eggs under a hen than she can well and

closely cover, the eggs fresh and carefully preserved. Short broods to

be joined and shifted to one hen. Common hen pheasants in close pens,

and with plenty of cover, will sometimes make their nests and hatch

their own eggs, but they seldom succeed in rearing their brood, being so

naturally shy; whence, should this method be desired, they must be left

entirely to themselves, as they feel alarm even in being looked at. Eggs

for setting are generally ready in April. Period of incubation the same

in the pheasant as in the common hen. Pheasants, like the pea-owl, will

clear grounds of insects and reptiles, but will spoil all wall-trees

within their reach, by pecking off every bud and leaf.

_Feeding._—Strict cleanliness to be observed, the meat not to be tainted

with dung, and the water to be pure and often renewed. Ants’ eggs being

scarce, hog-lice, earwigs, or any insects, may be given; or artificial

ants’ eggs substituted, composed of flour beaten up with an egg and

shell together, the pellets rubbed between the fingers to the proper

size. After the first three weeks, in a scarcity of ants’ eggs, Castang

gives a few gentles, procured from a good liver tied up, the gentles,

when ready, dropping into a pan or box of bran; to be given sparingly,

and not considered as common food.

Food for grown pheasants, barley or wheat; generally the same as for

other poultry. In a cold spring, hemp-seed, or other warming seeds, are

comfortable, and will forward the breeding stock.

* * * * *

_A New Species of Pheasant._—Amongst the numerous interesting natural

productions recently brought from China by Mr. Reeves, it was with

pleasure we observed a magnificent new species of pheasant, which will

be a most interesting addition to the aviaries of Europe; and as it

comes from the same part of the world as the gold and silver kind, there

is scarcely a doubt but that, with a little care, it may be induced to

breed in this country. It is about three times the size of the common

pheasant, and has a tail from five to six feet long; it is of a pale bay

colour, ornamented with black moons, and the head, wing, and under part

of the body, black varied with white; the tail feathers are black and

brown banded. Mr. Reeves brought with him from Canton two living

specimens; but one of them unfortunately died in the Channel; the other

is now in the gardens of the Zoological Society, where it will most

probably recover its fine tail. A beautiful specimen, in nearly perfect

plumage, brought by Mr. Reeves for General Hardwicke, has been presented

by that gentleman to the collection of the British Museum. The tail

feathers of this bird have been long known, two having been exhibited in

the Museum for many years; but the bird which bore them was first

described in General Hardwick’s Illustrations of Indian Zoology, from a

drawing sent by Mr. Reeves, where it is called Reeves’s pheasant

(_Phasianus Reevesii_).—_Daniel_—_Hawker_—_Moubray._

PHRASEOLOGY, _s._ Style, diction; a phrase-book; technical terms.

There was a peculiar kind of language invented by sportsmen of the

middle ages, which it was necessary for them to be acquainted with, and

some of the terms are still continued.

A sege of herons and of bitterns; an herd of swans, of cranes, and of

curlews; a dopping of sheldrakes; a spring of teals; a covert of coots;

a gaggle of geese; a badelynge of ducks; a sord or sute of mallards; a

muster of peacocks; a nye of pheasants; a bevy of quails; a covey of

partridges; a congregation of plovers; a flight of doves; a dule of

turkeys, a walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks; a brood of hens; a

building of rooks; a murmuration of starlings; an exaltation of larks; a

flight of swallows; a host of sparrows; a watch of nightingales; and a

charm of goldfinches.

When beasts went together in companies, there was said to be a pride

of lions; a lepe of leopards; an herd of harts, of bucks, and of all

sorts of deer; a bevy of roes; a sloth of bears; a singular of boars;

a sownder of wild swine; a dryft of tame swine; a route of wolves; a

harass of horses; a rag of colts; a stud of mares; a pace of asses; a

baren of mules; a team of oxen; a drove of kine; a flock of sheep; a

tribe of goats; a skulk of foxes; a cete of badgers; a richness of

martins; a fesynes of ferrets; a huske or a down of hares; a nest of

rabbits; a clowder of cats, and a kendel of young cats; a shrewdness

of apes; and a labour of moles; and, when animals were retired to

rest, a hart was said to be harboured, a buck lodged, a roebuck

bedded, a hare formed, a rabbit set, a fox kennelled, a martin tree’d,

an otter watched, a badger earthed, a boar couched: hence, to express

their dislodging they say, unharbour the hart, rouse the buck, start

the hare, bolt the rabbit, unkennel the fox, untree the martin, vent

the otter, dig the badger, and rear the boar. Two greyhounds were

called a brace; three a leash; but two spaniels or harriers were

called a couple, and three, a couple and a half; there was also a mute

of hounds for a number; a litter of whelps, and a cowardice of

curs.—_Strutt_—_Ascham_—_Daniel_—_Book of St. Alban’s._

PIANET, _s._ A bird, the lesser woodpecker; the magpie.

PIE, _s._ A magpie, a particoloured bird.

Birds of this kind are found in every part of the known world, from

Greenland to the Cape of Good Hope; the general character of this kind

is chiefly as follows:—The bill is strong, and has a slight curvature

along the top of the upper mandible; the edges are thin, and sharp or

cultrated; in many of the species there is a small notch near the tip;

the nostrils are covered with bristles; tongue divided at the end; three

toes forward, one behind, the middle toe connected to the outer as far

as the first joint.—_Bewick._

PIEBALD, _a._ Of various colours, diversified in colour.

PIED, _a._ Variegated, particoloured.

PIG, _s._ A young sow or boar; an oblong mass of lead or unforged

iron.

This instinctive sagacity, which guides animals who have been taken from

their old haunts, in making their way back to them, appears in some to

whom we should have been least disposed to attribute it. I have an

anecdote from a gentleman, who resided some years on an estate high up

the Susquehanna, of some pigs, which, having been brought in a sack

fifteen miles through an American wood, by the next morning had found

their way back, from their new to their old home.—_Jesse._

PIGEON (_Columba_, LINN.), _s._ A domestic bird.

PIGEONS (_Columbidæ_, LEACH; _Rasores_, ILLIGER), _s._ A family of

snatching birds.

[Illustration]

Of these the varieties and intermixtures are innumerable, and partake of

all those varied hues which are the constant result of domestication.

The manners of pigeons are well known, few species being more

universally diffused, and having a very powerful wing, they are enabled

to perform very distant journeys; accordingly wild and tame pigeons

occur in every climate, and although they thrive best in warm countries,

yet with care they succeed also in very northern latitudes. Every where

their manners are gentle and lively; they are fond of society, and the

very emblem of connubial attachment; they are faithful to their mates,

whom they solicit with the softest cooings, the tenderest caresses, and

the most graceful movements. The exterior form of the pigeon is

beautiful and elegant: the bill is weak straight and slender, and has a

soft protuberance at the base, in which the nostrils are placed: the

legs are short and red, and the toes divided to the origin.

* * * * *

Buffon enumerates upwards of thirty varieties of the pigeon, which,

according to his usual systematic plan—its convenience, perhaps, being

rather more obvious than its accuracy—he derives from one root, namely,

the stock-dove, or common wild pigeon. All the varieties of colour and

form which we witness, he attributes to human contrivance and fancy.

There exist, nevertheless, essential specific differences in these

birds, which seem rather attributable to the nature of the region, soil,

or climate, to which they are indigenous, than to the art of man.

The pigeon is monogamous, that is, the male attaches and confines

himself to one female, and the attachment is reciprocal: the fidelity of

the dove to its mate being proverbial. Young pigeons are termed

squeakers, and begin to breed at about the age of six months, when

properly managed: their courtship, and the well known tone of voice in

the cock, just then acquired and commencing, are indications of their

approaching union. Nestlings, whilst fed by the cock and hen, are termed

squabs, and are at that age sold and used for the table. The dove-house

pigeon is said to breed monthly, being well supplied with food, more

particularly when the ground is bound by frost, or covered with snow. At

any rate, it may be depended on, that pigeons of almost any healthy and

well established variety, will breed eight or ten times in the year;

whence it may be conceived how immense are the quantities which may be

raised.

The first step towards pigeon keeping, is, undoubtedly, to provide a

commodious place for their reception, of which I shall afterwards speak;

the next, to provide the pigeons themselves. These will be had in pairs,

but if not actually matched, pains must be afterwards taken, to that

end, that no time be lost; indeed, they may be matched according to the

fancy of the keepers, for the purpose of varying the colours, or with

any other view. But it is necessary to give a caution on the subject of

old pigeons, of which a bargain may offer, since the difficulty of

retaining them is so great, indeed insuperable, without the strictest

vigilance. Nothing short of cutting their wings, and confining them

closely until they have young to attach them to the place, will be a

security; and even afterwards, they have been known to take flight with

the first use of their wings, and leave their nests. I have had several

examples of this. Thence it is always preferable to purchase squeakers,

or such as have not yet flown: these, being confined, in a short time,

well fed, and accustomed gradually to the surrounding scenery, before

they have acquired sufficient strength of wing wherewith to lose

themselves, will become perfectly domesticated.

The dove-cote, or pigeon-loft, as to its situation or extent, will

necessarily depend on convenience, one general rule, however, must be

invariably observed,—that every pair of pigeons have two holes, or

rooms, to nest in. Without this indispensable convenience there will be

no security, but the prospect of constant confusion, breaking of eggs,

and destruction of the young. Pigeons do well near dwellings, stables,

bake-houses, brew-houses, or such offices; or their proper place is in

the poultry-court. A dove-cote is a good object, situate upon an island,

in the centre of a piece of water: indeed, such is a proper situation

for aquatic poultry, and rabbits also; and may be rendered extremely

beautiful and picturesque by planting, and a little simple ornamental

and useful building. Where pigeons are kept in a room, some persons

prefer making their nests upon the floor, to escape the danger of the

young falling out; but in all probability this is to guard against one

risk, and incur a great number, particularly that of rats and other

vermin.

The front of the pigeon-room, or cote, should have a south-west aspect;

and if a room be selected for the purpose, it is usual to break a hole

in the roof of the building for the passage of the pigeons, which can be

closed at convenience. A platform is laid by the carpenter at the

entrance, for the pigeons to alight and perch upon, with some kind of

defence against strange cats, which will often depopulate a whole

dove-house; cats are yet necessary, for the defence of the pigeons

against rats and mice, as they will both destroy the birds and suck the

eggs; thence cats of a known good breed should be trained up familiarly

with the pigeons. The platform should be painted white, and renewed as

the paint wears off, white being a favourite colour with pigeons, and

also most conspicuous as a mark to enable them to find their home. The

boxes also should be so coloured, and renewed as necessary, for which

purpose lime and water will be sufficient.

Cleanliness is one of the first and most important considerations, the

want of it in a dove-cote will soon render the place a nuisance not to

be approached, and the birds, both young and old, will be so covered

with vermin, and besmeared with their own excrement, that they can enjoy

no health or comfort, and mortality is often so induced. Ours were

cleaned daily; thoroughly once a week, a tub standing at hand for the

reception of their dung, the floor covered with sifted gravel, often

renewed. Pigeons are exceedingly fond of water, and having a prescience

of rain, will wait its coming until late in the evening, upon the

house-top, spreading their wings to receive the refreshing shower. When

they are confined in a room, they should be allowed a wide pan of water,

to be often renewed, as a bath, which cools, refreshes and assists them

to keep their bodies clear of vermin. In the attendance upon pigeons,

caution is necessary with respect to their fighting, to which they are

more prone than might be expected, often to the destruction of eggs or

young, or driving the weakest away.

The common barrel dove-cote needs no description, at the same time it is

adapted to every situation in which it is desirable to keep pigeons for

ordinary use. To return to the room, or loft; the shelves should be

placed sufficiently high, for security against vermin, a small ladder

being a necessary appendage. The usual breadth of the shelves is about

twenty inches, with the allowance of eighteen between shelf and shelf,

which will be sufficient not to incommode the tallest pigeons.

Partitions between the shelves may be fixed at the distance of about

three feet, making a blind, by a board nailed against the front of each

partition, whence there will be two nests in the compass of every three

feet, so that the pigeons will sit in privacy, and not liable to be

disturbed. Or a partition may be fixed between each nest;—a good plan,

which prevents the young from running to the hen, sitting over fresh

eggs, and perhaps occasioning her to cool and addle them, for when the

young are about a fortnight or three weeks old, a good hen will leave

them to the care of the cock and lay again.

Some prefer breeding-holes entirely open in front, for the greater

convenience in cleaning the nests; but it is from those that the squabs

are likely to fall, thence a step of sufficient height is preferable.

The tame pigeon seldom taking the trouble to make a nest, it is better

to give her one of hay, which prevents her eggs from rolling. Or a straw

basket, or unglazed earthen pan, may be placed in every nest,

apportioned to the size of the pigeons you breed. A pan of three inches

high, eight inches over the top, and sloping to the bottom like a basin,

will be of sufficient size for a tumbler, or a small pigeon, whilst one

of double those dimensions will be required for a large runt. A brick

should always be placed in contiguity to the pan, to enable the cock and

hen to alight with greater safety upon the eggs.

* * * * *

The pigeon-trap on the house-top is the well-known contrivance of those

London rascals, who lie in wait, as has been said, to entrap the

property of others. A trap of another description, and for a very

different purpose, is sometimes used; it is an area, on the outside of a

building, for the purpose of confining in the air valuable breeds of

pigeons which cannot be trusted to flight. Some are erected to the

extent of twenty yards long and ten yards in width, with shelves on

every side for the perching of the pigeons; thus they are constantly

exercised in the air, retiring at their pleasure to the room or loft

within.

* * * * *

Very convenient baskets are now made of the cradle form, with

partitions, or separate apartments. They serve for the carriage of

pigeons for matching, or putting them up to fatten, or for any of the

usual purposes. I have seen them lately, in the basket-shops on the

Greenwich road, two or three miles from London.

* * * * *

Food and water should be given in such a way as to be as little as

possible contaminated with the excrement, or any other impurity. Our

pigeons having been constantly attended, we have never found the need of

any other convenience than earthen pans; but there have been ingenious

inventions for this purpose, of which the meat-box and water-bottle

following are specimens. The meat-box is formed in the shape of a

hopper, covered at the top to keep clean the grain, which descends into

a square shallow box. Some fence this with rails or holes on each side,

to keep the grain from being scattered over; others leave it quite open

that the young pigeons may the more easily find their food.

The water-bottle is a large glass bottle, with a long neck, holding from

one to five gallons, its belly shaped like an egg, so that the pigeons

may not light and dung upon it. It is placed upon a stand or

three-footed stool, made hollow above, to receive the belly of the

bottle, and let the mouth into a small pan beneath: the water will so

gradually descend out of the mouth of the bottle as the pigeons drink,

and be sweet and clean, and always stop when the surface reaches the

mouth of the bottle.

* * * * *

To match or pair a cock and hen, it is necessary to shut them together,

or near and within reach of each other; and the connexion is generally

formed in a day or two. Various rules have been laid down, by which to

distinguish the cock from the hen pigeon; but the masculine forwardness

and action of the cock, is for the most part distinguishable.

* * * * *

The following singular detection of a thief occurred on a late

examination at Queen Square, Westminster:—Mr. Bepy, in the Wandsworth

road, had his pigeon-house robbed. A known thief was stopped on the road

with six fancy pigeons in his possession, by Sergeant Reardon of the

police, and taken before the magistrates, but no evidence appearing

against him, he was discharged, and suffered to take away the birds,

which he claimed as having purchased them. Cooper, an officer of the

court, being somewhat up to the pigeon fancy, and seeing them above the

common sort, purchased them, and very commendably determined to find out

the real owner, which he effected in the following ingenious mode.

Selecting a fine bald-head, he attached a note to its foot, with his

address, and then threw up the pigeon, which instantly flew to its own

home, and was recovered by its owner, who returned it to Cooper, making

him a present of the half-dozen as a reward for his sagacity.

* * * * *

The starling is a great enemy to pigeons, by sucking their eggs, and

even destroying their young. In October, 1800, seven hundred and eighty

starlings were taken in one night in a dove-cot belonging to Mr. Slater,

of Chalton, near Lincoln.

* * * * *

In 1807, was in the possession of Mr. Knight, of Chichester, a hen

pigeon of the pouter species, who, in that summer, hatched three pair of

young. She is twenty-one years old, and is considered a remarkable

instance of longevity, as Buffon, and other naturalists, have not

allowed this bird, from the heat of its nature, above eight or nine

years of life, and to be incapable of procreation after seven.

* * * * *

The penalty for shooting them is 20_s._ for each pigeon. (Under statute

of 1 Jac. I.)

For shooting at pigeons, with intent to kill, the penalty would (by 2

Geo. II.) be the same as for killing one pigeon, viz. 20_s._

Informations for these offences must be commenced within two months.

In pigeon-shooting the most extraordinary performance was by Tupor, the

gamekeeper of Sir H. Mildmay, (the same person who broke the sow to

stand to game,) who, for a considerable wager, shot six pigeons out of

ten with a single ball.

Tupor afterwards, to decide a bet, hit a cricket-ball, with common shot,

twelve times successively, betwixt the wickets, bowled by Harris, one of

the sharpest bowlers in the Hambleton Club. He is also said to have

killed swallows with a single ball.

The next was effected by Mr. Elliot, at Rudgewick, in Sussex, who

undertook to kill fifty pigeons at fifty shots; it was decided near

Petworth, at Tillington, and notwithstanding the wind was high, he

killed forty-five: it was allowed he hit every bird, and that he would

have succeeded but for the above circumstance. He had but one gun, the

touch-hole of which fairly melted.

* * * * *

Four gentlemen of Camberwell undertook, for a wager of five guineas a

side, to shoot at twelve pigeons, and great bets were depending, but to

the mortification of the persons present, they neither of them brought

down a single bird.

Mr. Keene, of Hammersmith, killed twenty pigeons in twenty-one shots,

from a trap at the regular twenty-one yards’ distance, and in March,

1811, he killed, in a match against Mr. Elliot, the same number, beating

his adversary by one.

In Wiltshire, the same year, Captain Hicks shot against the gamekeeper

of Mr. Maurice, at fifteen pigeons, turned off at the same distance;

each killed the whole, and in shooting off the ties, the former missed

his sixth bird, and lost the match, which was for two hundred

guineas.—_Moubray_—_Daniel._

PIKE, _s._ A long lance used by the foot soldiers to keep off the

horse, to which bayonets have succeeded; a fork used in

husbandry; among turners, two iron springs between which

anything to be turned is fastened; a large fish of prey.

[Illustration]

The pike, termed for its voracity the fresh-water shark, is found in

most of the larger lakes and rivers of Great Britain. It grows to an

immense size—is easily produced as a pond fish—and, being a bold

determined biter, affords excellent sport to the lovers of the art. It

is taken with natural and artificial baits, as frogs, mice, minnows or

any kind of fry; and when the weather is favourable very little skill is

requisite to obtain abundant sport in a well-stocked water. The best

mode of pike-fishing is trolling. _Vide_ TROLLING.

The pike’s voraciousness is well known: what is here mentioned of it is

singular. In 1810, a hook baited with a roach, was set in the

manor-pond, at Toddington, Bedfordshire; the next morning a large pike

was caught, which with difficulty was got out. It appeared that a pike

of three and a half pounds weight was first caught, which was afterwards

swallowed by another, weighing thirteen pounds and a half, and both were

taken.

It has been before remarked, that pike are frequently shot, when

floating near the surface of the water. Other sorts of fish are often so

destroyed. In June, 1808, Mr. Byrne, the Earl of Lonsdale’s gamekeeper,

shot in the river Eden, at Beaumont, near Carlisle, the extraordinary

number of eighty-six fish, at two shots; the smallest fish was seven

inches in length.

The smaller lakes, which are so profusely scattered over the surface of

this county, vary in the species of fish which they respectively

produce, as much as they do in their own natural size and character.

Some of them afford trouts, others pike only, and many are stocked with

both. That this union cannot long subsist, I should be inclined to infer

from one remarkable circumstance, and it is a convincing proof of the

rapid destruction which the introduction of pike into a trout lake will

occasion. Within a short distance of Castlebar there is a small

bog-lake, called Derreens; ten years ago it was celebrated for its

numerous and well-sized trouts. Accidentally pike effected a passage

into the lough from the Minola river, and now the trouts are extinct or,

at least, none of them are caught or seen. Previous to the intrusion of

the pikes, half-a-dozen trouts would be killed in an evening in

Derreens, whose collective weight often amounted to twenty pounds.

* * * * *

Indeed the appetite of one of my pike was almost insatiable. One morning

I threw to him, one after the other, five roach, each about four inches

in length. He swallowed four of them, and kept the fifth in his mouth

for about a quarter of an hour, when it also disappeared.

Fish appear, also, to be capable of entertaining affection for each

other. I once caught a female pike during the spawning season, and

nothing could drive the male away from the spot at which the female

disappeared, whom he had followed to the very edge of the water. A

person who had kept two small fish together in a glass, gave one of them

away; the other refused to eat, and showed evident symptoms of

uneasiness till his companion was restored to him.

The boldness of a pike is very extraordinary. I have seen one follow a

bait within a foot of the spot where I have been standing; and the head

keeper of Richmond Park assured me that he was once washing his hand at

the side of a boat in the great pond in that Park, when a pike made a

dart at it, and he had but just time to withdraw it.

A gentleman (Major Payne) now residing at Weybridge, in Surrey, informed

me, that, walking one day by the side of the river Wey, near that town,

he saw a large pike in a shallow creek. He immediately pulled off his

coat, tucked up his shirt-sleeves, and went into the water to intercept

the return of the fish to the river, and to endeavour to throw it upon

the bank by getting his hands under it. During this attempt, the pike,

finding he could not make his escape, seized one of the arms of the

gentleman, and lacerated it so much that the wound is still very

visible.

The digestion of the pike is so rapid, that, in a few hours, not a

single bone of a roach which it has swallowed can be discovered. This

may account for the fact of a pike, who has gorged himself to the full,

holding a small fish in his mouth whilst the digestion of his previously

taken prey has been going on, and swallowing it as soon as that process

had been effected.

The rapid growth of some fish is very extraordinary. I saw three pikes

taken out of a pond in Staffordshire belonging to the present Sir

Jervoise Clark Jervoise, two of which weighed thirty-six pounds each,

and the other thirty-five pounds. The pond was fished every seven years,

and, supposing that store pike of six or seven pounds weight were left

in it, the growth of the pike in question must have been at the rate of

at least four pounds a year.

* * * * *

About seventeen years since, when visiting the late Marquis of

Clanricarde at Portumna Castle, two gentlemen brought to the marquis an

immense pike, which they had just caught in the river Shannon, on the

banks of which they had been taking their evening walk. Attracted by a

noise and splashing of the water, they discovered in a little creek a

number of perch driven on shore, and a fish which, in pursuit of them,

had so entangled himself with the ground, as to have a great part of its

body exposed, and out of water. They attacked him with an oar, that by

accident lay on the bank, and killed him. Never having seen any fish of

this species so large, they judged it worth the observation of the

marquis, who, equally surprised at its magnitude, had it weighed, and to

our astonishment it exceeded the balance at ninety-two pounds; its

length was such, that when carried across the oar by the two gentlemen,

who were neither of them short, the head and tail touched the ground.

* * * * *

Now that I am speaking of pike I may observe that eagles, which were

rather numerous hereabout, were not unfrequently seen to pounce on those

fish whilst basking near the surface. It was said, however, that when

the pike was very large, he had been known to carry the eagle under

water; when, from the latter being unable to disengage his talons, he

was of course drowned. Indeed, Dr. Mellerborg, a medical gentleman

attached to the Uddeholm establishment when I first visited Wermeland,

vouched for this being the fact, he himself having once seen an enormous

pike, with an eagle fastened to his back, lying dead on a piece of

ground which had been overflown, but from which the water had then

retreated.

Captain Eurenius also informed me, that he himself was once an

eye-witness to a similar occurrence. This was on the Götha river, and at

no great distance from Wenersborg. In this instance, when the eagle

first seized the pike, he was enabled to lift him a short distance into

the air; but the weight of the fish, together with its struggles, soon

carried them back again to the water, under which for a while they both

disappeared: presently, however, the eagle again came to the surface,

uttering at the same time the most piercing cries, and making apparently

every endeavour to extricate his talons, but all was in vain, and, after

a deal of struggling, he was finally carried under the water.

Captain Eurenius said, moreover, that pike were occasionally taken alive

with only the legs and talons of the eagle attached to their backs, the

body of the bird having previously rotted off. This, if true, is a

curious circumstance; for one would naturally have supposed, that with

such a knapsack the fish would have been unable to procure his food, and

that he consequently must soon have perished.

In corroboration of these stories I may mention, that when I was in the

Orkney Islands a few years ago, I was told of the eagle striking turbot

and other fish at sea, when similar results to what I have just stated

occasionally took place. At that time, however, I confess, I was a

little incredulous on the subject.

* * * * *

There are no waters in Great Britain, with the exception of the river

Shannon, where larger pikes are caught than those taken in Loughs Mask

and Corrib. 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 the landlords by their

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 five to fifteen 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.

If any doubt remained touching the fecundity of the perch, some of the

Mayo waters would prove it satisfactorily. Half a century since, I have

been assured that pike and perch were almost unknown in the rivers of

Belcarra and Minola, and the chain of lakes with which they communicate,

and that 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.—_Jesse_—_Lloyd_—_Daniel_—_Wild Sports._

PILCHER or PILCHARD, _s._ A fish like a herring.

The pilchard has a general likeness to the herring, but, when

comparatively described, is essentially different. The body of the

pilchard is less compressed, being thicker and rounder; the back is more

elevated, the belly less sharp, the nose turns up, and, as well as the

under jaw, is shorter, the dorsal fin is placed exactly in the centre of

gravity, so that when taken up by it, the body preserves an equilibrium;

that of the herring dips at the head. The scales of the pilchard adhere

closely, whereas those of the herring very easily drop off; besides the

pilchard is fatter, or more full of oil.

About the middle of July, the pilchards in vast shoals approach the

Cornish coasts; the beginning of winter they disappear, a few returning

after Christmas. Their winter retreat, and their motives for migrating,

are the same with the herring. During summer, they affect a warmer

latitude, no quantities being found on any of our coasts, except those

of Cornwall; namely, from Fowey harbour to the Scilly Isles, between

which places, for some weeks, the shoals keep shifting.

The appearance of the pilchard is known by the birds and larger fishes

attendant upon them, and persons called Huers are placed on eminences,

to point to the boats stationed off the land the course of the fish, by

whose directions sometimes a bay of several miles’ extent is enclosed

with their nets, called seines. By the first of James I. c. 23,

fishermen are empowered to go on the grounds of others to hue, without

being liable to action for trespass, which before occasioned frequent

law-suits. The numbers that are taken at one shooting of the nets is

astonishing. Upon the fifth of October, 1767, there were at one time

inclosed in St. Ive’s Bay, 7,000 hogsheads, each cask containing 35,000

fish, in all 245,000,000.

PINT, _s._ Half a quart; in medicine, twelve ounces; a liquid

measure.

PINTADO, _s._ Guinea fowls: before rain, the pintados, called

comebacks, squall more than usual, as do peacocks.—_Foster._

PINTAIL DUCK, LEA PHEASANT, CRACKER, WINTER DUCK (_Anas acuta_,

LINN.; _Le Canard à longue Queue_, BUFF.), _s._

[Illustration]

This handsome-looking bird is twenty eight inches in length, and thirty

eight in breadth, and weighs about twenty four ounces. The bill is

rather long, black in the middle, and blue on the edges; the irides

reddish; the head and throat are of a rusty brown, mottled with small

dark spots, and tinged behind the ears with purple; the nape and upper

part of the neck are dusky, margined by a narrow white line, which runs

down on each side, and falling into a broader stripe of the same colour,

extends itself on the fore part as far as the breast; the rest of the

neck, the breast, and the upper part of the back, are elegantly

pencilled with black and white waved lines; the lower back and sides of

the body are undulated in the same manner, but with lines more freckled,

less distinct, and paler; the scapulars are long and pointed, each

feather black down the middle with white edges; the coverts of the wings

are ash-brown, tipped with dull orange; below these the wing is

obliquely crossed by the beauty spot of glossy bronze purple green, with

a lower border of black and white; this spangle is formed by the outer

webs and tips of the middle quills; the rest of the quills are dusky.

All the tail feathers are of a brown ash-colour, with pale edges, except

the two middle ones, which are black, slightly glossed with green,

considerably longer than the others, and end in a point; the belly and

sides of the vent are white; under tail-coverts black; legs and feet

small, and of a lead colour.

The female is less than the male, and her plumage is of a much plainer

cast, all the upper parts being brown, with each feather margined more

or less with white, inclining to red or yellow; the greater coverts and

secondary quills are tipped with cream-colour and white which form a bar

across the wings. The fore-part of the neck, the breast, and the belly

to the vent, are of a dull white, obscurely spotted with brown. The tail

is long and pointed, but the two middle feathers do not extend

themselves beyond the rest, like those of the male.

These birds do not visit the temperate and warm climates in great

numbers, except in very severe winters, the great bulk of them dropping

short, and remaining during that season in various parts of the Russian

dominions, Sweden, Norway, &c., and also in the same latitudes in both

Asia and America. They are seldom numerous in England, but flocks of

them are sometimes abundantly spread along the isles and shores of

Scotland and Ireland, and on the interior lakes of those countries, as

well as those of the continent as far south as Italy, and in America as

far south as New York. They are esteemed excellent eating.

The pintail duck is of a taller or more lengthened shape than any of the

species, and, in the opinion of the Count de Buffon, seems to form the

link between the duck and the garganey.—_Latham_—_Bewick._

PIP, _s._ A defluxion with which fowls are troubled; a horny

pellicle that grows on the tip of their tongues; a spot on the

cards.

PIPE, _s._ Any long hollow body, a tube; a tube of clay through

which the fume of tobacco is drawn into the mouth; an instrument

of wind music; the organs of voice and respiration, as the

windpipe; the key of the voice; a liquid measure containing two

hogsheads.

PIPE, _v._ To play on the pipe; to have a shrill sound as birds

have.

PIPKIN, _s._ A small earthen boiler.

PIQUET, _s._ A game at cards.

Piquet is played by two persons, with thirty-two cards: the ace, king,

queen, knave, ten, nine, eight, and seven of each suit. The ace is the

superior, and equal to eleven points; the king ranks above the queen,

and the queen above the knave, &c. The three court cards are each equal

to ten points; the ten, ten; the nine, nine; and so of the rest, each

counting for as many points as it has pips.

The game consists of 101 points. The players begin with shuffling the

cards; then they are to cut; he who cuts the lowest deals, but the great

advantage is in being elder hand. The dealer then shuffles the cards

again, and presents them to his adversary, who may also shuffle, but the

dealer must have the last shuffle. If the adversary should scatter the

cards, or cut but one off, or leave but one at the bottom, the dealer

may mix and shuffle them again. The dealer is to give twelve a piece, by

two at a time, and the eight cards which remain must be placed upon the

table, and are called the talon or stock.

In this game there are three superior chances, viz. the repique, the

pique, and the capot, all which may be made in one deal, as thus:

suppose one of the players to have four tierce-majors, his point to be

good, and he is eldest hand: he begins by counting three for his point,

then twelve for his four tierce-majors, next fourteen for the four aces,

fourteen for the four kings, and fourteen for the four queens, then

sixty for the repique, thirteen he gains in playing the cards; and he

has forty for the capot, which make together one hundred and seventy:

this stroke, perhaps, has never happened; but it is just if it ever

should.

To pique the adversary, you must be elder hand; for if youngest, your

adversary counts one for the first card he plays, and then you having

counted only twenty-nine in hand, even if you take the first trick, it

will not authorise you to count sixty, but only thirty.

The carte blanche precedes every thing, then follows the point, then the

huitièmes, the septièmes, the sixièmes, the quints, the quarts, the

tierces, the four aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens; then the three

aces, kings, queens, knaves, or tens; then the points gained in playing

the cards; and the last is the ten for winning the cards, or the forty

for the capot. After sorting the cards, the first thing to be considered

is, whether you have a carte blanche, if so, let your adversary discard,

and when he is going to take in lay your twelve cards on the table,

counting them one after another.

The players having examined their hands, the elder hand may discard five

cards or fewer as he may deem for his advantage, and, laying them aside,

he takes as many from the talon or heap; the youngest hand can lay out

three only, unless any of the five allotted to his adversary be left,

which he may take or not, as he pleases.

In discarding, the first intention in skilful players is, to gain the

cards, and to have the point, which most commonly engages them to keep

in that suit, of which they have the most cards, or that which is their

strongest; for it is convenient to prefer, sometimes, forty-one in one

suit to forty-four in another, in which a quint is not made; sometimes,

even having a quint, it is more advantageous to hold the forty-one,

where, if one card only be taken in, it may make it a quint-major, and

gain the point, or the cards, which could not have been done by holding

the forty-four, at least, without an extraordinary take-in. Also

endeavour, in laying out, to get a quatorze; that is, four aces, kings,

queens, knaves, or tens, each of which counts for fourteen, and is

therefore called a quatorze. The fourteen aces in your hand hinder the

counting fourteen kings in the adversary’s, &c., and by this superiority

you may count a lesser quatorze, as of tens, notwithstanding your

adversary may have fourteen kings, &c., because the stronger (viz. the

aces) annuls the weaker: and also, in the want of a lesser quatorze you

may count three aces, three kings, three queens, three knaves, or three

tens. Three aces are better than three kings; and he who has them may by

virtue thereof count his three tens, although the adversary may have

three kings; in favour of a quatorze you count not only any lesser

quatorze, but also all the threes which you have, except of nines,

eights, and sevens. The same is to be observed in regard to the

huitièmes, septièmes, sixièmes, quints, quarts, and tierces, to which

the player must have regard in his discarding, so that what he takes in

may make them for him.

The point being selected, the eldest hand declares what it is, and asks

if it be good: if his adversary have not so many, he answers it is good;

if he have just as many, he answers it is equal; and if he have more, he

answers it is not good; for whoever has the point, whether eldest or

youngest, counts it first; but if the points be equal, neither can

count: it is the same when the players have equal tierces, quarts,

quints, &c., and whoever should hold several other sequences, either of

the same goodness or lesser cannot count them.

After the elder hand has counted the point, he should examine if he have

not tierce, quart, quint, &c., and then if any quatorze, or three aces,

kings, &c., that he may reckon them, should his adversary not hinder him

by having better.

The points, the tierces, quarts, quints, &c., are to be shown on the

table, that their value may be seen and reckoned; but you are not

obliged to show quatorzes, or three aces, kings, queens, knaves, or

tens.

After each has examined his game, and the elder, by the questions asked,

seen every thing that is good in his hand, he begins to reckon. The

carte blanche is first reckoned, then the point, next the sequences, and

lastly, the quatorzes, as well as threes of aces, kings, &c., after

which he begins to play his cards, counting one for each, except it be a

nine or an inferior card.

After the elder hand has led his first card, the younger shows his

point, if it be good, also the sequences, quatorzes, or threes of aces,

kings, &c., and having reckoned them all together, he takes the first

trick if he can with the same suit, and counts one for it; if he cannot,

the other turns the trick and continues; and when the younger hand can

take the trick, he may lead what suit he pleases.

A good player is principally known from an indifferent one by his

manner; and it is not possible to play well without knowing the strength

of the game; that is to say, by your own hand you should know what your

adversary may hold, and what he must have discarded, and great notice

should be taken of what he has shown or reckoned. There are no trumps at

piquet, but the highest card of the suit, if played, takes the trick.

Should the elder hand have the misfortune to hold neither point,

sequence, quatorze, or threes which are good, he must begin to count by

playing that card which he judges most proper, and continue until his

adversary has played a superior, to gain the lead in his turn. This

method must be continued till all the twelve cards are played, and he

who takes the last trick counts two. Then each player counts how many

tricks he has taken, and he who has the most reckons the cards; but

should they be equal, neither side can count any thing for the cards.

As soon as a deal is finished, each player should mark how many points

he has made, and so proceed until the game be completed; and after every

deal the cards must be shuffled and cut for the next; each player taking

his turn, unless the game be concluded in one deal.

When you begin another game, the cards must be cut afresh for the deal,

unless it be agreed upon at first, that the deal shall go on.