Ornithologists seem to differ in opinion concerning the rock and stock
pigeon; though it appears almost impossible to conceive them a distinct
species. In those described under such names there seems to be so much
similitude, except what may be expected from a species half reclaimed,
and frequently returning to their natural wild habits again, that we
cannot but consider them as one and the same species.
The rock dove is considered to be the origin of our tame pigeons, as it
is said to possess the white on the lower part of the back, in which
part the stock dove is described to be ash-coloured, and that this last
is rather larger. But these variations we have observed in pigeons
killed in their native haunts amongst the rocks on our coasts; and our
dove-cote pigeons frequently have no white on the back. It is therefore
probable many of our common species, after having been bred in a
pigeon-house contiguous to such rocky situations, return to their
natural habits, and there produce some variation in colour.
The bird now before us we killed on the cliffs in Cauldy Island, in
South Wales. It weighed eleven ounces; length thirteen inches and a
half; breadth twenty-two; the bill is brown, inclining to purplish-red;
point dusky; irides light yellow; the head dark bluish ash-colour; neck
and breast glossed with green and copper, as viewed in different lights,
most conspicuous on the sides and back of the neck; the upper part of
the back and wing coverts pale ash-colour; across the middle of the
greater coverts is a broad band of black, and another of the same on the
ends of the secondary quills, running into each other on those feathers
nearest the body; the greater quills are dusky, dashed with ash-colour,
the outer ones darkest, and all of them most so towards the tips,
slightly edged on their exterior webs with white; the lower part of the
back white; the rump and tail dark bluish ash-colour, the ends of the
latter black; the two exterior feathers whitish on the outer webs
towards the base; the sides under the wings, and under wing coverts,
white; the belly bluish ash-colour; legs red.
These birds have sometimes appeared in prodigious flocks in winter,
frequenting our beech woods for the sake of the mast or seed of that
tree. These flights, however, are less numerous and less frequent of
late years. Sometimes they are seen in company with our common pigeons,
at the barn doors, in severe winters; and are said to be known by their
inferior size and darker colour.
* * * * *
The only place where I have ever seen the rock dove in a wild state, was
at Howford, near Mauchlane, in Ayrshire, where two or three pairs
nestled on the cliffs of the romantic rocks overhanging the river, but
in situations so inaccessible, that I never knew them robbed by the most
daring boys. It would be hard to say whether these had strayed from some
neighbouring dove-cote, or had originally come thither from some wild
brood; though the former is not so probable, as instances, I believe,
are rare, of domestic pigeons voluntarily deserting their birth
place.—_Montagu_—_Rennie._
ROCKET, _s._ An artificial firework.
ROCKSALT, _s._ Mineral salt.
ROD, _s._ A long twig; anything long and slender; an instrument for
measuring; an instrument of correction made of twigs; an
implement for angling.
The wood for fishing rods should be cut about Christmas (and some insist
that if left in the open air for twelve months afterwards it will season
better, than if stowed in a dry place). Hazel is the wood generally
procured for this purpose, and of all the sorts that of the cob-nut
grows to the greatest length, and is, for the most part, straight and
taper; the butt-end should rather exceed an inch in diameter; but of
whatever wood the rod is composed, the shoots for stocks, middle pieces,
and tops, must be of proper size, well-grown, and as free from knots as
possible. The tops should be the best rush-ground shoots, without knots,
and proportionally taper; the excrescent twigs are to be cut off, but
not close, for fear of hurting the bark, which ought never to be touched
with a knife or rasp; for, although they will dress neater, it
considerably weakens them: these pieces are to be kept free from wet
until the beginning of the following autumn, when such as are wanted to
form a rod should be selected, and, after being warmed over a gentle
fire, set as straight as possible, and laid aside for two or three days,
when they must be rubbed over with a piece of flannel and linseed oil,
which will polish and fetch off any superfluous bark; they are then to
be bound tight to a straight pole, and so kept until the next spring,
when they will be seasoned for use; (some, however, prefer keeping them
from eighteen months to two years, before they are made up); they are
then to be matched together in just proportion, in three, four, or more
parts, according to the width of the water, or the wish of the maker;
taking care that the different joints fit so nicely, if ferruled, that
the whole rod may move as if it were but one piece. If the parts are not
ferruled, observe, that they must be cut to join each other with the
utmost exactness, and neatly spliced with glue, boiled very gently in
strong quick lime-water, keeping it stirred until it becomes smooth and
all alike, and then are to be whipped over the glued part with waxed
thread.
* * * * *
Elder, holly, yew, mountain ash, and hip briar, are all natives; the
former, prepared as follows, is by some thought to excel any of the
latter; a branch of the elder tree of three years’ growth is to be cut
about the third week in November; it is then with a saw to be separated
at every joint; sometimes, when the branch is exactly straight, a length
of two joints may be made, for the two shoots which spring from each
joint grow alternately from the different sides; these double lengths
should be taken from the biggest end of the branch, and will be near
three quarters of a yard long; one of these will make the thick end of
the top; the other joints are split into four, shaving off the bark and
the pith, and every joint tied by itself; the thick end of every piece
should be placed towards the butt of the rod; after being split, the
pieces should be tied together, and kept a year at least to season; when
wanted, they should be first planed and rasped taper, and square; the
edges then filed off exactly round and smooth; the splice must be rubbed
very thin with shoe-makers’ wax, filling the outside of the joint so,
that when wrapped close with fine white silk, the splice may not be
bigger than the joint is, an inch above it. The hip briar is easily
found in hedges of old inclosures, which have not been plashed for many
years; but it should be thoroughly seasoned before it is split, or the
small pieces will be apt to warp in drying; it is cut into lengths of
eight or ten inches for tops, spliced or glued together; after which
they are properly tapered with planes and fine rasps, finished off with
sandpaper, and the joints wrapped with silk well waxed; a small piece of
whalebone is added to the wood, spliced and wrapped in a similar manner;
to this finish, however, some gentlemen object, and wonder at the
prevalent custom of loading rods with eight or ten inches of whalebone
at the top, since that particular part should be light and elastic; and
they contend, that the whalebone is dull, heavy, and much too flexible;
the Scotch fishing rod makers use tortoise shell at the end of their
tops, and it is lighter and springs better than whalebone.
* * * * *
The reed or cane rod, on account of its lightness and elasticity, is the
best for fishing at the bottom, whether with a running line or float,
especially when angling for those fish which bite tenderly, as roach and
dace; of these some are contrived to go into the butt, and make a
walking stick, others are composed of many short joints; all of which
are inclosed in a bag. The tackle shops have a variety of these; but in
purchasing a reed or cane rod, be careful that it strikes well, and that
the bark which grows round the joints, is not rasped into; a very common
fault which the rod makers are guilty of; and the consequence of which
is, that it is thereby rendered weaker at the joints than elsewhere, and
there being no bark to repel the wet, it soon rots, and whenever a large
fish is hooked, certainly breaks. Another thing to be observed is, that
the medium between the ferrule and the joint that goes in, is not cut
too fine; if it is, and a good fish is struck, it is odds but a part of
the rod, line, and fish, are all lost together.
* * * * *
The rod composed of the hazel will not do for fly-fishing, the least wet
being apt to warp and render it crooked.
* * * * *
Another rod for fly-fishing, is recommended to be of two parts, without
ferrules, and the lower longer than the upper, with the small end of the
former, and the large end of the latter, cut long, and to fit nicely as
for splicing; it may be tied together at the water side with common
shoemakers’ common waxed thread; this is by far the best, for throwing
the line with freedom and accuracy; and for easing it in playing the
fish when hooked, the spring will be superior, if properly made, to that
of the other sort of rods: upon leaving off fishing the rod should be
untied, and the string wrapped round the two parts, for carrying it more
conveniently.
* * * * *
Yew, especially the white of it, makes a fine top, and the best forest
yew is to be got in Wales; but unless very well chosen, frequently turns
out brittle, from its numerous knots. Holly is liable to the same
objection; all kinds of wood should be cut in winter when the sap is
descended into the root, and kept a year or two, oiling them now and
then with linseed oil, and placing them in such a position, that they
acquire no bend, which should they do, it may be rectified by holding
them over a gentle fire. Of foreign woods, the hiccory from America,
will work into handsome and good tops; but the bamboo, or hollow cane,
from the West Indies, is to be preferred; in making a top of the latter,
care should be taken to preserve the outside, that being its most
elastic part; at the extremity of all tops, there should be a loop of
hair or a ring for fastening the line to.
* * * * *
A rod of twelve feet, unless the wind be extremely unfavourable, will
cast a fly-line of fourteen yards, but if it is to carry a reel line,
fourteen feet will be preferable; it is useless to encumber yourself
with an unnecessary weight of wood, as the great advantage of a light
rod is, that with either hand you can use it, and thus be enabled to
cast your fly under bushes, hollow banks, &c., where the best trout
generally lie, without endangering the tackle; the shorter the joints,
of course it will be more portable, but the fewer there are, the better
it will open a fly line.
* * * * *
The great defect in most rods is, that the play is in the middle, owing
to that part being too weak, and like a waggon whip; with a rod of this
kind, it is impossible to strike or command a fish of any size.
* * * * *
Rods should not be kept in too dry a room; the practice of steeping them
in water before using, is bad, and will soon spoil them; the rubbing the
tops with sweet oil twice or thrice in the season will preserve them in
a serviceable state, and if the rod be hollow, tie a rag to the end of a
stick, dip it in linseed oil, and rub it well about the inside of the
different joints.—_Daniel._
ROE, _s._ A species of deer; the female of the hart; the eggs of
fish; that of the male fish is called the soft or melt; that of
the female the hard or spawn.
ROLLER, _s._ Anything turning on its own axis, as a heavy stone to
level walks; bandage; in saddling, the broad fillet, with two or
more straps and buckles to secure the saddle or sheet.
ROLLYPOOLY, _s._ A corruption of _roll ball into the pool_, a sort
of game, in which when a ball rolls into a certain place it
wins.
ROOD, _s._ The fourth part of an acre in square measure; a pole, a
measure of sixteen feet and a half in long measure.
ROOK, _s._ A bird resembling a crow; it feeds not on carrion but
grain; a piece at chess.
This bird is about the size of the carrion crow, and, except its more
glossy plumage, very much resembles it. The base of the bill and
nostrils, as far as the eyes, is covered with a white scabrous skin, in
which it differs from all the rest, occasioned, it is said, by thrusting
its bill into the earth in search of worms; but as the same appearance
has been observed in such as have been brought up tame, and unaccustomed
to that mode of subsistence, we are inclined to consider it as an
original peculiarity. We have already had occasion to observe, that they
are useful in preventing a too great increase of that destructive insect
the chafer, or dor-beetle, and thereby make large recompense for the
depredations they may occasionally commit on the corn-fields. Rooks are
gregarious, and fly in immense flocks, at morning and evening, to and
from their roosting places, in quest of food. During the breeding time
they live together in large societies, and build their nests on trees
close to each other, frequently in the midst of large and populous
towns. These rookeries, however, are often the scenes of bitter
contests; the new-comers are frequently driven away by the old
inhabitants, their half-built nests torn in pieces, and the unfortunate
couple forced to begin their work anew, in some more undisturbed
situation. Of this we had a remarkable instance in Newcastle: in the
year 1783, a pair of rooks, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish
themselves in a rookery at no great distance from the Exchange, were
compelled to abandon the attempt. They took refuge on the spire of that
building, and although constantly interrupted by other rooks, built
their nest on the top of the vane, and brought forth their young,
undisturbed by the noise of the populace below them; the nest and its
inhabitants turning about with every change of the wind. They returned
and built their nest every year on the same place, till 1793, soon after
which the spire was taken down.
* * * * *
The minute description of rooks is needless; the rooks may always be
known from the carrion crow, by their being in flocks, whereas the crows
go only in pairs; and also by the white colour of the bill, and from
their being bare of feathers upon that part in which the crow is well
clothed.
The rook is a gregarious bird, being sometimes seen in numbers so as
almost to darken the air in their flight, which they regularly perform
morning and evening, except in the breeding time, when the daily
attendance of both male and female is required for incubation, or
feeding the young; and it is observed they do both alternately. They
begin to build in March; one bringing materials, while the other watches
the nest, lest it should be plundered by its brethren: they lay five or
six eggs, of a pale green colour, marked with small brownish spots.
After the breeding season, rooks forsake their nest-trees, going to
roost elsewhere; but return to them in August, and again in October,
when they repair their nests. The young birds are very good when
skinned, steeped in milk, and afterwards put into a pie. Hawker
recommends cold water instead of milk.
* * * * *
There is one trait in the character of the rook which is, I believe,
peculiar to that bird, and which does him no little credit; it is the
distress which they exhibit when one of them has been killed or wounded
by a gun, while they have been feeding in a field or flying over it.
Instead of being scared away by the report of the gun, leaving their
wounded or dead companion to his fate, they show the greatest anxiety
and sympathy for him, uttering cries of distress, and plainly proving
that they wish to render him assistance, by hovering over him, or
sometimes making a dart from the air close up to him, apparently to try
and find out the reason why he did not follow them.
“While circling round and round,
They call their lifeless comrade from the ground.”
If he is wounded, and can flutter along the ground, the rooks appear to
animate him to make fresh exertions by incessant cries, flying a little
distance before him, and calling to him to follow them. I have seen one
of my labourers pick up a rook so wounded, which he shot at for the
purpose of putting him up as a scare-crow in a field of wheat; and while
the poor wounded bird was still fluttering in his hand, I have observed
one of his companions make a wheel round in the air, and suddenly dart
past him so as almost to touch him, perhaps with a last hope that he
might still afford assistance to his unfortunate mate or companion. Even
when the dead bird has been hung, _in terrorem_, to a stake in the
field, he has been visited by some of his former friends, but as soon as
they found that the case was hopeless, they have generally abandoned
that field altogether.
When one considers the instinctive care with which rooks avoid any one
carrying a gun, and which is so evident, that I have often heard
country-people remark that they can smell gunpowder, one can more justly
estimate the force of their love or friendship in thus continuing to
hover round a person who has just destroyed one of their companions with
an instrument, the dangerous nature of which they seem fully capable of
appreciating.
Rooks are not easily induced to forsake the trees on which they have
been bred, and which they frequently revisit after the breeding season
is over. This is shown in Hampton Court Park, where there is an
extensive rookery among the fine lime-trees, and where a barbarous and
unnecessary custom prevails of shooting the young rooks. As many as a
hundred dozen of them have been killed in one season, and yet the rooks
build in the avenue, though there is a corresponding avenue close by in
Bushy Park, which they never frequent, notwithstanding the trees are
equally high and equally secure. I never hear the guns go off during
this annual slaughter without execrating the practice, and pitying the
poor rooks, whose melancholy cries may be heard to a great distance, and
some of whom may be seen, exhausted by their fruitless exertions,
sitting melancholy on a solitary tree waiting till the sport is over,
that they may return and see whether any of the offspring which they
have reared with so much care and anxiety are left to them; or, what is
more probable, the call for assistance of their young having ceased,
they are aware of their fate, and are sitting in mournful contemplation
of their loss. This may appear romantic, but it is nevertheless true;
and whoever, like myself, has observed the habits and manners of the
rook, and witnessed their attachment to each other and to their
young,—and is convinced, as I am, that they have the power of
communication by means of a language known to themselves, and are
endowed with a knowledge and foresight most extraordinary, will take as
much interest in them as I have confessed that I do.
* * * * *
A gentleman in this neighbourhood had two milk-white rooks in one nest.
A booby of a carter, finding them before they were able to fly, threw
them down, and destroyed them, to the regret of the owner, who would
have been glad to have preserved such a curiosity in his rookery. I saw
the birds myself nailed against the end of a barn, and was surprised to
find that their bills, legs, feet, and claws were milk-white.
* * * * *
Passage hawks are also used for rooks. These birds sometimes mount like
herons, but their flight is in general much lower. They must be found in
an open country; and the wood, which is their place of retreat, must be
so situated as to oblige them to fly against the wind to gain
in.—_Bewick_—_Daniel_—_Jesse_—_White’s Selborne_—_Sebright._
ROOKERY, _s._ A nursery of rooks.
ROOST, _s._ That on which a bird sits to sleep; the act of sleeping.
ROOST, _v._ To sleep as a bird.
ROPE, _s._ A cord, a string, a halter.
ROPY, _a._ Viscous, tenacious, glutinous.
ROSIN, _s._ Inspissated turpentine.
ROSIN, _v._ To rub with rosin.
ROSTRUM, _s._ The beak of a bird; the beak of a ship. _Rostrum
cultratum_ (LINN.), in ornithology, is a term used when the
edges of the bill are very sharp, as in that of the crow. When
the bill is notched near the tip, as in shrikes, thrushes, &c.,
it is called by Linnæus _rostrum emarginatum_.
ROT, _v._ To make putrid, to bring to corruption.
ROT, _s._ A distemper among sheep in which their lungs are wasted;
putrefaction; putrid decay.
ROTARY, _a._ Whirling as a wheel. A motion peculiar to the flight of
the hawk tribe.
ROUGE ET NOIR, _s._ A game.
Rouge et noir, or red and black, is a modern game, so styled, not from
the cards, but from the colours marked on the tapis or green cloth with
which the table is covered.
The first parcel of cards played is usually for noir, the second for
rouge, though sometimes the cards are cut to determine which shall
begin. All the terms of this game are French, and that language is used
in playing. Any number of persons may play, and the punters may risk
their money on which colour they please, placing the stakes in the outer
semicircle; but after the first card is turned up, no other stakes can
be laid for that coup.
The tailleur and croupier seat themselves opposite each other, with a
basket for receiving the cards of every coup after dealing, which is
placed on the middle of the table. The tailleur then passing round six
packs of cards to be shuffled and mixed confusedly all together by the
company, afterwards finally shuffles them, and inserts all the end cards
into various parts of the 312, till he meets with an honour, which being
placed upright at the end, is offered to a punter, who, putting the same
into any part of the pack, the tailleur there separates it, and lays
that part which was below the said honour uppermost, and taking
therefrom a handful of cards, and placing a weight upon the remainder,
proceeds to deal, taking afterwards other parcels from the heap as they
may be wanted, till all are dealt out. He looks at the first card, and
puts its face downwards; two others, one red, the other black, are then
laid back to back, and that placed conspicuously uppermost which is of a
similar colour with the first card; these two cards are turned according
to the colour of the card which afterwards may be first dealt in each
succeeding coup. When the stakes are deposited, the tailleur cries noir,
turns the top card, and places each succeeding one in a row, till the
points of those so turned shall exceed thirty; he then declares the
numbers at trente and une, one and thirty; or, if above that, up to
forty he only says, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and when forty,
quarante.
Another parcel is then dealt in a similar mode for rouge, and the
punters win who had staked on that colour, the points for which were
thirty-one or nearest to it, which the tailleur declares, by saying
rouge gagne, red wins; or rouge perd, red loses. These two parcels, one
for each colour, make a coup. When the same number is dealt for each,
the tailleur says, apres, after, which forms un refait, or doublet, by
which neither party loses, except it is un refait trente et un,
one-and-thirty, when the tailleur wins half the stakes punted on each
colour, which half the punters may either pay, or have their stakes
moved into the middle semicircles of the colour they then choose, called
la première prison, the first prison, to be determined by the next
event, whether they lose all or are set at liberty; but if un refait
second trente and un, a second doublet of one and thirty, should occur
in the next succeeding deal, the punters lose only one half of their
remaining moiety, making three-fourths of their original stakes, and are
removed into the smallest semicircle, styled la seconde prison, the
second prison, and the next coup determines whether the punter loses
all, or is to be removed again into la première prison.
Punters after winning may paroli, &c., and pursue their luck up to a
soixante, as at faro; but as no livrets are used at rouge et noir, they
cannot make either paix or pont.
At this game a banker cannot refuse any stake not exceeding his fund;
which the punter declares, by saying je va la banque, va la banque, or
va banque, I aim at the bank. Bankers generally furnish punters with
slips of card paper, ruled in columns, each marked N. or R. at the top
on which accounts are kept by pricking with a pin, and when un refait
happens, the same is denoted by running the pin through the middle line.
Some bankers give up the profit of le refait during the first deal.
The odds against le refait being deals, are reckoned sixty-three to one,
but bankers expect it twice in three deals, and there are generally from
twenty-nine to thirty-two coups in each deal.—_Hoyle._
ROUGHRIDER, _s._ One that breaks horses for riding.
ROUSING, _s._ The action of a hawk when she shakes herself.
ROW, _v._ To impel by oars. To use the oar.
ROWEL, _s._ The points of a spur turning on an axis; a seton, a roll
of hair or silk put into a wound to hinder it from healing, and
provoke a discharge.
Rowels are seldom so convenient or so useful as setons. They are formed
by making an incision in the skin, where it is rather loose, as in the
chest, about an inch in length. This being done, the finger is to be
introduced, or an instrument called a cornet, that is, the crooked end
of a small horn made for the purpose, and the skin separated from the
parts underneath all around for the space of about an inch. Into the
cavity thus made a round piece of leather, with a hole in the middle,
wrapped in tow and smeared with digestive ointment, is to be introduced.
The orifice in the skin is then to be plugged up with tow, and kept
there until suppuration takes place, that is, four or five days. The tow
is then to be taken out, when a great deal of matter will flow from the
orifice. The rowel is afterwards to be moved daily and kept
clean.—_White._
ROWEL, _v._ To pierce through the skin, and keep the wound open by a
rowel.
ROWER, _s._ One that manages an oar.
RUB, _v._ To clean or smooth anything by passing something over it;
to scour, to wipe; to move one body upon another; to remove by
friction; to touch hard; to rub down, to clean or curry a horse.
RUBBER, _s._ One that rubs; the instrument with which one rubs; a
coarse file; a game, a contest; two games out of three.
RUBY, _a._ Of a red colour.
RUD, _s._ A fish.
The body of the rud is broader than the carp, more like that of the
bream, but much thicker; the head is small, the palate and teeth like
the carp, on the covers of the gills are spots of a blood colour; the
irides are yellow, varying in some almost to redness; the nostrils
large, and by some said to be double on each side; the back is arched,
sloping off suddenly at the two extremities; the scales are very large,
like the carp; the side line is slightly incurvated: the back is of an
olive; the sides and belly are of a gold colour, with certain red marks;
the ventral, anal fins, and the tail (which is forked), are generally of
a deep red, and the dorsal fin is darker than the rest; the usual length
of this fish is from ten to sixteen inches. It lives on insects and
grass, and is preyed on by the voracious fish and the anseres. In rivers
the rud’s haunts are in deepish gentle streams and deep still water,
where the bottom is a kind of slimy mud sand, or fine gravel, and also
among weeds.
They are always in season, except at the time of spawning, which is in
April, when the male fish have small white spots about their heads, and
the scales of both sexes feel more rough; they swim in shoals, casting
their spawn upon and among the aquatic plants, to the number according
to the Elements of Natural History, of 91,000 ova.
Their flesh is exceedingly wholesome, and holds a distinguished rank for
its fine flavour; but they are very scarce.
Mr. Pennant believes the shallow of the Cam, which grows to the length
of thirteen inches, and spawns in April, to be no other fish than the
rud.
The angler will find the rud worth his attention; the tackle must be
strong, but fine, with a quill float, and a hook proportioned to the
bait; the same ground-bait is to be used as for carp and chub, fishing
about the same depths as for the latter, except on the ground, for they
feed naturally near the surface; they will in this way take red-worms,
gentles, wasp-maggots, caddis, and red-paste. Some use a ground-bait of
boiled malt, and prefer a small red worm to any other bait. In fishing
among weeds, have neither float nor shot, and let the worm, or other
bait sink a little under water: at top they are taken either with
natural or artificial flies, by whipping with a long, and dibbing or
bobbing with a short line. In warm, bright weather, the rud will bite
early and late; when coolish, the fore and afternoons; and in winter,
the middle of the day; when hooked this fish struggles hard, and
requires time in landing, and is so tenacious of life, as to retain it
after being taken out of the water a considerable time.—_Daniel._
RUDDOCK, _s._ A kind of bird.
RUDDY, _a._ Approaching to redness, pale red; yellow.
RUFF, _s._ A puckered linen ornament formerly worn about the neck; a
bird.
[Illustration]
The male of this curious species is called the ruff, and the female the
reeve: they differ materially in their exterior appearance; and also,
what is remarkable in wild birds, it very rarely happens that two ruffs
are alike in the colours of their plumage. The singular, wide-spreading,
variegated tuft of feathers which, in the breeding season, grows out of
their necks, is different in all. The tuft, or ruff, a portion of which
stands up like ears behind each eye, is in some black, in others black
and yellow, and in others again white, rust colour, or barred with
glossy violet, black and white. They are, however, more nearly alike in
other respects: they measure about a foot in length, and two in breadth,
and when first taken weigh about seven ounces and a half; the female
seldom exceeds four. The bill is more than an inch long, black at the
tip, and reddish yellow towards the base; the irides are hazel: the
whole face is covered with reddish tubercles, or pimples; the wing
coverts are brownish ash colour; the upper parts and the breast are
generally marked with transverse bars, and the scapulars with
roundish-shaped glossy black spots, on a rusty coloured ground; quills
dusky; belly, vent, and tail coverts white; the tail is brown; the four
middle feathers of it are barred with black; the legs are yellow. The
male does not acquire the ornament of his neck till the second season,
and, before that time, is not easily distinguished from the female,
except by being larger. After moulting, at the end of June, he loses his
ruff and the red tubercles on his face, and from that time until the
spring of the year, he again, in the plumage, looks like his mate.
These birds leave Great Britain in the winter, and are then supposed to
associate with others of the tringa genus, among which they are no
longer recognised as the ruff and reeve. In the spring, as soon as they
arrive again in England, and take up their abode in the fens where they
were bred, each of the males (of which there appears to be a much
greater number than of the females) immediately fixes upon a particular
dry and grassy spot in the marsh, about which he runs round and round,
until it is trodden bare; to this spot, it appears, he wishes to invite
the female, and waits in expectation of her taking a joint possession,
and becoming an inmate. As soon as a single female arrives, and is heard
or observed by the males, her feeble cry seems as if it roused them all
to war, for they instantly begin to fight, and their combats are
described as being both desperate and of long continuance: at the end of
the battle she becomes the prize of the victor. It is at the time of
these battles that they are caught in the greatest numbers in the nets
of the fowlers, who watch for that opportunity: they are also, at other
times, caught by clap, or day-nets, and are drawn together by means of a
stuffed reeve, or what is called a stale bird, which is placed in some
suitable spot for that purpose.
The ruff is highly esteemed as a most delicious dish, and is sought
after with great eagerness by the fowlers, who live by catching them and
other fen birds for the markets of the metropolis, &c. Before they are
offered for sale, they are commonly put up to feed for about a
fortnight, and during that time fed with boiled wheat, and bread and
milk mixed with hempseed, to which sugar is sometimes added: by this
mode of treatment they become very fat, and are often sold as high as
two shillings and sixpence each. They are cooked in the same manner as
the woodcock.
The female, in the beginning of May, makes her nest in a dry tuft of
grass in the fens, and lays four white eggs, marked with rusty spots.
These birds are common in the summer season in the fens of Denmark,
Sweden, and Russia, and are also found in other more northern regions,
even as far as Iceland.
The trade of catching ruffs is confined to a very few persons. They live
in obscure places on the verge of the fens, and are found out with
difficulty; for few, if any birds, are ever bought, but by those who
make a trade of fatting them for the table; and they sedulously conceal
the abode of the fowlers; so much so, that by no art could we obtain
from any of them where they resided; and in order to deceive us, after
evading our entreaties, they gave us instructions that led us quite a
contrary direction. The reason of all this was obvious; for after much
labour and search in the most obscure places, (for neither the
innkeepers, nor other inhabitants of the towns, could give any
information, and many did not know such a bird was peculiar to their
fens,) we found out a very civil and intelligent fowler, who resided
close to Spalding, at Fengate, by name William Burton (we feel a
pleasure in recording his name, not only from his obliging nature, but
for the use of others in similar pursuits); and, strange to say, that
although this man had constantly sold ruffs to Mr. Towns, a noted
feeder, hereafter more particularly noticed, as also to another feeder
at Cowbit, by the name of Weeks, neither of those persons could be
induced to inform us even of the name of this fowler. The reason,
however, was evident, and justly remarked by Burton, for he obtained no
more than ten shillings per dozen, whereas Weeks demanded thirty
shillings for the like number he had the same day bought of Burton. The
season was far advanced, and we were obliged to buy some at that price
of Weeks, for Burton could not then catch us as many as were required.
At this time we were shown into a room where there were about seven
dozen males and a dozen females, and of the former there were not two
alike. This intrusion to choose our birds, drove them from their stands,
and compelling some to trespass upon the premises of others, produced
many battles.
By this feeder we learned, that two guineas a dozen was now the price
for fattened ruffs; and he never remembered the price under thirty
shillings, when fit for table.
Mr. Towns, the noted feeder at Spalding, assured us his family had been
a hundred years in the trade, and boasted they had served George the
Second, and many noble families in the kingdom. He undertook, at the
desire of the late Marquess of Townsend, when that nobleman was Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, to take some ruffs to that country, and actually
set off with twenty-seven dozen from Lincolnshire; left seven dozen at
the Duke of Devonshire’s, at Chatsworth; continued his route across the
kingdom, to Holyhead; and delivered seventeen dozen alive in Ireland;
having lost only three dozen in so long a journey, confined and greatly
crowded as they were in baskets, which were carried upon two horses.
The manner of taking these birds is somewhat different in the two
seasons; in the spring, the ruffs hill, as it is termed; that is, they
assemble upon a rising spot of ground, contiguous to where the reeves
propose to deposit their eggs; there they take their stand, at a small
distance from each other, and contend for the females; the nature of
polygamous birds. This hill, or place of resort for love and battle, is
sought for by the fowler, who, from habit, discovers it by the birds
having trodden the turf somewhat bare, though not in a circle as usually
described.
When a hill has been discovered, the fowler repairs to the spot before
the break of day, spreads his net, places his decoy birds, and takes his
stand at the distance of about one hundred and forty yards, or more,
according to the shyness of the birds.
The net is what is termed a single clap-net, about seventeen feet in
length, and six wide, with a pole at each end; this, by means of
uprights fixed in the ground, and each furnished with a pulley, is
easily pulled over the birds within reach, and rarely fails taking all
within its grasp; but in order to give the pull the greatest velocity,
the net is, (if circumstances will permit) placed so as to fold over
with the wind: however there are some fowlers, who prefer pulling it
against the wind for plovers. As the ruffs feed chiefly by night, they
repair to their frequented hill at the dawn of day, nearly all at the
same time, and the fowler makes his first pull according to
circumstances, takes out his birds, and prepares for the stragglers who
traverse the fens, and who have no adopted hill; these are caught
singly, being enticed by the stuffed birds.
Burton, who was before mentioned, never used anything but stuffed skins,
executed in a very rude manner; but some fowlers keep the first ruffs
they catch for decoy birds; these have a string of about two feet long
tied above the knee, and fastened down to the ground. The stuffed skins
are sometimes so managed as to be moveable by means of a long string, so
that a jerk represents a jump, (a motion very common amongst ruffs, who
at the sight of a wanderer flying by, will leap or flirt a yard off the
ground,) by that means inducing those on the wing to come and alight by
him.
The stuffed birds are prepared by filling the skin with a wisp of straw
tied together, the legs having been first cut off, and the skin
afterwards sewed along the breast and belly, but with no great attention
to cover the straw beneath: into this straw a stick is thrust, to fix it
into the ground, and a peg is also thrust through the top of the head,
and down the neck into the stuffing or straw body, and the wings are
closed by the same process. Rough as this preparation is, and as unlike
a living bird as skin and feathers can be made, it answers all the
purpose.
When the reeves begin to lay, both those and the ruffs are least shy,
and so easily caught, that a fowler assured us he could with certainty
take every bird on the fen in the season. The females continue this
boldness, and their temerity increases as they become broody; on the
contrary, we found the males at that time could not be approached within
the distance of musket shot, and consequently were far beyond the reach
of small shot.
We were astonished to observe the property that these fowlers have
acquired, of distinguishing so small an object as a ruff at such an
immense distance, which, amongst a number of tufts or tumps, could not
by us be distinguished from one of those inequalities; but their eyes
had been in long practice of looking for the one object.
The autumnal catching is usually about Michaelmas, at which time few old
males are taken, from which an opinion has been formed that they migrate
before the females and young. It is, however, more probable, that the
few which are left after the spring fowling, like other polygamous
birds, keep in parties separate from the female and her brood till the
return of spring. That some old ruffs are occasionally taken in the
autumnal fowling we have the assertion of experienced fowlers, but we
must admit that others declare none are taken at this season. It must,
however, be recollected, that in the autumn the characteristic long
feathers have been discharged, and consequently young and old males have
equally their plain dress; but the person who assured us that old birds
were sometimes taken at that season, declared it was easy to distinguish
them from the young of that summer.
It does not appear to be the opinion of fowlers, that the males are more
than one season arriving at maturity, because the ruffs taken in the
spring, destitute of the characteristic long feathers, which constitute
their principal distinction, are comparatively few to those possessing
the ruff: the opinion, therefore, that those ruffless males are birds of
a very late brood of the preceding season, is a reasonable conjecture.
The long feathers on the neck and sides of the head, in the male, that
constitute the ruff and auricles, are of short duration, for they are
scarcely completed in the month of May, and begin to fall the latter end
of June. The change of these singular parts is accompanied by a complete
change of plumage; the stronger colours, such as purple, chestnut, and
some others, vanish at the same time, so that in their winter dress they
become more generally alike from being less varied in plumage; but we
observed that those which had the ruff more or less white, retained that
colour about the neck after the summer or autumnal moulting was
effected.
The females, or reeves, begin laying their eggs the first or second week
in May; and we have found their nests with young as early as the third
of June. By this time the males cease to hill.
The nest is usually formed upon a tump in the most swampy places,
surrounded by coarse grass, of which it is also formed.
The eggs are (as usual with its congeners) four in number; these are
so nearly similar in colour to those of the snipe and redshank, both
of which breed in the same wet places, and make similar nests, that
some experience is required to discriminate them; they are, however,
superior in size to the former, and are known from the latter by the
ground being of a greenish hue instead of rufous white; but
individuals assimilate so nearly to each other as not to be
distinguished, especially as the dusky and brown spots and blotches
are similar. The weight of the eggs is from five drachms twenty-five
grains, to five drachms fifty grains.—_Montagu._
RUFFE, _s._ A fish.
The ruffe somewhat resembles a perch, though the form is more slender,
and the length rarely exceeds six inches; the teeth are very small, and
disposed in rows; it is marked on the jaws with a double course of half
circles; the upper part of the eye is of a dark-brown; the lower part
somewhat yellow, and the globe of it black: the first rays of the dorsal
fin (which is spotted with black) are like those of the perch, strong,
sharp, and spiny; the others soft; the body is covered with rough
compact scales; the back and sides are of a dirty green; the last, as
well as the belly, inclining to yellow, but both spotted, with the tail
marked with transverse bars of black. Their principal spawning-time is
the beginning of April, but some are said to spawn again in October;
and, in the Elements of Natural History, are said to deposit 75,000 ova.
To the young angler the ruffe yields good sport; they associate in great
numbers; their haunts are in recluse places, where the water is deep,
and runs quietly, with a loamy or muddy bottom, and also in still water;
the tackle should be fine, the hook No. 7, and a quill float; the bait
(a small, well scoured red-worm) must just run on the ground, and either
throw in some clay-balls, with worms, as directed in perch fishing, or
if the water be clear, use common mud-balls to colour it; three rods may
be easily managed, the baits touching the bottom; when there is a bite,
strike directly, for they gorge so hastily, that the disgorger, or a
knife, must frequently be used to get out the hook; by thus angling for
them, six or eight dozen are often caught at a standing. Either in the
spring or summer, with a brisk, warm wind, they will bite all day; and
will sometimes in cold weather take the bait very freely. The ruffe, for
the delicacy and richness of its flavour, as well as for its being
considered very nourishing, is more admired than the perch. They are to
be dressed in the same manner.—_Daniel._
RUFFING, _s._ When the hawk strikes without trussing its prey.
RUM, _s._ A kind of spirit distilled from molasses.
RUMINATE, _v._ To chew over again; to muse on, to meditate over and
over again.
RUNNER, _s._ One that runs, a racer; a messenger; a shooting sprig;
one of the stones of a mill; a bird.
RUNT, _s._ Any small animal below the natural growth of the kind; a
pigeon.
RUPTURE, _s._ The act of breaking, state of being broken;
preternatural eruption of the gut.
RUSSET, _a._ Reddishly brown; Newton seems to use it for grey;
rustic.