No. of pellets to 1 oz.
A A 40
A 50
B B 58
B 75
1 82
2 112
3 135
4 177
5 218
6 280
7 341
8 600
9 984
10 1726
The pleasure of using and counting the dust shot I leave to those who
recommend it.
The shot of different manufacturers varies much in size: for example, an
ounce of No. 7, from Messrs. Walker and Parker, amounts to 341 pellets;
and the same weight, from Mr. Beaumont (late Preston), 398; and in some
places the numbers are reversed.
Many sportsmen recommend the use of unglazed shot; others wet their shot
with oil. I have tried both these plans repeatedly, but could not find
sufficient advantage in either to justify my recommending them. The
object of both is to prevent the gun from leading; and as they can do no
harm, I should if a choice readily offered, prefer using the shot
unglazed, or oiled, for the chances of any trifling advantages which may
be thereby derived.
* * * * *
If I mistake not, you are shooting grouse with No. 4.
_Agilis._ I was told that so large a bird required large shot.
_Peritus._ No doubt there is greater difficulty in reaching a vital part
through a large opposing substance than a small one; but you must
remember that at this season the whole plumage of birds has not yet
grown, the muscles and sinews are not yet so strong and firm as they
will be; and the flight of all birds is slower than in winter; on such
account I would use much smaller shot now than later in the season; and
indeed you will find sevens now as efficient as fours will be in two
months’ time. You must remember that to bring down a bird you must
either strike it in a vital part, or impede its flight, and the fewer
the shots that strike, the less likely you are to attain that object. I
once fired a small bullet through a black cock, and he flew so far that
he was only found by accident afterwards. But I will repeat to you my
ideas as to the sizes of shot best calculated both for England and
Scotland, as we are upon the subject:—
Partridge, hare.—From September 1 to October 1, No. 7.
Partridge, hare, woodcock, rabbit, pheasant.—From October 1 to the end
of the season, No. 6.
Ducks.—No. 5 or 4.
Roe deer.—B B at all times.
Grouse—From August 12 to September 1, No. 7; from September 1 to
September 25, No. 6; from September 25 to the end of the season, No. 5.
Black game.—From August 20 to September 1, No. 7; from September 1 to
September 10, No. 6; from September 1 to October 10, No. 5; from October
10 to the end of the season, No. 4 or 5, as the gun may shoot close or
scatter: if it scatter, the smaller shot of the two.
* * * * *
The greater or lesser diameter of the bore cannot produce any sensible
difference in the closeness or wideness with which the shot is thrown,
provided the charge he the same in both pieces. We have subjected this
matter to the test of experiment, and the result has accordingly been
that a barrel of 22 or 24, which is the largest calibre usually employed
in fowling-pieces, threw its shot as closely as one of the smallest
calibre, viz. of 30 or 32.
There is a curious circumstance attending the shot of barrels, which is,
that sometimes the grains of lead, instead of being equally distributed
over the space they strike, are thrown in clusters of ten, twelve,
fifteen, or more, whilst several considerable spaces have not a single
grain in them; sometimes a cluster of this kind consists of one-third or
one-half of the charge, and it also happens sometimes, though more
rarely, that the whole charge collects itself into one mass, so as to
pierce a board near an inch thick, at the distance of forty or
forty-five paces. Small barrels are said to be more liable to this than
large ones, and M. de Marolles says that this is especially the case
when barrels are new, and when they are fresh washed. He mentions a
double-barrelled piece of 52 calibre, which was particularly liable to
this clustering and lumping of the shot, but adds that the same thing
did not happen to him with other barrels of 26 and 28 calibre, which he
had used before. The lumping also may perhaps depend upon the wadding
employed.
With regard, then, to the extraordinary closeness with which some pieces
are said to throw the shot, we certainly shall not take it upon us to
assert that persons who speak of them wish to deceive us; but we do most
firmly believe that they deceive themselves, and that their accounts
proceed either from their belief that a gunsmith, by superior skill and
care, is able to make such, or from their once having seen a piece
accidentally lump its shot in the manner described above. The result of
our experience, however, is very unfavourable to this prevailing
opinion, for we do affirm that after having fired at a mark times
without number, we have never yet found a barrel, which, at the distance
of fifty paces, would throw its whole charge with regularity, we will
not say into the breadth of a hat, but into a space of three feet
square.
* * * * *
_Patent Shot._—It is a fact stated to have been determined by repeated
observation, that a bird killed with patent shot will turn green
twenty-four hours sooner than one killed at the same time with the
common shot; and this accelerated putrefaction is said to arise from the
quantity of copperas used in preparing the lead for this particular
manufacture.—_Essay on Shooting_—_Hawker_—_Hints to Grown Sportsmen._
_Shot Belt._—Always have the tops of your shot belts made to fit nicely
into the muzzle of your gun; by which means, in the process of drawing
your charge, you can empty your shot into them without losing a
grain.—_Hawker._
SHOTTEN, _a._ Having ejected the spawn.
SHOVELBOARD, _s._ A long board on which they play by sliding metal
pieces at a mark.
SHOUGH, _s._ A kind of shaggy dog, a shock.
SHOULDER, _s._ The joint which connects the arm to the body; the
upper joint of the foreleg of a beast; the upper part of the
back; the shoulders are used as emblems of strength.
SHOULDERBELT, _s._ A belt that comes across the shoulder.
SHOULDERSHOTTEN, _a._ Strained in the shoulder.
SHOULDERSLIP, _s._ Dislocation of the shoulder.
SHOVELLER, _s._ A bird of the duck tribe.
[Illustration]
_Blue Wing Shoveller, Kertlucock, or Broad Bill_ (_Anas Clypeata_,
LINN.; _Le Souchet_, BUFF.)—The shoveller is less than the wild duck,
commonly weighing about twenty-two ounces, and measuring twenty-one
inches in length. The bill is black, three inches long, very broad or
spread out, and rounded like a spoon at the end, with the nail hooked
inward, and small.
The female is smaller than the male, from which she also differs greatly
in the colours of her plumage, the coverts and spangle-spot on her wings
being less brilliant, and the other parts composed of white, grey, and
rusty, crossed with curved dusky lines, giving her much the appearance
of the common wild duck. She makes her nest, lined with withered
grasses, on the ground, in the midst of the largest tufts of rushes or
coarse herbage, in the most inaccessible parts of the shaky marsh. She
lays ten or twelve pale, rusty-coloured eggs; and as soon as the young
are hatched, they are conducted to the water by the parent birds, who
watch and guard them with the greatest care.
They are at first very shapeless and ugly, for the bill is then almost
as broad as the body, and seems too great a weight for the little bird
to carry. Their plumage does not acquire its full colours until after
the second moult.
It has not yet been ascertained whether the shoveller breeds in England,
where, indeed, it is a scarce bird.
This species is of so wild, shy, and solitary a disposition, that all
attempts hitherto made to domesticate them have failed.
The anas muscaria of Linnæus (_Le Souchet à ventre blanc_ of Brisson)
differs only from this in having the belly white, and is considered
merely as a variety of the same species.
_Red-breasted Shoveler._—Size of a common duck. This species is
sometimes taken in the decoys of Lincolnshire.—_Bewick._
SHREWMOUSE, _s._ A mouse of which the bite was anciently supposed
venomous.
SHRILL, _a._ Sounding with a piercing, tremulous, or vibratory
sound.
SHRIMP, _s._ A small crustaceous vermiculated fish; a little
wrinkled man, a dwarf.
SHRUB, _s._ A small tree; spirit, acid, and sugar, mixed.
SHUFFLECAP, _s._ A play at which money is shaken in a hat.
SHUTTLECOCK, _s._ A cork stuck with feathers, and beaten backward
and forward.
SHY, _a._ Cautious; keeping at a distance, unwilling to approach.
SICKLY, _a._ Not healthy, disordered; faint, weak, languid.
SIDESADDLE, _s._ A woman’s seat on horseback.
SIEVE, _s._ Hair or lawn strained upon a hoop, by which flour is
separated from bran; an implement to winnow corn.
SIFT, _v._ To separate by a sieve; to separate, to part.
SIGHT, _s._ Perception by the eye, the sense of seeing; act of
seeing or beholding; eye, instrument of seeing; aperture
pervious to the eye, or other points fixed to guide the eye, as
the sight of a quadrant, gun, &c.
SILICIOUS, _a._ Made of hair.
SILKEN, _a._ Made of silk; soft, dressed in silk.
SILVER, _s._ A white and hard metal, next in weight to gold. It is
harder but not so malleable: it ignites before it melts, and
requires intense heat to fuse it.
SILVER, _a._ Made of silver; white like silver; having a pale
lustre; soft of voice.
SINEW, _s._ A tendon, the ligament by which the joints are moved.
SINEWED, _a._ Furnished with sinews; strong, firm, vigorous.
SINEWY, _a._ Consisting of a sinew; nervous, strong, vigorous.
SIPHON, _s._ A pipe through which liquors are conveyed.
SIRE, _s._ A father; it is used of beasts, and particularly horses.
SITTER, _s._ One that sits; a bird that broods.
SIZE, _s._ Bulk, comparative magnitude; condition; any viscous or
glutinous substance.
SKATE, _s._ A flat sea fish; a sort of shoe armed with iron, for
sliding on the ice.
SKEGGER, _s._ Skeggers are the produce of such sick salmon as might
not go to sea.
SKEIN, _s._ A knot or thread of silk wound; a knot of gimp or gut.
SKIN, _s._ The natural covering of the flesh; hide, pelt, that which
is taken from animals to make parchment or leather.
SKIN, _v._ To flay or divest of the skin.
SKIRT, _v._ To border, to go along the edge, as to skirt a cover.
SKITTISH, _a._ Shy, easily frighted; wanton, volatile; changeable,
fickle.
SKITTLE, _s._ A piece of wood like a sugar loaf used in the play of
skittles.
SKITTLES, _s._ A game called ninepins.
SKUA (_Lestris catarractes_, TEMMINCK), _s._ A species of eagle.
This species is rather superior in size to the raven; weight three
pounds; length two feet; the bill is an inch and three quarters long,
black, and much hooked at the end; is covered, for more than half its
length, with a kind of black cere; the upper part of the head, neck,
back, and wings, deep brown; the feathers margined with ferruginous;
about the forehead and chin tinged with ash-colour; the breast, and all
beneath, pale dusky ferruginous; the quills are brown, white at the
base; tail deep brown; roots and shafts white; the legs are black,
rough, and scaly; talons black, strong, and much hooked.
This is a bold rapacious bird, and preys on the lesser gulls, as well as
fish; it is said to attack the eagle, and even man, if he approaches
their nest. It breeds in the Orkney Islands, and is much esteemed in the
Isle of Foulah, from a supposition that it defends the flocks from the
eagle: it is rarely seen in the south. One in the museum of Dr. Latham,
was killed at Greenwich; and the only other instance we are furnished
with, of this species being observed in the south of England, was shot
at Sandwich, in Kent, in the winter of 1800.—_Montagu._
SKULK, _v._ To hide, to lurk in fear or malice.
SKULL, _s._ The bone that encloses the head; a shoal of fishes,
herrings particularly.
SKYCOLOUR, _s._ An azure colour, the colour of the sky.
SKYLARK (_Alauda arvensis_, LINN.), _s._ A lark that mounts and
sings.
The length of this species is seven inches; bill dusky; the base of the
upper mandible yellowish; the feathers on the top of the head are dusky,
bordered with rufous brown; they are rather long, and erectable in form
of a short crest; the hind part is plain, inclining to ash-colour; on
the upper parts of the body the feathers are reddish brown, darker in
their middle, their edges pale; the under parts are dirty buff-colour,
darkest on the neck and breast, which parts are streaked with dusky;
quills brown, lighter on the outer webs and tips; the tail is dusky
brown, the two middle feathers darkest, with light rufous margins; the
outer feather is white on the outer web and tip of the inner; the second
feather white on the outer web only; the third is inclining to white on
the margin of the outer web; legs dusky in old birds, but lighter in
young; claws dusky; the hind one very long and straight.
This bird is common in the greater part of this kingdom, but most
plentiful in the more open and highest cultivated situations abounding
with corn, and rarely seen on the extended moors at a distance from
arable land. The nest is placed on the ground, amongst grass or corn; it
is formed of dry grass and other vegetable stalks, lined with a fine dry
grass.—_Montagu._
SKYROCKET, _s._ A kind of firework, which flies high, and burns as
it flies.
SLAM, _v._ To win all the tricks in a hand at whist.
SLAVER, _s._ To be smeared with spittle; to emit spittle.
SLED, _s._ A carriage drawn without wheels, generally used upon the
ice.
SLEDGE, _s._ A large heavy hammer; a carriage without wheels, or
with very low wheels.
SLEEK, _a._ Smooth, glossy; the state of a horse’s or dog’s skin
when in condition.
SLEEP, _s._ Repose, rest, suspension of the mental powers, slumber.
_Sleep of Birds._—Like horses and some other quadrupeds, a great number
of birds sleep standing; the perchers, (_Insessores_, VIGORS,) for
example, usually sleep standing on one leg upon some tree, bush, or
other elevation, with the head turned behind, and the bill thrust under
the feathers on the back, or under the wing. Indeed, these appear to be
the general habits of the whole race of birds, in regard to their mode
of resting and sleep; for the duck and goose, although they do not
perch, will frequently sleep standing on one leg upon the ground, with
their heads turned round, and the bills under the wing. Poultry,
although they invariably perch, if a perch can be obtained, do not, when
sleeping, rest usually on one leg; but they sink down with their bodies
upon the perch, having their legs compressed under them. The sky lark
sleeps upon the ground with his legs also similarly compressed. It is
probable also that all the tribes of birds, even the perchers,
occasionally sink down with their bodies resting on the perch during
their soundest sleep. What is very remarkable in the structure of their
feet and legs is, that the greater the weight upon the muscles, the more
firmly the claws grasp whatever they lay hold of; hence the cause that
birds do not fall down in sleep, although most of their senses are
dormant.
The motion of the branches of trees produced by the wind increases,
doubtless, the disposition for sleep in many birds; this may be
exemplified in the common fowl; for placing its bill under the wing,
even in broad day-light, and swaying it to and fro in the hand for a
very short time, will produce sleep. Most of the tribe of birds sleep
during the night; but there are many exceptions to this. Owls in
particular are, during the night, much more active than in the day;
their sight, similar to that of cats, appears to serve them best in the
dark. Many of the duck tribe are not only wakeful, but feed during the
night; so also do the nightjars. The nightingale, and a few other
song-birds, are also wakeful while in song, during at least some portion
of the night.—_Montagu._
SLIME, _s._ Viscous mire, any glutinous substance.
SLIMY, _a._ Overspread with slime; viscous, glutinous, as the skin
of an eel.
SLING, _s._ A missile weapon made by a strap; a kind of hanging
bandage.
SLING, _v._ To throw by a sling; to throw, to cast; to hang loosely
by a string; the strap attached to a rifle, and used by the
marksman to steady his aim when a rest is not to be had.
SLIP, _v._ To let loose; to throw off anything that holds one; to
unloose a greyhound.
SLIP, _s._ The act of slipping, a false step; mistake; a twig torn
from the main stock; a leash or string in which a dog is held;
an escape; a long narrow piece.
SLIPKNOT, _s._ A bow knot, a knot easily untied.
SLOOP, _s._ A small ship.
SLOT, _s._ The track of a deer.
SLOUGH, _s._ A deep miry place; the skin which a serpent casts off
at his periodical renovation; the part that separates from a
foul sore.
SLOW, _a._ Not swift, not quick of motion; late, not happening in a
short time; not ready, not quick; dull, inactive.
SLUG, _s._ An idler, a drone; a kind of slow creeping snail; a
cylindrical or oval piece of metal shot from a gun.
SMELL, _v._ To perceive by the nose; to find out by mental sagacity.
SMELL, _s._ Power of smelling; the sense of which the nose is the
organ; scent.
SMELT, _s._ A small sea fish. It is of the salmon species, and in
the spawning season ascends the rivers in great numbers.
[Illustration]
The smelt derives its name from having, in the opinion of some, the
scent of a violet, of others, that of a cucumber; they are met with in
the seas that wash our coasts the whole year, and seldom go far from
shore, except when they ascend the rivers, which they do with the tide;
and in certain of which it is remarked, that they appear a long time
before they spawn, being taken in abundance in the Thames and Dee in
November and two succeeding months; in other rivers not until February,
and in March and April they spawn, and are very prolific; after which
they all return to the salt water, and are not seen in the rivers until
the next season. It has been observed, that they never come into the
Mersey so long as there is any snow water in its current; and that in
the spring and beginning of summer they will run further up than in the
decline of the year; they are also to be met with in the docks that are
opened for the reception of ships. The smelt is of a very beautiful form
and colour, the head is transparent, and the skin in general so thin
that with a good microscope the circulation of its blood may be seen;
the irides are silvery, the pupil of a full black, the under jaw is
rather prominent, in the front of the upper are four large teeth, those
in the sides of both are small; in the roof of the mouth are two rows,
and on the tongue two others of large teeth; the colour of the back is
whitish, with a cast of green, beneath which it is varied with blue, and
then succeeds a beautiful gloss of a silvery hue; the scales are small
and readily drop off; the tail is forked; the flesh is tender, and of a
delicate taste. These fish vary greatly in size, the largest Mr. P. ever
heard of was thirteen inches long, and weighed half a pound; they are
often sold in the London streets under the name of dried sparlings,
being split and dried, and are recommended by the gentlemen who take
their gills of a morning, as adding to the wine a particular relish.
The smelt is to be angled for (when the tide runs up is preferable) with
a paternoster line, having five or six hooks as many inches from each
other, and baited differently. The best bait is very small fresh shrimps
(not boiled), or the tail of a boiled one; next to these are gentles and
red paste; also that made of boiled shrimps, fine white bread, and a
little honey; cadis, blood-worms; and they will sometimes take a bit of
their own species; some crumbs of bread steeped in water should be now
and then thrown in to keep them together.
Walton mentions, that, many years since, in the month of August, such
vast quantities of smelts came up the Thames, that women and children
became anglers for them; and that in one day, between London bridge and
Greenwich, not fewer than 2,000 persons were thus employed.
SMERLIN, _s._ A fish.
SMITH, _s._ One who forges with his hammer; one who works in metals.
SMITHY, _s._ The workshop of a smith.
SNAFFLE, _s._ A bridle which crosses the nose; a kind of bit for a
bridle.
SNAFFLE, _v._ To bridle, to hold in bridle, to manage.
SNAKE, _s._ A serpent of the oviparous kind, distinguished from the
viper. The snake’s bite is harmless.
SNAP, _v._ To break at once; to break short; to bite; to catch
suddenly and unexpectedly.
SNAP, _s._ The act of breaking with a quick motion; a quick eager
bite; a catch.
SNAPPISH, _a._ Eager to bite; peevish; sharp in reply.
SNARE, _s._ Anything set to catch an animal, a gin, a net; anything
by which one is entrapped or entangled. The wire by which hares
and rabbits are poached; horsehair loops to take small birds.
SNARE, _v._ To entrap, to entangle.
SNARL, _v._ To growl, as an angry animal.
SNET, _s. obs._ The fat of a deer.
SNIPE, _s._ A small fen fowl with a long bill.
[Illustration]
The weight of this species is about four ounces; length near twelve
inches; the bill three inches long, dusky; in some the base is lighter,
flattish, and rough at the end; irides dusky; crown of the head black,
with a longitudinal light rufous line down the middle; from the base of
the upper mandible another line of the same colour passes on each side
over the eyes; between the bill and eye is a dusky line; the throat
white; cheeks, neck, and upper breast, mottled with black and light
ferruginous; the back and scapulars are black, barred with
ferruginous-brown, and striped with yellowish buff-colour, in
longitudinal lines; the quills are black, the first edged with white;
the secondaries tipped with the same; those next the body are, with
their coverts, striated, and barred with light ferruginous; lower breast
and belly white; vent brown; upper tail coverts brown, barred with
black; the tail consists of fourteen black feathers, barred and spotted
with dull orange-red towards the end, with a narrow bar of black near
the tip, where it is pale rufous; legs vary; in some dusky or
lead-colour, others green.
This is a plentiful species in most parts of England; and is found in
all situations, in high as well as low lands, depending much on the
weather. In very wet times it resorts to the hills; at other times
frequents marshes, where it can penetrate its bill into the earth after
worms, which are its principal food.
Some few remain with us the whole year, and breed in the more extensive
marshes and mountainous bogs. We have frequently taken the young before
they could fly, in the north of England, and in Scotland. Near Penryn,
in Cornwall, there is a marsh where several breed annually, and where we
have taken their eggs, which are four in number, of an olivaceous
colour, blotched and spotted with rufous-brown; some with dusky blotches
at the larger end. The nest is made of the materials around it; coarse
grass, and sometimes heath. It is placed on a stump or dry spot, near a
plash or swampy place; the eggs like those of the lapwing, placed
invariably with their ends inwards, being much pointed; their weight
three drachms and a half.
In the breeding season, the snipe changes its note entirely from that it
makes in the winter. The male will keep on wing for an hour together,
mounting like a lark, uttering a shrill, piping noise; it then descends
with great velocity, making a bleating sound, not unlike an old goat,
which is repeated alternately round the spot possessed by the female,
especially while she is sitting on her nest. This bird has been met with
in almost every part of the world.
_Great Snipe_, (_Scolopa Media_).—Size between the woodcock and snipe;
weight eight ounces; length sixteen inches; bill four inches long, and
like that of the woodcock; crown of the head black, divided down the
middle by a pale stripe; over and beneath each eye another of the same;
the upper part of the body very like the common snipe; beneath white;
the feathers edged with dusky black on the neck, breast, and sides; and
those of the belly spotted with the same, but the middle of it is plain
white; quills dusky; tail reddish, the two middle feathers plain, the
others barred with black; legs black. He adds, “this is a rare species.”
A fine specimen of it was shot in Lancashire, now in the Leverian
Museum, said also to have been met with in Kent.
* * * * *
There are a good many snipes in the vicinity of that place; the marshes,
however, frequented by those birds, are not very extensive, and may
easily be hunted in much less than a day; but if a person be well
acquainted with the ground, better snipe shooting is hardly to be met
with in any country. As a proof of this, I have bagged upwards of thirty
brace of those birds in seven or eight hours. These were either the
common or double snipe, as I was careless of wasting my powder and shot
about the jack or half snipe.
The double or solitary snipe, I usually found singly, or at most in
pairs. They were generally so fat as hardly to be able to fly; indeed,
if flushed, their flight was usually very short, and they presently
settled again. They were nearly twice as large as the common snipe, and
from their heavy and steady flight they presented the easiest mark
possible. They are considered to be most delicious eating; four couple
was the greatest number of those birds that I ever killed in Sweden in
any one day. They were by no means plentiful in the vicinity of
Gottenburg.
* * * * *
The double snipe is a bird of passage, and among those which arrive the
latest; in colour speckled grey, with a long bill. At the end of July,
when the meadows are mowed, the shooting of these birds with the pointer
commences, and continues till towards the end of September. They may
also be shot during the spring; but I have observed this has diminished
the autumn shooting. In the whole round of sporting, this affords one of
the greatest pleasures. These birds are easy to shoot; and in some
places, fifty or sixty, and considerably more, may be shot in a day,
particularly in autumn, when they are so fat that they almost burst
their skins. They are most delicious eating.
* * * * *
In the heather surrounding a small lake in the island of Hoy, in the
Orkneys, I found in the month of August, in 1817, the nests of ten or
twelve couple of snipes. I was grouse shooting and my dog continually
pointed them, and as there were sometimes three young ones and two old
ones in the nest, the scent was very powerful.
Snipes are usually fattest in frosty weather, which I believe is owing
to this, that in such weather they haunt only warm springs, where worms
are abundant, and they do not willingly quit these places, so that they
have plenty of nourishment and rest, both circumstances favourable to
fat. In wet open weather they are often obliged to make long flights,
and their food is more distributed. The jack-snipe feeds upon smaller
insects than the snipe, small white larvæ, such as are found in black
bogs, are its favourite food, but I have generally found seeds in its
stomach, once hempseed, and always gravel. I know not where the
jack-snipe breeds, but I suspect far north. I never saw their nests or
young ones in Germany, France, Hungary, Illyria, or the British Islands.
In 1828, in the drains about Labach, in Illyria, common snipes were seen
in the middle of July. The first double snipes appeared the first week
in September, when likewise woodcocks were seen; the first jack-snipe
seen, did not appear until three weeks later than the 29th of September.
I was informed at Copenhagen, that the jack-snipe certainly breeds in
Zealand, and I saw a nest with its eggs, said to be from the island of
Sandholm, opposite Copenhagen, and I have no doubt that this bird and
the double snipe sometimes make their nests in the marshes of Holstein
and Hanover. An excellent sportsman and good observer informs me, that
in the great royal decoy, or marsh preserve, near Hanover, he has had
ocular proof of double snipes being raised from the nest there; but
these birds require solitude and perfect quiet, and, as their food is
peculiar, they demand a great extent of marshy meadow. Their stomach is
the thinnest among birds of the scolopax tribe, and, as I have said
before, their food seems to be entirely the larvae of the tribuæ, or
congenerous flies.
_Snipe Shooting._—Snipes when plenty afford very excellent sport, it
being allowed to be the pleasantest, on account of the quick succession
of shots; this is also the best shooting for practice, seldom failing to
make indifferent shots most excellent ones. There is no shooting that
presents such a variety of shots, scarcely any two being alike.
These birds usually fly against the wind, therefore every snipe-shooter
should walk down it, as by that means the bird, if he rises before him,
will fly back, and coming round him, describe a kind of circle; or at
least his flight, for a certain distance, will not lengthen the shot,
allowing him a certain time to cover the bird and take good aim; for if
he gets up before him, and should by chance go down the wind, or from
him, it is then the most difficult shot. It will be proper, in this
case, to let the bird get a little distance from him, as then he will
fly steadier and the slightest grain will fetch him to the ground.
* * * * *
When shooting snipes in the vicinity of Gottenburg, one’s sport mainly
depends on the weather. If it blows hard from the westward, a strong
current sets into the river from the North Sea; this impedes its course,
and causes it to overflow its bounds, in which case many of the marshes
become partially overflown, when the snipes, from finding little
shelter, usually lie light, and are difficult to approach. If, on the
countrary, the wind should be moderate, or from the eastward, and the
water consequently low, those birds have abundance of cover, and it is
easy therefore to get within range of them.
* * * * *
Pointers are made use of by many in shooting this species of birds, and,
what is very singular, although these birds are so diminutive, in
comparison with game which pointers are most accustomed to, yet they
will stand equally staunch to them; even to the jack-snipe, which is the
smallest of these birds. If you make use of a pointer it ought to be a
very old staunch one, for two reasons; the first is, that this diversion
not only spoils young ones, but slacks their mettle, as the points come
so fast upon them, that if they become habituated to snipes, they will
not look for other game, by reason of their getting a number of points
without any exertion; secondly, a young pointer will be too quick for
the snipe,—on the contrary, an old one would not be able to go out of a
very slow pace, and, if under good command, will give the most
satisfaction. When these birds are very plenty, the snipe-shooters never
make use of a dog, as they always walk them up, which is found to answer
best, and afford the most sport.
A pointer that is much used for grouse or partridge, should never be
taken out snipe or pheasant shooting; for if he once gets accustomed to
snipes, he will often baulk you on the moors in the grousing season; for
as snipes are frequently met with at that time on them, if he points
one, he may often give you a good walk and trouble, before you get to
him, supposing it is game, and you are not a little mortified to find it
only a snipe: and if accustomed to pheasants, he will be always puzzling
about hedges, and not beat his ground as he ought to do. An old pointer
may also be made use of for pheasants, as well as snipes.
The jack-snipe (_Vide_ JUDCOCK) is esteemed the most difficult shot,
although he seldom, on rising, makes any twistings or twinings, and will
alight or pitch again, after being fired at, within a couple of hundred
yards. Every sportsman that has been much accustomed to snipe-shooting,
will allow, that a jack-snipe will suffer himself to be fired at twenty
times in the same field, and will pitch each time so close to the
shooter, that he frequently conceives that he has wounded him. They lie
so close, that a staunch pointer might remain at his point until the
moon changed, as this bird will not rise until forced to do so. A most
curious circumstance which occurred respecting a jack-snipe that was
sprung several times by a Mr. Molloy, formerly a quarter-master of the
64th regiment, while he was quartered at Geneva barracks, Ireland, is
well worth relating: he regularly, after his duty was done, or if he
could possibly obtain leave for a day, used to equip himself for
shooting, and always sprung this jack-snipe, at which he fired and
followed, and the bird used to pitch so close to him at times, that he
was confident he had shot it, and used to run to take it up, when, to
his great surprise, it would rise and fly a little farther; he actually
acknowledged he fired, one day, eighteen times at this bird, and after
shooting at it for the whole season, he happened to be crossing the bog
it lay in, when he put it up, and exclaiming, “there’s my old friend,”
threw his stick at it, and killed it on the spot. Whenever, after, any
of his brother officers found a jack-snipe, they were always sure to
say, “there goes Quartermaster Molloy.”
In Ireland, in the bottoms of the county of Limerick, about
Charleville, these birds are in the greatest abundance, as it is not
uncommon to hear of a person shooting twenty brace of them in the
morning. The late Sir George Dunbar, of the 14th regiment of Light
Dragoons, when quartered at Charleville, won a considerable wager by
shooting forty-three brace between ten o’clock in the morning and
four in the afternoon; and what appears still more extraordinary is,
that although there are so many sportsmen about that place, who
follow these birds, and others who net them, yet you find always
enough of sport the day following; for there seem to be as many
snipes, after two months’ destruction, as there were at the
beginning of the season. The compiler himself has shot twenty brace,
frequently, in a day, in the county of Cork; and, in the county of
Limerick, has fired so often, that he has been forced to wait for
the barrel of the gun to cool, before he durst attempt to
reload.—_Thornville_—_Daniel_—_Lloyd_—_Latham_—_Grieff._
SNORT, _v._ To blow through the nose, as a high-mettled horse.
SNOUD, _s._ The finer part of the line to which, in sea-fishing, the
hook is immediately attached.
SOAP, _s._ A substance used in washing.
SOAR, _v._ To fly aloft, to tower; to fly without visible action of
the wings.
SOAR, _s._ Towering flight; the flight of the eagle and falcon.
SOAR HAWK, _s._ So termed from the time she leaves the eyrie until
she mews her feathers.
SOCIABLE, _s._ A kind of phaeton, with two seats facing each other,
and a box for the driver.
SOIL, _s._ Dirt, spot, foulness; land, country; dung, compost; cut
grass given to cattle; _to take soil_, in hunting; to go into
water.
SOLDER, _v._ To unite or fasten with any kind of metallic cement; to
mend, to unite anything broken.
SOLDER, _s._ Metallic cement.
SOLE, _s._ The bottom of the foot; the bottom of the shoe; the part
of any thing that touches the ground; a kind of sea fish. Soles
will take a bait freely; but they are generally taken with a
trawl net.
SOLID, _a._ Not fluid; not hollow, compact, dense.
SOLUBLE, _a._ Capable of dissolution or separation of parts.
SOLUND or SOLAN GOOSE, _s._ A fowl in bigness and feather very like
a tame goose, but his bill longer. _Vide_ PUFFIN.
SONG, _s._ Anything modulated in the utterance; a ballad, a poem,
lay, strain; poetry, poesy; notes of birds; an old song, a
trifle.
_Song of Birds._—As the song of birds is not allowed to be the effect of
love, by an honourable author on the subject of singing birds (Daines
Barrington), we shall endeavour to elucidate this matter from
experiments on birds in their natural wild state; and also endeavour to
prove that their notes are innate, contrary to that author’s opinion.
That confined birds will learn the song of others they are constantly
kept with, there is no doubt; but then it is generally blended with that
peculiar to the species. In the spring, the very great exertions of the
male birds in their vociferous notes are certainly the calls to love;
and the peculiar note of each is an unerring mark for each to discover
its own species. If a confined bird had learned the song of another,
without retaining any part of its natural notes, and was set at liberty,
it is probable it would never find a mate of its own species; and even
supposing it did, there is no reason to believe the young of that bird
would be destitute of its native notes; for if nestling birds have no
innate notes peculiar to the species, and their song is only learned
from the parent bird, how are we to account for the invariable note each
species possesses, when it happens that two different species are bred
up in the same bush, or in one very contiguous, or when hatched or
fostered by a different species.
* * * * *
Although there appears considerable force in these arguments of Montagu,
I am disposed to be of opinion, that birds sing most frequently from joy
and buoyancy of spirits, and not unfrequently in triumphant defiance of
rivalry or attack. I have a red-breast at present, who will sing out
whenever I snap my fingers at him; and the sedge-bird sings when a stone
is thrown into the bush where he may be.
Syme’s remarks upon the songs of birds, are worth quoting. The notes, he
says, of soft-billed birds, are finely-toned, mellow, and plaintive;
those of the hard-billed species are sprightly, cheerful, and rapid.
This difference proceeds from the construction of the larynx; as a large
pipe of an organ produces a deeper and more mellow-toned note than a
small pipe, so the trachea of the nightingale, which is wider than that
of the canary, sends forth a deeper and more mellow-toned note.
Soft-billed birds, also, sing more from the lower part of the throat
than the hard-billed species. This, together with the greater width of
the larynx of the nightingale and other soft-billed warblers, fully
accounts for their soft, round, mellow notes, compared with the shrill,
sharp, and clear notes of the canary and other hard-billed songsters. In
a comprehensive sense, the complete song of birds includes all the notes
they are capable of uttering; and, taken in this sense, it is analogous
to the speech of man. It is the vehicle through which these little
creatures communicate and convey to each other their mutual wishes and
their wants. It may be divided into six distinct separate sounds or
parts, each of which is very expressive, even to us, of the feelings
which agitate the bird at the moment. To describe their song more fully,
we shall divide it in the following manner:—
First—The call-note of the male in spring.
Second—The loud, clear, ardent, fierce notes of defiance.
Third—The soft, tender, full, melodious, love warble.
Fourth—The notes of fear or alarm, when danger approaches the nest.
Fifth—The note of alarm, or war-cry, when a bird of prey appears.
Sixth—The note the parent-birds utter to their brood, and the chirp or
note of the young.
The note of the young may be again divided into two; that which they
utter while in the nest, and the chirp after they have left it; for they
are very distinct sounds or notes; to which may be added, a soft,
murmuring kind of note, emitted by the male, while he is feeding the
female in the nest; and also by her while she is receiving the food. The
call-note; the warble of love; and the notes of defiance, or prelude to
battle, seem only to be understood by birds of the same species, at
least in a wild state. Perhaps, in a state of domestication, birds of
different genera, if nearly allied, may partially comprehend these
notes, as the canary bird does the notes of the siskin, the goldfinch,
and the linnet.
* * * * *
All the notes comprised in the song of birds convey delight to the mind
of a lover of nature; but the bird-fanciers only prize their love
warble, and notes of defiance; these notes, and these only, he considers
to be their song. The musical notes of birds, whether of love or war,
are sweet, and really charming in themselves; but they perhaps pour on
the mind a greater degree of pleasure than mere sound is capable of
conveying—we mean the recollections of youthful days, of endearing
incidents, or of scenes connected with country pleasure. We ourselves
prefer the mellow, plaintive melody of the soft-billed species; but
others give the palm to the cheerful warble of the hard-billed tribe;
which of these two styles is the sweetest melody we cannot determine.
Both warbles may be equally fine; and the preference, perhaps, may
depend on taste and feeling. But it is allowed, by all who have an ear
for music, or rather, we should say, who have an ear and love for simple
natural melody, that the song or warble of birds is truly delightful;
but all their musical notes cease as soon as the brood is
hatched.—_Montagu_—_Syme_—_Rennie._
SOPORIFIC, _a._ Causing sleep, opiate.
SOREL, _s._ A buck of the third year.
SOUP, _s._ Strong decoction of flesh for the table.
Hawker’s recipe for a mountain soup is simple and excellent—_Probatum
est_.—ED.
Three pounds of meat, a large carrot, two onions, and two turnips. (The
Frenchman adds also a cabbage; here John Bull may please himself.) Put
them into two quarts of water, to simmer away till reduced to three
pints. Let him season the soup to the taste, with pepper, salt, herbs,
&c. He must then cut off square, a pound of the fattest part of the
meat, and put it aside, letting the rest boil completely to pieces.
After he has well skimmed off the fat, and strained the soup, let him
put it by till wanted.
On your return, while seeing your dogs fed, which every sportsman ought
to do, let the soup be put on the fire for twenty minutes, with some
fresh vegetables, (if you like to have them,) and, for the last ten
minutes, boil again the square piece of meat which was reserved. Another
necessary part of the recipe also should be prescribed, lest the dish
should fall into disrepute. To prevent the deputy cook from helping
himself, and filling it up with water, let him have a partnership in the
concern, and when he has occasion to quit the room, he should either
lock the door, or leave one of your relay dogs for a sentry.
You will then have a good wholesome gravy-soup to begin with, and
afterwards some tender meat, which, if eaten with mustard, a little raw
parsley chopped fine, and a few anchovies, you will, it is presumed,
find an excellent dish. A pot of anchovies might easily be carried in a
portmanteau, being, of all the luxuries from an oil-shop, one of the
most portable and most useful.—_Hawker._
SOW, _s._ A female pig, the female of a boar; an oblong mass of
lead; an insect, a millepede.
SPADE, _s._ The instrument of digging; a suit of cards.
SPADILLE, _s._ The ace of spades at ombre and quadrille.
SPANCOUNTER, or SPANFARTHING, _s. obs._ A play at which money is
thrown within a span or mark.
SPANIEL, _s._ A dog used for sport in the field, remarkable for
sagacity and obedience.
[Illustration]
_Anatomical Character of Spaniels._—The head very moderately elongated;
the parietal bones do not approach each other above the temples, but
diverge and swell out so as to enlarge the forehead and the cerebral
cavity. This group includes the most useful and intelligent dogs.
Var. E—Spaniel, _Can. fam. extrarius_, LINN. The name of the spaniel
race is derived from its supposed original country, Spain.
The sub-varieties are—_a_, The smaller spaniel, with a small round head,
the ears and tail covered with long hair; _b_, King Charles’s spaniel,
_Can. brevipilis_, LINN.; _c_, _La Pyrame_, BUFF.; _d_, The Maltese,
_Bichon_, BUFF.; _e_, The lion dog, _Can. leoninus_, LINN.; _f_, the
Calabrian dog; _g_, The hunting spaniel or cocker, which yields the
setter, _Can. index_, LINN. Addenda—The Newfoundland dog; The Alpine
spaniel.
Var. F—The water spaniel, _Canis aquaticus_, LINN.; _chien barbat_,
BUFF.
Sub-varieties—_a_, small water spaniel, _petit barbet_, BUFF.; _chien
griffon_, a dog between the water spaniel and the shepherd’s
dog.—_Blaine._
SPAR, _v._ To fight like cocks with prelusive strokes; to box with
gloves.
SPARK, _s._ A small particle of fire, or kindled matter; anything
shining; anything vivid or active.
SPARROW (_Passer domesticus_, ALDROVAND), _s._ A small bird.
This well-known species weighs near seven drachms; length about six
inches; the bill is dusky; irides hazel; the crown of the head
ash-colour; round the eye, and between that and the bill, is black;
behind the eyes, surrounding the back part of the head, bay; cheeks,
white; chin and under part of the neck, black, mixed with grey; belly,
dirty white; the coverts of the wings are chestnut and black mixed, with
a whitish bar across them; the back a mixture of black and rufous;
quills dusky, with rufous edges; tail dusky, edged with grey; legs
brown. The bill of the female is lighter; behind the eye a line of
white; the head and whole upper parts are brown, the under dirty white,
dashed with ash-colour; no black on the chin or neck. In the country the
sparrow exhibits a gloss and intermixture of colours rarely to be seen
in those inhabiting large towns, which soon become of a dingy and almost
uniform hue, from the accumulation of dust and smoke upon their plumage.
The sparrow is well known in every part of England; it inhabits the
dwellings of the rich and the poor, taking possession of the humble
thatched cottage in preference to the sumptuous palace. It is rarely
seen far from the habitation of man, as it delights in the fruits of his
labour; the highest cultivated parts producing the greatest quantity. It
might be said of this bird, as of some species of water fowl, which
remaining always within soundings, warn the mariner of his approach to
land; so on the extensive and dreary mountains, not a sparrow is ever to
be seen, and the sight of one bespeaks some habitation near. It makes a
nest conformable to the place it chooses for incubation, whether in a
hole of a wall, in thatch, or under the tiles of a house, or in a window
swallow’s nest, it must conform to the size of the place; but when the
nest is made in a tree, it is of large size, and covered at top,
composed of hay and straw, lined warmly with feathers and fragments of
thread or worsted, bits of cloth, or any refuse material of that sort,
found about houses.
This accommodation of the structure of the nest to the locality where it
is built, is in no instance, with which we are acquainted, more
conspicuous than in the proceedings of the house-sparrow. Dr. Darwin
mentions, seemingly as an extraordinary circumstance, that “in the trees
before Mr. Levet’s house, at Litchfield, there are annually nests built
by sparrows, a bird which usually builds under the tiles of houses or
the thatch of barns;” but if he had been acquainted with the works of
Bonnet, he would have learned that in Switzerland, at least, the sparrow
“most usually (_pour l’ordinaire_) builds near the tops of trees,” while
its nestling under tiles is an accidental exception. In the vicinity of
London also, we venture to say that three pair of sparrows build on
trees to one pair that nestle in holes; and so commonly is this noticed,
that the tree-sparrow is popularly supposed to be a different species
from the house-sparrow. The tree-sparrow (_Passer montanus_) of
Yorkshire is indeed a different species, which lays pale brown eggs
without spots; but the London ones, which build either on trees or in
holes, have not a shade of difference.
It is worthy of notice, that they always proportion the quantity of
materials to the size of the nest hole, which is generally packed close,
leaving only a sufficient cavity for hatching the eggs and rearing the
young. I have one of these nests, for example, which could almost be hid
in the hollow of the hand, and another, built about a yard from it,
which would fill a hat. When the nest is built on a tree, however, it is
always nearly of the same dimensions, about a foot in diameter each way.
From the bird nestling occasionally in holes, it might be imagined that
when it made choice of a tree, it would be on account of thus obtaining
a canopy of thick boughs to form a roof; but, on the contrary, sparrows,
for the most part, select a high, exposed branch, as if they were more
anxious to be out of the reach of cats, than of cold winds. When
sparrows build in the ivied wall of a house, as they often do, they do
not consider the thick clustering of the leaves above the nest as a
sufficiently warm coping; and in such cases usually, if not always,
construct a dome of straw, though much more slight than in nests built
on the exposed branches of trees.
From its anxiety to procure shelter, the sparrow indeed seizes upon any
convenience it can find best adapted to its purpose, whether that be
accidental or have been prepared by some other bird. One very cogent
reason for this appears to be its looking forward prospectively to the
winter, for sparrows occupy their nests at night throughout the year,
and though they are hardy birds, they require a warm shelter during
severe frosts.
I am not aware that any contrivance is resorted to in Britain, to entice
birds to build in particular places, except in the case of the
house-sparrow. In the vicinity of London more particularly, pots of
unglazed delft ware of a sub-oval shape, with a narrow hole for an
entrance, are fixed upon the walls of houses, several feet below the
eave, and the sparrows finding a domicile so suited to their habits,
very soon took possession of every pot thus provided for them. But those
who are so careful to accommodate the sparrows, do it not because they
are fond of their neighbourhood or their yelping concerts, but to
prevent their nestling under the eaves, where they dig out the mortar
with their strong bills, when they do not find holes large enough for
their accommodation. It probably never struck those wise persons, that
by thus encouraging the sparrows to breed, they are promoting the
increase of the race, and unless they multiply their sparrow pots
yearly, they may be almost certain that the supernumeraries will resort
to eaves nearest their birth-place. In Holland, square boxes are placed
on the house-tops, to entice the stork (_Ardea ciconia_) to build; and
for the same purpose it was customary in France, in Belon’s time, to
place wheels there, a practice said to be still followed in some parts
of Germany.
The sparrow lays six eggs of a whitish colour, spotted with dusky brown
or ash-grey, and varying much in the shades as well as the thickness of
the spots; each weighs from forty-three to forty-eight grains.
Accidental varieties occur, such as white, black, and yellowish.
_Sparrow Shooting._—If, however, there are persons who still think the
practice of shooting swallows to be of assistance in acquiring the art,
we will venture to recommend another mode which is nearly similar, but,
in our opinion, much better. This is, by putting small pieces of white
paper round the necks of sparrows, or other small birds, by the means of
a hole cut in the middle of the paper, then throwing a single bird into
the air, the young shooter may deliberately take his aim, for by this
device the flight of the bird is rendered less rapid and more regular,
and at the same time presents a much better mark for practice, besides
it affords an excellent diversion in seasons when game cannot be
pursued, or in wet weather from underneath the shelter of a shed or a
barn-door. Some of the first shots in the kingdom have been perfected by
this mode.—_Montagu_—_Art of Shooting._
SPARROWHAWK (_Accipiter fringillarius_, RAY), _s._ The female of the
musket-hawk.
[Illustration]
_The Sparrowhawk._ (_Falconisus_, LINN.; _L’Epuvier_, BUFF.)—The length
of the male is twelve inches; that of the female fifteen. Its bill is
blue, furnished with bristles at the base, which overhang the nostrils;
the colour of the eye is bright orange; the head is flat at the top, and
above each eye is a strong bony projection, which seems as if intended
to secure it from external injury: from this projection a few scattered
spots of white form a faint line running backward towards the neck: the
top of the head and all the upper parts of the body are of a dusky brown
colour; on the back part of the head there is a faint line of white; the
scapulars are marked with two spots of white on each feather; the
greater quill feathers and the tail are dusky, with four bars of a
darker hue on each; the inner edges of all the quills are marked with
two or more large white spots; the tips of the tail feathers are white;
the breast, belly, and under coverts of the wings and thighs are white,
beautifully barred with brown; the throat is faintly streaked with
brown; the legs and feet are yellow; claws black.
The above is the description of a female; the male differs both in size
and colour; the upper part of his body is of a dark lead colour; and the
bars on his breast are more numerous.
The female builds her nest in hollow trees, high rocks, or lofty ruins,
sometimes in the old nest of a crow, and generally lays four or five
eggs, spotted with reddish spots at the longer end.
The sparrow-hawk is very numerous in various parts of the world, from
Russia to the Cape of Good Hope. It is a bold and spirited bird; but is
obedient and docile, and can be easily trained to hunt partridges and
quails; it makes great destruction among pigeons, young poultry, and
small birds of all kinds, which it will attack and carry off in the most
daring manner.—_Bewick._