There appears no doubt but many authors have confounded this species
with the grey wagtail, which we have remarked more fully in the history
of that bird.
The male of this species, it is said, possesses a few black spots on the
throat, but such a mark we have never observed in more than a hundred
specimens. It must therefore be rare, if not a mistake, in describing
the grey wagtail for this. If no other mark of distinction were to be
found but the length and straitness of the hind claw in this, it would
be sufficient to know it from the grey wagtail, which is very short and
crooked. The tail of this bird is also an inch shorter, and has only two
feathers on each side, partly white. The under parts of the male are of
a much fuller yellow, and the upper parts never possess any of the
cinereous colour.
The spring wagtail visits us about the time the other departs, and
migrates again in September. It frequents arable land, especially in the
more champaign parts; sometimes uncultivated ground interspersed with
furze; it is also partial to bean fields; in all such places it breeds,
and does not seem to regard water so much as either of the other
species. It is said to be found in Russia and Siberia in summer, and to
continue in France the whole year.—_Montagu._
SPROUT, _s._ A shoot of a vegetable; a branch of a deer’s horn.
SPUR, _s._ A sharp point fixed on the rider’s heel; incitement, a
stimulus; the sharp points on the legs of a cock; anything
standing out.
SPUR, _v._ To prick with the spur; to incite; to urge forward.
SPURGALLED, _a._ Hurt with the spur.
SPURIOUS, _a._ Not genuine, counterfeit; adulterine; not legitimate,
bastard.
SPURLING, _s._ A small sea fish.
SPURRIER, _s._ One who makes spurs.
SPURRY, _s._ A plant.
SQUAB, _a._ Unfeathered, newly hatched; fat, thick and stout;
awkwardly bulky. _obs._
SQUAMOUS, _a._ Scaly, covered with scales.
SQUARE, _a._ Cornered, having right angles; forming a right angle.
SQUARE, _s._ A figure with right angles and equal sides.
SQUAT, _v._ To sit cowering, to sit close to the ground.
SQUEAK, _v._ To cry with a shrill acute tone.
SQUEAK, _s._ A shrill quick cry.
SQUIB, _s._ A small pipe of paper filled with wildfire.
SQUILL, _s._ A plant; a fish; an insect.
SQUIRREL, _s._ A small animal that lives in woods, leaping from tree
to tree.
Within the memory of some of the old persons residing in Richmond Park,
squirrels were in such vast numbers, that parties of fifty or sixty
persons have come from the metropolis and its neighbourhood, for the
purpose of killing them. They were furnished with short sticks, with
lead at one end, with which they knocked the animals down. These
squirrel hunts occasioned many fights with the keepers, in one of which
a keeper, of the name of Bishop, was nearly killed. The squirrels were
in consequence destroyed, and it is now but seldom that one is seen.
* * * * *
_Cat and Squirrels._—A boy has taken three little young squirrels in
their nest, or drey as it is called in these parts. These small
creatures he put under the care of a cat who had lately lost her
kittens, and finds that she nurses and suckles them with the same
assiduity and affection as if they were her own offspring. This
circumstance corroborates my suspicion, that the mention of exposed and
deserted children being nurtured by female breasts of prey who had lost
their young, may not be so improbable an incident as many have supposed;
and therefore may be a justification of those authors who have gravely
mentioned what some have deemed to be a wild and improbable story.
So many persons went to see the little squirrels suckled by a cat, that
the foster mother became jealous of her charge, and in pain for their
safety; and therefore hid them over the ceiling, where one died. This
circumstance shows her affection for these fondlings, and that she
supposes the squirrels to be her own young. Thus hens, when they have
hatched ducklings, are equally attached to them as if they were their
own chickens.
* * * * *
The squirrel’s nest is not only called a drey in Hampshire, but also in
other counties; in Suffolk it is called a bay. The word “drey,” though
now provincial, I have met with in some of our old writers.
In the north of Hampshire a great portion of the squirrels have white
tails. None of this variety, as far as I can learn, reach the London
Market. I was much surprised at hearing from a man who kept a bird and
cage shop in London, that not less than twenty thousand squirrels are
annually sold there for the _menus plaisirs_ of cockneys, part of which
come from France, but the greater number are brought in by labourers to
Newgate and Leadenhall markets, where any morning during the season four
or five hundred might be bought. He said that he himself sold annually
about seven hundred: and, he added, that about once in seven years the
breed of squirrels entirely fails, but that in other seasons they are
equally prolific. The subject was introduced by his answering to a woman
who came in to buy a squirrel, that he had not had one that season, but
before that time in the last season he had sold five hundred. It appears
that the mere manufacture of squirrel cages for Londoners is no small
concern.—_Mitford_—_White._
STABLE, _a._ Fixed, steady.
STABLE, _s._ A house for beasts. _Vide_ APPENDIX.
STACK, _s._ A large quantity of hay, corn, or wood.
STAG, _s._ The male red deer; the male of the hind.
[Illustration]
The stag or hart, whose female is called the hind, and the young a calf,
differs in size and in horns from a fallow deer. He is much larger, and
his horns round, whereas, in the fallow species, they are broad and
palmated. By these the animal’s age is ascertained. During the first
year the stag has no horns, but a horny excrescence, which is short and
rough, and covered with a thin hairy skin, the next year the horns are
single and straight, in the third they have two antlers, three the
fourth, four the fifth, and five the sixth year, but this number is not
always certain, for sometimes there are more, and often, less. After the
sixth year the antlers do not always increase, and although in number
they may amount six or seven on each side, yet the animal’s age is then
estimated rather from the size of the antlers, and the thickness of the
branch which sustains them, than from their variety. These horns, large
as they seem, are, notwithstanding, shed every year, and new ones assume
their place. The old horns are of a firm solid texture, and are
extensively employed in making handles for knives and other instruments.
But, while young, nothing can be more soft or tender, and the animal, as
if conscious of his own imbecility, at those times, instantly upon
shedding his former horns, retires from the rest of his species, and
hides himself in solitudes and thickets, never venturing out to pasture
except by night. During this time, which most usually happens in the
spring, the new horns are very tender, and have a quick sensibility of
any external impression. When the old horn has fallen off, the new one
does not begin to appear immediately, but the bones of the skull are
seen covered only with a transparent periosteum or skin, which covers
the bones of all animals. After a short time, however, the skin begins
to swell, and to form a sort of tumour, which contains a great deal of
blood, and then it is covered with a downy substance, that to the touch
resembles velvet, and which appears of nearly the same colour with the
rest of the animal’s hair. This tumour daily increases from the point,
like the graft of a tree, and, rising by degrees from the head, shoots
out the antlers from either side, so that in a short time, in proportion
as the animal is in condition, the entire horns are completed, but it
should be observed, that the substance of which the horns are composed,
begins to harden at the bottom, while the upper part remains soft and
still continues growing; whence it appears that the horns of deer grow
differently from those of sheep or cows, which latter always are seen to
increase from the bottom. When, however, the horns have completed their
full growth, the extremities then acquire solidity. The velvet-like
covering, with its blood-vessels, dries up, and the former then begins
to fall, and this the animal hastens by rubbing its antlers against the
trees of the forest. In this manner the whole external surface being
stripped off by degrees, the horns acquire their complete hardness,
expansion, and beauty. It is also said that some hinds have horns.
It would be a vain task to inquire into the cause of the annual
production of these horns; it is sufficient to observe, that if a stag
be emasculated when the horns are fallen off, they will never grow
again; and, on the contrary, if the same operation is performed when
they are on, they will never fall off. If only one side is emasculated,
he will want the horn on that side.
The old stags usually shed their horns first, which generally happens
towards the latter end of February or the beginning of March.
Such as are between five and six years old shed their horns about the
middle or latter end of March; those still younger in the month of
April; and the youngest of all not till the middle or latter end of May.
They generally shed them in pools of water, whither they retire from the
heat, and this has given rise to the opinion of their always hiding
their horns. These rules, though true in general, are yet subject to
many variations, and it is well known that a severe winter retards the
shedding of the horns. A short time after they have gained their horns,
they begin to feel the impression of the rut.
The old ones are the most forward, and about the end of August or
beginning of September, they quit their thickets and return to the
mountain or plain in order to seek the hind, to whom they call with a
loud tremulous note. At this time their neck is swollen—they appear bold
and ferocious—fly from country to country—strike with their horns
against the trees and other obstacles—and continue restless and fierce
until they have found the female, who at first flies from them, but is
at last overtaken.
When two stags contend for the same female, however timorous they may
appear at other times, they then seem agitated with an uncommon degree
of ardour; they paw up the earth, and menace their opponent with their
horns, bellowing with all their force, and striking in a desperate
manner against each other, seeming determined upon death or victory.
This combat continues till one of them is defeated or flies, and it
oftentimes happens that the victor is obliged to fight several of these
battles before he becomes the undisturbed master of the field. The old
ones are generally the conquerors upon these occasions, as they have
more strength and greater courage, and they are preferred by the hind to
the younger, the latter being more feeble and less ardent.
In this manner the stag continues to range from one to the other for
three weeks, the time the rut continues, during which he scarcely eats,
sleeps, or rests, but continues to pursue, to combat, and enjoy. At the
end of this period of madness, for such in this animal it seems to be,
the creature that was before fat, sleek, and glossy, becomes lean,
feeble, and timid. He then retires from the herd to seek replenishment
and repose.
The stag or red deer is common in Europe, Barbary, the north of Asia,
and North America; it abounds in the southern parts of Siberia, where it
grows to an immense size, but is now extirpated in Russia. It lives in
herds, and there is generally one male which is supreme in each herd.
The colour of the stag is generally a reddish brown, with some black and
white about the face, and a black line down the hinder part of the neck
between the shoulders, and the belly white. Sometimes their colour is a
pale yellow brown, sometimes a blackish brown, and lastly, instances
occasionally occur of stags being found entirely white.
The stag possesses a fine eye, an acute smell, and excellent ear, like
that of the cat and the owl; the eye of the stag contracts in the light,
and dilates in the dark, but with this difference, that the contraction
and dilatation are horizontal, while in the first mentioned animals they
are vertical.
When deer are thirsty, they plunge their noses, like some horses, very
deep under water while in the act of drinking, and continue them in that
situation for a considerable time.
The number of teeth of the various species of deer and the antelope
tribe, is generally thirty-two, namely, eight cutting teeth in the lower
jaw, six molar teeth on each side of these, and six molar teeth on each
side in the upper jaw; but there are frequent exceptions to this rule.
The cry of the hind or female is not so loud as that of the male, and is
never excited but by apprehension for herself or her young. It need
scarcely be mentioned that she has no horns, or that she is more feeble
or unfit for hunting than the male. When once she has conceived she
separates from the males, and then they both herd apart. The time of
gestation continues eight months and a few days, and they seldom produce
more than one at a birth. Their usual season for bringing forth is about
the month of May, or the beginning of June. They take the greatest care
to secrete their young in the most obscure thickets, nor is the caution
without reason, as many creatures are their formidable enemies. The
eagle, the falcon, the wolf, the dog, and all the rapacious family of
the cat kind, are continually seeking to discover her retreat. But what
is more unnatural still, the stag himself is a professed enemy, and she
is obliged to use all her arts to conceal her young from him, as from
the most dangerous of her pursuers. At this season, therefore, the
courage of the male seems transferred to the female; she defends her
young against her less formidable opponents by force, and, when pursued
by the hunter, she offers herself to mislead him from the principal
object of his concern. She flies before the hounds for half the day, and
then returns to her offspring, whose life she has thus preserved at the
hazard of her own.
Those persons who are fond of the pastime of hunting have their peculiar
terms for the different objects of their pursuit. Thus the stag is
called, the first year, a _calf_ or _hind calf_, the second a _knobber_,
the third a _brock_, the fourth a _staggard_, the fifth a _stag_, the
sixth a _hart_. The female is called, the first year, a _calf_, the
second a _hearse_, the third a _hind_.
In Britain the stag is become less common than formerly, its excessive
viciousness during the rutting season inducing most people to dispense
with this species, and rear the fallow deer, which is of a more placid
nature, in its stead. Some attempts have, indeed, been made to render
stags domestic, by treating them with the same gentleness as the
Laplanders do their rein-deer; and it appears, in the Isle of France,
where the Portuguese had introduced the European breed, they had so far
succeeded, by degrees, as to render them quite domestic, many of the
inhabitants keeping large flocks of them; but when the French took
possession of that island, they destroyed most of these domesticated
stags. Valmont de Bromere asserts that he saw in Germany, a set, or
attelage, consisting of six stags, that were perfectly obedient to the
curb and to the whip; and in the magnificent stables of Chantilly, in
the year 1770, there were two stags that were occasionally harnessed to
a small chariot, in which they drew two persons.
Stags are still found wild in the Highlands of Scotland, in herds of
four or five hundred together, ranging at full liberty over the vast
hills of the north, and some of them grow to a great size: Pennant says,
upon the authority of Mr. Farquharson, that one of these wild stags
weighed three hundred and fourteen pounds, exclusive of the entrails,
head, and skin. Formerly the great Highland chieftains used to hunt with
all the magnificence of eastern monarchs, assembling four or five
thousand of their clan, who drove the deer into the toils, or to the
station their lairds had placed themselves in. But as the chace was
frequently used as a pretence for collecting their vassals for
rebellious purposes, an act was passed prohibiting any assembly of this
kind.
Stags are likewise met with on the moors that border on Cornwall and
Devonshire, and Ireland, on the mountains of Kerry, where they add
greatly to the magnificence of the romantic scenery of the lakes of
Killarney.
* * * * *
Stags are mostly kept in parks, with fallow deer. Dr. Johnson describes
them as not exceeding the common deer in size, and that their flesh is
of equal flavour. From a stag that had been committing depredations on
the farmers’ corn during a whole summer, and which was accidentally
hunted and killed, after a long run, a haunch weighing forty-six pounds,
was allowed by very competent judges to be the highest flavoured and
fattest venison they had ever tasted. The stag’s age is partly known by
the horns, which he begins to shed about the end of February, and the
new horns are complete and polished in July or August: at six years, the
antlers amount to six or seven on each side; their number is uncertain,
nor can the years be precisely ascertained beyond that period, as the
new horns come like those last shed. The eye of the stag is peculiarly
beautiful, soft, and sparkling, and is, for these attributes, frequently
alluded to in Eastern poetry; he hears quickly, and his sense of
smelling is highly perfect; his powers of leaping are often
astonishingly exerted during the chase, and in the New Forest is a
celebrated spot called the Deer Leap, where a stag was once shot, and in
the agony of death, collecting his strength, gave a bound which so
surprised those that saw it, that it is commemorated by two posts, fixed
at the extremity of the leap: the space between them is something more
than eighteen yards. The stag’s rutting season is in August, and
continues about three weeks, when he becomes a dangerous animal: he then
frequents rivers or pools of water, to cool his ardour; he swims with
great power and facility, and to this element he always retreats, when
hard pressed by the hounds. The hind, at the expiration of eight months
and a few days, produces seldom more than one young, which she
resolutely protects from every enemy, and carefully conceals from the
stag, one of the worst. During the whole summer the fawn never quits the
dam; and in winter the stags and hinds of all ages keep together in
herds, which are more or less numerous, according to the mildness or
rigour of the season. They separate in the spring; the hinds retire to
bring forth, while none but the young ones remain together. Stags are
gregarious, delight to graze in company, and are separated but by danger
or necessity.
* * * * *
While traversing a low range of moors, an incident occurred which, at
this season, was unaccountable. A red-and-white setter pointed at the
top of a little glen. The heathy banks on both sides of a mountain
rivulet undulated gently from the stream, and caused a dipping of the
surface; the ground seemed a favourable haunt for grouse, and our dogs
were beating it with care. Observing the setter drop, his companions
backed, and remained steady, when suddenly Hero rose from his couchant
attitude, and next moment a wild deer of enormous size and splendid
beauty crossed before the dog and sprang the birds he had been pointing.
The apparition of the animal, so little expected, and so singularly and
closely introduced to our view, occasioned a sensation I had never
hitherto experienced. I rushed up the bank; unembarrassed by our
presence, the noble deer swept past us in a light and graceful canter,
at the short distance of some seventy or eighty yards. I might have
fired at and annoyed him—but on a creature so powerful small shot could
have produced little effect, and none but a cockney, under such
circumstances, would waste a charge. To teaze without a chance of
bringing down the gallant beast, would have been a species of useless
mischief, meriting a full month upon the tread-mill. I gazed after him
as he gradually increased his distance; his antlers were expanded as
fully as my arms would extend; his height was magnificent, and compared
with fallow-deer he seemed a giant to a dwarf. The sun beamed upon his
deep bay side, as he continued describing a circular course over the
flat surface of the moor, till reaching a rocky opening leading to the
upper hills, he plunged into the ravine, and we lost sight of him.
What could have driven the red deer so low upon the heath was
marvellous. Excepting when disturbed by a solitary hunter, or a herdsman
in pursuit of errant cattle, or driven from the summit of the hills by
snow and storm, those deer are rarely seen below the Alpine heights they
inhabit. But the leisure pace of the beautiful animal we saw to-day,
proved that he had not been alarmed in his lair, and led one almost to
fancy, that in freakish mood, he had abandoned his mountain home to take
a passing glance at men and things beneath him.
* * * * *
I will not pretend to describe the anxious, nay agonising hour that I
passed in this highland ambuscade. The deep stillness of the waste was
not broken even by the twittering of a bird. From the place where I lay
concealed, I commanded a view of the defile for the distance of some
eighty yards, and my eye turned to the path by which I expected the deer
to approach, until to gaze longer pained me. My ear was equally engaged;
the smallest noise was instantly detected, and the ticking of my watch
appeared sharper and louder than usual. As time wore on my nervousness
increased. Suddenly a few pebbles fell—my heart beat faster—but it was a
false alarm. Again, I heard a faint sound, as if a light foot pressed
upon loose shingle—it was repeated—by Saint Hubert, it is the deer! they
have entered the gorge of the pass, and approach the rock that covers
me, in a gentle canter!
To sink upon one knee and cock both barrels was a moment’s work.
Reckless of danger, the noble animals, in single file, galloped down the
narrow pathway. The hart led the way, followed by the doe, and the old
stag brought up the rear. As they passed me at the short distance of
twenty paces, I fired at the leader, and, as I thought, with deadly aim;
but the ball passed over his back, and splintered the rock beyond him.
The report rang over the waste, and the deer’s surprise was evinced by
the tremendous rush they made to clear the defile before them. I
selected the stag for my second essay; eye and finger kept excellent
time, as I imagined—I drew the trigger—a miss by every thing
unfortunate! The bullet merely struck a tyne from his antler, and,
excepting this trifling graze, he went off at a thundering pace,
uninjured.
* * * * *
The deer had separated—the hart and doe turned suddenly to the right,
and were fired at by my cousin, without effect. The stag went right
a-head; and while I still gazed after him, a flash issued from a hollow
in the hill, the sharp report of Hennessey’s piece succeeded, and the
stag sprang full six feet from the ground, and tumbling over and over
repeatedly, dropped upon the bent-grass with a rifle-bullet in his
heart.
* * * * *
In addition to a herd of fallow deer, amounting to about one thousand
six hundred, which are kept in Richmond Park, there is generally a stock
of from forty to fifty red deer. Some stags from the latter are selected
every year, and sent to Swinley, in order to be hunted by the king’s
stag-hounds. When a stag, which has been hunted for three or four
seasons, is returned to the park, to end his days there, he is generally
more fierce and dangerous than any of the others at a particular season
of the year. At that time it is sometimes not safe to approach him: and
the keepers inform me that they have been obliged to fire at them with
buck shot, when they have been attacked by them. They account for this
ferocity, by the circumstance of the deer having been much handled, and
consequently rendered more familiar with, and less afraid of, those whom
they would naturally shun. It is sometimes very difficult to take stags
for hunting. One fine stag was so powerful, and offered so much
resistance, that two of his legs were broken in endeavouring to secure
him, and he was obliged to be killed. One who had shown good sport in
the royal hunt, was named ‘Sir Edmund,’ by his late Majesty, in
consequence of Sir Edmund Nagle having been in at the ‘take’ after a
long chase. This stag lived some years afterwards in the park; and it is
a curious fact that he died the very same day on which Sir Edmund Nagle
died. This deer herded with the cows, probably from having been so long
separated from his usual companions.
Does are longer lived than bucks. One doe in Richmond Park lived to be
twenty years old; and there are other instances of their having attained
the same age.
A curious circumstance lately occurred, respecting the red deer in the
park in question. In the year 1825, not a single calf was dropped by any
of the hinds, though they had bred freely the preceding, and did the
same in the subsequent year. I find an event recorded in the ‘Journal of
a Naturalist,’ as having happened in the same year in regard to cows. It
is there stated that, for many miles round the residence of the author,
scarcely any female calves were born. This diminution of the usual breed
of deer, and the increase of sex in another animal, is not a little
remarkable.
* * * * *
Of the stag’s longevity much has been asserted, which latter
observations have refuted, and upon the received maxim, that animals
live seven times the number of years that bring them to perfection, and
this requiring six to arrive at its maturity, the stag’s age may be
fixed at nearly forty years.
* * * * *
Of the stag’s courage, when his personal safety requires it, the combat
promoted by William, Duke of Cumberland, many years since, in an area
where a stag was inclosed with a hunting tiger, and which made so
resolute a defence that the tiger was at length obliged to give up, is a
faithful record. It was in Ascot race week, and this novelty attracted
an additional concourse of people. On a lawn by the road-side, a space
was fenced in with very strong toiling, fifteen feet high, into which an
old stag was turned, and shortly after the tiger was led in, hoodwinked,
by two blacks who had the care of him, and his eyes and himself at once
set at liberty. The instant he saw the deer, he crouched down on his
belly, and creeping like a house-cat at a mouse, watched an opportunity
of safely seizing his prey. The stag, however, warily turned as he
turned, and this strange antagonist still found himself opposed by his
formidable brow antlers. In vain the tiger attempted to turn his flanks,
the stag had too much generalship, and this cautious warfare lasted
until it became tedious, when his royal highness enquired, if, by
irritating the tiger, the catastrophe of the combat might not be
hastened; he was told it might be dangerous, but it was ordered to be
done; the keepers went to the tiger, and did as they were ordered, when
immediately, instead of attacking the deer, with a furious and elastic
bounce, he sprang at, and cleared the toiling that enclosed him; great
indeed was the confusion amongst the affrighted multitude, every one
imagining him or herself the destined victim to the tiger’s rage, who,
regardless of their fears, or their persons, crossed the road, and
rushed into the opposite wood.
It happened a herd of fallow deer were feeding not far from the scene of
action, on the haunch of one of them he instantly fastened, and brought
it to the ground. His keepers, to whom he was perfectly familiarised,
for some time hesitated to go near him; at length they ventured, cut the
deer’s throat, and separating the haunch he had seized, which he never
left from his hold for a moment, hoodwinked, and led him away with it in
his mouth.
* * * * *
_Stag Hunting._—I hunted two winters at Turin: but their hunting, you
know, is no more like ours, than is the hot meal you there stand up to
eat to the English breakfast you sit down to here. Were I to describe
their manner of hunting, their infinity of dogs, their number of
huntsmen, their relays of horses, their great saddles, great bits, and
jack-boots, it would be no more to our present purpose than the
description of a wild boar chase in Germany, or the hunting of
jackalls in Bengal. _C’est une chasse magnifique, et voilà tout._
However, to give you an idea of their huntsmen, I must tell you that
one day the stag (which is very unusual) broke cover, and left the
forest; a circumstance which gave as much pleasure to me as
displeasure to all the rest—it put every thing into confusion. I
followed one of the huntsmen, thinking he knew the country best; but
it was not long before we were separated: the first ditch we came to
stopped him. I, eager to go on, hallooed out to him, “_Allons piqueur,
sautez done._” “_Non pardi_,” replied he, very coolly, “_c’est un
double fossé—je ne saute pas des double fossés_.” There was also an
odd accident the same day, even to the king himself, you may think
interesting; besides it was the occasion of a _bon mot_ worth your
hearing.—The king, eager in the pursuit, rode into a bog, and was
dismounted: he was not hurt,—he was soon on his legs, and we were all
standing round him. One of his old generals, who was at some distance
behind, no sooner saw the king off his horse, but he rode up full
gallop to know the cause, “_Qu’est ce que c’est? qu’est ce que
c’est?_” cries the old general, and in he tumbles into the same bog.
Count Kevenhuller, with great humour, replied, pointing to the place,
“_Voilà ce que c’est! voilà ce que c’est!_”—_Le Keux_—_Jesse_—_Wild
Sports_—_White of Selborne_—_Beckford._
STAGECOACH, _s._ A coach that keeps its stages; a coach that passes
and repasses on certain days for the accommodation of
passengers.
STAGER, _s._ A player; an old cock grouse.
STAGHOUND (_Canis Strenuus_), _s._ A hound kept for hunting stags.
[Illustration]
The stag-hound is now the largest and most powerful of all the dogs
which go under the general term of hound. He is held higher in
estimation than any other dog of chase, and has a most commanding and
dignified aspect, blended with every mark of intellectual mildness.
It has been asserted by the most celebrated naturalists, that the hound,
harrier, turnspit, water-dog, and spaniel, are originally of the same
race; and there seem to be strong reasons for believing this to be the
case, as their figures and instinctive properties are nearly allied in
all of these kinds; the principal difference consisting in the length of
their legs and the size of their ears, which are in all of them soft in
their texture and pendulous. The hound and harrier are supposed to be
the natives of Britain, France, and Germany, an opinion which is
attended with some degree of reason, for when transported to warmer
climates they quickly degenerate.
It seems extremely probable that this large, strong, and bony hound was
the primeval stock from which all the collateral branches of this race
have descended, and that all deviations from the original stem have been
the result of crosses and improvements, during many centuries, by those
skilled in rearing and breeding dogs of the chase, and varied in size
and strength, according to the particular sport for which they are
intended. At the present day there cannot be a doubt but that the
practical breeder, by judicious crosses, can either enlarge or diminish
the stature and strength of his pack in the course of three or four
generations.
The stag-hounds exclusively devoted to that sport, in the royal
establishment of this country, it is well known, have been an improved
cross between the old English southern hound and the fleeter foxhound,
grafted upon the bloodhound.
* * * * *
Things gradually continue thus to improve in proportion as the face of
the country becomes more cultivated, till animals of the chace are
greatly reduced in number, so much so, that even the stag is now but
seldom seen in a state of nature in this country, decreasing as the
sequestered places of its abode become fewer. They are now only to be
met with in a state of unrestrained freedom in those extensive moors
upon the borders of Cornwall and Devonshire, and in some places of the
Highlands of Scotland, and the mountains of Kerry in Ireland, in which
last place they add greatly to the beauty and magnificence of the justly
celebrated Lake of Killarney, where they are pursued with hound and
horn.
* * * * *
There is a fine breed of buck-hounds in Richmond Park, and their
sagacity is very extraordinary. In taking the deer, according to annual
custom, either for the royal hunt or for the fattening paddocks, a stag
or a buck, which has been previously fixed upon, is ridden out of the
herd by two or three of the keepers in succession, each of whom is
closely followed by a hound, the young dogs only being kept in slips. As
soon as the deer has been separated from his companions, the dogs have
the requisite signal given to them, and they immediately follow in
pursuit. The scene is then highly interesting. A strong deer will afford
a very long chase, but when he comes to bay the dogs generally seize him
by the throat or ears; the keepers come up, take him by the horns, and
after having strapped his hind and fore legs together, put him into a
cart which follows for the purpose, and he is then disposed of as he may
be wanted. I have seen an active young keeper throw himself from his
horse upon a deer at bay, which he had come up to at full gallop, and
hold his horns till assistance arrived. Some danger, however, attends
this sport; as, when a deer has been hard pressed, I have seen him, in
more than one instance, suddenly turn upon the horsemen and injure the
horses, and in one case wound the leg of the horseman. The dogs are so
well trained, and are so soon made aware which buck is intended to be
caught, that they seldom make a mistake, even if the deer regains the
herd after having been driven from it, but press him through it, till
they have again separated him from it. It is well known that when a hard
pressed deer tries to rejoin his companions, they endeavour to avoid and
get away from him as much as possible, or try to drive him away with
their horns. So severe is the chase in Richmond Park in taking deer,
especially when the ground is wet, that three or four good horses may be
tired by a single horseman in one day’s deer taking, if each deer is
ridden out of the herd, and followed till he is taken. When dogs are in
slips, the man who holds them merely rides as near as he can to the
person who is endeavouring to single out the deer, and awaits his signal
for slipping the dog. These dogs who are a large, rough sort of
greyhound, and very powerful and sagacious, are soon taught not to
injure the deer when they come to them. The cry of ‘hold them,’ made use
of by the keepers in urging them forward, seems to be perfectly
understood by the dogs.—_Brown_—_Jesse._
STAGGARD, _s._ A four-year-old stag.
STAGGERS, _s._ A kind of horse apoplexy; madness.
STAGNATE, _v._ To lie motionless, to have no course or stream.
STAIN, _v._ To blot, to spot, to dye.
STAKE, _s._ A post or strong stick fixed in the ground; a piece of
wood; anything placed as a palisade or fence; the post to which
a beast is tied to be baited; anything pledged or wagered; the
state of being hazarded, pledged, or wagered.
STALK, _v._ To walk with high steps; to walk behind a stalking horse
or cover; to follow deer.
STALKINGHORSE, _s._ A horse, either real or fictitious, by which a
fowler shelters himself from the sight of the game.
STALL, _s._ A crib in which an ox is fed, or where any horse is kept
in the stable.
STALLFED, _a._ Fed not with grass but dry feeding.
STALLION, _s._ A horse kept for mares; a horse not castrated.
STANCH, _v._ To stop blood, to hinder from running.
STAND, _s._ A station; a place where one waits standing; station; a
stop; a halt; stop, interruption; the act of opposing; highest
mark; stationary point.
STANDHOUSE, _s._ A building erected on a racecourse, to accommodate
the subscribers or company generally.
STAR, _s._ One of the luminous bodies that appear in the sky; the
pole star; mark on the forehead of a horse.
STARE, _v._ To be rough in the coat, as a horse.
STARFISH, _s._ A fish branching out into several points.
STARHAWK, _s._ A kind of hawk.
STARLING or STARE, (_Sturnus vulgaris_, LINN.; _L’Etourneau_, BUFF.)
_s._ A bird that may be taught to whistle, and articulate words.
[Illustration]
The length of this bird is somewhat less than nine inches. The bill is
straight, sharp-pointed, and of a yellowish brown; in old birds deep
yellow; the nostrils are surrounded by a prominent rim; the eyes are
brown; the whole plumage is dark, glossed with green, blue, purple, and
copper, but each feather is marked at the end with a pale yellow spot;
the wing-coverts are edged with yellowish-brown; the quill and
tail-feathers dusky, with light edges; the legs are of a reddish-brown.
From the striking similarity, both in form and manners, observable
between this bird and its congeners, we have no scruple in removing it
from its usual place, as it evidently forms a connecting link between
them, and in a variety of points seems equally allied to both. Few birds
are more generally known than the stare, it being an inhabitant of
almost every climate; and as it is a familiar bird, and easily trained
in a state of captivity, its habits have been more frequently observed
than those of most other birds. The female makes an artless nest in the
hollows of trees, rocks, or old walls, and sometimes in cliffs
overhanging the sea; she lays four or five eggs, of a pale greenish-ash
colour; the young birds are of a dusky-brown colour, till the first
moult. In the winter season these birds fly in vast flocks, and may be
known at a great distance by their whirling mode of flight, which Buffon
compares to a sort of vortex, in which the collective body performs a
uniform circular revolution, and at the same time continues to make a
progressive advance. The evening is the time when the stares assemble in
the greatest numbers, and betake themselves to the fens and marshes,
where they roost among the reeds; they chatter much in the evening and
morning, both when they assemble and disperse. So attached are they to
society, that they not only join those of their own species, but also
birds of a different kind, and are frequently seen in company with
red-wings, fieldfares, and even with crows, jackdaws, and pigeons. Their
principal food consists of worms, snails, and caterpillars; they
likewise eat various kinds of grain, seeds, and berries, and are said to
be particularly fond of cherries. In a confined state they eat small
pieces of raw flesh, bread soaked in water, &c.; are very docile, and
may easily be taught to repeat short phrases, or whistle tunes with
great exactness, and in this state acquire a warbling superior to their
native song.
* * * * *
The time to shoot starlings by wholesale is just before the dusk of the
evening, when they come down to roost among the reeds. Here they
assemble in swarms, that darken the air; and for some time keep up a
chatter, which even surpasses that of Frenchmen in their warmest
political debates.
Having swept down some dozens with your duck-gun, let their heads be
immediately pulled off; as this will, in a great degree, prevent their
having a bitter taste.
Starlings are very good when stewed with rice, or made into a curry.
* * * * *
Before I conclude under the head of starlings, I must ask leave to
become my own trumpeter, in order to name a shot that I made at these
birds, which will give some idea as to the manner in which they swarm
together. Happening, in the early part of last winter, to have put my
punt afloat on Lord Rodney’s pond, at Alresford, I loaded my new double
swivel-gun with a pound of small shot in each barrel, and a little
before day-light paddled across to a retired part of the pond, where the
reeds were literally swarming with these birds. Having placed the punt
“stern on,” so as to command the eastern light, and shoot well clear of
the reeds, I gave a little signal, as previously agreed on, to Mr.
Macilwain (who, with Captain Hill, was in another punt behind) to
discharge both barrels of my little double gun. On hearing this report
up sprung the whole army, consisting I should say of every starling in
Hampshire, and making the valley echo like a peal of thunder. No sooner
had they cleared the reeds than I opened my battery, and cut such a lane
through them, as I could scarcely have thought possible, and the
quantity of feathers which came flying back to leeward, I could compare
to nothing but a fall of black snow. What number were killed and wounded
we never could ascertain, from the extreme difficulty of getting the
birds that fell among the reeds and quagmires, but we fairly bagged two
hundred and forty-three, as fast as they could be picked up, and the
workmen, when the reeds were cut down, declared that they found between
two and three hundred more; for this, however, I have only their word,
though there is no reason to doubt it, as we all felt confident that at
least five hundred fell in this one volley.—_Bewick_—_Hawker._
STARRED, _a._ Marked with stars.
STARSHOOT, _s._ A supposed emission from a star.
START, _v._ To feel a sudden and involuntary twitch or motion of the
animal frame; to wince; to deviate; to set out from the barrier
at a race; to set out upon any pursuit; to alarm.
START, _s._ A motion of terror; a sudden twitch or contraction of
the frame; a sudden rousing of an animal; a quick spring or
motion; first emission from the barrier; act of setting off.
_Start in Racing._—The person appointed to start the horses shall mark
in his list the time when the horses in each race actually started; and
if there have been any false starts, the first of them shall be
considered as the time of starting for that race. And he shall make a
report thereof to the keeper of the match-book in the afternoon of the
day the races are run. And if any delay beyond the allowed time shall
have taken place, he shall state by whom, or by what cause, the delay
was occasioned. He shall regulate his watch by the coffee-room clock,
which shall be considered as the true time for this purpose.—_Turf
Expositor._
STARTLE, _v._ To fright, to impress with sudden terror.
STARVELING, _s._ An animal thin and weak for want of nourishment.
STEEL, _s._ Steel is a kind of iron, refined and hardened, of great
use in the making of tools and instruments of all kinds;
chalybeate medicines.
STEEL, _v._ To point or edge with steel; to make hard or firm.
STEELYARD, _s._ A kind of balance, in which the weight is moved
along an iron rod, and grows heavier as it is removed farther
from the fulcrum.
STEEPLE CHACE, _s._ A race over the country by hunters.
STEER, _s._ A young bullock.
STEM, _v._ To oppose a current, to pass across or forward
notwithstanding the stream.
STERN, _s._ The hinder part of anything; the tail of a dog.