Chapter XXII: Part 22

When the pinion joint has been introduced into the slit, the lower end of the thong is brought backwards under the wing, and tied to the other end above it.

The wing is thus confined, and in such a way as to remove it but little from its natural position, and so that it can receive no injury.

Another very effectual way to make a hawk stand quiet is, by causing water to stream upon him, from a wisp of hay or straw, until he is thoroughly drenched. This should always be done in the morning, and he should be carried on the fist until he is dry, with his wing _brailed_, be stroked with a feather, and hooded and unhooded very frequently.

When he has become a little accustomed to the hood, neither the brail nor the drenching will be necessary, but he must be carried almost all day upon the fist. The hood is to be occasionally taken off, and he may then be allowed for a short time to pull upon a stump or pinion from which he can get but little meat.

A few mouthfuls should always be given to him the moment the hood is put on.

Hawks, when hooded, are always quiet. In the field the hood prevents them from _baiting_ when birds rise, and, at other times, from being alarmed at any thing that may approach them.

It may, perhaps, appear paradoxical to assert, that hawks, by being kept hooded, are brought nearer to their natural habits, but this is undoubtedly the case, for by this treatment they are induced to remain at rest when they are not either feeding, or in pursuit of game; and such are their habits in a wild state, when left undisturbed.

When the hawk is become tolerably tame, he may be unhooded, and, after having eaten a few mouthfuls, be placed on the block, and enticed to come from thence to the fist when held near him. He will soon learn to fly to it when it is presented to him at the distance of several feet, the fist being, of course, always well garnished with meat.

When he has been practised in this manner for a few days, if he be unhooded on the fist, and a small piece of meat be thrown on the ground, to the distance of two or three feet, he will fly down to it, and having eaten it, fly back to the fist, enticed, as usual, by the offer of food.

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The sport of hawking is generally placed at the head of those amusements that can only be practised in the country, and probably it obtained this precedency from its being a pastime so generally followed by the nobility, not in this country only, but also upon the continent. Persons of high rank rarely appeared without their dogs and their hawks; the latter they carried with them when they journeyed from one country to another, and sometimes even when they went to battle, and would not part with them to procure their own liberty when taken prisoners. Sometimes they formed part of the train of an ecclesiastic.

These birds were considered as ensigns of nobility: and no action could be reckoned more dishonourable to a man of rank than to give up his hawk.

I cannot trace the origin of hawking to an earlier period than the middle of the fourth century. Julius Firmicus, who lived about that time, is the first Latin author that speaks of falconers, and the art of teaching one species of birds to fly after and catch others.

The grand fauconnier of France was an officer of great eminence; his annual salary was four thousand florins; he was attended by fifty gentlemen, and fifty assistant falconers; he was allowed to keep three hundred hawks; he licensed every vender of hawks in France, and received a tax upon every bird sold in that kingdom, and even within the verge of the court; and the king never rode out upon any occasion of consequence without this officer attending him.

Edward III., according to Froissart, had with him in his army when he invaded France, thirty falconers on horseback, who had charge of his hawks; and every day he either hunted, or went to the river for the purpose of hawking, as his fancy inclined him.

We may also here notice, that the ladies not only accompanied the gentlemen in pursuit of this diversion, but often practised it by themselves; and, if we may believe a contemporary writer, in the thirteenth century, they even excelled the men in knowledge and exercise of the art of falconry, which reason, he very ungallantly produces, in proof that the pastime was frivolous and effeminate. Hawking was forbidden to the clergy by the canons of the church; but the prohibition was by no means sufficient to restrain them from the pursuit of this favourite and fashionable amusement. On which account, as well as for hunting, they were severely lashed by the poets and moralists; and, indeed, the one was rarely spoken of without the other being included; for those who delighted in hawking were generally proficients in hunting also.

When the hawk was not flying at her game, she was usually hood-winked, with a cap or hood provided for that purpose, and fitted to her head; and this hood was worn abroad as well as at home. All hawks taken upon “the fist,” the term used for carrying them upon the hand, had straps of leather, called jesses, put upon their legs. The jesses were made sufficiently long for the knots to appear between the middle and the little fingers of the hand that held them, so that the lunes, or small thongs of leather, might be fastened to them with two tyrrits, or rings; and the lunes were loosely wound round the little finger. It appears that sometimes the jesses were of silk. Lastly, their legs were adorned with bells, fastened with rings of leather, each leg having one; and the leathers, to which the bells were attached, were denominated bewits; and to the bewits was added the creance, or long thread, by which the bird in tutoring, was drawn back, after she had been permitted to fly; and this was called the reclaiming of the hawk. The bewits, we are informed, were useful to keep the hawk from “winding when she bated,” that is, when she fluttered her wings to fly after her game.

Respecting the bells, it is particularly recommended that they should not be too heavy, to impede the flight of the bird; and that they should be of equal weight, sonorous, shrill, and musical; not both of one sound, but the one a semitone below the other; they ought not to be broken, especially in the sounding part, because, in that case, the sound emitted would be dull and unpleasing. “There is, says the book of Saint Alban’s, great choice of sparrow-hawk bells, and they are cheap enough; but for goshawk bells, those made at Milan, are called the best; and, indeed, they are excellent; for they are commonly sounded with silver, and charged for accordingly. But we have good bells brought from Dordreght (Dort), which are well paired, and produce a very shrill, but pleasant sound.”

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The person who carried the hawk was provided with gloves for that purpose, to prevent their talons from hurting his hand. In the inventories of apparel belonging to King Henry VIII. such articles frequently occur; at Hampton Court, in the jewel house, were seven hawkes’ gloves embroidered.—_Montagu_—_Sebright_—_Strutt._

HAY, _s._ Grass dried to fodder cattle in winter.

Much in a horse’s condition depends on the quality of his hay; good hay is easily chosen, and the smell and colour afford a test of its quality not to be mistaken.

HAZARD, _s._ Chance, accident; chance of danger; a game at dice.

Any number of persons may play hazard. The person who takes the box and dice, throws a main, that is to say, a chance for the company, which must be above four, and not exceed nine, otherwise it is no main, consequently he must keep throwing till he brings five, six, seven, eight, or nine; this done, he must throw his own chance, which may be any above three, and not exceeding ten: if he throw two aces or trois-ace (commonly called crabs), he loses his stakes, let the company’s chance, called the main, be what it will. If the main should be seven, and seven or eleven be thrown immediately after, it is what is called a nick, and the caster (the present player) wins out his stakes: also, if eight be the main, and eight or twelve thrown immediately after, it is also called a nick, and the caster wins his stakes. The caster throwing any other number for the main, such as is admitted, and bringing the same number directly afterwards, that is likewise termed a nick, and he then also wins whatever stakes he has made.

Every three successive mains the caster wins, he is to pay half a guinea to the box or furnisher of the dice.

The meaning of a stake or bet at this game differs somewhat from the other. If a person choose to lay a sum of money with the thrower or caster, he must put his cash upon the table, within a circle which is described for that purpose; when he has done this, if the caster agree to it, he knocks the box upon the table at the person’s money with whom he intends to bet, or particularly mentions at whose money he throws, which is sufficient, and he is obliged to answer whatever sum is down, unless the staker calls to cover; in that case the caster is obliged to stake also, otherwise the bets would be void. It is optional in the person who bets with the thrower, to bar any throw which the caster may be going to cast, provided neither of the dice be seen; if one die should be discovered, the caster must throw the other to it, unless the throw is barred in proper time.

The common odds, which are absolutely necessary to be understood, before any person attempts to play or bet at this game, are as follow: if seven be thrown for the main, and four the chance, it is 2 to 1 against the person who throws; if six to four be thrown, 5 to 3; if five to four, 4 to 3; seven to nine, 3 to 2; seven to six, 3 to 2, barring the two trois; with the two trois, only six to five; seven to five, 3 to 2; six to five, an even bet, barring the doublets or the two trois; with the trois, 5 to 4; eight to five, an even bet, barring the two fours; five to four with the two fours; nine to five, even; nine to four, is 4 to 3; the nick of seven is 7 to 2, but often laid but 10 to 3; and five to one you do not nick six or eight.

To illustrate these calculations still more clearly, the following table will be serviceable:—

TABLE OF THE ODDS.

7 to 4 is 2 to 1. ⎫
6 .. 4 .. 5 .. 3. ⎪
5 .. 4 .. 4 .. 3. ⎪
7 .. 9 .. 3 .. 2. ⎪
7 .. 6 ⎧ 3 .. 2, barring the two trois. ⎪
⎩ 6 .. 5, with the two trois. ⎪ against
7 .. 5 .. 3 .. 2. ⎬ the
6 .. 5 ⎧ even, barring the two trois. ⎪ caster.
⎩ 5 .. 4 with the two trois. ⎪
8 .. 5 ⎧ even, barring the two fours ⎪
⎩ 5 .. 4 with the two fours. ⎪
9 .. 5 .. even. ⎪
9 .. 4 .. 4 .. 3. ⎭

The nick of seven is 7 to 2, often laid 10 to 3.

The nick of six and eight is 5 to 1.

It is necessary to be perfectly master of these odds, in order to play the prudent game, and to make use of them by way of insuring bets in what is called hedging, in case the chance happens to be unlikely; for, by taking the odds a ready calculator secures himself, and often stands part of his bet to a certainty. For example, if seven be the main, and four the chance, and he should have 5_l._ depending on the main, by taking 6_l._ to 3_l._ he must either win 2_l._ or 1_l._; and on the contrary, if he should not like his chance, by laying the odds against himself, he must save in proportion to the bet he has made.—_Hoyle._

HAZARD, _v_. To expose to chance.

HAZE, _s._ Fog, mist.

HAZEL, _s._ A nut-tree.

HAZEL, _a._ Light brown, of the colour of hazel.

HEAD, _s._ The part of the animal that contains the brain or the
organ of sensation and thought; chief, principal person, one to
whom the rest are subordinate; state of a deer’s horns, by which
his age is known; the top of anything bigger than the rest; the
forepart of anything, as of a ship; that which rises on the top
of liquors; upper part of a bed; source of a stream.

_The head of the horse_ is a very important part, considered with a view to the beauty of the animal; and in no part is an improvement in the breed so soon detected as in this. Can any thing be conceived more dissimilar than the small inexpressive features attached to the enormous head of a cart-horse, compared with the bold striking lines which grace that of the blood-horse? The head, in the improved breeds, is small and angular, the eyes prominent, the ears spirited, small, and pointed; the forehead wide, straight, and sometimes slightly curved inwards at the lower part: in them the facial angle is about 25°, whereas, in the heavy breed, it is more generally 23°: its junction with the neck, also, is less easy and elegant than in the improved kind.—_Blaine._

HEAD, _v._ To lead; to direct; to behead; to kill by taking away the
head; to lop trees at the top; to get before a deer or fox, to
make him take another course.

HEADLAND, _s._ Promontory, cape; ground under hedges.

HEADSTALL, _s._ Part of the bridle that covers the head.

HEADSTRONG, _a._ Unrestrained; violent, ungovernable.

HEAL, _v._ To cure; to restore from sickness or wounds.

HEALING, _a._ Mild, mollifying; assuasive.

HEALTH, _s._ Freedom from bodily pain or sickness; strength.

HEALTHY, _a._ In health, free from sickness; in good condition.

HEARING, _s._ The sense by which sounds are perceived; reach of the
ear.

HEART, _s._ The muscle which by its contraction and dilatation
propels the blood through the course of circulation, and is
therefore considered as the source of vital motion. It is
situated in the thorax, and divided externally into the base,
the superior and inferior surface, and the anterior and
posterior margin. Internally it comprises two ventricles called
the right and left.

HEARTLESS, _a._ Without courage, spiritless, out of condition.

HEARTY, _a._ Sincere, warm; in full health; vigorous, strong.

HEAT, _s._ The sensation caused by the approach or touch of fire;
hot weather; state of any body under the action of fire; a term
in racing. _In gun-making_ three degrees of heat are employed;
blood-red heat, the lowest flame; white heat, the second; and
sparkling or welding heat, the most intense.

HEATH, _s._ A plant; a place overgrown with heath.

HEATHCOCK, _s._ A large fowl that frequents heaths. _Vide_ GROUSE.

HEATHPEAS, _s._ A species of bitter vetch.

HEDGE, _s._ A fence made round grounds with prickly bushes.

HEDGE, _v._ To enclose with a hedge; to encircle; to shut up within
an enclosure. In betting, hedging means to bet upon and against
the same event.

HEDGEHOG, _s._ An animal set with prickles like thorns in a hedge.

Hedgehogs abound in my gardens and fields. The manner in which they eat the roots of the plantain in my grass walk is very curious: with their upper mandible, which is much longer than their lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched. In this respect they are serviceable, as they destroy a very troublesome weed; but they deface the walks in some measure by digging little round holes. It appears, by the dung that they drop upon the turf, that beetles are no inconsiderable part of their food. In June last I procured a litter of four or five young hedgehogs, which appeared to be about five or six days old; they, I find, like puppies, are born blind, and could not see when they came to my hands. No doubt their spines are soft and flexible at the time of their birth, or else the poor dam would have but a bad time of it in the critical moment of parturition: but it is plain that they soon harden; for these little pigs had such stiff prickles on their backs and sides as would easily have fetched blood, had they not been handled with caution. Their spines are quite white at this age; and they have little hanging ears, which I do not remember to be discernible in the old ones. They can, in part, at this age draw their skin down over their faces; but are not able to contract themselves into a ball, as they do, for the sake of defence, when full grown. The reason, I suppose, is, because the curious muscle that enables the creature to roll itself up into a ball has not then arrived at its full tone and firmness. Hedgehogs make a deep and warm hybernaculum with leaves and moss, in which they conceal themselves for the winter: but I never could find that they stored in any winter provision, as some quadrupeds certainly do.

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Jesse says, “I had also a tame hedge-hog, which nestled before the fire, on the stomach of an old lazy terrier dog, who was much attached to it, and the best understanding existed between them.”

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_Sagacity of the Hedgehog._—During the summer of 1818, as Mr. Lane, gamekeeper to the Earl of Galloway, was passing by the wood of Glascaden, near Garlieston, in Scotland, he fell in with a hedgehog, crossing the road at a small distance before him, carrying on its back six pheasant’s eggs, which upon examination he found it had pilfered from a pheasant’s nest hard by. The ingenuity of the creature was very conspicuous, as several of the remaining eggs were holed, which must have been done by it, when in the act of rolling itself over the nest, in order to make as many adhere to its prickles as possible. After watching the motions of the urchin for a short time longer, Mr. Lane saw it deliberately crawl into a furze bush, where its nest was, and where the shells of several eggs were strewed around, which had at some former period been conveyed thither in the same manner.—_White’s Selborne_—_Jesse._

HEDGEROW, _s._ The series of trees or bushes planted for enclosures.

HEDGESPARROW, or CHANTER, (_Accentor Modularis_, CUVIER), _s._ A
sparrow that lives in bushes.

This well known species, commonly called hedge sparrow, needs little description. The length is five inches and three quarters; weight near six drams. Bill dusky; irides light hazel; head and neck brown, mixed with ash-colour; back and wing coverts darker brown, edged with rufous brown; throat and breast dull ash-colour; belly dirty white; sides and vent tawny brown. The female has less ash-colour about the head and breast.

The hedge sparrow is found in all parts of England; has a pleasing song, which it begins with the new year, if the weather is mild; breeds early, making a nest in March, composed of green moss and wool, and lined with hair, which is placed in some low evergreen shrub, thick brush, or cut hedge; frequently builds in faggot piles. The eggs are four or five in number, blue; their weight about twenty-eight grains.

This bird is one of the few of the warbler tribe that remains with us the whole year. The food is insects and worms; but like the redbreast, it will, in defect of these, pick up crumbs of bread; and seems to prefer situations near the habitation of man.—_Montagu._

HEEL, _s._ The part of the foot that protuberates behind.

HEELER, _s._ A cock that strikes well with his heels.

HEIFER, _s._ A young cow.

HEMORRHAGE, _s._ A violent flux of blood.

HEN, _s._ The female of a house cock; the female of any bird.

HENROOST, _s._ The place where the poultry rest.

HERB, _s._ Herbs are those plants whose stalks are soft, and have
nothing woody in them, as grass and hemlock.

HERBACEOUS, _a._ Belonging to herbs; feeding on vegetables.

HERBAGE, _s._ Herbs collectively; grass, pasture.

HERD, _s._ A number of beasts together; it anciently signified a
keeper of cattle, as goat-herd.

HERD, _v._ To run in herds or companies; to associate.

HERDSMAN, _s._ One employed in tending herds.

HERMAPHRODITE, _s._ An animal uniting two sexes.

HERNIA, _s._ Any kind of rupture.

HERON, COMMON HERON, HERONSEWGH, or HERONSHAW, (_Ardea Major_,
LINN.; _Le Heron huppé_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird that feeds on fish.

Although the heron is of a long, lank, awkward shape, yet its plumage gives it, on the whole, an agreeable appearance; but when stripped of its feathers, it looks as if it had been starved to death. It seldom weighs more than between three and four pounds, notwithstanding it measures about three feet in length, and in the breadth of its wings, from tip to tip, above five. The bill is six inches long, straight, pointed, and strong, and its edges are thin and slightly serrated; the upper mandible is of a yellowish horn colour, darkest on the ridge, the under one yellow; a bare skin, of a greenish colour, is extended from the beak beyond the eyes; the irides of which are yellow, and give them a fierce and piercing aspect.—The brow and crown of the head are white, bordered above the eyes by black lines, which reach the nape of the neck, where they join a long flowing pendent crest of the same colour. The upper part of the neck, in some, is white, in others pale ash, the forepart lower down is spotted with a double row of black feathers, and those which fall over the breast are long, loose, and unwebbed; the shoulders and scapular feathers are also of the same kind of texture, of a grey colour generally streaked with white, and spread over its down-clothed back. The ridge of the wing is white; coverts and secondaries lead colour; bastard wings and quills of a bluish black, as are also the long, soft feathers, which take their rise on the sides under the wings; and, falling down, meet at their tips, and hide all the under parts: the latter, next the skin, are covered with a thick, matted, dirty-white down, except about the belly and vent, which are almost bare. The tail is short, and consists of twelve feathers of a cinereous or brownish lead-colour; the legs are dirty-green, long, bare above the knees, and the middle claw is jagged on the inner edge.

The female has not the long flowing crest, or the long feathers which hang over the breast of the male, and her whole plumage is more uniformally dull and obscure. In the breeding-season they congregate in large societies; and, like the rooks, build their nests on trees, with sticks, lined with dried grass, wool, and other warm materials. The female lays from four to six eggs, of a pale, greenish-blue colour.

The heron is described by Buffon as exhibiting the picture of wretchedness, anxiety, and indigence, condemned to struggle perpetually with misery and want, and sickened by the restless cravings of a famished appetite, &c. However faithful this ingenious naturalist may have been in pourtraying the appearance of the heron, yet others are not inclined to adopt his sentiments in describing its habits and manners, or to agree with him in opinion that it is one of the most wretched of animated beings. It is probable that it suffers no more than other birds, many species of which employ equal attention in looking for their prey, and it is not unlikely that the heron derives pleasure from it instead of pain. This bird, however, is of a melancholy deportment, a silent and patient creature; and will, in most severe weather, stand motionless a long time in the water, fixed to a spot, in appearance like the stump or root of a tree, waiting for its prey, which consists of frogs, waternewts, eels, and other kinds of fish; and it is also said that it will devour field-mice.

The heron traverses the country to a great distance in quest of some convenient or favourite fishing spot, and in its aerial journeys soars to a great height, to which the eye is directed by its harsh cry, uttered from time to time while on the wing. In flying it draws the head between the shoulders, and the legs stretched out, seem, like the longer tails of some birds, to serve the office of a rudder. The motion of their wings is heavy and flagging, and yet they get forward at a greater rate than would be imagined.

In England herons were formerly ranked among the royal game, and protected as such by the laws; and whoever destroyed their eggs was liable to a penalty of twenty shillings for each offence. Heron hawking was at that time a favourite diversion among the nobility and gentry of the kingdom, at whose tables this bird was a favourite dish, and was as much esteemed as pheasants and peacocks.

_Great White Heron._ (_Ardea alba_, LINN.; _Le Heron blanc_, BUFF.)—The great white heron is of nearly the same hulk as the common heron, but its legs are longer. It has no crest, and its plumage is wholly white; its bill yellow, and its legs black.

Its character and manner of living are the same as those of the common heron, and it is found in the same countries, though this species is not nearly so numerous. It has rarely been seen in Great Britain. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, says it is found in the Russian dominions, about the Caspian and Black Seas, the lakes of Great Tartary, and the river Irtisch, and sometimes as far north as latitude 53°. Latham says it is met with in New York, in America, from June to October; at different seasons of the year it is found in Jamaica, and in the Brazils: and our circumnavigators have met with it at New Zealand.

_The Night Heron, Lesser Ash-coloured Heron or Night Raven._ (_Ardea Nycticorax_, LINN.; _Le Bihoreau_, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is about twenty inches; the bill is three inches and three quarters long, slightly arched, strong, and black, inclining to yellow at the base; the skin from the beak round the eye is bare, and of a greenish colour; irides yellow. A white line is extended from the beak, over each eye a black patch, glossed with green, covers the crown of the head and nape of the neck, from which three long narrow white feathers tipped with brown, hang loose and waving: the hinder part of the neck, coverts of the wing, sides and tail, are ash-coloured; throat white, forepart of the neck, breast, and belly, yellowish white or buff; the back black, the legs a greenish yellow. The female is nearly of the same size as the male, but she differs considerably in her plumage, which is less bright and distinct, being more blended with clay or dirty white, brown, grey, and rusty ash-colour, and she has not the delicate plumes which flow from the head of the male.

The night heron frequents the sea shores, rivers, and inland marshes, and lives upon crickets, slugs, frogs, reptiles, and fish. It remains concealed during the day, and does not roam abroad until the approach of night, when it is heard and known by its rough, harsh, and disagreeable cry, which is by some compared to the noise made by a person straining to vomit. Some ornithologists affirm that the female builds her nest on trees, others that she builds it on rocky cliffs: probably both accounts are right. She lays three or four white eggs.

This species is not numerous, although widely dispersed over Europe, Asia, and America.

The bird is indeed very uncommon in this country. Latham mentions one in the Leverian Museum, which was shot, not many miles from London, in May 1782.

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_Voracity of the Heron._—In the month of April 1818, as a person was walking a short distance from the river Mole, in the neighbourhood of Cobham Park, Surrey, where H. C. Combe, Esq. has a heronry, he was surprised by a pike in weight full 2lbs. dropping from the air immediately before him: on looking up, he perceived a large heron hovering over him, which had no doubt dropped the fish from its beak. And also, during the same month, another individual near the above spot, saw a heron take a fish from the water, and after carrying it to a bank insert its bill into the vent of the fish, beginning to suck its entrails; he drove away the bird, and on taking up the fish, found it to be a pike weighing a pound and upwards.

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Some hawks will not attack a heron, when it is first shown to them; but they may generally be brought to it by flying them at a cock, of a light colour, and by tying meat upon a heron’s back, and allowing them to feed there. Small pieces of elder are put upon the heron’s beak, to prevent him from wounding the hawk in training. The herons are caught by a slip-knot at the end of a long string, so arranged round their nests as to be drawn about their legs when they come upon their eggs. This is best done about sun-set; and the man who is to draw the string, must place himself to leeward of the nest. Herons will not feed when they are first taken; it is therefore necessary to cram them with food, and to tie a piece of mat round their necks, to prevent them from throwing it up again.

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A well-stocked heronry in an open country is necessary for this sport. The herons go out in the morning to rivers and ponds at a very considerable distance, in search of food, and return to the heronry towards the evening.

It is at this time that the falconers place themselves in the open country, down wind of the heronry; so that when the herons are intercepted on their return home, they are obliged to fly against the wind to gain their place of retreat. When a heron passes, _a cast_ (a couple) of hawks is let go. The heron disgorges his food when he finds that he is pursued, and endeavours to keep above the hawks by rising in the air; the hawks fly in a spiral direction to get above the heron, and thus the three birds frequently appear to be flying in different directions. The first hawk makes his stoop as soon as he gets above the heron, who evades it by a shift, and thus gives the second hawk time to get up and to stoop in his turn. In what is deemed a good flight, this is frequently repeated, and the three birds often mount to a great height in the air. When one of the hawks seizes his prey, the other soon _binds to him_, as it is termed, and buoyant from the motion of their wings, the three descend together to the ground with but little velocity. The falconer must lose no time in getting hold of the heron’s neck when he is on the ground, to prevent him from injuring the hawks. It is then, and not when he is in the air, that he will use his beak in his defence. Hawks have, indeed, sometimes, but very rarely, been hurt by striking against the heron’s beak when stooping, but this has been purely by accident, and not (as has been said) by the heron’s presenting his beak to his pursuer as a means of defence.

When the heron flies down wind, he is seldom taken, the hawks are in great danger of being lost, and as the flight is in a straight line, it affords but little sport.—_Bewick_—_Pennant_—_Sebright._

HERONRY, or HERONSHAW, _s._ A place where herons breed.

Belon mentions it as one of the extraordinary feats performed by the divine king Francis I., that he formed two artificial heronries at Fontainebleau,—“the very elements themselves,” he adds, “obeying the commands of this divine king (whom God absolve!!!), for to force nature is a work partaking of divinity.” In order to enhance the merits of these French heronries, he undertakes to assert, that they were unknown to the ancients, because they are not mentioned in any of their writings; and for the same reason he concludes that there are none in Britain. Before Belon’s time, on the contrary, and before the “Divine” constructor of heronries in France was born, there were express laws enacted in England for the protection of herons, it being a fine of ten shillings to take the young out of the nest, and six shillings and eight-pence for a person, without his own grounds, killing a heron, except by hawking, or by the long-bow; while in subsequent enactments, the latter penalty was increased to twenty shillings, or three months’ imprisonment. At present, however, in consequence of the discontinuance of hawking, little attention is paid to the protection of heronries, though, I believe, none of the old statutes respecting them have been repealed. Not to know a hawk from a heron-shaw (the former name for a heron) was an old adage, which arose when the diversion of heron-hawking was in high fashion: it has since been corrupted into the absurd vulgar proverb, “not to know a hawk from a hand-saw.”

In the breeding season they congregate, and make their nests very near each other. Mr. Pennant mentions having seen eighty nests on one tree. We once saw a heronry on a small island in a lake in the north of Scotland, whereon there was only one scrubby oak tree, which not being sufficient to contain all the nests many were placed on the ground.—_Sebright_—_Montagu._

HERRING, _s._ A small sea-fish.

Of all migrating fish, the herring and the pilchard take the most adventurous voyages.

This mighty army begins to put itself in motion from the Icy Sea early in the spring: this body is distinguished by that name, for the word herring is derived from the German heer, an army, to express their number, which is so vast, that were all the men in the world loaded with herrings, they could not carry the thousandth part away. No sooner, however, is their asylum quitted, but millions of enemies collect to thin their squadrons. The fin fish and cacholot swallow barrels at a yawn; the porpoise, the grampus, the shark, and the whole numerous tribe of dog-fish, desist from making war upon each other, and make the herring their easy prey. The unnumbered flocks of sea fowl, that chiefly inhabit near the pole, watch the outset of their migration and spread extensive ruin. In this exigence the defenceless emigrants find no other safety but by crowding closer together, and leaving to the outermost the danger of being first devoured. Thus, like frighted sheep (which ever run together in a body), each finding some protection in being but one of many that are equally liable to invasion, they separate into shoals: those to the west visit the American shores, while those holding to the east pour down towards Europe, endeavouring to evade their merciless pursuers by approaching the first shore that presents itself, which is that of Iceland, in the beginning of March. Upon their arrival on that coast, this phalanx, notwithstanding its diminutions, is still of amazing extent, depth, and closeness, covering an extent of shore as large as the island itself; the whole water seems alive, and by their foes the herrings are cooped up so closely, that any hollow vessel put into it takes them out of the water without further trouble. The power of increasing in these animals exceeds our idea, as it would in a very short time outstrip all calculation. A single herring, it is affirmed, if suffered to multiply unmolested and undiminished for twenty years, would show a progeny greater in bulk than ten such globes as that we live upon; but happily the balance of nature is exactly preserved, and their consumption is equal to their fecundity. Upon this account, we must consider the fish and fowl that so incessantly attack them, not as plunderers, but as the benefactors of mankind: without their aid the sea would soon be overcharged with the burden of its own productions, and that element, which at present distributes health and plenty to the shore, would but load it with putrefaction.

These collective masses that come upon our coasts, begin to appear off the Shetland Isles in April and May; these are only the fore-runners of the grand shoal which comes in June, and their arrival is marked by the numbers of birds, such as gannets and others, which follow them as their prey. But when the main body approaches, its breadth and depth alters the very appearance of the ocean. They divide into distinct columns of five or six miles long, and three or four broad, while the water before them ripples as if forced out of its bed; sometimes they sink for ten or fifteen minutes, then rise again to the surface, on which in bright weather they reflect a variety of splendid colours, like a field bespangled with the most precious gems, in which, or rather in a much more valuable light, should this stupendous gift of Providence be considered by the inhabitants of the British Isles. The fishermen are ready prepared for their reception, and by nets made for the occasion they sometimes take above two thousand barrels at a single draught.

After this check from the Shetland Isles, which divide the army into two parts, one wing takes to the eastern shores of Great Britain, and fills every bay and creek with its numbers; the other pushes on towards Yarmouth, the great and ancient mart of herrings; they then pass through the British Channel, and after that in a manner disappear. Those which take to the west, after offering themselves to the Hebrides, where the great stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of Ireland, where being interrupted they make a second division; that to the western side is scarcely perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of the Atlantic, whilst the other, which passes into the Irish Sea, rejoices and feeds the inhabitants of most of the coasts that border upon it.

* * * * *

The herring is always found in shoals, and on some occasions are crowded so close together, as to fill the sea, at least so far as our implements can reach, from top to bottom. Ships are said to have been retarded in their course in passing through these shoals, and instances are recorded where these little fishes have been left by the ebbing of the tide in heaps three feet deep upon the shores for many miles in extent. It is universally credited among those conversant in the herring fishery, that no other fish will go into the middle of a shoal. The whale, to whom they are a favourite repast, and who swallows a thousand at once, never ventures into the shoal, but hovers about the skirts of it, and regularly follows their course. The dog-fish, which in vast troops assiduously attend the herrings wherever they go, carefully keep aloof from the great mass of them; so it is with other fishes, who delight in the herring as a prey, but as a body seem to dread their multitudes.

* * * * *

_Herring Fishing._—To approach the fleet was a task of some difficulty. The nets, extended in interminable lines, were so frequent, that much skill was necessary to penetrate this hempen labyrinth, without fouling the back ropes. Warning cries directed our course, and with some delay we treaded the crowded surface, and, guided by buoys and puckawns, found ourselves in the very centre of the flotilla.

It was an interesting scene; momently the boats glided along the back ropes, which were supported at short intervals by corks, and at greater by inflated dog-skins, and raising the curtain network, which these suspended, the herrings were removed from the meshes, and deposited in the boats. Some of the nets were particularly fortunate, obliging their proprietors to frequently relieve them of the fish; while others, though apparently stretched within a few yards, and consequently in the immediate run of the herrings, were favoured with but a few stragglers; and the indolent fisherman had to occupy himself with a sorrowful ditty, or in moody silence watched the dark sea “like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks staying for waftage.”

The darkness of the night increased the scaly brilliancy which the phosphoric properties of these beautiful fish produce. The bottom of the boat, now covered with some thousand herrings, glowed with a living light, which the imagination could not create, and the pencil never imitate. The shades of gold and silvery gems were rich beyond description: and much as I had heard of phosphoric splendour before, every idea I had formed fell infinitely short of its reality.—_Buffon_—_Wild Sports._

HERRING GULL (_Larus fuscus_, LINN.) _s._ A genus thus
characterised:—

This species weighs about thirty-three ounces; length twenty-three inches; bill yellow; on the lower mandible a reddish-orange spot; irides light yellow; orbits red. Head, neck, tail, and under parts, white; back, scapulars, and wing coverts, ash-colour; quill-feathers, dusky, the five first black towards their ends, with a white spot near the tip; legs pale flesh-colour.

* * * * *

Whether these immatured birds breed we cannot be certain, but are inclined to think they do, as we saw a great many of them intermixed with the perfect ones in the gullery on an island off St. David’s, where the nests were innumerable: they seemed equally clamorous with the others when disturbed. The nests were on the top of the island, amongst the grass and loose stones, composed of a small quantity of long dry grass, the eggs, which were two in number, of a dark olive-brown, with dusky blotches. Like others of the genus, this bird feeds indiscriminately on fish, and various other productions of the sea, particularly the star-fish. It is sometimes observed to trample the soft sand, by moving its feet alternately in the same place: for what purpose this singular action is intended, we cannot say, unless it is to force up the sand eels or other hidden prey, as the one mentioned above did the worms.—_Montagu._

HIDE, _s._ The skin of any animal, either raw or dressed; the human
skin.

HIDEBOUND, _v._ A horse is said to be hide-bound, when his skin
sticks so hard to his ribs and back, that you cannot with your
hand pull up or loosen the one from the other; in trees, being
in the state in which the bark will not give way to the growth.

HIGHLAND, _s._ Mountainous region.

HIGHWAY, _s._ Great road, public path.

HILL, _s._ An elevation of ground less than a mountain.

HILLOCK, _s._ A little hill.

HILLY, _a._ Full of hills, unequal in the surface.

HIND, _s._ The she to a stag; a servant; a peasant, a boor.

HIP, _s._ The joint of the thigh; the fleshy part of the thigh; the
fruit of the briar.

HIP, _v._ To sprain or shoot the hips.

HIPSHOT, _a._ Sprained or dislocated in the hip.

HIRUNDO, _s._ Swallow, a genus thus characterised:—

Bill short, much depressed, and wide at the base; the upper mandible being keeled and bent at the tip; gape extending as far backwards as the eyes; nostrils at the base of the bill, oblong, and partly covered by a membrane; legs with the shank short; the toes slender, three before and one behind; the outer toe united to the middle one as far as the first joint; tail of twelve feathers, generally forked; wings long and acuminated, the first quill being the longest.—_Montagu._

HIT, _v._ To strike, to touch with a blow; to touch the mark, not to
miss; to reach the point; a lucky chance; a game at backgammon.

HITCH, _s._ A knot or noose taken on a rope.

HIVE, _s._ The habitation or cell of bees; the bees inhabiting a
hive.

HOAR, _a._ White; grey with age; white with frost.

HOBBY, _s._ A species of hawk; an Irish or Scottish horse.

_The Hobby._ (_Falco subbuteo_, LINN.; _Le Hobereau_, BUFF.)—The length of the male is twelve inches; breadth about two feet. The bill is blue; cere and orbits of the eyes yellow; the irides orange; over each eye there is a light-coloured streak; the top of the head and back are of a bluish black; the wing coverts the same, but in some edged with rust colour; the hinder part of the neck is marked with two pale yellow spots; a black mark from behind each eye, forming almost a crescent, is extended downwards on the neck; the breast and belly are pale, marked with dusky streaks; the thighs rusty, with long dusky streaks; the wings brown; the two middle feathers of the tail are of a deep dove colour, the others are barred with rusty and tipped with white. The female is much larger, and the spots on her breast more conspicuous than those of the male; the legs and feet are yellow.

The hobby breeds with us, but is said to emigrate in October. It was formerly used in falconry, chiefly for larks and other small birds, which were caught in a singular manner: when the hawk was cast off, the larks, fixed to the ground through fear, became an easy prey to the fowler, who drew a net over them. Buffon says that it was used in taking partridges and quails.

A male hobby perceiving a goldfinch in a cage, within a window which happened to be open, dashed at the imprisoned bird, notwithstanding several persons were in the room; but being alarmed at the natural vociferations of some young ladies for the safety of their darling, the intruder mistook the passage by which he entered, and flew against the glass, when his retreat was cut off, and he was secured.

This species was formerly trained for hawking, but more commonly used for taking partridges and larks with a net, which was termed daring, that is, the hobby was cast off, which so frightened the birds, that they readily suffered a net to be drawn over them.—_Montagu._

HOCK, _s._ The joint between the knee and fetlock; old strong
Rhenish.

HOE, _s._ An instrument to cut up the earth.

HOG, _s._ The general name of swine; a castrated boar.

_To prepare Hog’s Fur._—Take according to the quantity of fur you have: if a pound, four quarts of water; cut down into it two ounces of soap with a noggin of stale urine; throw in your fur, and let it come to a high scald, and while it is coming to that, keep it constantly under the liquor. Lay it by to cool, and when cool enough gently squeeze and press with your hands, and throw it into cold water. Then in some clean water, about two quarts, dissolve about the size of two walnuts of alum, and when it boils throw in your fur, press it well, and throw it into clean water; press it, and throw off the water, pour in more, and do the same at least three times. You must open your fur before you can dye it, as this process will cement it together. As to mohair it needs nothing more than washing with soap and water, to be boiled as above in alum, and washed.—_Old Recipe._

HOGGEREL, _s._ A two-years-old ewe.

HOGSHEAD, _s._ A measure of liquids containing sixty gallons; any
large barrel.

HOG’S LARD, _s._ An article of some importance in veterinary
surgery, being the basis of almost every ointment.

Hog’s lard possesses a laxative quality, and may be given to the extent of half a pound, melted or mixed with warm water or peppermint water, as a substitute for castor oil, olive oil, or linseed oil, when neither of those can be procured. Fresh hog’s lard melted, and mixed with a little salad oil, forms a good softening ointment for horses’ heels that are subject to cracks.—_White._

HOLD, _s._ The act of seizing; gripe, grasp, seizure; something to
be held; hold of a ship, all that part which lies between the
keelson and the lower deck; a lurking-place.

HOLE, _s._ A cavity narrow and long; a cave, hollow place; cell of
an animal.

HOLLOW, _v._ To shout, to hoot. _View hollow!_ The hunter’s halloo!
given when the game is viewed by the hounds.

HOLLY, _s._ A tree.

HONEY, _s._ A thick, viscous, luscious substance, which is collected
and prepared by bees. Honey is divided into three kinds; virgin
honey, the first produce of the swarm, obtained by drawing,
without pressing the comb; a second, or thicker kind, produced
by pressure; and a third and worst description extracted by
heating, and then pressing the comb.

HONEYCOMB, _s._ The cells of wax in which the bee stores her honey.

HONEYCOMBED, _a._ Flawed with little cavities; a term used to
describe the injuries produced by rust on cannon and gun
barrels.

HOOD, _s._ Anything drawn upon the head, and wrapping round it; a
cap of leather put on the hawk’s head immediately after he is
taken. It is so constructed as to prevent him from seeing, but
to allow him to feed; and may be put on or taken off at
pleasure. To hood a hawk requires a degree of manual dexterity
that is not easily acquired.

HOOD, _v._ To blind as with a hood.

HOODED or ROYSTON CROW (_Corvus cornix_, LINN.; _La Corneille
mantelée_, BUFF.) _s._

This bird is somewhat larger and more bulky than the rook, measuring twenty-two inches in length. Its bill is black, and two inches long; the head, fore part of the neck, wings, and tail, are black; the back and all the under parts are of a pale ash-colour; legs black.

These birds arrive with the woodcock, and on their first coming frequent the shores of rivers. They depart in the spring to breed in other countries, but it is said that they do not all leave us, as they have been seen during the summer months in the northern quarters of our island, where they frequent the mountainous parts of the country, and breed in the pines. In more northern parts of the world they continue the whole year, and subsist on sea-worms, shell-fish, and other marine productions. With us they are seen to mix with and to feed in the same manner as the crow. During the breeding season they live in pairs, lay six eggs, and are said to be much attached to their offspring.—_Bewick._

HOODED GULL, (_Larus atricilla_, LINN.) _s._

The bill and feet are deep lake red; hood of dark bluish ash-colour; quill feathers all black, and two inches longer than the tail; length of the shank one inch and three-fourths. In the month of August, 1774, we saw five of them together feeding in a pool upon the shingley flats near Winchelsea; two only were black on the head; the others were mottled all over with brown. We also saw two others near Hastings, in Sussex. It is found in Russia and America, and, according to Natterer, on the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.—_Montagu_—_Temminck._

HOODWINK, _v._ To blind with something bound over the eyes.

HOOF, _s._ The hard horny substance which composes the feet of
several sorts of animals.

_Hoof Ointment._—Tar and tallow in equal parts: when melted let the mixture be removed from the fire, and stirred until it is cold. This ointment is applied to the coronet and heels, when dry and cracking.—_White._

HOOK, _s._ Any thing bent so as to catch hold; the bended wire on
which the bait is hung for fishes, and with which the fish is
pierced; a snare, a trap; a sickle to reap corn; an iron to
seize the meat in the caldron; an instrument to cut or lop with;
the part of the hinge fixed to the post.