Part 11

Birdlime is prepared in different ways. The best birdlime is made of the middle bark of the holly boiled seven or eight hours in water, till it is soft and tender, then laid in heaps in pits in the ground, and covered with stones, the water being previously drawn from it, and in this state left for two or three weeks to ferment, till it is reduced to a kind of mucilage. This being taken from the pit, is pounded in a mortar, to a paste, washed in river water, and kneaded, till it is free from extraneous matters. In this state it is left four or five days in earthen vessels, to ferment and purify itself, when it is fit for use. It reddens tincture of litmus. Exposed to a gentle heat, it liquifies slightly, swells in bubbles, becomes grumous, emits a smell resembling that of animal oils, grows brown, but recovers its properties on cooling, if not heated too much. The residuum contains sulphate and muriate of potash, carbonate of lime, and alumina, with a small portion of iron.

The misletoe affords a juice superior to that of the holly; and if a young shoot of the common alder be cut through, a stringy juice will draw out in threads, and follow the knife like birdlime, or the juice of the holly.

When birdlime is to be put in wet places, the common birdlime is apt to have its force soon taken away. It is necessary, therefore, to have recourse to a particular sort, which, from its property of bearing water unhurt, is called water birdlime, and is prepared thus: Take a pound of strong birdlime, wash it in spring water till the hardness is all removed; then beat it well, that the water may be well separated, so as not a drop remains; then dry it well, and put it into an earthen pot, add to it as much grease as will make it run, with two teaspoonfuls of strong vinegar, one spoonful of oil, and a small quantity of Venice turpentine; let the whole boil for some minutes over a moderate fire, stirring it all the while; then take it off, and, when there is occasion to use it, warm it, and cover the sticks well with it. This is the best sort of birdlime for snipes, and other birds that frequent wet places.

The most successful method of using birdlime is this:—Cut down the branch of any bushy tree, whose twigs are thick, straight, and smooth. The willow and the birch tree afford the best of this kind. Let all the superfluous shoots be trimmed off, and the twigs all made neat and clean; they must all be well covered with the birdlime, within four inches of the bottom: no part of the bark where the lime should come must be left bare; but it is a nice matter to lay it on properly, for if it be too thick it will give the birds a distaste, and they will not come near it; and if there be too little of it, it will not hold when they come there. When the bush is thus prepared, it must be set up in some dead hedge, or among bushes near the outskirts of a town, or the like, in the spring, for these places are the resort of small birds at that time. If it be used in summer, the bush must be placed in the midst of a quickset hedge, or in whitethorn trees, near fields of corn; and, in the winter, the proper places are about stacks of corn, hovels, barns, and the like. When the lime-bush is thus planted, the sportsman must stand as near it as he can without being discovered, and with the mouth, or otherwise, make such notes as the birds do when they attack or call to one another. The time of day for this sport is from sunrise to ten o’clock, and from one to sunset. Another very good method of bringing the birds together is by a stale. A bat makes a very good stale, but it must be fastened so as to be in sight at a distance. An owl is a still better stale, for this bird never goes abroad but it is followed by all the small birds. They will gather together in great numbers about it, and having no convenient place to sit on but the lime-bush, many will be taken. If a living owl or bat is not to be had, the skin stuffed will serve the purpose, and will last twenty years. Some have used the image of an owl carved in wood, and painted in the natural colours, and it has been found to succeed very well.

BIRDS, METHOD OF PRESERVING.

Various methods have been attempted for preserving birds from putrefaction, so as to retain their natural form and position, as well as the beauty of their colours and plumage. A good antiseptic for animal substances has been much inquired after, as, for want of it, many curious animals, and birds particularly, from foreign parts, entirely miscarry, and others of the finest plumage are devoured by insects. The following improved method by Dr. Lettsom seems to be the least troublesome, and the most complete. After opening the bird by a longitudinal incision from the breast to the vent, dissecting the fleshy parts from the bones, and removing the entrails, eyes, tongue, and brains, (which in large birds may be extracted through the eye-holes with a surgeon’s directar,) the cavities and inside of the skin are to be sprinkled with the powders mentioned below. Glass eyes, which are preferable to wax, are then to be inserted, and the head stuffed with cotton or tow, and a wire is to be passed down the throat through one of the nostrils, and fixed on the breast bone. Wires also to be introduced through the feet, up the legs and thighs, and inserted into the same bone; next fill the body with cotton to its natural size, and sew the skin over it; the attitude is lastly to be attended to, and whatever position the subject is placed in to dry, it will be retained afterwards. The dyeing compound is as follows:—

Corrosive sublimate ¼ lb. Saltpetre, prepared or burnt ½ lb. Alum, burnt ¼ lb. Flowers of sulphur ½ lb. Camphor ¼ lb. Black pepper 1 lb. Tobacco, ground coarse 1 lb.

Mix the whole, and keep it in a glass vessel, stopped close. Small birds may be preserved in brandy, rum, arrack, or first runnings; though the colour of the plumage is liable to be extracted by the spirit. Large sea-fowl have thick strong skins, and such may be skinned; the tail, claws, head, and feet are carefully to be preserved, and the plumage stained as little as possible with blood. The inside of the skin may be stuffed as above. Kuckahu observes, (in the Phil. Trans. vol. ix. p. 319.) that “Baking is not only useful in the fresh preservations, but will also be of very great service to old ones, destroying the eggs of insects; and it should be a constant practice, once in two or three years, to bake them over again, and to have the cases fresh washed with camphorated spirit, or the sublimate solution, which would not only preserve collections from decay, much longer, but also keep them sweet.” But Dr. Lettsom remarks that, “Baking is apt to crimp and injure the plumage, unless great care be used, and, therefore, the proper degree of heat should be ascertained by means of a feather, before such subjects are baked.” And he prescribes as the best preservative, boxes well glazed; and he adds, “When the subject is to be kept for some time in a hot climate, it should be secured in a box filled with tow, oakum, or tobacco, well sprinkled with the sublimate solution.” In Guiana, the number and variety of beautiful birds is so great, that several persons in the colony advantageously employ themselves, with their slaves and attendants, in killing and preserving these animals for the cabinets of naturalists in different parts of Europe. The method of doing this, as related by Mr. Bancroft, (in his Nat. Hist. of Guiana,) is, to put the bird which is to be preserved in a proper vessel, and cover him with high wines, or the first running of the distillation of rum. In this spirit he is suffered to remain for twenty-four or forty-eight hours, or longer, till it has penetrated through every part of his body. When this is done, he is taken out, and his feathers, which are no ways changed by this immersion, are placed smooth and regular. It is then put into a machine, made for the purpose, among a number of others, and its head, feet, wings, tail, &c. are placed exactly agreeable to life. In this position they are placed in an oven, very moderately heated, where they are slowly dried, and will ever after retain their natural position without danger of putrefaction.—_Ency. Lond._

BISCUIT, _s._ A kind of hard, dry bread, made to be carried to sea; a composition of fine flour, almonds, and sugar.

BISHOP, _s._ A cant word for a mixture of wine, oranges, and sugar.

BISHOP, _v._ _To bishop a horse_, is to remove, by filing, the distinguishing marks by which the teeth indicate the age. It was a very common practice some years since, and is still resorted to by low horse dealers. It will, however, by carefully observing other indiciæ of age, be easily detected. See AGE OF HORSE.

BISTORT, _s._ A plant called snake-weed. The roots are a very powerful astringent. It has also styptic properties.

BISTOURY, _s._ A surgeon’s instrument, used in making incisions.

BIT, _s._ The iron part of the bridle which is put into the horse’s mouth.

BIT, _v._ To put the bridle upon a horse.

BITCH, _s._ The female of the dog kind.

Bitches should be allowed to breed, nor is it good for their health to prevent it; for nature almost invariably punishes extraordinary deviations from her established laws, of which the reproductive system is one of the most important. Breeding, therefore, is so much a healthy and necessary process, that bitches prevented from it rarely remain unaffected by disease. Bitches in heat are very cunning, and often elude all but the greatest vigilance in their attempts to escape in search of a mate; and thus, for want of due caution, many frustrate the hopes of their owners in the desired breed; and many others meet their death by becoming lined by a dog so extremely disproportionate in size that the mothers are found unable to bring forth. Impregnation takes place sometimes at the first copulation, in others not until the second, third, or fourth; and in some cases it has been known, from decided proofs, that impregnation did not ensue until the seventh warding. Dogs should be suffered, therefore, to remain together some days to insure prolific intercourse. It is not easy to detect whether bitches are in pup until the fourth or fifth week after warding; about which time the teats enlarge, the flanks fill, and the belly assumes a fulness and rotundity unnatural to it at others. Pupping usually comes on the sixty-second, sixty-third, or, at farthest, on the sixty-fourth day. A quarter or half an hour, and sometimes a longer time, intervenes between the expulsion of each fœtus.

Dogs are certainly capable of superfœtation; that is, impregnation may take place at more than one warding, and that by distinct mates.

It would appear that this mental impression, which is perhaps usually raised at some period of œstrum, always recurs at that period, and is so interwoven with the organisation even, as to become a stamp or mould for some, if not all, of her future progeny. I had a pug bitch whose constant companion was a small and almost _white_ spaniel dog, of Lord Rivers’ breed, of which she was very fond. When it became necessary to separate her, on account of her heat, from this dog, and to confine her with one of her own kind, she pined excessively; and notwithstanding her situation, it was some time before she would admit of the attentions of the pug dog placed with her. At length, however, she did so; impregnation followed, and at the usual period she brought forth five pug puppies, one of which was elegantly _white_, and more _slender_ than the others. The spaniel was soon afterwards given away, but the impression remained; for at two subsequent litters (which were all she had afterwards) she presented me with a _white_ young one, which the fanciers know to be a very rare occurrence.

The Rev. R. Lascelles, in his _Letters on Sporting_, p. 250, relates a case of a greyhound bitch, intrusted to the care of a servant, which whelped one perfect greyhound and six complete curs: the curs were the likeness of the dog she domesticated with in common; the single one resembled the greyhound she was taken to during her heat. There is little reason, therefore, to doubt that the bitch had been previously lined by the cur, and the single greyhound pup was the effect of superfœtation.

Sportsmen incline to the opinion, that the male pups are more strongly tinctured with the external form of the father than of the mother, and _vice versâ_; but though instances may occur to favour such a conclusion, it is not a uniform occurrence.—_Blaine._

BITE, _v._ To crush or pierce with the teeth; to cut, or wound.

BITE, _s._ The seizure of anything by the teeth; the act of a fish that takes the bait; a cheat, a sharper.

BITTERN; BOG BUMPER; BITTERN BUM, or MIRE DRUM; (_Ardea Stellaris_, LINN.; _Le Buton_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird with long legs, which feeds upon fish.

The bittern is nearly as large as the common heron; its legs are stronger, body more plump and fleshy, and its neck is more thickly clothed with feathers. The beak is strong at the base; straight, sharp on the edges, and gradually tapers to an acute point; the upper mandible is brown, the under inclining to green; the mouth is wide, the gape extending beyond the eyes, with a dusky patch at each angle: the irides are yellow. The crown of the head is somewhat depressed, and covered with long black feathers; the throat is yellowish white; the sides of the neck pale rust colour, variegated with black, in spotted, waved, and narrow transverse lines, and on the forepart the ground colour is whitish, and the feathers fall down in less broken and darker lengthened stripes. These neck-feathers, which it can raise and depress at pleasure, are long and loose, and, inclining backwards, cover the neck behind; those below them, on the breast to the thighs, are streaked lengthwise with black, edged with yellowish white: the thighs, belly, and vent, are of a dull pale yellow, clouded with dingy brown. The plumage on the back and wings is marked with black zigzag lines, bars, and streaks, upon a ground shaded with rust colour and yellow. The bastard wings, greater coverts, and quills, are brown, barred with black. The tail, which consists only of ten feathers, is very short; the legs are of a pale green, bare a little above the knees; the claws, particularly those on the hind toes, are long and sharp, the middle ones serrated.

The female is less than the male; her plumage is darker, and the feathers on her head, breast, and neck, are shorter, and the colours not so distinctly marked. She makes an artless nest, composed chiefly of the withered stalks and leaves of the high coarse herbage, in the midst of which it is placed, and lays from four to six eggs, of a greenish white colour.

The bittern is a shy solitary bird; it is never seen on the wing in the day time, but sits, commonly with the head erect, hid among the reeds and rushes in the marshes, where it always takes up its abode, and from whence it will not stir, unless it is disturbed by the sportsman. When it changes its haunts, it removes in the dusk of the evening, and then rising in a spiral direction, soars to a vast height. It flies in the same heavy manner as the heron, and might be mistaken for that bird, were it not for the singularly resounding cry which it utters from time to time while on the wing; but this cry is feeble when compared to the hollow booming noise which it makes during the night time, in the breeding season, from its swampy retreat.

The bittern, when attacked by the buzzard, or other birds of prey, defends itself with great courage, and generally beats off such assailants; neither does it betray any symptoms of fear, when wounded by the sportsman, but eyes him with a keen undaunted look, and, when driven to extremity, will attack him with the utmost vigour, wounding his legs, or aiming at his eyes with its sharp and piercing bill. It was formerly held in much estimation at the tables of the great, and is again recovering its credit as a fashionable dish.

* * * * *

The Little Bittern, (_Ardea Minuta_, LINN. _Le Blongois_, BUF.) in size is not much larger than the throstle, measuring only about fifteen inches in length. From the corners of the mouth, a black stroke extends across the under side of the cheeks; and a patch of black, glossed with green and edged with chestnut, covers the crown of its head. On the back, rump, and scapulars, the feathers are dark brown, edged with pale rusty coloured red; the sides of the neck, and the breast are of the same colours, but the brown on the middle of each feather is in narrower streaks. The belly is white: the hinder part of the neck is bare, but the long feathers on the forepart lie back and cover it. The tail is short, and of a black green colour, edged and tipped with tawny: the legs dirty green. The little bittern has seldom been met with in Great Britain.

The above drawing and description were taken from an ill-stuffed specimen in the Wycliffe Museum.—_Bewick._

BITUMEN, _s._ A fat unctuous matter dug out of the earth, or scummed off lakes.

BLACK, _a._ Of the colour of night; dark.

BLACK, _s._ A black colour; mourning.

_To dye a good black._—First make your stuff a very dark blue: then make a very strong dye of strawall and walnut bark; boil the wool in this for six hours. Take out the stuff, and clean out the dye-pot, and make a fresh dye of _strawall_, _logwood dust_, or a good quantity of _chips_, with some _madder_ and _Brazil dust_: boil in this two hours, and pour off your liquor. Clean your pot, and put in liquor again with the stuff, and when hot, pour in a quart of _urine_, at least eight days’ old, and boil in this half an hour. Having dissolved in some of the boiling liquor the size of a hazel-nut of copperas, lift out your stuff, and pour in this liquor—boil it well, and all is done. If any brown or purple should appear between you and the light, put down some clean water, and boil it, adding to it one, two, or three tea spoonfuls of _salt of tartar_, and throw in your stuff for a few minutes. This is a long way for black dyeing, but the best for fishing. Let your dye-pot be large, or it will run over when you add the copperas; keep your dye-pot constantly full of water.—_Ancient Recipe._

BLACKBIRD, _s._ The name of a bird.

The length of the blackbird, or ouzel, (_Turdus Merula_, LINN.—_Le Merle_, BUFF.) is generally about ten inches. Its plumage is altogether black; the bill, inside of the mouth, and edges of the eye-lids, are yellow, as are also the soles of the feet; the legs are of a dirty yellow. The female is mostly brown, inclining to rust colour on the breast and belly; the bill is dusky, and the legs brown; its song is also very different, so that it has sometimes been mistaken for a bird of a different species.

The males, during the first year, resemble the females so much, as not easily to be distinguished from them; but, after that, they assume the yellow bill, and other distinguishing marks of their kind. The blackbird is a solitary bird, frequenting woods and thickets, chiefly of evergreens, such as holly, pines, firs, &c., especially where there are perennial springs, which together afford it both shelter and subsistence. Wild blackbirds feed on berries, fruits, insects, and worms; they never fly in flocks like thrushes; they pair early, and begin to warble nearly as soon as any other of the songsters of the grove.

The female builds her nest in bushes, or low trees, and lays four or five eggs, of a bluish green colour, marked irregularly with dusky spots. The young birds are easily brought up tame, and may be taught to whistle a variety of tunes; for which their clear, loud, and melodious tones are well adapted. They are restless and timorous birds, easily alarmed, and difficult of access. But Buffon observes, that, “they are more restless than cunning, and more timorous than suspicious, as they readily suffer themselves to be caught with bird-lime, nooses, and all sorts of snares.” They are never kept in aviaries; for, when shut up with other birds, they pursue and harass their companions in slavery unceasingly: for which reason they are generally confined in cages apart. In some counties of England, this bird is called simply the Ouzel.—_Bewick._

BLACKCAP, _s._ A small singing bird.

BLACK COCK, _s._ (_Tetrao tetrix_, LINN.) Known also as the heath-cock and heath-poult.

This species sometimes weighs as much as four pounds; length about twenty-three inches, bill dusky, irides hazel; the head, neck, and whole body, are of glossy blue-black, particularly about the neck, breast, and rump; over the eye the bare scarlet skin is granulated; the coverts of the wings dusky brown, the four first quill feathers black, the next white at the bottom, the lower half and tips of the secondaries white, under wing coverts white; the thighs are dark brown, sometimes marked with a few white spots; the tail consists of sixteen black feathers; the exterior ones bend outwards, and are much longer than those in the middle, which makes the tail very forked; the under tail coverts pure white; legs covered with hair-like feathers of a dark brown, speckled with grey; toes pectinated.

The female weighs about two pounds; the plumage is very different from that of the male; the general colour is ferruginous, barred and mottled, with black above, the under parts paler, with dusky and brown bars; the tail-feathers are straight and even at the end, variegated with ferruginous and black.

The black grous is at present confined to the more northern parts of this kingdom, population and culture having driven them from the south, except in a few of the more wild, uncultivated parts; in the New Forest in Hampshire, Dartmoor and Sedgmoor in Devonshire, and the heathy hills in Somersetshire, contiguous to the latter. It is also found in Staffordshire, and in North Wales, and again in the North of England; but no where so plentiful as in some parts of the highlands of Scotland. The males are polygamous, and fight desperately for the females.

In the month of April the male places himself on an eminence as soon as it is light in the morning, crows and claps his wings, on which the females resort to his station. After the courting season the males associate peaceably together, in small packs; are fond of woody, heathy and mountainous situations; but will occasionally visit the corn-fields in the autumn, retiring almost wholly to the woods in the winter, and perching on trees.

The female lays six or seven dirty-white eggs, blotched with rust-colour, about the size of those of a pheasant. These are deposited amongst the highest heath, without much appearance of a nest.

The young follow the female for some time. The males are scarcely distinguishable from the other sex till they are above half grown, when the black feathers begin to appear first about the sides and breast. Their food is chiefly the tops of heath and birch, except when the mountain berries are ripe, at which time they devour bilberries and cranberries most voraciously.

A supposed hybrid bird of this species has been described under the following synonimes:—

Tetrao Hybridus, Tetra Tetrix, Spurious Grous.

This bird has been described by Linnæus and others as a distinct species, or mixed breed between the black and wood grous. It is said to differ from the black grous in having reddish spots on the neck, breast, wings, and thighs, and in being of a superior size. It is said to have been formerly met with in Scotland.—_Montagu._

BLACK-TAIL, _s._ The ruff or pope; a small fish.