Part 29

These birds are common in all the northern counties; they migrate into Britain in the spring, and depart in autumn: they frequent the sea-shores during summer, and run nimbly along the sands, sometimes taking short flights, accompanied with loud twitterings, then alight and run again; if disturbed, they fly right off. They are said to make no nest: the female lays four eggs, of a pale ash-colour, spotted with black, which she deposits on the ground.—_Bewick._

DOUGHADOO, _s._ A colour used by fly-tiers on the Shannon.

DRAG, _v._ To pull along the ground by main force; an artificial mode of hunting by substituting some strong smell in place of the animal scent.

DRAG, _s._ An instrument with hooks to catch hold of things under water; a kind of car drawn by the hand.

DRAG-NET, _s._ A net which is drawn along the bottom of the water.

In making a drag-net, the size of the mesh should never be less than one inch and a quarter; there should be an extent of three times in length, and twice in depth of the plain net, before it is hung upon the cork and lead lines (that is, if the drag is meant to be twenty yards long, and twelve feet deep, there must be sixty yards of net in length, and twenty-four feet in depth for a sheet-drag; if made with a cod, it must be let in with great care as to the widenings, so that in fishing, it keeps a proper open centre). As drag-nets are usually hung, any one who is in the water when they are used, will feel, when the lines are hauled, the lead-line above the calf of his leg, and frequently above his knee, and that continued to very near the bosom of the net. There is no occasion to remark upon the chance of success such an implement affords.

Always use two, if not three flews with the drag: one or two flews can then be kept forward for the drag to force to, and in fishing every hole, back the drag with a flew; that is, after the drag approaches close to the first flew, of course that will be pulled on one or other side of the river. If any fish are in it they should be taken out, and so soon as the drag-net has passed, let the flew be pulled back into its former station; the fish that are disturbed by the drag (from the different manner in which their lead-lines have been shown to keep a regular sweep at the bottom), soon perceive an opening to escape beneath it, and in striking to their old harbours, run head-long into the back flew; the discolouring of the water, from the trampling of the people in, together with the motion of some part of the drag upon the mud, all contribute to the success of this expedient, by which the best fish will always be captured.

A drag-net should always be used up the stream; however low the water in a river may be drained for the convenience of those fishing in it, there will still be a current sufficient to preserve the water clear enough for stumps and hangs of various descriptions to be avoided, besides the drain of the water keeps the meshes of the net extended, and enables it to fish with every advantage; on the contrary, when drawing down the stream, the mudding of the water progressively prevents the discovery of stubs, &c., that would injure the net, and aid the escape of the fish, and, moreover, drives the net into folds, which the leaves of the weeds turning the same way, not a little assist.—_Daniel._

DRAKE, _s._ The male of the duck.

DRAM, _s._ In weight the eighth part of an ounce; a small quantity; such a quantity of distilled spirits as is usually drank at once; spirits, distilled liquors.

DRASTICS, _s._ Violent purgatives.

DRAUGHT, _s._ The act of drinking; a quantity of liquor drank at once; the act of drawing or pulling carriages; the act of sweeping with a net; the quantity of fishes taken by once drawing the net; the depth which a vessel draws, or sinks into the water; a bill drawn for the payment of money.

_Draughting._—This fishing is confined to the estuary, where the river meets the sea. Here, according to naturalists, the salmon undergo a probationary course, before they exchange the salt for the fresh water, as a sudden change from either would be fatal to the fish, and a temporary sojourn in water of an intermediate quality (brackish), is supposed to be requisite, before they can leave either the ocean or the river.

The draughting is carried on at the last quarter of the ebb, and during the first of the flood; five or six boats, with as many men in each, are necessary. When the salmon are seen, the nearest boat starts off, leaving a man on shore, with a rope attached to one extremity of the net, which is rapidly thrown over, as the boat makes an extensive circle round the place where the fish are supposed to lie. Returning to the shore, the curve of the net is gradually decreased. Stones are flung in at each extremity, to prevent the salmon from escaping; the net reaches the bank, the semicircle is complete, and all within effectually secured. The fish are then carefully landed, and at a single draught five hundred salmon have been taken. This is, however, an event of rare occurrence, and unless the net were powerfully strong, and the fishers skilful, a fracture, and consequently a general escape, would be inevitable.

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It is extraordinary how much the flavour and quality of the salmon depends on circumstances apparently of trifling moment. A single day in the river will injure, and a flood spoil their condition; and a difference between a fish taken in the nets, and one killed with a rod, will be easily perceptible.—_Wild Sports._

DRAYHORSE, _s._ A horse which draws a dray.

DREDGE, _s._ A kind of net; the iron and bag net with which oysters, scallops, &c., are lifted.

DREDGE, _v._ To gather with a dredge.

DREDGER, _s._ One who fishes with a dredge.

DRENCH, _v._ To saturate with drink or moisture; to physic by violence.

Though an inconvenient method of giving medicine to horses, it is preferable, on some occasions, on account of the medicine acting in much _less_ time than in a solid form. In flatulent colic, or gripes, where the symptoms are alarming, a proper drench will relieve the animal, while a ball would be useless.

The best instrument for giving drenches is the horn of an ox; the opening being cut obliquely, in the form of a spout. Bottles are sometimes used, on an emergency, to give drenches; but they are attended with danger, and should be handled cautiously. In giving a drench, the horse’s tongue should be held with the left hand; and when the head is sufficiently elevated, the medicine is to be carefully poured into the throat, immediately letting go the tongue, while the head is kept up until the drench is swallowed. Drenches are very seldom given with dexterity, and a great part of the medicine is sometimes wasted. Every groom should learn to give them with facility, and always keep a proper instrument in the stable. In giving a drench, the head should not be kept so high as it generally is, nor should the throat be pressed or rubbed, as it often is, with a view to make the horse swallow, as it is apt to excite coughing. In severe colds or strangles, there is often some degree of soreness or inflammation of the throat, by which swallowing is rendered difficult and painful. In such cases no attempt should be made to give either a drench or a ball, as the complaint would be increased by it; and if at any time a horse happens to cough or appear distressed, while taking a drench, his head should be immediately let down. Hot stimulating medicines, or such as are very nauseous, are better given in the form of balls than drenches. Drenches should always be given with as much gentleness as possible; the horn may generally be introduced with ease, merely by pressing down the tongue with the fingers of the left hand, instead of dragging it out, as is commonly done. A small quantity only of the liquid should be given at once; about six or eight ounces, or even less, when tincture of opium or any powerful medicine is given; and it is of importance to be accurate in the dose, and not to give either more or less than a certain quantity.

In locked-jaw it is very difficult to give a drench, unless a small horn is kept for the purpose, and even then a good deal of dexterity and perseverance are often required to effect it. In some cases the jaws are so completely closed, and the muscles of deglutition so affected, that a drench cannot be given; and then the only method of conveying the medicine into the body is in the form of clyster. (_See_ CLYSTER.)—_White._

DRENCH, _s._ Physic for a brute; physic that must be given by violence.

DRESS, _s._ Clothes, garments.

We all know that a jean, nankeen, or any kind of thin jacket, is the pleasantest wear for September, one of fustian for October, and one of velveteen for the winter; and that, for a man, who at all times uses but one kind of jacket, fustian would be about the medium. After having tried almost every thing that is commonly used, and some of the wretched articles that are puffed by advertisement, I have found nothing so good for a light summer jacket as what is made at Manchester by the name of satteen, jeanet, or florentine, which is printed on each side, in imitation of cloth. This stuff far surpasses the others for lightness, comfort, durability, and every thing that can be required for warm weather.

_Shoes and Gaiters._—To say nothing of being tormented with two or three dozen of buttons every morning, and having your ankles and knees in a state of confinement through a hard day’s exercise, it need only be observed, that, if you step in the least puddle, you are wet; if you tread in moist ground, your shoe is pulled down at heel, and you are often liable to be annoyed by your shoes untying, and thorns and bits of stick, &c., getting into them, or between the buttons of your gaiters. How much more comfortable, then, is the dress here recommended! With lamb’s-wool stockings and flannel drawers, put on a pair of overall boots, and then draw over them a pair of trowsers, which may be made either of fustian or leather, and so strongly defended inside the knees, that no thorn can penetrate. Thus you are equipped without trouble or loss of time, you have your muscles perfectly at liberty for hard exercise, and are free from every annoyance; not to say a word on the advantage and safety you have in the stirrup, if on horseback, or on the infallibility of this remedy against the annoyance of harvest bugs in September.—_Hawker._

DRIVE, _v._ To force along by impetuous pressure; to force or urge in any direction; to guide and regulate a carriage; to make animals march along under guidance.

DRIVER, _s._ The person or instrument who gives any motion by violence; one who drives a carriage.

_Driving_, among sportsmen, is a method of taking pheasant powts. The sportsman having found out the haunts of these birds, and fixed his nets there, he calls them together with a pleasant call, imitating the voice of the dam; after this he makes a noise with his driver, which will make them run a little way forward in a cluster, and this he repeats till he has made sure of them, by driving them into his nets.

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_Drivers_, among sportsmen, a machine for driving pheasant powts, consisting of good strong ozier wands, such as the basket makers use, set in a handle, and twisted or bound with small oziers in two or three places; with this instrument the sportsman drives the young powts into his nets.—_Ency. Lond._

DROP, _s._ A globule of moisture; as much liquor as falls at once when there is not a continual stream.

DROPPER, _s._ A dog of irregular breed.

A breed between a pointer and a setter. It is deemed by some to be a good cross, but I never saw one of them that was worth much. They are by sportsmen termed _droppers_, and, what is very remarkable, if they are tolerably good themselves their breed falls off wonderfully.—_Thornton._

DROVE, _s._ A body or number of cattle; a number of sheep driven; any collection of animals.

DRUG, _s._ An ingredient used in physic, a medicinal simple; anything without worth or value, anything for which no purchaser can be found.

DUB, _v. obs._ To form the body of a fly.

DUCK, _s._ A water fowl, both wild and tame. _Vide_ ANAS.

_Bimaculated Duck_—_Clucking Duck_.—(_Anas glocitans._)—Length twenty inches. Taken in a decoy in England. Has been met with along the Lena, and about the lake Baikal. Has a singular note, somewhat like clucking.

_Long-tailed Duck or Swallow-tailed Sheldrake_—(_Anas Glacialis_, LINN.; _Canard de Miclon_, BUFF.) This species is considerably less than the last, and comes more nearly to the size of the widgeon. The flocks which visit the Orkney isles appear in October, and continue there till April; and “about sunset they are seen in vast companies going to and returning from the bays, in which they frequently pass the night, making such a noise, as in frosty weather may be heard some miles.” They are rather scarce in England, whither they come only in very hard winters, and even then but in small straggling parties. They fly swiftly, but seldom to a great distance, making a loud and singular cry. They are expert divers, and are supposed to live chiefly upon shell-fish.

_Tufted Duck_—(_Anas Fuligula_, LINN.; _Le Petit Morillon_, BUFF.) This is a plump, round, and short shaped species.

The male is distinguished by a pendent crest, overhanging the nape of the neck, two inches in length. The weight is about two pounds, length eighteen inches.

The habits, manners, and haunts of this species are much the same as those of the Golden-eye, and they return northward about the same time.—_Vide_ GOLDEN-EYE—MORILLON—TEAL—VELVET DUCK, &c.

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The male bird is called mallard, and the young ones flappers. To find a brood of these, go, about July, and hunt the rushes in the deepest and most retired parts of some brook or trout stream; where, if you spring the old duck, you may be pretty sure that the brood is not far off. When once found flappers are easily killed, as they attain their full growth before their wings are fledged; and for this reason, the sport is often more like hunting water rats than shooting birds.

If you leave the brood after having disturbed them, the old bird will remove them to another place long before the following day.

When the flappers take wing they assume the name of wild ducks. About the month of August they repair to the corn fields, till disturbed by the harvest people. They then frequent the rivers pretty early in the evening, and show excellent sport to any one who has patience to wait for them. Our sporting writers in general have given no further directions for duck-shooting than to walk quietly up a brook, and shoot them as they rise. In doing this, if you have only a single gun, and should spring a bird at an uncertain distance, halloo out before you shoot, as there may be others under a bank, and much closer to you, that would spring on the discharge of your gun.

You need not be at a loss to know a wild duck. The claws in the wild species are black.—_Latham._—_Bewick._—_Hawker._

DUCK-GUN, _s._ Gun for shooting ducks.

If a duck gun is too large in the calibre, in proportion to its weight of metal, it will recoil considerably; and if too small, it will not have the desired effect of allowing the shot to lie compactly together.

A gun fired from a rest is felt more than if held out; because the left hand, when grasping it, checks the recoil. The stock of a heavy duck-gun should be more bent than that of a common gun as, when we are holding out a great weight, it is not so easy to lower the head: and it should also be observed, that the curve in the stock tends to lessen the recoil.

I have of late years had the duck gun stocks, which I used on the coast, made with a pistol grip, and whipped with waxed-end round the handle, similar to a cricket-bat, which rather lessens the jar; and the upper part of the butt very much cut away, in order to prevent it from hurting the shoulder-bone. I also paint and varnish the stock, by which means it does not get cracked, after being wetted with salt-water. The gun-makers’ stocks I found were always a great plague on this account, as well as from the trouble of keeping them in order, after being exposed to the spray of the sea. Add to which, they recoil most unmercifully, and are, therefore, only fit for light charges.

Trial at twelve sheets of thick brown paper, to ascertain the difference between two common duck-guns, and a very superior double gun, made by Mr. Joseph Manton.

POUNDS. FEET. INCHES. GAUGE. Large duck-gun 14 4 6 7 Smallest, do. 12½ 4 5 7 Double gun 9 2 8 14

WITH NO. 2 SHOT.

IN THE 1ST THROUGH THE YARDS. SHEET. 12TH SHEET. Duck-guns 60 32 25 Double gun 60 20 18 Duck-guns 45 34 34 Double gun 45 26 26

The large guns were loaded with precisely double the charge of the small gun, which is one-fifth less than that with which they always killed best.

The paper was nailed up close to a sheet of water, and two men placed to observe that effect; which was, that the outside shot (that which flew wide of the paper) appeared to be driven with much more force from the heavy guns, and, of course, spread a much larger surface.

This proves that although, if both accurately levelled, the difference between a wild-fowl gun and a small gun, is not so very considerable, at a single bird; yet, from the immense circle which the large gun spreads, you have more chances of killing with an indifferent aim; and, of course, in a flock (as before said) would kill many more birds at a shot.—_Hawker._

EAGLE, _s._ A bird of prey. A name given to the larger species of the Falcon family, differing in little but size from the true falcons.

There seem to be three well ascertained native species; the Golden Eagle, the Osprey, and what we call Eagle, from its frequent occurrence.

The Golden Eagle (_Falco chrysætos_, LINN.; _Le grand Aigle_, BUFF.) is the largest of the genus; it measures, from the point of the bill to the extremity of the toes, upwards of three feet; and in breadth, from wing to wing, above eight; and weighs from sixteen to eighteen pounds. The male is smaller, and does not weigh more than twelve pounds. The bill is of a deep blue colour; the cere yellow; the eyes are large, deep, sunk, and covered by a projecting brow; the iris is of a fine bright yellow, and sparkles with uncommon lustre. The general colour is deep brown mixed with tawny on the head and neck; the quills are chocolate, with white shafts; the tail is black, spotted with ash-colour; the legs are yellow, and feathered down to the toes, which are very scaly; the claws are remarkably large—the middle one is two inches in length.

This noble bird is found in various parts of Europe; it abounds most in warmer regions, and has seldom been met with farther north than the fifty-fifth degree of latitude. It is known to breed in the mountainous parts of Ireland: it lays three and sometimes four eggs, of which it seldom happens that more than two are prolific. Mr. Pennant says there are instances, though rare, of their having bred in Snowdon Hills. Mr. Wallis, in his Natural History of Northumberland, says—“it formerly had its aërie on the highest and steepest part of Cheviot. In the beginning of January, 1735, a very large one was shot near Warkworth, which measured, from point to point of its wings, eleven feet and a quarter.”

The Ring-tailed Eagle (_Falco fulvus_, LINN.; _l’Aigle commun_, BUFF.) is the common eagle of Buffon, and, according to that author, includes two varieties, the brown and the black eagle; they are both of the same brown colour, distinguished only by a deeper shade, and are nearly of the same size: in both, the upper part of the head and neck is mixed with rust colour, and the base of the larger feathers marked with white; the bill is of a dark horn colour; the cere of a light yellow; the iris is hazel; and between the bill and the eye there is a naked skin of a dirty brown colour; the legs are feathered to the toes, which are yellow, and the claws black; the tail is distinguished by a white ring, which covers about two-thirds of its length; the remaining part is black.

The ring-tailed eagle is more numerous and diffused than the golden eagle, and prefers more northern climates. It is found in France, Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, and in America as far north as Hudson’s Bay.

The White-tailed Eagle, Great Erne, or Cinereous Eagle (_Falco albicilla_, LINN.; _Le grand Pygargue_, BUFF.) Of this there appears to be three varieties, which differ chiefly in size, and consist of the following: the great erne, or cinereous eagle, of Latham and Pennant; the small erne, or lesser white-tailed eagle; and the white-headed erne, or bald eagle. The first two are distinguished by their size, and the last by the whiteness of its head and neck. The white-tailed eagle is inferior in size to the golden eagle. The beak, cere, and eyes are of a pale yellow; the space between the beak and the eye is of a blueish colour, and thinly covered with hair; the sides of the head and neck are of a pale ash-colour, mixed with reddish brown; the general colour of the plumage is brown, darkest on the upper part of the head, neck, and back; the quill feathers are very dark; the breast is irregularly marked with white spots; the tail is white; the legs, which are of a bright yellow, are feathered a little below the knees; the claws are black.

This bird inhabits all the northern parts of Europe, and is found in Scotland and many parts of Great Britain. It is equal in strength and vigour to the common eagle, but more furious; and is said to drive its young ones from the nest, after having fed them only a very short time. It has commonly two or three young, and builds its nest upon lofty trees.

The Sea Eagle, (_Falco ossifragus_, LINN.; _L’Orfraie_, BUFF.)—This bird is nearly as large as the Golden Eagle, measuring, in length, three feet and a half; but its expanded wings do not reach above seven feet. Its bill is large, much hooked, and of a blueish colour; irides in some light hazel, in others yellow: a row of strong bristly feathers hangs down from under his bill next to his throat, whence it has been termed the Bearded Eagle: the top of the head and back part of the neck are dark brown, inclining to black; the feathers on the back are variegated by a lighter brown, with dark edges; the scapulars are pale brown, the edges nearly white; the breast and belly whitish, with irregular spots of brown; the tail feathers are dark brown, the outer edges of the exterior feathers whitish; the quill-feathers and thighs are dusky; the legs and feet yellow; the claws, which are large, and form a complete semicircle, are of a shining black.