Part 39

At the small island of Borea, Martin says, “The heavens were darkened by those flying above our heads; their excrements were in such quantity, that they gave a tincture to the sea, and at the same time sullied our boat and clothes.” Besides this small island of Borea, and St. Kila, noticed by Martin, Pennant and other writers mention the isle of Ailsa, in the Frith of Clyde; the Stack of Souliskerry, near the Orkneys; the Skellig Isles, off the coast of Kerry, Ireland; and the Bass Isle, in the Frith of Forth. This last-mentioned isle is farmed out at a considerable rent, for the eggs of the various kinds of water-fowl with which it swarms; and the produce of the solan geese forms a large portion of this rent; for great numbers of their young ones are taken every season, and sold in Edinburgh for about twenty-pence each, where they are esteemed a favourite dish, being generally roasted, and eaten before dinner. On the other bleak and bare isles, the inhabitants, during a great part of the year, depend for their support on these birds and their eggs, which are taken in amazing quantities, and are the principal articles of their food. From the nests placed upon the ground the eggs are easily picked up one after another, in great numbers, as fast as they are laid; but in robbing the nests built in the precipices, chiefly for the sake of the birds, the business wears a very different aspect: there, before the dearly earned booty can be secured, the adventurous fowler, trained to it from his youth, and familiarised to the danger, must first approach the brow of the fearful precipice, to view and to trace his progress on the broken pendent rocks beneath him: over these rocks, which (perhaps a hundred fathoms lower) are dashed by the foaming surge, he is from a prodigious height about to be suspended. After addressing himself in prayer to the Supreme Disposer of events, with a mind prepared for the arduous task, he is let down by a rope, either held fast by his comrades, or fixed into the ground on the summit, with his single cord, his pole-net, his pole-hook, &c.; and thus equipped, he is enabled, in his progress, either to stop, to ascend or descend, as he sees occasion. Sometimes by swinging himself from one ledge to another, with the help of his hook, he mounts upwards, and clambers from place to place; and, at other opportunities, by springing backwards, he can dart himself into the hollow caverns of the projecting rock, which he commonly finds well stored with the objects of his pursuit, whence the plunder, chiefly consisting of the full-grown young birds, is drawn up to the top, or tossed down to the boat at the bottom, according to the situation, or concurring circumstances of time and place. In these hollows he takes his rest, and sometimes remains during the night, especially when they happen to be at such vast and stupendous heights. To others of less magnitude the fowlers commonly climb from the bottom, with the help of their hooked poles only, by which they assist, and push or pull up each other from hold to hold, and in this manner traverse the whole front of the frightful scar. To a feeling mind the very sight of this hazardous employment, in whatever way it is pursued, is painful; for, indeed, it often happens that these adventurous poor men, in this life-taking mode of obtaining their living, slip their hold, are precipitated from one projection to another, with increasing velocity, and fall mangled upon the rocks, or are for ever buried in the abyss beneath.

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The sailors sometimes catch these birds by fastening a fresh herring on a floating plank, against which the gannet’s neck is broken, when furiously pouncing on his prey.—_Bewick_—_Martin._

GARGANEY, (_Anas querquedula_, LINN.; _Le Sarcelle_, BUFF.) _s._

This species, which is only a little bigger than the teal, is clothed with an elegant plumage, and has altogether a most agreeable and sprightly look. It measures about seventeen inches in length, and twenty-eight in breadth. The bill is of a dark lead colour, nearly black; the irides light hazel. From the crown of the head, over the nape of the neck downwards, it is of a glossy brown, chin black; brow, cheeks, and the upper fore part of the neck, reddish chestnut, with vinous reflections, and sprinkled all over with numerous small pointed white lines. A white stripe passes over each eye, and slanting backwards, falls down on each side of the neck, the lower part of which, with the breast, is light brown, pretty closely crossed with semicircular bars of black; the shoulders and back are marked nearly the same, but on a darker ground: the scapulars are long and narrow, and are striped with ash-colour, black, and white. The belly in some, is white; in others, pale reddish yellow; the lower part of it, and the vent, mottled with dusky spots; the sides are freckled and waved with narrow lines of ash-coloured brown, more and more distinctly marked towards the thighs; behind which, this series of feathers terminates in a riband, striped with ash, black, white, and lead-coloured blue.

The coverts of the wings are of an agreeable bluish ash, margined with white; next to this, the exterior webs of the middle quills are glossy green, tipped with white, and form the beauty-spot or spangle of the wings, to which the white tips make a border; the primary quills are ash-brown, edged with white; tail dusky; legs lead colour. The foregoing description was taken from a male bird in full and perfect plumage. This sex is furnished with a labyrinth.

The female has an obscure white mark over each eye; the rest of the plumage is of a brownish ash colour, not unlike the female teal; but the wing wants the green spot, which sufficiently distinguishes these birds.

It has not yet been noticed whether any of this species ever remain to breed in England, where, indeed, they are rather a scarce bird.—_Bewick._

GARGLE, _v._ To wash the throat with some liquor not suffered immediately to descend.

GARGLE, _s._ A liquor with which the throat is washed.

GARLICK, _s._ A plant, sometimes used in chronic cough.

GARRAN, _s._ A small horse, a hobby; a wretched horse. (_An Iricism._)

GASH, _v._ To cut deep, so as to make a gaping wound.

GASH, _s._ A deep and wide wound; the mark of a wound.

GASP, _v._ To open the mouth wide to catch breath; to emit breath by opening the mouth convulsively.

GASP, _s._ The act of opening the mouth to catch breath; the short catch of the breath in the last agonies.

GATE, _s._ A frame of timber upon hinges to give a passage into enclosed grounds; a moveable part of a fence made of iron or timber.

GAUDY, _a._ Showy, splendid, tinselled.

GAUGE, _s._ A measure, a standard.

GAUNT (_Podiceps cristatus_, LATHAM), _s._ A species of bird.

A full-grown male gaunt weighs between two and three pounds; length about two feet. The bill is two inches and three quarters long, dusky brown along the ridge of the upper mandible and at the point; the rest reddish flesh-colour; irides and lore crimson. The head is much enlarged by a crest of a dusky colour, standing up on each side; the cheeks and throat are surrounded by long feathers of a ferruginous colour; from the bill to the eye is a black line, above which is a white one; the chin is white; the hind part of the neck, and upper part of the body and wings, dusky brown; the under part of the neck, breast, and all beneath, beautiful glossy white; the primary quill-feathers dusky; some of the inner ones tipped with white, the rest are nearly all white, which, when the wing is closed, makes an oblique bar of that colour across it; legs dusky on the outside; some wholly dusky green.

This bird is indigenous to England; it breeds in the meres of Shropshire and Cheshire, and in the fens of Lincolnshire. The nest is large, composed of a variety of aquatic plants; it is not attached to any thing, but floats amongst the reeds and flags, penetrated by the water. The female lays four white eggs, about the size of that of a pigeon.—_Montagu._

GAZEHOUND, _s._ A hound that pursues not by the scent, but by the eye; an ancient name of the greyhound.

GEAR, _s._ Furniture, accoutrements, dress; the traces by which horses or oxen draw; stuff.

GELD, _v._ To castrate, to deprive of the power of generation; to deprive of any essential part. _Vide_ CASTRATION.

Castration has a strange effect: it emasculates both man, beast, and bird, and brings them to a near resemblance of the other sex. Thus eunuchs have smooth unmuscular arms, thighs, and legs; and broad hips, and beardless chins, and squeaking voices. Gelt-stags and bucks have hornless heads, like hinds and does. Thus wethers have small horns, like ewes; and oxen large bent horns, and hoarse voices when they low, like cows; for bulls have short straight horns; and though they mutter and grumble in a deep tremendous tone, yet they low in a shrill high key. Capons have small combs and gills, and look pallid about the head like pullets; they also walk without any parade, and hover chickens like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small tusks like sows.

Thus far it is plain that it puts a stop to the growth of those appendages that are looked upon as its insignia. But the ingenious Mr. Lisle, in his book on husbandry, carries it much farther; for he says, that the loss of those insignia alone has sometimes a strange effect: he had a boar so fierce and amorous, that to prevent mischief, orders were given for his tusks to be broken off. No sooner had the beast suffered this injury than his powers forsook him, and he neglected those females to whom before he was passionately attached, and from whom no fences could restrain him.—_White of Selborne._

GELDING, _s._ Any animal castrated, particularly a horse.

GELID, _a._ Extremely cold.

GELLY, _s._ Any viscous body; viscidity, glue, gluey substance.

GENDER, _s._ A kind, a sort, a sex.

GENDER, _v._ To beget; to produce, to cause; to copulate, to breed.

GENET, _s._ A small well-proportioned Spanish horse.

GENTLE, _s._ A maggot used in angling.

Those who live in or near London may buy them in proper condition for the day on which they wish to use them, but for the accommodation of those who reside in the country, remote from such convenience, the best modes of breeding them will be here mentioned, in order to prevent disappointment.

Coarse fish, such as chub and roach, may be laid in an earthen pot in the shade, and will soon be fly-blown. When the gentles are of a proper size (but not before), put some oatmeal and bran to them, and in two days they will be well scoured and fit to fish with, in about four more they become hard, assume a pale red colour, and soon after change to flies. The red ones should not be thrown away, as frequently roach and dace take these with a white one in preference to all other baits. Some have recommended a piece of liver suspended by a stick over a barrel of clay, into which the gentles fall and cleanse themselves; but clay will not scour them, and besides they fall from the liver before they have attained their full size. The aforementioned is a less disgusting plan; for a short time after oatmeal and bran are put to the gentles the fish in which they are bred will be found perfect skeletons, and may be thrown away. However, if they are to be bred from liver, it should be scarified deeply in many parts, and then hung up and nearly covered over, as in that way the flies will blow it better than when wholly exposed; in two or three days the gentles will be seen alive. The liver is then to be put into an earthen pan and there remain until the first brood are of full growth, a sufficient quantity of fine sand and bran (letting the liver remain) is then to be put into the pan, and in a few days they will come from the flesh, and scour themselves in it. The liver should then be hung across the pan and the latter brood will soon drop out and be fit for use; and by thus breeding them in October, and keeping them a little warmer than those bred in summer, until they arrive at their full growth, and afterwards putting them in the same pan into a dampish vault, they may be preserved for winter fishing.—_Daniel._

GENTLE, _a._ Soft, mild, tame, peaceable; soothing; pacific.

GENUS, _s._ In science, a class of beings comprehending under it many species; as quadruped is a genus comprehending under it almost all terrestrial beasts.

GERM, _s._ A sprout or shoot.

GESTATION, _s._ The act of bearing the young in the womb.

GET, _v._ To beget upon a female.

GETTER, _s._ One who procures or obtains; one who begets on a female.

GIBBOUS, _a._ Convex, protuberant, swelling into inequalities; crooked-backed.

GIER-EAGLE, _s. obs._ An eagle of a particular kind.

GIG, _s._ Anything that is whirled round in play; a two-wheeled vehicle; a light boat.

GIGOT, _s._ The hip joint.

GILL, _s._ A measure of liquids containing the fourth part of a pint.

GILLS, _s._ The aperture at each side of the fish’s head; the flaps that hang below the beak of a fowl; the flesh under the chin.

GIMP, _s._ A kind of silk twist used in angling.

GIN, _s._ The spirit drawn by distillation from juniper berries and wheat. The Hollands Geneva is principally distilled in the neighbourhood of Rotterdam; English is produced from the oil of turpentine and malt spirits.

GINGER, _s._ An Indian root; the flower consists of five petals, shaped like those of the iris.

There are two sorts kept in the shops; the black and the white ginger: the latter is stronger, and preferred for culinary purposes, on account of its more pleasant flavour, but the former is considered cheaper, easily powdered, and more frequently used as a horse medicine.

I consider ginger as the most useful stimulant in the veterinary materia medica: when joined with aromatics, such as allspice, caraway seed, aniseed, cummin seed, &c., or their essential oils, it forms an efficacious cordial, and with emetic tartar and opium an excellent diaphoretic, for giving gloss to the coat, and relaxing the skin. Joined with bitters, it makes a good stomachic; with squills an expectorant, often relieving obstinate coughs.

Ginger is extremely beneficial in weakness and flatulency of the stomach; and assisted by other remedies, such as warm beer, it seldom fails of curing the flatulent colic, or gripes. _See_ CARMINATIVES.

The dose is from one drachm and a half to three drachms.

It should be recently powdered when used; but in a well-stopped bottle the powder may be kept a considerable time without losing its strength.—_White._

GIZZARD, _s._ The name given to the strong, muscular, and cartilaginous portion of the stomach in birds which feed on grain, which is so different from the membranous stomach of birds of prey (_raptores_). The gizzard receives the food which has previously been taken into the crop.

GLADE, _s._ A lawn or opening into a wood.

GLAIR, _s._ The white of an egg.

GLANCE, _v._ To shoot obliquely.

GLANDERS, _s._ A disease incident to horses.

This is a contagious disorder, and one that is generally thought incurable. The great number of horses that have been destroyed by glanders, especially in the army, and in establishments where great numbers of horses are kept, has excited particular attention to the subject, especially in France and Italy, where many attempts were made, in the beginning of the last century, to discover a remedy for it. Lafosse, an eminent French veterinarian, considered it as a local disease, and thought he had discovered a successful mode of treating it, which consisted in perforating the bones which cover the frontal and nasal sinuses, and injecting through the openings astringent and other liquids. After this opinion had been published, some English farriers made trial of it, and by others detergent lotions were poured into the nostrils; the nose being drawn up for the purpose by means of a pulley. Attempts were also made to cure it by arsenical fumigations, and by burning out the swollen glands under the jaws, or sloughing them out by caustics. The various preparations of mercury, copper, iron, and arsenic, have likewise been tried, and after all the general opinion is that the glanders is incurable.

That the glanders is contagious has been clearly and indisputably proved by numerous experiments; and the manner in which it is propagated has likewise been satisfactorily demonstrated. At the same time it is generally believed that the glanders takes place also independent of contagion; but from what causes or circumstances it is then produced, no author has attempted to state precisely.

It has been said, in a general way, that close unwholesome stables, hard work, and bad provender, sudden changes from cold and wet weather to hot close stables, hard work, and insufficient keep, and, in short, any thing that will weaken the animal considerably, is likely to produce glanders or farcy. Hence post and stage horses are particularly obnoxious to this disease.

Mr. Russel, of Exeter, had, for many years, some glandered teams of horses constantly working from Plymouth to Exeter. But they were worked with moderation, well fed, and taken great care of. I attended these teams for several years, the horses generally looked well, and in excellent condition. Many of them lasted four or five years; and some fell off after a few months.

The symptoms of glanders are—1st, A discharge of glairy matter from one or both nostrils; generally from one only, and more frequently from the left than from the right nostril. 2d, A swelling of the glands or kernels under the jaw, or between the branches of the lower jaw, and generally on the side of the jaw corresponding with the affected nostril. In all other respects the animal is generally in health, and often sleek and in good condition.

Sometimes, however, the glanders is accompanied by a disorder of the skin, named farcy, and then the horse’s general health is often affected. Farcy has been considered, by many authors, as a distinct disorder. I have therefore noticed it in a separate article (see Farcy), though of opinion that it is always a symptom of glanders, whether it appear in a local, or in a constitutional form.

Glanders has been divided into two stages, the acute and the chronic, or the first and second stage. The acute glanders is generally attended with acute farcy, such as chancrous ulceration about the lips, face, or neck, with considerable and painful swellings on different parts, some of the swellings appearing as a corded vein: ulceration and swelling of the hind leg or sheath, or testicles, and sometimes of the fore leg, with corded veins, and farcy buds on the inside of the limb. The acute glanders often spreads rapidly, and either destroys the animal, or renders him such a pitiable and hopeless object, that the proprietor is generally induced to have him knocked on the head.

Chronic glanders is generally very mild in the first stage of the disorder, and does not affect the appetite, or the general health and appearance of the animal. Such horses, when properly fed and taken care of, and worked with moderation, will often continue in regular work for several years.

I have been in the habit of attending several teams of glandered horses since I left the army, and have known them last four or five years. Sometimes, however, they would go off in a few months; and whenever a glandered horse fell off much, and became unequal to his work, he was destroyed. Many glandered horses have been known to get rid of the disorder while working in these teams; and sound horses that have been put in occasionally, to fill up the teams, especially old horses, have escaped the disorder. It is this circumstance, as I have before stated, that has led many to believe that the glanders is not contagious.

The second stage of glanders is marked by ulceration within the nostrils, or an appearance in the matter which indicates ulceration, though sometimes too high up to be seen. The matter is in larger quantity, more glutinous, sticking about the margin of the nostril and upper lips, and sometimes obstructing the passage of air, so that the horse makes a snuffling noise in breathing. The matter is sometimes streaked with blood, and the horse sometimes bleeds from the nostrils in working. When this happens in the first stage of the disorder, however early it may be, it indicates the approach of the second stage. The matter begins to have an offensive smell, which it scarcely ever has in the first stage, though an offensive smell is by many supposed to be a decisive mark of glanders. In the second stage the matter generally runs from both nostrils; the glands under the jaw become larger, harder, and fixed more closely to the jaw-bone. They are also generally more tender than in the first stage; the inner comers of the eyes are mattery. The horse loses flesh and strength, stales more than usual, coughs, and at length dies in a miserable condition, generally farcied as well as glandered. It is with this disease as it was formerly with small pox inoculation, and is now with vaccination. If a person happens to meet with one or two cases, or suppose it were half a dozen, of a horse escaping the glanders after standing in a stable with one that is glandered, he thinks himself fully warranted in concluding that the disease is not contagious. Satisfied with this decision, he gives himself no further trouble about it, and pays no attention to any thing that may be said or written in opposition to his own opinion.

It is a remarkable circumstance, that glanders cannot be communicated by applying the matter which is discharged from the nose of a glandered horse to the nostrils of a sound horse, even though a piece of lint soaked in the matter be put up the nostrils, and kept in contact with the pituitary membrane for a short time; or even if the matter be thrown up the nostrils with a syringe. But, if the smallest quantity of matter be applied in the way of inoculation, either to the membrane of the nostrils, or to any part of the body, a glanderous ulcer will be produced, from which farcy buds and corded lymphatics will proceed. After a few weeks the poison will get into the circulation, and the horse will be completely glandered. The circumstance of glanders not being communicated by applying matter to the nostril, enables us to account for a horse escaping the disorder, as he sometimes does, after being put into a glandered stable, or standing by the side of a glandered horse. I believe, however, that glanders is frequently communicated by (accidental) inoculation; and that there is only one other way in which it can be communicated, that is, by swallowing the matter which flows from the nose of a glandered horse.—_Vide_ BLAINE.