Part 46

Whilst Dr. Townson was at Gottingen, he had a young hare brought to him, which he took so much pains with, as to render it more familiar than these animals commonly are. In the evenings it soon became so frolicsome, as to run and jump about his sofa and bed; sometimes in its play it would leap upon, and pat him with his forefeet, or whilst he was reading, even knock the book out of his hand. But whenever a stranger entered the room, the little animal always exhibited considerable alarm.

Mr. Borlase saw a hare that was so familiar as to feed from the hand, lie under a chair in a common sitting room, and appear, in every other respect, as easy and comfortable in its situation as a lap-dog. It now and then went out into the garden, but after regaling itself always returned to the house as its proper habitation. Its usual companions were a greyhound and a spaniel, both so fond of hare-hunting, that they often went out together, without any person accompanying them. With these two dogs this tame hare spent its evenings: they always slept on the same hearth, and very frequently would rest itself upon them.

Hares are very subject to fleas. Linnæus tells us, that cloth made of their fur will attract these insects, and preserve the wearer from their troublesome attacks. In India the hare is hunted for sport, not only with dogs, but with hawks, and some species of the cat genus. The flesh, though in esteem among the Romans, was forbidden by the Druids, and by the Britons of the early centuries. It is now, though very black, and dry, and devoid of fat, much esteemed by the Europeans, on account of its peculiar flavour.

The female goes with young about a month; she generally produces three or four at a litter, and this about four times in a year. The eyes of the young ones are open at birth: the dam suckles them about twenty days, after which they leave her, and procure their own food. They make forms at a little distance from each other, and never go far from the place where they were brought forth. The hare lives about eight years.

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Some believe that hares propagate but once a year, but, in the author’s opinion, they breed from February to the end of harvest. The doe chooses some thick dry brake, high grass, clover, or standing corn, to kindle in; her paps come forwarder under her belly, than those of almost any quadruped; she does not long suckle her young; if she did, and had many, the udder would be drawn too big, and be inconvenient whilst the hare was running; she brings forth differently from the rabbit, her offspring being completely formed and quick-sighted the instant they are dropped. Among naturalists it is a received notion that the hare, especially the buck, seldom lives beyond seven years, and that when either is killed, another succeeds to occupy its place; whence is derived the proverb—“The more hares you kill, the more you will have to hunt;” for when the buck and doe live undisturbed together a little time, they suffer no stranger to reside within their limits. It is also a well experienced truth, that some places are remarkable for being seldom without hares, and others (although as likely, in all appearance, to harbour them) rarely with any. Whether it is any particular excellence in the feed, in the situation for forming advantageously, for warmth, hearing, or seeing, that induces them to prefer certain spots to others, or that on the death of a buck or doe, another succeeds, and they possess their usual circle, cannot be ascertained, but the fact is perfectly established.

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The first ring a hare takes is generally the foundation of the ensuing pastime, all the doubles she afterwards makes are in a great measure like the first; a hare will go over great part of trailed land, and visit her works of the preceding night and morning; sometimes a buck will take endways over fresh ground, without offering to return; the doe usually runs in a circle, unless with young, or having recently kindled; at such times she often runs forward, and scarcely ever escapes with life, being naturally unfit for fatigue: however, both sexes greatly regulate their conduct according to the season and weather. After a rainy night, in a woody country, neither buck nor doe will keep the cover, owing to the drops of wet hanging on the spray; they therefore run the highways or stony lanes, for as the scent naturally lies strong, they hold the roads which take the least; not that a hare judges upon what soil the scent lies weakest; it is her ears that chiefly direct her, for the hounds being oftener at fault on the hard paths than the turf, she finds herself not so closely pressed, and is not so much alarmed with the continual cry of the dogs at her heels. The louder the cry, the more she is terrified, and flies the swifter; the certain effect of which is, a heart broken sooner than with a pack equal in number and goodness, but who spend their tongues less free. The same principle directs the hare to run to the covers in autumn; when the ground is dry, and the wind cold at north or east; she then keeps the paths that are covered with leaves, which are so continually falling and blowing about, that the best hounds can carry no scent; her alarms are consequently short, and she rests contented where she is least disturbed.

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When a hare rises out of form, if she erects her ears, and at first runs slowly, with her scut cast over her back, it is surely old and crafty. When a hare is hunted to her form, along the hard highways, and feeds far away from cover, and that her doublings and crossings are wide and large, it is a buck; for the does generally keep close to the side of some cover, and, when going to feed in the corn-fields, seldom cross over the furrows, but follow the track of them: when hunted they turn frequently, use many stratagems, and rarely leave the country round their seat, whilst the buck, after two or three turns about his form, runs straight forward four or five miles, and then probably squats in some place where he has before preserved himself. A buck or jack hare may also be known by his head being shorter, his ears more grey, his shoulders redder, and the body being smaller than the doe, and, at his first starting, by the whiteness of his hinder parts.

They who make a business of hare-finding (and a very advantageous one it is, in some counties), are enabled to find them in any weather, by observing the direction of the wind. People frequently do not find hares, from not knowing them in their forms. A gentleman coursing with his friends, was shown a hare that was found sitting: “Is that a hare?” he cried; “then, by Jove, I found two this morning as we rode along.”

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According to the season of the year, the hare is to be looked for: if it be spring, upon fallows or green corn; during the autumn, in stubbles or turnips; in winter they will seat themselves near houses, in brambles and tufts of thorns.

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Hares will certainly, when hard pressed, go to vault; that is, take the ground like a rabbit.

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_Fecundity of Hares._—A male and female hare were put together by Lord Ribblesdale, for a year, when the offspring amounted to sixty-eight. A couple of rabbits, inclosed for the same period, produced about three hundred.

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_Feet of Hares._—Tender feet in dogs are owing to the softness of that fleshy substance called the ball of the foot; but nature has to the hare been singularly liberal in this part by supplying her with such feet as are not subject to, and indeed scarcely susceptible of hurt, so as to incommode her in running. The balls of her feet, instead of hard flesh, are covered with strong coarse fur, suited so well for the purpose, that she never treads easier or to more advantage than on the hardest beaten track, or rugged, stony road; the very surface which cripples a dog she glides over with pleasure. In a frost she has an evident superiority to most creatures; the horse does not at that season take his gallops for fear of foundering; the greyhound or hound would in running start all their claws, and tear their soles to pieces, whilst the hare treads as soft as if she went on wool.

_Hare Warren._—The warren should be paled, and the meuses made of brick; but to any person making a warren, Mr. Beckford recommends examining the traps, boxes, and stoppers, all of which have peculiarities not easy to be described. His town warren is in a wood of near thirty acres, and is cut into many walks; a smaller warren, which would perhaps answer as well, should have only one walk, and that round the outside of it. No dog must ever be allowed to enter it, and traps for stoats and polecats should be constantly set. Parsley sown in it will induce the hares to keep at home. When hares at the end of a season become shy of the traps from having been often caught, it will be necessary to drive them in with spaniels. The warren hares will be found very thick round the warren, for they will be unwilling to leave it, and when disturbed by dogs will immediately go in. The number of hares which a warren will supply is hardly to be conceived; but Mr. B. prefers a warren in the midst of an open country (which might be stopped close on hunting days), to the catching hares in traps, and then turning them down. A warren so situated would supply the whole country with hares, which, after one turn round it, would most probably run straight on end.

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_The Varying Hare._—This species has a very soft fur, which in summer is grey, with a slight mixture of tawny; the tail is always white. The ears are shorter, and the legs more slender than those of the common hare, and the feet more closely and warmly furred. In size this animal is somewhat smaller.

Besides other cold parts of Europe, the varying hare is found on the tops of the highest Scotch hills, never descending to the plains. It never mixes with the last species, though common in the same neighbourhood. It does not run fast, and when alarmed takes shelter in clefts of the rocks.

In September it begins to change its grey coat and resume its white winter dress, in which only the tips and edges of the ears and the soles of the feet are black. In the month of April it again becomes grey. It is somewhat singular that although this animal be brought into a house, and even kept in stoved apartments, yet it still changes its colour at the same period that it does among its native mountains.

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Hounds for hunting box hares should not be too fleet, and they are to be hunted like a pack of fox hounds, as a trap hare runs very much in the same manner, and will even top the hedges; Mr. B. concludes his remarks upon the running of trap hares, with the method recommended by a gentleman to insure them to run straight, which was tying a piece of riband to their ears.

The hounds mostly used for hare hunting, are the deep-tongued, thick-lipped, broad and long hung southern hounds.

The fleet, sharp-nosed dog, ears narrow, deep-chested, with thin shoulders, showing a quarter cross of the fox hound.

The rough wire-haired hound, thick quartered, well hung, and not too much flesh on his shoulders.

The rough or smooth beagle.—_Daniel_—_Buffon, &c. &c._

HARELIP, _s._ A fissure in the upper lip, with want of substance.

HARNESS, _s._ The leather gear, &c., used to attach horses to carriages.

HARNESS, _v._ To fix horses in their traces.

HARPOON, _s._ A bearded dart with a line fastened to the handle, with which whales are struck and caught.

HARQUEBUSS, _s. obs. Fr._ Arquebuse. A handgun; a musquet.

HARRIER, HEN HARRIER, (_Circus Pygargus_, FLEMING), _s._ A small sized hawk. It is generally believed by ornithologists to be the same species as the Ringtail.

HARRIER, _s._ A dog for hunting hares.

This dog is now almost universally used in Great Britain for hare hunting. He was originally generated in a double cross, between the small beagle, the southern hound, and the dwarf fox.

There are, however, various harriers produced by crosses introduced in breeding, dictated by knowledge and experience, and depending on the kind of country they hunt in, and the wish or fancy of the owner of the pack; all of which are a great alteration in the blood.

The harrier pursues the hare with great eagerness and speed, allowing her but little time to breathe or double. The keenest sportsmen often find it difficult to keep up with this dog, and with a strong hare it is rather fatiguing work. There is a great deal of melody and cheerful harmony in the voices of harriers during the chase.

Mr. Beckford, who was justly esteemed one of the best judges of dogs in Britain, endeavoured, as far as possible, to breed his harriers with much bone and strength within a small compass, and, at the same time, of a handsome make. These respective qualities he obtained; and his hounds ran remarkably well together, went fast, had all the alacrity that could be desired, and would hunt the coldest scent.

Although the harrier is the best adapted for hare hunting, yet there are situations where he is too weak, being ill-suited for swampy and marshy lands, such as those of Lancashire and Lincolnshire, and many other places. The large low southern hound seems best calculated for such localities. Harriers which are of a larger description, and crossed for the purpose of speed, are only superior in open countries, where, for want of covert, the hare will run five or six miles right out without a single turn. In such cases the pleasure of the chase may be compared to those of fox-hunting.

Harriers, in Mr. Beckford’s judgment, to be good, must be kept to their proper game. Hounds cannot be perfect unless used to one scent, and one style of hunting; to run fox with them teaches them to skirt, and is of great disservice to them. The high scent which a fox leaves, the straightness of his course, the eagerness of the pursuit, and the hallooing that usually accompanies it, all contribute to spoil a harrier.—_Brown_—_Daniel._

HARRY, _v._ In Scotland, signifies to rob, plunder, or oppress; destruction of game by birds of prey.

HART, _s._ A he-deer of the large kind; the male of the roe.

HARTSHORN, _s._ A volatile alkali, originally drawn from the horn of a stag, called by modern chemists subcarbonate of ammonia.

HASLET, or HARSLET, _s._ The heart, liver, and lights of a hog, with the windpipe and part of the throat to it.

HATCH, _v._ To produce young from eggs; to quicken the eggs by incubation.

HATCH, _s._ A brood excluded from the egg; the act of exclusion from the egg; the half-door; in the plural, the doors or openings by which they descend from one deck or floor of a ship to another.

HATTOCK, _s._ A shock of corn. _Provincial._

HAUL, _v._ To pull, to draw, to drag by violence, to draw a net.

HAUL, _s._ Pull, violence in dragging; a draught of fishes.

HAUM, _s._ Straw.

HAUNCH, _s._ The thigh, the hind hip; the hind part of a deer.

HAUNT, _v._ To frequent, to be much about any place.

HAUNT, _s._ Place in which game feed and are found.

HAW, _s._ The berry and seed of the hawthorn; a hedge; an excrescence in the eye; a small piece of ground adjoining to a house.

HAWTHORN, _s._ The thorn that bears haws; the white thorn.

HAWTHORN, _a._ Belonging to the white thorn; consisting of white thorn.

HAWK, _s._ A bird of prey, used much anciently in sport to catch other birds.

Hawks (_Accipitrina_, _Vigors_) are birds of prey, belonging to the falcon family (_Falconidæ_, LEACH), and characterised by the wings being short, and, when closed, scarcely reaching to the end of the tail; the first quill feather very short, the third nearly equal to the fourth, which is the longest in the wing; shanks plaited, long, and slender; middle toe greatly exceeding the two lateral ones in length; claws much hooked, and very sharp; flight rapid and direct. They pounce upon their prey on the wing, and are so bold as to attack much larger birds than themselves.

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_Breaking of Hawks._—When the hawk is placed upon the fist with his hood on, he will at first _bait_, (flutter off,) when he is to be replaced gently by the hand; but he will very soon learn to sit still. He must be carried on the fist during the greater part of the day frequently, and stroked with a feather on his back and legs.

When he is to be fed, the hood must be taken off. At first, this is best done at night, with a candle so placed as to give no more light than is absolutely necessary; but in two or three days this precaution will not be required, and he may be unhooded, and fed by daylight.

He must now be brought, by degrees, to stand quiet when the hood is to be put on.

The brail is used for this purpose. This is a thong of soft leather, with a slit running longitudinally along the middle, of such a length as to admit the pinion joint.

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.”