Part 55
The kestrel is widely diffused throughout Europe, and is found in the most temperate parts of North America: it is a handsome bird; its sight is acute, and its flight easy and graceful: it breeds in the hollows of trees, and in the holes of rocks, towers, and ruined buildings it lays four or five eggs, of a pale reddish colour: its food consists of small birds, field-mice, and reptiles; after it has secured its prey, it plucks the feathers very dexterously from the birds, but swallows the mice entire and discharges the hair, in the form of round balls from its bill. This bird is frequently seen hovering in the air, and fanning with its wings by a gentle motion, or wheeling slowly round, at the same time watching for its prey, on which it shoots like an arrow. It was formerly used in Great Britain for catching small birds and young partridges.
_The Female Kestrel._—This beautiful bird is distinguished from every other hawk by its variegated plumage: its bill is blue; cere and feet yellow; eyes dark coloured, surrounded with a yellow skin; its head is rust coloured, streaked with black: behind each eye there is a light spot; the back and wing coverts are elegantly marked with numerous undulated bars of black; the breast, belly, and thighs are of a pale reddish colour, with dusky streaks pointing downwards, vent plain; the tail is marked by a pretty broad black bar near the end; a number of smaller ones, of the same colour, occupy the remaining part; the tip is pale.
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This is one of our most common species, being very generally spread throughout the kingdom, especially in the more rocky situations and high cliffs on our coast, where they breed. The nest is made of a few sticks, loosely put together, and lined with wool and other soft materials, built in trees, in some crevice, or projecting rocky shelf, and sometimes they content themselves with the deserted nest of a crow or magpie. It lays four or five eggs of a dirty white, blotched over with rust-colour of various shades; sometimes wholly covered with a deep rusty red; these are rather inferior in size to those of the sparrow hawk.—_Bewick_—_Montagu._
KIBE, _s._ An ulcerated chilblain, a chap in the heel.
KID, _s._ The young of a goat; a bundle of heath or furze.
KID, _v._ To bring forth kids.
KIDNEY, _s._ One of the two glands that separate the urine from the blood.
KILDERKIN, _s._ A small barrel of eighteen gallons’ capacity.
KING CHARLES’S DOG (_Canis Brevipilis_, LINN.), _s._
This beautiful little animal is much smaller than the cocker, to which he is similar in shape and other characteristics; he has, however, longer ears, and the tail is also longer in proportion to the size of his body. Like the cocker and springer, he is extremely fond of pursuing birds of all kinds, and, like them, too, always gives tongue in pursuit. He is seldom used for field sports, from his diminutive size, being easily tired, and is too short in the legs to get through swampy ground.
This dog is found of all colours; but those which are black, with tanned cheeks and legs, are considered the purest breed. He gets the name of King Charles’s dog from the extreme liking the second monarch of that name had for this animal, as he never went out without being followed by eight or a dozen of them. They were also introduced into most of the portraits of himself and family, and particularly in that by Vandyke. They were also his constant companions in the palace.
The use of this variety at present is as a lap-dog, and they are consequently prized in proportion to the diminutiveness of their size.
The sense of smelling in this little spaniel is very remarkable. The following anecdote is related by Brown to instance it:—
In 1792, a gentleman who lived in Vere Street, Clare Market, went, with his family, to the pit of Drury Lane theatre, at about half-past five in the evening, leaving a small spaniel of King Charles’s breed locked up in the dining room, to prevent it from being lost in his absence. At eight o’clock his son opened the door, and the dog immediately went to the playhouse, and found out his master, though the pit was unusually crowded, and its master seated near the centre.—_Brown._
KINGFISHER, _s._ A species of bird.
_King-fisher._ (_Alcedo ispida_, LINN.; _Le Martin-pécheur_, BUFF.)—This splendid little bird is rather of a clumsy shape, the head being large in proportion to the size of the body, and the legs and feet very small. In length it is only seven inches, in breadth eleven; and its weight is about two ounces and a quarter. The bill, measured from the corners of the mouth, is two inches long, vertically compressed on the sides, strong, straight, and tapering to a sharp point: the upper mandible is black, fading into a red-colour towards the base; the under one, as well as the inside of the mouth, is of a reddish orange: the irides are hazel, inclining to red. A broad stripe passes from the bill over the eye to the hinder part of the neck, a bright orange colour, but margined on the side of the mouth, and crossed, below the eye, by a narrow black stroke, and it is terminated behind the auriculars with a slanting wedge-shaped white spot. The throat is white; the rest of the head and wing coverts are of a deep shining green, spotted with bright light blue: the scapulars and exterior webs of the quills are of the same colour, but without spots. The middle of the back, the rump, and the coverts of the tail are of a most resplendent azure: the tail, which consists of twelve short feathers, is of a rich deep blue, and the whole under part of the body of a bright orange. The legs and toes are of a red-colour, and are peculiar in their shape and conformation, the three forward toes being unconnected from the claws to the first joints, from whence they appear as if grown into each other; and the inner and hinder ones are placed in a line on the inside of the foot, whereby the heel is widened and seems pressed out.
The suspension of this bird by a thread, under the notion that its breast will always turn to the north, is as fabulous as that it will preserve woollen cloth from the moth.
“I have once or twice,” says Mrs. Charlotte Smith, “seen a stuffed bird of this species hung up to the beam of a cottage ceiling, and imagined that the beauty of the feathers had recommended it to this sad pre-eminence, till, on inquiry, I was assured that it served the purpose of a weather-vane; and, though sheltered from the immediate influence of the wind, never failed to show every change, by turning its beak to the quarter whence the wind blew.” The learned, but somewhat credulous author of the “Physicæ Curiosæ,” says the same, upon the testimony of his own observation. “Father Athanasius Kircher,” he says, “had one of these birds sent him as a present by a friend, and being disembowelled and dried, it was suspended from the ceiling of his celebrated museum, from 1640 to 1655, when I left Rome; and though all the doors and windows were shut, it constantly turned its bill towards the wind, and this I myself observed with admiration and pleasure almost every day for the space of three years!!”
It is difficult to conceive why ornithologists have classed the kingfisher with land birds, as its habits and manner of living are wholly confined to the waters, on the margins of which it will sit for hours together on a projecting twig or a stone, at one while fluttering its wings and exposing its brilliant plumage to the sun; at another, hovering in the air, like the kestrel, it waits the moment when it may seize its prey, on which it darts with almost unerring certainty: often it remains for several seconds under the water, before it has gained the object of its pursuit, then brings up the little fish, which it carries to the land, beats to death, and swallows.
The female commonly makes her nest by the sides of rivers or brooks, in a hole made by the mole, or the water-rat: this she enlarges or contracts to suit her purpose; and it is conjectured, from the difficulty of finding the nest, that frequently the hole which leads to it is under water.
Kingfishers are not so numerous as might be expected from the number of eggs found in their nests; owing, probably, to the young being destroyed by the floods, which must often rise above the level of the holes where they are bred.
Except in the breeding-season, the bird is usually seen alone, flying near the surface of the water with the rapidity of an arrow, like a little brilliant meteor, by which appearance the eye is enabled to follow its long-continued course. Considering the shortness of its wings, the velocity with which it flies is surprising.
Ornithologists inform us that kingfishers are found in almost every part of the globe; but it does not appear that more than this one species has ever been seen in Europe.
KING DUCK, (_Somateria spectabilis_, FLEMING,) _s._
This species is not much inferior in size to the eider duck. The bill is almost two inches long, of an orange-colour; at the base of the upper mandible is a ridged protuberance, flat on the top, and compressed on the sides, but divided into two, the elevated parts velvety black, passing on each side to the eyes; the crown of the head and nape are pale ash-colour; at the base of the upper mandible the feathers are pea-green, passing backwards on each side the neck, and taking in half the eye; beneath which, and round to the chin, the feathers are of a dirty white; but here the two colours are blended, and the white is lost by degrees in the green; under the chin is a black mark, diverging like the letter V inverted: the rest of the neck and breast are whitish; the middle of the back, the belly, and vent, black; wings dusky; on the middle of the coverts is a patch of white; quills black; the secondaries curve downwards over the quills; the shafts deep ferruginous, on each side the outer ones a patch of white; the tail is cuneiform, short, and black; legs dusky; the windpipe, according to Captain Sabine, is precisely like that of the eider duck.
The female is less; the protuberance on the bill not so large, nor so high-coloured, but the feathery ridge on the top is broader; the whole plumage brown, the middle of each feather dusky; six of the lesser quills are tipped with white, which forms a line of white on the wing; the rest of the quills and tail brown.—_Montagu._
KING’S HOUNDS, _s._
His majesty’s stag-hounds pass under this denomination, as a part of the royal establishment continued in every successive reign without variation. The kennel in which they are kept is situate near the race course upon Ascot Heath; at the distance of two short miles from which is Swinley-lodge, the official residence of the master of the stag-hounds, an appointment seldom conferred but upon one of the peerage, and is considered an office of honour, with a salary of 2,000_l._ per annum. The presence of the master of the stag-hounds in the field is not a matter of necessity, but choice, except when his majesty hunts, and then his personal attendance is indispensable; his badge of office is a pair of gold dog couples, which hang suspended from a belt on his left side. The huntsman has a handsome residence at the kennel, with a salary of 125_l._ a year; to whom there are six assistants, (called yeomen prickers) each having a salary of 104_l._ with the royal livery richly ornamented, and an annual supply of saddles, bridles, horse-clothes, and the necessary stable appendages; but they find their own horses.
The hunting season commences on Holyrood day, the 25th of September, and continues every Tuesday and Saturday till the first week in May; with the exception of Christmas and Easter weeks, when they hunt three times in each. Holyrood day and Easter Monday, are two grand days of the year for company, when the field is extremely numerous. His majesty has also a pack of harriers, which are kept at the Little Park Lodge, near Windsor, and these he hunts constantly in Windsor Great Park, and the surrounding neighbourhood; they are, however, a private concern of his majesty’s, and not included in the regular Crown establishment.
KING’S PLATE, _s._
Those called king’s-plates are a free gift from his majesty, of 100 guineas each; and, it is believed, were originally granted as a means of exciting such a degree of emulation, as would probably tend to national advantage (by an additional influx of company) to such cities and towns as enjoy the royal favour. Newmarket, as the superior spot of sporting celebrity, is particularly honoured, having two in the first Spring, and one in the first October meetings.
King’s-plates are also given at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Guildford, Winchester, Ipswich, Burford, Chelmsford, Nottingham, Lewes, Edinburgh, York, Canterbury, Warwick, Lichfield, Richmond (Yorkshire), Lincoln, Salisbury, Ayr, Carlisle, and Ascot Heath; the whole of which, except the last, are run for by horses or mares of different ages, carrying such weights as shall be appointed by the master of the horse, or whoever he may delegate for that purpose.
The king’s-plate, of 100 guineas, given at Ascot, and always run for on the first day, (invariably Whit Tuesday fortnight) is only for horses which have regularly hunted with his majesty’s stag-hounds the preceding season, and must have been well up with the hounds, at their running up to, taking, or killing, ten deer, as an indispensable qualification, without having which they cannot be permitted to start. At the conclusion of the chase, when the deer is secured, those who intend to qualify for the plate, apply to the huntsman, and a ticket is delivered to the rider, bearing the arms of the master of the stag-hounds, and the seal of the royal hunt; when which ten tickets are obtained the horse has secured his qualification, may then be withdrawn from the field, and is not obliged to appear again till the day of entrance at Sunning Hill Wells, where the tickets must be produced, in confirmation of his being duly qualified to start. For the accommodation of the sporting world at large, horses of all ages are permitted to run, carrying the following weights:—four years’ old, 11st. 2lb.; five years’ old, 11st. 9lb.; six years’ old, 11st. 12lb.; and aged, 12st. Mares allowed 4lb. The best of three four-mile heats.—_Vide_ RACING.
The following rules are, by his majesty’s command, to be strictly observed by the owners and riders of all such horses, mares, or geldings, as shall run for his majesty’s plates at Newmarket:—
KING’S-PLATE ARTICLES.
Every person that putteth in a horse, mare, or gelding, for the said plate, is to show such horse, mare, or gelding, with the marks, name, and name of the owner, to be entered at the king’s stables in Newmarket, the day before they run, and shall then produce a certificate under the hand of the breeder, specifying his exact age the grass before.
Every horse, mare, or gelding, that runneth, is to start between the hours of one and four in the afternoon; and to be allowed half an hour between each heat to rub.
Every horse, mare, or gelding, that runneth on the wrong side the posts or flags, or is distanced in any of the heats, shall have no share of the said plate, nor be suffered to start again.
The horse, mare, or gelding, that winneth any two heats, winneth the plate; but if three several horses, mares, or geldings, win each of them a heat, then those three, and only they, to run a fourth; and the horse, mare, or gelding, that winneth the fourth heat, shall have the plate.
And each horse, mare, or gelding’s place, as he or they come in by the ending post each heat, as first, second, or third, &c., shall be determined by such judges as shall be appointed for that purpose by the Master of the Horse. And in case any horse, mare, or gelding, shall be then, or after prove to be, above the age certified the grass before, the owner or owners of such horse, mare, or gelding, shall be rendered incapable of ever running for any of the king’s plates hereafter.
As many of the riders as shall cross, jostle, or strike, or use any other foul play, as shall be judged by such person or persons as shall be appointed by the Master of the Horse, such rider shall be made incapable of ever riding any horse, mare, or gelding, for any of his majesty’s plates hereafter; and such owners shall have no benefit of that plate; but such owners may be permitted to run any horse, mare, or gelding, for any other of his majesty’s free plates in future.
Every rider shall, immediately after each heat is run, be obliged to come to the ending post with his horse, mare, or gelding, then and there to alight, and not before, and there to weigh to the satisfaction of the judges appointed for that purpose.
And in case of neglect or refusal thereof, such winners and riders shall be immediately declared incapable of running or riding any more for this or any of his majesty’s plates in future.
And should any difference arise relating to their ages, or in their running, or to these his majesty’s orders, the same to be determined by such person or persons as shall be appointed by the Master of the Horse. And these articles are to continue in force, unless altered by command of his majesty.
For the better and more certain prevention of any fraud or misapplication, the winner of a king’s plate is to receive from the clerk of the course, a certificate signed by the steward of the race where such plate is won, counter-signed by himself also, which being presented to the lord lieutenant of the county, it obtains his signature likewise: when thus sanctioned, it becomes payable at sight to bearer (if properly endorsed by the winner,) at the office of the clerk of his majesty’s stables, in the King’s Mews, London. The lord lieutenant of a county being out of the kingdom, the signature of any person regularly deputed by him is sufficient. The certificate of winning the plate at Ascot requires only the signature of the master of his majesty’s stag hounds, instead of the lord lieutenant of the county.
KITE, _s._ A bird of prey that infests the farms, and steals the chickens; a fictitious bird made of paper.
This bird is easily distinguished from the buzzard by its forked tail, which is its peculiar and distinguishing feature. Its length is about two feet; its bill is of a horn colour, furnished with bristles at the base; its eyes and cere are yellow; the feathers on the head and neck are long and narrow, of a hoary colour, streaked with brown down the middle of each; those on the body are of a reddish brown colour, the margin of each feather pale; the quills are dark brown, the legs yellow, and the claws black. It is common in England, where it continues the whole year. It is found in various parts of Europe, in very northern latitudes, whence it retires towards Egypt before winter, in great numbers; it is said to breed there, and return in April to Europe, where it breeds a second time, contrary to the nature of rapacious birds in general. The female lays two or three eggs of a whitish colour, spotted with pale yellow, and of a roundish form. Though the kite weighs somewhat less than three pounds, the extent of its wings is more than five feet; its flight is rapid, and it soars very high in the air, frequently beyond the reach of our sight; yet, at this distance, it perceives its food distinctly, and descends upon its prey with irresistible force: its attacks are confined to small animals and birds; it is particularly fond of young chickens, but the fury of their mother is generally sufficient to drive away the robber.—_Bewick._
KITTEN, _s._ a young cat.
KITTEN, _v._ To bring forth young cats.
KNEE, _s._ The joint of the leg where the leg is joined to the thigh; a knee is a piece of timber growing crooked, and so cut that the trunk and branch make an angle.
_Knee of a Horse_ is the central joint of the leg, where the fore thigh is united to the shank bone. Its formation is of such strength, that a lameness, by twist, distortion, or any other injury, is hardly ever sustained in this part, but by the accident of falling, which frequently happens, and, if attended with a blemish, very much reduces the previous value of the horse. Prominences in a pavement, or rolling stones upon a road, are sometimes the occasion of such misfortunes, even to those who are in general exceedingly sure-footed, and of the most valuable description. Custom has, however, introduced of late years such an unprecedented degree of precaution in an examination of the knees, that the slightest touch cannot be expected to pass unnoticed amidst so much scrutinising inspection; and if once appearances are sufficient to justify a doubt, the object immediately sinks in estimation, however superior he may be in other respects and qualifications. This being so great a disadvantage when a horse is to be sold, it evidently points out the absolute necessity of a minute examination before he is bought, as a want of it may produce considerable loss and serious reflection. Loss of hair upon the knees, when not too seriously affected, may sometimes be restored by a daily application of very strong camphorated liniment.
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The knee of the horse corresponds with the human wrist. Like the joints generally, it should be large, by which the surface of muscular and ligamentous contact becomes increased, and the stability of the limb in proportion augmented; by this form also the tendinous insertions are further removed from the centre of motion, and thereby their power is increased. The knee should be carefully examined, to see whether the skin has been broken by falls; and great caution is necessary in this, for the hair sometimes grows so well over the scar as to leave it hardly discernible. Horse dealers likewise hide the blemish by blackening the part. It does not, however, follow that a mark or scar always indicates a stumbler; and persons are too apt to forget that the safest horse may by an unavoidable accident fall; but which circumstance will never influence his future manner of going, unless the cicatrix should be of such extent as to interfere with the motion of the joint; if, therefore, the arm and fore-arm be strong, the fore-hand high, and the horse show good action, he should not be rejected wholly for an accidental blemish.—_Blaine._
KNOT, _s._ A complication of a cord or string not easily to be disentangled; a hard part in a piece of wood; a confederacy, an association, a small band; intricacy; a cluster, a collection; a fen bird. Knot is the division of the log-line answering to half a minute as a mile does to an hour.