Part 59

In this way the hawk will soon be taught to fly round the falconer, bending his flight inwards when the lure is shown to him, or when he hears the call of the falconer, who should always halloo when he is luring. He may thus be made to follow the falconer wherever he pleases; this is called waiting on.

When the hawk has alighted upon the lure, the falconer is to walk round him, whistle to him while he is feeding, and reward him with a good meal when he is taken up.

It is thus that hawks are made obedient to the lure, and that they are exercised when they cannot be flown at game, but they must not be kept too long upon the wing, or they would acquire the habit of flying low; and it is the perfection of a slight falcon to soar as high as possible.—_Sebright._

LURID, _a._ Gloomy, dismal; a yellow colour bordering on a blue.

LURK, _v._ To lie in wait, to lie hidden, to lie close.

LURKINGPLACE, _s._ Hiding place, secret place.

LUSTRE, _s._ Brightness, splendour, glitter; a sconce with lights; the space of five years.

LUSTY, _a._ Stout, vigorous, healthy, able of body.

LUXATE, _v._ To put out of joint; to disjoint; to displace a limb.

LUXATION, _s._ The act of disjointing; anything disjointed; the displacing a limb.

LUXURIANT, _a._ Exuberant, superfluous, plenteous.

LYMPHATIC, _s._ A vessel containing lymph.

MACAW, _s._ A foreign bird of the parrot kind; its plumage is very splendid, and its feathers valuable in tying salmon flies. Shop flies are frequently tied with imitation feathers, which, on exposure to the sun, become faded and useless.

MACKEREL, _s._ A sea fish. _Vide_ SEA FISHING.

MACKEREL-GALE, _s._ A strong breeze, favourable for killing mackerel.

MAD, _a._ Disordered in the mind; enraged, furious.

MADNESS, _s._ Distraction; fury, wildness, rage. _Vide_ HYDROPHOBIA.

MAGGOT, _s._ A small grub which turns into a fly.

MAGNETIC, _a._ Relating to the magnet; having powers correspondent to those of the magnet; attractive, having the power to draw things distant.

MAGPIE or PIANET (_Corvus pica_, LINN.; _La Pie_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird.

Its length is about eighteen inches; bill strong and black; eyes hazel; the head, neck, and breast are of a deep black, which is finely contrasted with the snowy whiteness of the under parts and scapulars; the neck-feathers are long, as are also those on the back, which extend towards the rump, leaving only a small space, of a greyish ash-colour, between them and the tail coverts, which are black; the plumage in general is glossed with green, purple, and blue, which catch the eye in different lights; the tail is very long, and rather wedge-shaped; the under-tail coverts, thighs, and legs are black: on the throat and part of the neck there is a kind of feathers, mixed with the others, resembling strong, whitish hairs.

This beautiful bird is everywhere common in England; it is likewise found in various parts of the continent, but not so far north as Lapland, nor farther south than Italy: it is met with in America, but not commonly, and is migratory there. It feeds, like the crow, on almost every thing animal as well as vegetable. The female builds her nest with great art, leaving a hole in the side for her admittance, and covering the whole upper-part with an interweaving of thorny twigs, closely entangled, thereby securing her retreat from the rude attacks of other birds: but it is not safety alone she consults; the inside is furnished with a sort of mattrass, composed of wool and other soft materials, on which her young repose: she lays seven or eight eggs, of a pale green-colour, spotted with black.

The magpie is crafty and familiar, and may be taught to pronounce words, and even short sentences, and will imitate any particular noise which it hears. It is addicted, like other birds of its kind, to stealing, and will hoard up its provisions. It is smaller than the jackdaw, and its wings are shorter in proportion; accordingly its flight is not so lofty, nor so well supported: it never undertakes long journeys, but flies only from tree to tree, at moderate distances.

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_To destroy magpies._—Wait till the female sits hard on her eggs; and then go, late in the evening, with some large shot in a duck-gun, by which means you may either take her as she flies out of the tree, or blow up the whole concern by firing through the nest.—_Bewick_—_Hawker._

MAGPIE HAWKING, _s._

Magpies may be flown with eyess slight falcons, and afford excellent sport.

A down or common, where low trees or thorn bushes are dispersed at the distance of from thirty to fifty yards apart, is the place best calculated for this diversion.

When a magpie is seen at a distance, a hawk is immediately to be cast off. The magpie will take refuge in a bush the moment that he sees the falcon, and will remain there until the falcon arrives, with the hawk waiting on in the air. The magpie is to be driven from his retreat, and the hawk, if at a good pitch, will stoop at him as he passes to another bush, from whence he is to be driven in the same way, another hawk having been previously cast off, so that one or the other may always be so situated as to attack him to advantage.

The second hawk is necessary, for the magpie shifts with great cunning and dexterity to avoid the stoop; and when hard pressed, owing to the bushes being rather far apart, will pass under the bellies of the horses, flutter along a cart rut, and avail himself of every little inequality of the ground in order to escape.

Four or five assistants, besides the falconer, (who should attend solely to his hawks) are required for this sport. They should be well mounted and provided with whips; for the magpie cannot be driven from a bush by a stick; but the crack of a whip will force him to leave it, even when he is so tired as hardly to be able to fly. Nothing can be more animating than this sport; it is, in my opinion, far superior to every other kind of hawking. The object of the chase is fully a match for its pursuers—a requisite absolutely necessary to give an interest to any sport of this kind; and it has the advantage of giving full employment to the company, which is not the case in partridge-hawking.

The magpie will always endeavour to make his way to some strong cover; care, therefore, must be taken to counteract him, and to drive him to that part of the ground, where the bushes are farthest from each other. It is not easy to take a magpie in a hedge. Some of the horsemen must be on each side of it; some must ride behind, and some before him; for, unless compelled to rise, by being surrounded on all sides, he will flutter along the hedge, so as to shelter himself from the stoop of the falcon. Many requisites are necessary to afford this sport in perfection—a favourable country, good hawks, and able assistants.—_Sebright._

MAID or MAIDEN-RAY, _s._ A species of skate fish. They are amazingly plenty on the North West Coast of Ireland, and only used as food by the poorer classes.

MAIZE, _s._ Indian wheat.

MALANDERS, _s._ A dry scab on the pastern of horses.

Malanders is a disorder that attacks the back part, or flexure, of the knee joint, and depends upon a combination of mange and grease. It appears as a scurfy or scabby eruption, and is often very painful, causing some degree of lameness from the pain the animal feels in moving the joint. Sometimes it is not so considerable as to produce lameness, or any apparent inconvenience, but generally becomes troublesome and obstinate unless attended to. Salanders occur in the fore part, or flexure, of the hock joint, and are of the same nature as malanders. They should first be well washed with soap and water, and all the scurf and loose cuticle completely removed. They may then be cured by the following ointments:—

OINTMENT FOR MALANDERS AND SALANDERS.

No. 1. Ointment of nitrate of mercury, commonly named citrine ointment.

No. 2. Hog’s lard, two ounces; red precipitate, finely powdered, two drachms.

No. 3. Hog’s lard, four ounces; melt, and stir in Goulard’s extract, one ounce.—_White._

MALE, _a._ Of the sex that begets young, not female.

MALE, _s._ The he of any species.

MALEFEATHERS, _s._ Those on the breast of a hawk.

MALLARD, _s._ The drake of the wild duck.

The mallard, or wild-drake, weighs from thirty-six to forty ounces, and measures twenty-three inches in length, and thirty-five in breadth: the bill is of a yellowish-green colour, not very flat, about an inch broad, and two and a half long, from the corners of the mouth to the tip of the nail: the head and upper-half of the neck, are of a glossy, deep, changeable, green, terminated in the middle of the neck by a white collar, with which it is nearly encircled: the lower part of the neck, breast, and shoulders, are of a deep vinous chestnut: the covering scapular feathers are of a kind of silvery white; those underneath, rufous; and both are prettily crossed with small waved threads of brown: wing-coverts ash; quills brown; and between these intervenes the beauty-spot (common in the duck tribe) which crosses the closed wing in a transverse, oblique, direction; it is of a rich, glossy, purple, with violet or green reflections, and bordered by a double streak of black and white. The belly is of a pale grey, delicately pencilled and crossed with numberless narrow-waved, dusky lines, which, on the sides and long feathers that reach over the thighs, are more strongly and distinctly marked: the upper and under tail-coverts, lower part of the back, and rump, are black; the latter glossed with green: the four middle tail-feathers are also black, with purple reflections, and, like those of the domestic drake, are stiffly curled upwards; the rest are sharp pointed, and fade off to the exterior sides, from a brown to a dull white; legs, toes, and webs red.

The plumage of the female is very different from that of the male, and partakes of none of his beauties, except the spot on the wings. All the other parts are plain brown, marked with black. She makes her nest, lays from ten to sixteen greenish-white eggs, and rears her young generally in the most sequestered mosses or bogs, far from the haunts of man, and hidden from his sight among reeds and rushes. To her young helpless unfledged family (and they are nearly three months before they can fly), she is a fond, attentive, and watchful parent, carrying or leading them from one pool to another, as her fears or inclinations direct her; and she is known in this country to use the same wily stratagems to mislead the sportsman and his dog, as those before noticed respecting the partridge.

Like the rest of the duck tribes, the mallards, in prodigious numbers, quit the north at the end of autumn, and, migrating southward, arrive at the beginning of winter in large flocks, and spread themselves over all the loughs and marshy wastes in the British isles. They pair in the spring, when the greatest part of them again retire northward to breed; but many straggling pairs stay with us: they, as well as preceding colonists of their tribes, remain to rear their young, who become natives, and continue with us throughout the year.—_Bewick._

MALLEABLE, _a._ Capable of being spread by beating.

MALMSEY, _s._ A sort of grape; a kind of wine.

MALT, _s._ Grain steeped in water and fermented, then dried on a kiln.

Malt is very serviceable to horses that are recovering from fever: it is useful, also, when the system is weakened by large abscesses which discharge copiously, and in almost every case depending on debility.

It appears to be easy of digestion, and very nutritious, though not so stimulating as oats. Green malt has been recommended for improving the condition of horses, and giving them a smooth, glossy coat. Infusion of malt is sometimes given with advantage to sick horses; but they generally require to be drenched with it, which is a great inconvenience.—_White._

MALT, _v._ To make malt.

MAMMALIA, _s._ The first class of animals in the system of Linnæus.

MANAGE, _v._ To carry on; to train a horse to graceful action; to tame or break hawks in.

MANCHINEEL, _s._ A large tree, a native of the West Indies; a dyewood.

MANDIBLE, _s._ The jaw, the instrument of manducation.

MANE, _s._ The hair which hangs down on the neck of horses.

When a horse’s mane stares or lies irregularly, it should he neatly platted; leaded at the ends, and kept damp with a wet sponge.

MANED, _a._ Having a mane.

MANGE, _s._ The itch or scab in cattle.

The canine mange is a chronic inflammation of the skin, dependent, in some instances, on a morbid constitutional action: it is infectious also, from miasms produced from animal exhalations; and it is notoriously contagious from personal communication with one affected. It is not, however, so completely contagious, in all its varieties, as is supposed, for I have known dogs to sleep with affected ones for some time without becoming mangy; but in the majority of cases it is otherwise; and in some the predisposition to it is such, that almost simple and momentary contact will produce it. The mange which is received by contagion is more readily given to another than that which is generated. The uniform presence of animalculi within the psoric pustules has revived the idea that it originates in the attack of acari.

Mange is also hereditary. A bitch, lined by a mangy dog, is very liable to produce mangy puppies; but the progeny of a mangy bitch is certain to become affected sooner or later; and I have seen puppies covered with it when a few days old. The morbid action by which mange is generated is excited in various ways, and by various causes. When a number of dogs are confined together, the acrid effluvia of their transpiration and urine begets a miasm productive of a virulent mange, very difficult to be removed. Close confinement, with salted food, is even more certainly productive of mange; thus dogs who have come from distant countries, on ship-board, are generally affected with it. Very high living, with little exercise, is a frequent cause: a state nearly approaching to starvation is also not unfavourable to it. In both these apparent contrarieties, the balance between the skin and the digestive functions is not preserved, and the disease follows as a necessary consequence. The disease has some permanent and fixed varieties; it has also some anomalies; but the pruritus or itching is common to all.

The scabby mange, one of the most common forms under which this eruptive complaint appears, is an extension of the secretory pores of the skin in very minute red vesicles, that at first are distinct, but as they extend become pustular, confluent, and scabby. Sometimes simple linear cracks of the cuticle seem to pour out a serous fluid, which concretes into scab. It is occasionally confined to the back; at others it is found principally in the joints of the extremities.

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The red mange, so called from a redness of both skin and hair in the parts affected, is likewise not unfrequent, and partakes much of an herpetic character. In this variety there is less pustular eruption, but nearly the whole skin of the body, particularly in white-haired dogs, is in a state of active inflammation: it is also hot to the feel, and itches intolerably. In the red mange, the hair itself becomes morbidly affected, and alters in its colour, particularly about the extremities: it also falls off, and leaves the skin bare, much thickened, and puckered into stubborn wrinkles. Dogs with the strong coarse hair called wired are very liable to this state; in which a magnifying glass applied will often detect innumerable minute ulcerations, covered by furfuraceous scales.

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_Acute mange._—Besides that variety just noticed, there is yet a more directly acute form of the complaint, which puts on an appearance not unlike erysipelas in some instances; in others it is a pure erythema, or red efflorescence; but more frequently it is accompanied with some ulceration. It commences by a direct febrile attack, with panting heat, and restlessness; next some part of the body (usually the head) begins to swell, which, the second or third day, gives place to ulceration of the nose, eyelids, lips, ears, neck, &c. This ulceration proves superficial, but extensive; and continues a longer or a shorter period, as the treatment is more or less judicious. Bleeding, aperients, and febrifuges, form the constitutional remedies: the topical ones are tepid fomentations the first two days; and, when the tumefaction has given place to ulceration, the application of a cooling unguent of superacetate of lead (sugar of lead), with spermaceti ointment, will be proper. What remains of the affection, in a week or ten days’ time, may be treated as common mange.

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Mange is apt to be considered more troublesome than hurtful, which is a great error; for it is not only invariably hurtful, but very often fatal also: when long continued, it frequently ends in dropsy. It sometimes diseases the mesenteric glands, and the subjects of it die tabid: neither in any case can it be neglected with impunity. In sporting dogs it is injurious to their qualities as well as their health: their scent invariably becomes impaired, and their general powers are always weakened by its irritation.

The following formulæ are adapted for the first described form of mange:—

No. 1. Powdered sulphur, yellow or black 4 oz. Muriate of ammonia (sal ammoniac), crude powdered ½ oz. Aloes, powdered 1 dr. Venice turpentine ½ oz. Lard, or other fatty matter 6 oz.—Mix.

Or,

No. 2. Tobacco in powder ½ oz. White hellebore in powder ½ oz. Sulphur in powder 4 oz. Aloes in powder 2 dr. Lard, or other fatty matter 6 oz.

Or,

No. 3. Powdered charcoal 2 oz. Sulphur powdered 4 oz. Potash 1 dr. Lard, &c. 6 oz. Venice turpentine ½ oz.

Or,

No. 4. Sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) 1 dr. Lard 6 oz. Tar 2 oz. Powdered lime 1 oz.

Or,

No. 5. Decoction of tobacco 3 oz. Decoction of white hellebore 3 oz. Oxymuriate of quicksilver (corrosive sublimate) 5 gr.

Dissolve the corrosive sublimate in the decoctions, which should be of a moderate strength; when dissolved, add two drachms of powdered aloes, to render the mixture nauseous, and prevent its being licked off, which ought to be very carefully guarded against: the best means for this purpose is a muzzle having a very fine wire capping or mouth-piece, which will effectually prevent the dog from getting his tongue applied to the ointment, which would prove his almost certain destruction.

The formulæ for red mange are as follow:—

No. 6. Of either of the ointments already prescribed, 1, 2, or 3 6 oz. Mercurial ointment, mild 1 oz.—Mix.

Or,

No. 7. Powdered charcoal 1 oz. Prepared chalk 1 oz. Superacetate, or sugar of lead 1 dr. White precipitate of quicksilver 2 dr. Sulphur 2 oz. Lard 5 oz.

In some cases, the mange ointment, No. 4, alternated with No. 6, one being used one day, and the other the next, will be found beneficial. In others, benefit has been derived from the wash, No. 5, united with lime water. In slight cases of red mange, the following has been found singularly successful:

No. 8. Oxymuriate of quicksilver (corrosive sublimate) powdered 6 gr. Sulphuretted potash (liver of sulphur) ½ oz. Lime water 6 oz.—Mix.

The third variety requires a considerable difference in the treatment. When the little spongy openings, piercing the cellular tissue, will admit of it, they should be injected, by means of a very minute syringe, with the wash No. 8. The general surface should also be anointed with the following:

No. 9. Ointment of nitrated quicksilver 2 dr. Superacetate of lead 1 scruple. Washed flowers of sulphur ½ oz. Lard 1 oz.—Mix.

_For the Red Mange._—Two ounces of white hellebore in powder, mixed in one quart of the grounds of strong beer, made warm; rub the dog well all over, and dry it in with a good fire; be careful that it does not touch his eyes: put the dog in a warm place, and keep him from water four hours after the application.—_Blaine._

MANGEL WURZEL, _s._ A kind of beet, shaped like a carrot, but larger. It is excellent fattening winter fodder. In Germany it has been used for human food in times of scarcity; hence its name, which literally means “the root of scarcity.”—_Crabbe._

MANGER, _s._ The place or vessel in which animals are fed with corn.

MANGINESS, _s._ Scabbiness, infection with the mange.

MANTLING, _s._ In falconry, the lowering of a hawk’s feathers down to her feet.

MAPLE-TREE, _s._ A tree frequent in hedge-rows.

Maple is much used in making gun-stocks, and, from the closeness of its grain, and its being susceptible of a high polish, is generally preferred by gun-makers to every other wood. Of late, to stain stocks black has become very fashionable, and come into general use among the leading gun-makers.

MARE, _s._ The female of a horse.

MARITIME, _a._ Performed on the sea, marine; relating to the sea, naval; bordering on the sea.

MARK, _s._ A token by which anything is known; anything at which a missile weapon is directed; the evidence of a horse’s age; a sum of thirteen shillings and fourpence; a character made by those who cannot write their names.

MARKSMAN, _s._ A shot; a man skilful to hit a mark.

MARL, _s._ A kind of clay, much used for manure.

MARROW, _s._ An oleaginous substance contained in the bones.

MARSH, _s._ A fen, a bog, a swamp; a morass; a snipe haunt.

MARSH MALLOW, _s._ A plant useful in making mucilaginous or emollient drinks, clysters, or fomentations.

The root is the best part, and, if carefully dried, may be kept a long time. These mucilaginous drinks are useful when the bowels or bladder are inflamed or irritated by strong physic, or when there is any pain in the urinary passages. They should be given frequently in the course of the day, and may occasionally be made the vehicle for more active medicines. Any thing which contains mucilage in sufficient quantity may be employed for the purpose of making emollient drinks.—_White._

MARSHY, _a._ Foggy, fenny, swampy; produced in marshes.

MARTEN, _s._ A large kind of weasel, whose fur is much valued; a kind of swallow that builds in houses, a martlet.