Part 70
PLAY, _s._ Amusement, sport; game, practice of gaming; contest at a game; practice in any contest.
PLEDGET, _s._ A small mass of lint.
PLETHORA, _s._ The state in which the vessels are fuller of humours than is agreeable to a natural state of health.
PLEURISY, _s._ An inflammation of the pleura.
PLIERS, _s._ An instrument by which anything is laid hold of to bend it.
PLOVER, _s._ A lapwing.
This genus is distinguished by a large full eye; the bill is straight, short, and rather swollen towards the tip; the head is large; the legs are naked above the knee; and most of the species are without the hind toe.
Although the plover has generally been classed with those birds whose business is wholly among water, we cannot help considering the greater part of them as partaking entirely of the nature of land birds. Many of them breed upon our loftiest mountains, and though they are frequently seen upon the sea coast, feeding with birds of the water kind, yet it must be observed that they are no more water birds than any of our small birds which repair thither for the same purpose. The long legged plover and the sanderling are waders, and belong more immediately to the water birds, to which we refer them; the great plover and the lapwing we consider as entirely connected with birds of the plover kind; the former has usually been classed with the bustard, and the latter with the sandpiper; but they differ very materially from both, and seem to agree in more essential points with this kind. We have therefore given them a place in this part of our work, where, with the rest of the plovers, they may be considered as connecting the two great divisions of land and water birds, to both of which they are in some degree allied.
_The Great Plover_, _Thick-kneed_, _Bustard_, _Stone Curlew_, _Norfolk Plover_. (_Charadrius œdicnemus_, LINN.; _Le Grand Pluvier_, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is about sixteen inches. Its bill is long, yellowish at the base, and black at the tip; its irides and eyelids are pale yellow; above each eye there is a pale streak, and beneath one of the same colour extends to the bill, the throat is white, the head, neck, and all the upper parts of the body are of a pale tawny brown; down the middle of each feather there is a dark streak; the forepart of the neck and the breast are nearly of the same colour, but much paler; the belly, thighs, and vent, are of a pale yellowish white, the quills are black; the tail is short and rounded, and a dark band crosses the middle of each feather; the tips are black, the rest white: the legs are yellow, and naked above the knees, which are very thick as if swollen, hence its name, the claws are black.
This bird is found in great plenty in Norfolk and several of the southern counties, but is nowhere to be met with in the northern parts of our island; it prefers dry and stony places on the sides of sloping banks. It makes no nest: the female lays two or three eggs on the bare ground, sheltered by a stone or in a small hole formed in the sand; they are of a dirty white, marked with spots of a deep reddish colour, mixed with slight streaks. Although this bird has great power of wing, and flies with great strength, it is seldom seen during the day, except it is surprised, when it springs to some distance, and generally escapes before the sportsman comes within gun-shot; it likewise runs on the ground almost as swiftly as a dog; after running some time it stops short, holding its head and body still, and on the least noise it squats close on the ground. In the evening it comes out in quest of food and may then be heard at a great distance: its cry is singular, resembling a hoarse kind of whistle, three or four times repeated, and has been compared to the turning of a rusty handle.
Buffon endeavours to express it by the words _turlui, turlui_, and says it resembles the sound of a third flute, dwelling on three or four tones from a flat to a sharp. Its food consists chiefly of worms. It is said to be good eating when young, the flesh of the old ones is hard, black, and dry. Mr. White mentions them as frequenting the district of Selborne, in Hampshire. He says, that the young run immediately from the nest almost as soon as they are excluded, like partridges; that the dam leads them to some stony field where they bask, skulking among the stones, which they resemble so nearly in colour as not easily to be discovered.
Birds of this kind are migratory; they arrive in April, live with us all the spring and summer, and at the beginning of autumn prepare to take leave, by getting together in flocks: it is supposed that they retire to Spain, and frequent the sheep-walks with which that country abounds.
_The Golden Plover_, _Yellow Plover_. (_Charadrius pluvialis_, LINN.; _Le Pluvier doré_, BUFF.)—The size of the turtle; bill dusky; eyes dark; all the upper parts of the plumage are marked with bright yellow spots upon a dark brown ground; the fore part of the neck and breast are the same, but much paler; the belly is almost white; the quills are dusky; the tail is marked with dusky and yellow bars; the legs are black. Birds of this species vary very much from each other; in some which we have had the breast was marked with black and white; in others it was almost black; but whether this difference arose from age or sex we are at a loss to determine.
The golden plover is common in this country and all the northern parts of Europe; it is very numerous in various parts of America, from Hudson’s Bay as far as Carolina, migrating from one place to another, according to the seasons. It breeds on high and heathy mountains; the female lays four eggs, of a pale olive colour, variegated with blackish spots. They fly in small flocks, and make a shrill whistling noise, by an imitation of which they are sometimes enticed within gun shot.
The male and female do not differ from each other. In young birds the yellow spots are not very distinguishable, as the plumage inclines more to grey.
_The Grey Plover._ (_Tringa squaturola_, LINN.; _Le Vanneau Pluvier_, BUFF.)—The length of this bird is about twelve inches; its bill is black; the head, back, and wing coverts, are of a dusky brown, edged with greenish ash-colour, and some with white; the cheeks and throat are white, marked with oblong dusky spots; the belly, sides, and rump, are white: the sides are marked with a few dusky spots; the outer webs of the quills are black; the lower parts of the inner webs of the first four are white; the tail is marked with alternate bars of black and white; the legs are of a dull green; the hind toe is small. In the Planches Enluminées this bird is represented with eyes of an orange colour; there is likewise a dusky line extending from the bill underneath each eye, and a white one above it.
We have placed this bird with the plovers, as agreeing with them in every other respect but that of having a very small hind toe; but this is so slight a difference as not to render it necessary to exclude it from a place in the plover family, to which it evidently belongs. The grey plover is not very common in Britain; it appears sometimes in small flocks on the sea coasts. It is somewhat larger than the golden plover. Its flesh is said to be very delicate.
_Long-legged Plover_, _Long-shanks_, or _Long-leg_. (_Charadrius himantopus_, LINN. _L’Echasse_, BUFF.)—Its slender black bill is two inches and a half long, from the tip of which to the end of the tail it measures only about thirteen inches, but to the toes a foot and a half; the wings are long, measuring from tip to tip twenty-nine inches; irides red; the crown of the head, back, and wings, a glossy black; tail light grey, except the two outside feathers, which are white, as are all the other parts of its plumage, except a few dusky spots on the back of the neck. Its long, weak, and disproportionate legs are of a blood red, and measure from the foot to the upper naked part of the thigh about eight inches; the toes are short, and the outer and middle ones are connected by a membrane at the base.
Ornithologists mention only a few instances of this singular looking species having been met with in Great Britain, but it is common in other countries.
Latham says it is common in Egypt, being found there in the marshes in October; its food is said to consist principally of flies. It is likewise plentiful about the salt lakes, and is often seen on the shores of the Caspian Sea, as well as by the rivers which empty themselves into it, and in the southern deserts of Independent Tartary. We have also seen it on Chinese paintings, and it is known at Madras in the East Indies. It is also often met with in the warmer parts of America; is sometimes seen as far north as Connecticut, and also in Jamaica.
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_Plover Shooting._—There is, in shooting plovers, a common remark made by sportsmen that the second is always the more productive barrel. The rapidity with which they vary their position when on the ground, seldom admits of a grand combination for a sitting, or rather a running-shot. But when on the wing, their mode of flight is most favourable for permitting the shot to tell; and it is by no means unusual to bring down a number. When disturbed, they frequently wheel back directly above the fowler, and offer a tempting mark if he should have a barrel in reserve; and even when too high for the shot to take effect, I have often thrown away a random fire; for the plovers, on hearing the report, directly make a sweep downwards on the wing, and I have by this means brought them within range of the second barrel.
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Golden plovers were formerly killed in great plenty by means of a stalking-horse. If you fire at these birds as they fly over you, they will dart down for the moment, and spread in every direction; so that by taking a random shot with your first barrel, you may often bring down the birds to a fair one for your second.—_Bewick._
PLUCK, _v._ To pull with nimbleness or force; to snatch, to pull, to draw; to strip off feathers.
PLUCK, _s._ A pull, a draw, a single act of plucking; the heart, liver, and lights of an animal.
PLUMAGE, _s._ Feathers, suit of feathers.
I believe that no attention has been paid to the effects of different kinds of food on the colours of birds. The linnet and redpole, in confinement, lose, after the first moult, their red colour, and it does not return. Is this owing to the want of the peculiar food they would take in the spring, if at liberty, or to their being less exposed to the sunshine? I once saw the English white water-lily blow of a pale rose colour, after a week of unusual heat in July. Birds that change their colours at different seasons, always put on their bright garb in the warm season. I have repeatedly observed, in a splendid nondescript finch which I possess, that, although it moults partially twice in the year, the colour of the larger feathers on the wings and back changes gradually from yellowish brown to scarlet, and fades again at the approach of winter. In this bird, the change to grey red is very clearly occasioned by the increase of temperature. I have observed, in the spring, that the supervention of cold weather stops its progress. In the Whidah bird, the mutation of dress is rapid, accompanying the moult in June and July. The American blue bird pushes brown feathers in its summer moult, which are very suddenly turned to blue. There is a mystery in these mutations which we do not understand.
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It is not easy to account for the variation we sometimes perceive in the plumage of birds of the same species. I have observed a rook with one white wing, during the last three years, in the rookery in Hampton Court park; and I saw a sparrow nearly white, amongst a flock of those birds, at West Molesey. A linnet was shot and brought to me from the same place, which was beautifully mottled with white and brown. Some years ago I was shown some white blackbirds, in the grounds of a nobleman at Blackheath, which had been bred there; and what showed this was not an accidental circumstance, they produced young of the same colour as themselves.—_White of Selborne_—_Jesse._
PLUME, _s._ Feather of birds; feather worn as an ornament; the colour of a hawk’s feathers, by which her age and condition are ascertained.
PLUME, _v._ To pick and adjust feathers; to strip off feathers.
PLUMING, _p._ The hawk in the act of tearing feathers from her prey.
PLUMIPEDE, _s._ A fowl that has feathers on the foot.
PLUMMET, _s._ A weight of lead hung to a string, by which depths are sounded, and perpendicularity is discerned. A plummet and line will be very serviceable to the bait fisher, in ascertaining the depth of the water, and enabling him thus to regulate the position of the float.
PLUMP, _a._ Somewhat flat, sleek, full, and smooth.
PLUNGE, _v._ To sink suddenly in water; to dive.
POACH, _v._ To steal game; to carry off game privately in a bag.
POACHER, _s._ One who steals game.
POCHARD, POKER, DUNBIRD, GREAT-HEADED WIGEON, (_Anas Ferina_, LINN.; _Penelope_, _La Millouin_, BUFF.) _s._
The pochard is nineteen inches in length, and two feet and a half in breadth, and weighs about one pound thirteen ounces. The bill is of a dark lead-colour, with the tip and sides near the nostrils, black: irides fine deep yellow: the head and neck are of a glossy chestnut, joined to a large space of sooty black, which covers the breast, and is spread over the shoulders: the lower part of the back, rump, tail-coverts, and vent, are also black: the rest of the plumage, both above and below, is wholly covered with prettily freckled, slender, dusky threads, disposed transversely in close-set zig-zag lines, on a pale ground, more or less shaded off with ash, and deepest on the wing-coverts. The primary quills are brown, with dusky tips; the secondaries lead-colour, tinged with brown, and slightly tipped with dull white. The tail consists of twelve short feathers, of a dark-brownish ash, which have also a hoary grey appearance: the legs and toes are lead-colour, shaded and dashed with black. This species is without the beauty-spot on the wings, and has altogether a more plain and half-mourning kind of look than others of this tribe. The specimen from which the above figure was drawn, was shot at Axwell-park, in the county of Durham: the description was taken from one shot in January, near Holy Island. The former differed from the latter in wanting the black on the rump and vent, and in some other slight variations in the shadings of its colours.
The head of the female is of a pale reddish-brown; the breast is of rather a deeper colour; the coverts of the wings plain ash-colour; the back marked like that of the male; the belly ash-coloured.
These birds leave the north on the approach of winter, and migrate southward as far, it is said, as Egypt, in Africa, and Carolina and Louisiana, in America. They arrive in the marshes of France about the end of October, in tolerably numerous flocks; and considerable numbers of them are caught in the fens of Lincolnshire during the winter season, and sold in the London markets, where they and the female wigeons are indiscriminately called dunbirds, and esteemed excellent eating. It has not yet been discovered whether any of them remain to breed in England.
The pochard is of a plump, round shape, and its walk is heavy, ungraceful, and waddling; but when on the wing they fly with greater rapidity than the mallard, and in flocks of from twenty to forty, commonly in a close compact body, whereby they may be easily distinguished from the triangular-shaped flocks of the wild duck, as well as by the difference of the noise of their wings.
The few attempts which have been made to domesticate this species have failed of success. They do pretty well where they have plenty of water, but it is said that they cannot bear walking about on hard, pebbly ground.—_Bewick._
POCK, _s._ A pustule raised by the small pox.
POD, _s._ The capsule of legumes, the case of seeds.
POINT, _s._ The sharp end of any instrument; a string with a tag; headland, promontory.
POINT, _v._ To sharpen, to forge or grind to a point; to indicate, as dogs do to sportsmen; to show.
POINTER, _s._ Anything that points; a dog that points out game to sportsmen.
_The Spanish Pointer._ (_Canis Avicularis, variety α_, LINN.)—This dog, as his name implies, is a native of the Peninsula, and was introduced into this country at a very early period. Great attention was paid by sportsmen for a long series of years to preserve, in purity, this important breed; but lately it has in a great measure been set aside in field sports, a more improved race having been produced by crossing, usually called the English pointer.
The Spanish pointer is much larger and stronger than the English, and is also more steady. He seems to have an inherent aptness for receiving instruction. Indeed it requires but little tuition to render him fit for the field; as, in most instances, young dogs of this breed will point of their own accord, whilst the more improved kinds require considerable drilling to initiate them, and make them do their work steadily.
The Spanish breed is the most staunch of all dogs, and if they had speed and activity in proportion to their steadiness, they would excel all others which are auxiliary to man in the sports of the field. From their weight, however, they are not so well suited for an extensive range, nor are they so hardy as the English dog, on which account they are ill adapted for the laborious amusement of grouse-shooting. They are now chiefly used by those who confine their sport to the pheasant and partridge.
_The English Pointer_ (_Canis Avicularis, variety β._)—This dog is sprung from the Spanish pointer, but is of a much lighter form, and much more rapid in his movements. He was obtained originally by a cross of the latter and the fox-hound, and has since been recrossed with the harrier. The English pointer is of a great variety of sizes, being in this particular bred according to the taste of the sportsman.
This dog possesses a beautiful symmetry of frame, and in this respect is, perhaps, the most elegant of all the canine tribe. His docility and pliability of temper, too, are truly astonishing, and he enjoys, at the same time, the sense of smelling in an exquisite degree.
About sixty years ago, the breed of pointers was nearly white, or mostly variegated with liver-coloured spots, except the celebrated dogs of the then Duke of Kingston, whose black pointers were considered superior to all others in the kingdom, and sold for immense sums after his death. Since that time they have been bred of all sizes and colours, and have at length attained that degree of perfection for which they are now so justly prized all over Europe.
Dogs of the middle size are now generally considered the best by experienced sportsmen; the larger kinds, like the Spanish pointer, are too heavy, and soon tire in warm weather, although they are best adapted for hunting in the high turnips, heath, and broomfields.
In proportion as the breed of pointers diverges in blood from their Spanish original, the difficulty of training them, and rendering them staunch for the field, increases, as they seem to lose a quality inherent in the latter dog.
Pointers are never considered complete in training, unless they are perfectly staunch to bird, dog, and gun, which implies, first, standing singly to a bird or covey; secondly, to backing or pointing the moment he perceives another dog to stand at game; and, thirdly, not to stir from his own point at the rising of any bird, or the firing of any gun in the field, provided the game is neither sprung nor started at which he himself originally pointed.
The pointer possesses a degree of mildness and pliability of disposition most admirably adapted for receiving instruction, and his mental faculties are extremely acute. He is most susceptible of impressions; serene in his general habits, and unwearied in his attachments. With all these good points, he is well qualified to secure the esteem and confidence of man, whom he is always solicitous to please, and obedient to all that is inculcated upon him. Whenever he is conscious of his own powers and education, he makes it his whole business to serve and amuse his master. At the same time, he will also perform his work to others to whom he may be lent, and is sensible of the duty required of him the moment he enters the field.
Pointers are seldom used in any other kind of shooting than that of grouse, partridge, and snipe; in the two last of which sports their merits are the more conspicuous.
Mr. Daniel informs us, that he once had a pointer that would always go round close to the hedges of a field before he would quarter his ground; the dog being sensible that he most frequently found his game in the course of this circuit, and therefore very naturally took the middle road to discover it.
_The Small Pointer_ (_Canis Avicularis, minor variety, γ._)—I have just seen an extremely small pointer, in the possession of C. G. Stewart Menteath, Esq. of Closeburn. His length, from the tip of the nose to the point of the tail, is only two feet and half an inch; from the one fore-foot to the other, across the shoulders, two feet; length of the head, six inches; round the chest, one foot three inches. He is an exquisite miniature of the English pointer, being in all respects similar to him. His colour is white, with dark liver-coloured patches on each side of the head, extending half down the neck; the ears, with some patches on the back, are also of the same colour; and numerous small dark brown spots appear over his whole body and legs. This beautiful little animal has an exquisite sense of smell; and it is said that some of the same variety, possessed by the Earl of Lauderdale, have been broken in, and make excellent pointers; although, from their minute size, it cannot be expected that they will be able to do much work. When intent on any object, the dog assumes the same attitude as other pointers, holding up one of his feet.
I have not been able to ascertain the native county of this variety, although I have been informed it is common in the south of Germany.
Sir James Colquhoun has a dog of the same breed, which is even smaller than that belonging to Mr. Menteath.
_The Russian Pointer_ (_Canis Avicularis, variety δ._)—This variety seems only to be a descendant of the Spanish pointer, which he strongly resembles in shape, with rough wiry hair all over his body, probably arising from the coldness of the climate, as nature seems to provide all the dogs of boreal regions with a covering fitted to resist the inclemency of the sky. Even his legs are invested with hair, which is generally of a uniform black colour, or of a dark umber brown. There is one peculiarity about him, which is, that his nose is so deeply cleft that it appears to be split in two; on which account he is termed, in Russia, the double-nosed pointer. His scent is said to be superior to that of the smooth dogs. His cleft nose is found to be inconvenient when he is beating in cover, as the face is apt to be torn where the brushwood is thick.
Russian sportsmen generally feed their pointers on oatmeal boiled, and they are kept about their houses.