Part 76

In 1808, a raven was kept at the Red Lion, Hungerford: a gentleman’s chaise, in turning into the yard, ran over the leg of his Newfoundland-dog, and while examining the injury done, Ralph was evidently a concerned spectator. When the dog was tied up, under the manger with the horses, Ralph attended upon him with particular kindness: this was so marked, that it was observed to the hostler, who said, that he had been bred from his pin-feather in intimacy with a dog, that the affection between them was mutual, and that all the neighbourhood had been witnesses of the acts of fondness they had conferred upon each other. This dog also had his leg broke, and during the long time he was confined Ralph waited upon him and carried him provisions daily; by accident the hostler shut the stable door, and Ralph was deprived of the company of his friend the whole night, but in the morning the bottom of the door was found so pecked, that Ralph would, in another hour, have made his own entrance port.—_Bewick._

RAVENOUS, _a._ Furiously voracious, hungry to rage.

RAW, _a._ Not subdued by fire; not covered with the skin; sore; immature; unseasoned; bleak, chill.

RAY, _s._ A beam of light; a genus of the class amphibia, including the skate, sturgeon, thornback, and torpedo.

REBOUND, _s._ The act of flying back in consequence of motion resisted.

RECHARGE, _s._ Among hunters, a lesson which the huntsman winds on the horn when the hounds have lost their game.

RECHEAT, _s._ A lesson which the huntsman winds on the horn when the dogs are at fault, to bring them back from pursuing a counterscent.

RECIPE, _s._ A medical prescription.

RECOIL, _v._ To rush back from resistance; the rebound of a gun.

_Recoil._—Whatever retards the exit of the charge operates like an increase of lead, and, by confining the force of the explosion the more to the barrel, produces a greater recoil, hence partly it is, that in proportion as the barrel becomes foul within by repeated firing, the recoil increases. A piece will recoil if, from the breach plug being made too short, there remain some turns of the screw not filled up, these hollows, wherein a part of the powder is lodged, forming an obstacle that confines and retards the explosion. A barrel mounted on a stock that is very straight, will recoil more than when mounted on a stock that is considerably bent, as the curvature serves to break and deaden the force of the recoil; and, sometimes also, a fowling piece will recoil from the shooter applying it improperly to his shoulder, for if the butt is not applied closely to the shoulder, or is applied so as to be supported only at a single point, the recoil will be much more sensibly felt, than when the hollow of the butt embraces the shoulder, and is firmly supported by the weight of the body. Guns are observed to recoil more after being fired a number of times, than they did at the beginning. The matter which is left on the inside of the barrel after the explosion, and which increases on every discharge, attracts moisture very quickly, especially if the saltpetre employed in the powder was not well purified from the admixture of common salt which it contains in its rough state. This moisture becomes considerable after a few discharges, and, being formed into vapour by the heat during the explosion, adds its expansive effort to that of the inflamed powder, and greatly increases the agitation and recoil. Owing to this cause, probably, rather than to that before mentioned, arises the recoil, from some turns of the breech screw not being filled up by the breech plug, and thereby affording a lodgment to moisture.—_Essay on Shooting._

RECTIFIED SPIRIT, _s._ Alcohol, or spirit of wine.

This is obtained in a dilute state from fermented liquors by distillation, and is afterwards rectified or concentrated, by repeating the operation two or three times. Rectified spirit is the basis of many useful embrocations, for strains, bruises, &c. It dissolves camphor and all the resins very readily: hence we have camphorated spirit, opodeldoc, Friar’s balsam, &c. Mixed with an equal quantity of water it forms what is termed proof spirit, which is the liquid generally employed for making tinctures. Rectified spirit is often used undiluted as an embrocation for strains; and, when the injury is deeply seated, may be serviceable. I think, however, it is rendered more efficacious by the addition of soap, ammonia and camphor, or oil of rosemary. Rectified spirit is never employed as an internal remedy in the horse; though fermented liquors, such as beer, porter, or wine, have been often given with advantage, in cases which required cordials. Horses, that have been so fatigued with a long chase or journey as to refuse their food and appear quite exhausted, are much refreshed by taking a cordial ball in half a pint of beer, and feed soon after with great alacrity. The advantage thus derived is merely temporary, as they are not by this treatment rendered adequate to another chase or journey quicker than they would otherwise be.

RED, _a._ Of the colour of blood, of one of the primitive colours.

REDBREAST, _s._ A small bird so named from the colour of its breast, called also a Robin.

This well-known species of warbler needs little description. The upper parts are of a yellowish brown, tinged with ash-colour; forehead and from chin to breast of a deep rufous orange; belly and vent whitish; the plumage of both sexes are alike; the nestling-feathers of young birds are spotted; and they do not possess the red on the breast for two or three months after they leave the nest.

It is said to be a migrative species, but from no other reason than their more frequent and numerous appearance about our habitations in the winter, when the woods and fields are destitute of insects; it is then they seek the protection of man, and are so tame as to enter doors and windows, and pick up the crumbs fallen from the table; here they too frequently fall a sacrifice to the watchful cat.

“The redbreast,” says Fleming, in a letter to Colonel Montagu, “is only occasionally observed in Zetland after gales of wind.” Whether in spring or autumn, or at what season, is not mentioned; but most probably in the latter, when those which breed in the more northern parts of the European continent may be shifting their quarters, and, by accident, are driven from Norway. It sings throughout the winter, except in severe weather. About the beginning of April it prepares a nest in some mossy bank or out-building, composed of dead leaves, green moss, and stalks of plants, lined with hair; and lays from five to seven whitish eggs spotted with rust-colour and cinereous; their weight about twenty-six grains.—_Montagu._

RED DEER, _s._ The stag, the greater deer. _Vide_ STAG.

REDLEAD, _s._ Minium.

REDPOLE, _s._ A bird of the finch tribe, so called from a red spot on the crown of the head.

This bird is less than the common linnet and twite, and although like them, subject to a partial change of colour at a particular season, may be readily distinguished from them, as well by other peculiar characteristics as by its inferiority of size, weighing about two drachms and a half; length five inches; the bill is of a light colour, inclining to dull yellow; irides hazel; the forehead is of a purplish red; the feathers of all the other parts are dusky, margined with rufous-brown; chin black; throat and breast pink; sides streaked with dusky; belly white; quills and tail dusky, edged with pale brown; in some the rump is tinged with pink; legs dusky.

The female differs in being somewhat lighter above, and in the colour on the head, which is not so bright, sometimes yellowish. This sex has the black spot on the chin, but none of the pink on the breast and throat. In confinement they lose the pink colour on the breast at the first moulting; at the second the colour on the head changes to a greenish yellow. Bechstein had a male, the head of which turned to a fine gold colour after the third moulting. The young birds are destitute of the pink feathers; and indeed the males are subject to as much variety as the linnet, and sometimes have no red at all on the breast.

This species is very generally diffused throughout Europe; but its native regions seem to be the northern parts. They reach Germany in great flocks towards the end of October, and again retire in the months of March and April.—_Montagu._

REDSHANK, RED-LEGGED HORSEMAN, POOL SNIPE, or SAND COCK, (_Scolopax calidris_, LINN.; _Le Chevalier aux Pieds rouges_, BUFF.) _s._ A bird.

This bird weighs about five ounces and a half: its length is twelve inches, and breadth twenty-one. The bill, from the tip to the corners of the mouth, is more than an inch and three quarters long, black at the point, and red towards the base: the feathers on the crown of the head are dark-brown, edged with pale rufous; a light or whitish line passes over and encircles each eye, from the corners of which a dark-brown spot is extended to the beak: irides hazel; the hinder part of the neck is obscurely spotted with dark-brown, on a rusty ash-coloured ground; the throat and forepart are more distinctly marked or streaked with spots of the same colour: on the breast and belly, which are white, tinged with ash, the spots are thinly distributed, and are shaped something like the heads of arrows or darts. The general appearance of the upper parts of the plumage is glossy olive-brown; some of the feathers are quite plain, others spotted on the edges with dark-brown, and those on the shoulders, scapulars, and tertials are transversely marked with the same coloured waved bars, on a pale rusty ground: the bastard wing and primary quills are dark-brown; the inner webs of the latter are deeply edged with white, freckled with brown, and some of those quills next the secondaries are elegantly marked, near their tips, with narrow brown lines, pointed and shaped to the form of each feather; some of the secondaries are barred in nearly the same manner, others are white; back white; the tail-feathers and coverts are beautifully marked with alternate bars of dusky and white; the middle ones slightly tinged with rust colour; legs red, and measure from the end of the toes to the upper bare part of the thigh, four inches and a half.

This species is of a solitary character, being mostly seen alone, or in pairs only. It resides the greater part of the year in the fen countries, in the wet and marshy grounds, where it breeds and rears its young. It lays four eggs, whitish, tinged with olive, and marked with irregular spots of black, chiefly on the thicker end. Pennant and Latham say, it flies round its nest, when disturbed, making a noise like a lapwing. It is not so common on the sea-shores as several others of its kindred species.

Ornithologists differ much in their descriptions of the redshank, and probably have confounded it with others of the red-legged tribe, whose proper names are yet wanting, or involved in doubt and uncertainty. Latham, in his supplement, describes this bird as differing so much in its summer and winter dress, and its weight, as to appear to be of two distinct species. There is reason to believe that several species of the scolopax and tringa genera, which have not been taken into the list of British birds, appear occasionally in Great Britain, and that this circumstance, together with the difference of age and sex, has occasioned much confusion.

_Red-legged Godwit, Spotted Snipe or Barker, Spotted Redshank._ (_Scolopax Totanus_, LINN.; _Le Chevalier Rouge_, BUFF.)—The length of this bird, from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail is twelve inches, and to the end of the toes, fourteen inches and a half; its breadth, twenty-one inches and a quarter, and its weight about five ounces two drachms, avoirdupoise. The bill is slender, measures two inches and a half from the corners of the mouth to the tip, and is for half its length, nearest to the base, red, the other part black: irides hazel; the head, neck, breast, and belly are spotted in streaks, mottled and barred with dingy ash-brown and dull white, darker on the crown and hinder part of the neck: the throat is white, and lines of the same colour pass from the upper sides of the beak over each eye, from the corners of which two brown ones are extended to the nostrils: the ground colour of the shoulders, scapulars, lesser coverts, and tail, is a glossy olive-brown; the feathers on all these parts are indented on the edges, more or less, with triangular-shaped white spots. The back is white; the rump barred with waved lines of ash-coloured brown, and dingy white; the vent-feathers are marked nearly in the same manner, but with a great portion of white: the tail and coverts are also barred with narrow waved lines, of a dull ash-colour, and, in some specimens, are nearly black and white. Five of the primary quills are dark-brown, tinged with olive; the shaft of the first quill is white; the next six are, in the male, rather deeply tipped with white, and slightly spotted and barred with brown: the secondaries, as far as they are uncovered, when the wings are extended, are of the same snowy whiteness as the back. The feathers which cover the upper part of the thighs, and those near them, are blushed with a reddish or vinous colour: the legs are of a deep orange red, and measure, from the end of the middle toe-nail to the upper bare part of the thigh, five inches and a half.—_Bewick._

REDWING, _s._ A bird.

_Redwing, Swinepipe, or Wind Thrush._ (_Turdus Iliacus_, LINN.; _Le Mauvis_, BUFF.)—This bird is not more than eight inches in length. The bill is of a dark-brown colour; eyes deep hazel; the plumage in general is similar to that of the thrush; but a white streak over the eye distinguishes it from that bird: the belly is not quite so much spotted, and the sides of the body, and the feathers under the wings, are tinged with red, which is its peculiar characteristic; whence also it derives its name.

These birds make their appearance a few days before the fieldfare, and are generally seen with them after their arrival; they frequent the same places, eat the same food, and are very similar to them in manner. Like the fieldfare, they leave us in the spring, for which reason their song is quite unknown to us; but it is said to be very pleasing. The female builds her nest in low bushes or hedges, and lays six eggs, of a greenish blue colour, spotted with black.

This and the former are delicate eating: the Romans held them in such estimation that they kept thousands of them together in aviaries, and fed them with a kind of paste, made of bruised figs and flour, and various other kinds of food, to improve the delicacy and flavour of their flesh; these aviaries were so contrived as to admit light barely sufficient to direct them to their food; every object which might tend to remind them of their former liberty was carefully kept out of sight, such as the fields, the woods, the birds, or whatever might disturb the repose necessary for their improvement. Under this management these birds fattened, to the great profit of their proprietors, who sold them to Roman epicures for three denarii, or about two shillings sterling, each.

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A redwing was taken up, November 7th, 1785, at six o’clock in the morning, which, on its approach to land, had flown against the light-house at Tynemouth, and was so stunned that it fell to the ground and died soon after; the light most probably had attracted its attention.

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When redwings appear on the eastern coast, they as commonly announce the approach of the woodcock, as does the arrival of the wryneck that of the cuckoo, in the south.—_Bewick_—_Daniel._

REED, _s._ A hollow knotted stalk, which grows in wet grounds; a small pipe; an arrow.

REEK, _s._ Smoke, steam, vapour; a pile of corn or hay.

REEL, _s._ A turning frame upon which yarn is wound into skeins from the spindle; an implement for winding up the angler’s line.

REEVE, _s._ The female of the ruff.

REFUSE, _s._ That which remains disregarded when the rest is taken.

REGARDER, _s. obs._ The regarder is a ministerial officer of the forest, sworn to make regard there as usual, to view and enquire of all the officers within the forest of vert or venison, and of concealments or defaults of the forester, or other officers of the forest.

REIN, _s._ The part of the bridle which extends from the horse’s head to the driver’s or rider’s hand; used as an instrument of government, or for government.

REIN, _v._ To govern by a bridle; to restrain, to control.

REINS, _s._ The kidneys, the lower part of the back.

RELAY, _s._ Horses on the road to relieve others.

REMOVE, _s._ Change of place; the act of changing place; a step in the scale of gradation; act of putting a horse’s shoes upon different feet.

RENDEZVOUS, _s._ Assembly, meeting appointed; place appointed for an assembly.

RENDEZVOUS, _v._ To meet at a place appointed.

RENNET, _s._ The ingredient with which milk is coagulated, in order to make cheese.

RENOUNCE, _v._ To disown, to abnegate; a term in card playing.

REPELLENT, _s._ An application that has a repelling power.

REPERCUSSION, _s._ The act of driving back, rebound.

REPTILE, _a._ Creeping upon many feet.

REPTILE, _s._ An animal that creeps upon many feet.

RESINOUS, _a._ Containing resin, consisting of resin.

RESPIRATION, _s._ The act of breathing; relief from toil.

REST, _s._ Sleep, repose; cessation from disturbance; cessation from bodily labour.

REST, _v._ To lay as on a support; to steady a gun when taking aim.

RESTHARROW, _s._ A plant.

RESTIFF, _a._ Unwilling to stir; resolute against going forward; stubborn.

RESTIVENESS, _s._ Obstinate reluctance; viciousness in a horse.

RESTORATIVE, _s._ A medicine that has the power of recruiting life.

RETICLE, _s. obs._ A small net.

RETICULATED, _a._ Made of net-work.

RETINA, _s._ The optic nerve which receives the image of the object in vision.

RHEUM, _s._ A thin watery matter oozing through the glands, chiefly about the mouth and eyes.

RHEUMATISM, _s._ A painful distemper supposed to proceed from acrid humours.

Acute general rheumatism, or rheumatic fever, is inflammation of the muscular system, and has been already noticed under the head founder, or chill. There is, however, a different kind of rheumatic affection I have sometimes met with, in which the joints are affected; generally, I believe, the hock joint; but probably the other joints are equally liable to this affection. It is sometimes accompanied with a morbidly irritable state of the stomach and bowels, and if a strong or even a common purgative is given in such a case, there will be danger of its producing inflammation of these parts. The same irritable state of the stomach and bowels is sometimes observable also in chills, as they are termed, and when the hind-leg is suddenly attacked with inflammation and swelling, after violent shivering and fever. In all such cases, though physic is often necessary, that is, when the bowels are in a costive state, yet it is likely to do great harm unless in a moderate dose, and guarded with cordials or opium. The following ball may be given on such occasions: it must be observed, however, that copious bleeding is the essential remedy, and must precede every other.

PURGATIVE WITH OPIUM, OR CORDIAL CATHARTIC.

Barbadoes aloes 4 to 5 dr. Ginger 1 dr. Hard soap 3 dr. Syrup enough to form the ball.

The affected parts may be fomented and rubbed with some stimulating liniment or embrocation.—_White._

RHUBARB, _s._ A medical root, slightly purgative, referred by botanists to the dock.

RIB, _s._ A bone in the body, any piece of timber or other matter which strengthens the sides; a slip of iron attached to gun barrels for strength or ornament.

RIBBED, _a._ Furnished with ribs; enclosed as the body by ribs.

RICK, _s._ A pile of corn or hay regularly heaped up and sheltered from wet.

RICKETS, _s._ The rickets is a distemper in children, from an unequal distribution of nourishment, whereby the joints grow knotty, and the limbs uneven; a disease in horses.

Rickets is very like to tabies, in all its causes, and also in some of its appearances and effects; it is common to the same breeds, and is both occasional and hereditary. It is occasional when it meets with the circumstances of confinement, bad air, filth, and unwholesome food, or the milk of an unhealthy mother. Many whelps are born with the predisposition, among the fancy breeds in the confined parts of great cities and large towns, particularly pugs and the smaller sorts of bull dogs: there is also a breed of wry-legged terriers which without doubt originated in ricketty specimens, which were afterwards cultivated for particular purposes, principally rabbit-hunting. The affection often appears soon after birth; and shows itself by the slow development of the body, except in the head, belly, and joints, all of which enlarge at the expense of the rest of the parts: particularly it attacks all the joints of the extremities; these swell into protuberances, probably from a sympathy in the constitution to make up by bulk what the bones want in ponderosity, but which is not effected; for, deprived of their earthy solidifying principles, they yield to the superincumbent weight, and the cylindrical ones particularly become crooked. Cleanliness, good air, free exercise, and wholesome food, will commonly prevent it in the future breeds of such dogs as have shown a disposition to it. As a cure, an invigorating diet added to these, with the occasional use of tonic bitters if the appetite fails, or the digestion should appear defective, will answer the intention.—_Blaine._

RIDE, _v._ To travel on horseback; to travel in a vehicle; to be borne, not to walk; to manage a horse; to be supported, as ships on the water.

RIDER, _s._ One who is carried on a horse or in a vehicle; one who manages or breaks horses.