zabeth, under the denomination of | begin to bend down, the bottoms White Hart Silver. lose their verdure, and the red honeysuckle flowers begin to wither, it is ripe for mowing. HAUNCH. The hip of a horse, or that part of the hind quarter which extends from the loins to the hough or ham. HAW (nictitans membrāna) of the eye. A thin membrane situated in the inner corner of a horse's eye. Its use is to protect that organ from dust or flies, guard it from thorns, &c. for when the animal draws the eye obliquely inwards, the haw covers it. Also a gristle that grows between the eye-lid and the eye of a horse, which if not speedily removed will destroy that organ. HAWK. This bird is distinguished into two kinds; the longwinged and short-winged hawk. Of the first, there are:-the Gyrfalcon and its male, the Jerkin; the Falcon and ditto, Tiercel Gentle; the Lanner and ditto, Lanneret ;-Bockerel and ditto, Bockeret; the Saker and ditto, Sakeret; -the Merlin and its mate, the Jack Merlin;-the Hobby and ditto, Jack, or Robbin ;--the Stelletto, of Spain; -the Blood Red Rook, of Turkey; -the Waskite from Virginia. Of the short-winged hawks, there are: the Eagle and its male, the Iron ;-the Goshawk and ditto, Tiercel;-the Sparrow-Hawk and its male, the Musket;-the two sorts of French Pie. Of the inferior sort:-the Stynel, or Ring-Tail; -the Raven and Buzzard; the Forked Kite, and Bold Buzzard;-the Hen-driver, &c. HAWKING. See FALCONRY. HAY. Grass cut and dried for provender. The time of cutting grass for hay must be regulated according to its growth and ripeness; nothing being more prejudicial to the crop than mowing it too soon; because the sap is not then fully come out of the root, and, when made into hay, the grass shrinks away to nothing. It must not, however, be let stand too long, till it have shed its seeds. When the tops of the grass look brown, and A HAYS. Nets to take rabbits. HAYWARD, or HAWARD. keeper of the common herd of cattle of a town or village, who is to look that they neither break nor crop the hedges of enclosed grounds, and is sworn in the lord's court for the performance of his office. HAZARD. A game properly so called, as it speedily enriches or ruins a man. It is played with two dice only and without a special board, and as many may join in the game as there is room for round the table. In this game two things are chiefly to be observed, viz. main and chance: the latter belonging to the caster, and the former, or main, to the other gamesters. There can be no main thrown above 9 or under 5: so that the mains are limited to the number 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Chances and nicks are from 4 to 10; thus 4 is a chance to 9,-5 to 8,-6 to 7,-8 to 5: and 9 and 10 chances to 5, 6, 7, and 8; in short, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, are chances to any main, if any of these nick it not. Nicks are either when the chance is the same with the main, as 5, and 5, or the like: or 6 and 12, 7 and 12, 8 and 12. Observe here that 12 is out to 9, 7, and 5: 11 is out to 9, 8, 6, and 5: and ames-ace and deuce, are out to all mains whatsoever. TO HEAD. See To TAIL. HEADS (amongst hunters). All those in deer that have double burs, or the antlers; royals and croches turned downwards, are properly termed heads. Heads of so many croches: all heads of deer which do not bear above three or four, the croches being placed aloft, all of one height, in form of a cluster of nuts, generally go by this name. HEARSE (among hunters). A hind of the second year of her age. HEAT (in Racing). A pre scribed distance which a horse runs on the course at Newmarket, all races are determined at one heat. See COURSES. HEAVIER. A castrated stag. HEEL OF A HORSE. The lower hind part of the foot, included between the quarters and opposite the toe. The heel of a horse should be high and large, one side of it not rising higher upon the pastern than the other. HEINUSE (among hunters). roe-buck of the fourth year. A HELPS (in the Manège). The aids necessary to be known in order to instruct a horse in his lesson. They are seven in number, the voice, whip, bitt or snaffle, the calves of the legs, the stirrups, the spur, and the ground. A HERN AT SIEGE, Is a hern standing at the water-side, and watching for prey. HERN-SHAW. HERNERY. A place where herns breed. HERON. The common heron or heronshaw (Ardea Major. Linn.) is remarkably light in proportion to its bulk, scarcely weighing three pounds and a half, yet it expands a breadth of wing more than five feet from tip to tip; its bill is five inches from the point to the base; claws long and sharp, the middlemost toothed like a saw, for the better seizing and retaining its slippery prey. Of all other birds, this commits the greatest devastation in fresh waters; there is scarcely a fish, however large, that he will not strike at, though unable to carry it away; but the smaller fry are his principal subsistence; these, pursued by their larger fellows of the deep, take refuge in shallows, where they find the heron a still more formidable enemy. He wades as far as he can go into the water, and patiently awaits the approach of his prey, which he darts npon with inevitable aim. His usual attitude in fishing is to sink his long neck between his shoulders, and keep his head turned on one side, as if to watch the water more intently. To take herons: bait an eel-hook with a roach or small eel; lay the bait in the water where it is about six inches deep, taking the precaution to fasten the line securely to the side or on the bank of the stream. With our ancestors, heron-hawking stood pre-eminent as a field sport; and laws were enacted for the preservation of the species; a penalty of 20s. was imposed on any person taking the eggs. Not to know the hawk from the heronshaw, is an old proverb, originating from this diversion, but in course of time absurdly corrupted to "He does not know a hawk from a hand-saw." The heron, too, was regarded as one of the greatest dainties of the table, and although the sportsmen of the old school have handed down the fact, they have neglected to state the manner in which it was rendered so highly palatable. It was then said that the flesh of a heron was a dish for a king; at present, nothing about the house will touch it but a cat. However numerous the heron tribe may be, all differing in size, figure, and plumage, they have but one character-cowardice, rapacity, indolence, yet insatiable hunger. Though the heron lives chiefly on the banks of rivers and in marshes, it builds its nest, made of sticks and lined with wool, on the tops of the highest trees, and sometimes | ever paid forfeit, and was unqueson cliffs overhanging the sea, in tionably the best horse of his time which the female deposits four large in the kingdom. eggs of a pale green colour. Their Owing to an error in the Index depredations are committed in soli- to the Racing Calendar for 1777, tude and silence; but in the spring wherein Highflyer is confounded the heron becomes gregarious, and, with a colt of the same year, also like the rook, fearlessly approaches the property of Lord Bolingbroke, the habitations of man, building its got by Herod out of Marotte, some nest in company with a number of persons have been led to deny this its kind. When the young are position. In the enumeration of excluded, the old ones are constantly" Races to come," First October upon the wing to provide them with Meeting 1777, as printed in the food. It must be conceded, how-volumes for 1775, page 246; and ever, that, in wild and marshy 1776, page 258, mention is made of districts, great numbers form their a sweepstakes of 300 gs. each, h. ft. nests, and rear their young on the ground, among reeds, &c. Mr. Daniel says, "I have taken both the eggs and young herons from the very numerous nests formed among the reeds by the side of the fleets belonging to Mr. Bennet, at Tollesbury in Essex." HIDE BOUND. When a horse's hide or skin sticks to his ribs, as it were, and cannot be drawn out or moved, as in the healthy state, he is said to be hide-bound. It indicates great weakness and poverty, and sometimes a diseased state of the mesenteric vessels, and consumption. It is generally occasioned by ill usage, and bad or insufficient food, and can only be removed by proper feeding and good treatment. A good piece of grass is the best remedy, especially in the early part of summer. HIGHFLYER. This sire of a noble race was foaled in 1774; bred by Sir Charles Bunbury, and by him sold, when a yearling, to Lord Bolingbroke; was got by King Herod, out of Rachel (the dam of Mark Anthony), by Blank; grandam by Regulus; great grandam (dam of Danby Cade, Matchless, and South), by Soreheels (a son of Basto); great great grandam, Sir Ralph Milbanke's famous black mare (the dam of Hartley's blind horse), by Makeless, out of a D'Arcy Royal mare. Highflyer was never beat, nor by three-year-olds; colts 3st. 7lb.; fillies, 8st. 4lb. Ditch-in; for which the entry stands, "Lord Bolingbroke's c. by Herod, out of Sir J. Moore's Marotte." Stronger proof, surely, cannot be required, even by those who originally raised the doubt. Farther, to save the reader trouble, he can refer to the first volume of the Stud Book, p. 156, Highflyer; and p. 379, b. c. by Herod, out of Marotte. This first-rater never started after he was five years old, yet his winnings and forfeits received amounted to 8920 gs. In 1780 he covered at Ely for 15 gs., and remained at that price till 1788; the following season he was advanced to 25 gs.; 1790 and 1791, the fee was 30 gs.; 1792," this certain foal-getting horse" was advertised at 50 gs.; and for the season of 1793, at the reduced sum of 30 gs. for each mare; on the 18th of October, however, of which year, this superior stallion and unconquered racer died, aged nineteen. HIMANTOPUS, or STILT PLOVER. See PLOVER. HIND. The female of the red deer, so called in the third year of her age; in her second she is a hearse, in her first a calf. HOBBY (Falco subbuteo). A hawk of the lure, not of the fist. The back of this bird is brown; the nape of the neck white; and the belly pale, with oblong brown spots. It is a bird of passage, but breeds in this country, and migrates in October. Like the kestrel, the hobby was used in the humbler kind of falconry, particularly in what was called daring of larks: the hawk was cast off; the larks, aware of their most inveterate enemy, were fixed to the ground through fear; by which means they became a ready prey to the fowler, by drawing a net over them. Hobby is also used in some countries, Ireland and Scotland more particularly, for a small horse or pony, and thence is derived the name of the child's toy, since the time of Sterne used figuratively, but universally, for the ruling fancy of a man. HOCK, or HOUGH. See HAM. HOG-STEER (amongst Hunters). A wild boar three years old. HOODING A HAWK. Is to fit her with a large easy hood, which should be put on and taken off very frequently, with careful watching and gentle handling, until at length she takes no offence. HOOF of a HORSE, or CRUST. The horny part which covers the foot, and defends the soft and moveable parts which compose it. It consists of the hoof or horn, the coffin, the frush, the sole, the frog, the lift, the heel, the toes, the pastern. See HORSE. HOOK. See ANGLING. HORSE. "The most noble conquest ever obtained by man," says : M. de Buffon, "was over this proud and spirited animal, which shares with him the fatigues of war and the glories of battle. Even in a domestic state, the horse is bold and fiery not less intrepid than his master, he faces danger and defies it; he delights in the din of arms, and is animated with an ardour equal to that of man; on the course and in the chase, his eyes sparkle with emulation. Though bold and intrepid, he is docile and tractable: he knows how to govern and check the natural vivacity and fire of his temper. He not only yields to the hand, but seems to consult the inclination, of his rider. Constantly obedient to the impression he receives, his motions are entirely regulated by the will of his master. He, in some measure, resigns his very existence to the pleasure of man. He delivers up his whole powers; he reserves nothing; he will rather die than disobey. Who could endure to see a character so noble abused? Who could be guilty of such gross cruelty? Yet this character, though natural to the animal, is in some measure the effect of education, which commences with the loss of liberty, and is finished by constraint." The motions of the horse are chiefly regulated by the bit and the spur; the bit informs him how to direct his course, and the spur quickens his pace. The mouth of the horse is endowed with an amaz A ing sensibility; the slightest mo- but so as to render his breast neition or pressure of the bit gives him ther too narrow nor too gross. warning, and instantly determines thick-shouldered horse soon tires, and trips and stumbles every min his course. The horse has not only a gran-ute, especially if he has a thick deur in his general appearance, but large neck at the same time. When there is the greatest symmetry and the breast is so narrow that the fore proportion in the different parts of thighs almost touch, they are never his body. The regularity and pro- good for much. A horse of a midportion of the different parts of the dle size should have the distance of head give him an air of lightness, five or six inches between his fore which is well supported by the thighs, and there should be less strength and beauty of his chest. distance between his feet and his He erects his head as if willing to thighs near the shoulders when he exalt himself above the condition of stands upright. other quadrupeds: his eyes are open and lively; his ears are handsome and of a proper height; his mane adorns his neck, and gives him the appearance of strength and boldness. The shape of the horse, unquestionably, surpasses that of all other domestic animals. The head should be small, and rather lean than fleshy: the ears small, erect, sprightly, thin, and pointed the forehead, or brow, neither too broad nor too flat, and have a star or snip upon it: the nose should rise a little, and the nostrils be wide, that he may breathe more freely the muzzle small, and the mouth neither too deep nor too shallow the jaws thin, and not approach too near together at the throat, or too high upwards towards the onset, that the horse may have sufficient room to carry his head in an easy graceful posture. The eyes should be of a middle size, bright, lively, and full of fire: the tongue small, that it may not be too much pressed by the bit; and it is a good sign when his mouth is full of white froth, for it shows a wholesome moisture. The neck should be arched towards the middle, growing smaller by degrees from the breast and shoulders to the head: the hair of the mane long, small, and fine; and if it be a little frizzled so much the better: the shoulders pretty long; the withers thin, and enlarged gradually from thence downwards, The body or carcase of a horse should be of a middling size in proportion to his bulk, and the back should sink a little below the withers; but the other parts should be straight, and no higher behind than before. He should also be home-ribbed; but the short ribs should not approach too near the haunches, and then he will have room to fetch his breath. When a horse's back is short in proportion to his bulk, and yet otherwise welllimbed, he will hold out a journey, though he will travel slow. When he is tall, at the same time with very long legs, he is of little value. The breed of horses in Britain is as mixed as that of its inhabitants: the frequent introduction of foreign horses has given us a variety that no single country can boast of: most other countries produce only one kind; while we, by a judicious mixture of the several species, by the happy difference of our soils, and by our superior skill in management, may triumph over the rest of Europe in having brought each quality of this noble animal to the highest perfection. All our best horses, for the last century, have been either entirely derived from, or deeply imbued with, the blood of the Darley and Godolphin Arabians: these have produced stock of vast size, bone, and substance, and at the same time endowed with such extraordinary, and before unheard-of powers of |