same with those of the snipe above described. It is much less frequent among us, and very difficult to be found, lying so close, as to hazard being trod on before it will rise; its flight is never distant, and its motions, compared with the common snipe, altogether sluggish. The dimensions of the two, however, bear not the same proportion: the length of the snipe being thirteen inches; the jack-snipe, ten. The merlin (the smallest of the hawk tribe) is very destructive to snipes. THE GREAT or SOLITARY SNIPE. Its size, as its scientific name (Scolopar media) implies, is about midway between the woodcock and common snipe it is also distinguished by its bill being shorter and stronger than that of the latter; its belly and vent dusky white, barred with black, that of the common snipe white; the plumage on the back is darker; the tail has more red in it; the legs are of a darker green, not black, as described by Latham; and when sprung does not cry out. They are generally found in high stuff, such as reeds, flags, &c. They lie very close, and are not so quick on the wing as the other species. These birds abound in the Pontine Marshes, are frequently found in the swampy country of the south-west of France, near the shores of the Bay of Biscay, and breed in Sweden. The name which they are known by in France the banks of the Thames, and in the county of Norfolk. In August, 1831, a couple of these birds were shot within a few miles of Norwich, the male being of the extraordinary weight of ten ounces, the female eight ounces. SNIPESHOOTING. See SHOOT ING. SOHO. The word used to denote a hare found sitting. SOILING. Feeding a horse with green food in the stable or under cover. SOLAN GOOSE. See GANNET. SOLE OF A HORSE. The plate of horn which, encompassing the fleshy sole, covers the whole bottom of the foot. The sole ought to be thick and strong, and the shoe of a horse so set upon the hoof as not to bear upon it; for otherwise the sole would be hurt, and not only make the horse lame, but destroy the flesh that separates it from the coffin bone. SORREL. A reddish colour of horses, with which the mane should be red or white. There are two degrees of this colour, burnt sorrel and bright sorrel, and both are signs of a good horse. "The bargain SOUNDNESS. for a horse," says Mr. John Lawrence, " is either attended with the warranty of sound, free from vice or blemish, and quiet to ride or draw,' or he is sold without warrant, to be taken with all faults; in which latter case, the buyer can have no right or pretence to return him, except he prove glandered, which exception I suppose arises from the illegality of selling any horse in that state." Mr. Taplin observes that, "Amongst sportsmen (who are justly entitled to the appellation of gentlemen, and possess a high and proper sense of honour and the principle of equity) the general acceptation of the word sound' has ever been, and still is, intended to convey an honourable, unequivocal assurance of the perfect state of both the frame and bodily health of the subject, without exception or ambiP guity. It is meant to imply the total absence of blemishes, as well as defects(unless particularly pointed out and explained), and is really intended to confirm a bona fide declaration of the horse's being (at the time) free from every imperfection, labouring under no impediment to sight or action. This is the established intent and meaning of the word 'sound' amongst gentlemen and sportsmen; its explication and various uses for the convenient purposes and impositions of blacklegs and jobbing itinerants are too perfectly understood (by those who have run the gauntlet of experience and deception) to require further animadversion." SPANIEL (Canis extrarius). From the name it may be supposed that we were indebted to Spain for this breed: there were two varieties of this kind; the first, formerly used in hawking to spring the game; the other was used only for the net, and called Index, or the setter. The spaniel, says the author of British Field Sports, is a dog of high antiquity, and has ever been applied to his present purposes, namely, those of finding and bringing game when killed to his master, whether by land or water, and although there is a regular variety of spaniels, the province of which is the water, spaniels in general have no aversion to it, of which their coats is an indication. There is a sort of symmetry and delicacy proper to the true-bred spaniel, particularly discoverable in the head and ear and fineness of the flew. "The most exquisitely delicate breed of the land spaniel, which I ever witnessed (remarks the veteran John Lawrence), at the same time possessing internal sensibility in an equal degree, was in the hands of a trainer of race horses. They were of a reddish yellow and white, the coat and flew soft and glossy beyond description, and the eyes beaming with the tenderest affection-of the smallest kind, but in form, most resembling the springer. The bitch, Fanny, mother of the breed, on her foot being taken, casting a look of inexpressible softness into the face of the person, would return the friendly squeeze, with a sensibility almost human." The coat of the water spaniel is more harsh and curled. The spaniel is a most useful dog, but subject to many diseases; among these the mange is a frequent and infectious one; the formica, a disorder affecting the ears; swelling in the glands of the neck. See DoGs, DISEASES OF. SPARRING (with Cockfighters). The fighting of a cock with another to breathe him, in which fights they put muffles on their spurs, that they may not hurt one another. SPARROW-HAWK (Falco nisus, Falco sparverius, Accipiter fingillarius). With green cere, yellow legs, white belly, undulated with gray, and the tail marked with blackish belts. This is the most pernicious hawk we have, and makes great havoc among partridges and pigeons. It builds in hollow trees, in old nests of crows, large ruins, and high rocks: it lays four white eggs, encircled, near the blunt end, with red specks. SPASMS. If a twitching or spasm takes place in any of the muscles, it must be treated with gentle frictions with a brush, opening the bowels, and then administering opium liberally. The best form to give this powerful and at present only antispasmodic, in veterinary medicine, is as follows :— mix. Take infusion of bark, a quart; of | the eggs hatched in the uterus. In tincture of opium, half an ounce: the oviparous hermaphrodite fishes, the spawn is impregnated by the same individual that deposits the eggs. SPAVIN, BLOOD. This disease consists in an enlargement of the saphena vein, which passes over the bog spavin, and often accompanies that disease. The remedy employed by farriers is to make an incision in the skin, and pass some thread, by means of a crooked needle, under the vein below the dilated part. In one case, after the vein had been securely tied, and the wound in the skin stitched up, the horse was turned to grass; sometimes with a strengthening plaster or charge placed all over the joint. BOG SPAVIN.-This is a swelling on the inside of the hock, rather towards the fore part; the large vein, which is so conspicuous on the inside of the leg, passing over it. It depends either upon a distension or rupture of the membranes which form the synovial cavity, or bursa mucosa, through which the great flexor tendon passes. The swelling is soft and yielding to the pressure of the finger, but rises again as soon as the pressure is removed. -Sometimes, however, there is a swelling on the outside of the hock also, and in that case the fluid, or synovia, which the swelling contains, may be forced from one to the other. Only remedy, firing and sufficient rest, but not always necessary. BONE SPAVIN, is a hard tumour or excrescence formed on the inside of the hock; it sometimes occurs on the lower part of the hock, at others it is more deeply seated in the centre of the joint; the latter is by far the most painful. Curé. Firing, and blistering immediately after. SPAWNING OF FISH, is the act of depositing the oviparous matter of the female, and of its being impregnated with that of the male. Most species of river fish, and many of the sea kind, produce their young in this way. In the oviparous fishes, sexual intercourse takes place, and SPAYING, or SPADING. The operation of castrating the females of the several kinds of animals, to prevent them from conception and promote fattening. It is performed by cutting them in the mid flank on the left side, making the incision in an oblique manner, and of breadth sufficient to admit of the introduction of the fore-finger to remove the ovaries. These are two kernels, placed one on each side of the uterus, which being drawn out to the wound, the cord is cut and both taken away. It is advisable, after stitching up the wound, to anoint the part with tar salve, and keep the animal warm for two or three days. SPEAR. The feather of a horse, called the stroke of the spear, is a mark in the neck or near the shoulder of some barbs, and some Turkish and Spanish horses, representing the blow or cut of a spear, with some resemblance of a scar. This feather is deemed an infallible sign of a good horse. SPIRITS OF WINE. A volatile substance obtained by distillation, and possessing a valuable antiseptic power. It is much used in the composition of horse medicines. SPITTER. A male deer, rising two years old, whose spring is sharp and spit-wise; the same as brocket and pricket. SPLINTS. Hard excrescences which form on the shank bone of the horse, are termed splints; they vary in size and shape, and are sometimes so large as to press against the back sinew, causing stiffness, and in some instances decided lameness. Those of a smaller kind are seldom of much importance, unless situated on or near the joint. The treatment in all these cases requires but little variation. The horse will be very lame on the first appearance of these excres fox barks; a badger shrieks; a wolf howls; a goat rattles. For their copulation.— A hart or buck goes to rut; a roe goes to tourn; a boar goes to brim; a hare or coney goes to buck; a fox goes to clicketing; a wolf goes to match or make; an otter huntech for his kind. cences, and for some time previous, | an otter whines; a boar freams; a requiring judgment on the part of the practitioner to ascertain the cause. Gentle treatment must be had recourse to in the first instance, and the following blister will be found efficacious: Take Spanish flies, euphorbium, of each two drachms and a half; Egyptiaticum, strong vinegar, of each two ounces; spirit of turpentine, water of pure ammonia, of each ten drachms; oil of thyme one ounce: mix and put into a bottle, shaking previous to using. Lameness from a splint may sometimes be removed by placing a pledget of old linen, wet with goulard or saturnine lotion, on it, and confining it with a bandage kept constantly wet. I have seen a good effect from diluted vinegar also.ceive the hounds, she doubles; when Saturnine lotion: Super-acetate of lead, one ounce ; vinegar, four ounces; water, one pint: mix. SPORT. The diversion of the field: we say equally of hunting, coursing, shooting, and racing, We have had good sport, or bad sport, as the case may be. SPORTING PHRASEOLOGY. Many of these terms are introduced more as a matter of curiosity than of use, being now obsolete. For beasts, when in company, we say, a herd of harts, and all manner of deer; a bey of roes; a sounder of swine; a rout of wolves; a richess of martens; a brace or leash of bucks, foxes, or hares; a couple of rabbits or coneys. For their lodging.-A hart is said to harbour; a buck lodges; a roe beds; a hare seats or forms; a coney sits; a fox kennels; a marten trees; an otter watches; a badger earths; a boar couches.-Hence, to express their dislodging, we say, unharbour the hart; rouse the buck; start the hare; For the footing and treading.— Of a hart, we say the slot; of a buck, and all fallow-deer, the view; of all deer, if on the grass, and scarce visible, the foiling; of a fox, the print; and of other the like vermin, the footing; of an otter, the marks; of a boar, the track. The hare, when in open field, is said to sore; when she winds about to de she beats on the hard highway, and her footing comes to be perceived, she pricketh; in snow, it is called the trace of the hare. The tail of a hart, buck, or other deer, is called the single; that of a boar, the wreath; of a fox, the brush or drag; and the tip at the end, the chape; of a wolf, the stern; of a hare and coney, the scut. The ordure or excrement of a hart, and all deer, is called fewmets or fewmishing; of a hare, crotiles or crotising; of a boar, lesses; of a fox, the billiting; and of other the like vermin, the fuants; of an otter, the spraints. As to the attire of deer, those of a stag, if perfect, are the bur, the pearls (the little knobs on it), the beam, the gutters, the antler, the surantler, royal sur-royal, and all at top the croches; of the buck, the bur, beam, brow-antler, back-antler, advancer, palm, and spellers; if the croches grow in the form of a man's hand, it is called a pulmed-head; heads bearing not above three or four, and the croches placed aloft, all of one height, are called crownedheads; heads having double croches For their noise at rutting-time.—are called forked-heads, because the A hart bells; a buck groans or troats; croches are planted on the top of a roe bellows; a hare beats or taps; the beam like forks. SPORTING PHRASEOLOGY. We say, a litter of cubs, a nest of rabbits, a squirrel's dray. The terms used in respect of the dogs, &c.-Of greyhounds, two make a brace, of hounds a couple; of greyhounds, three make a leash, of hounds, a couple and half. We say, let slip a greyhound; and, cast-off a hound. The string wherein a greyhound is led is called a leash; and that of a hound, a leam, hain, or lyome. The greyhound has his collar, and the hound his couples. We say a kennel of hounds, and a pack of beagles. When hounds are first cast-off, and, finding game, begin to open, they are said to challenge; when they are too busy ere the scent be good, they are said to babble; when too busy, where the scent is good, to bawl; when they run it endwise orderly, holding in merrily, they are said to be in full cry; when they run without opening, it is called running mute. When spaniels open in the string, or a greyhound in the course, they are said to lapse. When beagles bark and cry at their prey, they are said to yearn. When the dogs hit the scent the contrary way, they are said to draw amiss. When they take fresh scent, and quit the former chase for a new one, it is called hunting change. When they hunt the game by the heel or track, they are said to hunt counter. When the chase goes off and returns again, traversing the same ground, it is called hunting the foil. When the dogs run at a herd of deer, instead of a single one, it is called running riot. When hounds or beagles have finished their chase, by the death of what they pursued, and in requital are fed by the huntsman or others, it is called a reward. When deer cast their horns, they are said to mew. When a deer has been hard hunted, and then be takes himself to swimming, we say he takes soil. 317 The first head of a fallow deer is called the prick. When huntsmen endeavour to find a hart by the slot, and observe his step, they say they know him by his gait. When deer, after having been hard run, turn head against the hounds, they are said to bay. When a hare (though very seldom) takes the ground like a coney, we say, she goes to the vault. When they beat the bushes after a fox, they call it drawing. on rotten When a hare runs ground and it sticks to her feet, we say she curries. When a fox has young ones in her, we say she is with cub. When beagles bark and cry at their prey, we say they yearn. Upon view of a hart, if he be a goodly deer, do not call him fair, but great; and so a great hind and a great buck; but a fair and comely doe. When a deer eats in a corn or grass field, he is said to feed, otherwise to browse; and if he stays to look on any thing, he is said to stand at gaze; when he forces by, he trips; and when he runs a pace, he strains. When he is hunted and leaves the herd, then he singles; and when he foams at the mouth, he is embossed; when he swells or vents any thing, they say he hath this or that in the wind; when he holds out his neck at full length inclining, they say he is spent ; and being dead, he is done. When hounds find where the chase hath been, and make a proffer to enter, but return, they call it a blemish. A lesson, blown on the horn to comfort the hounds, is termed a call; a recheat is a lesson blown on the horn; the mort or death is blown at the death of a deer. A hind in the first year is called a calf; in the second year, a hearse; and sometimes we say a brocket's sister, &c.; and the third year, a hind. |