The Blossoming Rod

synonymous, but to the sportsman and naturali

fresh water, and, as an article of food, are especially sought after by the amateur for sport, and by the professional gunner for profit; while the group of "sea-fowl" may be said to include the gulls, terns

GHT O

n us a peep at both.

ight upon neigh

e, Act i

ano

ight

nds and high te

onicus, Ac

which Falstaff "babbled," and the "great pool" with its

that white

s back the ocean

n, Act i

empest, Act ii. Sc. 2), or watch the movements of t

d alluded to, some curious instinct pointed out. We pause insensibly to admire the appropriate haunts in which the poet has

ly make for the open water, and endeavour to escape by diving or swimming away, while those which do not e

-HUN

owl, now will he c

ut Nothing,

asted of innumerable wells, now lost, sullied, or bricked up. There was Holy-well, Clement's-well, Clerken-well, Skinners-well, Fay-well, Fede-well, Leden-well, and Shad-well. West Smi

t' is the only

. Act i

r favourable circumstances-favourable that is to the shooter-they display what Falstaff would call "a want

in that Poins than in a wild duck

be discretion, Poins, like the wil

a wing, and like

ht in height, f

leopatra, Ac

e a duck is

; swear then ho

duck; I can swim like a duck, I'l

ALKING

hin shot of wild-fowl was "the st

talk on, the

ut Nothing,

ag

and under the presentation of that he shoo

ind his fore-shoulder, bending your body down low by his side, and keeping his body still full between you and the fowl. Being within shot, take your level from before the fore part of the horse, shooting as it were between the horse's neck and the water.... Now to supply the want of a stalking-horse, which will take up a great deal of time to instruct and make fit for this exercise, you

f a stag; and sometimes to represent a tree, shrub, or bush. In every case it ha

ies referring to stalking-horses, all of which appear to refer to

CALI

priately mentioned the latter in connection with wild ducks, in the first part of his Henry IV., where Falstaff speaks of co

use." In Bailey's "Dictionarium Britannicum," 1736, the caliver is described as "a small gun used at sea." In Worcester's "Dictionary of the English Language," 1859, "caliver" is said to be corrupted from caliber, and described as-1. a hand-gun or large pistol, an arquebuse; 2. a k

"Glossary," it would seem to have been a military rather than a sporting weapon. The

r harquebus, fired by a matchlock, and fr

ort on the best mode of organizing the militia of London, in expectation of the Spanish invasion, 'when I was first brought up in Piemount, in the Countie of Brisack's Regiment of the old Bandes, we had our particular calibre of Harquebuze to our Regiment, both that for one bullett should serve all the harquebuses of our Regiment, as for that our Collonell would not be deceaved of his armes; of which worde Calibre, came first that unapt term we used to call a harqueb

savinge, that it is of greater circuite, or bullet, than the other is of; wherefore the Frenchman doth call it a piece de calibre, which is as much as to saie, a piece of bigger circ

sket of the sixteenth century, from Penshurst Place, Kent. The length

corroborates the fact, admitting the advantage possessed by the caliver of being more rapidly discharged. "The calivers may

rer, in 1574:-"Everie caliū his peece, flaxe & touche-box xiiijs; his morion vijs viijd, sworde & dagger vijs, his h

aliver, which, with flask and touch-box, was

calliū x

tes of money as armor may be provided for at the Cyttie of Chester, for such souldiors as shall repaire thither

originated this improvement in fire-arms, "la fa?on et l'usage des belles harquebuzes de calibre;" and that it was introduced by Phillippe

effect. The successful use of a modern punt-gun necessitates an amount of skill and judgment which those only who have tried it can really appreciate. How much greater must have been the difficu

me, cousi

n put up the fo

had mor

art II. Act

ST

med. This was a stuffed bird of the species the fowler wished to decoy, and which was set up in as natural a position as possible, either before a net or in the midst of several "springes." By imit

times a live bird was pegged down instead of a stuffed one, and was doubtless muc

st (Act iv. Sc. 1), and in the Taming of the Shrew (Act iii. Sc. 1). But commentators do not seem to be agreed on its mean

with tow, and dry him in an oven, his wings set in a flying posture; and so you may be furnished at all times." This device was chiefly resorted to for taking the ruff and reeve, and other fen birds, which fetched good price

D-G

o fled at the sight of Bottom with the ass's head to "wild-geese th

t, like so many wild-geese."-H

Romans before Corioli, reproaches the

ouls o

hapes of men, h

that apes

us, Act

Lear reminds us o

yet, if the wild-

r, Act i

he Plays of Shakespeare, and, in addition to the passages quoted in Chapter VII.,145 m

NAC

was generated from the Bernacle or Barnacle (Lepas anatifera). Sh

turned to

, Act i

lves, and, instead of investigating nature with a "learned spirit," give a license to ill-directed imagination,

y in one of the Orkneys, Pomona, produced at the ends of their branches small swelled balls, containi

RNACLE

hia Hiberni?," and Munster, Saxo Grammaticus, Scaliger, Fulgosus, Bishop Leslie, and Olaus Magnus, all

OOSE TREE. Fro

was brought to the laird, who ordered it to be sawn asunder, when there appeared a multitude of worms, "throwing themselves out of sundry holes and bores of the tree; some of them were rude, as they were new-shapen; some had both head, feet, and wings, but they had no feathers; some of them were perfect-shapen fowls. At last the people, having this tree each day in more admiration, brought it to t

hese are clothed with feathers, and at last become living and flying fowl." ("Avium Pr?cip. Hist.," Art. "Anser.") Turner, however, does not give up the goose-tree, but informs Gesner that it is a different bird from the brent or bernicle goose, which takes its origin from i

GOOSE TREE.

is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisters and muskles are; the other ende is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or lumpe, which in time cometh to the shape and forme of a bird: when it is perfectly formed the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid lace or string; next come the legs of the bird hanging out, and as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all come forth, and hangeth only by the bill: in short space after, it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth into the sea, where

," states that he opened a hundred of the goose-bearing shells, an

onger than the shell, of a filmy substance, round and hollow, and creased not unlike the windpipe of a chicken, spreading out broadest where it is fasten

goose; the eyes marked; the head, neck, breast, wing, tail, and feet formed; the feathers everywhere per

it with ridicule, and a refutation may be found in Willughby's "Ornithology," which was edited by Ray in 1678. An excellent account of the Barnacle was published by Mr. Thompson i

ered cirrhipedous creatures, called Barnacles (Lepas anatifera-Linn.), which are to be found adhering in clusters to floa

ES. Fro

tolerably firm, and has a fleshy feel; it is composed exteriorly of a fine coriaceous outer membrane, bedewed with a watery fluid, and beneath this, of an inner membrane of considerable density, apparently consisting of muscular fibres, runn

a single narrow slip uniting them together. Their colour is white, more or less tinged with purplish blue. Along the anterior margin the

many-jointed plumose cirrhi, which are perpetually thrown out and folded again, so as to serv

of a blue colour, and render the pedicle opaque; from this they pass through a minute conduit into the cavity of the mantle, where they are arranged

pose of mooring themselves at pleasure to various objects-and also of six pairs of swimming-limbs, acting in concert like oars. Besides these, they have a tail bent under the body, consisting of two joints and terminating in four bristles: this is an additional locomotive organ. Thus endowed, they swim along

sappear, the limbs become transformed to cirrhi, the regular valves develop t

es. In this stage the sutures between the valves of the shell and of the operculum were visible, and the movements of the arms of the animal within, although these last were not completely developed: the eyes also were still perceptible, although the principal part of the colouring-matter appeared to have been thrown off with the exuvi?. On the 10th another individual was seen in the act of throwing off its shell, and attaching itself as the others to the bottom of the glass. It only remains to add, that as the secretion of the calcareous matter goes on in the compartments

therwise have done, on account of the interest which attaches to the old story, handed down through so many centuries, and because we have lo

en, to the reader, we

D-F

d-fowl, has reference to the theory of Pythagoras on the subject of the transmigration

inion of Pythagoras

f our grandam might

nkest thou of

the soul, and no way

Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou d

equent our shores and harbours, especially in winter, and which afford good sport to t

LO

parts of the coast the red-throated diver (Colymbus septentrionalis) is known as the "loon," "speckled

l to mind the habits of the two birds to which the same name has been applied,

s referred to by Shakespea

apper peering

k'd on, ducks

country we have heard it called "di' dapper," but it was not until we had m

ogether makes a more respectable appearance, both in picture and pond. The habits and figure of the two birds, though, are much the same. There are numbers of loons on the 'broads' of Norfolk. Indeed it is in East Anglia that I have most e

CORM

he water that nothing but the head, neck, and top of the back appear above the surface. The tail, composed of stiff elastic feathers, is submerged and used as a rudder, and the wings as

ate cor

II. Act

ng their prey under water like the otter, only

WITH COR

ested the name cormoranus, has become so proverbial, tha

ntly employed the word as an adjecti

rmorant

us, Act

ormoran

Cressida, Ac

n

t devouri

ur's Lost,

G'S COR

e practice has been known in England, however, for many centuries. Ogleby, who went on an embassy to China in the time of James I., and who published an account of his travels on his return, describes the wa

Duke of Wurtemberg, in his diplomatic mission to England in 1610, from which it appears that the Duke, proceeding by Ware, Royston, Cambridge, and New

rence to the cormor

nd

tfo

eau qui par signe que maistre qui les addresses leur donne, se plongent sous l'eaux et prennent des Anguilles et autre poisson; lequel aussy par s

e Royal Cormorants," which office was first held by John Wood, as appears from various documents in the Record Office. Among

arge in bringing up and training of certain fowls called cormorants, and making of them fit for the use of

t to the said John Wood for ge

of the sum of ￡286 due in respect of the cormorant houses, and making nine ponds, &c., at Wes

nd as we hear so little about it afterwards, there can be no doubt but that it proved a failure, which, indeed, might have been expected, as the bird is what falconers would call

so much by him disbursed and laid out for his charges incident to the performance of the said service, over and above the sum of ￡50, impressed unto him, for and towards the said charges, appearing by his bi

cormorants, to his good cousin, the Duke of Lorraine, the sum of ￡60, by way of an im

and loss sustained by Luke Wood, in his late travels, with three cormorants, to Venice, having

hat cormorant fishing was likely to have become fashionable upon

Cormorants, and his assistants, and in the Record Office we find this petition from p

ant keeper, which he held, he says, from King James's first coming to England, to the late wars, in which he se

His Majesty's cormorant keeper, for his repairing yearly unto the north parts of England to take haggard cormorants for His Majesty's disport in fishing, the yearly allowance of eighty-fou

gular, inasmuch as he has made frequent mention of the then popular pastime of hawking, and he did not die until some years after James I. had made fis

OF THE

, the true home of t

ore beats back

ery Ne

II. Act

ave no idea of their tremendous sublimity. The boasted works of art, the high

a rock when it is come in, attentive to the various sounds that gather on every

quent chatter of the guillemot, the loud note of the auk, the screams of the heron, and the hoarse, deep periodical croaking of

LL

d find the next of Shakespeare's birds, the Gull, or, as he s

species of gull; the word is used in its generic sense only, an

s a gull,

Act iii

izer. Tooke holds that gull, guile, wile, and guilt, are all from the Anglo-Saxon "wiglian, gewiglian,

lio a

suffer'd me to

house, visite

st notorious ge

ntion play'd o

ight, Act

-CAT

s in a similar sense, as in Act ii. Sc. 3, and Act iii. Sc. 2;1

my noble g

-GRO

oper prey.158 "Gull-catchers," or "gull-gropers," therefore, were t

women's bones and would cozen the wisest,' and that for his father's sake, Sir Luke Littlebrain (he had learned the name from the drawer), if it pleased him he need not leave off play for a hundred pound or two. The youth, eager to redeem his losses, accepted the money ordinarily with grateful thanks. The gold was poured upon the table, and a hard bond was hastily drawn up for the repayment at the next quarter-day, deducting so much for the scrivener's expense at changing the pieces. If he lost, the usurer hugged his bond, and laughed in his sleeve. If Sir Andrew won, the gull-g

-ME

" but the trick itself was also known as "a g

-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide himse

ool" that Shakespeare employs the word "g

es I'll

mells from

, Act i

s being taken before they could fly. Young sea-gulls were formerly considered great del

my Lordes own mees and non other, so they be goode an

he fourth act of King Lear cannot be easily forgotten. We se

fea

s to cast one

murmurin

number'd idle

d so high.-I'l

turn, and the

down he

r, Act i