Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/316

 B I R

B I R

of oil, and a fmall quantity of Venice turpentine. Let the whole boil for fome minute over a moderate fire, ftirring it all the time. Then take it off; and when there is occafion to ufe it, warm it, and cover the flicks well with it. This is the bed: fort of bird-lime for fnipes, and other birds that love wet places.

The mod fuccefsful method of ufing the common bird-lime is this : cut down the main branch or bougii of any bufhy tree, tvhofe twigs are thick, ftrait, long and fmootb, and have neither knots nor prickles. The willow and the birch-tree afford the beftof this kind. Let all the fuperfluous fhoots be trimmed off, and the twigs all made neat and clean ; they muft all be well covered with the bird-lime, within four inches of the bot- tom ; but the main bough, from which they grow, muff not be touched with the 'imc. No part of the bark, where the lime ihould come, muft be left bare ; but it is a nice matter to lay it on properly, for if it be too thick it will give the birds a diftarte, and they will not come near it ; and if there be too little of it, it will not hold them when they are there. "When the bum is thus prepared, it muft be fet up in fome dead hedge, or among fome growing btiflies near the out fkirts of a town, a farmer's back-yard, or the like, if it be in fpring ; for thefe places are the rcfort of the fmall birds at that time. If it be ufed in fummcr, the bufh muft be placed in the midft of a quick-fet hedge, or in groves, bufhes, or white thorn trees, near fields of corn, hemp, flax, and the like; and in the winter, the proper places are about ftacks of corn, hovels, barns, and the like. When the AW-bufh is thus planted, the fportfman muft ftand as near it as he can, without being dis- covered ; and with the mouth, or otherwife, make fuch fort of notes, as the birds do, when they attack, or call to one an- other. There are bird-calls to be bought for this ufe ; but the moft expert method is to learn the notes of call of the feve- ral birds, and imitate them by a fort of whittling. When one bird is thus indeed to the bum, and hung faft, the bufinefs of the fportfman is not to run up to take it, but to be patient; for it will hang itfelf more faft, by its ftruggling to get away ; and its fluttering will bring more to the bufh ; fo that feveral may be taken together. 'The time of the day for this fport is from fun-rife to ten o' clock, and from one to fun-fet. An- other very good method of bringing the birds together, is by a ftale ; a bat makes a very good ftale, but it muft be faftned, fo as to he in fight at a diftance. An owl is a ftill better ftale, for this bird never goes abroad, but it is followed by all the fmall birds in the neighbourhood. They will gather together in great numbers about it, and having no convenient place to fit on, but the lime-buih, will be taken in great numbers. If a living owl or hat is not to be had, the fkin fluffed will ferve the purpofe, and will laft twenty years. Some have ufed the image of an owl carved in wood, and painted in the natural colours, and it has been found to fuccced very well. A method of deftroying fmall birds in great numbers by lime- twigs, is this: take two or three hundred fmall twigs, about as thick as nifties, and three or four inches long; ftick thefe on the tops of ten or a dozen cocks of hemp, or other produce of the field, cut and cocked up. There are generally in thefe fields ofhempvaft numbers of linnets, and other fmall birds, - feeding on the feeds ; the whole field is to be beat over, after the twigs are planted, and the birds will naturally fettle on the cocks, and many dozens of the feveral kinds will be taken at once.

Another method of taking great numbers in the winter feafon is this; take a number of wheat ears, with the ftraws about a foot long to them ; melt fome good bird-lime gently over the fire, adding one fourth part of its weight of fome light fat, fuch as the greafe of fowls, or the like. When this runs thin, cover the ftraws with it for fix inches below the ears. Then take into a field, where the final! birds refort in flocks, as they do at this feafon of the year, a quantity of thefe limed ftraws, and a peck or two of chaff; fpread the chaff over a large fpace of ground, and among it place the limed ftraws, ftfckjng them in the ground at the bottom, and letting the ear droop down. When the place is thus planted, the fportfman muft beat the neighbouring fields and hedges ; and the birds being difturbed will rife, and they will naturally make their way to where they fee the chaff. They will then foon be pecking at the ears of corn; and, as the limed ftraws will foon begin to ilick to them, they will mount up into the air with them; but in their flight, the ftraws foon get under their wings, and fallen them together ; fo that they can no longer fly, but fall ftruggling to the ground.

As foon as they begin to fall, the fportfman's bufinefs is to watch, not to run to take them up, for in a little time, more will be entangled; and, with patience, fometimes five or fix dozen may be taken in this manner at a time. This method fucceeds better, as the weather is more and more fevere ; and beft of all, when the ground is covered with fnow. The fame place will ferve for many repeated flights. The limed ftraws are to be taken away, as foon as the firft flight is taken, and the place new bated with chaff ; the birds may then be left to feed with freedom ; and the next morning, the limed ftraws being fet up again, they will be caught in greater numbers, than at the firft attempt. M. Barrera, phyfician at Perpignou, has difcovered an animal

bird lime, prepared of the bolls of a fort of caterpillars, by ptf- trifying them in the earth, fteeping them in water, and then pounding and mixing them with olive oil. Pontenel. Hift. Acad. Scicnc. 1720. p. 12.

Birds ricjhy in cookery, the nefts of a fmall Indian fwatlow, very delicately tafted, and frequently mixed among foops. On the fea-coafts of China, at certain feafons of the year, there are feen vaft numbers of thefe birds ; they leave the in- land country at their breeding time, and come to build in the rocks, and fafhion their nefts out of a fpumous matter, which they find on the fhore, warned thither by the waves. They are of a hemifphcric figure, and of the fize of a goofe's egg, and in fubftance much refemble the ichthyocolla, or ifing-glafs. The Chinefe gather thefe nefts, and fell mem to all parts of the world; they diflblve in broths, &c. and make a kind of jelly, of a very delicious flavour.

BIREMIS, in antiquity, a vefiel with one or more rows of oars, ranged, as fome think, in two flages over each other ; or a veffel having two ranks or rows of oars placed over, and afide of each other. But the particular fabrick of thefe veflels feems far from being a fettled point among the learned. Vid. Meibom. c!e Fabr. Trirem. Pitifc. Lex. Antiq. T. 1. p. 279. Phil. Tranf. N° 70. p. 3071. Hook, Pofth. Work. p. 572. Kenn. Rom. Ant. P. 2. 1. 4. c. 20. The Roman Biremis is the fame with what the Greeks called 3i*p;ia, and ftands contra-diftinguifhed from triremls> quadri- reinis-, C3V.

BIRETUM. See the article Birretum.

BIROTA, biratum, a kind of vehicle denominated from the two wheels whereon it moved. Pitifc, Lex. Antiq. T. r. p. 279. The birota, by the conftitution of Conftantin a, was drawn by three mules, and carried two hundred pound weight b ; by which it was diftinguifhed from the rheda, which carried a thoufand pounds, and was drawn by eight, and in winter by ten mules. — [ a Leg. 8. Cod. Theod. deCurf. publ. b Pancir. Notit. Dignit. Imp. Orient, c. 6. Du Cangc, Gloff Lat. T. 1. p. 559.]

BIRRETUM, in writers of the middle and lower ages, a thin black cap, or cover for the head, made of linnen fitted clofe to the head, and pointed by a pyramid, antiently worn by priefts, foldiers, doctors, &c. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. I. p. 279. Du Cange, GIoiT. Lat. T. J. p. 560. The word birretum fometimes written birrettnm and btretum, is alfo applied to a cap or coif of a judge, or ferjeant at law Spelm. Gloff p. 82.

The birretum alfo denotes the cap worn by the novices in the jefuits order, formerly of a fquare, now a round figure. The birret was the ordinary cover of the head in France 500 years ago. It took its denomination from birrus or birrum* the coat antiently ufed by ecclefiaftics ; with which the cap was then of a piece, and made part of it ; fo that the whole covered, not only the head, but the moulders. Afterwards, when they began to retrench the lower part, ftill retaining the upper, it was no longer called lirrus, or birrum, but di- minutively birret, or birretum. Trev. Didf. Univ. T. 1 p. 104S.

BIRRUS, &*>(&, an antient habit worn by the chriftians in Africa.

The word is alfo written byrrus, fuppofed to be formed from ^"K^j on account of its red colour. Fab. Thef. p. 355. Some will have the birrus an epifcopal habit 3 . Others extend it to all the clergy b . Others, on jufter grounds, make it the common coat of all the chriftians in that quarter c . — [ a Magr. Vocab. Ecclef. p. 36. h Pitifc. Lex. Ant. T. 2. p. 279. c Bingb. Orig. Ecclef. 1. 6. c. 4. §. 19. Du Cange, Gloft*. Lat. T.i. p. 560, feq. Spelm. GlofT. p. 81, feq. SeeBiR-

E.ETUM.

BIRTH {Cycl.)— Eight months Birth, partus efihneftris, feldom if ever produces a living, or lively child. An eight month's birth is always weak and fickly, and fcarce ever furvives the fortieth day.

Phyficians, as well as lawyers, have doubted, whether an eight months birth be legitimate and vital? grounded on the authority of Hippocrates, the fuperftitious conclufions of aftrologers, the powers of numbers, and the malevolent in- fluences of Saturn, the doctrine that the mother's labour and pains in this month are the fevereft, and her danger greateft. Vid. Pirn. I. 7. p. 5. Hippoc. de Octimeft. Partu. Maubr. Fern. Phyfic. p. 142.

From the powers of the feptenary number, they conclude that the firft efforts of the child for delivery muft have been in the feventh month; and that, if its ftrengrh had been fufficient, it muft have appeared at the clofe of that month : But failing of that, it weakened itfelf 10 by its efforts, that the following month fuffices not to recover itfelf; fo that if it happen then to appear, it is no ways in a condition to fupport the entrance upon a new ftate of life. Cah. p. 676. voc. Partus. Gorr. Med. Defin. p. 464. voc. tgxgs, Maubr. 1. c. p. 141.

Seven months Birth, partus fepiimiflris., that which happens on the 1 80th or 182c! day after impregnation, Tcichme)\ Jnft. Med. c. 9. qu. 9. p. 57.

This phyficians allow may not only be a living, but a vital birth \ tho' it does not often prove long-lived. And the civil laws all own it as legitimate. Plin. Nat. Hill, 1. 7. c. j.

2 Hippocrates