THE FIELD BOOK. [Cuc CUCKOO, 8. A bird which appears in the spring, and is said to suck the eggs of other birds, and lay her own to be hatched in their place; a name of contempt. Cuckoo, or Gowk.-(Cuculus Canorus, LINN.; Le Coucou, BUFF.)-Length fourteen inches, breadth twenty-five; its bill is black and somewhat bent; eyes yellow; inside of the mouth red; its head, neck, back, and wing coverts are of a pale blue, or dove colour, which is darkest on the head and back, and palest on the fore part of the neck and rump; its breast and belly are white, elegantly crossed with wavy bars of black; the quill feathers are dusky, their inner webs marked with large oval white spots; the tail is long; the two middle feathers are black, with white tips; the others dusky, marked with alternate spots of white on each side the shaft: the legs are short and of a yellow colour; toes two forward, and two backward; claws white. its well-known cry is generally heard about The cuckoo visits us early in the spring; the middle of April, and ceases the latter end of June; its stay is short, the old cuckoos being said to quit this country early in July. Cuckoos build no nest; and, what is more extraordinary, the female deposits her solitary egg in the nest of another bird, by which it is hatched. The nest she chooses for this purpose is generally selected from the following, viz., the hedge sparrows, water wagtails, titlarks, yellow hammers, green linnets, or the winchats. Of these it has been observed that she shows a much greater partiality to that of the hedge sparrow than to any of the rest.— Bewick. CUP, v. To draw blood by applying cupping glasses. CURB, S. An iron chain, made fast to the upper part of the branches of the bridle, running over the beard of the horse; restraint. Curb is an enlargement at the back of the | to throw out curbs' after a hardly contested hock, about three or four inches below the race, an extraordinary leap, a severe gallop point of the hock. It is either a strain in the ring-like ligament which binds the tendons gallop. Young horses are particularly liable over heavy ground, or a sudden check in the down in their place, or in the sheath of the to it, and horses that are cow-hocked or whose tendons; oftener, we are inclined to think, of hocks and legs resemble those of the cow, the the ligament than of the sheath. Any sudden hocks being turned inward, and the legs formaction of the limb of more than usual violence ing a considerable angle outwards. This is inmay produce it, and therefore horses are found telligible enough; for in hocks so formed, the annular ligament must be continually on the stretch to confine the tendon. Curbs are generally accompanied by considerable lameness at their first appearance, but the swelling is not always great; indeed, it sometimes presents so gradual a curve, that it is scarcely perceivable when we stand behind the horse, and both the horseman and the veterinary surgeon have overlooked it. It is best detected by observing the leg sideway. The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflammation, and this will be most readily accomplished by cold evaporating lotions, frequently applied to the part. Equal portions of spirit of wine, water, and vinegar, will afford an excellent application. It will be almost impossible to keep a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are considerable, it will be prudent to physic the horse, and to bleed from the subcutaneous vein. Whether the injury be of the annular ligament, or the sheath of the tendon, more active means will be necessary to perfect the cure. Either a liquid blister should be rubbed on the part, consisting of a vinous or turpentine tincture of cantharides, and this daily applied until some considerable swelling takes place, which should be allowed to subside, and then the liniment again resorted to; or, what is the preferable plan, the hair should be cut off, and the part blistered as soon as the heat has been subdued. The blister should be repeated until the horse goes sound, and the swelling has disappeared. In severe cases it may be necessary to fire, but we cannot recommend the indiscriminate recourse to the hot iron in every case of curb, and we would uniformly give a fair trial to milder measures. If the iron be used, the strokes should be in straight lines. There are few complaints in which absolute and long continued rest is more requisite, than in curb. An injury so serious leaves the parts very materially weakened, and, if the horse be soon put to work again, the lameness will frequently return. No horse that has had curbs should be put even to ordinary work in less than a month after the apparent cure, and even then he should very gradually resume his former habits. A horse with a curb is manifestly unsound. CURB, v. To guide a horse with a curb; to restrain; to check. CURE, s. Remedy, restorative; act of healing. CURE, v. To heal, to restore to health, to remedy. CURLEW, (Scolopax arquata, LINN.; Le Courlis, BUFF.), s. A kind of waterfowl. rous tribe of birds under the generic name of scolopax, which, in his arrangement, includes all the snipes and godwits, amounting, according to Latham, to forty-two species and eight varieties, spread over various parts of the world, but nowhere very numerous. Buffon describes fifteen species and varieties of the curlew, and Latham ten, only two or three of which are British birds. They feed upon worms, which they pick up on the surface, or with their bills dig from the soft earth on these they depend for their principal support; but they also devour the various kinds of insects which swarm in the mud, and in the wet boggy grounds, where these birds chiefly take up their abode. The curlew generally measures about two feet in length, and from tip to tip above three feet. The bill is about seven inches long, of a regular curve, and tender substance at the point, which is blunt. The upper mandible is black, gradually softening into brown to ward the base; the under one flesh-coloured. The head, neck, upper part of the back, and wing-coverts, are of a pale brown, the middle of each feather black, edged and deeply indented with pale rust colour, or light grey. The breast, belly, and lower part of the beak, are dull white, the latter thinly spotted with black, and the two former with oblong strokes more thickly set, of the same colour. The quill-feathers are black, the inner webs crossed or spotted with white; the tail is barred with black, on a white ground tinged with red; the legs are bare a little above the knees, of a blueish colour, and the toes are thick, and flat on the under side. These birds differ much in size, as well as in the different shades of their plumage; some of them weighing not more than twentytwo ounces, and others as much as thirtyseven. In the plumage of some the white parts are much more distinct and clear than in others, which are more uniformly grey, and tinged with pale brown. The female is so nearly like the male, that any particular description of her is unnecessary she makes her nest upon the ground, in a dry tuft of rushes or grass, of such withered materials as are found near, and lays four eggs, of a greenish cast, spotted with brown. The curlew is met with by travellers in most parts of Europe, from Iceland to the Mediterranean islands. In Britain their summer residence is upon the large heathy, boggy moors, where they breed. Their food consists of worms, flies, and insects, which they pick out of the soft mossy ground by the marshy pools, which are common in such places. In winter they depart to the sea-side, where they are seen in great numbers, and then live upon the worms, marine insects, and other fishy substances which they pick up on the beach and among the loose rocks and pools left by the retiring tide. The flesh of the curlew has been characterised by some as very good, and of a fine flavour-by others as directly the reverse; the truth is, that, while they are in health and season, and live on the moors, scarcely any bird can excel them in goodness; but when they have lived some time on the sea shore, they acquire a rank and fishy taste.-Bewick. CURRICLE, s. An open two-wheeled chaise, made to be drawn by two horses abreast. CURRY, v. To dress leather; to rub a horse with scratching instruments, so as to clean his coat. CURRYCOMB, 8. An iron instrument used for currying horses. CURVE, S. Anything bent, a flexure or crookedness. CURVE, v. To bend, to crook, to inflect. CURVET, v. To leap, to bound. CUT, v. To penetrate with an edged instrument; to make its way by dividing obstructions; to perform the operation of cutting for the stone. CUT, S. The action of a sharp or edged instrument; the impression or separation of continuity made by an edge; a wound made by cutting; a channel made by art; the act or practice of dividing a pack of cards; form, shape. CUTANEOUS, a. Relating to the skin. CUTICLE, S. The first and outermost covering of the body, commonly called the scarf-skin. CUTTER, s. An agent or instrument that cuts any thing; the teeth that cut the meat; a fore and aft-rigged vessel with one mast and a running boltsprit. Cutters have been always favourite vessels, from their excellent sailing qualities, and, consequently, are much employed as revenue cruisers, smugglers, privateers, and packets, and in any trade requiring much despatch. A cutter under one hundred tons is sufficiently handy and manageable, but when the size increases to that of the larger yachts and cruisers, a very strong crew is necessary, as the spars are immensely heavy, and a number of men requisite to set or shorten sail. A single-masted vessel is objectionable, because in the event of springing a spar, she becomes perfectly helpless; hence large cutters are only used in short voyages, or as coasting cruisers. Their peculiar qualities of beating well to windward, and working on short tacks, adapt them for channel cruising; and in case of accident, they can always manage to reach some harbour or anchorage where they can repair the damage they may have sustained. Some years back, large cutters were confined principally to the navy and revenue, but the Royal Yacht Club have not only exceeded them in size, but also in beauty and sailing. Some of the finest and fastest cutters in the world are the property of this celebrated and truly national club; and two of them, the Alarm (Mr. Wild's), and the Arundel (the Duke of Norfolk's), measure 193 and 188 tons. The inconvenient size of a cutter's boom and mainsail has caused the introduction very generally of a ketch rig; which, by the ad CYGNET, 8. A young swan. Living on the banks of the Thames, I have often been pleased with seeing the care taken of the young swans by the parent birds. Where the stream is strong, the old one will sink herself sufficiently low to bring her back on a level with the water, when the cygnets will get upon it, and in this manner are conveyed to the other side of the river, or into stiller water. Each family of swans on the river has its own district; and if the limits of that district are encroached upon by other swans, a pursuit im dition of a mizen, enables the boom to be dispensed with, and reduces the mainsail considerably. This rig, when the mizen stands well, is very elegant, and, if a vessel is shorthanded, exceedingly handy.-Vide YACHT. mediately takes place, and the intruders are driven away. Except in this instance, they appear to live in a state of the most perfect harmony. The male is very attentive to the female, assists in making the nest, and when a sudden rise of the river takes place, joins her with great assiduity in raising the nest suffici ently high to prevent the eggs being chilled by the action of the water, though sometimes its rise is so rapid, that the whole nest is washed away and destroyed.—Jesse. CYGNETICS, s. obs. The art of hunting. |