ARE 



ARE 



Ardea stellaris, or bittern. This is an 

 elegant species, and is somewhat less than 

 the heron; length two feet six inches; 

 the bill brown, beneath inclining to green; 

 irides yellow ; the head feathers are long, 

 and those of the neck loose and waving ; 

 the crown of the head black ; the lower 

 jaw on each side dusky ; the plumage in 

 general is beautifully variegated; the 

 ground a ferruginous yellow, palest be- 

 neath, marked with numerous bars, 

 streaks, and zigzag lines of black ; the legs 

 are pale green ; claws long and slender ; 

 and the inner edge on the middle claw 

 serrated. The female is less, darker co- 

 loured, and the feathers on the head and 

 neck less flowing than in the male. This 

 is a common bird, we believe, in most of 

 the temperate parts of the continent of 

 Europe ; in some of the colder, migrato- 

 ry ; with us it 1'emains the whole year ; 

 frequents marshy places, and especially 

 where reeds grow, among which it makes 

 its nest, in April, which is chiefly com- 

 posed of a bed of rushes, &c. The female 

 lays four or five eggs, of a pale greenish 

 ash colour; the young are hatched in 

 twenty-five days. It is an indolent bird, 

 stirring very little in the day unless dis- 

 turbed ; though if once roused is not dif- 

 ficult to shoot, as it flies heavily. In the 

 evening, after sun-set, it is seen to soar 

 aloft in a spiral ascent, till quite out of 

 sight, and this chiefly in autumn, making 

 a singular kind of noise ; it has also ano- 

 ther noise, like that of a bellowing bull, 

 beginning in February, and ceasing after 

 breeding-tune ; but this is done while on 

 the ground. If attacked by dogs or men, 

 it defends itself well ; and is said to strike 

 at the eyes of the enemy. The food is 

 frogs, mice, and other reptiles, which it 

 swallows whole, as well as fish. Latham 

 remembers to have found two middle- 

 sized trouts in the stomach of one, per- 

 fectly whole. It is reckoned pretty good 

 eating. See Plate III. Aves, fig. 7. and 

 Plate IV. fig. 1. 



ARDISIA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Pentandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Calyx five-leaved ; corol. salver-shaped, 

 with the border reflected; antherse large, 

 erect ; stigma simple ; drupe superior ; 

 one-seeded. There are nine species. 



ARDUINA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Pentandria Mouogynia class and order. 

 Corol. one-petalled ; stigma bifid ; berry 

 two-celled; seeds solitary; a shrub of the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



ARE, in French measure, is a superfi- 

 cial unit, or a square, the side of which is 

 100 metres in length, or 10,000 square 



metres; the rectilineal metre being 3.281, 

 feet, the are will be 1076.49 square feet. 

 The tenth of an are, called declare, is a 

 superficies 100 metres long, and 10 

 broad; or 1000 square metres = 1076.49 ; 

 and the centiare equal to 100 square me - 

 tres, is 1076.49 square feet. See MEA- 



AREA, in geometry, denotesthe super- 

 ficial content of any figure ; thus, if we 

 suppose a parallelogram six inches long, 

 and four broad, its area will be 6 x 4 = 24 

 square inches. 



ARECA, in botany, a genus of plants, 

 the characters of which are not perfectly 

 ascertained; the calyx of the male flower 

 is a bivalve spatha, the spadix is ramose ; 

 the corolla consists of three acuminated 

 petals; the stamina are nine filaments, of 

 which the three exterior ones are the 

 longest ; the female flowers are in the 

 same spadix and spatha ; the corolla is 

 like the male corolla ; the fruit is a sub- 

 oval fibrose drupe, surrounded at the base 

 with an imbricated calyx, and containing 

 an oval seed. 



There are three species, of which the 

 oryzxtbrmis is the cabbage-tree of the 

 East Indies. The oleracea is found in the 

 West Indies, the green tops of which are 

 cut and eaten as a cabbage. 



ARENARIA, sand-wort, in botany, a 

 genus of the Decandria Trigynia. Calyx 

 five-leaved, spreading ; petals five, en- 

 tire ; capsule superior, one-celled, many- 

 seeded. There are 36 species. 



ARENARIUS, the name of a book of 

 Archimedes, in which is demonstrated, 

 that not only the sands of the earth, but 

 even a greater quantity of particles than 

 could be obtained in the immense sphere 

 of the fixed stars, might be expressed by 

 numbers, in a way invented and described 

 by himself 



AREOMETER, an instrument by which 

 the density and gravity of fluids are mea- 

 sured. The invention of this instrument 

 is ascribed to Hypatia, the daughter of 

 Theo, in the fourth century. It is usually 

 made of glass, consisting of a round hol- 

 low ball, which terminates in a long slen- 

 der neck, hermetically sealed at top, 

 there being first as much running mer- 

 cury put into it as will serve to balance, 

 or keep it in an erect position. The neck 

 or stem is divided into degrees, and by 

 the depth of its descent into any liquor 

 the lightness of that liquor is estimated, 

 for the fluid in which it sinks least is the 

 heaviest; and that in which it sinks low- 

 est is lightest. See HYDROMETER. 



