HO 



YKI.I.OW BIRD YESD. 



The inhabitants are principally employed in the 

 fisheries; those who work in the fields use u kind 

 of spade instead of a plough, and as the men dig, 

 their wives and children drag the harrows. Popu- 

 lation of North Yell mid Fetlar, in 1841. 1745; of 

 South and .Mid Yell, 1705. 



'.LOW BIRD, OK AMERICAN GOLD- 

 FINCH (Jringilla tristis, L.), is not less than five 

 inches in length ; of a rich lemon-yellow ; the 

 crown, wings, and tail black ; bills and legs pale 

 reddish yellow ; tail handsomely forked. The fe- 

 male and young are of a brown olive colour ; be- 

 neath, yi-litiwisii-white. In September, the dress 

 of the male becomes nearly similar to that of the 

 female. This common, active and gregarious gold- 

 finch is a very general inhabitant of the United 

 States. In summer, it is also to be met with in 

 C.ui;ida, as far north as lake Winnipec, in lat. 49. 

 It is also met within Mexico, and even Guiana and 

 Surinam. Its migrations are very desultory, and 

 probably do not proceed very far, its progress being 

 apparently governed principally by the scarcity or 

 abundance of food. As the fine weather of spring 

 approaches, the males put off their humble winter 

 dress, and now appearing in their temporary golden 

 livery, are heard tuning their lively songs as if in 

 concert, several sitting on the same tree. In cages 

 to which they soon become reconciled, their song is 

 nearly as animated and sonorous as that of the 

 canary. They raise sometimes two broods in the 

 season. The nests are often built in tall young 

 forest trees, or lofty bushes. See Nuttall's Orni- 

 thology of the United States and of Canada. 



YELLOW, NAPLES. See Naples Yellow. 



YELLOWSTONE, one of the largest branches 

 of the Missouri river, rises from lake Eustis, in the 

 Rocky mountains, near the source of Lewis's river, 

 which flows into the Oregon. Lake Eustis is about 

 lat. 43 20' N. The Yellowstone runs E.N.E. 1100 

 miles, and joins the Missouri 1880 miles from the 

 Mississippi; Ion. 104 W. ; lat. 47 50' N. This 

 river is nearly or quite as large as the other branch, 

 which retains the name Missouri. The Big Horn, 

 its great southern branch, and the Del Norte and 

 Lewis's river, are all said to have their sources near 

 the same spot, in about lat. 43. Captain Clarke, 

 the associate of captain Lewis, descended this river 

 while returning from the Pacific ocean. During its 

 whole course from the point at which he reached it 

 to the Missouri, a distance which he computed at 

 837 miles, it is navigable forbatteaux. Its navigation 

 is impeded by only one ledge of rocks ; and this 

 may be passed without difficulty. The banks of 

 the river are low, but not subject to be overflowed, 

 except at a short distance below the mountains. 

 The colour of the river is of a yellowish-brown, and 

 its bed is chiefly composed of loose pebbles. The 

 river flows with a velocity gradually diminishing 

 in proportion to its distance from the mountains. 

 The first part of its course, it moves four or five 

 miles an hour ; the latter part not more than two. 

 In the upper part of its course, the country consists 

 of high, waving plains, bordered by stony hills, par- 

 tially supplied with pine ; towards the Missouri, 

 the country contains less 1 timber, and spreads into 

 extensive plains. Much of the land bordering on 

 it is fertile. It abounds with beaver and otter, and 

 along its banks are immense herds of elks, buffaloes 

 and deer. The width of its bed, at its confluence 

 with the Missouri, is 850 .feet. When measured 

 by Lewis and Clarke, the stream was 297 yards 

 wide, and the deepest part of the channel was twelve 



feet. The river had then fallen to its summer 

 lf\el. 



Y KLLOW FEVER. See Fever. 



YKLLoNV AN r.l".I>. Sec }\\,ld. 



YK.MKN. See Arabia. 



YENITE (lievrite) occurs in prismatic cr\- 

 whuse primary form is a right rhombic prism of about 

 111 30'. Cleavage takes place parallel to the 

 longer diagonal of this prism. Colour black, or 

 greenish-black; lustre submetallic, biillmnt, or 

 dull; opaque; hardness nearly equal to feldspar; 

 specific gravity 3-8 to 4-1. The crystals are some- 

 times terminated, at one or both extremities, by 

 four-sided pyramids, and vary from one inch in dia- 

 meter to acicular. They are often much interlaced. 



It also occurs columnar and massive. On char- 

 coal it fuses, before the blow-pipe, into a black, 

 shining globule, attractable by the magnet. With 

 borax it readily forms a dark and almost opaque 

 glass. It consists of 



Silex, 



I inn 1 , . . 



Alumine. 



Oxide of manganese, 



Oxide of iron. 



Water, . 



29->7M 



1377!) 



iri.ij 



1587 



53-47 



1 26 



It is a rare mineral, having been found only, in good 

 specimens, at Rio la Marina and cape Calmite, in 

 Elba, where it occurs dispersed in crystals and 

 rounded massive balls, in a thick bed of blackish- 

 green augite. It has also been found in the United 

 States, at Cumberland in Rhode Island. 



YEOMEN OF THE GUARD; a sort of foot 

 guards, who attend the royal palace. The Yeo- 

 men were uniformly requited to be six feet high. 

 They are in number one hundred on constant duty, 

 and seventy off duty. The one half carry arque- 

 buses, and the other partisans. Their attendance 

 is confined to the sovereign's person, both at home 

 and abroad. They are clad after the manner of 

 king Henry VIII. 



YEOVIL ; a market town in Somersetshire, 

 which derives its name from the river Yeo or Ivel, 

 on the banks of which it is situated, 122 miles 

 W.S.W. from London. This place was formerly 

 famous for its woollen manufacture, which has been 

 superseded by that of gloves.chiefly of the finer kinds 

 for ladies, made here at one period in great quantities ; 

 but this manufacture has suffered recently, from the 

 introduction into use of French gloves, or from 

 other causes. From the surrounding country abun- 

 dance of butter, cheese, corn, and other articles of 

 produce are sent to the markets for sale ; and much 

 butter especially is purchased, to be transmitted to 

 the metropolis, where it is known by the appella- 

 tion of Dorset butter. Population in 1841, 6302. 



YERMOLOFF. See Jermoloff. 



YESD, oa YEZD, OR YEYD ; a town in Persia, 

 in Irak, on the borders of Segestan and Kertnan, 190 

 miles east of Ispahan, 210 north-east of Schiras ; 

 Ion. 56 E. ; lat. 31 57' N. It contains according 

 to Malte-Brun and Hassel, 4500 houses, according 

 to the Edinburgh Gazetteer, 24,000 houses, of 

 which 4000 are occupied by Guebres. It is situated 

 on the borders of a sandy desert, contiguous to a 

 range of lofty mountains. It is a great emporium 

 of the trade between Hindoostan, Bukharia and 

 Persia. The environs produce excellent pomegra- 

 nates and grapes. The chief manufactures are silk 

 stuffs and carpets. In 1396, this town was taken 

 by Timur Bee, after a siege in which it was stated 

 30,000 persons died of famine. 



