LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



77 



their colors so closely resemble the localities in 

 which they are found, that they are hardly to be 

 observed by any but a very keen eye. Thus 

 White, writing of the stone-curlew, (Charadrius 

 csdicnemus,) remarks, that the bird lays its eggs 

 usually two, never more than three on the bare 

 ground, without any protection, so that the coun- 

 tryman in stirring his fallows often destroys 

 them. 



The young (he adds) run immediately from the 

 egg like partridges, &c. ; and are withdrawn to 

 some flinty field by the dam, where they skulk 

 among the stones, which are their best security ; 

 for their feathers are so exactly of the color of our 

 gray-spotted flints, that the most exact observer, 

 unless he catches the eye of the young bird, may 

 be eluded.* 



The similarity of color to that of their haunts, 

 combined with the motionless habit above alluded 

 to, serves, then, in the case of the reptiles, the 

 double purpose of concealment for safety and lying 

 in wait for prey, so as to give the victim the least 

 possible warning. Few can see the snake in the 

 grass, and the frogs on which it dines least of all. 

 The sportsman treads on the viper, coiled up on a 

 bright windy day at the edge of the copse, before 

 he is aware of the presence of the reptile ; and so 

 does his dog, unless he is shooting with a pointer, 

 which, if he have a good nose and the wind, will 

 infallibly stand as stiff as a crutch, and as if he 

 had a whole covey before him. 



The ink that traced the last sentence on the 

 paper was hardly dry when in came a friend, who 

 related that two of his dogs, pointers, had been 

 bitten by a viper, that lay coiled up in the grass 

 by the banks of a canal near the house in which I 

 write. The serpent struck twice, and each time 

 bit the dog attacked on the lip. The dog first 

 struck a very fine pointer, with a dash of the 

 bloodhound in him staggered, was frightfully 

 swollen, and his system so much affected that 

 fears were entertained for his life. Copious doses 

 of oil, and embrocations of the same with laud- 

 anum, however, effected the cure. The mother 

 of this dog received the second bite, but in her 

 case the symptoms were much mitigated ; there 

 was no staggering, and, as is usual in such cases, 

 the virus must have been much diminished before 

 the second wound was given. The viper, on this 

 occasion, corroborated the statements of those who 

 lay it down as an axiom that the true vipers, un- 

 like other venomous serpents the cobra, for in- 

 stance do not quit the scene of action after their 

 murderous attacks. There it remained, and the 

 master of the dogs took up a great stone and cast 

 it upon the viper, without, however, crippling it, 

 owing, probably, to some inequality in the surface 

 of the ground whereon it rested. Then, but not 

 till then, it made off. The owner of the dogs told 

 me, that when they were bitten they uttered no 

 cry. In general, they howl piteously when they 

 feel the bite. 



* Selborne. 



Letter XVI. 

 6 



In this case we have again an instance of the 

 virtues of oil, insisted on in a former chapter. 

 Cato's remedy was not so simple, for he says, 

 (c. 102,) that if a serpent has stung an ox or any 

 other quadruped, one must pound an acetabulum 

 of melanthion, called by the physicians melanthion 

 of Smyrna, in an hcmina of old wine, pour it into 

 the nostrils of the beast, and lay hogs' dung to the 

 wound. Nor is the savory remedy applicable to 

 the restoration of brutes only, according to his 

 experience ; for he confidently directs the same 

 remedy to be applied to a human creature, if oc- 

 casion require it. One may conceive the sort of 

 reward reaped by the bubulcus by whose neglect 

 the ox was exposed to the venomous bite, when 

 the former was subjected to the tender mercies of 

 the ergastularius in the prison* of the villa, under 

 a dispensation which placed the life of the slave 

 absolutely at the disposal of his master. 



In that part of The Way to get Wealth f inti- 

 tuled " The English House-wife," dedicated to 

 " The Right Honorable and most excellent Lady, 

 Francis, Countesse Dowager of Exeter," with the 

 running title of " The English House-wives 

 Houshold Physick," we find a different formula 

 set forth : 



To help all manner of swelling or aches in what 

 part of the body soever it be, or stinging of any 

 venomous beast, as Adder, Snake, or such-like, 

 take Horehound, Smallage, Porrets, smal Mallows, 

 and wild Tansey of each alike quantity, and bruise 

 them or cut them small ; then seeth them altogether 

 in a pan with milk, oatmeal, and as much Sheepa 

 suet, or Dearessuet as a Hens egge, and let it boyl 

 till it be a thick plaister, then lay it upon a blew 

 wollen cloath, and lay it tq the griefe as hot as one 

 can suffer it. 



In the section of the same choice book headed 

 " Country Contentments," we find it thus writ* 

 ten : 



If your dogge have been bitten by either Snake, 

 Adder or any other venomous thing, take the hearb 

 Calamint, and beat it in a morter with Turpentine 

 and yellow Waxe, till it come to a Salve, and then 

 apply it to the sore and it will heal it. Also if yoa 

 boile the herb in milke, and give the dogge it to 

 drink, it will expell all inward poison. 



In the " Table of Hard Words," it is stated that 

 " Calamint is an ordinary hearb, and groweth by 

 ditches sides, by high waies, and sometimes la. 

 gardens." 



For " The Generall Cure of all Cattell," w 

 read in chapter 69, which treats " Of venomous 

 wounds, as biting with a mad dogge, tusks of 

 Bores, Serpents or such like," in the case of the 

 horse, as follows : 



For any of these mortall or venomous wounds, 

 take Yarrow, Calamint, and the grains of wheat, 

 and beat them in a morter with water of Sothern- 

 wood, and make it into a salve, and lay it to the 

 sore, and it will heale it safely. 



* Ergastulum, where the slaves were confined, bound 

 or chained together, when they came from work, lest they 

 should make their escape in the night. 



t Small 4to. London, 1657. 



