BOS 



bank of Merrimack river, above Concord ; 43 miles N.W. 

 from Exeter. It contain'; 1108 inhabitants; and in its 

 vicinity aie the Bofcawen hills. 



Boscawhn'j- JJlimd, a name given by captain V/allis, in 

 116'], to an inaiid in the Southern Pacific Ocean ; called by 

 the natives " Kootahe." It is feparatcd from Keppcl's 

 illand, called " Neootabootaboo," by a channel ^ miles 

 broad. They are both fituate in S. lat. 15" 55'. W. long. 

 1 73° 4H'. Kootahe is very lofty, of a conical form, b'.'twcen 

 two and three miles in diameter, and lies N.E. from the other. 

 Both are populous and fertile. They were difcovered by 

 Schoiiten and le Man-e, May 10, 16 [6. Sehonten, who, 

 after bartering with the natives for cocoa-nuts, in return for 

 nails and beads, was attacked by them from their canoes, 

 called them Traitors' and Cocoa iflands, in confequence of 

 the reception he met with. Captain Wallis exchanged with 

 the inhabitants of Neootabootaboo fome riails for fowls, fruit, 

 andoneof theirchibs. Peroufe faw Kootahe Dec, 20, 17S7, 

 and having examined both the iflands, lay to in a bay upon 

 the well coaft ot the larger divifiou of Neootabootaboo. 

 The natives brought off the fineft cocoa nuts he had e*er 

 feen, with other vegetables, as well as fome fowls and a hog; 

 they fcemcd to manitell no apprehenlion, and traded very 

 frctlv. They refembled the more louthern iilandcrs in every 

 thing, except that their looks indicated a ferocity, like that 

 which charafteri/.es their northern neighbours. A rocky 

 bank, two or three leagues N. of Kootahe, was found in 

 1616, covered vi'ith 14 fathoms of water. Mifftonary Voyage, 

 Introd. p-67. 



BOSCH, Balthasar Vandi^n, in B'lography, a painter 

 of convcrfations and portraits, was born at Antwerp in 1675, 

 and tirll Itudied, after the manner of Ttniers, thole fubjetts 

 which were apartments decorated with bullos, vafes, piitures, 

 and other curiofitics ; but in procefs of time he employed his 

 pencil on fubjects of a more elegant and elevated kind, and 

 acquired a fuperior llyle of performance. He alfo painted 

 portraits with great reputation, and particularly a portrait of 

 the duke of Marlborough on a horfe, pamted by Van 

 Bloemen. His paintings fetched an extravagant price, ex- 

 ceeding that produced by the performances of Teniers or 

 Ollade, with which they caniiot, in i-eality, pretend to any 

 competition. His pencil is light, his touch fpirited, and 

 his figures, more elegant than ihofe of moll of his contem- 

 poraries, are drefled in the mode ot tiie time. In fome of 

 his works the cOmpofition and dtfign, and alio the colouring, 

 are very good, and the iubjetts are judicioully cholen. He 

 died in 1715. Pilkington. 



Bosch, Jacob Vanden, a painter of ftill life, was born 

 at Amfterdam in i6j6, and painted fummtr fruits of various 

 kinds with a neat pencil, and with fuch an exacl imitation of 

 rrature, that tiicy appeared dehcious, and almoft real. He 

 died in 1676. Pilkington. 



BOSCHADIS, in Zoology, a fpecies of Echinor- 

 HYNCHUS, that infells the intellines of the domeilic duck. 

 The neck is filiform, and the probofcis fliglitly eelnnated. 

 Goeze Eingew. 



BOSCHAS, Anas Bofchas, in Orn'tthology, the Common 

 Mallard, or Wild Dtich, the fpecifical dillinftion of which 

 confills in the plumage being ol a cinereous colour; the tail 

 feathers (of the malt) recurvate ; bill llraight ; collar white. 

 Linn. Fn. Suec. ice. 



Gmelin mentions feveral diftinft varieties of this bird, in 

 the Syll. Nat. the charafters of which are defcribed as fol- 

 lows: — Cinhata, above grey, beneath white, crell cinereous ; 

 fer/ica, head and upper parts ot the neck cinereous, bericath 

 ytllowith^ .'»(</»/•, back footy. This is larger than the others, 



BOS 



meaririiig two feet and a lialf in length. Gn/tu, entire'y 

 cinereous, with tlie legs and bill black; njviti, with the 

 back black, fpotted with yellowin> ; tii^ra, having the lirad 

 and collar black. 



The natural hillory of the wild duck is detailed fo amply 

 by different writers, that nothing new remains to be a.'.dtJ 

 by us. Dr. Latham, in particular, has entered at great 

 length in his judicious compilation on this fubjei'^. Tiic 

 wild ducks, obferves this writer, are frequent in many parts 

 of England, but no where in more pknty than in iJncoln- 

 fhire, where prodigious numbers, according to Mr. Pennant, 

 are taken annually in the decoys, each decoy paying from 

 five pounds to twenty, annual rent. In Somerfellhirc the 

 rental of a decoy ye;'.'y has been known to amount to even 

 thirty pounds. 



'\Vith us thcfe birds ;)nir in the fpring. They breed in 

 all the low marlliy grounds, laying froin ten to fixtren eggs. 

 It is obferved of the young, that they always take to the 

 water as foon as they are hatched. The old birds are 

 very artful. They do not conftantly bui'd their neft clofe 

 to the water, but many times at a dillance from it; in which 

 cafe the female takes the little brood in its beak, or between 

 its legs, one or two at a time, to the water Mi:, and going 

 into it herfelf, the young ones follow indim'tively. Wild 

 ducks are known fometimes to lay the eggs in a hi2h tree, 

 in the deferted nell of a crow, or a magpie. Dr. Latham 

 fpeaks of an inllance that took place at Etchingham, in 

 Sudex, in which the female was found fitting upon nine 

 eggs, in an oak twenty-five feet from the ground. The 

 eggs were fupported by fome fmall twigs laid crofsways. 



In England only a comparatively fmall number ot wild 

 ducks are found in the fummer ; becaufe, at that time, they 

 remain in the more northern parts of Europe, and only re- 

 turn to us towards the winter. In France this fpecies is 

 not often feen till the winter ; appearing in Odober, and 

 again departing north'vard in the fpring. They are 

 caught in that country, as with us, in decoys, the 

 chief of which are in Picardy, where prodigious numbers 

 are taken, efpecially on the river So.mme. They have alfo 

 another method : a fportfman, with a cage of tame decoy 

 ducks, takes his Ration in a certain jdacc, near which, it is 

 conceived, the flock will pafs. If they approach fo neai- as 

 to allow him to fire, he takes them with little trouble ; but 

 i( othcrvvife, he lets fly one of the tame decoy ducks, tlicii 11 

 iecond, and fo on : thcfe tame birds entice the wild ducks 

 in Imall parties withm reach of the fportfiran's fowling- 

 piece, who is thus enabled to kill fix or feven birds at everv 

 fliot. They are now and then taken alio by means of a 

 hook, baited with a bit of fheep's lights, which, fwimming 

 on the water, the bird fvviillows the bait, and ho.<k with it. 

 Divers other methods of catching the wild duck arcpcculinr 

 to different nations, of which one feems worth mentioning, 

 0:1 account of its fingularity ; and this is thf pracftice in India. 

 The perfon widiing to take thefe, wades into the water up 

 to the chin, and having his head covered witii an empty 

 calabafn, approaches the place where the diicks are ; whcii 

 they, not regarding an obji-cl of this fort, fuffer the man 

 freely to mix with the flock ; after which he has' only to 

 pull them by the leg under the water, one after another, till 

 he is fatisfied ; returning as luifufpeCted by the remainder 

 as when he firft came among thtm. This mode of capture 

 is common on the river Ganges, only that the duck-hunters 

 ufe the earthen veffels of the gentoos, inlltad of cah.baflies. 

 Thefe veffels are what the gcntoo.s boil their rice in, and are 

 called kutcharec pots, which, after being once ufed, they 

 look upon as defiled, and in cordecpitnce throw them into 

 S tU. 



