BRA 



tham), remains doubtful. It is the fame bird as BiilTon 

 calls crick a tele blene. 



Brasilif.nsis, a fpecifs of Aickdo, the plumage of 

 winch is variegated with rufous, chcfi/ut, fufcous, and white ; 

 beneath white ; grcatt-r quill feathers and tail rufous, with 

 tranfverfe fpots. Gniel. 



This bird is of the fize of the coinmon European king's 

 fifher : the bill and eyes are black ; band acrofs the eyes, 

 with the legs and claws, brown. Buifou calls it gi/>-g'iJ>- It 

 is i/p'uhi BniJiUfnJis of Bi'ilfon ; and the Brafdian kln^' s fjher 

 of Englifli writers. 



Brasilif.nsis, a fpccies of Mfrops, of a fine red colour, 

 varie'jated above with fnfcous and black ; wincrs and tail 

 pale blue. Grael. &c. 



This is the Braf.iian hee-coicr of I.'itliam ; mcfcps rovge ct 

 lieu of Bufton ; ap'tqjier Jjm/i'iiri/Js of Bi iflon ; zndpica Brn- 

 Jilieiifs of Seba. T!ie length of this bird is nine inches. As 

 the name implies, it is an inhabitant of Brafil. 



Brasililnsis, the fpecies of Anas, called by Englilh 

 writers the tnarecn duck. Tlie coloiu- of its plumage is fuf- 

 cous ; beneath cinereous and gloCy ; between the eyes and 

 beak is a yellowifh or ochraceous fpot ; chin wliite ; tail 

 wedge-fhaped and black. This is- a native of Brafil. 



Brash. IE N sis, a fpecies of Ardea, with a fniooth head ;' 

 body blackilh, dotted with yellow ; quill and tail feathers, 

 with the bill and legs, blackiih. Gmel. Brifi". 



This is a bittern of large fi/.e, nieafuring two feet eight 

 inches. Brown, in his Natural Hiilory of Jamaica, calls it 

 the chicl'wg hc-n. It is named yoro by Marcgraave ; by Bnf- 

 fon, onore dcs Lou. Inhabits Brafil and South America in 

 general. 



Brasilif.nsis, a fpecies of Embfriza, defcribcd fpeci- 

 fically by Gmelin, as having the crown, collar, and body be- 

 neath yellow ; back, wings, and tail greenifli, variegated 

 witSi fufcoKs and yellow. 



Inhabits Brafil ; its fize that of the common fpaiTow. 

 I^atham name? it the Brafdian bunting. Ray has it under 

 the title of giilram/jici>'^a/a. It is le gulrregat and bruont du 

 Brefd of Buffoii. 



Brasii.iensis, a fpecies of Turdus, of a black colour, 

 beneath ruily yellowidi ; rump ferruginous ; tail fomewhat 

 wedged, and having the outer feathers totally white, and 

 the reft white only at the tips. Gmel. Qhf. Acrofs the 

 wings is a white ftripe ; legs brown. 



This is tiie yellow-bellied thrufh of Latham. 



Brasiliensis, a fpecies of Tan AGRA, of a fmall fi/.e, 

 being about fix inches in length, that is found in Brafil. 

 The general colour is black, beneath wliite ; throat and 

 rump bhieifli ; face and brealt black. Gmel. 



Obf. The beak is blackini ; head bhieifh. Called by La- 

 tham turquolfe ianager. Marcgraave has it under the name of 

 fi'lra-^cnoii ; and BufFon, thofe of iurquln and ianagra bleu du 

 Brcjil. 



Brasimensis, in Zoologv, a fpecies of Rana, or toad 

 of a yellowifn adi colour, witli waved red fpots ; beneath 

 glabrous. Laur. Inhabits Brafil. 



BRASLAW, in Gergrapfoy, a city of Lithuania, in the 

 palatinate of Wilna, on the fide of a lake, which commu- 

 nicates with the Dwina ; 71^ miles N.N.E. of Wilna. N. 

 lat.55°36'.« E.long.«:7'^ 23'. 



BRASMA, in the Medical U'rilh/gs of ths Jncicr.is, a 

 came given by Diofcorides and others to a light, empty, and 

 good for nothing kind of black pepper. This was no pecu- 

 liar fpecies of pepper, but, as John Bauhine has well ob- 

 Itrved, it was tlie fame with the pepper we now frequently 

 meet with, which kas decayed upon the plant. Diofc. lib. 

 ii. cap. 189. 

 Vol. V. 



BRA 



BRASPARS, in Gfography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of Finiderre, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 dillrid of Chateaulin, 8 miles N.E. of Chatcatihn. 



BRASS, or Latten, Lall-,n Jaur.r, Fr. ; MrJJingG. 

 This very important alloy is a mixture of coppcT and zinc in 

 various and uncertain proportions, fo intimately united as to 

 form a homogeneous malleable yellow metal, applicable to a 

 vail variety ot purpofcs in the arts, and capable of being 

 wrought in various wa)S with the grcattll facility. 



Mere fufion will fcnrccly produce a pirfed union between 

 copper and zinc ; for the latter metal, being liiglily volatile 

 and combullible, readily takes fire, and burns olf at a heat 

 neceilary to melt tiie copper; and hence, when the metaU 

 are fimply melted together, before an uniform alloy can be 

 obtained, the proportion of zinc i.s every moment JefTening 

 by its volatilization, and would continue to flv off in this 

 manner, by the continuance of the fuiion, till at lall fcarccly 

 any thing but the copper would be hit behind. In order, 

 theretore, to combine copper with as' much zinc as it can 

 take up, fo as to retain its malleability, the very ingenlouj 

 procefs of dry cementation has been reforted to in the mann- 

 ladure of brafs, wliich is performed by Itrongly heating 

 (niTill pieces of copper in clofe vefFels with zinc in the Hate 

 nearly of vapour, whereby it is thoroughly penetrated with 

 the zinc, and unites with it into a perfcft alloy. 



Zinc being a volatile metal, it can only be procured from 

 its ores by fubliniation ; and the procefs of obtaining it 

 (which will be dcl'cribed at length under that article), is to 

 heat ftrongly a mixture of the native oxyd with charcoal in 

 a clofe veffcl, with no other exit for the vapour than a tube 

 dipping its further end in water. As fonn as the charcoal 

 reduces tiie oxyd to the metallic ftate, the zinc rifes in va- 

 pour, paffes through the tube, and is condenfcd in the wa- 

 ter. A fimilar reduftion takes place in brafs-inakiiig, only, 

 inllead of conveying the vapour of the zinc out of the cru- 

 cible, in which it is formed, copper is inclofed in the fame 

 veflcl, which being then thoroughly heated, readily abforbs 

 the zinc as foon as reduced to the metallic (late, fixes it, 

 contrafts a very intimate union with it, and the refult ;» 

 perfeft brafs. 



Brafs is made in many countries, but no where more e\tcr. 

 fively and better than in England, in which both the mate- 

 rials are in great abundance. The ores of zinc are fcvcrjl 

 fpecies of calamine, and of bhnde terir.ed by tlic niine-rs 

 black jack, \<'hich are found abundantly in Devonfiiire, Der- 

 bylhire, and North Wales, accompanying the lead ores, and 

 in otiier places. Thcfe are chiefly oxyds or carbcnated 

 oxyds of zinc, and require a previous calcination before 

 they are fit for brafs-making. At Holywell, in Flintfhiiv, 

 the calamine, wliich is received raw from the mines in the 

 neighbourhood, is firll po;:ndcd in a ftamping mil), and then 

 waflied and fiftcd, in order to feparate the lead svilli which 

 it is largely admixed. It is then calcined on a broaj ihaliow 

 brick hearth, over an oven heated to rcdnefs, and Jrequently 

 ftirrcd for fome hours ; or, in fome places, a conical pile is 

 conipofcd of horizontal layers of calamine alternating with 

 layers of charcoal, and the lowcit layer i* of wood in large 

 pieces, with intervals left for the draught of air through the 

 centre of the pile, to maintain the combulHon thoroughly. 



The calamine being fully calcined is then ground in a mill, 

 and mixed at the fame time with about a third or fourth part 

 of charcoal, or in fome places with pit-coal, which lall, 

 however, injures the malleability of the brafs. This mix- 

 ture is then put into large cylindrical crucibles, along with 

 alternate layers of fmall bits of copper, confining either of 

 the clippings of copper plates, or of copper fliot, made by 

 melting any refufe pieces of this metal, and pouring it into 

 G g cold 



