tl A M 
It AN 
546 RAM 
bird are evidently formed to imitate this sin- 
gular cry. 
They are in greatest plenty in Anglesea, 
where they appear about the 20th of April, 
supposed to pass over from Ireland, where 
-they abound. At their first arrival, it is 
common to shoot seven or eight in a morning. 
They are found in most of the Hebrides, and 
the Orkneys. On their arrival they are very 
lean, weighing only six ounces; but before 
they leave this island, grow so fat as to weigh 
above eight. T he feathers on the crown of 
the head and hind part of the neck are black, 
edged with bay-colour; the coverts of the 
wings of the same colour, but not spotted; 
the tail is short, and of a deep bay; the belly 
white ; the legs ash-coloured. 
TALLYING, in war, re-assembling or 
calling together troops broken and put to 
flight. 
-RAM, in zoology. See Ovis. 
Ram, in astronomy. See Aries. 
Ram, battering, in antiquity, a military 
engine used to batter and beat down the walls 
of places besieged. 
The battering ram was of two sorts ; the 
one rude and plain, the other compound. The 
former seems to have been no more than a 
great beam which the soldiers bore on their 
arms and shoulders, and with one end of it 
by main force assailed the wall. The com- 
pound ram is thus described by Josephus: 
it is a vast beam, like the mast of a ship, 
strengthened at one end by a head of iron, 
something resembling that of a ram, whence 
it took its name. See Plate Miscel. fig. 196. 
This was hung by the middle with ropes to 
another beam which Igy across two posts; 
and hanging thus equally balanced, it was 
by a great number of men drawn backwards 
and pushed forwards, striking the wall with 
its iron head. 
Plutarch informs us, that Mark Anthony, 
in the Parthian war, made use of a ram four- 
score feet long; and Vitruvius tells us, that 
they were sometimes 106, and sometimes 
]20 feet in length; and to this, perhaps, the 
force and strength of the engine was in a 
great measure owing. The ram was ma- 
naged at one time by a whole century of sol- 
diers, and they being spent, were seconded 
by another century, so that it played conti- 
nually without any intermission. 
In order to calculate the force of the bat- 
tering-ram R, suppose it to be 28 inches in 
diameter, and 180 feet long; and consequent- 
ly its solid content 750 cubic feet ; which, 
allowing 50 pounds for each foot, will weigh 
37500 pounds: and suppose its' head of cast- 
iron, together with three iron-hoops, &c. to 
be 3612 pounds. Now all these weights 
added together, make 41112 pounds, equal 
the weight of the whole ram ; which will re- 
quire 1000 men to move it so as to cause it 
to strike against the point L of the wall 
AIIIGE, each man moving a weight of 41 
pounds. The quantity of motion produced 
by this action, when the ram moves one foot 
in a second, may be expressed by the num- 
ber 41112; which motion or force compared 
with the quantity of motion in the iron ball 
B, shot out of the cannon C, will be found 
equal to it: for a cannon-ball is known to 
move as fast as sound for about the space of 
a mile; and if you multiply 36 pounds, the 
weight of the ball, by 1142^ the number of 
feet which sound moves in one second, yon 
will have the number 41 112 for the quantity 
of motion or force, in the ball B striking at 
L. And if, after a few strokes given by the 
battering-ram, the mortar or cement is so 
loosened, that the piece of the wall ADDLE 
is at last by a stroke of the ram carried for- 
ward from F to K, and so beaten down ; the 
same thing will be performed by a cannon- 
ball, after an equal number of strokes. 
This shews how advantageous the invention 
of gunpowder is ; since we are thereby ena- 
bled to give such a prodigious velocity to a 
small body, that it shall have as great a quan- 
tity of motion as a body immensely greater, 
and requiring more hands to work it : for 
three men will manage a cannon which shall 
do as much execution as the above battering- 
ram, wrought by 1000. The ram whose 
force is here calculated, is taken at a mean ; 
being larger than some, and less than others, 
of those used by the anlients. 
Ram’s-head, in a ship, is a great block 
belonging to the fore and main halyards. It 
has three shivers in it, into which the hal- 
yards are put, and in a hole at the end of it 
are reeved the ties. 
RAMADAN, a solemn season of fasting 
among the Mahometans, kept in the ninth 
month of the Arabic year. 
RAMPANT. See Heraldry. 
RAMPART, in fortification, is an elevation 
of earth round a place capable of resisting 
the cannon of an enemy; and formed into 
bastions, curtins, &c. See Fortification. 
RAMPHASTOS, in ornithology, a genus 
belonging to the order of picae. The bill is 
very large, and serrated outwardly. The 
nostrils are situated behind the base of the 
beak ; and in most of the species the feet are 
toed, and placed two forwards and two back- 
wards. The tongue is long, narrow, and 
feathered on the edges. Mr. Latham enu- 
merates fifteen different species, of which the 
toucans are the most remarkable, and were 
formerly divided into four or five varieties, 
though Mr. Latham makes them distinct spe- 
cies, of which we shall only describe that 
called the red-beakecl toucan. 
This bird is about the size of a jack-daw, 
and of a similar shape, with a large head to 
support its monstrous bill. This bill, from 
the angles of the mouth to its point, is six 
inches and a half; and its breadth in the 
thickest part is a little more than two. Its 
thickness near the head is one inch and a 
quarter ; and it is a little rounded along the 
top of the upper chap, the under side being 
round also ; the whole of the bill extremely 
slight, and but a little thicker than parch- 
ment. The upper chap is of a bright yel- 
low, except on each side, which is of a fine 
scarlet colour ; as is also the lower chap, ex- 
cept at the base, which is purple. Between 
the head and the bill there is a black line of 
separation all round the base of the bill; in 
the upper part of which the nostrils are 
placed, and are almost covered with feathers ; 
which has occasioned some writers to say 
that the toucan has no nostrils. Round the 
eyes on each side of the head, is a space of 
blueish skin, void of feathers ; above which 
the head is black, except a white spot on each 
side joining to the base of the upper chap. 
The hinder part of the neck, the back, wings, 
tail, belly, and thighs, are black. The under 
side of the head, throat, and the beginning of 
the breast, are white. Between the white on 
the breast, and the black on the belly, is a 
space of red feathers, in the form of a new 
moon, with its horns upwards. The legs, 
feet, and claws, are of an ash-colour ; and 
the toes stand like those of parrots, two be- 
fore and two behind. 
It is reported by travellers, that this bird, 
though furnished with so formidable a beak, 
is harmless and gentle, being so easily made 
tame as to sit and hatch its young in houses. 
It feeds chiefly upon pepper, which it de- 
vours very greedily. It builds its nest in 
holes of trees, which have been pre viously- 
scooped out for this purpose. There is no 
bird secures its young better from external 
injury than the toucan. It has not only birds, 
men, and serpents, to guard against, but a 
numerous tribe of monkeys, still more pry- 
ing, mischievous, and hungry, than all the 
rest. The toucan, however, scoops out its 
nest into the hollow of some tree, leaving 
only a hole large enough to go in and out at. 
There it sits, with its great beak, guarding 
the entrance ; and, if the monkey ventures 
to offer a visit of curiosity, the toucan gives 
him such a welcome, that he presently thinks 
proper to retire, and is glad to escape with 
safety. 
This bird is only found in the warm cli- 
mates of South America, where it is in great 
request, both for the delicacy of its flesh, 
which is tender and nourishing, and for the 
beauty of its plumage, particularly the fea- 
thers of the breast. The skin of this part the 
Indians pluck off, and when dry glue to their 
cheeks ; and this they consider as an irresist- 
ible addition to their beauty. See Plate Nat. 
Hist. fig. 342. 
RANA, frog, a genus of amphibia of the 
order reptiles; tire generic character is, body 
four-footed, without tail, and naked, or with-' 
out any integument but the skin. 
This genus may be divided into three sec- 
tions, viz. 1 . Frogs, commonly so called, or 
rana:, with light active bodies, and which leap 
when disturbed. 2. Slender-limbed frogs, 
liylae, calamity, or ranac arboreae, viz. such 
as have light bodies, very slender limbs, and 
toes terminating in fiat, circularly expanded,, 
tips, enabling the animals to adhere at plea- 
sure to the surface even of the smoothest bo- 
dies. Several of this division generally reside 
on trees, adhering by their toes to the lower 
surfaces of the leaves and branches. 3. Toads, 
bufones, or such as have large heavy bodies, 
short thick limbs, and which rather crawl 
than leap when disturbed. 
1. Rana temporaria, the common frog, is 
the most common of all the European spe- 
cies, being almost every where seen in moist 
situations, or wherever it can command a 
sufficient quantity of insects, worms, &c. on 
\yhich it feeds. In colour it varies consider- 
ably, but its general tinge is olive-brown, va- 
riegated on the upper parts of the body and 
limbs with irregular blackish spots; those on 
the limbs being mostly disposed in a trans- 
verse direction: beneath each eye is a long- 
ish mark or patch, reaching to the setting on 
of the fore-legs, and which seems to form one 
of its principal specific distinctions. 
It is generally in the month of March that 
the frog deposits its ova or spawn, consisting 
of a large heap or clustered mass of gelati- 
nous transparent eggs, in each of which is 
