fcome obsolete, by the total extinction of 
that animal among ns. AVolf-dogs are, how- 
ever, retained by some gentlemen as cu- 
riosities : they are said to be the most faith- 
ful animals o^ the canine race, and possessed 
of wonderful powers in regard to hitting off 
a cold scent. 
Boar-hiinting forms no part of the British 
field sports, though pursued in some parts 
of the continent with the utmost keenness, 
and on a grand scale. In Germany, espe- 
cially, the chase after the wild-boar, forins 
a grand feature of national sports, and is 
attended with great preparation and ex- 
pense. The haunts of those animals are 
first ascertained, after which a host of hun- 
ters tlirong to the woods, some mounted, 
and some on foot, to rouze and attack the 
bristled game. All are armed from head to 
foot, and take care to have some lusty trees 
at hand, behind which they may take re- 
fuge when tire boar charges. The danger 
arises, however, less from the animal than 
from the number of random shots fired at 
him, without any attention to what persons 
may be in the line of aim ; numbers are 
thus wounded, and even killed outright, in 
this desperate species of pastime. 
Nor is Tyger-Imnting attended with less 
risk ; for, in addition to the above negli- 
gence, the danger of being ran away with 
by the elephant on which the sportsman 
must be mounted, is to be considered. The 
tyger is usually roused from either the jun- 
gle of undenvood, or from his haunt among 
grass of a prodigious height, covering im- 
mense tracts of land. Few elephants can 
be brought to face him ; and, when they 
can, it often happens that the tyger’s claws 
repel the attack, or that by springing upon 
the back of the stupendous quadruped, he 
dislodges the driver, or the sportsman and 
his attendant. It is, however, a fact that 
fewer persons are destroyed, or maimed, in 
either boar or tyger-hunting, than meet 
their deaths in fox-hunting. But even that 
hazardous diversion may be considered as 
safe when compared with 
Stag-hunting, in which great speed is in- 
dispensable, and no hesitation can be admit- 
ted by any person desirous of witnessing 
the various bold and elegant variations in 
the stag’s career. For this sport, hounds of 
large stature, great powers, and extraordi- 
nary couragej are indispensable ; for when 
the stag sails, (i. e. takes to the water) he 
must be followed without delay : when at 
bay, (i. e. standing on his defence, probably 
with his rump tovvards a tree) he will make 
VOL. VI, 
SPR 
desperate attacks on his pursuers ; frequently 
tossing many of the dogs, am} goring tlie 
horses of such as approach him incautiously. 
Many hunt stags with what are called stop- 
hounds ; which implies, that whenever the 
stag is to be saved, the hunBmah heads the 
pack and throws a pole, on which the whole 
desist from the pursuit. This may be need- 
ful where the game is not abundant, but 
requires much management and great assi- 
duity to effect. 
We fear the taxes laid oh horses and 
dog,s, added to the expense of the necessary 
certificate, trench deeply on the enjoj'ment 
of rural sports, by those who are qualified, 
and operate considerably in favour of 
poachers, who thus have the game, in a ■ 
measure, preserved for them ; and are sure 
of a sale for their ill-gotten gains, among 
families which formerly could always obtain 
a hare, or a brace of birds, without ex- 
pense, and the result of a healthy mode of 
amusement. 
SPOTS, in astronomy, certain places of 
the Sun’s or Moon’s disc, observed to be 
either more bright or darker than the rest, 
and accordingly called faculae and raaculse. 
See Facul^ and Maculae. 
SPRAT. See Clupea. 
SPRAY, the sprinkling or foam of the 
sea, which is driven from the top of a 
wave in stormy weather. It differs from 
what sailors call spoon-drift, as being blown 
occasionally from the broken surface of a 
high wave ; whereas the latter continues to 
fly horizontally along the sea, without in- 
termission during the excess of the tempest 
or hurricane. 
SPRING, in natural history, a fountain 
or source of water, rising out of the ground. 
Various have been the opinions of philoso- 
phers concerning the origin of springs ; but 
those which deserve notice are only the 
three following ones : 1. That the sea- water 
is conveyed through subterraneous, ducts, 
or canals, to the places where the springs 
flow out of the earth : but as it is impossi- 
ble that the water should be thus conveyed 
to the tops of mountains, since it cannot 
rise higher than the surface, some have had 
recourse to subterraneous heats ; by which 
being rarified, it is supposed to asCend in 
vapours through the bowfels of the moun- 
tains. But as no sufficient proof is brought 
of the existence of these Central heats, or 
of caverns in the mountains big enough to 
let the vapours ascend, supposing such heats, 
we shall not take up oqr reader’s time 
with a formal refutation of this hvpothe.sisv 
Q 
