HAI 
HAI 
mer, only in pairs. The female prepares 
no nest, but deposits her eggs on the naked 
shore, a little above high-water mark. If 
the oyster-catcher be taken young, it is 
tamed with great ease, and will accompany 
the ducks to the ponds, and the poultry' in 
general to their roosts. The general food 
of these birds, in their natural state, con- 
sists of shell-fish ; they will, with astonish- 
ing ease, force the limpet from the rock, 
notwithstanding its tenacious hold, and, on 
perceiving the slightest aperture of its 
shells by an oyster, they insert their bills, in 
it with admirable dexterity, and tear the 
tenant from his mansion. See Aves, Plate 
VII. fig. 6. 
11 JE M ATOXYLU M , in botany, a genus 
of the Decandria Monogynia class and or- 
der. Natural order of Lomentaceae. Le- 
guminosae, Jussieu. Essential character : 
calyx five-parted ; petals five ; legume lan- 
ceolate ; valves boat-shaped. There is but 
one species, viz. H. campecheinum, log- 
wood, blood-wood, or campeche-wood. 
This tree grows naturally in the bay of 
Campeche, at Honduras, and many parts of 
the Spanish West Indies, where it fre- 
quently rises to four-and-twepty feet in 
height. 
H HEMORRHOIDS, or Piles. See Me- 
dicine. 
HHERUCA, in natural history, a genus 
of the Vermes Intestina class and order. 
Body round, the fore-part two-necked, and 
surrounded with a single row of prickles, 
without any proboscis. Only one species 
is mentioned by Gmelin, viz. the H. muris, 
which inhabits the intestines of the mouse, 
and is distinguished from the- genus Eclii- 
norhynchus, by being destitute of the re- 
tractile proboscis. 
HAIL, in natural history, a meteor gene- 
rally defined frozen rain, but differing from 
it, in that the hailstones are not formed of 
single pieces of ice, but of many little sphe- 
rules agglutinated together; neither are 
these spherules all of the same consistence ; 
some of them being hard and solid, like 
perfect ice; others soft, and mostly like 
snow hardened by a severe frost. Hail- 
stone has a kind of core of this soft matter ; 
but more frequently the core is solid and 
hard, while the outside is formed of a softer 
matter. Hailstones assume various figures, 
being sometimes round, at other times py- 
ramidal, crenated, angular, thin, and flat, 
and sometimes stellated with six radii, like 
the small crystals of snow. Natural histo- 
rians furnish us with various accounts of 
surprising showers of hail, in which the hail- 
stones were of extraordinary magnitude. 
Of these we mention one or two, said to 
have happened in our own country. 
“ Dr. Halley, and others also, relate, that 
in Cheshire, Lancashire, &c., April 29th, 
1697, a thick, black cloud, coming from 
Carnarvonshire, disposed the vapours to 
congeal in such a manner, that, for about 
the breadth of two miles, which was the li- 
mit of the cloud, in its progress for the 
space of sixty miles, it did inconceivable 
damage ; not only killing all sorts of fowis 
and other small animals, but splitting trees, 
knocking down horses and men, and even 
ploughing up the earth; so that the hail- 
stones buried themselves under ground, an 
inch or an inch and a half deep. The hail- 
stones, many of which weighed five ounces, 
and some half a pound, and, being five or 
six inches about, were of various figures ; 
some round, others half round,; some 
smooth, others embossed and crenated ; the 
icy substance of them was very transpa- 
rent and hard, but there was a snowy ker- 
nel in the middle of them. 
“ In Hertfordshire, May 4, the same year, 
after a severe storm of thunder and light- 
ning, a shower of hail succeeded, which far 
exceeded the former ; some persons were 
killed by it, and their bodies beaten all 
black and blue ; vast oaks were split, and 
fields of rye cut down as with a scythe. 
The stones measured from ten to thirteen 
or fourteen inches about! Their figures 
were various, some oval, others picked, and 
some flat.” Phil. Trans. Number 229. See 
Meteorology. 
HAILING, in naval language, the salu- 
tation or accosting a ship at a distance, 
which is usually performed with a speaking- 
trumpet : the first exclamation is “ hoa, 
the ship, a hoav,” to which she replies “ hol- 
loa ;” then follow the requisite questions 
and replies. 
HAIR, small filaments issuing out of the 
pores of the skins of animals, and serving 
most of them as a tegument or covering. 
In lieu of hair, the nakedness of some ani- 
mals is covered with feathers, wool, scales, 
&c. Hair is found on all parts of the hu- 
man body, except the soles of the feet and 
the palms of the hands; but it grows longest 
on the head, chin, breast, in the armpits, 
&c. It is known that every hair does pro- 
perly and truly live, and receive nutriment 
to fill and distend it like the other parts ; 
which they argue hence, that the roots do 
not turn grey in aged persons sooner than 
