hill all the way. The T. Y. C. is five furlongs and one hundred and thirty-six yards. BUXTON-is a round course of one mile only. CHELMSFORD-is a round or oval course, short of two miles by about thirty yards, but made up two miles by starting between the distancepost and the winning-chair; about half of the straight mile is in the round course, finishing with rather a severe hill. CHESTER. A flat course of one mile and one hundred yards round. DONCASTER is a circular and nearly flat course of about one mile, seven furlongs, and seventy yards. The shorter courses are portions of this circle. distance, and quite flat; the last half mile straight. PLYMOUTH.-Nearly an oval course of one mile and a half, quite flat, with a straight run in of one-third of a mile. PRESTON-is oval and flat, one mile round. STAFFORD.-A one-mile course, which would be a complete oval, but for a straight run in of about a quarter of a mile. STOCKBRIDGE is nearly a round course, somewhat hilly, the last three quarters of a mile straight for the run in; and there is also a straight mile. TAVISTOCK.-A round or rather oval course, two miles, a little hilly, the last three quarters of a mile EGHAM. The round or rather oval straight, and very nearly level: the course is short of two miles by sixty-one-mile is a portion of the above. six yards, and nearly flat. WOLVERHAMPTON.-An oval shape, EXETER. The old course is round, one mile and a quarter, the run in is or rather oval, of two miles, two-straight, and the T. Y. C. is a straight thirds of which are nearly flat, and half-mile. the remainder rather hilly; the last half mile is in a straight line with a little ascent, and beautiful coming in. There is a round and level course of one mile, recently made, called the new course, and a threemile course, also nearly level, formed out of the new and old courses. RACK. The frame of wood or metal placed over the manger, and in which hay or fodder is held. The metal is diapproved of as being injurious to the horse's teeth. See HORSES. RACKET. A game affording pleasure to the mind and benefit to the constitution. It may be played in a covered or open court, in the latter during the dry season; and there is no game that combines necessities for so much skill, watchfulness, and dexterity, as the player must be always on the move, standing still is totally out of the question. The game is generally played by two (any even number or a preconcerted match as to skill) on each side. With strong rackets, the ball is struck against a hard wall, and returned at the bound to the same wall, each player endeavouring so to strike it against the wall that his adversary may not be able to return it; he who does not return it, either loses a point (an ace) or has his "hand out." Eleven or fif teen aces is generally the limit of a game. Racket differs from Tennis, q. v. RACKING. An irregular run or shuffle, between a trot and a gallop -an artificial pace described by Markham and the old writers. In America, at the present day, rucking is the favourite pace. RAIL (Rallus). A migratory bird, of which there are two species well known, R. aquaticus, or waterrail, q. v. and R. crex, or corn-crake, q. v. besides the R. porzana, or gallinule, which is more rare in Bri Where a RE-AFFORESTED. forest has been dis-afforested, and again made forest, as the forest of Dean was by an Act of Parliament, 20 Charles II. RECHASING. Driving back the deer, or other beasts into the forests, chases, &c. whence they had strayed. A lesson which huntsmen wind upon the horn when the hounds have lost their game, to call them back. RECHEAT. RECLAIMING (in Falconry). The calling of a hawk, or bird of tain. prey, back to the fist. The sparrowRAKING (in Farriery). Intro-hawk, the goshawk, &c. are reclaimducing the hand, oiled, into the rec-ed with the voice; the falcon only tum of a horse, and removing any hard fæces that may have accumulated, and resist the action of medicine. It is, however, never to be practised until all other methods of loosening the bowels have been carefully and fully tried. RANGER. A sworn officer of a forest, appointed by the king's letters patent, whose business is to walk daily through his charge, to drive back the wild beasts out of the purlieus, or disafforested places, into forested lands, and to present all trespasses done in his bailiwick, at the next court held for the forest. It is also used for the chief officer of the royal parks near the metropolis, from whom no such duties are required. RANGIFER. A kind of stag so called from his lofty horns, resembling the branches of trees. RANGLE (in Falconry). Giving gravel to a hawk to bring her to her stomach. RAT-TAIL. A horse is so termed when he has little or no hair upon his tail. RAT-TAILS. Excrescences which creep from the pastern to the middle of the shank of a horse; so called from their resemblance to a rat's tail. After washing the part well with soap and water, apply mercurial ointment, or a mixture of lard and calomel. by shaking the lure. So that the term luring, with regard to the falcon, is more proper than reclaiming. RECOIL. The retrograde motion of a gun on being discharged. This arises from various causes, the commonest is not cleaning the barrel after firing it off twelve or fifteen times. RECTIFIED SPIRIT. See SPIRIT OF WINE. RED-DEER (Cervus Elaphus), HART or STAG; the female, HIND. The stag has long cylindrical rami. generally a reddish brown with some black about the face, and a black line down the hind part of the neck, and between the shoulders. Stags are common in Europe, Barbary, the north of Asia, and America. In spring they shed their horns, which fall off spontaneously, or on rubbing them gently against the branches of trees. The old stags cast their horns first, which happens about the end of February or beginning of March; but the shedding of the horns is advanced by a mild, and retarded by a severe and long winter. As soon as the stags cast their horns they separate, the young ones only keeping together. They advance into the cultivated country, and remain among brushwood during the summer till their horns are renewed. In this season they walk with their heads low, to prevent their horns from being rubbed against the branches; for they continue to have sensibility till they acquire their full growth. The horns of the oldest stags are not half completed in the middle of May, nor acquire their full length and hardness before the end of July. Those of the younger stags are proportionally later, both in shedding and being renewed. But as soon as they have acquired their full dimensions and solidity, the stags rub them against the trees, to clear them of a skin, with which they are covered. Soon after the stags have polished their horns, they begin to feel the rut. Towards the end of August or beginning of September, they leave the coppice, return to the forest, and search for the hinds. They bellow dreadfully; their necks and throats swell; they become perfectly restless; they strike their horns against trees and hedges; and seem to be transported with rage, chasing from country to country, till they find the hinds, whom they force into compliance; for the female at first avoids and flies from the male, and never submits till she be fatigued with the pursuit. When two stags approach the same hind, they threaten, paw the ground, set up terrible cries, and attack each other with such fury that they often inflict mortal wounds with their horns; and the combat never terminates but in the defeat or flight of one of the rivals. The stag is very inconstant, having often several females at a time; and when he has but one hind his attachment to her does not continue above a few days. This ardour lasts only three weeks, during which the stags take very little food, and neither sleep nor rest. Hence, at the end of the rutting season they are so meagre and exhausted that they recover not their strength for a considerable time. They generally retire to the borders of the forest, feed upon the cultivated fields, and remain there till their strength is reestablished. In seasons when acorns and nuts are plentiful, they soon recover, and a second rutting frequently happens at the end of October; but it is of much shorter duration than the first. The hinds go with young eight months and some days, and seldom produce more than one. They bring forth in May or the beginning of June, and anxiously conceal their produce, which are called calves. After the sixth month the knobs of their horns begin to appear, and they are called knobbers till their horns lengthen into spears, and then they are termed brocks or staggards. During the first season they never leave their mothers. In winter, the stags and hinds of all ages keep together in flocks, which are always more numerous in proportion to the rigour of the season. They separate in spring: the hinds retire to bring forth; and, during this period, the flock consists only of knobbers and young stags. In general the stags are inclined to associate, and nothing but fear or necessity urges them to disperse. The life of the stag is spent in alternate plenty and want, vigour and debility, without having any change introduced into his constitution by these opposite years, and lives to thirty-five or forty years. extremes. He grows five or six | all other wood. The flesh of the fawn is very good, that of the hind and knobber not bad; but that of the stag has always a strong and disagreeable taste. The skin and the horns are the most useful parts of this animal: the former makes a pliable and very durable leather; the latter are used by cutlers, swordslippers, &c. and a volatile spirit, much employed in medicine, is extracted from them. In America, stags feed eagerly on the broad is poison to all other horned animals. The American stags grow very fat: their tallow is much esteemed for candles. In Britain the stag is become less common than formerly; its excessive viciousness during the rutting season, and the badness of its flesh, induce most people to part with the species. Stags are still found wild in the highlands of Scotland; they are also met with on the moors that border Cornwall and Devonshire; and in Ireland on the mountains of Kerry, where they add greatly to the magnificence of the romantic scenery. The stag has a fine eye, an acute smell, and an excellent ear. When listening he raises his head, erects his ears, and hears from a great distance; he is a simple, and yet a crafty animal. When hissed or called to he stops short and looks stedfastly, with a kind of admiration, at cattle, carriages, or men; and if they have neither arms nor dogs he moves on unconcernedly. He ap-leaved kalmia; although that plant pears to listen with delight to the shepherd's pipe. In general he is less afraid of men than of dogs, and is never suspicious, or uses any arts of concealment, but in proportion to the disturbance he has received. He eats slowly, and is very choice in his aliment: after his stomach is full he lies down and ruminates at leisure, which he seems to do with less facility than the ox. The stag's voice becomes louder in proportion as he advances in age: the hind never bellows from love, but from fear; her voice is more feeble than that of the male. The stag seldom drinks in the winter; in the spring the tender herbage covered with dew serves to slake his thirst. In the heat of summer and during the season of love, he frequents the margins of rivers and brooks not only to satisfy his parching thirst, but to cool his ardour and refresh his body: he then swims more easily than at any other time, and has been observed crossing very large rivers. Their food varies in different seasons. In autumn, after rutting, they search for the buds of green shrubs, the flowers of broom or heath, the leaves of brambles, &c. During the snows of winter they feed upon the bark, moss, &c. of trees, and in mild weather they browse in wheat-fields. In the beginning of spring they go in quest of catkins of the poplar, willow, and hazel trees, the buds and flowers of the cornel tree, &c. They prefer rye to all other grain, and the black berry-bearing alder to The age of a stag is judged by the furniture of his head. At a year old there is nothing to be seen but bunches. At two years old the horns appear more perfectly, but straighter and smaller; at three they grow into two spars; at four into three; and so increase yearly in branches till they are six years old; after which their age is not with any certainty to be known by their head. The huntsmen have several other marks whereby to know an old stag without seeing him; particularly the slot, entries, abatures, foils, fewnets, gate, and fraying post. STAG-HUNTING. The chase of the stag requires a species of knowledge which can only be learned by experience: it implies a royal assemblage of men, horses and dogs, all so trained, practised, and disciplined, that their movements, their researches, and their skill, must concur in producing one common end. of the stag, till the animal be unharboured. Instantly the alarm is given to uncouple the dogs, which ought to be enlivened by the voice and the horn of the huntsman. He should also diligently observe the foot of the stag, in order to discover whether the animal has started, and substituted another in his place. But it is then the business of the hunters to separate also, and to recall the dogs which have gone astray after false game. The huntsman should always accompany his dogs, and encourage, but not press them too hard. He should assist them in detecting all the arts of escape used by the stag, for this animal has remarkable address in deceiving the dogs. With this view he often returns twice or thrice upon his former steps; he endeavours to The huntsman should know the age and the sex of the animal; he should be able to distinguish with precision, whether the stag he has harboured with his hound be a knobber, a young stag, in his sixth or seventh year, or an old stag. The chief marks which convey this intelligence, are derived from the foot, and the excrement. The foot of the stag is better formed than that of the hind, or female. Her leg is more gross and nearer the heel. The impression of his feet are rounder, and farther removed from each other. He moves more regularly, and brings the hind foot into the impression made by the fore foot. But the distance between the steps of the hind are shorter, and her hind feet strike not so regularly the track of the fore feet. As soon as the stag acquires his fourth horns, he is easily distin-raise hinds or younger stags to acguished; but to know the foot of a young stag from that of a hind, requires repeated experience. Stags of six, seven, &c. years, are still more easily known; for their fore foot is much larger than the bind foot; the older they are, the sides of their feet are the more worn; they always place their hind foot exactly in the track of the fore foot, excepting when they shed their horns; the old stags misplace, at this season, nearly as often as the young ones; but in this they are more regular than the hind or young stag, placing the hind foot always at the side of the fore foot, and never beyond or within it. When the huntsman, from the dryness of the season, or other circumstances, cannot judge by the foot, he is obliged to trace the animal backwards, and endeavour to find his dung. This mark requires, perhaps, greater experience than the knowledge of the foot: but without it the huntsman would be unable to give a proper report to the company. After the report of the huntsman, and the dogs are led to the refuge of a stag, he ought to encourage his hound, and make him rest upon the track company him, and to draw off the dogs from the object of their pursuit: he then flies with redoubled speed, or springs off at side, lies down on his belly, and conceals himself. In this case, when the dogs have lost his foot, the huntsmen, by going backwards and forwards, assist them in recovering it. But, if they cannot find it, they suppose that he is resting within the circuit they have made, and go in quest of him. But, if they are still unable to discover him, there is no other method left, but, from viewing the country, to conjecture where he may have taken refuge, and repair to the place. As soon as they have recovered his foot, and put the dogs upon the track, they pursue with more advantage, because they perceive that the stag is fatigued. Their ardour augments in proportion to his feebleness; and their scent grows more distinct as the animal grows warm. Hence they redouble their cries and their speed; and though the stag practises still more arts of escape than formerly, as his swiftness is diminished, his arts and doubling become gradually less effectual. He has now no other re |