ATHLETIC, a. Belonging to wrestling; strong of body, vigorous, lusty ro bust. AUBURN, a. Brown, of a tan colour. AUCUPATION, S. obs. Fowling, bird-catching. large patch of white; the head, neck, back, and wings, glossy black; lesser quill-feathers tipped with white; legs black. The smallness of the wings renders them useless for flight, the longest quill-feather not exceeding four inches in length. These however, are admirably adapted to its mode of life, and are of peculiar use in diving under water, where they act as fins; by which means it pursues its prey with astonishing velocity. This species appears to have become extremely rare on the north coast of Britain. The natives in the Orkneys informed Mr. Bullock, in his late tour through those islands, that one male only had made his appearance for a long time, which had regularly visited Papa Westra for several years. The female (which the natives call the Queen of the Auks) was killed just before Mr. Bullock's arrival. The King, or male, Mr. Bullock had the pleasure of chasing for several hours, in a six-oared boat, but without being able to This bird is only found in the most northkill him, for though he frequently got near ern parts of the kingdom; it is said to breed him, so expert was the bird in its natural in the isle of St. Kilda, from which Dr. Flemelement, that it appeared impossible to shooting had one in 1822. Like the rest of this him. The rapidity with which he pursued his course under water was almost incredible. The length is three feet. The bill is black, very strong, compressed, and marked with several furrows. The base of the upper mandible is covered with short velvet-like feathers; between the bill and the eye is a genus it lays only one egg, white, sometimes irregularly marked with purplish lines, or blotched with ferruginous and black at the larger end: length six inches. It feeds on fish, but the young birds will eat rose root (Rhodiola rosea), or other plants.-Montagu. AURICULARS, S. (In Ornithology). Feathers which cover the ears. AVOIRDUPOIS, a. A kind of weight, of which a pound contains sixteen. ounces, and is in proportion to a pound Troy as 17 to 14. AVOSET, Scooper, Crooked-Bill, or Yelper, s. Recurvirostra Avosetta, LINNEUS. L'Avosette, BUFFON.) insects, &c. Latham says, "They lay two eggs, the size of those of a pigeon, an inch and three quarters in length, of a cinereous grey, singularly marked with deep brownish dark patches, of irregular sizes and shapes, besides some under markings of a dusky hue." They keep near the shore, wading about, up to the belly in the water, and sometimes swimming. In all their motions they are smart, lively, and volatile, and do not remain long stationary in one spot. This bird, which is the only British species much in the same way as the peewit or lapof Avosets, does not much exceed the lap- wing, making a shrill noise, and uttering a wing in the bulk of its body; but from the yelping cry of twit, twit, all the time. The length of its legs it is much taller. It mea- places where they have been feeding may be sures about eighteen inches in length, to the traced out by the semicircular marks left in end of the toes twenty-two, and from tip to the mud or sand by their bills, in scooping tip thirty; and weighs from twelve to four-out their food, which consists of spawn, worms, teen ounces. The bill is black, about three inches and a half long, and of a singular conformation; looking not unlike flexible flat pieces of whalebone, curved upwards to the tip: the irides are hazel; the head round, black on the upper part to below the nape of the neck: above and beneath each eye, in most specimens, there are small white spots; but in the one from which the above figure was taken, a streak of that colour passed over each eye towards the hinder part of the head. The thighs are naked, and, as well as the legs and feet, are of a fine pale blue colour. The whole plumage of the Avoset is white, intersected with black; and, like most of the variegated or piebald birds, the patches of these colours are not placed exactly the same in every individual; therefore as the bird cannot be mistaken, a more minute description is unnecessary. These birds are common in the winter about the lakes, mouths of rivers, and marshes, in the southern parts of England; and they assemble in large flocks on the fens, in the breeding season. When the female is frightened off her nest she counterfeits lameness; and when a flock is disturbed they fly with their necks stretched out, and their legs extended behind over the head of the spectator, * * The Scooper is the only species found in England. It breeds in the fens of Lincolnshire, and on Romney Marsh in Kent. It does not migrate, like other birds of similar habits, but is found at all seasons, though in winter it chiefly frequents the sea-shore; and, besides on the coast of Kent, it is found about the mouth of the Severn, in Gloucestershire, as well as on the eastern coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, and sometimes in Shropshire. During the breeding season, the Avosets are seen in considerable numbers near Fossdike, in Lincolnshire, and also in the fens of Cambridgeshire, and similar localities. Temminck says it is common in North Holland. It seems, indeed, to be very widely diffused, being found in Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Siberia, the Caspian Sea, deserts of Tartary.-Bewick-Lathamand particularly about the Salt Lakes in the Montagu. AWNING, S. A cover spread over a boat or vessel to keep off the weather. BABBLE, v. To open on a false scent. BARILLARD, S. (Curruca garrula, BRISSON.) A species confounded by British naturalists | shire or Cornwall. Selby even doubts its with the white-throat. (Vide MONTAGUE.) existence; but Sweet has kept them in a cage The babillard does not appear to be a plen- for years. tiful species in this country, and is confined to the western parts of the kingdom, from Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, in both which counties we have found them, and is probably in part of Somersetshire, but not in Devon In some seasons it is very plentiful about London; at other times much scarcer. I am confident I have seen it in Ayrshire, and at Musselburgh Haugh, near Edinburgh.-Rennie. BACK, S. The binder part of the body; the outer part of the hand when it is shut; the rear; the place behind; the part of any thing out of sight; the thick part of any tool, opposed to the edge. BACK, v. To mount a horse; to break a horse; to place upon the back; to maintain; to support; to bet on. BACKGAMMON, S. A game or play with dice and tables. The game of tables is better known at pre-like. The first best throw upon the dice is sent by the name of Backgammon. This pas-esteemed aces, because it stops the six point time is said to have been discovered about the tenth century, and the name derived from two Welsh words signifying "little battle." But the derivation may be found nearer home. The words are perfectly Saxon, as Bac, or Bæc, and Zamen, that is Back Game; so denominated because the performance consists in the players bringing their men back from their antagonist's tables into their own; or because the pieces are sometimes taken up and obliged to go back, that is, re-enter at the table they came from. in the outer table, and secures the cinque in the thrower's table, whereby the adversary's two men upon the thrower's ace point cannot get out with either quatre, cinque, or six. This throw is an advantage often given to the antagonist by the superior player. When he carries his men home in order to lose no point, he is to carry the most distant man to his adversary's bar point, that being the first stage he is to place it on: the next stage is six points farther, viz. in the place where the adversary's five men are first placed out of his tables. He must go on this method till all his men are brought home, except two, when, by losing a point, he may often save the gammon, by throwing two fours or two fives. When a hit is only played for, he should endeavour to gain either his own or adversary's cinque point, and if that fails by his being hit by the adversary, and he finds him forwarder than himself, in that case he must throw more men into the adversary's tables, which is done in this manner: he must put a man upon his cinque or bar point, and if the adversary fails to hit it, he may then gain a forward game instead of a back game; but if the adversary hit him, he should play for a The most material circumstances in which the game differed, at this remote period, from the present method of playing it, was, first, in having three dice instead of two, or reckoning a certain number for the third; and secondly, in placing all the men within the antagonist's table, which, says an ancient writer, must be put upon his ace point. There is also another game upon the tables, called Paume Carie, which is played with two dice, and requires four players, that is, two on either side; or six, and then three are opposed to three. The same authority then speaks of a third game, called Ludus Lombardorum, the game of Lombardy, and thus played he who sits on the side marked 13-back game, and then the greater number of 24 has his men at 6, and his antagonist has his men at 19; which is changing the ace point in the English game for the size point: and this alteration probably shortened the game. He mentions the five following variations by name only; the Imperial game, the Provincial game, the games called Baralie, Mylys, and Faylis. This game is played with dice upon a table by two persons, upon which there are twentyfour black and white spaces, called points. Each adversary has fifteen men, black and white, to distinguish them, and they are disposed of in the following manner. Supposing the game to be played into the right hand table, two are placed upon the ace point in the adversary's table, five upon the six point in the opposite table, three upon the cinque point in the hithermost table, and five on the sixth point in the right hand table. The grand object in this game is for each player to bring the men round into his right hand table, by throwing with a pair of dice those throws that contribute towards it, and at the same time prevent the adversary doing the men which are taken up makes his game the better, because by these means he will preserve his game at home, and then he should endeavour to gain both his adversary's ace and trois points, and take care to keep three men upon the adversary's ace point, that, in case he hits him from thence, that point may remain still secure to himself. A back game should not be played for at the beginning of a set, because it would be a great disadvantage, the player running the risk of a gammon to win a single hit. A variety of instructions with regard to this curious game are given by Mr. Hoyle, who calculates the odds of the game with great accuracy. The following particulars, however, may be of use to the generality of players. If a player has taken up two of the adversary's men, and happens to have two, three, or more points made in his own tables, he should spread his own men, that he may either take a new point in his tables, or be ready to hit the man which the adversary may happen to enter. If he finds upon the adversary's entering, that the game is upon a par, or that the advantage is on his own side, he should take the adversary's man up whenever he can, it being twenty-five to eleven that he is not hit, except when he is playing for a single hit only, then, if playing, the throw otherwise gives him a better chance for it, he ought to do it. As it is five to one against his being hit with double dice, he should never be deterred from taking up any one man of the adversary's. If he has taken up one of the adversary's men, and should happen to have five points in his own tables, and forced to leave a blot out of his tables, he should endeavour to leave it upon doublets preferable to any other chance; because the odds are thirty-five to one that he is not hit, whereas it is only seventeen to one but he is hit upon another chance. When the adversary is very forward, a player should never move a man from his own quatre, trois, or deuce points, thinking to bear that man from the point where he put it, as nothing but high doublets can give him any chance for the hit. Instead of playing an ace or a deuce from any of these points, he should play them from his own size or highest points, so that throwing two fives or two fours, his size and cinque points being eased, would be a considerable advantage to him, whereas, had they been loaded, he must have been obliged to play otherwise. It is the interest of the adversary to take up the player as soon as he enters. The blot should be left on the adversary's lowest point, that is to say, upon his deuce point, rather than upon his trois point, or upon his trois point rather than upon his quatre point, or upon his quatre point preferable to his cinque point, for a reason beforementioned; all the men the adversary plays upon his trois or his deuce points are deemed lost, being greatly out of play, so that those men not having it in their power to make his cinque point, and his game being crowded in on one point, and open in another, the adversary must be greatly annoyed by the player. If the player has two of his adversary's men in his tables, he has a better chance for a hit than if he had more, provided his game is forwarder than that of his antagonist, for if he had three or more of his adversary's men in his tables, he would stand a worse chance to be hit. When a player is running to save the gammon, if he should have two men upon his ace point, and several men abroad, although he should lose one point or two in his putting his men into his tables, it is his interest to leave a man upon his adversary's ace point, because it will prevent his adversary from bearing his men to the best advantage, and at the same time the player will have a chance of the adversary's making a blot which he may chance to hit. However, if a player finds, upon a throw, that he has a probability of saving his gainmon, he should never wait for a blot, as the odds are greatly against his hitting it, but should embrace that opportunity. The following are directions for calculating the odds of saving or winning the gammon : -Suppose the adversary has so many men abroad as require three throws to bring them into his tables, and at the same time that the players' tables are made up, and that he has taken up one of the adversary's men, in this case it is about an equal wager that the adversary is gammoned. For, in all probability, the player has borne two men before he opens his tables, and when he bears the third man, he will be obliged to open his size or cinque point. It it then probable, that the adversary is obliged to throw twice before he enters | his men in the player's tables, twice before he puts that man into his own tables, and three throws more to put the men which are abroad into his own tables, in all seven throws. Now the player having twelve men to bear, he may be forced to make an ace or a deuce twice before he can bear all his men, and consequently will require seven throws in bearing them; so that, upon the whole, it is about equal whether the adversary is gammoned or not. Suppose a player has three men upon his adversary's ace point, and five points on his own tables, and that the adversary has all his men in his tables, three upon each of his five highest points, has the player a probability of gammoning his adversary or not? It is plain from this calculation, that the player has much the best of the probability of the gammon, exclusive of one or more blots which the adversary is liable to make in bearing his men, supposing at the same time the throws to be upon an 'equality. Suppose two blots are left, either of which cannot be hit but by double dice, one must be hit by throwing eight, and the other by throwing nine, so that the adversary has only one die to hit either of them. The chances of two dice, being in all. 36 The chances to hit six, are six and two twice Five and three twice Two deuces Two fours 2211 221 11 For hitting in all Chances for not hitting, remain 25 So that the odds are twenty-five to eleven against hitting either of these blots. This method may be taken to find out the odds of hitting three, four, or five blots upon double dice, or blots made upon double or single dice at the same time. After knowing how many chances there are to hit any of those blots, they must be added together, and then subtracted from the number thirtysix, which are the chances of the two dices, and the question is solved. The laws of backgammon are, first, If a |