ing them with all the efforts of our martius in Europe.

H. riparia, the sand martin, or shore bird, is four inches and three-quarters in length, with the whole upper parts of the body of a mouse-color, the throat and under parts white, the bill and legs blackish. It is common about the banks of rivers and sand-pits, where it terebrates a round and regular hole in the sand or earth, which is serpentine, horizontal, and about two feet deep. At the inner end of this burrow does the bird deposit, in a good degree of safety, her rude nest, consisting of fine grasses and feathers, usually goose-feathers, very inartificially laid together. 'Though at first,' says Mr. White, one would be disinclined to believe that this weak bird, with her soft and tender bill and claws, should ever be able to bore the stubborn sand-bank without entirely disabling herself; yet with these feeble instruments have I seen a pair of them make great despatch; and could remark how much they had scooped that day by the fresh sand which ran down the bank, and was of a different color from that which lay loose and bleached in the sun. In what space of time these little artists are able to mine and finish these cavities, I have never been able to discover; but it would be a matter worthy of observation, where it falls in the way of any naturalist to make his remarks. One thing is remarkable—that, after some years, the old holes are forsaken and new ones bored; perhaps because the old habitations grow foul and fetid from long use, or because they may so abound with fleas as to become untenantable. This species of swallow is strangely annoyed with fleas; and we have seen fleas, bed fleas (pulex irritans), swarming at the mouths of these holes, like bees on the stools of their hives. The sand martin arrives much about the same time with the swallow; and lays, as she does, from four to six white eggs. But as this species is cryptogame, carrying on the busines of nidification, incubation, and the support of its young in the dark, it would not be easy to ascertain the time of breeding, were it not for the coming forth of the broods, which appear much about the time, or rather somewhat earlier than those of the swallow. The nestlings are supported in common like those of their congeners, with gnats and other small insects; and sometimes they are fed with libellula (dragon flies) almost as long as themselves. This hirundo is said to lay only once in a year, and to produce its young more early than the rest of its tribe: though, from this last circumstance, it would seem probable that they breed at least a second time, like the housemartin and swallow. It does not always take pains to make a hole for a nest; frequently laying in cavities of quarries, and in hollows of trees, where it is convenient. When they happen to breed near hedges and inclosures they are often dispossessed of their breeding-holes by the house sparrow, which is on the same account a fell adversary to house martins. These hirundines are no songsters, but rather mute, making only a little harsh noise when a person approaches their nests. They seem not to be of a sociable turn, never with us congregating with their congeners in the autumn. They have a

peculiar manner of flying, fitting about with odd jerks and vacillations, not unlike the motions of a butterfly. Doubtless the flight of all hirundines is influenced by, and adapted to, the peculiar sort of insects which furnish their food.

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H. rustica, the common or chimney swallow, is distinguished from all the other species by the superior forkiness of its tail, and by the red spot on the forehead and under the chin. The crown of the head, the whole upper part of the body, and the coverts' of the wings, are black, glossed with a rich purplish blue, and most resplendent in the male: the breast and belly white, and in the male tinged with red: the tail is black; the two middle feathers are plain, the others marked transversely near the ends with a white spot: the exterior feathers of the tail are much longer in the male than in the female. The food is the same with that of all the genus; viz. insects. For taking these, in their swiftest flight, their parts are admirably contrived; their mouths are very wide to take in flies, &c., in their quickest motions; their wings are long, and adapted for distant and continual flight and their tails are forked, to enable them to turn the readier in pursuit of their prey. This species is the first comer of all the British hirundines; and appears in general on or about the 13th of April, though now and then a straggler is seen much earlier. This species, though called the chimney swallow, by no means builds altogether in chimneys, but often in barns and out-houses against the rafters ; as Virgil long ago remarked, (Georg. lib. iv. 306). In Sweden she builds in barns, and is called ladw swala, the barn swallow. In the warmer parts of Europe, where there are chimneys to houses except they are English built, she constructs her nest in porches, gateways, galleries, and open halls. But in general, with us, this species breeds in chimneys; and haunts those stacks where there is a constant fire, for the sake of warmth; generally prefering one adjoining to the kitchen, and disregarding the perpetual smoke of that funnel. Five or six or more feet down the chimney does this little bird begin to form her nest about the middle of May, which consists, like that of the house martin, of a crust or shell composed of dirt or mud, mixed with short pieces of straw to render it tough and permanent; with this difference, that, whereas the shell of the martin is nearly hemispheric, that of the swallow is open at the top, and like half a deep dish. This nest is lined with fine grasses, which are often collected as they float in the air. Wonderful is the address (Mr. White observes) which this adroit bird shows all day long in ascending and descending through so narrow a pass. When hovering over the mouth of the funnel, the vibration of her wings acting on the confined air occasions a rumbling noise like thunder. It is probable that the dam submits to this inconve nient situation, so low in the shaft, in order to secure her brood from rapacious birds, and particularly from owls, which frequently fall down chimneys, perhaps in attempting to get at these nestlings. This bird lays from four to six white eggs, dotted with red specks; and brings out her first brood about the last week in June, or the

first in July. The progressive method by which the young are introduced into life is very curious: First, they emerge from the shaft with difficulty enough, and often fall down into the room below: for a day or so they are fed on the chimney top, and are then conducted to the dead leafless bough of some tree, where, sitting in a row, they are attended with great assiduity, and may then be called perchers. In a day or two more they become fliers, but are still unable to take their own food: therefore they play about near the place where the dams are hawking for flies; and when a mouthful is collected, at a certain signal given, the dam and the nestling advance, rising towards each other, and meeting at an angle; the young one all the while uttering such a little quick note of gratitude and complacency, that one must have paid very little regard to the wonders of Nature, who has not remarked this feat. The dam betakes herself immediately to the rearing of a second brood, as soon as she is disengaged from her first; which she at once associates with the first broods of house martins; and with them congregates, clustering on sunny roofs, towers, and trees. She brings out her second brood towards the middle and end of August. Every species of hirundo drinks as it flies along, sipping the surface of the water; but the swallow only washes on the wing, by dropping into a pool for many times together; in very hot weather house martins and bank martins dip and wash a little. The swallow is a delicate songster, and in soft sunny weather sings both perching and flying, on trees in a kind of concert, and on chimney tops: it is also a bold flier, ranging to distant towns and commons even in windy weather, which the other species seem much to dislike; nay, even frequenting seaport towns, and making little excursions over the salt-water. Horsemen on wide downs are often closely attended by a little party of swallows for miles together, which play before and behind them, sweeping around, and collecting all the sculking insects that are roused by the trampling of the horses' feet: when the wind blows hard, without this expedient, they are often forced to settle to pick up their lurking prey. This species feeds much on little coleoptera, as well as on gnats and flies; and often settles on dug ground, or paths, for gravel to grind and digest its food. Mr. Pennant says, that, for a few days previous to their departure, they assemble in vast flocks on house-tops, churches, and trees, from whence they take their flight. They are supposed to take up their winter quarters in Senegal and parts adjacent; and seem to possess in turn the whole of the old continent, being known from Norway to the Cape of Good Hope on the one hand, and from Kamtschatka to India and Japan on the other. They are also found in all parts of North America, migrating north and south as with us. Kalm says, that in America they build in houses and under the outsides of the roofs; also on the mountains, in such parts of them as project beyond the bottom, as well as under the corners of perpendicular rocks.

12. H. urbica, the martin, is inferior in size to the chimney swallow, and its tail much less

forked. The head and upper part of the body, except the rump, are black glossed with blue: the breast, belly, and rump are white; the feet are covered with a short white down. They begin to appear about the 16th of April; and for some time they in general pay no attention to the business of nidification: they play and sport about, either to recruit from the fatigue of their journey, if they do migrate at all; or else that their blood may recover its true tone and texture after it has been so long benumbed by the severities of winter. About the middle of May, if the weather be fine, the martin begins to think in earnest of providing a mansion for its family. The crust or shell of this nest seems to be formed of such dirt or loam as comes most readily to hand, and is tempered and wrought together with little bits of broken straws to render it tough and tenacious. As this bird often builds against a perpendicular wall, without any projecting ledge under, it requires its utmost efforts to get the first foundation firmly fixed, so that it may safely carry on the superstructure. On this occasion the bird not only clings with its claws, but partly supports itself by strongly inclining its tail against the wall, making that a fulcrum; and, thus steadied, it works and plasters the materials into the face of the brick or stone. But then, that this work may not, while it is soft and green, pull itself down by its own weight, the provident architect has prudence and forbearance enough not to advance her work too fast; but by building only in the morning, and by dedicating the rest of the day to food and amusement, gives it sufficient time to dry and harden. About half an inch seems to be a sufficient layer for a day. By this method, in about ten or twelve days, is formed an hemispheric nest, with a small aperture towards the top, strong, compact, and warm; and perfectly fitted for all the purposes for which it was intended. But then nothing is more common than for the house sparrow, as soon as the shell is finished, to seize on it as its own, to eject the owner, and to line it after its own manner. After so much labor is bestowed in erecting a mansion, as nature seldom works in vain, martins will breed on for several years together in the same nest, where it happens to be well sheltered and secure from the injuries of the weather. The shell or crust of the nest is a sort of rustic work, full of knobs and protuberances on the outside: nor is the inside of those that I have examined smoothed with any exactness at all; but it is rendered soft and warm, and fit for incubation, by a lining of small straws, grasses, and feathers; and sometimes by a bed of moss interwoven with wool. In this they tread or engender frequently during the time of building; and the hen lays from three to five white eggs. At first, when the young are hatched, and are in a naked and helpless condition, the parent birds, with tender assiduity, carry out what comes from their young. Were it not for this affectionate cleanliness, the nestlings would soon be burnt up and destroyed in so deep and hollow a nest, by their own caustic excrement. As soon as the young are able to shift for themselves, the dams immediately turn their thoughts

to the business of a second brood: while the first flight, shaken off and rejected by their nurses, congregate in great flocks, and are the birds that are seen clustering and hovering, on sunny mornings and evenings, round towers and steeples, and on the roofs of churches and houses. These congregatings usually begin to take place about the first week in August; and therefore we may conclude that by that time the first flight is pretty well over. Martins love to frequent towns, especially if there are great lakes and rivers at hand. They are by far the least agile of the British hirundines; their wings and tails are short, and therefore they are not capable of such surprising turns, and quick and glancing evolutions, as the swallow. Accordingly, they make use of a placid easy motion, in a middle region of the air, seldom mounting to any great height, and never sweeping long together over the surface of the ground or water. They do not wander far for food; but affect sheltered districts, over some lake, or under some hanging wood, or in some hollow vale, especially in windy weather. They breed the latest of all the swallow kind; in 1772 they had nestlings until October the 21st, and are never without young as late as Michaelmas. As the summer declines, the congregating flocks increase in numbers daily, by the constant accession of the second broods; till at last they swarm in myriads upon myriads round the villages on the Thames, darkening the face of the sky as they frequent the aits of that river, where they roost. They retire in vast flocks together about the beginning of October; but have appeared of late years in a considerable flight in this neighbourhood, for one day or two, as late as November the 3rd and 6th, after they were supposed to have been gone for more than a fortnight. They therefore withdraw, with us, the latest of any species. Unless these birds are very short-lived indeed, or unless they do not return to the district where they are bred, they must undergo vast devastations somewhere; for the birds that return yearly bear no manner of proportion to the birds that re

tire.

HIS, Pronoun possessive. Saxon þyr. The masculine possessive pronoun of he, anciently used in a neutral sense, where we now say its. It is sometimes used as a sign of the genitive case; as, the man his ground, for the man's ground. It is now rarely thus used, as its use proceeded probably from a false opinion that the s formative of the genitive case was his contracted. Sometimes used in opposition to this man's; anciently before self.

Of his linage am I and his ofspring
By veray line, as of the stok real;
And now I am so caitif and so thral,
That he that is mortal enemy

my

I serve him as his squierly pourely.
Chaucer. The Knightes Tale.
Who can impress the forest, bid the tree
Unfix his earth-bound root?

Were I a king,

Shakspeare. Macbeth.

I should cut off the nobles for their lands, Desire his jewels, and this other's house.

Shakspeare.

Addison.

Gay. Pope.

As the wood-pigeon coos without his mate, So shall my doleful dirge bewail her fate. By thy fond consort, by thy father's cares, By young Telemachus his blooming years. Let man's own sphere,' said he, confine his view; Be man's peculiar work his sole delight,' Beattie. HISINGEN, an island in the south-west of Sweden, at the mouth of the large river GothaElf, on which the town of Gottenburg was first built. It is about sixteen miles long and six broad. Long. 11° 4′8′′ E., lat. 57° 45′ N.

HISPA, in zoology, a genus of insects belonging to the coleoptera order, the characters of which are these:-The antennæ are fusiform, growing gradually larger from each extremity towards the middle, and are situated between the eyes: the thorax and elytra are covered with protuberances or spines. The H. atra, found in Britain, is all over of a deep unpolished black, and has the upper part of its body entirely covered with long and strong spines, which render it bristly like the shell of a chestnut. There is even a spine at the case of the antenna; the thorax has a row set transversely, which are forked; and the elytra are furnished with a very great number that are single. Its being thus covered with spines makes it resemble a hedgehog in miniature. It is rather difficult to catch, letting itself fall down on the ground as soon as approached. It bears its antennæ upright before it. See ENTOMOLOGY,

HISPALIS, in ancient geography, a town of Batica, in Hispania Ultra, an ancient mart or trading town on the Bætis, navigable quite up to it for ships of burden, and thence to Corduba for river barges. It was also called Colonia Romulensis. It had a conventus juridicus, a court of justice or assizes. It is now called Seville.

HISPANIA, in ancient geography, a country or kingdom of Europe, now called Spain; called Hesperia Ultima by Horace, because the westmost part of Europe; also Iberia, from the river Iberus. Its name Hispania, or rama, is of Phoenician original, from its great number of rabbits; the Phoenicians, who settled several colonies on the coast, calling it Spanjah, from these animals. It has the sea on every side, except

on that next to Gaul, from which it is separated by the Pyrenees. The Romans first divided it into Hispania Citra and Ultra under two prætors. In that state it continued down to Augustus; who divided the Farther Spain into Bætica, which he left to the people to be governed by a proconsul; and Lusitania, which he added to his own provinces; calling the Hither Spain Tarraconensis. Hispania was anciently much celebrated for its fertility, of which it has greatly fallen short in modern times. Strabo says, the people were of a warlike turn; and, their bodies being formed for hardships and labor, they ever preferred war to peace, and were remarkably prodigal of life. See SPAIN.

HISPANIOLA, or St. Domingo, the largest of the Antilles or Caribbee Islands, in the West Indies. See DOMINGO (St.)

HISS, v. a., v. n., & n. s. Į Sax. pircean, to HIST, interj. Scontemn; Dut. hissen. To utter a noise like that of a serpent and some other animals. It is remarkable, that this word cannot be pronounced without making the noise which it signifies. To condemn at a public execution; to explode; to procure disgrace: hiss, the voice of a serpent; censure; an expression of contempt, or disapprobation, as used in theatres: hist, an exclamation commanding silence. Of this word I know not the original: some have thought it a corruption of hush, hush it, husht, or hist; but I have heard that it is an Irish verb commanding silence.'-Dr. Johnson.

Every one will hiss him out to his disgrace.

Ecclus. xxii. 2.
The merchants shall hiss at thee. Ezek. xxvii. 36.
Men shall pursue with merited disgrace;
Hiss, clap their hands, and from his country chace.
Sandys.

Thy mother plays, and I
Play too; but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave.

Shakspeare. Winter's Tale.

What's the newest grief?

-That of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker, Each minute teems a new one.

Id. Macbeth.

In the height of this bath to be thrown into the Thames and cooled glowing hot, in that surge, like a horse shoe; think of that; hissing hot. Shakspeare. Mute silence hist along!

'Less Philomel will deign a song,

In her sweetest saddest plight.

Fierce champion fortitude, that knows no fears
Of hisses, blows, or want, or loss of ears. Pope.
Hist, hist, says another that stood by, away, do
tor; for here's a whole pack of dismals coming.
Swift.

All point at earth, and hiss at human pride,
With penitential aspect as they pass,
The wisdom of the wise, and prancings of the great.

Thither with one consent they bend,
Their sorrows with their lives to end,
While each in thought already hears
The water hissing in his ears,

Young.

Beattie.

HISSAR FEROZEH, a flat district of Delhi, Hindostan, situated between the twenty-eighth and thirtieth degrees of northern latitude, on the western side of the river Jumna. The only natural stream which runs through it is the small river Sursutty; and, in order to supply this deficiency, one of the Afghaun emperors of the fourteenth century caused two canals to be cut; the first from the Setlege, the other from the Jumna, both of which joined at the town of Hissar, whence they are supposed to have been divided into a number of small cuts. part of the district received the name of Harriana, up; but the country produces horses, camels, and cattle; and during the prosperous period of the Mogul empire it was considered as the personal estate of the heir apparent. Various petty chiefs now rule here. The chief towns are Hissar, Hansy, and Sursutty.

Thus a

HISSAR FEROZEH, the capital of the foregoing district, is in the midst of a once sandy desert, where water was sold at a high price to the travellers that passed this way from Persia to Delhi. Sultan Feroz, having caused the two before-mentioned canals to be dug, laid the foundations of a town and fortress, to which he gave the name of the Fort of Feroz. It was built of stone brought from the neighbouring hills of Nosa, and now belongs to an independent chief. Long. 75° 53′ E., lat. 28° 41' N.

HISTER, in entomology, a genus of the coleoptera order of insects. The first articulation of the antennæ is compressed and curved; the last is considerably larger than the others, and appears to be a solid knob; the head is drawn within the body; the mouth is forcipated; the elytra are shorter than the body; and the forelegs are dentated. The body is polished and very shining, and its form almost square; the thorax large and highly polished; anteriorly it is made with a slope, in the cavity of which is lodged the head, the position of which is often only discovered by the projection of the maxillæ ; the head being, for the most part, so drawn under the thorax, that the insect looks as if it had none. The elytra are as it were cut off towards the extremity, and do not cover the whole of the abdomen. They are extremely smooth, and only have a few striæ, scarcely perceptible towards their outward side. Lastly, the hinder part of the abdomen, which projects beyond the elytra, is round and blunt. These insects are sometimes found in cow-dung, and often on sand. They vary prodigiously in size; but differ very little either in form or color, being all very dark. The larva, as well as the perfect insects, are frequently met with in the dung of horses, cows, &c.

T

HISTORIAN, n. s. HISTORICAL, adj. HISTORIC, adj. HISTORICALLY, adv. HISTORIFY, v. a. HISTORIOGRAPHER, N. S. HISTORIOGRAPHY, N. S. HISTORY, n. s.

HISTORY-PIECE, n. s.

history, a narration of events, delivered with dignity; mere narration; knowledge of events narrated history-piece, a picture representing some memorable event,

This false judge, that highte Appius,
(So was his name, for it is no fable,
But knowen for an historical thing notable,
The sentence of it sith is out of doute)
This false judge goth now fast aboute
To hasten his delit all that he inay.

Chaucer. The Doctoures Tale.

Because the beginning seemeth abrupt, it needs that you know the occasion of these several adven

tares; for the method of a poet historical is not such as of ar. historiographer.

Spenser.

O famous moniment of womens prayse! Matchable either to Semiramis, Whom antique history so high doth rayse, Or to Hypsiphil, or to Thomiris. Spenser. When that which the word of God doth but deliver historically, we construe as if it were legally meant, and so urge it further than we can prove it was intended, do we not add to the laws of God? Hooker. What thanks sufficient, or what reeompence Equal, have I to render thee, divine Historian!

Milton.

The gospels, which are weekly read, do all historically declare something which our Lord Jesus Christ himself either spoke, did, or suffered in his own per

son.

His words or his oath,

Cannot bind him to troth,

And he values not credit or history,

And though he has served thro'
Two 'prenticeships now,

Id.

He knows not his trade nor his mystery. Marvell. The third age they term historicon; that is, such wherein matters have been more truly historified, and therefore may be believed. Browne's Vulgar Errours. O, muse, historify

Her praise, whose praise to learn your skill hath Sidney.

framed me.

In an historical relation we use terms that are most proper and best known. Burnet's Theory. Our country which has produced writers of the first figure in every other kind of work, has been very barren in good historians. Addison.

What poor ideas must strangers conceive of persons famous among us, should they form their notions of them from the writings of those our historiographers.

Id.

With equal justice and historick care, Their laws, their toils, their arms with his compare.

Prior.

I'put the journals into a strong box, after the manner of the historiographers of some eastern monarchs. Arbuthnot's History of John Bull. After his life has been rather invented than written, I shall consider him historically as an author, with regard to those works he has left behind him. Pope's Essay on Homer.

His works resemble a large history-piece, where evet the less important figures have some convenient place.

Here rising bold the patriot's honest face; There warriors frowning in historick brass. Justly Cæsar scorus the poet's lays;

It is to history he trusts for praise.

Pape

What histories of toil could I declare! But still long-wearied nature wants repair. Not added years on years my task could close, The long historian of my country's woes.

History, so far as it relates to the affairs of the Brise, is necessary to divines. Wasti.

HISTORY may, in general, be defined an ac count of the most remarkable events which have occured in the world, arranged in the order in which they happened, together with the cause from which they originated, and the differem effects they produced. The word isopia literally denotes a search for curious things, a de sire of knowing, or even a rehearsal of things we have seen; being formed from the verb isoons, which properly signifies to know a thing by having seen it. But the ideas attached to it be came gradually more extensive, and it is now applied to the knowledge of things taken from the report of others: from the verb ion, I know; and hence, among the ancients, several of their great men were called polyhistores, i e persons of various and general knowledge.

The word history is, however, sometimes used to signify a description of things, as well as an account of facts. Thus Theophrastus calls his work on the nature and properties of plants, a history of plants; we have a treatise of Aristotle, entitled a history of animals; and to this day the description of plants, animals, and minerals, are called by the general name of natural history.

But what chiefly merits the name of history, and what is here considered as such, is an account of the principal transactions of mankind from the beginning of the world; generally divided into two parts, viz. civil and ecclesiastical. The first contains the history of mankind in their various relations to one another in common life; the second considers them as acting, or lieve to be the will of the Supreme Being. Civil pretending to act, in obedience to what they bedifferent states that have existed in the world, history, therefore, includes an account of all the and likewise of those men who in different ages of the world have most eminently distinguished themselves, either for their good or evil actions. This last part of civil history, however, sometimes forms a distinct branch of study styled biography.

Few accomplishments are more valued than an accurate knowledge of the histories of different nations; and no literary production is more respectable than a well-written history of any nation: although the truth of Goldsmith's remark must be acknowledged, that history is generally little more than the register of human contention and calamity.

Geography and chronology have been called the eyes of history. The person who would