Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/433

BUT eScparajed wings, being nine ■ ■' ' '" - ; and E is about e of the male, and I with different shades of . ;ur. Bustards inhabit most of the open countries lying to the south and east parts of this isiand, from Dorsetshire, as far as the Wolds of Yorkshire. In autumn, they are (in Wiltshire) generally found in large turnip-rid Js, near theDowns, and in flights of fifty or more. They are exceedingly shy, and dif- ficult to be shot; run very fast, and fly, though slowly, many miles without resting: and, as they take flight with difficulty, they are sometimes run down by grey- hounds. Corn and other vege- tables are their usual food; but they are very fond of those large earth-worms which appear in great numbers 0:1 the downs, in the summer-mornings, before sun-rise. These are replete with moisture, answer the purpose of liquid food, and enable them to live long with- out drinking. Nature has provid- ed the males with an admirable magazine for their security against drought; being a pouch, the en- trance of which lies immediately under the tongue, and is capable of holding near seven quarts ; this they probably fill with water, to supply the females when sit- ting, or the young- before they are fledged. Eustards lay only two eggs, resembling those of a goose, of a pale olive-brown, marked with spots of a dark co- lour: they build no nest, but only scrape a hole in the ground. BUTCHER, a person who slaughter-; cattle for the use of the lable ; cuts up and retails meat. No. iv. — vol. x. BUT [401 Although, by the constitution of this country, the butchers are not so restricted as they were in ancient fume, nor in such high re utation fcr skill and shamble-learning, as they are among the Jews, yet there are proper laws enact ed for regu- lating their trade, and preventing the abuses committed by them, and their servants, if they were duly en- forced. — A batcher selling swine's flesh measled, or dead of the mur- rain, shall, for the first offence, be. amerced ; for the second, stand in the pillory : for the third, be im- prisoned, and pay a fine ; and, for the fourth, abjure the tow r n. Thoso who exact unreasonable prices for their meat, shall forfeit double the value ; they are also occasionally fined for forestalling, &c. but per- haps never for blowing (which .sec), as few persons are inclined to complain, when redress of grie- vances is attended with loss of time and trouble. It appeal's that our legislature has affixed such an imputation of proneness to shed human blood, upon persons who slaughter brute creatures for a subsistence, that, by the laws of England, no butcher is permitted to serve on a jury, when sitting on the life of a fellow- subjeft. With respect to the unlawful dealings of carcass- butchers, it has often been maintained, and we ap- prehend, upon good grounds, that they are a tax upon the necessaries of life, a toll upon tire market, a chief cause of artificial famine ; in short, the worst class of usurers. Dr. Buchan justly censures the practice adopted by butchers, of filling the ceilular membranes of animals with blood. Thus the meat appears fatter, and weighs more than it would do in its natural D d state,