Plucking

“ In other places the bed of the glacier is rough and torn. The rocks have been disrupted and their fragments have been carried away,—a process known as plucking. Moving under immense pressure the ice shatters the rock, breaks off projections, presses into crevices and wedges the rocks apart, dislodges the blocks into which the rock is divided by joints and bedding planes, and freezing fast to the fragments drags them on. ”

“ This erosion beneath the ice is accomplished by two processes; namely, plucking and abrasion. Wherever the rock over which the glacier moves has stood up in projecting masses and is riven by fissure planes of any kind, the ice has found it easy to remove it in larger or smaller fragments by a quarrying process described as plucking. The rock may be said to be torn away in blocks which are largely bounded by the preëxisting fissure planes. ”

“ When a glacier of considerable thickness moves over a jointed, stratified rock, especially if the dip of the strata is in the direction of the movement, masses of rock may be detached bodily, giving rise to what is termed plucking. ”

“ Plucking is easy and should be done while the squab is still warm. Start with the wings, which are the hardest, and end with the tail feathers. Picking against the feathers is quickest and is less likely to tear the skin. ”

“ That the plucking of herbs and digging up of roots was a process very apt to be attended by magical procedure we find abundant evidence in the Natural History. Often plants should be plucked before sunrise. [302] Twice Pliny tells us that the peony should be uprooted by night lest the woodpecker of Mars try to pick the digger’s eyes out. ”

“ Old spelling of plough.
Ploy, ploi, n. employment: (Scot.) a frolic. [Employ.]
Pluck, pluk, v.t. to pull off or away: to snatch: to strip, as a fowl of its feathers: (slang) to reject an examinee as inefficient.—n. a single act of plucking.—n. Pluck′er.—Pluck off (Shak.) , to abate from the rank; Pluck up, to pull out by the roots: to summon up, as courage. [A.S. pluccian; akin to Dut. plukken, Ger. pflücken.]
Pluck, pluk, n. the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal—hence heart, courage, spirit.—adjs. ”

“ So, at the coming of winter and its morning mists, a flock of belated cranes rise from a field loudly shrieking and flying to the distant South, while one sad bird, struck by a fatal shot, with wounded drooping wing, remains behind. ”

“ Now, what do you say to ‘pluck,’ auntie; is ‘pluck’ the same as moral courage?”
“That depends upon what you mean by ‘pluck,’ Walter.”
“Oh! you must admire pluck. Every true-born Englishman and Englishwoman admires pluck.”
“That may be, my clear nephew. I believe I do admire pluck, as far as I understand what it is. ”

“ The last pin-feather of the new winter plumage has burst its sheath, and is sleek and glistening from its thorough oiling with waterproof dressing, which the birds squeeze out with their bills from a special gland, and which they rub into every part of their plumage. The youngsters, now grown as large as their parents, have become proficient in fly-catching or berry-picking, as the case may be. ”

“ He had too much pluck to fly farther, and, after wading shoulder-deep against the stream for a few yards, he turned majestically round, and, facing the baying pack, he seemed determined to do or die. I never saw a finer animal ”

“ When they crack the whip the mud flies off, and so clever are they at this form of slinging that they rarely miss the bird at which they aim. When the water has all gone from the fields, the long stalks that have been left standing are burned. ”

“ But there are yet two birds, which I think well to put with our eight dabchicks, though they are much larger than any of them,—partly because of their disposition, and partly because of their plumage,—the water-rail, and water-hen. Modern science, with instinctive horror of all that is pretty to see, or easy to remember, entirely rejects the plumage, as any element or noticeable condition of bird-kinds ”

“ Undoubtedly the bird’s plumage—which, as I have told you, resembles in its brown crosswise stripes on the breast the plumage of certain birds of prey—has fostered this popular belief in the changing of the cuckoo into a sparrow-hawk and of the sparrow-hawk into a cuckoo. People have allowed themselves to be deceived by this variegated dress. ”

“ Meanwhile, the chickens, running in every direction, are very apt to "cluck" loudly.
The Bird's Nest.—Put a bird's nest in a room; hunt for it as you "Hunt the Slipper," only instead of saying "warm, warmer," and so on, you cluck, cluck, cluck soft or loud as the party goes toward or from the nest. Only one person hunts at a time; everybody else clucks.
Never rob a bird's nest, no matter how much the pretty eggs may tempt you. Think of the sorrow of the mother bird when she returns and sees it empty. ”

“ They, too, are finding the tide a trouble, and no doubt are wishing the human intruder would take himself off. Now, in spite of my presence, one of them follows the other toward the land, scurrying from one bit of tussock to another, half wading, half swimming. Time and tide wait for no bird. Both they and the plover have given up all thoughts of eating. ”

“ It is scarcely possible to account for such a succession of change in plumage in so short a time, except by supposing that a change in the constitution of the bird, produced by captivity and a want of natural food, had caused obstruction to the usual course of moulting, and that the autumnal change had been retarded, and was scarcely effected before the spring moulting commenced. ”

“ Not only is the plumage rendered water-tight, but it is able to resist a severe blow. This is well known by sportsmen, who do not fire at ducks or geese while they are approaching, knowing that their shot would only glide harmlessly from the feather-mail of the bird. ”

“ The voluntary compression of these cells, by expelling the air, destroys the buoyancy of the bird, and explains the amazing rapidity of its descent. An objectionable method is practised in some places for the capture of these birds. A submerged piece of planking with a herring fixed to its upper surface is set adrift, or towed from a boat, in the vicinity of their fishing grounds. ”

“ TRA. But do you look in that direction, towards yourselves, since you cannot discover the crow, if perchance you may be able to espy the vultures. (THEUROPIDES turns towards SIMO.) Now do you see them?
THEU. Upon my faith, I don't see them.
TRA. But I can see two vultures.
THEU. To make an end of it with you, I don't see any bird at all painted here.
TRA. Well then, I give it up. I excuse you; it is through age you cannot see. ”

“ At the back of the plough, three "horns" or tails stick out; these are the handles by which the plough is driven by a powerful man. It depends upon the driving of this ploughman whether the sod be made wide or narrow and the furrow deep or shallow; it is this man's duty to fix and lift the plough at the edge of the field; he must also be able, on stony ground, to pull the plough out of the way of any larger stone than usual, for the oxen cannot be brought suddenly to a standstill; and the plough, if left to itself, would soon go to wreck and ruin. ”

“ A mule's desperate plunges to escape generally aid us to get him into the water, for he loses his balance and is easily pushed in. But his look of dazed surprise is comical when, after such a plunge, in which he sinks below his head, he arises, snorts, blows the water out of his nostrils, and begins to look about him. ”

“ This pugging is made from clay or marl mixed with ground sherds, sieved gravel, or some non-vitreous dust to prevent it sticking to the saggars. The plugging is made malleable with a little water and rolled out by hand or pressed through a die. It will readily be seen that a carelessly built bung of any height may slip in the stress of firing, and its fall would most likely involve others, whilst any slight movement may be sufficient to cause a vase to topple off its stilt. In a down-draught kiln the bungs over any vent must be raised on fire tiles to permit the escape of the flames. ”

“ One interesting fact about these birds is that they show two sets of plumage. Thus, while each bird, as it gets older, usually changes its immature and almost uniform dusky plumage for a white under-surface, an incomplete white collar, and a blackish cap, yet some retain the dusky plumage throughout life. ”

“ If there be an old mother hen in the flock, she will at once take in the situation, and by certain significant clucks and a peculiar cackle, which is a part of their elaborate language, she will take wing and fly two or three hundred yards in the direction of dry land, alighting in the trees, when, after a rest, with another cluck or two, the party will continue in the same direction. ”

“ Adult Male: Breeding Plumage: Head, throat, neck, and upper half of back black; breast, belly, shoulders, lower half of back a bright chestnut brown; wings and tail dark brown; wing-feathers tipped or edged with white, forming a bar across wing. The winter plumage is different from the breeding plumage; the male passes through several changes as he matures. ”

“ How easy and natural it is to contrive a Plough that may equal the Spade, if not exceed it, in going deeper, and cutting the Soil into smaller Pieces, than the Spade commonly does, I leave to the Judgment of those who have seen the Four-coulter’d Plough. ”

“ Thousands of them, in their terror, make for the surface, leaping into the air like jets from a fountain. They tumble over one another and try in their bewilderment which can leap highest and farthest. They rise like flying-fish out of the water with a flash, and once more disappear with a splash into the water. There is a splash when they rise, and a splash when they again reach the surface of the water ”

“ They then keep his face continually turned towards the sun; and it becomes completely covered up and hidden by the multitude of flies that settle on it. And as within the boats he does what those that eat and drink must needs do, creeping things and vermin spring out of the corruption and rottenness of the excrement, and these entering into the bowels of him, his body is consumed. ”

“ Whenever a root stopped the advance of the plowshare, the laborer would call every animal by name in his powerful voice, trying to calm rather than to excite them; for the oxen, irritated by the sudden resistance, bounded, pawed the ground with their great cloven hoofs, and would have jumped aside and dragged the plow across the fields, if the young man had not kept the first four in order with his voice and goad, while the child controlled the four others. ”

“ But if a drop of liquid mud falls amidst the element from above, disturbing its purity, then, while the plume unfolds to its utmost capacity, does the animal commence a slow revolution, the body also passing around within the tube. ”

“ While the poults are in their nonage, she assiduously leads them about where food is most abundant; and if surprised by an intruder, leaves them to hide among the heath and ferns, creeps rapidly herself to some distance, and then rises in a fluttering manner, so that a stranger to her habits would suppose [Pg 215] her to be wounded. ”

“ Presently a shot is fired, and another; the dead birds drop on the water, the living plunge headlong into it, many advance on the wing, but, being frightened by the upraised oars, dart into the water. ”

“ The first mule, which had crossed, terrified by the electric shocks received, had retreated from the lagoon and, in a state of great fright, had plunged into a browsing herd of cattle, dangling its swaying pack and causing a frightened stampede among the half-wild herd. ”

“ And surely, no plume-bearing bird ever enlisted in a better cause, or on a more satisfactory basis; for to-day the plume crop is being grown and plucked and marketed with almost as much certainty as the annual crop of wool. ”

“ With such a jumble of heaped rocks and boulders there are great facilities for slipping or getting between them in such a way as might make it difficult to get out again, and an alarmed bird, caught as this one was, would, of course, pull and pull, wedging itself all the tighter. ”

“ Ordinarily when drag occurs the conditions are rather more subtle and complicated than in the foregoing example. Conversely to the above, when the fly falls upon swift water and the line upon slow, the natural downstream course of the fly is retarded. ”

“ Well, yes; but I think a plough is much the more ingenious of the two, for a bit of wood will make a boat, and it is very easy to improve on that when once the idea is started, which any child can do by throwing a stick into a pond; but a plough requires much more thought. However, let us take a plough. Thinkest thou it is easier to make a plough—one that is complete and useful in all its parts—or to destroy one that is made? ”

“ The great gang plow drawn by steam marked the last step in the development of the plow. The forked stick drawn by human hands and making its feeble scratch on the ground had grown until it had become a mighty machine drawn across the field by an unseen force and leaving in its wake a broad belt of deeply-plowed and well-broken soil. ”

“ He says of the plumages of the female: “The plumages and moults correspond to those of the male. In juvenal plumage the edgings of the wings and tail are greener tinged than those of the male. In first winter plumage the green above is duller and the black of the back [333] and tail coverts is lacking; below there is more yellow and the side streaks are obscure. The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a moult limited chiefly to the head and throat which become bluer and whiter respectively. Later plumages are brighter, but green always replaces the blue of the male.” ”

“ For a boil, house-flies are to be taken, their heads cut off, and they are to be arranged like herrings in a barrel round the swelling. A poultice is to cover all—but it is the flies that bring the gathering to a head. ”