Often the hunter, overtaken by a dark mist, loses himself amongst the ice, and dies of cold and hunger; or the rain renders the rocks so slippery, that he is not able to reascend them. In the midst of eternal snows, braving all dangers, they follow the chamois frequently by the marks of their feet; when one is perceived at a distance, the hunter creeps along till within reach of his gun, which he rests on a rock, and is almost always sure of his prey: thus the innocent beast, which tranquilly feeds, perhaps enjoys the last moments of its happy existence. But if his watchful eye perceives the enemy, as is often the case, he flies from rock to rock, “timor addidit alas,” and the fatigues of the pursuer begin, who traverses the snows, and climbs the precipices, heedless of how he is to return. Night arrives, yet the hopes of the morrow reassure him, and he passes it under a rock. There, without fire, without light, he draws from his wallet a little cheese and oaten bread, which he is obliged to break with a stone, or with the hatchet he carries to cut his path in the ice. This repast finished, he falls asleep on his bed of snow, considering what route the chamois has probably taken. At break of day he awakens, insensible to the charms of a beautiful morning, to the glittering rays which silver the snowy summits of the mountains around him, and, thinking only of his prey, seeks fresh dangers. Thus they frequently remain many days in these horrible deserts, while their wives and families scarcely dare to sleep, lest they should behold the spirits of their dead husbands; for it is believed that a chasseur, after his death, always appears to the person who is most dear to him, to make known where lie his mangled remains, to beg the rites of burial.
Champ, v. To bite with a frequent action of the teeth; to devour.
Chance, s. Fortune, the cause of fortuitous events; the act of fortune; accident; possibility of any occurrence.
Chap, s. The upper or under part of a beast’s mouth.
Char, s. A fish found chiefly in Winandermeer in Lancashire.
The char is a most beautiful and excellent fish, and is a fish of prey. They generally haunt deep cool lakes, and are seldom found at the surface till late in autumn. When they are at the surface, however, they will take either fly or minnow. I have known some caught in both these ways, and have myself taken a char, even in summer, in one of those beautiful, small, deep lakes in the Upper Tyrol, near Nazereet; but it was where a cool stream entered from the mountains, and the fish did not rise, but swallowed the artificial fly under water. The char is always, in its colour, a very brilliant fish, but in different countries there are many varieties in the tint. I do not remember ever to have seen more beautiful fish than those of Aussee, which, when in perfect season, have the lower fins and the belly of the brightest vermilion, with a white line on the outside of the pectoral, ventral, anal, and lower part of the caudal fin, and with vermilion spots, surrounded by the bright olive shade of the sides and back. The dorsal fin in the char has eleven spines, the pectoral fourteen, the ventral nine, the anal ten, and the caudal twenty. I have fished for them in many lakes, without success, both in England and Scotland, and also amongst the Alps; and I am told the only sure way of taking them is by sinking a line with a bullet and a hook having a live minnow attached to it, in the deep water which they usually haunt.—Davy.
Char, v. To burn wood to a black cinder.
Charadrius (Linn.) s. Plover, a genus thus characterised:
Bill shorter than the head, slender, straight, compressed, nasal furrow prolonged more than two-thirds; mandibles bulged towards the tip. Nostrils at the base, jagged, slit lengthwise in the middle of a large membrane, which covers the fosse. Legs long or of middle length, slender, three toes directed forwards; the outer toe joined to the middle one by a short membrane; the inner toe separate. Tail slightly rounded or square. Wings of middle size, the first quill a little shorter than the second, which is the longest in the wing.—Montagu.