Lantern, s. A transparent case for a candle; a lighthouse; a light hung out to guide ships.
Lap, v. To wrap or twist round anything; to involve in anything.
Lapdog, s. A little dog, fondled by ladies in the lap; generally a common nuisance.
In one of the ships of the fleet, that sailed lately from Falmouth, for the West Indies, went passengers, a lady and her seven lap-dogs, for the passage of each of which she paid thirty pounds, on the express condition, that they were to dine at the cabin-table, and lap their wine afterwards. Yet these happy dogs do not engross the whole of their good lady’s affection; she has also, in Jamaica, forty cats and a husband.—Country Newspaper.
Lapwing, Bastard Plover, or Pee Wit, (Tringa vanellus, Linn.; Le Vanneau, Buff.) s. A clamorous bird with long wings.
This bird is about the size of a pigeon. Its bill is black; eyes large and hazel; the top of the head is black, glossed with green; a tuft of long, narrow feathers issues from the back part of the head, and turns upwards at the end; some of them are four inches in length; the sides of the head and neck are white, which is interrupted with a blackish streak above and below the eye; and the back part of the neck is a very pale brown; the forepart, as far as the breast, is black; the back and the wing coverts are of a dark green, glossed with purple and blue reflections; the quills are black, the first four tipped with white; the breast and belly are of a pure white; the upper-tail coverts and vent pale chestnut; the tail is white at the base, and the rest of it is black, with pale tips; the outer feathers almost wholly white, the legs are red; claws black; hind-claw very short.
This bird is a constant inhabitant of this country; but as it subsists chiefly on worms, it is forced to change its place in quest of food, and is frequently seen in great numbers by the sea-shore, where it finds an abundant supply. It is everywhere well known by its loud and incessant cries, which it repeats without intermission whilst on the wing, and from which, in most languages, a name has been given it, imitative of the sound. The peewit is a lively, active bird, almost continually in motion; it sports and frolics in the air in all directions, and assumes a variety of attitudes; it remains long upon the wing, and sometimes rises to a considerable height; it runs along the ground very nimbly, and springs and bounds from spot to spot with great agility. The female lays four eggs of a dirty olive, spotted with black: she makes no nest, but deposits them upon a little dry grass hastily scraped together: the young birds run very soon after they are hatched: during this period the old ones are very assiduous in their attention to their charge; on the approach of any person to the place of their deposit they flutter round his head with cries of the greatest inquietude, which increase as he draws nearer to the spot where the brood are squatted; in case of extremity, and as a last resource, they run along the ground as if lame, in order to draw off the attention of the fowler from any farther pursuit. The young lapwings are first covered with a blackish down, interspersed with long white hairs, which they gradually lose, and about the latter end of July, they acquire their beautiful plumage. At this time they assemble in flocks, which hover in the air, saunter in the meadows, and after rain disperse among the ploughed fields. In October the lapwings are very fat, and are then said to be excellent eating. Their eggs are considered as a great delicacy, and are sold in London at three shillings a dozen.
The following anecdote communicated by the late Rev. J. Carlyle, is worthy of notice, as it shows the domestic nature of this bird, as well as the art with which it conciliates the regard of animals differing from itself in nature, and generally considered as hostile to every species of the feathered tribe. Two of these birds, given to Mr. Carlyle, were put into a garden, where one of them soon died; the other continued to pick up such food as the place afforded, till winter deprived it of its usual supply: necessity soon compelled it to draw nearer the house, by which it gradually became familiarised to occasional interruptions from the family. At length one of the servants, when she had occasion to go into the back-kitchen with a light, observed that the lapwing always uttered his cry ‘pee wit’ to obtain admittance. He soon grew more familiar; as the winter advanced he approached as far as the kitchen, but with much caution, as that part of the house was generally occupied by a dog and a cat, whose friendship the lapwing at length conciliated so entirely, that it was his regular custom to resort to the fireside as soon as it drew dark, and spend the evening and night with his two associates, sitting close by them, and partaking of the comfort of a warm fireside. As soon as spring appeared, he left off coming to the house, and betook himself to the garden; but on the approach of winter he had recourse to his old shelter and his old friends, who received him very cordially. Security was productive of insolence; what was at first obtained with caution, was afterwards taken without reserve: he frequently amused himself with washing in the bowl which was set for the dog to drink out of, and while he was thus employed, he showed marks of the greatest indignation if either of his companions presumed to interrupt him. He died in the asylum he had chosen, being choked with something he had picked up from the floor. During his confinement, crumbs of wheaten bread were his principal food, which he preferred to any thing else.
Lard, s. The grease of swine; the chief ingredient in composing ointments.