. See Antlers.
HEAD-STALL
—is the part of a caveson, bridle, or hunting-rein halter, which passes round, and on each side the head of the horse, and to which the reins of either are affixed, for use in the field or on the road, and for safety in the stable.
HEATH-FOWL
—are a species of GROUSE, (passing under the denomination of BLACK GAME,) of which there are different sorts, individually expressed in the various acts of successive Parliaments for the preservation of the game; as "GROUSE, HEATH-COCK, MOOR-GAME, or any such fowl." To prevent the general destruction that must evidently follow, if game of this description was pursued and taken at all seasons of the year without restraint, the Legislature has wisely provided a remedy by the following prohibition, exclusive of the penalties annexed to other Acts for killing without the necessary qualifications.
By the 13th George Third, c. lv. s. 2, No person shall kill, destroy, carry, sell, buy, or have in his possession, any HEATH-FOWL, commonly called black game, between the tenth day of December and the twentieth day of August; nor any GROUSE, commonly called red game, between the tenth day of December and the twelfth day of August; nor any BUSTARD between the first day of March and the first day of September, in any year, upon pain of forfeiting, for the FIRST OFFENCE, a sum not exceeding TWENTY, nor less than ten pounds; and for the SECOND, and every subsequent offence, a sum not exceeding THIRTY, nor less than twenty pounds: One moiety thereof to go to the INFORMER, the other to the poor of the parish.
HEAVIER
.—A STAG deprived of his testicles by CASTRATION, is then called a HEAVIER, which operation is occasionally performed, that a supply may not be wanting for the CHASE during the time of rutting; in which the STAG is perpetually ranging from one HIND to another, for three weeks or longer; not allowing himself the comforts of FOOD, SLEEP, or REST. Towards the termination he becomes lean, languid, and dejected; when, having executed the task prescribed by Nature, he withdraws himself from society, to seek repose and food. At this period he is so ill-adapted for SPORT with the HOUNDS, that the operation of castrating was adopted as an alternative to the temporary suspension of the ROYAL CHASE.
It is worthy of remark, that if a stag undergoes the operation when his horns are SHED, they never grow again; on the contrary, if it is performed while the horns are in perfection, they will never exfoliate; and it is equally remarkable, that being deprived of only one testicle, the horn will not regenerate on that side, but will continue to grow, and annually shed on the other, where the single testicle has not been taken away. Heaviers are of great strength, and stand a long time before hounds; for which reason the hunting establishment of his Majesty in Windsor Forest is never without a regular succession.