_The Bantam_, a well-known small breed, originally from India, is chiefly valued for its grotesque figure and delicate flesh. There has been lately obtained a variety of bantams, extremely small, and as smooth legged as a game fowl. From their size and delicacy, they are very convenient, as they may always stand in the place of chickens, when small ones are not otherwise to be had. They are also particularly used for sitting upon the eggs of partridges and pheasants, being good nurses, as well as good layers. Sir John Sebright, M.P. for Herts, is one of the chief amateurs of this breed. Sir John’s breed are beautifully striped and variegated. In addition, there is a South American variety, either from Brazil or Buenos Ayres, which will roost in trees. They are very beautiful, partridge-spotted and streaked; the eggs small, and coloured like those of the pheasant; both the flesh and eggs are fine flavoured and delicate.—_Moubray._ BAR, _s._ A piece of wood laid across a passage to hinder entrance; a bolt to fasten a door; any obstacle; a rock or bank at the entrance of a harbour; anything used for prevention; a moveable piece of timber used in the menage to teach horses to leap. BARB, _s._ Anything that grows in the place of the beard; the points that stand backward in an arrow. BARB, _s._ A Barbary horse. _Vide_ ARAB and HORSE. BARB, _v._ To jag arrows and fishing-hooks. BARBADOES TAR, _s._ A bituminous substance of strong diuretic power. It is used in chronic coughs, and externally employed in strains and bruises. BARBECUE, _s._ A hog dressed whole. BARBED, _a._ Bearded; jagged with hooks. BARBEL, _s._ A kind of fish found in rivers. [Illustration] The Barbel is one of the coarsest fishes. In England they are deemed the worst of fresh-water fish, and seldom eaten but by the poorest sort of people, who sometimes boil them with a piece of bacon to give them a relish. The roe is very noxious, affecting those unwarily eating it with a vomiting, purging, and a slight swelling. The Barbel takes its name from the barbs, or wattels, at his mouth. They begin to run up the rivers in March and April. When they spawn, they keep together in companies, making holes in the gravel wherein they cast it.