BIOR-LINN. Perhaps the oldest of our terms for boat. (_See_ BIRLIN.) BIRD-BOLT. A species of arrow, short and thick, used to kill birds without piercing their skins. BIRD'S-FOOT SEA-STAR. The _Palmipes membranaceus_, one of the _Asterinidæ_, with a flat thin pentagonal body, of a bright scarlet colour. BIRD'S NEST. A round top at a mast-head for a look-out station. A smaller crow's nest. Chiefly used in whalers, where a constant look-out is kept for whales. (_See_ EDIBLE BIRD'S NEST.) BIREMIS. In Roman antiquity, a vessel with two rows of oars. BIRLIN. A sort of small vessel or galley-boat of the Hebrides; it is fitted with four to eight long oars, but is seldom furnished with sails. BIRT. A kind of turbot. BIRTH-MARKS. A ship must not be loaded above her birth-marks, for, says a maritime proverb, a master must know the capacity of his vessel, as well as a rider the strength of his horse. BISCUIT [_i.e._ _bis coctus_, or Fr. _bis-cuit_]. Bread intended for naval or military expeditions is now simply flour well kneaded, with the least possible quantity of water, into flat cakes, and slowly baked. Pliny calls it _panis nauticus_; and of the _panis militaris_, he says that it was heavier by one-third than the grain from which it was made. BISHOP. A name of the great northern diver (_Colymbus glacialis_). BISMER. A name of the stickleback (_Gasterosteus spinachia_). BIT. A West Indian silver coin, varying from 4_d._ to 6_d._ In America it is 12-1/2 cents, and in the Spanish settlements is equal with the real, or one-eighth of a dollar. It was, in fact, Spanish money cut into bits, and known as "cut-money." BITE. Is said of the anchor when it holds fast in the ground on reaching it. Also, the hold which the short end of a lever has upon the thing to be lifted. Also, to bite off the top of small-arm cartridges. BITTER. Any turn of a cable about the bitts is called a bitter. Hence a ship is "brought up to a bitter" when the cable is allowed to run out to that stop. BITTER-BUMP. A north-country name for the bittern. BITTER-END. That part of the cable which is abaft the bitts, and therefore within board when the ship rides at anchor. They say, "Bend to the bitter-end" when they would have that end bent to the anchor, and when a chain or rope is paid out to the bitter-end, no more remains to be let go. The bitter-end is the clinching end--sometimes that end is bent to the anchor, because it has never been used, and is more trustworthy. The first 40 fathoms of a cable of 115 fathoms is generally worn out when the inner end is comparatively new. BITT-HEADS. The upright pieces of oak-timber let in and bolted to the beams of two decks at least, and to which the cross-pieces are let on and bolted. (_See_ BITTS.) BITT-PINS. Similar to belaying-pins, but larger. Used to prevent the cable from slipping off the cross-piece of the bitts, also to confine the cable and messenger there, in heaving in the cable.