The following proverb is current in the North of England: If the cock moult before the hen, We shall have weather thick and thin; But if the hen moult before the cock, We shall have weather hard as a block.
The process of moulting for instance is well worth watching, and although specimens with half their coat changed may be found in remote corners, yet the whole course of the moult can be seen much better in the case of captive woodlice.
After the first moult or change of skin the last pair of walking legs makes its appearance, and Mr. James B.
Specimens half-an-inch long do not moult more than once in six months and show but little increase in size after the process.
In the former case it contains numerous grains of sand which are introduced by the animal itself after each moult and which are supposed to act as otoliths.
Moult longuement he sermonised, says the Grandes Chroniques, so that dinner was over in Paris before he finished.
Henry, like one of his predecessors, had of bastards et bastardes une moult belle compagnie, but as yet no legitimate heir.
Here is Courtesy, with a translation long thought to be by Chaucer:- Apres se tenoit Cortoisie Qui moult estoit de tous prisie.
At each moult they became a little more like their parents, and finally at the last moult, without any resting period, out sprang the perfect insect.
The froth dries about it in the form of a little room, and in this it undergoes its last moult and comes out--an adult bug.
But they eat and grow of course, and shed their skins, and after each moult they become darker in color.
Of course these larvæ grow and moult and continue to do so until they have moulted a good many times and grown quite large.
But they hold up their spiny front legs and catch insects, and they grow and moult in the usual way.
But they eat and grow and moult like other larvæ until they are full-grown insects.
The wings of the larva do not grow at each moult like the wings of the grasshopper.
Of course, they grow and moultuntil they arrive at the adult form.
They look like ghosts of bugs, but they are very voracious ghosts indeed, and they eat and moult and grow and become darker colored until they reach maturity.
Illustration] Those larvæ had no wings at first, but the wings grew, and finally at the last moult they were full-sized.
Just before the last moult it stops sucking out sap.
Suppose, however, that the falconer, having flown his eyess through the game season or his passage hawk through the rook-hawking season, desires to get her into moult as quickly as possible and through it without delay.
Well fed, even to the verge of excessive generosity, they must be, or the new feathers will come down narrow and weak, or even the moult may cease.
But if she has begun to moult before she comes into man's possession, she is correctly described as a haggard.
It seems also that for a hawk which had been taken in August or thereabouts, and kept in captivity, it was quite correct to continue the name soar until her first moult was over.
The moult is quicker and better when a hawk is kept warm, whereas anything like a chill may check, or at least retard, it seriously.
Consequently the falconer who flies grouse with a falcon in the moult is confronted with an awkward dilemma.
At the first moult both sexes change the longitudinal streaks on the breast, thighs, and flanks into more or less irregular bars of dark greyish brown; and as they grow older the bars usually become narrower and more regular.
All the other small hawks may moult in company with others of the same sex.
One of the chief drawbacks incident to this plan--especially with peregrines--is that when flying hard they often moult so badly.
Now, when a lark gets up which is either so young or so deep in the moultthat he cannot live long in the air before such a merlin, you are in presence of that very eventuality which you most wished to avoid.
Long-winged hawks are, of course, less troublesome to reduce to orderly habits after the moult than sparrow-hawks or goshawks.
If the building inhabited by the hawks is large, the upper part may be used as a loft wherein tomoult them.
Experience soon showed that a certain diet and regimen would hurry on the moult and expedite its progress, whereas another would defer and protract it.
They moult twice in the year, in June and November; in June, the males acquire the female plumage to a certain extent, but regain their proper dress at the second moult, and retain it during the breeding season.
Jack was caught two or three times, and Dan and Moult as often.
Valerien le tenneur +Valeryen the tawyer A moult dauantage Hath moche auantage En ce quil vend cuyr, In that that he selleth lether, 12 Car il le tanne meisme.
Footnote 5: Janudyse] Il dont conseil a artetique He gyueth conseill for the goute Et daultres languers; And for othir seknesses; 8 Il a moult de bonnes herbes.
Si veul ie quil le foule; So wylle I that he fulle; Encore est il moult dangereux.
Elle a bien a faire She hath good to doo Quelle gaigne moult, That she wynne moche, Car elle est moult gloutee.
Some, however, never moultat all in the larva state.
Larvae generally are much debilitated by each moult that takes place; for a variable period, sometimes for some hours, sometimes for a whole day, they will refuse food, and lie without motion.
At the last moult but one it lost a limb, which however, reappeared when the spider again changed its skin, though it never attained the proper size.
During its period of growth it has to moult some eight or nine times, and the operation is at least as dangerous as, say, an attack of measles to the human infant.
Thus, after the ordinarymoult of a caterpillar, the insect only requires a short rest until the new skin is hardened.
At the next moult the larva enters its third state, which, as far as the external form (Fig.
In this moult the last abdominal segment of the first larva is entirely thrown off: not merely the outer skin, as in the case of the other segments, but also the hypodermis and the muscles.
If in good health and condition, they will be already laying, or will begin almost immediately; and, if well housed and fed, will give a constant supply of eggs until they moult in the autumn.
Fowls moult later each time; the moulting occupies a longer period, and is more severe as it becomes later, and if the weather should be cold at its termination they seldom recommence laying for some time.
Cochins lose their beauty earlier than any other breed, andmoult with more difficulty each time.
When the lodge is ready and the torpor of the approaching moult arrives, it lies inert; but, at the least alarm, it comes to life and turns round on its axis.
After anymoult that it may have undergone, the larva retains the same characteristics.
Whether simple or multiple, this moult has nothing in common with the renewals due to the hypermetamorphosis, which so profoundly change the creature's appearance.
The larva of the Meloidæ, therefore, undergo four moults before attaining the nymphal state; and after each moult their characteristics alter most profoundly.
If the cock moult before the hen, We shall have weather thick and thin; But if the hen moult before the cock, We shall have weather hard as a block.
The Hare appears to moult twice a year--in early autumn and early spring; the former being the principal.
He points out that young Shrews moult before winter, the process beginning in September and being completed by November, getting a darker and thicker coat than the light brown one they have worn hitherto.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "moult" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
