ALBERT R. MANN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 New York State Colleges 
 
 OF 
 
 Agriculture and Home Economics 
 
 AT 
 
 Cornell University 
 
SK 31 1.M?r" ""'"""•'"'''"''' 
 
 A history of fowling, being an account o 
 
 mil 
 
 3 1924 000 f25 256" 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924000125256 
 
HISTOEY OF FOWLING 
 
Edinburgh: Printed by George Waterston &• Sons 
 
 FOR 
 
 DAVID DOUGLAS. 
 
 LONDON, SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO., LIMITED 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, . MACMILLAN AND BOWES 
 GLASGOW, . JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS 
 
HISTOEY OF FOWLING 
 
 BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANY CUEIOUS 
 
 DEVICES BY WHICH WILD BIEDS AEE OE 
 
 HAVE BEEN CAPTUEED IN DIFFEEENT 
 
 PAETS OF THE WOELD 
 
 Rev. H. a. MACPHERSON, M.A. 
 
 MEMBER OP THE BRITISH OBNITHOLOQISTS' UNION, AUTHOR OP 
 
 "THE FAUNA OP LAKELAND," &0., JOINT AUTHOR OP 
 
 "THE FUR AND FEATHER SERIES," &0. 
 
 EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS 
 
 MDCCC-XOVII 
 
 5 
 
 [All rights reserved] 
 
THESE PAGES 
 ARE DEDICATED BY PERMISSION 
 
 TO 
 
 PEOFESSOE ALFEED NEWTON, F.E.S., F.Z.S. 
 
 AS A SMALL TRIBUTE TO HIS RARE ERUDITION 
 
 AND AS A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
 
 OF THE MANY KINDNESSES 
 
 WHICH HE HAS CONFERRED UPON HIS BROTHER IBISES 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the days of romance and chivalry, any amusement which afforded 
 court-gallants the society of fair women was likely to excite the patronage 
 of royalty. Small wonder need we feel that, when splintering of lances 
 was impossible, brave and accomplished noblemen wiled away their in- 
 tervals of enforced indolence by exhibiting their skill as fowlers to the 
 graceful dames whose smiles they strove so earnestly to win. 
 
 One of the happiest exponents of old^ rural life in France is Nicolas 
 Lancret. Several dainty specimens of his brush are hjing in the xvi. 
 Gallery of the Louvre. The picture called " Le Printemps," reproduced 
 as our own frontispiece, belongs to the collection. It represents a party 
 of ladies and their gallants, who have pitched the toils of a Clap-net 
 upon the banks of a beautiful stream. The cavaliers, to whose care the 
 duties of La Chasse have been assigned, are attired in grey wideawakes, 
 and appear to be engrossed in their responsibilities. The upper figure 
 holds to his lips a bird-call, with which he is attempting to entice the 
 wild birds into the centre of the nets. His comrade holds the cords 
 of the nets ; indeed, he seems to be in the act of reversing the nets. 
 The expression of anxiety depicted upon his face is enhanced by the 
 picturesque colours of his dishevelled dress. A blue scarf wound around 
 his waist relieves the sombre effect of his dull yellow suit and russet 
 hose. The ladies seem tolerably indifferent to the business of the hour. 
 Two of the group affect to be absorbed in admiring a basket of delicate 
 pink roses. 
 
 Another of the pretty triflers is crouching behind a bush, attired in 
 a green bodice and orange skirt. Her companion stands beside a tree 
 which hides her from the birds. The half -pleading fashion in which 
 she raises her little hands seems to deprecate the cruelty of the gay 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 chasseurs. The sentiment embodied in this masterpiece was not limited 
 to the upper classes of Continental Europe. The Archaeological Museum 
 at Basle contains some fine pieces of tapestry. Among the number 
 is one which illustrates a homely form of fowling. A well-to-do burgher 
 and his comely spouse are designed as attending upon the " Vogel-herde." 
 The domestic character of the scene is emphasised by the presence of 
 two sturdy boys, who play beside their parents. 
 
 Many similar instances of the genuine hold which . the pursuit of 
 little birds once exercised over popular feeling could, no doubt, be found 
 in the museums and galleries of Europe. 
 
 The Italians appear to be almost the only European people who still 
 regard the resources of fowling as affording a prime amusement, to be 
 enjoyed by all classes as opportunity permits. When not engaged in 
 sport of a more attractive order, an Italian gentleman supervises in 
 person the fowling carried on upon his property. He breakfasts with 
 his family in a picturesque cottage which overlooks the bird-nets. The 
 wife finds diversion in her tiny breakfast room. The servants wait and 
 give such attention as is needed. Their master concocts an appetising 
 omelet, or assists in driving any stray birds into the walls of net-work 
 which hem in the " Uccellanda." This recreation is only indulged in 
 during the late days of autumn. Myriads of Thrushes are then crossing 
 the plains of Lombardy. The leaves are changing and the landscape 
 glows with the most wonderful assortment of colours. 
 
 It is a far cry to the islands of Japan. But thither we must journey in 
 imagination, if we are to find another race of men who share the aptitude 
 of the Italians for snaring and netting all kinds of birds with child-like 
 enthusiasm. This statement will be better appreciated if I reproduce one 
 or two of the letters sent to me by Japanese students at Tokyo : — 
 
 The answer asked of The catching bird. — In Japanese the manner of 
 catching bird is variety, and the object is separated to two parts, — the amuse- 
 ment and the occupation. The amusement part is maken by the bird-gun, 
 branch of tree, butcherbird, falcon, and trap. The occupation is maken by 
 pole, owl, horned owl, and net. 
 
PKEFACE. IX 
 
 1. The manner by bird-gun [is to] carry a hound with us as we hunt the 
 beat, and let him search it and carry to us when we have shot a bird, — 
 pheasant, dove, wild goose, wild duck, species of snipe and other bird which 
 men eat well. 
 
 2. The manner by branch of tree is very complicate to explain but I will 
 explain it. We go on a place where many birds seemed to come, with a decoy 
 bird in a cage, and hang [it on a] branch of a tree, and place properly, around, 
 and up or down of the cage, branches of the tree, attaches birdlime to other 
 birds [which] visit him as their friend and sit upon it, then we take a refuge 
 and steal a sight [■i.e., hide and watch]. If for that time any other bird comes 
 and attach to the birdlime, we rapidly will get out from our refuge and run 
 yonder to catch the birds. This manner is amusing especially. Birds which 
 belong to [i.e., are caught in] this manner are nightingale, canary, robin, mejiro, 
 quail, butcherbird, &c. 
 
 3. The manner by the butcherbird is assimilated to the manner mentioned 
 upon. We go on a place where the butcherbirds will come, with a butcher- 
 bird of decoybird which was be sew his eyes by slender string, and put him upon 
 branch of cross that attached birdlime [i.e., mount the decoy upon the cross- 
 piece of a stake which is smeared with birdlime, cf. p. 80]. Then we take a 
 conceal, stealing a sight, and at times let him cry. When other butcher- 
 bird will come to vex poor blind butcherbird, for butcherbird has a valiant 
 nature, and sits to a post of the birdlime, we will quickly run to there and 
 catch him. 
 
 4. The manner by falcon. We send for that forward a falcon accustomed 
 well, and let him seize him when a stork or pheasant &c. come to our sight. 
 
 5. The manner of trap. This manner contain many. 
 
 6. The manner by pole be maken especially by low man [i.e., a professional 
 birdcatcher] as a occupation, for in this manner [he] can catch many birds. 
 The pole is slender and long, and birdlime is attached its foremost post [i.e., 
 to the extremity]. With this he go on a place where many birds is singing, 
 and attach secretly to the pole them. Birds which be catch by this manner 
 especially is sparrows. 
 
 7. The manner by owl is assimilated to the manner "by branch of tree," 
 but not place only to cage [i.e., we do not place the owl in a cage]. The 
 manner of settling him [the owl] is assimilated to manner of the butcherbird, 
 but his eyes not be sew with the string, for he can not see all side through 
 whole day time, though other bird do not come to him for fight, but come to 
 scorn him. SkUled man of this manner can catch almost twenty in one day. 
 
 8. The manner by horned owl is all assimilated to the manner mentioned 
 upon. 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 9. The manner by net is a manner that catch water and song bird. When 
 we wish to catch water bird by this manner we will lay the net among water 
 where many water birds will come, and we take a refuge, stealing a sight. 
 When we wish to catch song bird, we will extend a net in a forest where song 
 bird will well cross, and take an order like before. You may not do all 
 understand me, for my pen do not accord to me. 
 
 The concluding observation of Mr Yokoyama not unfitly expresses the 
 diflBculty of giving the details of Japanese fowling upon a few sheets of 
 notepaper. I have reproduced his letter exactly, because it shows how 
 easily our mother tongue lends itself to unconscious caricature. 
 
 Mr S. Fukushima agrees with the last writer in his general defini- 
 tions of Japanese fowling : — 
 
 The subject of bird catching is divided into two classes ; one of them for a 
 duty, and another for amusement. . . . These catchers are not only made by 
 first class of mankind, but second class and the next. But the catchers for 
 their duties are made for by third class. The Sparrow is catched by the pole 
 armed with birdlime to its point, or by the arrow of an air-gun. This catchers 
 want to be up in the catching, and may catch it for their duties. . . . The 
 methods of catching the bird is general, as the flying pheasant is catched by 
 sudden fire and the pigeon is fired by aim. And these catchers are made 
 by rich men for amusement or another men for the duties. 
 
 The pleasure of writing the present volume has been greatly enhanced 
 by the sympathetic support accorded to the author by friends and corre- 
 spondents in distant regions of the world. 
 
 I am indebted to Professor Ijima and Mr Cholmondley of Tokyo for 
 their kindness in procuring nets and other adjuncts of Japanese fowling. 
 Mr F. W. Styan of Shanghai, Mr Charles Hose of Borneo, Mr Harold 
 Littledale of India, Mr W. W. Smith of Ashburton, New Zealand, and Mr 
 W. H. Watel of Algiers all interested themselves in obtaining specimens 
 of fowling engines for the use of this work. Count Camozzi Vertova, 
 Professor Giglioli, Mr H. H. Worthington, Mr Hose, and Mr Littledale 
 all obtained photographs for the purpose of illustrating strange or little 
 known systems of fowling. Mr Thomas Ayres, Mr G. H. Fernan, and 
 Dr Percy Eendall sent me notes from different parts of Africa. Mr John 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 Benson made special inquiries for me in Norway, as did Mr O. V. Aplin 
 in the interior of Tunis. Mr A. L. Crowe took much pains to obtain 
 reliable statistics about fowling from different parts of Greece. Mr 
 Douglass of St Petersburg lent yeoman service in regard to the Eussian 
 aspect of fowling. Dr Hasell and Mr Pritchard sought and found most 
 welcome information both in the wilds of Canada and on the shores of 
 the Pacific. Mr Tom Carter sent me entertaining notes from the 
 Australian bush. Mr Blaauw favoured me with hints on Dutch fowling. 
 
 The pen and ink sketches which accompanied Mr Biesickierski's notes 
 upon fowling in Siberia and Poland gave a special value to his remarks. 
 
 The History of Fowling found several good friends in Denmark. Mrs 
 Kinney searched the public libraries of Copenhagen for treatises bearing 
 upon my researches, and showed remarkable acuteness in translating 
 technical details. It was a great advantage to secure the co-operation of 
 so excellent a Scandinavian scholar. Mr 0. Winge supplied some hints 
 upon the literature of the subject, while Mr Hagerup and Dr Helms 
 presented me with a Bird-arrow procured specially from Greenland. I 
 shall never forget the delightful reception accorded to me at the old-world 
 castle of Count Camozzi Vertova of Bergamo. Count Camozzi Vertova 
 is an accomplished man of science, and he spared no pains to explain to 
 me the details of the " Uccelande " upon his properties. He gave me a 
 very happy impression of Italian hospitality, which was more than con- 
 firmed by my intercourse with the various members of his family. 
 
 The genial welcome which awaited me at the hands of Professor 
 Giglioli, in the city of the Arno, more than compensated for the disappoint- 
 ment which I experienced when my doctor ordered me to quit Italy 
 before my investigations into the fowling systems of that country had 
 been completed. The detailed account of Quail-netting which Dr Cerio 
 forwarded through Professor Giglioli recalls some well-known lines : — 
 
 " So, I guessed, ere I got up this morning. 
 What change was in store, 
 By the quick rustle-down of the quail-nets 
 Which woke me before 
 
XU PREFACE. 
 
 I could open my shutter, made fast 
 
 With a bough and a stone, 
 And look thro' the twisted dead vine-twigs, 
 
 Sole lattice that's known. 
 Quick and sharp rang the rings down the net-poles, 
 
 While, busy beneath. 
 Your priest and his brother tugged at them. 
 
 The rain in their teeth." 
 
 The systematic arrangement of birds made use of, as far as possible, 
 in this work is partly based upon that which my colleagues and I 
 adopted in writing the avian portion of the Boyal Natural History. 
 Had the present work been intended only for scientific readers, I should 
 have made several changes in the nomenclature as it stands, but in the 
 interest of the general reader I have employed the best known genera. 
 
 The chief burden of illustrating my traps and snares has fallen to 
 the share of Mr J. J. Hodgson, of the Carlisle School of Art. It was 
 necessary to have the more technical portions of the fowling engines 
 drawn under my own supervision ; hence the desirability, which was also 
 a privilege, of employing a local draughtsman. Mr J. B. Simpson, of the 
 Carlisle School of Art, has also done his best to work from my instruc- 
 tions. His sketch of Hybrid Eed and Black Grouse (p. 348) portrays 
 the two birds which Mr M. Huthart was so good as to give me for the 
 Carlisle Museum. The specimens were exhibited before the British 
 Ornithologists' Club, and described in my paper " On the Interbreeding 
 of the Eed and Black Grouse " {The Annals of Scottish Natural History, 
 1897, pp. 15-17). 
 
 The introduction of a few tailpieces of wild birds into the list of 
 engravings was eifected in the belief that they would add life to the 
 volume. Nothing could exceed the courtesy or helpfulness of my kind 
 publisher, Mr William Douglas, who adopted every suggestion that I 
 could offer him. 
 
 H. A. MACPHEESON. 
 
 Allonby Vicakage, Cdmbbeland, 
 7th August 1897. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 PAET I.— THE LITEEATUEE OF FOWLING. 
 
 Almost every notable ornithologist has contributed some item of 
 information to the " History of Fowling." The first British naturalists 
 who drew attention to this side-branch of our beloved science were 
 Eay and Willughby. Those who follow in their footsteps have shown 
 no desire to abandon the example of their predecessors. Linnaeus, Pallas, 
 Bechstein, Naumann, Brehm, Pennant, Bewick, Montagu, Alexander 
 "Wilson, Audubon, Savi, Yarrell, Gould, Eowley, Newton, Dresser, 
 Harting, BuUer, Finsch, David, A. 0. Hume, CoUett, Tristram, Salvadori, 
 Giglioli, and Alfred Wallace have all alluded to the devices of the fowler. 
 The names of such distinguished workers may well be held to justify 
 my labour of love in furnishing the public with a careful resumd of this 
 fascinating subject. Many books have been consulted in its preparation. 
 If I venture to omit the names of the majority, it is out of no dis- 
 respect to my fellow-students. It is simply because such a catalogue 
 would occupy a great number of pages ; for my plan has been to read 
 through every ornithological work that I could find, in the five or six 
 languages which are all that I can personally translate. I earnestly hope 
 that my friends will have the charity to attribute any omissions to the 
 pressing exigencies of space. The imperative necessity of compressing my 
 materials into the smallest possible bulk has compelled me to omit many 
 passages which it would have been pleasant to quote, had such a course 
 been possible without swelling the size of the work to unwieldy dimen- 
 sions. The accompanying list will explain the authorities to which my 
 text is most indebted. 
 
 1. ENGLISH LITERATURE. 
 
 A Booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line, and of all other instruments 
 thereunto belonging. Another of Sundrie Engines and Trappes to 
 take Polecats, Buzards, Eattes, Mice and all other kindes of vermine 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and beasts whatsoever, most profitable for all Warriners, and such 
 as delight in this kinde of sport and pastime. Made by L. M. 
 London. Printed by John Wolfe and are to be soldo by Edwarde 
 White dwelling at the little North doore of Paules at the signe of 
 the Gunne. 1590. sm. 4to. 
 
 The earliest English work which I have had an opportunity of 
 examining is Leonard Mascall's A Booke of Fishing with Eoohe and 
 Line, first printed as a small quarto in 1590. Three other editions 
 followed in 1596, 1600, and 1606; but I have not been able to 
 purchase a copy of any of the four editions. The first part of the book 
 was reprinted by Thomas Satchell in 1884. This, however, contains 
 but meagre information upon fowling, being mainly " a compilation made 
 by a practical angler from the 'Treatsye of fyshynge wyth an angle,' 
 from L'agricuUure et maison rusiique of Chales Estienne and other 
 sources." The second part of Mascall's work bears largely upon fowling. 
 The author explains with manifest gusto the "order for setting and 
 drawing the chaffe nette, for Crowes and Sparrowes," explaining how 
 the net and staves should be laid in covered trenches, concealed from the 
 prying eyes of birds " with some short straws or chaffe." He details in 
 like manner an approved method of capturing "Eavens, Pyes, and 
 Crowes ": — " Ye shall take of Mtx vomica, so called, which ye shall buy 
 at the Apothecaries, they are gathered in the sea, and are as broad as a 
 piece of foure pence, and a quarter of an inch thick or more. Those 
 which are the whitest within are counted for the best, when ye will 
 occupie any, doe, — or cut one small in thinne slices, then beate it into 
 powder if ye can, the finer it is the better, and the sooner will make the 
 Crowes or Pyes to fall. Put of the sayde powder into a piece of flesh, 
 and so lay it Abroad, and yee shall soone see Pie, or Crowe, or Eaven 
 take it. Then must ye watch him a while after, and ye shall perceive 
 him to fall downe, then must ye follow to take him. But if yee let him 
 reraaine one quarter of an houre, he will recover againe, for this nux 
 wmica it doth but make them drunk, and dyzie for a tyme. The 
 Kyte I have not se'ene taken, for he will cast it up againe." Mascall 
 discourses in the same quaint style upon various devices for capturing 
 other birds, several of which are alluded to in the body of the present 
 work. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 A Jewell for Gentrie. Being an exact Dictionary or true Method to 
 make any man understand all the Art, Secrets, and worthy Know- 
 ledges belonging to Hawking, Hunting, Fowling, and Fishing. 
 Together with all the true Measures for Winding of the Home. 
 Now newly published, and beautified with all the rarest experi- 
 ments that are known or practised at this Day. Printed at London 
 for John Helme, and are to sold at his shop in St Dunstanes 
 Church-yard in Fleet Street, 1614. Sm. 4to. 
 
 This is another rare quarto in black letter. Mr J. E. Harting, the 
 erudite Librarian of the Linnsean Society, has discovered reasons for 
 suggesting that the author was one Thomas Snodham, whose initials 
 accompany his Dedication, " To the Eight WorshipfuU Mr John Tooke, 
 one of the Auditors of his Maiesties Courts of Wards and Liveries." 
 The author, whoever he may have been, treats amusingly of the nature 
 and properties of " fowles in the ayre," and sets down " some rules 
 belonging to fowling, to help to further some in that practise, which 
 would faine learne, and hath no teacher." He imparts to his pupils the 
 best method of making birdlime from holly bark, together with other 
 practical hints concerning his favourite pastime. 
 
 Hungers Prevention : Or, The whole Art of Fowling by Water and Land. 
 
 Containing all the secrets belonging to that Art, and brought into 
 
 a true Forme or Method, by which the most ignorant may know 
 
 how to take any kind of Fowle, either by Land or Water, Also 
 
 exceeding necessary and profitable for all such as travell by Sea, 
 
 and come into unhabited places : Especially, all those that have 
 
 any thing to doe with New Plantations. By Gervase Markham. 
 
 London, Printed for Francis Grove, and are to be sold by Martha 
 
 Harrison at the signe of the Lambe at the East end of St Paules 
 
 Church. 1655. 
 
 The foregoing is the title of my copy, but an earlier edition was 
 
 published in 1621. The latter differs only from the second edition'^in 
 
 the title of the printer and booksellers. "Hungers Prevention" is a 
 
 diminutive work, dedicated to " The Honorable Knight Sr. Edwin Sands, 
 
 and to his much honor'd and worthy friends, Mr Thomas Gibbs Esquire, 
 
 b 
 
XVI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Mr Theodore Gulston Doctor of Physick, and Mr Samuel Eotte Esquire, 
 Adventurers, and Noble favourers of the blessed Plantation of Virginia." 
 The pompous style which pervades " The Epistle Dedicatorie " is soon 
 forgotten when the author enters upon the theme of Fowling in real 
 earnest. Two out of seventeen chapters are devoted respectively to 
 " The use of the Water-Dogge," and to " the setting Dogge, his election, 
 and manner of training from A Whelp, till hee come to perfection." A 
 third chapter treats of "the Fowling Peece." The remainder of the 
 work, which covers 285 pages, is entirely given up to the usages of 
 Fowling. 
 
 The Gentleman's Eecreation. In Two Parts. . . . The second Part 
 treats of Horse-manship, Hawking, Hunting, Fowling, Fishing, 
 and Agriculture. . . . Printed by S. Eoycroft for Eichard Blome, 
 dwelling at the upper end of Dutchy-Lane, near Somerset-House 
 in the Strand. 1686. Folio. 
 
 This work, like most of those which followed it, was mainly a com- 
 pilation, based on a translation of the Buses Innocentes, together with 
 Markham; but the description of netting Woodcock bears marks of 
 personal observation. 
 
 2. GERMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 GrundlicheAnweisung alle Arten Von Vogeln zu fangen, einzustellen, 
 nach dem Geschlecht und andern Merkmalen zu unterscheiden, 
 zahm zu machen, abzurichten, ihre merkwurdige Eigenschaften zu 
 erkennen, sie fremde Gesange zu lehren, und zum Aus und 
 Einfliegen zu gewohnen. Nebst einem Ah Anhange von Joseph 
 Mitelli Jagdlust. Aufs neue ganz umgearbeitet herausgegeben 
 von Johann Matthaus Bechstein. Mit vielen Kuper Kupfern. 
 Nurnberg und Altdorf bey J. C. Monath und J. F. Kussler. 1797. 
 
 The above title is that of the only copy of this octavo work which 
 I have been able to procure. Having vainly tried to obtain a copy of 
 the first edition through the booksellers, I sought the assistance of Dr 
 Paul Leverklihn. This gentleman has kindly sent me the full title of 
 the first edition, which agrees in substance with the foregoing, but proves 
 
INTEODUCTION. Xvii 
 
 that the work was first printed at Nuremburg in 1754. This edition, 
 like that of 1797, was unaccompanied by the names of the authors. 
 The later edition had the advantage of being edited by Bechstein, who 
 appears to. have embodied much of the text in his own work, Natur- 
 geschichte der Stuhenvogel. The Arten Von Vbgeln is, in reality, a mono- 
 graph of the birds kept in captivity by German bird-fanciers ; but much 
 space is devoted to the methods of capturing the species referred to in 
 the text. A considerable store of information regarding German methods 
 of fowling wUl be found in the three volumes of G. F. D. Winckell's 
 Bandhuch fur Jager, Leipzig, 1820-1822. 
 
 Naturgeschichte der Stuhenvogel oder Anleitung zur Kenntniss und 
 Wartung Derjenigen Vogel, welchen man in der Stube halten 
 kann, von Johann Matthaus Bechstein. Mit Kupfern. Gotha, 
 bey Carl Wilheim Ettinger. 1795. 
 
 This author's name is well known, but the English translations of 
 his work exhibit inferior scholarship. The instructions for capturing 
 birds bear a close resemblance to those contained in the Arten Von 
 Vogeln, the second edition of which appeared two years after the first 
 edition of the Stuhenvogel. 
 
 Der Vogelfang. Eine grlindliche Anweisung zur Einrichtung des Drossel- 
 und jeder andern Art des Vogelherdes, des Trankherdes, des 
 Lerchen-streichens, der Schneusse, der Schlingen, des Fanges mit 
 dem Kauze, der Locke, der Heher-hutte, des Wachtel — und des 
 Eebhiihnerfanges, der verschiedenen Netz — und Eaubvogelfallen 
 u. f. w. nebst genauer Beschreibung aller zu fangenden Vogel ; fur 
 Guter — und Waldbesitzer, Jager, und JagdKebhaber, Freunde des 
 Vogelfanges und der Stubenvogel, mit Benutzung der in Europa 
 gewohnlichen Fangarten, nach eigenen Erfahrungen von Christian 
 Ludwig Brehm, Pfarrer zu Eenthendorf und mehrerer gelehrten 
 Gesellschaf ten Mit : und Ehrenmitgliede. Mit einem vollstandigen 
 Eealregister. Ein integrirender Theil der allgemeinen Encyklo- 
 padie der gesammten Land — und Hauswirthschaft der Deutschen. 
 Leipzig, in Baumgartners Buchandlung. 1836. 8vo. 
 
XVm INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The work which bears this prolix title is only a thin octavo of 158 
 pages. It abounds in details about the " Vogel-herde," and has obtained 
 a wide circulation in Germany. A considerable portion of this work is 
 occupied with descriptions of the plumage of common German birds. 
 
 Naturgeschichte der Deutschen Vogel, einschliesslich der Samtlichen 
 Vogelarten Mittel-Europas. Von C. G. Friderich, Stuggart. 
 Verlag von Julius Hoffmann, 1891. Eoyal 8vo. 
 
 This excellent work is professedly based upon Naumann's Natur- 
 geschichte der Vogel Deutschlands, and has passed through several editions, 
 The fourth edition, which is the only one that I possess, contains a good 
 many stray notes upon " Vogel-fang." It also includes an entire chapter 
 entitled "Pang der Vogel" (pp. 949-958), which gives a fair idea of the 
 principal methods of birdcatching in vogue in Germany. 
 
 3. FRENCH LITERATURE. 
 Histoire De La Nature Des Oyseaux, Avec Leurs Descriptions & 
 portraiets, retirez du naturel. Divise en sept livres. Par Pierre 
 Belon Du Mans. A Paris, En La Grande Salle Du Palais ; en la 
 boutique de Gilles Corrozet. 1555. Avec privilege Du Eoy. Folio. 
 
 Pierre Belon was the father of French ornithology. The text con- 
 tains a good many incidental references to fowling. 
 
 Les Ruses Innocentes, Dans Les Quelles Se Voit comment on prend 
 les Oyseaux passagers, & les non passagers : & de plusieurs sortes 
 de Bestes k quatre pieds. Avec Les Plus Beaux Secrets de la 
 pesche dans les Rivieres & dans les Etangs. Et La Maniere De 
 Faire Tous les Rets & Filets qu'on pent s'imaginer. Le tout 
 divis^ en cinq Livres, avec les figures demonstratives. Ouvrage 
 tres curieux, utile & recreatif pour toutes personnes qui font leur 
 sejour k la compagne. D^dife a Monseigneur I'Archeuesque de 
 Tours. Par F. F. F. E. D. G. dit le Solitaire Inventif. A Paris, 
 Chez Pierre Lamy, au Palais, au second pilier de la grand' Salle, 
 au grand Cesar, m.d.c.l.x. Avec Privilege Du Eoy. 4to. 
 My copy of the first edition of this work contains the assertion that 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIX 
 
 the author was " Le Frfere Praneois Frostain," written in a neat hand 
 upon the title-page. Mr J. E. Harting assigns the authorship to Fortin 
 De G-randmont (F. Francois). He does not discuss the reasons leading 
 to this conclusion in his Bihliotheca Accipiiraria, but no doubt he 
 possesses the best possible grounds for his surmise. The " Solitaire 
 Inventif " observes, in his preface, that the friends at whose request he 
 published his book assured him that those critics, who might find fault 
 with him for spending his leisure in explaining innocent wiles to effect 
 the capture of birds and fishes, would have disapproved of the life of the 
 Apostles, since the saints, after being called to the first dignity in the 
 Church, devoted part of their time to similar occupations. It was urged 
 upon him also that the tradition which represented John the Baptist as 
 solacing an anchorite career with the company of pets, justified his relax- 
 ing his mind during those hours which his Eule had not assigned to the 
 exercises of religion. He clenches these excuses for writing so carnal a 
 treatise with the reflection that his vow of poverty rendered it incumbent 
 upon him to place at the service of the public all the secular knowledge 
 which he had acquired prior to embracing the religious life. He takes 
 credit for assisting game-preservers by his exposure of the malpractices 
 of poachers and the nature of their illegal engines. The first book of 
 the Huses Innocentes deals with the manufacture of nets. The next 
 discusses " Des Oyseaux Non Passagers." A third treats of " Des 
 Oyseaux Passagers." The remainder of the work is occupied with essays 
 on fishing and trapping quadrupeds. The illustrations of fowling engines 
 are placed at the end of the volume. The only later edition of the 
 Jitises Innocentes in my possession is a small octavo, printed at Amsterdam 
 in 1695. In this the illustrations are much reduced in size, and are 
 bound at the end of each division of the work. I am sorry that, on 
 several occasions, I have inadvertently printed the title of the " Solitaire 
 Inventif " with a final v. 
 
 Aviceptologie Fran^aise, ou Traits Gdn^ral de toutes les ruses dont on 
 peut se servir pour prendre les oiseaux ; avec une collection con- 
 siderable de figures et de pi^es propres a difKrentes chasses ; par 
 Bulliard. Neuvi^me Edition, Eevue, Corrig^e et augment^e par 
 J. Cussac. A Paris, Chez Corbet, Libraire, Quai Des Augustins, 
 No. 63. 1822. 8vo. 
 
XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The title just cited belongs to my working copy of the Aviceptologie 
 Frangaise, a treatise which should rank with the Buses Innocenies, since 
 these two works, taken together, represent the essence of French fowling. 
 The earliest edition of the Aviceptologie Frangaise appeared £i,t Paris in 
 1778. The plates were reproduced in the first two parts of the edition 
 of 1822. Bulliard describes himself as having possessed from childhood 
 a passion for " les differentes chasses aux Oiseaux." He therefore treated 
 of his subject with enthusiasm. 
 
 Eichesses Ornithologiques du Midi De La France, par MM. J. B. Jaubert 
 et Barth^lemy-Lapommeraye. Marseille, 1859. 4to. 
 
 This fine work treats only incidentally of fowling. It contains a 
 description of Thrush-catching and Quail-netting in the vicinity of 
 Marseilles. 
 
 4. SWISS LITERATURE. 
 Conr. Gesneri Tigurini, Medicinae Et Philosophise Professoris in Schola 
 Tigurina, Historise Animalium Liber III. qui est de Avium natura. 
 Francofurdi, 1585. Folio. 
 
 My copy is one of the numerous editions which followed the first 
 issue of this epoch-making book in 1555. A good many allusions to 
 fowling are scattered up and down its pages. Gesner does not treat of 
 the subject with the fullness of Aldrovanus. 
 
 Ornithologie de la Savoie, par J. B. Bailly, Paris, 1853. 8vo. 
 
 This capital text-book of Swiss birds furnishes a good many short 
 notes upon Fowling. 
 
 5. GREEK LITERATURE. 
 Die Vogel Griechenland. A. Lindermayer, Passau, 1860. 8vo. 
 
 This little work refers once or twice to Greek methods of Fowling. 
 
 6. SPANISH LITERATURE. 
 
 I have unfortunately failed to obtain any old or little known books 
 upon Fowling in Spain. A few notes upon the subject will be found in 
 Colonel Irby's Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar. Messrs Chapman 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXI 
 
 and Buck have likewise embodied some pertinent observations in their 
 Wild Spain. 
 
 7. ITALIAN LITERATURE. 
 L'Uccellatura A Vischio di Pietro Angelio Bargeo, Consolo LXi. dell' 
 Accademia Fiorentina, E. Pubblico Professore In Pisa, Poemetto 
 dair Esametro Latino, all' Endecasillabo Italiano trasferito, ed 
 interpretato. Folio. 
 
 This poetic description of Fowling was printed at Florence in 1568, 
 along with another Latin poem. It was reproduced at Venice in 1735, 
 as shown in the title cited above, together with the II Faleoniere of 
 Tuano. The scientific value of the poem is marred by the preponderance 
 of classical conceits. 
 
 II Canto De Gl' Avgellie ; Opera Nova Di Antonio Valli Da Todi, Dove 
 Si Dichiara La Natura di sessanta sorte di Vcelli, che cantano per 
 esperienza, e diligenza fatta piu volte. Con il modo di pigliarli 
 con facilita, & alleuarli, cibarli, domesticarli, ammaestrarli, e 
 guarirli delle infermita, che k detti possono succedere. Con le 
 loro figure, & vinti sorte di Caccie, cavate dal naturale, da Antonio 
 Tempesti. Con Privilegio di S. Santitci per Anni x. In Eoma, 
 Per gli Heredi di Nicolo Mutij. Con Licenza de' Superiori. 
 M.DCI. 4to. 
 
 This work is little known, and I imagine that very few copies were 
 printed. Its chief interest is, that it formed the unacknowledged basis 
 of Olina's work; for Olina, having become possessed of the plates of 
 the earlier work, proceeded to reproduce as his own both the text and 
 illustrations of Di Valli. In justice to Olina, it should be remembered 
 that he added considerably to the text, and took care to reject the poorest 
 of the plates, replacing those which he withdrew by illustrations of finer 
 finish. The ornamental border which accompanies this History of 
 Fowling is copied from the frontispiece of Di Valli's work. It is 
 intended to illustrate the various adjuncts of Italian Fowling. The 
 work is dedicated to Cardinal Eusticucei. It consists of fifty pages of 
 printed matter, and the same number of plates, besides a single illustra- 
 
XXll INTKODUCTION. 
 
 tion inserted in the text. It is printed upon very poor paper. This 
 fact may partly account for its rarity, as it would be very easily torn or 
 mutilated. 
 
 Uccelliera, overo diseorso Delia Natura, E Proprieta Di Diversi Uccelli 
 E in particolore di que' che cantano, Con II Modo Di Prendergli, 
 conoscergli, alleuargli, e mantenergli. E con le Figure cavate 
 dal vero, e diligimente intagliate in Eama dal Tempesta, e dal 
 Villamena. Opera Di Gio. Pietro Olina Novarese Dottor di 
 Legge, Dedicata al Sig. Cavalier Dal Pozzo. Con privilegio del 
 sommo pontifice. In Eoma, Appresso Andrea Pei. MDCXXii. 
 Con licenza de Superiori. 
 
 Olina's work appeared in two editions, the second of which was 
 probably posthumous. The edition of 1622 seems to have been made up 
 at different times. There are two copies of this first edition in the British 
 Museum. These differ intei- se, and from my own copy, in the illustra- 
 tions of Fowling. The larger of the two British Museum copies repro- 
 duces the plate of capturing Wood Pigeons with limed twigs fron Di 
 Valli's work. This illustration is replaced in my copy, and in the smaller 
 British Museum copy, by a different rendering of the same idea. Again, 
 the illustration of netting small birds by the waterside published in the 
 larger copy, with which my copy agrees in this particular, is replaced 
 in the smaller Museum copy by a picture of two small nets, one of 
 which is set over the water. This last plate reappears in the second 
 edition of the work published in 1684. Again, the large copy of 1622 
 tallies with my copy in reproducing Di Valli's representation of fowlers 
 driving birds into a "Eagna" with an artificial kite. In the smaller 
 Museum copy this plate is supplemented by another, in which a lady 
 and her gallant appear as spectators. This last reappears in the edition 
 of 1684. It is possible that a larger number of copies of the first 
 edition would reveal still greater discrepancies. The edition of 1684 is 
 printed on large paper, and enriched with ornamental borders. 
 
 Delle Caccie Di Evgenio Eaimondi Bresciano Libri Qvattro, II Qvinto 
 Libro della Villa, 1626. 4to. 
 
 The first edition of this pretty little work appeared in 1621, but my 
 
INTEODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 copy was published five years later. Both text and illustrations are 
 founded for the most part on cotemporary works. 
 
 La Caccia Degli Uccelli di Vincenzo Tanara da un manoscritto inedito 
 Delia Biblioteca Comunale Di Bologna per cura di Alberto Bacchi 
 Delia Lega, Bologna. 1866. 
 
 Tanara wrote this work between 1622 and his death, which occurred 
 prior to 1669. He was a diligent reader, as well as passionately devoted 
 to field sports. He studied much in the library of Cardinal Francesco 
 Sforza, who died in 1624. Tanara published various treatises. His 
 work upon fowling remained in MS. until printed in 1866 from the 
 original manuscript. This last consists of 350 pages, divided into three 
 books. The first of these deals with engines of the chase. The next 
 describes various forms of hunting wild animals. The third book, and 
 the only part printed, treats of Italian birds under a variety of headings. 
 The- editorial preface to this posthumous work supplies an analysis of 
 a MS. entitled E Cacciator Bolognese, written by Bartolomeo Alberti. 
 This is preserved in the University Library at Bologna. It bears the 
 date of 8th January 1716. I have not been able to examine the MS., 
 but it undoubtedly treats very fully of the Italian methods of Fowling. 
 It appears to cover ground that had already been occupied by Di Valli 
 and others. 
 
 Caccia giocosa, invenzioni di Gioseffo Maria Mitelli Pittore Bolognese, da 
 lui effettivamente sperimentate e dedicate a chi si diletta della 
 Caccia, Bologna, 1745, in-4to. 
 
 This scarce work is to be regarded rather as a literary curiosity than 
 an exact treatise upon capturing any particular species of birds. It 
 covers some familiar ground, but the writer seems to have prided himself 
 upon his inventiveness. As our purpose is to study the methods of 
 Fowling handed down from antiquity, the devices described by Mitelli 
 are not of particular service. Any one who wishes to see the numerous 
 plates which accompanied this work will find them reproduced as an 
 appendix to Arten von Vogel. They first came under my notice through 
 the accident of Selivanovski having reproduced them in The Sportsman's 
 Book for Gaphi/ring Animals and Birds. 
 
XXIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ornitologia Toscana del dottore Savi, Pisa, 1827-1831. 8vo. 
 
 This work has been a favourite of mine for many years, though few 
 British ornithologists seem to know its practical value. It contains a 
 considerable amount of information about Fowling in Tuscany. 
 
 Avifauna Italica, compilato dal dottore Enrico Hilly er Giglioli, 1886- 
 1891. 
 A good many notes upon Fowling are embodied in the four volumes 
 which Professor Giglioli has already published. It is to be hoped that 
 the Italian Government may soon find funds to print additions to this 
 valuable series. 
 
 8. NORWEGIAN LITERATURE. 
 Dyreliv I Norge, af Kristian Glersen, Kristiania, 1894. 
 
 This work was brought to my notice by Professor CoUett, on account 
 of the excellent chapter upon Thrush-catching which it contains. Being 
 compelled to reside at a great distance from any scientific library, and 
 having no knowledge of Norse or Danish, I thought it best to enlist 
 the invaluable assistance of Mrs Kinney of Copenhagen. This lady, 
 who is a most accomplished linguist, has taken an enormous amount of 
 trouble to search the public libraries of Copenhagen for treatises bearing 
 upon the methods of Fowling adopted in Greenland, Iceland, Faroes, 
 and Scandinavia. She has supplied me with exact translations of a large 
 amount of material. I find, however, that the late Mr Lloyd had already 
 embodied the best treatises on Fowling in his Game Birds of Sweden 
 and Norway. It must be remembered that he acknowledged in general 
 terms his indebtedness to Scandinavian writers. It would have been 
 better, perhaps, if he had taken the trouble to give some detailed account 
 of the authors who supplied so large a part of his text. But as his 
 excellent work is accessible to everyone, I have endeavoured to avoid 
 covering the same ground. When identical passages are quoted by both 
 Lloyd and myself, it should be inferred that we both drew our informa- 
 tion from the same source. 
 
 9. RUSSIAN LITERATURE. 
 Mr Norman Douglass of St Petersburg most courteously instituted 
 an inquiry into the literature of Eussian Fowling. He obtained the 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXV 
 
 titles of several works which profess to bear upon this subject, but 
 unhappily they are all written in Eussian. The only work which I was 
 advised to have specially translated, for the benefit of the present work, 
 is a scarce book, the title of which, if translated, reads, The Sportsman's 
 Book for Capturing Animals and Birds. It appeared in four volumes, 
 printed at Moscow in 1813 and 1814. The pubUsher was Selivanovski, 
 whose name I have quoted in my text. The preface of the first volume 
 is signed by V. Levshin, who probably compiled it from various sources. 
 
 10. JAPANESE LITERATURE. 
 
 The Eev. L. B. Cholmondley of Tokyo, an old college friend, kindly 
 supplied me with two copies of a native work, recommended to him and 
 to Mr Alan Owston (for my benefit) by Professor Ijima. The earlier 
 edition was published in 1892, the other more recently. My friend 
 Mr Yoshida, of Selwyn College, Cambridge, has taken the trouble to 
 translate the greater part of this work for me, in addition to which we 
 read it carefully together. He tells me that its title may be rendered 
 Illustrated Methods of Hunting, by Messrs Hirouki Oda and Denzo 
 Myzoguchi. So far as ornithology is concerned, the two issues of this 
 work are practically identical. 
 
 PART IL— THE ART OF POWLING. 
 
 The craft of the fowler is an occupation which has been handed down 
 to us from remote antiquity. Hence it follows, that an investigation of 
 the principles upon which it is based will help us towards a comprehen- 
 sion of the resources of men to whom the elements of civilisation are 
 entirely unknown. For it may be taken for granted, that a human being, 
 who exists under conditions akin to barbarism, is likely to depend for 
 subsistence upon the skill which he has learnt to develop from childhood 
 in outwitting wild animals. Further, the advantages, sexual or other- 
 wise, which accrue from personal adornment, frequently induce the half- 
 naked savage to deck himself with the brightest plumes which he can 
 pluck from the birds which fly through the jungles amid which his 
 hunting expeditions are chiefly carried on. 
 
XXVi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 1. WEAPONS OF ATTACK. 
 
 Weapons are not indispensable to the successful exercise of Fowling. 
 There is a story of an Esquimau boy whom his parents intentionally 
 exposed upon Brevoort Island, in the belief that he would speedily succumb 
 to starvation. The pangs of hunger sharpened his wits. " He succeeded 
 in catching partridges ( = Ptarmigan) with his hands, an act never before 
 or since known to have been done by Innuits " {Hall, Life with the 
 Esquimaux, Vol. II. p. 39). Eeports of similar experiences reach us from 
 Indian sources. But even birds learn to avoid open danger in the 
 majority of cases. Hence it is natural to employ a missile of some kind 
 to feU a bird, especially if it should happen to be perching upon the top 
 of some tall forest tree. A clod of earth or a piece of wood are usually 
 within reach of the hunter. The simple character of the weapon does 
 not mar its usefulness. Of the perfection to which a primitive weapon 
 may be advanced, we have an excellent example in the boomerang of the 
 Australian black. The rounded balls which compose the bolas of South 
 American hunters illustrate the deadly character which such weapons 
 assume in the hands of skilled operators. 
 
 Eeference has been made, at page 220, to the rounded stones used by 
 the natives of Alaska for entangling Wild Geese. The natives of Green- 
 land were also alive to the usefulness of such weapons, as may be seen 
 by referring to ethnological collections. But the Greenlanders depended 
 chiefly upon the hand-dart or bird-arrow prior to the introduction of 
 guns by Danish settlers. The use of the spear, which is a modification 
 of the same idea, is referred to at page 236. But most primitive hunters 
 prefer to secure that their weapon travels home with unerring precision. 
 The reason for this is obvious. It is reasonable enough that the Green- 
 lander should hurl his bird-arrow into a flock of Eider Ducks, because he 
 has the assistance of his companions, and some of the arrows are pretty 
 certain to effect their purpose. Similarly, it suits the Australian black 
 to hurl his boomerang or other weapon into a flock of screaming 
 Cockatoos. But the hunter who finds his lot cast in wide areas of 
 forest or jungle, in which bird-life is probably local, finds it necessary 
 to provide some means for propelling a light dart straight to a distant 
 point. Hence the American Indian practises the use of a bow from 
 earliest boyhood. The sinew of a deer, the elastic branch of a young 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXVll 
 
 tree, these readily supply an arrow with the required momentum. 
 Alternatively, the hunter sends his dart through a hollow cane, a plan of 
 action familiar to most people. The shot-gun now takes the place of the 
 blow-pipe in the Indian reserves, but in Audubon's day the " blow-gun," 
 as he terms it, was in general use. He tells us how these weapons are 
 prepared by the Indians. They cut the straightest canes, " perforating 
 them by forcing a hickory rod through the internal partitions which 
 intersect this species of bamboo, and render them quite smooth by 
 passing the rod repeatedly through. The cane is then kept perfectly 
 straight and is well dried, after which it is ready for use." We learn 
 from the same authority that " Splints af wood or more frequently of 
 cane are then worked into tiny arrows, quite sharp at one end, and at the 
 other, — instead of being feathered, — covered with squirrel hair or other 
 soft substances, in the manner of a bottle-brush, so as to fill the tube 
 and receive the impulse imparted by a smart puff of breath, which is 
 sufficient to propel such an arrow with force enough to kill a small bird 
 at the distance of eight or ten paces" {Orn. Biogr., Vol I. p 43). 
 
 Bates figures and describes the " Zaraba-tana," or blow-pipe, used by 
 all the Indian tribes on the Upper Amazons for collecting birds. " It is 
 generally nine or ten feet long, and is made of two separate lengths of 
 wood, each scooped out so as to form one half of the tube. To do this 
 with the necessary accuracy requires an enormous amount of patient 
 labour, and considerable mechanical skill, the tools used being simply the 
 incisor teeth of the Paca and Cutia. The two half tubes, when finished, 
 are secured together by a very close and tight spirally-wound strapping, 
 consisting of long, ilat strips of Jacitara, or the wood of the climbing 
 palm-tree; and the whole is smeared afterwards with black wax, the 
 production of a Melipona bee. The pipe tapers towards the muzzle, and a 
 cup-shaped mouth-piece, made of wood, is fitted in the broad end." Mr 
 Bates adds that the arrows used with this blow-pipe are made " from the 
 hard rind of the leaf-stalks of certain palms, thin strips being cut, and 
 rendered as sharp as needles by scraping the ends with a knife or the 
 tooth of an animal. They are winged with a little oval mass of samaiima 
 silk (from the seed-vessels of the Silk-cotton tree, Eriodendron samaiima), 
 cotton being too heavy. The ball of samaiima should fit to a nicety the 
 bore of the blow-pipe ; when it does so, the arrow can be propelled with 
 such force by the breath that it makes a noise almost as loud as a pop-gun 
 
XXVIU INTRODUCTION. 
 
 on flying from the muzzle " {The Naturalist on the Amazons, Vol. II. p. 236). 
 But it must not be supposed that the use of the blow-pipe is confined to 
 the New World. It is employed in Southern Asia, and appears to be 
 widely known. Mr W. Nanson informs me that a form of blow-pipe is 
 extensively used in the Malay States for the purpose of killing birds, 
 under the title of " Sumpitan." Its function is to direct small pellets 
 against any bird which the hunter desires to bring down. The Sumpitan 
 can be used for more formidable purposes than that of killing little birds. 
 Mr Charles Hose discovered that numbers of monkeys are shot with this 
 weapon in Borneo, for the sake of the Bezoar stones found in their 
 intestines. The monkey-hunters are supplied with poisoned arrows, 
 which are blown from the Sumpitan. Mr Hose also obtained a Horn- 
 bill which had been shot with the Sumpitan (Geographical Journal, Vol. i. 
 p. 205). 
 
 2. THE STA.LKING-HORSE OR OTHER ENGINE. 
 
 The manipulation of weapons of attack, such as the bow and arrow, 
 has frequently been facilitated by the use of a trained horse or bullock. 
 The animal interposes its body between the fowler and his quarry. The 
 Indian fowler frequently employs a bullock or tame buffalo for stalking 
 purposes. The Arab sometimes assumes the skin of an Ostrich as a 
 cover under which he can approach a party of wild Ostriches. Similarly, 
 the hunters of Haussa-Land make use of the head of a species of 
 Hornbill as a screen when chasing Antelopes. This fact was reported 
 to me by Mr Ernst Hartert. He saw that method in actual operation. 
 The use of the Stalking-Horse found high favour in Europe when the 
 cross-bow was the ordinary weapon of sportsmen. Tempesta and other 
 early draughtsmen frequently introduce figures of sportsmen employing 
 the Stalking-Horse into their hunting scenes. Gervase Markham devotes 
 the eighth chapter of his Hungers Prevention to a dissertation upon 
 the Stalking-Horse. He first recommends that an old horse should 
 be trained to act as a blind to the wildfowler. After reflecting that such 
 a trained horse "is not ever in readinesse," our author proceeds to 
 elaborate an account of the "Stalking horse of Canvasse stopft." The 
 engine in question consists of pieces of painted canvas, stuffed with 
 straw. A simpler form of the same engine consists of a single canvas 
 
INTKODUCTION. XXIX 
 
 screen painted to resemble the form of an ox or stag. "We are instructed 
 that the " Stagge Engine " is specially adapted to " low, fenney ground 
 where any such Stagges or Deere doe usually feede ; as about Hatfield 
 Chase in the North parts, or Ramsey in Huntingtonshire and such like, 
 where the Stagge is more familiar with Fowle, and feedeth neerer them 
 then either the Horse or the Oxe." The idea of using an artificial bush 
 as a screen of the kind just described is explained at length by Markham 
 in the following terms : — " As for the Shrubbe or Bushe, it shall not be 
 so tall as the tree, but much thicker, which you may make either of one 
 entire Bushe, or of divers Bushes woven and intangled one within another 
 either with small Withy wandes, Coard, or Packthreed, that may not bee 
 discerned, and this shall not bee above the ordinary stature of a man, but 
 thicker than foure or five men, and in the midst of the bottome shall bee 
 a small stake, driven with an Iron picke in the ende, somwhat longer 
 than the Bushe, which being driven into the ground may support & 
 stay up the Bushe." French and Italian wildfowlers of the seventeenth 
 century generally preferred to bear the stalking-bush upon their person, 
 i.e., they carried portable frames, into which boughs of trees were so 
 inserted as to completely hide the gunner within. 
 
 3. BIRDLIME. 
 
 The employment of some viscous substance to effect the capture of 
 small birds has been recognised by many authors, from Aristotle and 
 Pliny to recent writers. It is easy to see that this device might occur to 
 anyone who happened to observe an insect or tiny bird, which had 
 accidentally alighted upon a patch of some natural gum or similar 
 substance, from which it vainly strove to release itself. Mr C. B. Eickett 
 informs me that the only use of birdlime that he has seen adopted near 
 Foochow was devised by small boys. They smeared a little birdlime at 
 the end of a slender bamboo, and captured dragon flies and cicadas there- 
 with. He was informed, too, that birdHme was utilised for catching rats 
 in houses. Mr F. W. Styan writes to me from Shanghai that " Cicadas 
 are picked off the trees, sometimes at great heights, by means of a jointed 
 bamboo like a fishing-rod, the tip of which is covered with bird-lime. I 
 have seen cicada-catchers take small birds in the same way. Cicadas by 
 the way are favourite cage pets with the Chinese." Mr R. Wallace 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 makes the curious observation that birdlime is used for insect catching 
 upon the island of Lombock. " Every day boys were to be seen walking 
 along the roads and by the hedges and ditches, catching dragon- flies with 
 bird-lime. They carry a slender stick, with a few twigs at the end well 
 anointed, so that the least touch captures the insect, whose wings are 
 pulled off before it is consigned to a small basket. The dragon-flies are 
 so abundant at the time of the rice flowering, that thousands are soon 
 caught in this way. The bodies are fried in oil with onions and preserved 
 shrimps, or sometimes alone, and are considered a great delicacy " {The 
 Malay Archipelago, p. 154). But the most general use of any kind of 
 birdlime is for procuring little birds. Mr Styan assures me that he has 
 seen a Chinese fowler capture a number of Siskins upon the outside of a 
 copse on a hillside in the following manner : — " He had a rough pole 
 fifteen feet long, on the top of which was tied a green fir clump, to give 
 the appearance of a natural tree. Below this, at intervals, thin rods two 
 feet long, covered with bird-lime, were inserted at right angles. The 
 birds perched fearlessly and found themselves prisoners. On moving his 
 ' pitch,' the man pulled out the rods, placed them carefully in a basket, 
 shouldered his pole, and made off." Mr Turley contributes a note upon 
 another form of fowling engine used in Northern China : — " A long pole 
 is selected, the finer extremity of which is bent over, and tied in the form 
 of a large loop to the main stem. The space within the loop is filled in 
 with cob-webs or fine net, smeared with a very sticky paste. This 
 method is used to catch small Tits and "Wrens in the spring-time. A bird 
 hopping from twig to twig has this prepared bough thrust quietly near it. 
 It may thus fly through the webs or against the net, and some paste will 
 certainly adhere to its wings, when the poor little creature becomes 
 helpless." Enough has now been said to explain the part which birdlime 
 plays among the various devices resorted to by Eastern fowlers. Many 
 other references to this subject will be found in the body of the work. 
 It may be convenient, however, to take the present opportunity of 
 explaining the origin of some of the adhesive substances which are 
 collectively known as birdlime. 
 
 Pliny tells us {Natural History, Book xvi. Chap. 94) that birdlime is 
 made of the berries of the mistletoe. These are pounded, soaked in water, 
 beaten with a mallet, and finally reduced to the condition of birdlime. 
 Olina devotes a chapter to " Del Vischio," in which he also commends 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXI 
 
 the use of the berries of mistletoe as a base, with the addition of olive or 
 walnut oil. The birdlime sold by English chemists is based usually upon 
 linseed oil. Old-fashioned fowlers still employ the bark of holly as the 
 base of their birdlime, when they can procure it in sufficient quantity. 
 A Carlisle veteran volunteered to me that his father used to manufacture 
 birdlime for many local customers forty or fifty years ago. The material 
 adopted was holly bark, which was allowed to rot in a hole in the damp 
 floor of his workshop, precisely as Markham describes {Hungers Preven- 
 tion, p. 208). Olina tells us that foreign birdlime was trafficked in by 
 the Italian fowlers of his day. Mr Crowe has sent me a specimen of the 
 plant which furnishes birdlime to the islanders of Zante. This has been 
 identified for me by Mr James Britten of the British Museum, who pro- 
 nounces the species to be Carlina gummifera. Curiously enough, this 
 same plant supplies the birdlime used by the Arabs of Algeria. Mr W. 
 H. Watel of Algiers has forwarded half a ball of native birdlime with 
 the following remarks : " This exudes in quantities about the size of a 
 small pea from the sepals of a variety of thistle. The Arabs collect this, 
 and, by pressing it together, make the ball I send you. This quantity 
 would take about three weeks to get, but they do so while they are 
 watching their sheep. To make the birdlime, as much as is wanted is 
 put (on the scene of operations) in the little ' marmite ' ( — earthen 
 pipkin) I send you ; a little fire is lighted underneath and olive oil added. 
 The mixture is then cooked until the proper stickiness is arrived at. The 
 alfa fibres are then passed through the birdlime." Mr Watel adds that 
 the " marmite " is heated by being placed between two stones, the interval 
 between the latter being filled with a bunch of twigs. 
 
 The Dean of Cairo has forwarded the following note, furnished by a 
 friend who is intimately acquainted with the devices of the fowlers of 
 modern Egypt : " The natives always mix the bird-lime with treacle, with 
 the idea of making it more sticky. The Arabic name for it is ' Mokhait ' 
 — they use it for catching singing birds and ' Becafikies.' The former 
 they catch by placing a piece of stick covered with bird-lime on the top 
 of cages, in which are birds similar to those they wish to catch. When 
 the wild birds hear the others call, they fly down, and are of course caught ; 
 after which they must be. immediately taken off, otherwise, in trying to 
 free themselves, they tear the skin off their feet. Eor the ' Becafikies ' 
 they cover the branches of a tree with bird-lime over night, and in the 
 
xxxii INTEODUOTION. 
 
 morning collect the birds. Those that are not dead they kill. The said 
 birds are also shot when in great numbers. The singing birds that visit 
 Egypt are Goldfinches, Linnets, and Starlings." Mr Pantagopulo informs 
 me that the fowlers of the Morea prepare their birdlime from the sap or 
 milk of the fig. This is obtained by making incisions in the sides of the 
 tree. The sap is first boiled, and then placed in a reed vessel ; it is next 
 stirred backwards and forwards with a stick until ready for use. If it 
 appears to be too thick, a few drops of linseed oil are added. Birdlime 
 thus prepared preserves its adhesive character for an indefinite period. 
 
 Mr Thomas Ayres reports to me that " In Natal the Zulu boys used 
 to catch many birds with snares, and birdlime was also certainly used by 
 them. This birdlime was made from the sap of a species of wild fig, and 
 so were the lines used for snares ; but I do not know whether the two 
 were made from the same species of fig tree. The birdlime was often 
 placed on any conspicuous twigs of any bush, especially among beds of 
 reeds, where often swarms of finches bred or frequented, also on bare 
 branches of bushes in the woods." Dr Percy Eendall has written to me 
 from Fort Johnston, Nyassaland, to report the origin of the birdlime used 
 in that part of British Central Africa : " It is obtained from the Euphorbia 
 known as the Caudlahra Cactus (a respectable-sized tree), by making 
 incisions in the bark, catching the milky juice, boiling it, and skimming 
 or catching it on the surface with twigs." The birdUme thus prepared 
 is sufficiently strong to effect the capture of large birds, such, for example, 
 as a Hornbill (Buceros). 
 
 In Western India, as in Natal and Greece, the juice of the fig forms 
 an ingredient in the birdlime employed by native fowlers. Mr Harold 
 Littledale sends me the following note from Baroda : — " Birdlime 
 ('Lachchha') is made here by boiling sweet oil ('mithra tel') with a 
 little flour (' atta '), and adding the milky juice of the branches of the 
 sacred fig (' papal ') and the common fig (' goolad '). The ' lachchha ' is 
 smeared on thin twigs of bamboo, which are laid crosswise on the ground, 
 and have grasshoppers or other insects tied by hairs near them, or stuck 
 with a little of the birdlime ; or else the limed twig, lightly adhering to 
 the end of a long, thin bamboo, is gently pushed up into a tree in which 
 the unsuspecting victim is perching. Doves, Bulbuls, and Parakeets are 
 often taken by this latter method, and larks also by the former." 
 Eeference has already been made (p. 137) to the origin of the bird- 
 
INTEODUCTION. XXXUl 
 
 lime employed by the ancient fowlers of Hawaii. I have not received 
 any reports from China as to the character of the birdlime manu- 
 factured by the Celestial birdcatchers ; neither is information upon this 
 point forthcoming from Borneo or the Malay Peninsula. Professor 
 Ijima has kindly written to explain that the Japanese birdcatchers base 
 their birdlime upon the bark of two indigenous plants. These are Ileoc 
 Integra and Trochodrendon aralioides. It is also manufactured from 
 wheat. The usual method is to take the fresh bark of either Ilex or 
 Trochodrendon and pound it in a mortar until it has been reduced to a 
 sticky mass. It is then immersed for some hours in water, washed 
 afresh, and well kneaded. " Boiling in or kneading with vegetable oil 
 softens the Mochi, and the process of spreading it on sticks is greatly 
 facilitated." 
 
 The use of birdlime extends to the most remote islands of the Pacific. 
 Kubary states that fowling with birdlime is well known in the Pelew 
 Islands, though practised chiefly by boys. The sap of the Breadfruit tree, 
 which swells when exposed to the air, forms a glutinous substance which 
 is utilised as birdlime. Mr Hadfield informs me that birdlime is used in 
 the Loyalty Isles. It is prepared from the berry of an indigenous plant 
 by a process of slow chewing. The birdlime is smeared upon a bare 
 branch at the summit of some tree which has failed to bear fruit. A 
 bait is provided in the shape of a berry, which is placed at one end of 
 the perch. This last is partly severed. The result is that when a dove 
 or other bird alights upon the prepared twig it finds itself held a prisoner. 
 It commences to struggle, and thus snaps the perch, which falls to the 
 earth, carrying the bird along with it. The native has then to exercise 
 alacrity in order to prevent the limed bird from fluttering out of reach. 
 
 4. SNARES AND TRAPS. 
 
 The experience of any observant person might acquaint him with the 
 fact that birds are often captured by the accidental circumstance of long 
 hairs becoming twisted round their feet. The recognition of this mishap 
 would suggest many ways of setting snares. Thus the natives of the 
 Loyalty Islands, having ascertained that certain cocoa-flowers are likely 
 to be visited by birds, prepare to effect their capture. They tie a series 
 of nooses, made of fibre, to the boughs upon which the birds are expected 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to alight, in the hope that the snares may detain one or more of their 
 number. This device, variously modified, finds a wide distribution in 
 the Old World. 
 
 Another plan, resorted to in the islands of Lifuo and Uvea, is to take 
 a fruit and remove a portion of the outer cuticle from one end. The 
 native fowler then selects a suitable tree, taking care to choose one which 
 is easy to climb. Having ascended the tree, he proceeds to secure the 
 fruit which is intended to attract the birds. He first drives a sharp 
 piece of wood or skewer through both the fruit and the bough upon 
 which it is intended to rest. He next arranges a running noose round 
 that portion of the fruit which has been stripped of its rind, taking care 
 that the noose stands up at right angles to the bough. A line is care- 
 fully attached to the noose. When the native has returned to terra firma, 
 he watches the snare from a little hut which he has built at the base of 
 the tree. He holds in his hand the line attached to the running noose. 
 As soon as he sees a bird alight on the branch and commence to peck at 
 the fruit, he jerks his line and secures the bird. He then fastens the end 
 of the line to his hut, and proceeds to swarm up the tree, in order to 
 appropriate the bird and re-set his snare. I am indebted for this infor- 
 mation to Mr Henry Hadfield, who has seen many birds captured by 
 both of the foregoing devices. 
 
 A strong similarity of idea connects the device last named with that 
 described in Chapter xv., as practised by the old fowlers of Hawaii and 
 New Zealand. It may not be inappropriate at this juncture to quote a 
 letter received from Mr A. Strand, addressed to my kind coadjutor, Mr 
 W. W. Smith :— 
 
 In reply to your letter of November last (1894), seeking information regard- 
 ing Moriori methods of Fowling, in the first place it may be mentioned that the 
 Morioris were originally a branch of the same people as the Maoris in their 
 Hawaian home, and therefore varying little from them in their habits and 
 modes of life, excepting where modified by their surroundings ; practically, the 
 differences were very slight, although according to their traditions they had 
 been separated for twenty-seven generations without any communication one 
 with the other. In 1854, in Otago, I was shown some of the flax snares (loops) 
 made for catching Tuis in their drinking and bathing places. From what I 
 have seen of those of the Morioris there is no difference, and if you were to ask 
 some of your Canterbury natives (the elder ones), either about " Kaiapoi " or 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXXV 
 
 " Te muka " (Te umu kaha), they could show you the kind of snares better than 
 any written description of them — you would then see how they were made. 
 
 Pigeons, Tuis, and Romako (Mako mako) were caught by a person in 
 concealment at the water holes where the approaches were covered up and a 
 running noose laid on a bar close to the water, on which they lit ; the noose 
 being pulled from the place of concealment and drawn in, the bird was strangled 
 and the snare replaced. Another mode of catching Pigeons and Tuis was to 
 observe their roosting places of an evening, then as soon as it was dark, having 
 noted the boughs on which they roosted, one climbed the tree and grabbed the 
 birds. It appears that Pigeons nestled as close as they could oil the same limb. 
 Tuis did the same, even getting on one another's backs, something like chickens, 
 so that the whole lot would be secured to the breast of the climber ; then calling 
 out to his mate who had brought dry fern close below and a fire stick concealed, 
 he lit the fire to show where the birds were thrown down, the climber twisting 
 their necks or crunching their heads with his teeth to prevent the bird either 
 getting away if not properly killed, or being lost in the darkness, and if so, 
 eaten up by the native rats. Maoris used spears {Here), with neatly fitted 
 bone points barbed along one side, but the Morioris either did not know the use 
 of them or neglected to do so. Ducks were caught in the moulting season, when 
 they were generally very fat. They congregated in great numbers in the 
 smaller lakes, whence they were driven by a fleet of small canoes to a clear side 
 of the lake, where the birds would rush ofi" to escape in the grass, and be caught 
 and killed in large numbers. On the arrival of the Maoris, dogs were used to 
 catch them, but owing to the introduction of dogs, cats, and rats, Ducks no 
 longer abound in such immense numbers as formerly. Eating the moulting 
 Ducks induced diarrhoea, which, nevertheless, did not deter them from eating 
 them. The other mode of catching them was by placing snares across ponds of 
 water at certain times when full, so arranged that to swim from one part of the 
 pool to the other they had to pass through the loops (dependent from lines 
 stretched by and fastened to pegs in the water) which caught the Duck by the 
 neck. A whole flight would be taken in this manner. The Sea-birds were 
 taken, in the case of large Albatross, on the outlying islets, just before they were 
 ready to fly. The smaller Sea-birds {Mutton-Birds) and lesser ones burrowed 
 in the peat on the mainland, but, through the depredations of cats and pigs, 
 have left chiefly for the islets, where they are undisturbed. 
 
 I have quoted the foregoing letter in its entirety, because Mr Strand 
 is an authority of the first rank ; but it is his remarks on snaring birds 
 which I desire to emphasise. 
 
 The idea of setting a snare which is to be drawn tight by a watching 
 
XXXVl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fowler is chiefly found among the islands of the Pacific. That it is 
 known also in Siberia is evidenced by Mr Popham's observation on the 
 method by which the Eed-throated Diver is captured by the Samoyede 
 (p. 481). The fact is, that similar ruses suggest themselves to native 
 hunters in regions which are widely separated. Thus the native of India 
 is as keenly alive as the South African to the difficulty which ground 
 birds experience in creeping through the densest jungle. Both the one 
 and the other construct artificial gaps, in which they set running nooses, 
 intended to intercept any game which they may succeed in driving in the 
 desired direction. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the 
 extensive distribution of the hanging and fixed snares used in Northern 
 and Central Europe for taking Thrushes suggests that they may have 
 originated in some common centre, from which their use was carried to 
 great distances. The " Archetti " or Springes of the Italian peasants, 
 described at page 82, are found in modified forms in most parts of Europe. 
 They appear to have become obsolete in England, yet the Jay-trap, figured 
 at page 6, shows that our British forefathers were acquainted with a 
 pattern of this snare which still survives in countries so far apart as 
 Poland and Northern Africa. Hardly less remarkable is the fact that the 
 Springes of China resemble some of those found in Western Europe. 
 The principle of the " Figure of four " trap is apparently recognised in all 
 parts of the Northern Hemispheres. Almost any kind of Deadfall can 
 be worked for effecting the capture of birds or small mammals. It needs 
 no great exercise of skill to fell a few logs of wood ; neither is it difiicult 
 to arrange them in the run of a wild animal in such a way that its body 
 must come into contact with the main support, and thus dislodge a 
 crushing weight. Alternatively, a bait is so suspended as to ensure the 
 destruction of the hunted animal. Birds suffer at the hand of the 
 trapper no less than small quadrupeds. It often happens that the same 
 identical means are adapted for different purposes in different countries. 
 Mr Hagerup informs me that in Denmark it is the custom to set 
 box-traps for wild Ducks. We are accustomed to use these or similar 
 engines in England for trapping ground vermin. The country people 
 who live in the valley of the Yangtse Kiang set traps of this description 
 in the banks of their fields to catch vermin. These contrivances are built 
 of long, fiat bricks, and are closed, when sprung, by a large stone. 
 Mr F. W. Styan most kindly brought home for me a model of this sort of 
 
INTEODUCTION. XXXVU 
 
 trap, which occasionally secures a stray Pheasant. When a bird or 
 mammal enters the trap, its weight falls on a treadle which is concealed 
 inside, and releases a catch which holds open the door of the engine. 
 When the catch is disturbed, the door falls, and exit is cut off. The 
 principle upon which the efficiency of this trap depends, namely, that of a 
 lightly-poised balance, appears in many of the engines which are employed 
 for catching birds. We at home are all familiar with a simple form of 
 trap-cage, which can be purchased at any bird-shop. This trap is 
 variously modified in the East, especially in India. Its chief feature is, 
 that the wild bird alights upon a perch connected with a spring, and thus 
 by its own action closes the open door. The same thought is apparent in 
 the Eussian Nightingale trap, described at page 122. In that case, the 
 weight of the bird liberates a net which immediately springs over the 
 Nightingale. The prevailing idea of traps for Warblers is based on the 
 experience that members of the Sylviince are so eager to seize a tethered 
 mealworm, that they seldom fail to disturb the balance of a trap. 
 
 NETS. 
 
 The success of fowling depends, broadly speaking, upon the adroit 
 use of birdlime, snares, and nets. Probably the two last cause the 
 greatest destruction of bird life, though the injury which they perpetrate 
 is relatively small compared with the havoc wrought by the gun. The 
 latter lies outside our scope and has rarely been referred to. But nets 
 are used very widely. An enormous number of gregarious birds are caught 
 by their agency, chiefly for purposes of food, but not exclusively so. Nets 
 may be utilised in such a variety of ways that it would be difficult to 
 epitomise the purposes which they serve. It is not unreasonable to 
 suggest that three leading types of nets predominate. We may therefore 
 put on one side nets intended to capture diving birds, as also those 
 constructed to capture birds at night, spring-nets, nets for taking hawks, 
 and such other engines as have a limited sphere of action. The three 
 main ideas of Land-fowling coincide with the use of the Drag-net, the 
 Clap-net, and the Flight-net. In other words, the majority of men have 
 found it most profitable to capture birds by covering them with nets 
 when sleeping or skulking on the ground, by intercepting their flight with 
 the perpendicular Flight-net, which has numerous modiflcations, or by 
 
XXXviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 inducing them to alight within reach of the horizontal and easily reversed 
 Clap-net. 
 
 The use of the Drag-net extends across the whole breadth of the Old 
 "World. It is iU adapted to a marshy or mountainous region. It is 
 chiefly used on grassy plains, and fertile terraces bordering the slopes of 
 low hills. The Chinaman finds satisfaction in the employment of this 
 engine. To his matter-of-fact intelligence the pleasure of genuine sport 
 remains an unsolved enigma. He wonders mildly at the imbecility of 
 the " Foreign Devils '' who waste their cartridges on shooting Quail. It 
 is simpler to use the Drag-net, and pays better. But " John Chinaman " 
 is not alone in his philosophy. I have received detailed descriptions by 
 Highland shepherds of their methods of netting G-rouse wholesale in 
 Perthshire. There are reasons, indeed, for supposing that in former days 
 it was considered perfectly legitimate to capture Muirfowl with a net and 
 dog. Cosmo Innes states that, in 1663, Black John Crerare had a lease 
 of the merk land of Pitmakie and the Sheeling of Corriegoir; "his 
 service being to be fowler to the Laird, and to go to the hills with a 
 sufficient lying dog and fowling-nets, and to kill wild-fowl and moor-fowls 
 of all kinds, and to train up a fowling dog for the use of the Laird" 
 {Sketches of Early Scotch History, p. 386). 
 
 The Clap-net can boast of great antiquity. It has been introduced 
 into Australia and South Africa in our own day. Its efficiency has been 
 recognised in the United States for a much longer period. The Clap-net is 
 more extensively used in Italy than in any other part of Western Europe ; 
 but chiefly as a means of capturing Passeres. It is employed likewise for 
 netting Limicolm and other birds that frequent the marshes of the coast. 
 We must cross the whole of Asia to Japan before we can find a race of 
 native fowlers who utilise the Clap-net with the versatility of the Italians. 
 It is possible that the Muso-net, which is virtually identical with the 
 Clap-net, was originally introduced into the islands of the Japanese 
 Empire from China. But whether introduced or indigenous, the Muso- 
 net has long occupied an important place among the fowling adjuncts of 
 Japan. Professor Ijima has sent me five different sizes of this engine. 
 These are intended for the capture of Pheasants, Doves, Sparrows, Herons, 
 and such small birds as the Chinese Greenfinch (Fringilla sinica). The 
 Muso-net is in equal request for procuring Wild Ducks and Geese. 
 Muso-nets Vary in the colour of the twine employed, and in the size of 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXxix 
 
 mesh. They are all of the same shape, and are worked in a similar way 
 (see illustration on page 311). Perhaps the relative dimensions of the 
 Muso-net will he best understood if I mention that the Muso-net used 
 for catching Doves measures about seventeen feet in total length. The 
 bamboo staves, between which this net is extended, measure two and a 
 quarter inches in circumference and three feet nine inches in length. 
 The net is three times as deep as the staves, to allow plenty of " bosom." 
 The light and simple character of the Muso-net enables the Japanese 
 fowler to carry his toils for long distances without fatigue. A single 
 fowler often works a pair of the Muso-nets after the fashion of our 
 English birdcatcher. In this case the two pull-ropes are tied together by 
 a single hand-rope at some distance from the nets. " The efficiency," 
 writes Professor Ijima, " is certainly greatly enhanced by thus laying two 
 at once." Decoy-birds are indispensable to the successful working of the 
 Muso-net. The smaller species are also induced to flock to the spot by 
 strewing seed within the field of the net. 
 
 Before taking leave of the Clap-net, I ought to remark that although 
 it is almost always extended horizontally on the ground, there appear to 
 be at least two exceptions to the rule. The first of these concerns the 
 nets used for capturing Flamingoes in Egypt. Mr Harting describes and 
 figures the Flamingo-nets as placed for use in a perpendicular position, 
 from which they are suddenly hauled over like the ordinary Clap-net. 
 We should have expected that these nets would be laid horizontally upon 
 the water : but their great size might render it difficult to reverse these 
 engines with adequate speed, unless tension-beams or springs were supplied. 
 As a parallel to this perpendicular position of the Flamingo-net, it is only 
 necessary to refer to the Alaska Goose-net described at page 219. Mr 
 Turner expressly states that the native fowler places his whalebone-net 
 " edgewise on the margin of a pond." I understand this to mean that the 
 net is set in a perpendicular position. The use of a perpendicular Flight- 
 net, stretched between upright poles, is almost as general as that of the 
 Clap-net. The former engine is principally in vogue for two purposes. 
 The net either arrests the flight of water-fowl during their nocturnal 
 movements, or it entangles little birds which have been driven to seek 
 safety by crossing openings between bushes. The Japanese vie with the 
 Italians in the ingenuity with which they use Flight-nets. The fowlers 
 of both nationalities have devised a variety of ways in which Flight-nets 
 
xl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 can be manipulated. The Japanese generally stretch the Kasumi-net 
 between bamboo supports. Professor Ijima has sent me five different 
 sizes of Kasumi-nets. The first of these is intended to capture Sparrows 
 and other small birds. The next is meant to take Thrushes (principally, 
 the Dusky Ouzel) and Snipe of different species. A third is adapted for 
 netting Quail. The fourth and fifth are suitable for meshing Teal and 
 Mallards or other large Ducks. The Flight-net is employed in most parts 
 of Europe, and is common in Siberia. It is well known in British India 
 and China. I have traced its use to the Pacific coast of North America 
 (p. 219). 
 
 Let me say, in conclusion, that my attention was first drawn to this 
 subject by the excellent account of Cliff-fowling furnished by Bishop 
 Stanley in his familiar History of Birds, a work which I have not seen 
 for twenty years, but which was carefully treasured in my boyhood. It 
 was this which induced me to read a paper on " Fowling " before the 
 Oxfordshire Natural History Society in 1882. The late Professor 
 Westwood, then president of the Society, advised me to follow up the 
 subject, and the present volume is the result. It may be of interest, 
 therefore, to record that my correspondent Mr J. C. Bacon visited the 
 Faroes last summer, and found that the hardy islanders are still devoted 
 to the pursuit of the various species of Sea-fowl which find a home upon 
 their native precipices. " I saw a good deal of the fowling in Faroe," 
 writes Mr Bacon, " and went down one cliff myself on a line, but only 
 succeeded in getting one young Manx Shearwater on that occasion. A 
 good deal of the Fowling is done with an instrument called a Fleia, 
 something like a big landing-net. One man is let down the cliffs to a 
 place much frequented by Puf&ns and Guillemots. He catches the birds 
 as they fly past with the Fleid. He then wrings their necks and throws 
 them down, when they are picked up from the sea by another man in 
 a boat." 
 
SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 Order PASSERIFORMES. 
 
 Family CORVIDiE. 
 
 Sub-family Coevin^. 
 
 Corvus corax, Raven, .... 
 Gonma corone, Carrion Crow, 
 Corvus frugUegus, Rook, 
 Oonms monedvia, Jackdaw, 
 Nucifraga caryocatactes. Nutcracker, 
 Pica rustica, Magpie, .... 
 GarnUus glandwriua. Jay, . 
 Perisoreus infavMus, Siberian Jay, 
 
 Sub-family Feegilin.*;. 
 Pyrrhocorax gracvlus, Cornish Chough, 
 
 Family PARADISEID/E. 
 Sub-family Paeadisein.*;. 
 Paradisea rubra, Red Bird of Paradise, 
 
 Family STURNID^. 
 
 Stnmus vulgaris. Starling, . 
 Stwmus unicolor, Black Starling, 
 Pastor roseus. Rose-coloured Pastor, . 
 
 Family ORIOLID^. 
 Oriolus gaCbvla, Golden Oriole, . 
 
 Family ICTERIC^. 
 
 Icterus galbida, Baltimore Oriole, 
 DoUchonyx oryzivoras. Bobolink, 
 
 Family PLOCEID^. 
 Chera progne. Long-tailed Widow Bird, 
 
 Family FRINGILLID^. 
 
 Sub-family CoccoTHBAnsTiN.*;. 
 
 Ooccothraustes mUga/ris, Hawfinch, 
 Ligurirms chloris. Greenfinch, 
 
 Sub-family Fkingillih^. 
 
 Fringilla cmlehs, Chafiinoh, . 
 Fringilla montifringUla, Brambling, 
 Gcurduelis elegans, Goldfinch, 
 Ghrysomitris spinus, Siskin, 
 Acamthis camndbina. Linnet, 
 Acanthis montium, Twite, . 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 16 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 18 
 
 18 
 
 48 
 49 
 
 26 
 35 
 19 
 50 
 50 
 52 
 
 Order PASSERIFORMES— coBiwM«tf. 
 
 Acanthis rufescens. Lesser Redpoll, 
 Acanthis Unaria, Mealy Redpoll, 
 Monti/ringilla nivalis, Snowfinch, 
 Passer montanus, Tree Sparrow, 
 Passer domesticus. House Sparrow, 
 Passer italice, Italian House Sparrow, 
 Serinus hortula/rms. Serin Finch, 
 Loxia cwrvirostra, Crossbill, 
 Pyrrhida major, Northern Bullfinch, 
 Pyrrhida europoea. Bullfinch, 
 Pinicola enucleator. Pine Grosbeak, 
 
 51 
 52 
 52 
 43 
 36 
 36 
 50 
 47 
 46 
 47 
 47 
 
 Sub-family EMBBEiziNiE. 
 
 Mmheriza citrinella. Yellow Bunting, . 54 
 
 Emiberiza hortulanus, Ortolan Bunting, 52 
 
 Mmberioj, cia. Meadow Bunting, . 52 
 
 Emheriza miliaria. Common Bunting, 54 
 
 Plectrophenax nivalis. Snow Bunting, 54 
 
 Galcarius lapponicus, Lapland Bunting, 54 
 
 Family ALAUDID^. 
 
 Alauda arvensis, Skylark, ... 55 
 
 Alavda a/rborea, M'^oodlark, . . 55 
 
 Melanocorypha calandra, Calandra Lark, 55 
 
 Family MOTACILLID^. 
 
 Motacilla alba. White Wagtail, . . 72 
 
 Motacilla flava. Blue-headed Wagtail, 72 
 
 Motacilla raii, Yellow Wagtail, . . 72 
 
 Anthiis pratensis, Meaiow Fipit, . 73 
 
 Anthiis triviaiis. Tree Pipit, . . 73 
 
 Anthus aquaticus. Water Pipit, . . 73 
 
 Anihus richardi, Richard's Pipit, . 73 
 
 Family CERTHIID^. 
 
 Tichodroma muraria. Wall Creeper, . 73 
 
 Family SITTID^. 
 
 Sitta ccBsia, Nuthatch, . . 73 
 
 Family PARID^. 
 
 Paras major. Great Titmouse, . . 74 
 
 Parus ater. Coal Titmouse, . . 74 
 
 Pa/rus palustris, Marsh Titmouse, . 74 
 
 Pa/rus cceruleus. Blue Titmouse, . . 74 
 
 Parus cyanus. Azure Titmouse, . . 78 
 
 Lopophanes cristatus, Crested Titmouse, 74 
 
xlii 
 
 SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 Order PASSBBIFORMES— conM»ll«(?. 
 
 Family PANURID^. page 
 
 PoMiirus biarmicus, Bearded Titmouse, 78 
 
 Family LANIID/E. 
 
 Lanius excubitor, Great Grey Shrike, 82 
 
 Lanius laktora. Pallid Shrike, . . 82 
 
 Lanius minor, Lesser Grey Shrike, . 81 
 
 Lanius rufus, Woodchat Shrike, . 81 
 
 Lanius collurio, Red-backed Shrike, . 81 
 Lanius lucionensis, Chinese Red-tailed 
 
 Shrike 80 
 
 Lanius buciphalus, Bull-headed Shrike, 80 
 
 Family AMPELID^. 
 Bomhycilla gamda, Waxwing, . . 84 
 
 Family TURDIDJE. 
 Sub-family Titrdidin^. 
 
 Turdus viscivorus, Missel-Thrush, . 91 
 
 Turdus mnsicus, Song Thrush, . . 89 
 
 Turdus iliacus, Redwing, ... 95 
 
 Turdus pilaris, Fieldfare, ... 94 
 
 Mervla nigra, Blackbird, ... 89 
 
 Mervla torquata, Ring Ouzel, . . 96 
 
 Mervla fuscata. Dusky Ouzel, . . 108 
 
 Monticola cyajnus, Blue Thrush, . . 109 
 
 Monticola saxatilis, Rock Thrush, . 110 
 
 Sub-family Saxicolin^. 
 
 Saxicola cenantJie, Wheatear, . .110 
 Saxicola mdanoUuca, Black-throated 
 
 Wheatear 113 
 
 Pratincola rubetra, Whinchat, . .114 
 
 Sub-family RuTiciLLiN^. 
 
 Euiicilla pTianicurus, Redstart, . .114 
 Ruticilla titys. Black Redstart, . .114 
 Oyanecvla suecica. Red -spotted Blue- 
 throat, . . . . . .125 
 
 Eriihanus rabecula. Redbreast, . .114 
 Daulias luscinia, 'Sightingale, . . 117 
 Daulias philomda. Eastern Nightingale, 122 
 Calliope camtschatkensis, Rubythroat, . 125 
 
 Sub-family STLViiN.a;. 
 
 Sylvia rufa, Whitethroat, . . .127 
 
 Sylvia salicaria, Garden Warbler, . 127 
 
 Sylvia atricapilla. Blackcap, . . 128 
 Acrocephalus arundinaceua. Great Reed 
 
 Warbler, 128 
 
 Acroceplialus schtenobcenus. Sedge 
 
 Warbler, 129 
 
 Cettia cardans, Bush Warbler, . . 130 
 
 Order PASSERIFOBMES— conMjMMd. 
 
 Family ACCENTORID^. paoe 
 Accentor collaris, Alpine Accenfor, . 130 
 Accentor modvlaris. Hedge Sparrow, . 130 
 Accentor montanellus, Mountain Accen- 
 tor 130 
 
 Family REGULIU^. 
 
 Regulus cristatus, Goldcrest, . .130 
 Regtdus ignicapillus, Firecrest, . . 130 
 
 Family CINCLID^. 
 
 Cinclus aquatieus. Water Ouzel, . . 131 
 
 Family PYCNONOTID^. 
 
 Molpastes hcemorrhous. Red-vented 
 
 Bulbul, 132 
 
 PycnoTwtus tricolor, Blaok-eyebrowed 
 Bulbul 132 
 
 Hypsipetes amaurotis. Brown-eared 
 Bulbul 133 
 
 Family HIRUNDINID^. 
 
 Hirnndo rustica. Swallow, . . . 133 
 
 Chelidon urbica. House Martin, . . 133 
 Chelidon lagopoda, Pallas's House 
 
 Martin, 133 
 
 Cotile rupestris. Crag Martin, . . 134 
 
 Family DREPANIDID^. 
 
 Drepanis pacifica, Mamo, . . .136 
 Vestiaria coccinea, liwi, . . . 136 
 Himatione sanguinea, Apapane, . . 139 
 
 Family MELIPHAGIDiE. 
 
 Acrvlocereus ndbUis, O-o, . . . 136 
 Anthornis melanura. Bell-bird, . . 140 
 Prosthemadera novce-zealandice, Tui, . 142 
 Zosterops coindescens, Australian White- 
 eye, 144 
 
 Zosterops borbonica, Bourbon Zosterops, 144 
 
 Order PICARI/E. 
 
 Family PICTDJE. 
 
 Gampephilus principalis, Ivory-billed 
 Woodpecker, 148 
 
 Picus martius. Black "Woodpecker, . 147 
 
 Dendrocopus major. Greater Spotted 
 
 Woodpecker, .... 146 
 
 Dendrocopus leuconotus. White-backed 
 
 Woodpecker, 147 
 
 Dendrocopus minor. Lesser Spotted 
 Woodpecker, 146 
 
 Melanerpes erythrocephalus, Red- 
 headed Woodpecker, . . . 148 
 
SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 xliii 
 
 Order FIOARlJE—continmd, page 
 
 Oecinus viridis, Green Woodpecker, . 146 
 Gecinus canus, Grey Woodpecker, . 147 
 
 Family lYKGID^. 
 lynx torquUla, Wryneck, . . .148 
 
 Family CUCULID^. 
 Oucvlus canorus. Cuckoo, . . . 148 
 
 Family COEAClIDiE. 
 
 Ooracias gamda, .... 149 
 
 Family MEROPID^. 
 
 Merops apiaster, Common Bee-eater, . 149 
 Merops sumatranus, Sumatra Bee-eater, 150 
 
 Family TROGONIDiE. 
 Pltaromacrus mocinno, Quezal, . . 150 
 
 Family ALCEDINID^. 
 
 Saicyon smyrnensis. White-breasted 
 Kingfisher, . . . . . .151 
 
 Alcedo ispida. Kingfisher, . . . 152 
 
 FamUy BUCEROTIDiE. 
 
 Diehoceros bicomis, Great Hornbill, . 153 
 Toehus melanoleucus. Crowned Hornbill, 153 
 Bueorax cafer. South African Ground 
 
 Hornbill .153 
 
 Buceros buccinator, Trumpeter Hornbill, 154 
 
 Family UPUPID^. 
 Upupa epops. Hoopoe, . . . 154 
 
 Family CYPSELID^. 
 
 Oypselus melba, Alpine Swift, . . 155 
 Gypselus apus. Swift, .... 155 
 
 Family TROCHILID^. 
 
 Trochilus coliibria. Ruby throat, . .155 
 Sdasphorus rafus, Kootka Humming- 
 bird, 155 
 
 Order PSITTACI. 
 
 Family PSITTAOID^. 
 Sub-family Plattcekcin^. 
 
 Pcdoeornis torquatus, Ring-necked 
 
 Parakeet, 157 
 
 Mdopsittacus wndvlatws, Budgerigar, . 159 
 
 Nymphicus uvceensis, UvsBan Parakeet, 159 
 Platycercvs awriceps. Yellow-fronted 
 
 Pai'akeet, 163 
 
 Order vaiTTACI—contimted. 
 
 Sub-family Psittacin^. paoe 
 
 Psittacus erithacus, Grey Parrot, . 157 
 
 Loricvlus galgiUus, Blue-crowned Hang- 
 ing, Parakeet, .... 158 
 
 Sub-family Nestoein^. 
 
 Nestor meridioncdis, Ka-ka Parrot, 
 Nestor notabilis, Kea, . 
 
 Family STRINGOPID^. 
 Stringops habroptilus, Owl Parrot, 
 
 160 
 163 
 
 163 
 
 164 
 173 
 
 172 
 173 
 178 
 177 
 
 Order STRIDES. 
 
 Family ASIONID^. 
 Sub-family Asionin^. 
 
 Asia oius, Long-eared Owl, . . 171 
 Asio accipitrinus, Short-eared Owl, . 179 
 Nyctale tengmcUmi, Tengmalm's Owl, . 176 
 Symium uraZense, Ural Owl, . .173 
 Symiwm occellatum. Mottled Wood- 
 Owl, 177 
 
 Sub-family BuBONlN-ffi). 
 
 Biibo ignamis, Eagle Owl, 
 
 Scops giu, Scops Owl, . 
 
 Scops semitorques, Feather-toed 
 
 Owl 
 
 Athene noctua. Little Owl, 
 Athene bactriana, Button's Owlet, 
 Athene brama, Spotted Owlet, 
 
 Order ACCIPITRES. 
 
 FamUy VULTURID^. 
 Family FALCONID^. 
 Sub-family Gtp^tinjb. 
 Gypcetua barbattis, Bearded Vulture, 
 
 Sub-family Falconin-s;. 
 
 Aquila chryscetus, Golden Eagle, 
 Aquila cdhicilla. Sea Eagle, 
 Aquila clanga, Spotted Eagle, 
 Milvus ictinus, Red Kite, 
 MUvus govinda, Indian Kite, 
 Circus maillardi, Madagascar Harrier, 
 Circus got/ldi, Gould's Harrier, . 
 Buteo vulgaris, Common Buzzard, 
 Astur pcUumbarius, Goshawk, 
 
 ISO 
 
 182 
 182 
 181 
 186 
 187 
 195 
 195 
 185 
 197 
 
xliv 
 
 SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 Order ACCIPITEES— couiwMMd. page 
 
 Astur badius, Shikra, . . . .199 
 Accipiter nisus, Sparrowhawk, . . 197 
 Accipiter virgatiu, Besra Sparrow- 
 hawk 200 
 
 Pernis apivorus, Honey Buzzard, . 182 
 
 iifx^co ^erejrijiMS, Peregrine Falcon, . 189 
 
 Falco peregrinator, Shahln, . . 194 
 
 Falco barbarus, Barbary Falcon, . . 193 
 
 FcUco sacer, Saker, .... 193 
 
 Falco islandicus, Iceland Gyrfalcon, . 191 
 
 Falco subbuteo, Hobby, . . . 197 
 FcUco CBsalon, Merlin, . . . .197 
 
 Order STEGANOPODES. 
 
 Family PELECANID^. 
 
 Pdecanus onocratulus. White Pelican, 
 Pelecanus crispus, Dalmatian Pelican, 
 
 204 
 204 
 
 Family FREGATID^. 
 Fregata aquila, Frigate-Bird, . . 205 
 
 Family PHALAOROCORACID^. 
 
 SiUa bobssaiia, Gannet, .... 206 
 Phaethon candidus, TVopic Bird, . 208 
 Phalacrocorax gracvlus, Shag, . . 208 
 PkaXacrocorax carbo, Common Cormor- 
 ant 209 
 
 Phalacrocorax urile, Red-faced Cormor- 
 ant, 209 
 
 Phalacrocorax pelagicus. Pelagic Cor- 
 morant, 210 
 
 Ph^acrocorax novce-hoUandice, Australian 
 
 210 
 
 212 
 214 
 214 
 214 
 214 
 
 Order HERODIONES. 
 
 Family ARDEIDjE.' 
 
 Ardea cinerea, Common Heron, . 
 Ardea purpurea. Purple Heron, . 
 Serodias alba. Great White Egret, 
 Nycticorax griseus. Night Heron, 
 Botcburus stellaris, Bittern, 
 
 Family CICONlIDiE. 
 Oiconia alba, White Stork, . . 214 
 
 Family PLATALEID^. 
 
 Platalea leucorodia, Common Spoonbill, 215 
 Anastomus oscitans, Indian Shell-Ibis, 215 
 
 Family PHCENICOPTERID^. 
 
 Phoenicopterus antiquorum, European 
 Flamingo 215 
 
 Order ANSERES. 
 
 Family ANATID^. 
 
 Sub-family Anserine. paqe 
 
 Anser ferns, Grey- Lag Goose, . . 222 
 
 Aniser segetum, Bean Goose, . . 225 
 
 Anser erythropus, Lesser White-fronted 
 
 Goose, 222 
 
 Aiiser cygnoides, Swan-Goose, . . 226 
 
 Anser canagicus. Emperor Goose, . 219 
 
 Ghen hyperboreua, Snow Goose, . . 218 
 
 Bemicla hucopsis, Bemicle Goose, . 221 
 
 Bemicla canadensis, Canada Goose, . 218 
 Bemicla leucopareia. White - faced 
 
 Goose, 220 
 
 Bemicla brenta, Brent Goose, . . 221 
 
 Bemicla nigricans. Black Brent Goose, 220 
 
 Bemicla jubata, Maned Goose, . . 282 
 
 Sub-family CYGNiNiE. 
 
 Gygnus olor, Mute Swan, . . . 230 
 
 Oygnus musicus, Hooper Swan, . . 230 
 
 Cygnus bewichi, Bewick's Swan, . . 232 
 
 Gygnus atratus. Black Swan, . . 232 
 
 Cygnus nigricollis, Black -necked Swan, 232 
 
 Sub-family Anatin^. 
 
 Dendrocygna viduata, White-faced 
 
 Tree-Duck, 242 
 
 Sarcidiomis a/ricana, African Wattle- 
 duck 242 
 
 Aix sponsa, Summer Duck, . . . 253 
 
 Mareca penelope, Wigeon, . . . 253 
 
 Dafila acuta. Pintail, . . . 236 
 
 Anas boscas. Common Wild Duck, . 244 
 Anas superciliosa, Australian Wild 
 
 Uuok 238 
 
 Ohauielasmus streperus, Gadwall, . 276 
 
 Querquedula circia, Gargauey, . . 276 
 
 Querguedvla discors, Blue-winged Teal, 295 
 
 Qu£rquedula crecca. Common Teal, . 276 
 
 Spatula clypeata. Shoveller, . . 276 
 
 Spatula variegata, New Zealand 
 
 Shoveller, 239 
 
 FuUgula cristata, Tufted Duck, . . 292 
 
 FuUgula marila. Scaup Duck, . . 293 
 Fuligula novce-zealandice, New Zealand 
 
 Scaup, 239 
 
 Fuligula fcrina, Pochard, . . . 288 
 Fuligula valisneria, Canvas-backed 
 
 Duck, 236 
 
 Glangula glaucion, Goldeneye, . . 293 
 
 Harelda glacialis, Long-tailed Duck, . 287 
 
 Somateria mollissima, Eider Duck, . 287 
 
 (Edemia nigra, Black Scoter, . . 292 
 
 (Edemia perspiciUata, Surf -Scoter, . 294 
 
 Mergus aibdlus. Smew, . . . 289 
 
SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 xlv 
 
 Order COLUMB.^. 
 
 Family OOLUMBIDjE. page 
 
 Golumba palumbus. Ring Dove, . . 302 
 
 Oolumba cenas, Stock Dove, . . 303 
 
 Oolumba livia. Rook Dove, . . . 301 
 
 Golumha schimperi, Indian Rock Dove, 301 
 Ectopistes migralorius. Passenger 
 
 Pigeon, 321 
 
 Turtur auritiis, Common Turtle Dove, 307 
 
 Turtur orientalis. Eastern Turtle Dove, 310 
 Turbwr mcUaccends, Malacca Turtle 
 
 Dove, 311 
 
 Chalcophaps indica. Green-winged 
 
 Dove, .312 
 
 Diduncidus strigirostris. Tooth-billed 
 
 Pigeon 312 
 
 Family CARPOPHAGID^. 
 
 Carpopliaga mavm - zecUandice, New 
 Zealand Pigeon, .... 315 
 
 Carpophaga cenea, Bronze Fruit 
 Pigeon, 313 
 
 Order PTEROCLETES. 
 
 Family PTEROCLIDiE. 
 
 Syrrhaptes paradoxus, Pallas's Sand- 
 Grouse, ...... 324 
 
 Pteroclurus alehata, Pintailed Sand- 
 Grouse, . . . . . . 326 
 
 Pterodurus pyrenaicus, European Pin- 
 tailed Sand-Grouse, . . . 32.5 
 
 Pterodurus exustus, Indian Sand- 
 Grouse, 326 
 
 Pterodes arenarius. Black-bellied Sand- 
 Grouse, 326 
 
 Pterodes fasciatus, Painted Sand- 
 Grouse 326 
 
 Order GALLIN.ffi. 
 
 Family TETRAONID^. 
 
 Lagopus scoticus, Red Grouse, . . 328 
 
 Lagopus albua. Willow Grouse, . . 330 
 
 Lagopus mvtus. Ptarmigan, . . 333 
 
 hagopns rupesiris. Rock Ptarmigan, . 333 
 
 I/yrurus tetrix, Black Grouse, . . 335 
 
 Tetrao urogallus, Capercaillie, . . 339 
 
 Oanachites canadensis, Canada Grouse, 347 
 
 Oanachites franUini, Franklin's Grouse, 347 
 Falcipennis hartlaubi, Sharp-winged 
 
 Grouse, . . . . _ . . 348 
 
 TympanucJms americanus, Prairie-hen, 346 
 
 Bonasa umbdlus, Rufifed Grouse, . 345 
 
 Tetrastes bonasia. Hazel-hen, . . 344 
 
 Order QAhhl^M— continued. 
 
 Family PHASIANID^. 
 
 Sub-family PBEDiciN.a;. page 
 
 Caccdbis saxatilis, Rook Partridge, . 389 
 
 Gaccabis rufa. Red-legged Partridge, . 389 
 
 Gaccabis petrosa, Barbary Partridge, . 389 
 Francolinus vulgaris. Common Francolin, 396 
 
 Francolinus coqui, Coqui Francolin, . 395 
 Francolinus pondicerianus, Grey 
 
 Francolin, 396 
 
 Perdix cinerea, Common Partridge, . 349 
 Microperdix erythrorhyncha, Painted 
 
 Bush-Quail, 398 
 
 Hcematortyx sanguiniceps, Crimson- 
 headed Wood-Partridge, . . 399 
 Galoperdix bomeensis, Ferruginous 
 
 Wood-Partridge, . . . .399 
 Rollulus roulrovl. Red-crested Wood- 
 Partridge, ..... 399 
 Melanoperdix nigra, Black Wood- 
 Partridge, 399 
 
 Gotumix communis. Common Quail, . 361 
 
 Goturnix japonica, Japanese Quail, . 384 
 
 Sub-family Phasianin^. 
 
 jBamJjjsicoZaiAoracica, Chinese Bamboo- 
 Pheasant 401 
 
 Tragopan satyra. Crimson Homed 
 
 Pheasant, 402 
 
 Tragopan- blythi, Blyth's Horned 
 
 Pheasant, 402 
 
 Lophophorus refulgens, Moonal Pheas- 
 ant, . . . . . .403 
 
 Lophophorus I'huysii, De L'Huys's 
 
 Moonal-Pheasant, .... 403 
 
 Qennceus lineatus, Vermicellated Pheas- 
 ant, 415 
 
 Phasianus colchicus, Common Pheasant, 403 
 Phasianus iorquatus, Ring-necked 
 
 Pheasant, 410 
 
 Phasianus versicolor, Versicolor 
 
 Pheasant, . . . . .411 
 Oallus ferrugineus. Jungle-cock, . . 415 
 Polyplectroa chinquis. Peacock Pheasant, 419 
 Argusianus giganteus, Argus Pheasant, 417 
 Pavo cristatus. Peacock, . . . 420 
 Numida coronata, Mitred Guinea-fowl, 421 
 Mdeagris americana, Wild Turkey, . 421 
 
 Sub-family Odohtophoein^. 
 
 Ortyx virginianus, Virginian Quail, . 423 
 Lophortyx califomicus, Califomian 
 
 Quail, 423 
 
xlvi 
 
 SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 Order GAlililSSM—mnHnued, 
 
 FamUy TURNICID^. page 
 
 Turnix taigoor, Bustard Quail, . . 399 
 Tumix nigricollis, Black-ueoked 
 
 Heinipode, . . . . . 400 
 
 Order FULICARIiE. 
 
 Family KALLIDiE. 
 Sub-family Rallust^. 
 
 Ballits aquaticus, Wa,teT-Ra,il, . . 428 
 
 Rallus crepitans, Clapper Rail, . . 428 
 
 Porzana maruetta. Spotted Crake, . 428 
 
 Porzana Carolina, Carolina Crake, . 428 
 
 Orex pratensis, Land-Rail, . . 425 
 
 Grexfusca, Ruddy Crake, . . . 426 
 
 Ocydromus australis, Weka Rail, . 433 
 
 Ocydromus fuscus. Black Wood-Hen, . 433 
 Porphyria alleni, Allen's Purple 
 
 Galllnule, 432 
 
 Porphyria smaragdonotus, Green-backed 
 
 Purple Gallinule 432 
 
 Porphyria veterum, European Purple 
 
 Gallinule, 432 
 
 Ftdica atra, Common Coot, . . 428 
 
 Fvlica americana, American Coot, . 431 
 
 Order ALECTORIDES. 
 
 Family OTID^. 
 
 Otis tarda. Great Bustard, . . . 434 
 Eupodotis australis, Australian Bustard, 439 
 Eupadatis edwardsi, Great Indian 
 
 Bustard 437 
 
 Hovhara undidata, Houbara Bustard, 437 
 
 Sypheotides auritus, Florican, . . 438 
 
 Family GRUID2E. 
 
 Orus cinerea. Common Crane, . . 442 
 
 Grus leucageranus, White Crane, . 445 
 
 Anthrapoides virgo, Demoiselle Crane, 445 
 
 Order LIMICOL^. 
 
 Family SOOLOPACID^. 
 
 Scalapax rusticvla, Woodcock, . . 447 
 
 Oallinaga majar. Great Snipe, . . 456 
 
 GalUnago codestis, Common Snipe, . 456 
 
 Oallinago gallinvla. Jack Snipe, . . 456 
 
 Tringa aXpina, Dunlin, . . . 467 
 
 Tringa minuta, Little Stint, . . 465 
 
 Tringa striata, Purple Sandpiper, . 462 
 
 Tringa eanutus. Knot, . . . 462 
 
 Machetes pugnax, Ruff, . . . 460 
 
 Limosa lapponica. Bar-tailed Godwit, 467 
 
 Order LIMICOL^— coTitMHMd. page 
 Limosa novce-zealandice, New Zealand 
 
 Godwit, . . . . . . 462 
 
 Limosa melanura, Black-tailed Godwit, 465 
 
 Numenius a/rquata. Curlew, . . 465 
 
 Numenius phceopus, Whimbrel, . . 465 
 
 Family CHARADRIID^. 
 
 Vandlva cristatus, Peewit, . . . 464 
 
 Squatarola helvetica, Grey Plover, . 467 
 
 Oharadrius pluvialis, Golden Plover, . 463 
 
 Eudramias morinellus. Dotterel, . . 465 
 
 Hcematopus ostralegus, Oystercatcher, 466 
 
 Order GAVI^. 
 
 Family LARIDjE. 
 
 Hydrochelidon nigra, Black Tern, . 470 
 Hydrachelidon leucoptera, White- 
 winged Black Tern, . . . 470 
 Hydrochelidon hybrida. Whiskered Tern, 470 
 Sterna macrura, Arctic Tern, . . 470 
 Sterna minuta, Lesser Tern, . . 470 
 Xema sabinii, Sabine's Gull, . . 473 
 Larus ridibundus, Brown-headed Gull, 473 
 Larus zonarhynchus. Common American 
 
 Gull, 473 
 
 Larus glaucus. Glaucous Gull, . . 470 
 
 Rissa tridactyla, Kittiwake, . . 470 
 
 Pagophila ebumea. Ivory Gull, . . 470 
 
 Stercora/rius parasiticus, Buffon's Skua, 473 
 
 Order TUBINARES. 
 
 Family DIOMEDEID^. 
 Diomedea exulans, Wandering Albatross, 478 
 
 Family PUFFINID^, 
 
 Eulmarus glacialis. Fulmar, . . 473 
 
 Puffinus anglorum, Manx Shearwater, 476 
 
 Puffinus obscurus. Dusky Shearwater, 477 
 Puffinus tenuirostris, Slender-billed 
 
 Shearwater, 477 
 
 Puffinus griseus, Sooty Shearwater, . 477 
 
 Family PROCELLARIID^. 
 
 Thalassidroma leachi, Fork-tailed Petrel, 478 
 
 Oceanites oceanica, Wilson's Petrel, . 478 
 Pelagodroma marina. White-faced 
 
 Petrel, 478 
 
 Order PYGOPODES. 
 
 Family COLYMBID^. 
 
 Golymbusglacialis,Great'SortheraV)iver, 480 
 
 Golymbus arcticus, Black-throated Diver, 481 
 
SYSTEMATIC LIST. 
 
 xlvii 
 
 Order PTG0P0DE8— conliimed. paoe 
 
 Golymbus septentrionalis, Red-throated 
 
 Diver 481 
 
 Podidpes flumatilia. Little Grebe, . 482 
 
 Family ALCID^. 
 
 Alca, impennis, Great Auk, . . . 482 
 
 Alca tarda, Razorbill, .... 483 
 
 Uria brunnicM, Brunnioh's Guillemot, 483 
 
 Uria troile. Common Guillemot, . . 484 
 
 Mergulus alle, Little Auk, . . . 483 
 
 Fratercida arctica, Puffin, . . . 486 
 
 Fraterctda cirrhata, Tufted Puffin, . 492 
 
 Fratercida coniicvlata. Horned Puffin, 494 
 
 Order STRUTHIONES. 
 
 FamUy STRUTHIONID^. page 
 
 StrutMo camelus, Ostrich, . . . 495 
 
 Shea americana, Common Rhea, . 498 
 
 Rhea darwinii, Darwin's Rhea, . . 497 
 
 Family CASUARIID^. 
 
 Gasuarius bennetti, Bennett's Casuary, 498 
 
 DromcBus novce-hollandiae, Emeu, . 499 
 
 Drommua irroratus, Spotted Emeu, . 500 
 
 Family APTERYGID^. 
 
 Apteryx bidleri, North-Island Kiwi, . 500 
 
LIST OF CHAPTERS. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Ravens and Jats, 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Starlings and Orioles, 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 Goldfinches, 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Chaffinches and Bramblings, 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 Sparrows and Sparrow-nets, 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 Bullfinches and Buntings, 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 Fowling for Larks, . 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 Tits and Pipits, . 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 Shrikes and Waxwings, 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 Thrush-Snaring, . 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 
 Thrush-Netting, 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 
 Chats and Redbreasts, 
 
 Chapter XTII. 
 
 Nightingales and Blubthroats 
 
 Chapter XIV. 
 
 Beccaficos, 
 
 Chapter XV. 
 
 Honeysuckbrs, . 
 
 Chapter XVI. 
 
 Woodpeckers and Kingfishers, 
 
 Chapter XVII. 
 
 Parrot Fowling, 
 
 Chapter XVIII. 
 
 Sport with the Eagle Owl, 
 
 Chapter XIX. 
 
 Sport with the Smaller Owls, 
 
 Chapter XX. 
 
 Eagle-lore, 
 
 Chapter XXI. 
 
 Hawk-Catching, 
 
 Chapter XXII. 
 
 Pelicans and Gannets, 
 
 Chapter XXIII. 
 
 Herons and Flamingoes, . 
 
 Chapter XXIV. 
 
 Wild Geese, 
 
 Chapter XXV. 
 
 Wild Swans, 
 
 I 
 
 13 
 
 19 
 
 26 
 
 36 
 
 46 
 
 55 
 
 72 
 
 80 
 
 87 
 
 98 
 
 109 
 
 117 
 
 126 
 
 135 
 
 146 
 
 157 
 
 164 
 
 172 
 
 180 
 
 189 
 
 203 
 
 212 
 
 218 
 
 230 
 
LIST OF CHAPTEHS. 
 
 xlix 
 
 Chapter XXVI. 
 
 Chapter XXVII. 
 
 Chapter XXVIII. 
 
 Chapter XXIX. 
 
 Chapter XXX. 
 
 Chapter XXXI. 
 
 Chapter XXXII. 
 
 Chapter XXXIII. 
 
 Chapter XXXIV. 
 
 Chapter XXXV. 
 
 Chapter XXXVI. 
 
 Chapter XXXVII. 
 
 Chapter XXXVIII 
 
 Chapter XXXIX. 
 
 Chapter XL. 
 
 Chapter XLI. 
 
 Chapter XLII. 
 
 Chapter XLIII. 
 
 Chapter XLIV. 
 
 Chapter XLV. 
 
 Chapter XLVI. 
 
 Chapter XLVII. 
 
 Chapter XLVIII. 
 
 Chapter XLIX. 
 
 Chapter L. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Driving and Spearing Wildfowl, . . . 234 
 
 Snaring Wildfowl, 241 
 
 The Decoys of East and West, . . . 251 
 
 Clap-nets for Wildfowl, .... 270 
 
 Plight-netting in Japan, .... 278 
 
 Netting and Liming Wildfowl, . . . 291 
 
 Pigeon-trapping in the Old and New Worltjs, 301 
 
 Sand-Grouse, 324 
 
 Red Grouse and Willow Grouse, . . 328 
 
 Black Grouse and Oapercaillie, . . . 335 
 
 Tunnelling for Partridges, . . . 349 
 
 Quail-catching in Italy, . . . 361 
 
 Quail-catching in Europe 371 
 
 Quail-catching in the East, . . . 382 
 
 Red-legged Partridges and Francolins, . 389 
 
 The Pheasants of East and West, . . 401 
 
 Argus Pheasant and Jungle-fowl, . . 414 
 
 Rails and Gallinules, 425 
 
 Bustards and Floricans, .... 434 
 
 Cranes, 442 
 
 Netting and Snaring Woodcock, . . 447 
 
 Plover and Snipe, 457 
 
 Gulls and Petrels, 469 
 
 Auks and Divers, 480 
 
 Ostriches and Emeus, 495 
 
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 I. FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 
 Le Pbintemps (photogravure) 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 "Beescianella," 
 
 . to face pctge 28 
 
 "ROCCOLO," 
 
 . „ „ 104 
 
 Ancient Egyptian Clap-nets, 
 
 • „ „ 272 
 
 Pheasant Snaeing in Boeneo, 
 
 . „ „ 416 
 
 II. ENGRAVINGS IN THE TEXT. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Apeican Finch-teap (vignette), Title 
 
 Sabine's Gull, xlvii 
 
 Geeman Jay-hut 1 
 
 Old English Jay-teap, 6 
 
 Plan ofFeench Pipeb, 11 
 
 Starlings and Limed Thread, ........ 13 
 
 Italian Clap-nets, 19 
 
 Goldfinches and Teazles, ........ 25 
 
 Bat-fowling in Italy, 26 
 
 Plan op " Brescianella," 28 
 
 Clap-netting at Bergamo, 31 
 
 Catching Tree Sparrows in Japan, ...... 36 
 
 Old English Spaeeow-net 39 
 
 The "Teebuchet," .......... 42 
 
 The "Guelder," 43 
 
 English Brick-trap, 45 
 
 Italian Fowling-house, ......... 46 
 
 Crossbill, 54 
 
 Sport with the "Lanciatoia," 55 
 
 Moorish Lark-teap, 57 
 
 Egyptian Lark-trap, 58 
 
 Chinese Lark-trap, . 59 
 
 German Method of Liming Larks, 71 
 
 Mitelli's Foot-trap foe small Birds, . . . . . . 72 
 
 The French "Brai," 75 
 
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. ll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Plan of German Titmouse-hut, 76 
 
 German "Meisen Schlag" or Trap-cage, 79 
 
 Sheike-oatching in Japan, 80 
 
 Bohemian Waxwings, 86 
 
 Thrush-catching with the Ragna, 87 
 
 Old French Snare for Missel-thrush, 91 
 
 Norwegian Thrush-snares, 93 
 
 Polish Springe for Fieldfare, 94 
 
 German " Drosselherd," 97 
 
 German Print of " Roccolo," 98 
 
 Plan of Italian "Roccolo," 104 
 
 Italian Bird Racket, 104 
 
 Thrush-netting in Germany, 108 
 
 The Little Owl and Limed Twigs, 109 
 
 Old English Wheatear Snare, 112 
 
 Italian Lime-twig, 116 
 
 German Birdcatchers driving Nightingale into Trap, . . . 117 
 
 "Trappola" used on Capri, 119 
 
 Tunisian Nightingale Trap, 120 
 
 Chinese Trap for Waeblbrs, . . 124 
 
 Liming Bush Warblers in Japan, 126 
 
 Decoy Bulbul and Limed Twigs, 132 
 
 Bluethroat Warblers and German Snares, 134 
 
 Maori Snaring Tui, 135 
 
 Hawaiian Fowling-polb, 138 
 
 Tuis caught in Tree-snares, '145 
 
 Netting Kingfishers in India, . . . . . . 146 
 
 Black Woodpeckers, 156 
 
 Parrot-fowling in New Zealand, 157 
 
 Limed Rod used in Borneo, 159 
 
 Maori Parrot Snare, . . . . . . . . . 16] 
 
 Sport with the Eagle Owl, 164 
 
 Netting Hawks with the Eagle Owl, 170 
 
 The "Uhu" and "Keahenhutte," 171 
 
 Fowling in Japan with Decoy Owl, 172 
 
 Indian Owl-Snare, 178 
 
 Tbngmalm's Owl, 179 
 
 Hawking in Italy, 180 
 
 "A Whippe Spring," 185 
 
 "A Hoop Net," 186 
 
lii 
 
 LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 "Fall for Buzarde," 
 
 "Basket Pall," 
 
 Old English Hawk-trap, . 
 
 Netting Passage Hawks, . 
 
 Sparrowhawk ai«d "Ragna," . 
 
 Indian Shikra-teap, . 
 
 Japanese Hawk-net, . 
 
 Snaring Gannets, 
 
 Gannets, and Fish on Board, . 
 
 Bittern driven into a fixed Net, 
 
 Flamingo-catching in Egypt, 
 
 Punt-gunning in China, . 
 
 Muso-NET FOR Wildfowl in Japan, 
 
 Clap and Flight Nets in England, 
 
 Whooper Swans and "Wile," 
 
 Wild Swans on Ice, . 
 
 Tunnel-net for Moulting Wildfowl, 
 
 Net and Snares for Diving Ducks, 
 
 Siberian Duck-snares, 
 
 La Glanbe, 
 
 The Cumbrian "Wile," 
 
 Greek Duck-snare, . 
 
 Finnish Duck-raft, . 
 
 Japanese Decot-pond, 
 
 Pipe of Japanese Decoy, 
 
 Old English Duck-drive, 
 
 Plan of Japanese Decoy, 
 
 Watch-house of Japanese Decoy-pipe, 
 
 Look-out House of Japanese Decoy, 
 
 Japanese Duck-net, .... 
 
 Duck-catching with the Sakadori-ami, 
 
 Japanese Clap-nets, . 
 
 Clap-nets for Wildfowl, 
 
 " Rbvjbrbere," 
 
 Flight-netting in Japan, 
 
 Siberian Flight-net, . 
 
 Diagram of Net-station, 
 
 Smews, 
 
 Chinese Fowler, 
 
 Japanese Limed Strings for Wildfowl, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 186 
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LIST OF ENGEATINGS. 
 
 liii 
 
 Japanese Floating Limed Strings, 
 SuEP Scoter, .... 
 Liming Wood Pigeons in Italy, 
 Snaring Tuetle Doves in Zante, 
 Netting Pigeons in Japan, 
 Japanese Dove-call, . 
 Dove-call used in Borneo, 
 
 SUMATEAN SnAEES FOB DoVES, . 
 
 Tree-snare used in Pelew Isles, 
 pigeon-snare used in loyalty isles. 
 Maori Snares for Pigeons, 
 Passenger Pigeons, . 
 Netting Pallas's Sand-Geouse in China, 
 Snaring Indian Sand-Grouse near Aden, 
 Snaring Willow Geouse, .... 
 Grouse-becking on the Cumberland Fells, 
 Snaring Black Grouse in Norway, . 
 sibeeian coen-stack, .... 
 Siberian Basket-trap, 
 Finnish Trap foe Black Game, 
 Siberian Deadfall after Biesickierski, 
 
 SiBEEiAN Deadfall after Finsch, 
 
 Hybrids between the Black and Red Grouse, 
 
 Tunnelling for Partridges, 
 
 Polish Snares for Partridges, 
 
 The German "Bell-net" for Partridges, 
 
 Quail-nets on Capki, 
 
 Italian Quail-call, .... 
 
 German Quail-nets, .... 
 
 French Hallier for Quail, 
 
 Net and Gridiron used on Ceeigo, . 
 
 The " TiEASsE," . . . . . 
 
 German Quail-call, .... 
 
 The Deag-net in China, . 
 
 Quail-netting near Shanghai, . 
 
 Japanese Quail-snaees, 
 
 Japanese Quail-call, 
 
 The "Sthascino," .... 
 
 Elba Parteidge-teap, 
 
 Parteidgb-cloth used in Cephalonia, 
 
liv 
 
 LIST OF ENGEAYINGS. 
 
 Zulu Snares for Francolins, . 
 Persian Pheasant-trap, 
 The Old English Pheasant-driver, 
 Pheasant-netting in Japan, 
 Japanese Pheasant-snare, 
 Poach krs among the Pheasants, 
 SuMATRAN Pheasant-snare, 
 Burmese Pheasant-snare, . 
 Pheasant Knives used in Borneo, 
 Indian Peacock-snare, 
 Coot-catching on the Caspian, . 
 Old English Corncrake-gall, . 
 Japanese Snare for Ruddy Crake, 
 Call foe Ruddy Crake, . 
 Great Bustard at Home, . 
 Snaring Floeican in India, 
 Birdcatching in Italy, 
 Ceanes on the Fells of Lapland, 
 Netting Woodcock in Italy, . 
 The Sprint for Woodcock, 
 Woodcock in Engl'sh Coverts, 
 
 GODWIT-SNARING IN NeW ZEALAND, 
 
 Polish Snipe-snares, . 
 Sicilian Snipe-nets, . 
 
 Ruffs, 
 
 Snaring Fulmars and Pdffins, . 
 
 Algerian Gull-snare, 
 
 Portuguese Gull-snare, 
 
 St Kilda Fowling-rod, 
 
 Sabine's Gull, .... 
 
 Great Northern Diver and Indians. 
 
 Greenland Bird-arrow, 
 
 A Westmann Fowlek, 
 
 Ostrich-hunting, 
 
 Reproduction of Di Valli's Title-page (1601) 
 
 PAOE 
 
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 CHAPTEE I.— EAVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 THE EAVEN (Gorvus corax) is generally accredited with a large endow- 
 ment of mother wit. Its warning croak is usually uttered long 
 before an expectant fowler has approached within several hundred yards 
 of its nesting haunt. But even the bird of darkness is sometimes 
 worsted by the craft of its human enemies. The modern Greenlander 
 destroys the Eaven with a shot-gun. His ancestors were content to kill 
 the Eaven by simpler means. Their most common device was to snare 
 the bird with a running noose. A hole was dug in the snow and filled 
 with carrion. A running snare, made of sealskin or of whalebone, was 
 then spread around the orifice. The hungry bird naturally endeavoured 
 to secure the bait, and became entangled in the snare. Another plan was 
 for the fowler to make a hole in the snow large enough to contain 
 himself. He then crouched down in the cavity, concealed from the 
 Eaven's keen vision by a light covering of snow. The carrion intended 
 
 A 
 
2 RAVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 to attract the bird was also placed on the crust of the snow. The Eaven 
 descended into the pit to feed, when he found himself taken by the 
 hands of the concealed fowler. Bailly tells us that the Eaven is 
 sometimes snared in Savoy, but this only happens during severe weather. 
 The Swiss method is to attach some strong snares ("gros lacets") to 
 a lump of meat, which is then exposed in the haunts of these birds. 
 I once knew a Cumbrian Eaven to lose his liberty by entering a 
 " Deadfall." The trap had been set by a fell-side farmer in the hope of 
 securing a fox. 
 
 In civilised Europe, the plan of capturing Books (Corvus frugilegus) or 
 Carrion Crows (Corv^ts corone) by means of paper cones, smeared with 
 birdlime, was held to be an excellent amusement for ladies and gentlemen 
 to engage in when they met together. Bergantini tells us, in a footnote to 
 the " L'Uccellatura a vischio" of Bargaeus, that this plan of Crow-catching 
 was practised at Friuli, at Bergamo, and in some other places. He men- 
 tions in particular that " II Patrizio Veneto Eiguardevolissimo Sebastano 
 Marcello" adopted it as a mode of entertaining his guests. A large 
 number of gallants and ladies (" molti Cavalieri e Dame") met together at 
 the villa of their host at Campalto in the middle of October. A carcase 
 had been exposed in the open air for a few days, prior to their arrival, in 
 order to attract a large number of carrion-loving birds. The Crows and 
 perhaps Eavens flocked to the welcome sight from the country round. 
 (" In pochi giorni gi^ vi convennero da lontanissime parti infinita di 
 Corvi e Cornacchie.") The evening before the fowling was to commence, 
 a number of paper cones were baited with small pieces of meat and 
 coated inside with birdlime. The guests rose at daylight to see the birds 
 return to the carcase. The greedy Crows readily inserted their heads 
 into the sticky traps. Finding their sight blinded by their unwelcome 
 head-gear, they soared up into the sky until the eye could no longer 
 follow them. The poor things dropped, however, on the ground in the 
 very space from which they had started upon their lofty flight. It was 
 not the sort of fowling that we should tolerate, but the Italians evidently 
 thought it capital fun. 
 
 The Eook (Gorvits frugilegvs) seems to have established an evil 
 reputation in Italy. Crescentius tells how these birds should be captured 
 by means of limed twigs placed on the upper branches of a tree. The 
 birds are attracted to the vicinity by the exhibition of a tame Eagle Owl, 
 
RAVENS AND JAYS. 3 
 
 or some other species of Owl. They naturally alight in the tree beneath 
 which the object of their detestation is secured, and thus forfeit their 
 liberty. Di Valli gives a characteristic engraving of this kind of sport. 
 Savi observes that the usual plan of destroying Eooks is to fix a live 
 decoy of their own kind on the top of some tree which happens to be 
 situated in the line of flight adopted by these birds. The gunner waits 
 in a small hut made of the boughs of trees. When the wild Eooks settle 
 within gunshot, he rakes their clustering masses. The Eook is only a 
 winter visitor to the north of Italy, but Savi considered that this bird 
 inflicted great injury upon the agriculturist. It not only devours a great 
 deal of newly sown corn, but strips the olive trees of their valuable fruit. 
 At the present time there seems to be a feeling in England that the 
 damage which the Eook accomplishes is counterbalanced by the quantity 
 of noxious insects which it devours in the summer time. In former days, 
 a less compromising attitude was adopted by our legislators. In Scotland, 
 an Act was passed as early as the year 1457, ordering the extermination 
 of " Euk," of " Crawys," and other " foulys of reif." It was not until 
 1533 that the English Parliament resorted to legislation to check the 
 excessive numbers of these birds. The engine prescribed to be kept in 
 use by every parish was the ordinary Day-net or Clap-net, then in use for 
 catching a variety of birds. The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) and the 
 Carrion Crow {Cormis corone) were outlawed as well as the Eook, the Daw 
 being described by the title of " Chough." This is a very ancient English 
 name for the Jackdaw. In our time the name has come to be applied 
 almost exclusively in common parlance to the Cornish Chough {Pyn'hocorax 
 graculus). But Turner, who had studied the English names of birds, 
 expressly distinguishes the latter species as "A Cornish Choughe." 
 Gesner, too, distinctly says that the " Monedula " or Jackdaw was known 
 in England as the " Caddo, Chough, or Ka." Others dubbed the Jackdaw 
 as "Dawe, Choughe, Cadesse." I cannot discover any trustworthy 
 evidence that the " Cornix Cornubiae " was recognised by Shakespeare or 
 any other Elizabethan writer as the Chough of the vernacular speecL 
 Such evidence as is at present available satisfles me that the Jackdaw 
 was the bird proscribed by the English Parliament. At all events the 
 fate of the birds was sealed at Westminster. The inhabitants of every 
 parish were left to carry out the doom pronounced against the whole race 
 of " Crows," under penalty. A fine of ten shillings was to be exacted 
 
4 EAVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 from all recusant parishes, until the requirements of the Act were carried 
 out. A later statute of Elizabeth, passed in 1566, entitled "An Act for 
 the Preservation of Grain," revived the crusade against the Corvidse, by 
 authorising the churchwardens to pay head-money for the destruction of 
 such birds. I have not discovered any old entries of moneys expended 
 for the cost or repair of Crow-nets, but have given elsewhere many 
 particulars of the pains once taken to kill Eavens in the Lake district. 
 In working through the parish books of the large and mountainous parish 
 of Greystoke, I ascertained that a total score of 966 Eavens were 
 accounted for by the wardens during a period of ninety years ; from 
 Midsummer 1752 to Midsummer 1842. It would seem that most of 
 the birds thus accounted for had been taken from their nests by the 
 adventurous youths of the district (Of. A Fauna of Lakeland, p. 156 et 
 seq.) But Mr J. E. Harting has succeeded in showing that the Crow- 
 net was supplied in some parishes according to statute. He states that 
 the Churchwarden's Accounts of South Cadbury, Somerset, contain the 
 following items : — 
 
 " 1592 imprimis a Kecks nett ..... js. 
 
 1625 imprimis a Books nett ...... 
 
 1627 For mending the Rook nett . . . . js. vjd." 
 
 (Zool. 1894, p. 49.) 
 
 Markham tells us that the great net, commonly called the Crow-net, 
 differed nothing from the Plover-net, unless the owner chose to have a 
 larger net for Crow-catching. That the bird for whose capture the net 
 was chiefly used was the Eook is evidenced by the instructions which 
 Markham supplies as to laying the net : " before or neere unto Barne 
 doores where Corne is a thrashing, or in any such places where Come hath 
 beene winnowed and the chaff remaining, with which you shall ever 
 observe to cover and hide the Net assoone as it is laid, so as it may not 
 be seen, and then assoone as the flocks of birds come, and are scraping 
 amongst the chaffe, you lying aloof off conceald, with the coard in your 
 hand, shall sodenly draw it and overturne the net upon the birds, by which 
 at one pull you may take may (sic) Crowes, pigeons, Kites, Buzzards, and 
 such like ravenous birdes." As an alternative, the Crow-net might be 
 set " in any stubble field upon the Corn lands, provided the stubble cover 
 the Net so as it be not perceived " (Hunger's Prevention, p. 91). 
 
 It is curious to observe that the exceptional methods adopted to 
 
EAVENS AND JAYS. 5 
 
 protect the interests of the British farmer in the sixteenth century 
 attracted the notice of our Continental neighbours. Gesner, writing about 
 1555, notices that Eooks were so abundant in Britain that it had been 
 decided to offer rewards for their destruction, on account of the havoc 
 which they wrought upon the corn fields. The Nutcracker {Nudfraga 
 caryocatactes) too seldom strays to the shores of Great Britain to be 
 captured by any insular device. Among the solitudes of its native pine 
 woods, in the mountainous parts of Northern and Central Europe, the 
 " Cassenoix " occasionally falls a victim to imprudence, and is taken in a 
 snare. Bailly states that large droves of Nutcrackers sometimes arrive 
 in Savoy, and that the birds are so exhausted that they cannot take good 
 care of themselves. They are therefore easily taken in the snare (" Pi^ge ") 
 which is commonly set for Thrushes (Grives). Gloersen states that in 
 Norway the Nutcracker must be included among the various species of 
 birds which are casually snared in the " Donerne " intended for Fieldfares 
 and other species of Thrushes. " Several Nutcrackers," he writes, " are 
 generally caught every year, either when feasting on the service berries, 
 or when wanting to take a bird already noosed. In the latter case, the 
 Nutcracker is found hanging together with the Thrush, a comrade in 
 misery, being snared by the second noose " {Dyreliv I Norge, p. 202). It 
 happens at rare intervals that an odd bird of this species is taken almost 
 by accident, in one or other of the " Eoccolos " which are kept up for 
 catching Thrushes in the passes of the Italian Alps. In 1868 two 
 examples of the " Nocciolaja " or Nutcracker were netted in a " Eoccolo " 
 at Brianza, in the province of Como {Avifauna Jtalica, Vol. iv. p. 442). 
 The Magpie (Pica rustica) is too crafty to be easily taken in the nets of 
 the fowler. Nevertheless, it has often been outwitted by the wiles 
 exercised for its destruction. " If you take a quick and lively Magpie, 
 and lay her on the ground upon her back in such sort that her wings be 
 fastened to the earth, the stir and noise she will make will call many 
 other Magpies about her, which lighting upon her (as it were to succour 
 or relieve her), she will hold the first that comes fast with her claws till 
 you may come and take her. This you may pin down by the other in 
 like manner, and so you may do until you have taken a great number of 
 these birds. The best time for this is when they pair " (A Cavalier's 
 Note Book, p. 21). The device just mentioned has been described by 
 many writers, from the fourteenth century downwards. Some of their 
 
EATENS AND JAYS. 
 
 number advise that it should be adopted as a means of securing other 
 birds of the same family — the Jay (Garrulus glandarius), for example. 
 But we must not forget that Leonard Mascall tells us of " A pretie way 
 to take a Pye." " Ye shall lime a small threede, a foote long or more, 
 and then tie one end about a peeee of flesh so bigge as shee may flie away 
 withall : and at the other end of the threed, tie a shoe buckle, and lay the 
 
 flesh on a post, and 
 let the threede hang 
 downe, and when she 
 flies away with it, 
 the threede with the 
 buckle will wrappe 
 round her, and then 
 she will fall, so ye 
 may take them (A 
 BooJce of Fishing, re- 
 print, p. 49). "We 
 are likewise indebted 
 to Mascall for a de- 
 ^^^^^^ scription of " the Jay 
 1^ trappe to set about 
 ■^^ ''^ corne fields or or- 
 chards." It bears a 
 THE jAv TKAP (after Maseaii). ^^^^^ resemblance to 
 
 the snare employed in Poland to catch Fieldfares. The English trap was, 
 however, more substantial than the Polish trap ; being made " with a poale 
 of seven or eight inches about, and seven or eight foote long or hie, set fast 
 in the ground, about your wheate or other fruite. There is made in the 
 saide poale two hoales, one beneath and the other above : in the nether- 
 most hole there is a spring wand let fast there and bowed into the hole 
 above, which hole ye shall put throwe a string, fast to the end of the 
 spring wand, with a knot thereon, to stay it that it shall not slippe backe 
 againe. Also on the fore side of the hole ye must put a blunt pinne of 
 woode with a round ende of seven or eight inches long, set loosely in by 
 the knot to stay the string, which pinne ye shall see cloven in the middest, 
 and in that cleft they use to put a cherie or wheateare for a baite. 
 Then shall yee spread finely, and lay the string aboute on the saide shorte 
 
EAVENS AND JAYS. 7 
 
 pinne, and your string to have a running noose. Also the trappe of your 
 stake must be sharpe that no foule may light thereon. And when any 
 lights on the short pinne to catch the baite, it falls down, and the string 
 thereon takes them by the leggs. Thus ye may set many such about your 
 grounds. Ye may make those trappes on boughs in trees to take them at 
 all times of the year if ye list." Professor Newton reports of the Siberian 
 Jay (Perisoreus infaiistus), as observed in Lapland, that there is no diffi- 
 culty in snaring as many live specimens as can be desired. Schrenck 
 reports that the natives of Eastern Siberia very commonly keep tame 
 Jays in their huts. He adds that these birds are often captured 
 in the snares set for Sables, which are baited with fish. A German 
 device of catching Jays and many other birds is to employ a tame Owl 
 to attract the birds to a fowling-tree, which has been lopped of many of 
 its branches, and carefully trimmed (as shown in the headpiece of this 
 chapter). Numerous limed twigs are set upon the pruned branches 
 which remain, so arranged as to offer convenient perches for any Jays 
 that may be lured to the spot. The tree generally selected for this 
 purpose is a pine tree, a tree that stands in an open space a few yards 
 from its fellows. The fowler often lops off the smaller branches from 
 the surrounding trees, so as to make a circle of bare boughs, to which he 
 secures his limed twigs (" Leimruthen "). Under the central tree he builds 
 a hut of the branches which have been cut off the trees, to form the 
 " Heherhiitte." This cabin is built of the necessary size to contain the 
 fowler and his companions. A live Owl, or, in default of such a decoy, 
 the skin of a Hare (Rasenhalg) is placed on the top of the " Heherhiitte," 
 or Jay-hut. The fowler commences operations at dawn, and the sport 
 lasts until nine or ten in the forenoon. The number of limed twigs 
 employed varies from 80 to 100. The birdcatcher calls the wild birds 
 together by means of a bird-whistle (" Wichtelpfeise "). This is made with 
 a piece of cherry bark. The fowler imitates the cry of an Owl. When 
 the Jays recognise the challenge of what they suppose to be their 
 hereditary eaemy the Owl, they begin to scold, and thus excite the 
 neighbourhood. Many other woodland birds assemble to unite in 
 blaming the Owl. The Jays are prominent in their protests, and soon 
 fly into the tree, beneath which their object of their opprobrium is 
 tethered. As soon as the Jays come into contact with the limed twigs, 
 they become incapacitated for flight, and tumble helpless to the ground. 
 
8 RiVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 The Italians are adepts at capturing the Jay, as well as a variety of other 
 birds, by the system just described. It is called the " Chioccolo,' 
 " Fistierella," or " Fraschetta " in Italy. This system owes its name 
 of " Chioccolo " to the whistle which is employed to attract the birds 
 to the fowler. This, says Savi, is the same whistle which the fowler uses 
 to imitate the chuckle of the Blackbird. It is a metal bird-call of small 
 size. The Tuscan birdcatcher selects the scene of his fowling operations 
 in the centre of some copse, at a moderate distance from a few large trees. 
 Having decided upon the spot, he sets to work to build his hut 
 (" Capannello "). This is supported by two or three tall saplings eight or 
 nine feet in height. The fowler cuts other branches in the vicinity 
 and uses them to make a tiny wattled hut of green leaves, just large 
 enough to conceal his person from the sharp eyes of the Jays, and other 
 birds which he hopes to capture. He then removes the underwood 
 and small branches for some little distance around the hut. The larger 
 branches indeed are left, but only to be bent into the shape that best 
 answers the requirements of the fowler. These branches are garnished 
 with limed twigs. The fowler makes it his business to see that no bough 
 or perch (" Postajo ") is left without its limed twig. The Italian fowler 
 begins to whistle with the " Chioccolo," either when the birds are leaving 
 the woods to go and feed in the fields and orchards in the early morning, 
 or when they are returning in the evening. All the birds in the vicinity 
 mistake the prolonged and monotonous whistle for the call of an Owl. 
 Twittering and chattering, they all draw near to the spot from which the 
 unwonted sound proceeds. Even those that are too distant to hear 
 the call of the birdcatcher recognise the shrieking of their fellows. They 
 hasten to join in mobbing the imaginary intruder. The Jays, Blackbirds, 
 Long-tailed Tits, and Chaffinches are usually the first to arrive and 
 to spread the alarm through the wood, all agitated and curious, keeping 
 their tails and wings in perpetual motion. As the Jays see nothing 
 of their enemy, they draw closer and closer to the fowler's hut, until 
 at last they alight on the limed twigs. These, being lightly poised, 
 readily drop to the ground, carrying the fluttering birds along with 
 them. The cries of the victims only serve to whet the curiosity of 
 the birds that are still free. Far from taking warning by the fate 
 of their brethren, they hurry to the same miserable fate. Selivanovski 
 describes the method of taking Jays and other forest birds in Eussia 
 
RAVENS AND JAYS. 9 
 
 as being similar to the methods adopted in other parts of Continental 
 Europe. 
 
 The Russian system seems to approximate most closely to the French 
 " Pipfe." The fowler is advised to choose a single tree for the purpose of 
 fowling. It must not be so tall as to be exposed to the wind. In 
 Eussia the oak is considered the most suitable tree, because its branches 
 are disposed symmetrically. This fact facilitates the task of the bird- 
 catcher in setting his limed twigs. The ends of the uppermost branches 
 must be lopped off. Were they retained, birds of prey would probably 
 perch upon them and thus frighten the smaller birds away. If the tree 
 selected proves difficult to climb, another tree may be cut down and 
 moored to the first, instead of a ladder. When the fowler trims the 
 superfluous branches from the decoy tree, he is advised to cut slits in the 
 remaining branches to receive the limed twigs. The Eussian birdcatcher 
 prepares his hut of green boughs or, if necessary, of fir branches, eked 
 out with brushwood. The Eussian fowler climbs up into the decoy tree, 
 bearing as large a bundle of limed twigs as he is able to carry. These 
 are inserted into the clefts which have been left for that purpose in the 
 branches. Other and longer twigs covered with birdlime are fixed as 
 hoops in the ground around the fatal tree. When all the needful details 
 have been attended to, the birdcatcher takes a live Owl and tethers it by 
 a string to the top of tlie fowling hut. In default of a live decoy, the 
 aid of a stuffed specimen is called in.. The fowler then hides in his hut 
 and begins to challenge the wild Jays and other birds by calling with a 
 bird-whistle. The French " Pipee " hardly differs from the devices just 
 described, except perhaps in the care which is taken to prepare an 
 elaborate series of paths around the fowler's hut. This sport derived 
 its name from the " Pipeau " or bird-call employed by the French fowler. 
 
 The " Solitaire Inventiv " suggests two forms of bird-calls for the use 
 of the " Pip^e." Of these the first, and no doubt the most primitive, is 
 to hold a piece of a species of couch-grass in the right hand, between the 
 forefinger and thumb, and then to insert the edge of the leaf between 
 the lips of the fowler. The operator gently presses the lips together, 
 and blows softly, thus imitating the cry of an Owl. But the birdcatcher 
 needs to arouse the anger of the wild birds by simulating the cries of 
 birds that appear to be denouncing the presence of the Owl. He requires 
 for that purpose the " Appeau k frouer," of which the simplest pattern 
 
10 RAVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 consists of an ivy leaf. The couch-grass, according to Buhard, requires 
 to be prepared by being steeped in vinegar. The ivy leaf is used without 
 any such treatment. 
 
 The "Solitaire Inventiv'' advises the birdcatcher to take an ivy 
 leaf and pierce a hole as large as a pea in the centre of the leaf. 
 The leaf is then rolled into the form of a tiny, spiral cone, the small end 
 of which is placed as a bird-whistle in the mouth of the fowler. "When 
 the fowler blows through this little instrument, he mimics the cries of 
 a party of Jays which are mobbing an Owl. Both Buliard and the 
 " Solitaire Inventiv " dwell on the desirability of the " Appeau k frouer," 
 to supplement the cry of the Owl imitated with the "Chiendent" or 
 couch-grass. Various ingenious bird-calls have been invented by the wit 
 of the French birdcatchers to serve as "Pipeaux" and "Appeaux a 
 frouer;" but these have only been grafted upon the original plan of 
 utilising common plants as bird-calls. As for the exercise of the " Pipee," 
 the " Solitaire Inventiv " regarded it as only to be used when the birds 
 were eating the grapes in the vineyards. Buliard distinguishes three 
 sorts of " Pipfes " : " les pipdes prematurees, les pipees de saison, et les 
 pipfes tardives." The first of these was practised when the wild cherries 
 (" Merises ") ripened ; many birds were then rearing their latest broods, 
 and their flesh was of poor quality. The " pipees de saison " were those 
 recognised by the " Solitaire Inventiv " in the season of grapes. This 
 was the best time to catch Thrushes and Eedbreasts, which were then in 
 prime condition. The " pipees tardives " took place in the month of 
 November, when many Jays were taken, but very few Eedbreasts. The 
 " Pipee " ceased to be effective when frosty weather set in. 
 
 Buliard and the " Solitaire Inventiv " agree in the instructions which 
 they give as to preparing a tree for the " Pip^e " by trimming off 
 the superfluous branches, and setting limed twigs in the necessary 
 positions. Both authorities recommend that the fowling hut should be 
 built of branches, and placed at the base of the tree which is chosen 
 as the centre of the " Pipee." The " Solitaire Inventiv " declares that the 
 fowler must make five or six open spaces (" Clairiferes ") at certain distances 
 around the hut. These are set apart to receive certain supplementary 
 branches, which are covered with birdlime. Buliard extends the same 
 idea. He arranges that the fowling hut should be encircled by three 
 avenues, which again are crossed by five or more transverse paths. The 
 
RAVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 11 
 
 /> 
 
 / 
 
 n 
 
 / il u 
 
 / 
 
 first and broadest of the circular avenues (A) measures six or seven feet 
 in depth, and surrounds the hut ; the second (B) is only three feet 
 across ; while the third 
 (C) measures four feet 
 or more across. The 
 fowler cuts a number 
 of perches ("Plians"), 
 which he arranges in 
 the avenues about the 
 hut. These rods vary 
 in size, but all serve 
 the same purpose, viz., 
 that of carrying limed 
 twigs. The " Solitaire 
 Inventiv '' assures us 
 that the first bird to 
 arrive at the fowling- 
 tree is the " Eoitelet " 
 or "Wren, followed by 
 the Eedbreast, and then 
 by the Titmice. After 
 the Tits come the Chaf- 
 finches, and then the 
 Jays, which are bold 
 in their endeavour to 
 mob the supposed Owl. 
 
 The French adopt the cruel expedient of breaking the wing of the first 
 Jay taken. Its cries serve to whet the curiosity of its free brethren and 
 thus facilitate their capture. The diversion of the " Pip^e " commences at 
 daybreak, and lasts until eight in the forenoon. 
 
 The numerous species of Birds of Paradise (Paradiseidce) supplied as 
 skins to the European markets inhabit such remote regions that very few 
 Englishmen have hitherto been conversant with the habits of the birds, or 
 the means by which their capture is usually effected. It is the fact that 
 Birds of Paradise are shot with blunt arrows in the Aru Islands, and 
 also, according to Mr R Wallace, in some parts of New Guinea ; but it 
 is equally certain that these beautiful birds are often obtained by the 
 
 J 
 
 /v 
 
 Plan of "Pipfe." 
 
12 RAVENS AND JAYS. 
 
 medium of snares. When Mr Wallace visited the island of Waigou in 
 1860, he made arrangements with the native birdcatchers to amply supply 
 him with fresh-killed Birds of Paradise. A number of specimens were 
 brought to him, and he discovered that the Eed Bird of Paradise (Fara- 
 disea rubra) is obtained by a snare similar to that with which the Maori 
 fowler is so conversant. " A large climbing Arum bears a red reticulated 
 fruit, of which the birds are very fond. The hunters fasten this fruit 
 on a stout forked stick, and provide themselves with a fine, but strong, 
 cord. They then seek out some tree in the forest on which these birds 
 are accustomed to perch, and, climbing up it, fasten the stick to a branch, 
 and arrange the cord in a noose so ingeniously that when the bird comes 
 to eat the fruit its legs are caught, and by pulling the end of the cord, 
 which hangs down to the ground, it comes free from the branch and 
 brings down the bird. Sometimes when food is abundant elsewhere 
 the hunter sits from morning till night under his tree with the cord in 
 his hand, and even for two or three whole days in succession, without 
 getting a bite ; while, on the other hand, if very lucky, he may get two 
 or three birds in a day." 
 
 The device just described was only known to eight or ten men in 
 Waigou when Wallace explored that island (The Malay Archipelago, p. 
 534). A widely different plan of capturing Birds of Paradise is followed 
 in the south-east promontory of British New Guinea. Mr J. P. Thompson 
 reports that the Birds of Paradise usually congregate upon a favourite 
 tree, called in sporting parlance " the dancing tree," to exhibit their 
 gorgeous plumage by numerous elegant motions towards one another. 
 "The mountain natives make use of a very clever device for catching 
 these beautiful birds by trapping. The most favourable place in the 
 jungle is selected, and a clearing made, about thirty feet wide at one 
 end, and gradually converging to a point like the letter V, where it 
 terminates in a framework constructed of saplings crossing one another 
 at intervals, and supported by their ends to two suitable trees. This 
 structure is then perfected by attaching numbers of snares thereto, so 
 placed as to trap the unwary birds in their flight through the tempting 
 opening in the jungle" (Ibis., 1893, p. 274). 
 
 [The engraving of the German "Jay-hut," which forms the headpiece of this 
 chapter, has been reproduced from Arten von Vogeln.] 
 
CHAPTEE II.— STAELINGS AND ORIOLES. 
 
 WHEN I visited Throndjem some years ago, I was much delighted 
 to observe the boxes which many of the townsmen had nailed up 
 against the sides of their wooden houses. These were intended to afford 
 nesting accommodation for the common Starling (Siumus vulgaris). Olina 
 figures a vessel called the " Fiaminghi," used in Italy for a similar pur- 
 pose. " To catch those Starlings," he says, " which are accustomed to nest 
 in roofs and buildings, it is usual to place against the wall of the place 
 where they breed a vessel of unvarnished terra-cotta, made to resemble 
 tlie wine bottles which the country folk use, having one side flat and the 
 
14 STARLINGS AND ORIOLES. 
 
 other spherical. A space is left open in the flat side of the vessel, suffi- 
 ciently large to admit of the insertion of a hand. When the ' Fiaminghi ' 
 is placed in position, the spherical side faces, of course, outermost. When 
 the Starlings or Sparrows which occupied the vessel have reared their 
 progeny to a good size, the fowler takes down the vessel and extracts the 
 young birds." This recalls the remark of Willughby that " Stares are not 
 eaten in England by reason of the bitterness of their flesh : The Italians 
 and other outlandish people are not so squeamish, but they can away with 
 them, and make a dish of them for all that." It would be a mistake to 
 affirm that Englishmen always rejected the flesh of this bird. It is 
 included in the list of birds supplied to the table of Lord William 
 Howard, as the following extract witnesses: "May 18-25, 1621. — A 
 pig, a capon, and young starlins, ijs. iijd." But Willughby was no doubt 
 correct in believing that the majority of Englishmen rejected the flesh of 
 the Starling. Its inferior quality and bitter taste is often mentioned by 
 the Continental writers. Buliard remarks that the " Etourneau " has a 
 delicate flavour in autumn, as we should expect from the fact that the 
 Starling feeds on cherries and other fruit when in season. But the 
 Frenchman adds that the precaution of pulling out the tongue of the 
 fresh-caught bird must be observed, or the flesh will prove tough. An 
 alternative plan of preparing the bird for table use is to bleed it at the 
 back of the neck. Mediseval and even later writers repeat again and 
 again that Starlings can be captured by the cruel expedient of attaching 
 a limed string to a live Starling, which is then released and allowed to 
 rejoin the ranks of his wild brethren, as depicted in the headpiece of this 
 chapter. Everyone knows the varied and beautiful evolutions which a 
 party of Starlings will perform while engaged in aerial exercise. It is 
 obvious that the limed cord which trails behind the liberated bird must 
 in a few moments adhere to many of the unsuspicious crowd, which 
 flutter downwards in confusion towards the ground. The fowler is pre- 
 pared for such a contingency. Armed with a strong bush, he beats his 
 victims to the earth with remorseless cruelty. But this thoughtless plan 
 of catching the luckless Stares appears to have long fallen into disuse. 
 It is mentioned in A Cavalier's Note Book, with the remark that its efficacy 
 had been proved : " This experiment has been tried successfully by Mr 
 Thomas Stanton," i.e., prior to the year 1660. 
 
 Undoubtedly, the favourite plan for catching Starlings, alike in 
 
STARLINGS AND ORIOLES. 15 
 
 England, France, and Italy, has been to stretch Clap-nets in the open 
 fields. Di Valli figures this engine as thus employed. Savi alludes to 
 the continuance of the practice in our own time ; adding that, though 
 despised in many places, yet at Pisa the " Storno " or " Stornello " found 
 some favour, whole sacks full of these birds being supplied to the local 
 poulterers. It is curious that the Tuscan peasants have hit upon ident- 
 ically the same dodge as the Japanese for disarming the suspicions of the 
 birds they wish to net. " The fowler," says Savi, " will be able to entice the 
 birds all the more easily if he places a tame Eook in the centre of the 
 nets. The Starlings, knowing the cunning nature of that bird, will not 
 apprehend danger where they observe the Eook resting in quiescence." 
 The Japanese employ a tame Carrion Crow {Corvus corone) in a similar 
 way to disarm the fears of the Sparrows, when trying to take them with 
 the " Muso-net." My experience in the north of Italy and also in the 
 vicinity of Florence was, that the birdcatchers caught Starlings of all 
 ages in their nets, provided that cages of live " Stales " were used to decoy 
 the free birds within reach of the toils. Other measures are resorted to 
 in Germany. One elementary plan of the German fowler was to clear a 
 space in the snow, which was baited with worms. Limed twigs were 
 placed in suitable positions for detaining the birds when they came to 
 the open spot. Some fowlers used to bait wicker baskets (" Fischreusen ") 
 with a few cherries, and then place the basket traps in the beds of reeds 
 frequented by Starlings. Gesner mentions that in his day there was a 
 birdcatcher living near a monastery in the vicinity of Zurich who prac- 
 tised the device just mentioned. His custom was to place osier baskets 
 (" Nassas Vimineas ") among the reed-beds in which numerous Starlings 
 passed the night. The cherries proved such an insidious bait that the 
 fowler had been known to capture a hundred birds, old and young, in the 
 operation of a single night. But the most destructive engine for capturing 
 Starlings is the net used in the variety of fowling known as " Staaren- 
 fange im Schilt." An immense net, from 80 to 100 feet in length and 
 60 or 70 feet deep, is suspended outside one of the reed-beds to which 
 multitudes of Starlings are observed to retire in the evening. The net is 
 stretched between lofty poles and is worked with lines and pulleys. All 
 the preliminaries having been arranged, the fowlers visit the spot after 
 dusk, and proceed to drive the sleeping birds into the meshes of the net. 
 The possibility of the birds escaping from the toils of the fowlers is not 
 
16 STARLINGS AND ORIOLES. 
 
 great ; for high side-nets (" Seitenwanden ") are placed at right angles to 
 the main wall of netting. Mr Blaauw informs me that a similar method 
 of taking these birds is still extant in Holland. " Starlings," he writes, 
 " are caught during the night at their roosting-places in the reeds in large 
 ponds. A large net is fastened on poles, and a light is placed at some 
 distance behind it. The Starlings are then disturbed in their sleep by 
 other people. They fly in great numbers towards the place where they 
 see the light, and, in doing this, fly into the net and are caught, the net 
 being let down over them, so that they get drowned." It might be thought 
 that, when the innumerable phalanxes of Starlings exchange their summer 
 and autumn quarters in temperate Europe for the swamps and oases of 
 Northern Africa, they would leave the devices of fowlers behind them, 
 and winter in a land of sunshine, undisturbed by fear of crafty bird- 
 catchers. Fate has decreed otherwise. Mr Fernan reports to me that 
 the Moors are no less successful in netting Starlings than the fowlers of 
 Holland or Germany. " Starlings," says Mr Fernan, " are sometimes 
 caught in the following way (I have done it myself), but only during very 
 dark nights. Each birdcatcher is furnished with a bag which he slings 
 round his neck. There should be eight or ten birdcatchers and about 
 half-a-dozen drivers. All go to some reedy marsh frequented at night 
 by Starlings ; the roosting-place is marked, and when quite dark the 
 'catchers place themselves in line about a hundred yards in front of the 
 birds, which are then gradually driven toward them. The birds end by 
 perching around and on the 'catchers' heads, arms, shoulders, &c., and 
 are caught by the hand and put into the bag in great quantities. If 
 there is any light, the birds perch just out of reach." 
 
 Canon Tristram observes that millions of common Starlings visit the 
 date forests of The Sahara in winter, and do incalculable damage to the ripe 
 fruit. They are snared and destroyed by thousands, being prized for food. 
 The common species is occasionally accompanied by a few individuals of 
 the Black Starling (Sturnus unicolor). It is by means of snares that the 
 natives of India effect the capture of the beautiful Starling which is 
 generally called the Eose-coloured Pastor (Pastor roseus). Mr Littledale 
 informs me that the arrangement of snares tied to a light bamboo frame, 
 described in Chapter XXI. as a means of catching the Shikra, is also in 
 request for taking the Eose-coloured Pastor. When the Shikra-trap is 
 employed for the purpose of taking any insectivorous bird, it is baited 
 
STABLINGS AND ORIOLES. 17 
 
 with grasshoppers. The latter are either stuck on lumps of mud or 
 tethered by hairs. Mr Littledale wanted on one occasion to try to induce 
 the Eose-coloured Pastor to breed in confinement. He therefore set to 
 work to procure some living examples of that species. With this view he 
 set a Shikra-trap near the drinking-place of these birds. The experiment 
 was attended with signal success. Mr Littledale caught no fewer than 
 eighteen Eose Pastors in the course of a single evening. The opportunities 
 afforded to European birdcatchers for capturing the Eose-coloured Pastor 
 appear to be few and far between. The Province of Verona was visited 
 by vast numbers of this species in the year 1875. Many of the birds 
 settled down to breed in the neighbourhood of Villafranca. Signore De 
 Betta, the historian of this avian invasion, records that great numbers of 
 the male birds were taken alive in Clap-nets, locally called " Olausini." 
 Aldrovandus informs us that the Italian fowler's of his day were well 
 acquainted with the Eose Pastor, which they called the " Sturnum 
 Marinum," a title suggested, perhaps, by the eastern origin of the 
 species. It was, however, used as food at Bologna, and considered good 
 eating. 
 
 The Eose Pastor shares the Common Starling's partiality for orchard 
 fruit, a failing which not unfrequently costs the bird its life. Thompson 
 records the capture of a Eose Pastor by the simple device of baiting a 
 fish-hook with a cherry. This occurred in Co. Tipperary. Another Irish 
 specimen was taken in a net spread over a cherry tree. But the great 
 majority of the Eose-coloured Starlings that have visited our islands were 
 speedily slaughtered with the gun, a fate that is also meted out to the 
 Golden Oriole {Oriolus galbula). In Italy, the Golden Oriole is most 
 sought after in autumn, because it then feeds largely on fruit, and is 
 considered to possess an exquisite flavour. Its destruction is generally 
 accomplished by some peasant, who waits in ambush among the fig trees 
 and allures the poor " Eigolo " within gunshot by imitating its call-note. 
 A few individuals of this species are captured in the " Eoccolos " in the 
 north of Italy. Gesner and Aldrovandus refer to this species being cap- 
 tured at night by means of the fowling lantern. The " Chioccolo " is 
 instrumental in capturing the Golden Oriole ; so is the Clap-net, when 
 laid beside a stream in dry weather. The Germans catch the "Pirol" or 
 " Goldamsel" with a decoy Owl, like the Jay {Arten von Vogeln, p. 510), 
 or set limed twigs around the nest. They also employ gins (" Sprenkeln ") 
 
18 STABLINGS AND ORIOLES. 
 
 baited with cherries (Friderich, Deutschen Vogel, p. 219). In Savoy, the 
 Golden Oriole is taken in the nets which are stretched over garden fruit. 
 Buliard states that the Frenchmen capture the " Loriot " at its drinking- 
 places.- They also take it by means of snares and springes when the 
 cherries are ripe and tempting. 
 
 The Golden Oriole is often confused in the popular mind with several 
 other species, owing to the preponderance of yellow or orange tints in their 
 plumage. Thus the Baltimore Oriole {Icterus galbula) is sometimes assumed 
 to be identical with the Golden Oriole, although the former bird belongs 
 to the family of the American Starlings (Icteridce). I do not know how 
 the modern Yankee catches the Baltimore Oriole. In Audubon's time the 
 markets of New York were supplied with birds which had been taken in 
 trap-cages. The Bobolink {Dolichonyx myzivonis) was trapped in the same 
 fashion. Even now a limited quantity of the species just named are 
 annually sent for sale to Europe. The home demand for cage-birds is in 
 great part met by the importation of a variety of little birds of Asiatic 
 and African origin. Dr Percy Eendall tells me that, when he was at the 
 Gambia, West Africa, he came across the natives who stocked the steamers 
 with small, seed-eating birds intended for the Liverpool market. Some of 
 the fowlers were TolofFs, others were Mandingos. Their custom was to 
 obtain the birds by alluring them to Clap-nets by the agency of decoys. 
 Birdlime is likewise used, especially by the Swazis in the N.E. of the 
 Transvaal, These men use the birdlime upon twigs. In Kaffraria, bird- 
 lime is often used on long lines which are stretched out across the fields 
 of millet and Kaffir corn. The species which most frequently succumbs 
 to this strategy is the Long-tailed Widow Bird {Chera progne). The male 
 birds are embarrassed by their enormous tails, which frequently become 
 entangled in the adhesive gum (Layard's Birds of South Africa, p. 459). 
 
 [The headpiece, illustrating the capture of Starlings with a limed string, 
 is borrowed from Olina, who reproduced the plate from Di Valli's original 
 engraving.] 
 
OHAPTEE III.— aOLDFINCHES. 
 
 THE railroad from Milan to Bologna is flat and uninteresting. The 
 eye wanders wearily over great stretches of open meadow land and 
 cultivated fields. Almost the only picturesque feature in the landscape 
 is supplied by the long rows of vines which hang in graceful festoons 
 between the elms to which they owe their support, reminding us involun- 
 tarily of Virgil's words, " Ulmis adjungere vites.'' But as soon as Bologna, 
 with its sweet memory of the immortal Aldrovandus, is left behind, the 
 line begins to wind in and out among the tortuous vales and tunnels of 
 the Apennines. If birds of sombre colours and small size are not easUy 
 identified from the windows of a train, at least there can be no doubt 
 about the flocks of Goldfinches {Garduelis elegans) which are seen sporting 
 hither and thither among the hills. With dainty fluttering they check 
 their coquettish flight in order to alight upon the brink of the milky 
 
20 GOLDFINCHES. 
 
 mountain stream. Therein they satisfy the thirst begotten of noonday 
 heat, or flirt drops of cool water over their bright and varied feathers. A 
 feeling of sadness comes over me as often as I see these vivacious little 
 pets beating against the sides of the flat wicker cages in which the street 
 hawkers offer them for sale in the cities of Northern Italy. It is still 
 more pathetic to observe the poor little crumpled bodies of " Cardelli " 
 strung up in front of a poulterer's stall. Their culinary value is trifling. 
 Tanara has decided that Goldfinches have a poor flavour, and are always 
 lean. 
 
 The chief havoc is wrought among the Goldfinches by means of the 
 " Paretaio" or Clap-net, a remark that applies as much to Spain, Portugal, 
 France, and England, as to Italy. Of course a certain number of Gold- 
 finches are caught in trap-cages, and birdlime is the means of depriving 
 many of them of their liberty ; but the Clap-nets are the cause of their 
 scarcity in most places. It must not be supposed that the Goldfinch is 
 as local a bird in Southern Europe as it is in the North. In the Medi- 
 terranean region the Goldfinch is one of the commonest of birds. Even 
 in the north of France one often recognises the pretty love-notes of a 
 male " Chardonneret " when the train pulls up at a country station. In 
 Britain, however, this bird, which our forefathers knew as the " Draw- 
 water," " King Harry," " King Harry Eedcap," " Proud Tailor," " Fool's 
 Coat," and "Christmas Fool," now enjoys a restricted range, chiefly in 
 consequence of the large number of its kind which are netted by the pro- 
 fessional birdcatchers. Considerable hauls of Goldfinches are made by 
 the fowlers who lay their nets in the hollows of the South Downs, as, for 
 example, near the Devil's Dyke at Brighton. In April 1895, I had an 
 opportunity of cross-examining a highly respectable Sussex birdcatcher, 
 in the person of the late Edward Highlands, of St Leonards. Highlands 
 entered the Eoyal Navy in early life, but subsequently retired, and sup- 
 ported himself by following the calling of a birdcatcher. He told me 
 that when he was a boy, say in 1835 (for he had passed his seventieth 
 year, and was ten years old at the time to which he referred), there was 
 only one birdcatcher in St Leonards. In 1845 the Brighton birdcatchers 
 commenced to extend their operations to the neighbourhood. Of late the 
 London birdcatchers have frequented the district with the express intent 
 of catching the " Greypates " or immature Goldfinches on the outskirts of 
 the orchards in which they are reared. In Highlands' experience the 
 
GOLDFINCHES. 2i 
 
 Goldfinch is far less numerous than it was fifty or even thirty years ago. 
 Up to the middle of the " sixties," flocks of Goldfinches, numbering seventy 
 or eighty birdsi used to " flight " along the coast. The first St Leonards 
 birdcatcher used only to go out " catching " twice a- week. Birds were 
 then so plentiful that he could net all that he required for a week in a 
 couple of mornings. The best " catch " that Highlands ever made occurred 
 early in the " sixties." He had marked down some Goldfinches as feeding 
 in a certain field at Battle. He started for the scene of operations at 
 1 A.M., with his pack of nets upon his back. The arrival of daylight dis- 
 covered his nets laid. He knocked off work shortly after 7 A.M., having 
 by that time netted seven dozen Goldfinches, which filled his store-cages. 
 He kept one bird out of this " catch " for a number of years, and used to 
 lend it to " an old gentleman friend, a shoemaker." Highlands assured 
 me that he had taken a few of the white-throated variety of the Goldfinch, 
 known as the " Cheverel," during his long practice as a birdcatcher. He 
 once took three " Cheverels " in a single forenoon, " all clean-cut," i.6., 
 with the red zone beneath the bill completely intersected by white. I 
 asked Highlands to account for the relative abundance of Goldfinches on 
 the south coast of England. His reply was that " Goldfinches, Linnets, 
 and many other birds come to us out of Germany. They follow the 
 coast to Calais, and strike across at the narrowest part, usually flying 
 against the wind. Sometimes," he added, " the wind changes while the 
 birds are crossing, ahd they may therefore land apparently flying with 
 the wind ; but they usually fly against the wind." It should be under- 
 stood that large numbers of Goldfinches are captured in the interior of 
 England as well as near the coast-line. When I was an undergraduate 
 at Oriel, I often witnessed the operations of the Oxford birdcatchers. The 
 simplicity of the poor little Goldfinches used to astonish me. They 
 dropped into the centre of the toils in response to the decoys with little 
 hesitation. I calculated that upwards of four hundred Goldfinches were 
 netted by four birdcatchers in the vicinity of Oxford during September 
 and the first half of October 1882. Two men, who worked in partner- 
 ship, sent to London twenty dozen Goldfinches of both sexes. Two others 
 captured seven dozen and six dozen respectively, on their own estimates. 
 I am persuaded that such statistics as these would be dwarfed into insig- 
 nificance by returns from the " Cider counties." Goldfinches love to nest 
 in orchards. I have seen them in greater numbers in Devonshire than 
 
22 GOLDFINCHES. 
 
 in any other part of England. The most marked abundance of this species 
 came under my observation in the neighbourhood of Montreux, in Sep- 
 tember 1881 ; but I found the "Distelfink" or "Stieglitz" breeding in 
 all the orchards that I visited in the Upper Valley of the Ehine. I cannot 
 say that it is equally numerous in the north of Spain ; but we have 
 Colonel Irby's assurance that it swarms in the south of the Peninsula. 
 Some conception of the abundance of this bird in that country may be 
 formed from the fact that Sr. Canepa of Algeciras forwarded 10,000 Gold- 
 finches and Greenfinches to England in November 1894. He offered to 
 supply further consignments of 250 birds, at one shilling each, delivered 
 in England. Twenty years ago the London markets were supplied with 
 many thousands of Goldfinches imported from Germany; but for the last 
 decade the foreign supply has consisted, to a great extent, of birds which 
 are said to be sent from Eussia. Large numbers are procured also from 
 France and other countries nearer home. In the spring of 1895 I found 
 that any quantity of fresh-caught male Goldfinches could be bought in 
 the Paris bird-shops at one franc apiece. 
 
 The Goldfinch is a common bird in Greece, where the Clap-net is 
 used for the purpose of abridging its liberty. Mr Merlin, the British 
 Vice-Consul at Volo, in Thessaly, has kindly reported that " the old 
 English ' Day ' or Clap-net figured by Gervase Markham corresponds in 
 all particulars with the Clap-net now used in Thessaly for netting Gold- 
 finches, Chaffinches, and Greenfinches." He adds that " decoy-birds are 
 used, placed in small cages on sticks at the end of the central space, 
 arranged so as just to clear the nets when closed." Mr John Saunders, 
 of the British Vice-Consulate, Cephalonia, has most obligingly forwarded 
 a neat sketch of a pair of Clap-nets, with the information that this engine 
 is commonly used on that island to effect the capture of Goldfinches, as 
 well as Chaffinches, Blackbirds, Thrushes, and a few other small birds. 
 " As soon as the birds have entered the field " {i.e., the centre- of the nets), 
 writes Mr Saunders, " the cord is suddenly pulled and the two nets close 
 in, overlapping each other. Besides the birds in the field, others in cages 
 are placed on the ground close to, but outside, the nets." It is worth 
 noting the fact that the nets used in Cephalonia are secured to the 
 ground with iron pegs, and that decoys, secured by thread, are tethered 
 in the field or centre of the nets. The pull-cord used to close the nets 
 measures about twenty yards from the junction of the two lines (which 
 
GOLDFINCHES. 23 
 
 are attached to the staves) to the spot on which the fowler stands. Mr 
 D. A. Pantagopulo, of Calamata, in the Morea, has likewise provided me 
 with a sketch of the Clap-nets used by the Greek peasants. He states 
 that the nets used to catch Goldfinches and other small birds commonly 
 measure 2 metres in length and have a breadth of 1-80. They are 
 mounted on wooden staves and secured in the earth by wooden pegs. The 
 fowler works a decoy placed in the centre of the nets. It is mounted on 
 a perch, which the fowler manipulates by means of a long string held in 
 his hand. Some Greek fowlers sprinkle seed in the middle of the nets 
 to tempt the birds to alight on the ground. The Italian birdcatchers 
 usually attract the Goldfinches by planting a small bed of thistles or 
 teazles on one side of the " Piazza " or centre of the nets. This plan was 
 adopted in Tanara's time in Tuscany, a province in which the Goldfinch 
 was formerly known as the " Caporosso " or " Calderugio." He advises 
 the fowler to plant the tops of some hemp plants which are in seed, if it 
 is impossible to procure a supply of thistles or teazles, since Goldfinches 
 are eager to feed on the seeds of the first-named plant. But the Gold- 
 finches which I saw netted near Bergamo were lured to the nets with 
 standing thistles. Tanara advises that the braced birds placed in the 
 centre of the nets should be females. I was told by an old Kentish bird- 
 catcher that the immature birds of this species which he caught in August 
 responded more readily to the call of a female than to a male decoy. 
 When I was a boy in Herts, in the " seventies," the country people used 
 to catch a few Goldfinches in trap-cages, to which the wild birds were 
 attracted by a good song-bird. Sometimes one saw a few tall stems of teazles 
 planted beside a cottage door to arrest the attention of any passing Finch. 
 Birdlime did not seem to find much favour with the Herts birdcatchers. 
 In the north of England the birdcatchers capture Goldfinches principally 
 with limed twigs placed in the vicinity of a decoy-bird. Dryden of Een- 
 wick informs me that the fell-folk among whom he lives occasionally 
 catch Goldfinches with limed twigs. These are fixed lightly on the top 
 of a bush which has been planted in the ground beside a caged Goldfinch. 
 This recalls the French system of taking Goldfinches and other small 
 birds by what is known as an " Arbrot " or " Arbret." The fowler who 
 wishes to manufacture this engine chooses a bushy bough which measures 
 about six feet in length. He cuts this oif and sharpens the lower end, 
 which he proceeds to drive into the earth. The small twigs are removed, 
 
24 GOLDFINCHES. 
 
 their place being supplied by limed twigs, which are stouter than those 
 used for the " Pipfe." The reason for this difference is that the twigs of 
 the " Pipfe " are intended to be invisible. In the " Arbret," on the other 
 hand, it is desired that the birds should not only see the twigs readily, 
 but should use them as perches. The twigs are often inserted in the 
 larger branches by means of slits or incisions ; but the Frenchmen prefer 
 to make use of little cylinders of willow, which receive the twigs at one 
 end, and fit on to the stumps of the branches which have been cut olf at 
 the other. The " Solitaire Inventiv " tells us that the pastime of the 
 "Arbret" or "Breter" can be followed between September and April. 
 It is intended to be adopted in an open country, in a spot which stands 
 at a distance from any trees. Buliard adds that the fowler should plant 
 his caged decoys in a circle round the artificial tree, and that this kind of 
 birdcatching commences at the break of day. The Italians and Germans, 
 nay, even the Japanese, recognise the success which attends various forms 
 of this diversion. But the most interesting modification of the French 
 system is that which Mr W. H. Watel reports to me from Algiers. The 
 Arab birdcatcher constructs his decoy-tree by tying bunches of Alfa grass 
 to the stem of a bush which has been partly stripped of its branches. 
 He then smears birdhme over the dummy twigs. The wild bird alights 
 on the artificial tree, either by accident, or from a desire to join a caged 
 decoy, which the Arab often includes in his birdcatching kit. The Gold- 
 finch frequently resorts to the Arab's decoy-tree. The Algerian Chaffinch 
 {Fringilla spodiogena), Wheatear, Eedbreast, and a variety of other small 
 species are taken in this fashion. The Greeks are adepts at catching 
 Goldfinches with birdUme, alike in Thessaly, in the Morea, in Zante, and 
 other islands. Mr Pantagopulo informs me that the Greek method is to 
 take a caged Goldfinch and place four fine twigs coated with birdlime 
 on the four corners of the cage, with their ends projecting outwards. 
 These limed twigs are so adjusted as to fall to the ground as soon as 
 a bird tries to perch on their surface. When a limed twig falls 
 under the weight of the wild bird, it carries the bird down with it. 
 The glutinous substance adheres to the feathers of the bird and renders 
 it the prey of the watchful fowler. Mr Norman Douglass reports to 
 me a curious method of catching Goldfinches, practised in Moravia and 
 Lower Austria : " The seeds of thistles are taken out, dipped in birdlime, 
 and then replaced, so that the birds, when fluttering over the flowers. 
 
GOLDFINCHES. 
 
 touch it with their wings and are caught, 
 very successful." 
 
 25 
 
 This method is said to be 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from Olina's engraving of the 
 Italian "Paretaio" or Clap-nets. A patch of lucerne or grass is shown in the 
 centre of the nets, which are stretched upon staves (8), secured to the ground 
 by the cords which old English fowlers used to dub the " taile-lines " and " fore- 
 lines" (10 and 4). The fowler waits in the hut (6), toying with his "Bird- 
 Stales," and watching for the fateful moment to arrive when he must pull his 
 nets over any wild birds that have alighted within reach of his toils.] 
 
CHAPTER IV.— CHAFFINCHES AND BEAMBLINGS. 
 
 THE FINCHES and BUNTINGS {Fringillidm) contribute in no un- 
 important degree to the pleasures of Continental epicures. The 
 Chaffinch (Fringilla cmlebs) in particular figures largely among the small 
 birds consumed in Italy, a fact which will not surprise anyone who has 
 reflected on the wonderful abundance of this species in different parts of 
 temperate Europe. Alike in the wild country of the Puy de Dome and 
 among the pine forests of the Bernese Alps have I marvelled at the 
 numerical preponderance of the Chaffinches, wondering at the persistency 
 which these sprightly birds displayed in rearing early and late broods of 
 young under the most untoward circumstances. Again and again did I 
 
CHAFFINCHES AND BEAMBLINGS. 27 
 
 toil to the tops of the hills in Auvergne, under a burning sun, only to 
 find the Chaffinch asserting its existence in any small scrub that chanced 
 to crown the scorched slopes of the mountains. Little wonder, then, that 
 the " Fringuello " should cross the Alps in immense numbers, to invade 
 the plains of Italy at the season when the woods are dyed with many 
 colours. Vast quantities of the " Fringuelli " are captured in different 
 parts of Italy ; but the birdcatching industry flourishes most actively in 
 the north. Bergamo, Verona, and Brescia are the three chief centres of 
 fowling. The province of Bergamo contains 404,000 inhabitants. Of 
 this number, 4824 take out a licence to shoot birds, while 1133 are 
 licensed to catch birds in nets. When we consider that most of the 
 peasants shoot and net birds without a licence, we may well believe the 
 judgment passed by Professor Giglioli, that the measures taken against 
 the birds do not constitute sport, but a veritable destruction (" non h una 
 caccia, h una vera distruzione "). 
 
 On the other hand, all fair-minded Britons will recognise that the 
 educated Italian is as strongly opposed to any interference with the birds 
 which breed in his country as any member of the Selborne Society. Of 
 course, birds are trapped at all seasons in Italy. The peasants are very 
 poor, and are ever ready to add any bird which they can snare to the 
 pot. But the legal season of birdcatching is expressly limited to a short 
 portion of the year. It is only intended to permit the destruction of 
 those birds that use Italy as one of their great highways of migration. 
 Nor should we forget that the large fowling establishments are costly, 
 and entail a considerable expenditure. The contrivance called the 
 " Brescianella," " Bresciana," or " Bressanella " is an illustration of the 
 serious outlay necessary for operations on a large scale. It derives its 
 name from the province of Brescia, in which it found its birth. It 
 consists of an oblong piece of level ground, surrounded on three sides by 
 tall walls of triple nets, which hang suspended between lofty poles. The 
 nets are of an inch and a half mesh. They are hidden from the sight of 
 the birds by a double trellis-work, which is composed chiefly of beech 
 and vines. These plants are trained with elaborate care, and only arrive 
 at perfection after the lapse of a number of years. The fourth side of 
 the enclosed garden is occupied by the cottage from which the birdcatcher 
 carries on the work of the " Uccellanda." 
 
 Count Camozzi Vertova has most kindly sent me the exact dimensions 
 
28 
 
 CHAFFINCHES AND BRAMBLINGS. 
 
 M. 
 
 19 
 
 of a " Brescianella " which is situated on his estate near Bergamo. The 
 two parallel sides of netting extend a distance of 29 metres, after which 
 they merge in the semicircle of net which in this 
 case (though not, I think, invariably) completes 
 the enclosure. The third wall measures 36 
 metres. The inside length of the " Uccellanda " 
 is 3 7 "50 metres. The "Uccellanda" is of a uni- 
 form breadth inside its walls of 19 metres. The 
 space thus hemmed in with nets is carefully 
 adapted to prove attractive to any migrating 
 birds, which no doubt regard the " Uccellanda " 
 as a green oasis in the centre of the dry and 
 dusty plain. Small shrubs, such as Thrushes 
 like, are planted along at least one side of the 
 " Uccellanda." The first " Brescianella " to which 
 I was introduced by Count Camozzi Vertova was 
 divided into two parallel courts, an open space 
 being left between the two. That on the left was 
 intended to be attractive to Chaffinches. It was 
 covered with gravel and overgrown with weeds. The opposite side of 
 the " Uccellanda " was planted with bushes, with the object of inducing 
 the Thrushes to rest in the cover thus provided. The device by which 
 the birds are frightened into the nets is a scarecrow. This engine 
 consists of a long wire, to which bells, pieces of metal, and scraps of cloth 
 are attached. Two such scarecrows are used. The one on the left side 
 frightens the Chaffinches ; that on the right hand terrifies the Thrushes. 
 The wires run along the ground in two parallel trenches a few metres 
 apart, and travel down the centre of the " Uccellanda." The wires 
 terminate within the fowler's house. They are fitted with a mechanism 
 by which the fowler is able to release the springs which constitute their 
 motor force. The birdcatcher keeps watch in the balcony of his cottage. 
 This is covered with creepers, and therefore little likely to be noticed by 
 the birds. When the man in charge observes any wild birds hopping 
 about the floor of the " Uccellanda," he pulls a lever. The scarecrow 
 nearest to the birds at once flies up into the air. The sudden elevation 
 of the wire sets the bells ringing; the pieces of broken metal jangle 
 together; and the streamers of cloth flutter in the air. The birds are 
 
 Flan of Brescianella. 
 
CHAFFINCHES AND BEAMBLINGS. 29 
 
 alarmed by this unexpected commotion in the quiet garden, and hasten 
 to leave such a dangerous spot. As they fly away they see the light 
 between the trellises. Darting, as they imagine, through the open space, 
 they speedily find themselves entangled in the meshes of the triple nets. 
 This plan would not answer for catching Larks or any birds that soar 
 perpendicularly up into the air. But it succeeds in the case of the 
 majority of the small birds which are in the habit of entering gardens. 
 It happens occasionally that other birds are taken in the " Bresciana " 
 than those which it is meant to capture. The Kingfisher has been known 
 to be taken in the " Uccellanda " ; a remark which applies to the Scops 
 Owl, Hoopoe, Great Grey Shrike, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted 
 Woodpecker, and Hawks of several species ; not to mention Nightingales 
 and other small insectivorous birds. 
 
 The birdcatcher employs various contrivances to induce the wild 
 Chaffinches to enter the " Brescianella." One ingenious device is to place 
 a " Civetta " or Little Owl in the trellis-work, close to the cage of a decoy 
 Thrush or other call-bird. I saw this ruse carried out. The birdcatcher 
 had the " Civetta " in readiness. He had only to pull a lever, and the 
 " Civetta " was suddenly hoisted up to the top of the trellis and brought 
 into close relations with a Thrush. The Thrush angrily expostulated. 
 Its scolding notes attracted to the spot all the small birds which chanced 
 to be in the neighbourhood. But the fowler depends chiefly on his call- 
 birds, which sing their lustiest in little cages placed at intervals up and 
 down the sides of the trellises. The fowler has to rise at 2 or 3 a.m. to 
 place all the cages in their places. This he accomplishes by means of a 
 long pole armed with a hook. The necessity of his having to ascend 
 a ladder to place his numerous cages in the proper positions is thus 
 obviated. The call-birds are kept at the " Uccellanda " from one year's 
 end to the other, and receive careful attention. But the use of the 
 singing-birds is supplemented by others, which are allowed to hop about 
 the interior of the " Uccellanda " with clipped wings. These decoys are 
 generally confined within the desired limits by some boards, or a little 
 wire netting. A select few are attached to a play-stick by the bands 
 which the English fowlers call " Braces." These articles consist of loops 
 of silk thread, passed over the birds' wings and feet in such a way as to 
 allow the birds to hop about at their own will, so far as the limits of the 
 string which is attached to the swivel of the " Braces " permits. 
 
30 CHAFFINCHES AND BRAMBLINGS. 
 
 The Chaffinches which are tethered to the " Play-stick " have liberty 
 to hop about the ground when the fowler is not working. But if any 
 wUd Chaffinches make their appearance, the birdcatcher hoists the 
 braced birds on to the " Play-stick." Chaffinches are also taken in the 
 " Paretaio " or Clap-net, together with many other small birds. The 
 Italian peasant has to set his toils on any open spot in which his 
 presence is tolerated. But the landed proprietors devote large spaces 
 of ground to the working of the Clap-nets. The vicinity of a fowling- 
 field may be guessed at a long distance by the lofty poles which are 
 arranged around the " Largo," as the scene of operations is called, 
 bearing the cages of decoy-birds at their summits. The reason for 
 elevating the decoys is to give them an opportunity of spying any birds 
 which appear on the horizon, and of enticing them to approach the nets. 
 The " Largo " occupied by Count Camozzi Vertova is a large stretch of 
 flat open land, covered with grass, and hemmed in on all sides by a 
 ring of Mulberry trees and other timber. Two circular wooden huts 
 are placed in the centre of the " Largo," surrounded by several pairs of 
 Clap-nets. The nets vary in size, according to the species which they 
 are intended to take. Thus the nets would be of smaller size if meant to 
 capture Goldfinches than if designed to capture what are termed "Moineaux 
 de passage." The Lark-nets are longer and heavier than those required 
 for taking Chaffinches. The English fowler would be content to use one 
 pair of Clap-nets at a time. Not so the Bergamo birdcatcher. 
 
 He has from three to five pairs of nets carefully laid out around 
 his hut, so that he has only to pull the particular lever to close any 
 single pair. The "Piazza" or space between the nets is frequently 
 ploughed up. In some cases one side of it is planted with a bank of 
 green herbs, which is carefully watered and offers a fresh and luscious 
 expanse of verdure, into which a tired Pipit or other ground-loving bird 
 is only too glad to drop for shelter. Other nets, again, are provided 
 with floors of gravel to attract the eye of birds which have a penchant 
 for stony places. It is rather exciting to sit within one of the huts 
 when operations are in full swing. The two fowlers crouch inside their 
 respective houses. Their assistants circle round the " Largo," blowing 
 with the circular metal bird-calls, which are suspended on silk cords 
 round their necks, in the endeavour to lure any passing flight of birds 
 to the nets. The birdcatchers have plenty to do, for they have their 
 
CHAFFINCHES AND BEAMBLINGS. 
 
 31 
 
 " Flur-birds," or those attached to the " Play-sticks," to hoist into the 
 air by strings. They must also be ready to pull any of the several 
 levers by which the nets are closed. The caged decoys are generally 
 placed in a row just outside the nets. In some cases the cages are 
 concealed in small trenches dug in the soil. Individual birdcatchers 
 
 Clap-nettdio at Beeoamo. 
 
 adopt the details of arrangement which they find to suit their own 
 locality. Olina adds a wrinkle to the effect that the birdcatcher may 
 profitably use a large cage with a division, in one side of which a live 
 Little Owl is placed. A few Chaffinches are imprisoned in the other 
 half of the cage. The Finches, of course, scold the Owl. Their clamour 
 induces others of their kind to approach the nets to ascertain what the 
 
32 CHAFFINCHES AND BEAMBLINGS. 
 
 commotion is about. The lofty poles which bear the cages on the 
 skirts of the " Largo " are worlfed on iron pivots between strong 
 supports, and can be lowered to the ground when the day's work is 
 over. In Tuscany the peasants take a great many Chaffinches and other 
 birds by means of what is termed the " Caccia all' Acqua," or " Caccia 
 air Abbeveratojo." This plan simply consists of netting the birds at 
 their drinking-place. It is not peculiar to Italy. The French have 
 long practised the same strategy. In France it is termed " La Chasse 
 aux Abreuvoirs." The Germans term it the " Trankheerd." The latter 
 frequently stake wooden hoops over the ground on which the nets are to 
 fall, to bear their weight, a measure which is occasionally resorted to 
 by the Bergamo birdcatchers on the " Largo." But it is in Italy that 
 the practice of netting birds at the waterside most commonly prevails. 
 Savi bears witness to the frequency with which this device was resorted 
 to in his day. He says that when the scorching sun has dried up most 
 of the ponds and ditches in July or August, birds are forced to travel con- 
 siderable distances to satisfy their thirst at any spring that still bubbles 
 forth, or any fish-pond which chances to have escaped the drought. When 
 the peasant ^a^,„«Scertained the whereabouts of one of these drinking- 
 places, he sets to work to cover the greater portion of the water with 
 roots or branches, so as to reduce the area of accessible water to the smallest 
 dimensions. He then builds a little hut on the spot, and, having pitched 
 his nets at the waterside, awaits the arrival of the thirsty birds. 
 
 Koster, writing of Tuscany as it is to-day, complains that " Every 
 possidente, every native of our neighbouring villages has his hut, which 
 is a little house of boughs, from which he can shoot into the trees to which 
 his decoys entice the birds. Beside the hut there is another destructive 
 method, and that is the net stretched at water, prohibited by law, but 
 practised by all the rustics with rich results. In the hottest weather all 
 our young poachers spread straw over the water of a rivulet (which is 
 perhaps the only one within a radius of several hundred yards), leaving 
 only a small superficies of water open, beside which they lay the net. 
 The birds hasten to quench their thirst, and are captured in the toils." 
 Olina has figured Clap-nets laid on the banks of a stream in both his 
 first and second editions of the Uccelliera. I have to thank Professor 
 Giglioli for a sketch of the net used at the present time in Tuscany for 
 the purpose of netting birds at the waterside. This " Eete aperte " 
 
CHAFFINCHES AND BKAMBLINGS. 33 
 
 measures from 3-^ to 4 metres in length. The nets are laid on either 
 side of a water-hole, the water being shown in the drawing as occupying 
 the centre of the " Piazza." 
 
 But the net is often dispensed with, alike in Algiers, in France, Italy, 
 and Germany. Mr W. H. Watel reports to me that in the neighbourhood 
 of Algiers the Arab birdcatchers take numerous small birds by means of 
 birdlime : " Alfa fibres covered with birdlime are laid all along a stream- 
 let side, and the birds meet their fate when they come to drink." The 
 " Solitaire Inventiv " oifers the suggestion of a similar plan of operation. 
 He advises that limed twigs be planted in the ground beside a rivulet. 
 The limed twigs should measure about a fojDt in dimension, and be fixed 
 loosely in the soil at a slanting angle. " The best time for setting these 
 twigs," says our author, " is between eleven and twelve before noon, and 
 from two to three ; and again an hour and a half before sunset." Buliard 
 aifirms that if the twigs are exposed to the noonday sun, the birdlime will 
 dry up and become useless. For this reason he declares that the use of 
 this " Chasse " is best confined to the evening and early hours of the 
 morning. The use of Clap-nets, however, for taking the " Fringuelli " is 
 by no means limited to the season of extreme heat ; neither is it restricted 
 to the periods of migration. It is true that Pennant speaks of the 
 Chafiinch being caught on migration in Holland. " They reach Holland," 
 he says, " about a fortnight after Michaelmas, and at that time afford 
 great amusement to the gentry at their country houses in taking them 
 while they sit at tea in their pavilions. They spread nets among their 
 plantations, and strew the ground with hemp-seed by way of bait. The 
 birds arrive and perch by thousands in the trees; then alight on the 
 ground hungry and inattentive to the danger. The nets are closed by 
 the pulling of a cord by the persons in the pavilions, and numbers are 
 thus taken " (Arctic Zoology, Vol. II. p. 381). Alberti, on the other hand, 
 devotes some space of his MS. to the most successful plan for netting the 
 " Franguelli " in snowy weather. He recommends the fowler to build a 
 hut on the ground selected for the purpose of fowling. If the occasion 
 coincides with the first heavy snowfall of the winter, then the hut should 
 face the mountains, because it is from the hills that the birds will then 
 come. But if it is not the first snow of the season, and the fall is deep, 
 the fowler will be wiser to build his hut to face the plain, as it is from 
 the plain that the Chaffinches will then arrive. If the snow continues 
 
 C 
 
34 .CHAFFINCHES AND BRA.MBLINGS. 
 
 to fall, the fowler must sweep an open space in which the nets can work. 
 If the snow melts quickly by reason of a " Scirrocco " or " Marinazzo," 
 as they say, plenty of birds will be caught. If there comes a " Strizzo," 
 and the snow congeals into ice, very few birds will enter the nets. 
 Alberti warns the fowler against laying his nets in a stubble-field in 
 snowy weather. The stems appear above the snow, and the birds peck 
 away at the exposed straw, but decline to enter the nets. The nets must 
 be set on the side on which the snow does not form into drifts. The 
 passage concludes with the exhortation to place decoy Chaffinches within 
 the nets. If bu-ds of other species appear, the birdcatcher must endeavour 
 to reproduce their cries, and so secure the reward which he desires. The 
 Germans are fond of caging Chaffinches. Accordingly, they catch the 
 " Buchfink " or " Edelfink " with the " Vogelherd," with snares, and with 
 birdlime. One method figured in the Arten von Vogeln is the familiar 
 device of tethering a decoy on the ground, surrounded by a circle of limed 
 twigs. These, being planted lightly in the earth, form a low fence which 
 is sure to detain any other male bird that runs heedlessly towards his rival. 
 Another German plan of catching the Chaffinch is to fasten a limed 
 twig to the back of a Chaffinch which has had its wings clipped. The 
 bird is then turned loose in the immediate vicinity of a wild Chaffinch. 
 The free bird, being of a pugnacious disposition, forthwith attacks his 
 rival, only to lose his own liberty. Our own London birdcatchers are 
 warm admirers of the song of the Chaffinch, and undertake long journeys 
 on foot in the hopes of obtaining a good song-bird ; such as may be 
 successfully pitted against others of its own kind in singing matches. 
 The modm operandi is for the Spitalfields gentleman to carry his singing 
 Chaffinch in its little wooden cage tied up in a black handkerchief. The 
 only other adjuncts of the sport of " Pegging " are a stuffed dummy, 
 mounted on a wooden perch, and a few limed twigs. The poor East 
 Londoner wanders out into the sunny lanes to the north or south of 
 London. He listens with the attention of a connoisseur to the performances 
 of such wild " Charfinches " as are reitering their love-strains. As soon 
 as the fowler has marked down a good songster, he plants his singing 
 Finch under a hedge side, or in some other corner where it is out of sight. 
 The dummy is then placed in a conspicuous position, surrounded by the 
 limed twigs. These are made of fine splints of whalebone, and mounted 
 on strong needles. It is therefore easy to fix them in the side of a tree. 
 
CHAFFINCHES AND BEAMBLINGS. 35 
 
 The caged decoy no sooner hears the amorous challenge of his rival among 
 the green leaves than he answers his defiance with a lusty burst of song. 
 Down swoops the wild bird, burning with hatred towards his enemy, 
 only to be taken in his attempt to punish the dummy, which he supposes 
 to be the real intruder. 
 
 Belon tells us that the Chaffinch or " Pinson " was commonly caged 
 in France in the sixteenth century. He adds that this species is a spring 
 and autumn migrant, and that the French fowlers captured Chaffinches 
 from Michaelmas to the Festival of All Saints (Toussaints). He instructs 
 us that the Chaffinch should be captured with birdlimed twigs placed in 
 the vicinity of caged song-birds. He suggests also the employment of 
 several braced decoys, which are to be tied to a long line. The same 
 idea is quoted by Gesner on the faith of another French writer, Eob. 
 Stephanus. The Brambling {Fringilla monfifringilla) is somewhat 
 irregular in its immigrations into Italy. It is well known to the bird- 
 catchers of Northern Italy, who call it the "Pepola" or "Fringuello 
 montanino." " Montanel " is the Bergamasco name for the Brambling. 
 It is taken in the " Breseianella " — indeed, I found decoy Bramblings 
 tethered on the floor of the " Uccellanda " of Count Camozzi Vertova. 
 Brambilla states that the Brambling is a bird of very uncertain appear- 
 ance in the province of Milan. In the years 1818, 1819, 1822, and 
 1823, about four hundred individuals of this species were taken in the 
 "Eoecolo" of his family annually. In 1824 only twenty-four birds 
 were captured in the same " Eoecolo." He adds that he does not take 
 memy of this species in his " Breseianella," because the large flocks 
 which usually visit his district on passage do not alight on the floor of 
 the " Uccellanda." If, on the other hand, a flock of a hundred birds 
 alights for only a moment on the trees in the centre of the " Eoecolo," 
 that instant suffices for the birdcatcher to hurl his racket and frighten 
 the whole company into the nets. 
 
CHAPTER v.— SPAEROWS AND SPAEEOW-NETS. 
 
 WHEN driving through the picturesque villages which lie at a short 
 distance from Bergamo, my curiosity was awakened by the fre- 
 quency with which we encountered walls which had been bored with 
 numerous small holes, just large enough to admit of the entrance of a 
 Sparrow. On enquiring of Count Camozzi Vertova the meaning of this 
 peculiar custom of drilling the walls and small towers with holes, he 
 informed me that the peasants adopted a plan of preparing small lofts in 
 which the Sparrows (Passer Italice) might assemble to rear their young. 
 The peasants, in fact, provide shelter for these birds with the avowed 
 object of securing the unfledged young before the latter are able to fly. 
 Although aware that the unfledged nestlings of the House Sparrow (Passer 
 domesticus) are exposed for sale at fifty centimes apiece in the March^ des 
 Oiseaux, on the banks of the Seine at Paris, it was a surprise to me to 
 
SPARROWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 37 
 
 learn the trouble which the Italians bestow on breeding Sparrows for the 
 cuisine. A mediEEval device, which is known in Britain as well as in 
 Italy, is to construct a wicker basket, with a funnel-shaped entrance, 
 allowing a bird to enter, but debarring its exit, on the principle of an 
 eel-pot or a rat-trap. Crescentius describes this contrivance under the 
 name of the " Brechoello." Aldrovandus mentions that this trap was 
 adopted to induce the parent Sparrows to enter in order to feed their 
 young, which had previously been placed inside. It is figured by Di 
 Valli as a circular basket, with a funnel-shaped entrance in the centre. 
 He calls this trap the " Canestra." 
 
 But the Italian fowlers are not content to harry the nests of the 
 Sparrow, or even to trap old and young together. As soon as the young 
 birds become strong on the wing and gather into flocks, the peasant sets 
 his " Paretaio " or Clap-nets in the vicinity of the farm-houses where these 
 birds assemble in the largest numbers. A plan which the fowler finds 
 highly profitable is to peg out his nets in the direction which the Sparrows 
 travel in visiting or leaving their favourite roosting-places. The " Panni " 
 or walls of the net are set transversely across the " Strada " or line which 
 the birds are thought likely to follow. Two men generally work together. 
 The first lies in a quiet nook, concealed, if possible, by bushes, ready to 
 pull the nets over the birds. His companion takes up his position on the 
 other side, grasping in his hand a pole, to the top of which a rag or flag 
 is attached in the fashion of a banner. The fowlers endeavour to catch 
 the birds when these latter are sweeping low over the ground. If the 
 lookout man sees the birds nearing the nets, and judges that they are 
 flying too high, he suddenly raises his extemporised flag. This unexpected 
 move disconcerts the birds, and induces them to lower the elevation of 
 their flight. They thus pass close to the nets, which are rapidly closed 
 over them. Another kind of Sparrow-netting is to set a " Civetta " or 
 Little Owl in the middle of the nets. The birdcatcher commences his 
 operations at daybreak. As soon as he has arranged the Clap-nets and 
 planted the trained Owl " in mezzo alle rete," he retires to some convenient 
 shelter. Hardly has the fowler withdrawn than the indignant Sparrows 
 begin to congregate together to vent their displeasure on the Little Owl. 
 This bird is an object of their dislike at all times, but especially when 
 they are rearing their young. They hop about the " Civetta " with rufiled 
 feathers, trailing wings, and noisy chattering, until the fowler spreads 
 
38 SPAREOWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 
 
 disorder in their ranks by pulling the nets together. This diversion is 
 carried on until 10 A.M. More than a hundred birds have been taken in 
 a morning. A friend informs me that in her childhood the Metropolitan 
 birdcatchers used to spread their nets in Piccadilly, in order to catch the 
 Sparrows which frequented the skirts of the Green Park. The operations 
 were, of course, carried on early in the day, before street traffic had com- 
 menced. 
 
 The form of Sparrow-catching which was formerly most in vogue in 
 England was the exercise of Bat-fowling. Markham tells us that this 
 device was adopted to catch many other birds besides Sparrows. In its 
 crudest form this pastime only implied that the fowlers went in search 
 of the birds when at roost, and struck the poor things to the ground after 
 they became dazzled by a strong light. Three or four of the company 
 carried poles " bound with dry wisps of hay, or straw, or such like stuffe, 
 or else bound with pieces of linkes, or hurdes dipt in pitch, rosin, grease, or 
 any such like matter that will blaze." Another company of fowlers armed 
 themselves with long poles, " two very rough and bushy at the upper ends, 
 of which the willow, byrch, or long hazell are best." The fowlers, thus 
 accoutred, proceeded to the intended scene of operations, and when they 
 saw the disturbed birds " flie and play about the lights and flames of the 
 fier," the pole-bearers struck them down. The Italians carried on some- 
 what similar operations under the title of the " Frugnolo." This sobriquet 
 properly applies to the lantern used for night-fowling. It owes its 
 etymology to the word Fornuolo, from its resemblance in shape to a small 
 oven (" Forno "). This variety of night-fowling involves the association of 
 at least a couple of fowlers; for while one man carries a cross-bow 
 (" Balestra "), his mate bears the lantern, together with a sort of wicker 
 baton, termed the " Eamata," made of willow twigs. Savi observes that 
 this operation succeeds best when a light north wind is blowing, accom- 
 panied by sleet or fine rain. 
 
 The experienced fowler betakes himself to ravines which are over- 
 grown with brushwood. He then selects those bushes which are most 
 sheltered from the wind. Experience has taught him that birds will be 
 most numerous in such places. When the birdcatcher spies a drowsy 
 bird sitting huddled up on a perch, with its feathers ruffled out, he strikes 
 it with his " Eamata," if it is within reach. If it is out of reach, then 
 the fellow who carries the bow shoots up at his victim. The French 
 
SPARROWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 
 
 39 
 
 peasant used to pursue exactly the same plan ; but the " Eamata " was 
 
 replaced in France by a club or battledore, called the "Palette," measur- 
 ing forty-two inches in length. 
 
 In former days Sparrows and other little birds were as much in 
 
 demand for feeding hawks as they 
 
 now are for so-called " trap-shooting." 
 
 The handiest engine for capturing 
 
 Sparrows at roost in ivy or in any 
 
 other confined situation was the one- 
 poled Sparrow-net. Markham figures 
 
 this engine. It consists of a large 
 
 purse-net, which is attached to a pole 
 
 by means of two parallel cross-bars 
 
 of equal length. The lower stave is 
 
 joined to the upper one by cords, 
 
 so that the fowler can draw the net 
 
 together at his will. Nets of this 
 
 kind are still used in Cumberland, 
 and, no doubt, in many other parts 
 of England. But a far more de- 
 structive instrument is the true 
 Sparrow - net, a large bag-net, ten 
 yards in length, which can be ex- 
 tended in front of a row of stacks 
 with deadly effect. It is mounted 
 on two strong poles. K'ets of this 
 type, with local variation, fiiid favour 
 with the fowlers of many lands. 
 Canon Tristram states that this form 
 of night-fowling is practised in Syria. 
 
 " The bag-net is also used at night, hung loosely between two poles, 
 when the birds, alarmed by a lantern held in front of their roosting-place, 
 at once fall into it" (^Natural History of the Bible, p. 163). The 
 " Solitaire Inventiv " describes this contrivance under the names of 
 " Ecladouere " and " Carelet." He also recommends the employment of 
 three layers of net for the same purpose, the fine net or " Toile '' being 
 placed in the centre between two stronger nets. The Germans are no 
 
 Spareow-Nbt (after Markham). 
 
40 SPARROWS AND SPARBOW-NETS. 
 
 less familiar with Bat-folding or Bird-batting than are the Russians. 
 The Italians are partial to the use of the same engine, which they call 
 the " Diluvio," or " Rete a sacco." Count Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi 
 reports that two thousand birds have been captured in the course of a 
 single November evening by means of a " Diluvio." This incident took 
 place in a private park in the north of Italy. Of course the fowlers of 
 different districts adapt the use of the "Diluvio" to local conditions. 
 The principle of bagging large numbers of sleeping birds on a dark 
 winter night by means of a net and lantern or torches, supplemented 
 by beaters, seems to be recognised in most parts of Western Europe. A 
 substitute for the net has long been recognised in the manipulation of 
 birdlimed bushes. The Italians call this pastime the " Diavolaccio." 
 Savi says that the fowler prepares this engine by winding birdlimed 
 strings around a framework of rods. The latter radiate from a common 
 centre, somewhat after the fashion of an umbrella frame. This invention 
 is mounted on a pole, and a light is placed in the centre. The fowler 
 chooses a dark night for fowling with the "Diavolaccio." When the 
 gloaming arrives, the birdcateher carries the "Diavolaccio" along the 
 bushy hedges and copses. A companion walks along the other side of the 
 bushes and beats all the nooks likely to afford a refuge to roosting birds. 
 Terrified and confused, the birds hasten towards the light and come into 
 contact with the limed threads. The same form of fowling is described 
 in the Rtises Innocentes under the title of "Pinson^e," or Chaffinch- 
 catching. One form of this amusement of the Gallicnpeasant is to drop 
 a limed twig at the end of a long rod on the back oft a roosting bird. 
 Another variation of the same idea is for one man tto hold a naked 
 torch, while his mate endeavours to strike all the bewildered birds that 
 hover round the blazing torchlight with a bush which is covered with 
 birdlime. Many of the methods for catching Sparrows and other little 
 birds are carried out during severe weather. The Germans sometimes 
 clear a space in the snow and bait it with hempseed and linseed. A 
 strip of Lark-netting is stretched over a wooden framework and placed 
 on the floor of the fowler. The framed net is held in an upright 
 position by means of a cord, which is tightly drawn round a thick lever 
 of wood. This is held in its place by two upright posts, which have 
 been driven into the ground. The fowler holds the extremity of the 
 pull-cord in his hand. When he jerks the end of the cord the tension 
 
SPARROWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 41 
 
 of the tightly drawn line is suddenly set free, and the wall of net falls 
 with such force on the fowling floor that if it struck a man in its 
 descent it would kill him. Caged call-birds are placed round the open 
 space set apart as a fowling floor. 
 
 Mr T. H. Pritchard sends me the accompanying note from the Lac 
 Seul Mission, Barclay P. A. : — " The species of birds in these parts are 
 not many, and as a rule they are hunted only for their flesh, so that 
 they are generally killed upon the spot, the gun and the bow and arrow 
 being the instruments chiefly used. But I have been told that, when 
 these means fail them, the Indians sometimes make a small-meshed net 
 and attach it to a large wooden hoop. The side of the hoop thus con- 
 structed is raised up and made to rest on one end of a small stick about 
 two feet in length, the other end being on the ground. To this stick a 
 cord is attached, ..and when the birds are quite under the net the cord 
 is pulled, and the birds, on the fall of the net, are made prisoners 
 underneath. The birds caught in this way are chiefly snow-birds." 
 
 The device just mentioned is, in fact, the Western child's representa- 
 tion of an idea which his Eastern brother has long been accustomed to 
 reduce to practice, by propping up a sieve with a piece of wood. 
 Buliard describes the French notions of "Tendues d'hiver." Of these 
 the most noteworthy is the plan of stretching a length of netting on a 
 wooden frame. The fixing of this trap differs widely from the nearly 
 allied German engine. The French peasant makes a frame, it is true, of 
 eight or nine feet long by four and a-half feet deep ; but he does not 
 keep the frame in the required position by the tension of a cord which 
 is twisted round a beam of wood. The Frenchman props up his frame 
 of network upon four sticks, which rest on four bricks placed at the 
 corners of the trap. A fifth stick bears part of the weight, and to this 
 support a string is secured. The trap is so nicely adjusted that when 
 the hungry birds have crept under the trap to satisfy the cravings of 
 nature by gathering the seeds strewn on the ground, the expectant 
 fowler gives a tug to the fifth stake, and down falls the whole frame 
 upon the Sparrows which have assembled underneath. A figure of four 
 trap can likewise be arranged to support the frame or any other kind of 
 " Deadfall." In primitive times it was customary for the French peasant 
 to prop up a door in the snow, with a view to its being pulled over on to 
 the top of any little birds which chanced to be running underneath. So, 
 
42 
 
 SPAKROWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 
 
 too, the ruse of propping up a rude basket of osier twigs with a figure of 
 four, or some cognate contrivance has at one time or another found favour 
 in France, in Portugal, and even in Ireland. Mr Tait, of Oporto, has 
 favoured me with a sketch of a basket-trap identical with that figured in 
 the Bicses Innocentes. He observes that these traps are made of 
 small branches, tied together with willows, and that the Portuguese call 
 them " CauiQos." The Eev. M. V. Kennedy, of Castlesowerby, tells me 
 that he first met with this kind of trap in County Clare many years 
 ago. In Galway it used to be called the " Eoderick Trap." It is also 
 adopted in County Mayo. Personally I first met with it in England, 
 but the man who introduced it to my notice, as a boy, was an Irish 
 gardener. In Cumberland, also, this trap was apparently unknown, until 
 Mr Kennedy taught some lads to amuse themselves by making it in 
 severe weather. The "Solitaire Inventiv" called this basket-trap a 
 
 Trkbuchet (from Ruses Innocentes). 
 
 " Tr^buchet," a " Mue," or a " Tombereau." He suggested that it could 
 be utilised for trapping Partridges ; it would answer equally well for 
 Sparrows or any other ground-loving birds. The " Solitaire Inventiv " 
 used to amuse himself by setting pitfalls for Blackbirds and other small 
 birds. All that was necessary was to dig out a semicircular hole seven 
 
SPARROWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 
 
 43 
 
 or eight inches long and six inches deep. Over this a tile was 
 placed, supported by the ordinary figure of four. A worm or leech was 
 pinned inside the pitfall. This is almost identical with one of the 
 traps that I used as a small boy for catching Sparrows. Horsehair 
 nooses occasionally ensnare even the wily Sparrow, especially in severe 
 weather. In the north of England the country folk catch Sparrows 
 and other farmyard birds with the primitive snare which they call a 
 " Guelder." This consists of a rough network of string stretched 
 
 across awooden hoop, 
 or a good stout switch, 
 which has been bent 
 in the form of a half- 
 hoop. The cross- 
 strings serve to se- 
 cure numerous run- 
 ning nooses made of 
 horsehair. When the 
 "Guelder" is to be 
 put into requisition, 
 a few handfuls of 
 grain are thrown on 
 the surface of the 
 snow. The "Guel- 
 der " is placed above the train of corn. The Sparrows, Buntings, and 
 other famishing birds peck greedily at the corn, and of course many of 
 them are entangled in the snares. The Tree Sparrow {Passer montanus) 
 is trapped and netted in Europe by the same means as the House and 
 Italian Sparrows. 
 
 In Eastern Asia the Tree Sparrow is the ordinary Sparrow. This is 
 notably the case in Japan. The Japanese are as partial to Sparrows as 
 an addition to their cuisine as the Italians. Accordingly the bird- 
 catchers of their towns pursue the Tree Sparrow wherever it is to be 
 found. Nets could not conveniently be set in the public streets or 
 gardens, so the Jap pursues the town Sparrow with a limed twig, which 
 is carried at the extremity of a long rod of bamboo. When the Sparrow 
 allows the twig to be worked within reach, it is adroitly dropped upon 
 the back of the bird. In country districts the Japanese fowler is able 
 
 DiAGRAU OF GueijDEE (from Fauna of Lalceland). 
 
44 SPAEKOWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 
 
 to exercise his craft without being hindered by artificial constraints. 
 The principal engine employed by the Japanese for netting Tree Sparrows 
 is the " Muso-net." The Tree Sparrow, it must be remembered, is as 
 great a pest to the Japanese farmer as the House Sparrow to the British 
 agriculturist. "Though the Sparrows are small birds," says a Japanese 
 writer, " yet they make lots of mischief amongst the rice and other corn 
 fields. If we catch them in a lot, and they generally fly about in a 
 crowd from the beginning of autumn to the end of winter, we get better 
 crops on the one hand and a delicious dish on the other. The Sparrows 
 are afraid of the Hawks ; yet, if they are among the cornfields, they are 
 safe from being assailed by the Hawks, and especially when they are 
 flocking together. They are not driven away even by ' Naruko ' (i.e., a 
 rudely constructed rattle to scare birds), and they do a lot of mischief." 
 It is natural, therefore, that the aid of the fowler should be invoked in 
 checking the inroads of these birds. The " Muso-net " varies in size 
 according to the purpose for which it is intended. For Sparrow- 
 catching the net may be of small size, say six feet in length and five 
 feet in depth. The net resembles a single Clap-net in principle. A 
 single sheet or wall of netting is mounted by means of cords to two 
 parallel bamboos, these answering to the staves of an English " Clap- 
 net." The staves which bear the net are secured with strings to two 
 wooden pegs, which are driven firmly into the ground at either end of 
 the net. The net is mounted on the bamboo staves by means of rings 
 placed around the bamboos. A line attached to the upper part of the 
 stave nearest to the fowler keeps the net in its proper place. The pull- 
 cord, which brings the net over the birds like a Clap-net, is attached to 
 the middle of the nearest stave. 
 
 The Japanese are also in the habit of taking Tree Sparrows in nets 
 at night. The engine in vogue for this purpose is a long net, made of 
 fine silk thread, and intended to be extended as a wall of netting for a 
 distance of eighteen yards. It is called the " Kasumi-net." Eings are 
 sewn along the upper margin of the net, in order to support the main line, 
 which bears the weight of the net. The fowler first ascertains by 
 observation that the Tree Sparrows are in the habit of roosting nightly 
 in a particular baniboo hedge or bush. He goes to this spot with his 
 net. There arrived, he drives two stout bamboo posts into the ground 
 at the necessary distance apart, and arranges the net upon the cord 
 
SPARROWS AND SPARROW-NETS. 
 
 45 
 
 which passes between the two posts. Care is taken that the bird- 
 catcher can raise or lower his net at will, as occasion may necessitate. 
 The net is adjusted in the daytime. When night arrives, the fowler and 
 his mates return to the spot, and proceed to drive the birds into the 
 net by beating the bushes. One of the party carries a light, in order 
 to dazzle and confuse the startled Sparrows. Another device by which 
 the youth of Japan catch Tree Sparrows is to select a tree which over- 
 hangs the edge of a rice field in which Sparrows are in the habit of 
 feeding, and daub its branches over with birdlime. In due course the 
 birds are approached by "Young Japan." On being disturbed, the 
 Sparrows take wing, but only to alight after the fashion of their kind 
 in the nearest tree, which happens to be that which has already been 
 coated with birdlime. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter represents the Japanese method of netting 
 Tree Sparrows at night.] 
 
CHAPTER VI.— BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 
 
 IT may surprise some Englishmen to learn that many of the cage-birds 
 kept in this country have been imported from Eussia. The fact is, 
 however, that birdcatching has always flourished in the empire of the 
 Czar. Mr Douglass writes to me that, at the present time, " every large 
 Eussian town contains professional birdcatchers and markets for snared 
 birds. Besides this, the peasants all over the country trap and catch 
 every sort of bird. In St Petersburg the 'catchers of every description 
 collect at the special bird-market called Tschoukin Dwor, principally on 
 Sunday afternoons. Annunciation Day (25 th of March, old style) is a 
 particular day for buying wild-birds and setting them free." Selivanovski 
 affirms that the birdcatchers of Tula were, at the beginning of the 
 century, more efficient than those of any other part of Eussia. Tula is 
 a town in Central Eussia, situated about a hundred and fifty miles south- 
 east of Moscow. The species which the Tula birdcatcher sought after 
 with the keenest zeal was, and probably is, the Bullfinch (Pyrrhula 
 major), the northern representative of the common English form 
 
BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 47 
 
 (Pyrrhula europcea). This is notably the bird which led to an avian 
 trade between Eussia and England, chiefly on account of its rich colour 
 and large size. In Poland and Scandinavia this bird is taken in hanging 
 snares and in the springes set for Thrushes. The same fate often over- 
 takes the Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enudeator). The Tula birdcatchers 
 require to effect its capture in a living state. They achieve this end by 
 setting Clap-nets in the fields in the vicinity of larger timber. All the 
 snow is removed from the ground, and brushwood is planted around the 
 floor on which the nets are laid. Decoy call-birds lure the flocks of 
 Bullfinches to the spot. These at first perch on the tops of the trees ; 
 but the display of bright red berries from the mountain ash tempts them 
 to descend into the middle of the nets. Our own birdcatchers net Bull- 
 finches in a similar way. I have been surprised to observe the lofty 
 trees in which these birds voluntarily perched in order to take their 
 bearings of the decoys upon the ground. In Great Britain the market 
 is mainly supplied with fresh-caught birds which have been taken in 
 trap-cages or with limed twigs. The Bullfinch can be lured to the cage 
 of a decoy at any season. As a boy, I amused myself with hanging out 
 a male Bullfinch to awaken the jealousy of the wild males. Even in 
 July, when they were catering for the support of their own unfledged 
 nestlings, the wild males tried to give battle to the caged intruder. In 
 Germany the Bullfinch is chiefly reared from the nest by hand. The 
 Italians capture many of these birds in the " Eoceolo." Another bird 
 which is often caught in considerable numbers in Northern Italy is the 
 Common Crossbill (Zoxia curvirostra). The movements of this gipsy 
 wanderer are proverbially uncertain ; but Count Camozzi Vertova assures 
 me that the " Crociere," or " Bec-in-crus " as it is called in Bergamasco, 
 often visits his " Brescianella " in considerable numbers. I found caged 
 birds of this species among the call-birds used in his " Uccellanda," and a 
 number of caged Crossbills were offered to me for sale at Milan and 
 .Bergamo. The Germans usually take the " Kreuzschnabel " by the 
 medium of what is termed the " Kletten-stange." This is a central post 
 to which birdlimed twigs are attached. The " Stange " or chief stem of 
 the Fowling-tree is supported between two strong upright posts, and 
 works on a pivot, so that it can be raised or lowered to the ground with- 
 out difficulty. It stands eighteen or twenty feet high. It is furnished 
 with a cross-piece, which carries three upright stakes. These are pierced to 
 
48 -BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 
 
 admit of twenty or more limed twigs being inserted in their sides at an 
 angle, ranged one above the other. Branches of fir are tied to the Stange 
 immediately below the cross-bar, and again at a height of six feet above 
 the ground. Cages of tame Crossbills are hung up immediately under 
 the fir branches. The wild Crossbills readily respond to the invitation 
 of their caged brethren, and, perching unawares on the summit of the 
 artificial tree, are taken prisoners. Another plan, chiefly resorted to in 
 the forests of Thuringia, is to attach springes to the topmost boughs of 
 the pine-trees in those open parts of the woods which these birds are 
 observed to frequent. In this case also the use of a caged decoy is an 
 important feature of success. The Eussians catch Crossbills in a similar 
 way. Mr Douglass informs me that, in the northern provinces, " the 
 tops of fir-trees are smeared with birdlime ; the birds fall down, and are 
 sold in the towns on Easter Day, when these birds are in special request." 
 Aldrovandus tells us that in his day the Germans procured many of these 
 birds in nets, referring probably to their capture in the " Vogelherd." I 
 was once acquainted with an Essex birdcatcher who took a quantity of 
 Crossbills in Epping Forest. These birds visited his fowling-grounds in 
 large numbers. Another species which he used to net every autumn was 
 the Hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris). 
 
 The Pine Grosbeak (Finicola envMeator) is often snared for the markets 
 of Northern Europe. Count Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi records the cap- 
 ture of an adult male Pine Grosbeak in the " Brescianella " of Sig. 
 Simonetto at Arqua Petraroa in October 1894. The Hawfinch {Cocco- 
 thraustes vulgaris) is too scarce in most parts of England to be taken 
 with the Clap-nets ; but in districts in which it is common a good call-bird 
 can lure even the wary Hawfinch into dangerous proximity. One has 
 known, too, exceptional instances of this bird being captured by irregular 
 agencies — entangled in a net stretched over a row of peas, or forced by 
 hunger to enter an ordinary brick trap sunk below the level of the ground. 
 The Italians catch large numbers of the " Erosone " in certain seasons. 
 This bird is irregular in its movements, and is at times a scarce immigrant 
 even to Lombardy. Brambilla writes that the Hawfinch visits the pro- 
 vince of Milan less regularly than the Brambling. He inclines to think 
 that it has become altogether less numerous on passage during the last 
 fifty years. In his father's time many individuals were netted in the 
 family " Eoccolo." In 1806, the number caught in this " Uccellanda " 
 
BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 49 
 
 was 106. In 1809, the total yield of Hawfinches was 95 individuals. 
 On the other hand, the greatest numbers secured in the " Brescianella " 
 were the following: in 1861, 64; in 1876, 50; in 1884, 45. A Milanese 
 proverb affirms " San Simoun la fiiria di Frisoun." St Simon's Day falls 
 on the 28 th of October. The "Furia" signifies the height or greatest 
 intensity of the passage of migrating birds. The experience of the elder 
 Brambilla showed that the principal passage of these birds took place in 
 his neighbourhood between the middle and end of October. His son con- 
 siders that there are two distinct migratory movements of Hawfinches in 
 his district. The first of these consists of young birds which are probably 
 bred in Italy, as they visit the " Uccellanda " in August and Septem- 
 ber. The birds which arrive in large quantities in October are, doubtless, 
 genuine voyageurs from the forests of Central Europe. Ghizzoni reports 
 that the number of Hawfinches taken in his " Eoccolo," in the district of 
 Colico, varies from year to year. The first birds arrive at the beginning 
 of October, and the last have passed by the 15 th of November. In 
 favourable seasons as many as from 200 to 800 are netted in this 
 "Eoccolo." I did not myself meet with the Hawfinch in the Italian 
 markets ; but I found caged birds of this species in the " Uccellanda " 
 which I visited. Indeed, it must be confessed that I tried to meet the 
 wishes of my host by placing a Hawfinch on my dinner plate one night ; 
 but the first morsel of the poor " Frosone " nearly choked me. Savi 
 mentions that Hawfinches are taken with Clap-nets in the Olive gardens, 
 as well as in the Thrush-nets. Gesner tells us that the Italians of his 
 day cherished an unfavourable impression of the Hawfinch ; witness the 
 proverb applied to a weak and stupid person : " Tu sei un frisone dal'- 
 becco grosso." 
 
 The " Kernbeisser " is common in many parts of Germany, and is 
 sometimes snared in horsehair nooses baited with service berries. The 
 Greenfinch (Ligurimcs Moris) has little to commend it to the attention of 
 the fowler, except that it is a plump morsel when ready for the spit. 
 The Italians find no fault with the " Verdone " or " Ligurino " on that 
 score. Tanara instructs us to sow hemp on the ground intended to be 
 occupied by the Clap-nets, since the heads of that plant are sure to prove 
 attractive to the Greenfinch. This bird is captured in most parts of 
 temperate Europe by means of birdlimed twigs. I knew an old Edin- 
 burgh birdcatcher who used to capture great quantities of " Greenies " in 
 
 p 
 
50 BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 
 
 this way in the fields around the northern capital. The Linnet (Acanihis 
 cannabina) is often caught with birdlime by the miners of the Border 
 counties, some of whom place stuffed dummies on the hedgerows to induce 
 the free birds to alight upon their " sticks." Thousands of both Linnets 
 and Greenfinches are captured every autumn by the London birdcatchers, 
 chiefly in Clap-nets. I have seen the shops in Seven Dials so glutted 
 with newly caught " Greenbirds," that the dealers were thankful to sell 
 them for a penny apiece. Pallas shows that the Eussian birdcatchers 
 must place a higher value on this bird than their British confreres. He 
 narrates that the Moscow birdcatchers of his day were in the habit of 
 undertaking a journey to Pensa (which is more than 150 miles from 
 Moscow as the crow flies), in order to catch " many thousands of Green- 
 finches," which were carried for sale to Moscow. He adds that the birds 
 were specially abundant in the village of Kurilovka, but they generally 
 swarmed about the stacks and threshing-floors of the villages of the govern- 
 ment of Pensa. Associated with the Greenfinch were large droves of the 
 Siskin {Oarduelis spinus). The Tula fowlers place a high value on the 
 latter bird. In June, about St Peter's Day (the 29 th, old style), the 
 Tula birdcatchers proceed into the woods for the purpose of trapping the 
 young Siskins, which are called the "Petroff Surishka." The netting 
 season for taking " branchers " terminates in the middle of July. On the 
 30 th of August the fowlers again betake themselves to the woods, where 
 they remain until the middle of October, employed in capturing Siskins 
 with their Clap-nets. During this period large flocks of Siskins pass 
 through the district, and the hauls of the fowlers are correspondingly 
 great. It sometimes happens that fifty birds are taken at one time in 
 the nets. No less a number than 400 has been secured in a single day, 
 but under exceptionally fortunate circumstances. The French and Ger- 
 mans take Siskins in Clap-nets, trap-cages, and with birdlime. In Italy, 
 the Siskin, like the Serinfinch (Serinus hortulanus), is taken in the 
 " Parietaio ; " indeed, I have seen hundreds of the latter birds either 
 exposed in bunches or ready plucked for the spit. But the former bird 
 is chiefly taken in Italy in the " Uccellanda." It is true that Olina only 
 speaks of the " Lucarino " or Siskin being taken in the Clap-nets ; but his 
 remarks apply more particularly to the neighbourhood of Eome. In the 
 north of Italy, the " Eoccolo " is the contrivance which seems to prove 
 most fatal to the Siskin. It makes its first appearance in Italy at the 
 
BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 51 
 
 end of August ; but the bulk of the migrants pass through Lombardy 
 between the end of September and the last days of November. Brambilla 
 mentions that two remarkable flights of Siskins visited his " Eoccolo " 
 early in the century. In 1821, no fewer than 410 Siskins were obtained 
 in his " Eoccolo " between the 21st of September and the 13th of Novem- 
 ber. Again, in 1824, the total capture of Siskins between the end of 
 September and the 11th of November amounted to 418 individuals. The 
 Siskin, by the way, is often caged in Japan. Mr Alan Owston, of Yoko- 
 hama, sends me the following note : " There is one item which may be of 
 interest, and that is the way the Japanese take Siskins and birds of that 
 kind. They say that these birds have high roads, and that, by careful 
 watching, it is possible to distinguish the regular highway. When this is 
 ascertained, an almost invisible net is hung across from tree to tree, in some 
 narrow place — a gully leading up into the hills, for example. The vil- 
 lagers turn out by hundreds and drive the whole countryside towards the 
 net, taking care to drive the birds along their road to the net spread across 
 it. In this way a thousand Siskins have been taken at one catch." The 
 Eussians adopt a curious device for snaring the Siskin. The fowler con- 
 structs a small hut, of just sufficient dimensions to afford him room to lie in. 
 Bundles of hemp or burdock are piled round the hut. Call-birds are also 
 exhibited to lure their wild companions to partake of their favourite food. 
 The fowler is armed with a long and slender rod, to the end of which a 
 horsehair noose is attached. This engine is manipulated through a small 
 window in the side of the fowling hut. 
 
 The Siskin is a fearless little bird. It is easy to understand that a 
 practised fowler might very easily succeed in capturing a number of birds 
 by this plan, especially if snow was lying on the ground, and the available 
 food of the Siskin happened to be scarce. The device is not peculiar to 
 Eussia. Albertus mentions that in his day the Goldfinch was often taken 
 in exactly the same way. A modification of the same idea is the well- 
 known plan of attaching a limed twig to the end of a long rod. It is 
 then dropped lightly on the back of a bird, which is picking away at the 
 alder buds. The Siskin, feeling the twig, elevates its wings, and so is 
 captured. James Smith of Drumburgh assures me that he has often 
 resorted to this simple strategy to catch both the Siskin and the Lesser 
 EedpoU {Acanthis rufescens). The latter bird is occasionally captured in 
 immense numbers by the London birdoatchers. It is, however, taken 
 
52 BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 
 
 chiefly in Clap-nets, alike in France, Germany, and Italy. In Lombardy 
 numbers of Lesser EedpoUs are taken in the " Eoccolo," but their move- 
 ments south of the Alps are irregular. The Mealy Redpoll {Acanthis 
 linaria) and the Twite (Acanihis flavirostris) are often netted in large 
 numbers in the south of England. The former species was numerous on 
 our south coast in the winter 1895-6. These birds prolong their 
 migratory journeys to the Mediterranean region, but the Twite is con- 
 sidered a scarce visitor south of the Alps. The Snowfinch {Montifringilla 
 nivalis) makes its home among the mountain passes which lie far from 
 the hunting-grounds of the ordinary fowler. Bailly says that the Snow- 
 finch is caught in Savoy in a variety of snares (Pi^ges). Grain which 
 has been steeped in eau de vie is scattered on the surface of the snow. 
 " At Mont Cenis," says Bailly, " traps intended to catch Snowfinches are 
 baited with small pieces of scarlet cloth. The unsuspecting birds peck 
 at the bright material, and so are taken." The remaining members of the 
 Fringillinoe are captured by various devices. Speaking generally, their 
 capture is secured by the use of Trap-cages, Clap-nets, or birdlime. The 
 Buntings (Emherizince) call for little remark, with the single exception of 
 the Ortolan {Emberiza hortulanus). This bird is a spring and autumn 
 visitor to Southern Europe. It enjoys a classical reputation for the 
 excellence of its flesh, to which it owes its commercial value. I found 
 a female Ortolan among the decoys which the birdcatchers employed on 
 the " Largo " of Count Camozzi Vertova. There can be no doubt that 
 this species is, and has been, chiefly taken in the Clap-nets in different 
 parts of Europe. A few examples of both this bird and the pretty grey- 
 headed Meadow Bunting (Emheriza da) are taken from time to time in 
 the " Eoccolo " ; but the bulk of those imported to Britain and other 
 countries are netted with ground-nets. Tanara assures us that in his day 
 numbers of Ortolans were obtained in the vicinity of Bologna. Di Valli 
 affirms that comparatively few of this species were formerly captured in 
 Central Italy. But in Lombardy, says the same author, where these 
 birds were abundant, many of them were caught and kept in confinement. 
 When fattened, the Ortolans reached a weight of three or four ounces 
 apiece. He adds that, " se ne fa grandissima industria per presentarli a 
 mandarli in variate parte." Olina warns us that the " Serbatoio " or 
 preserve of Ortolans should fulfil the following conditions. The room in 
 which the captive Ortolans are confined must be darkened. The light 
 
BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 53 
 
 admitted should suffice only to enable the birds to eat and drink. The 
 birds must not be permitted to see the green fields, lest they fret or " gli 
 metta in maliconia." The supply of water must be renewed at frequent 
 intervals. The walls of the " Serbatoio " must be well plastered to keep 
 out rats and mice. The walls should be coloured grey. The room 
 should be furnished with bushes and perches on which the birds can rest. 
 The captives must be well supplied with millet seed. Tanara refers first 
 to the capture of the Ortolan being effected in the month of April. In 
 this eventuality, the birds become in good condition for consumption in 
 the following June. Others are netted in the months of July and 
 August. Those persons who cannot devote a room to fattening Ortolans 
 are advised to keep these birds in the long cage termed " Mezzara." This 
 cage measures a foot in depth, and two or three feet in length. In winter 
 these fatted Buntings should be kept in the kitchen, or in a warm room. 
 They should be provided with a light, so that they can eat at intervals 
 during the night. The birds are finally killed and plucked. Their bodies 
 are then packed in boxes filled with meal or even bran, in which they 
 will keep good for a fortnight or twenty days, and despatched to 
 customers all over Italy. 
 
 The " Solitaire Inventiv " informs us that the Ortolan arrives in France, 
 like the Quail, in April and, like that species, departs in September. The 
 months in which its capture is chiefly effected in France are July, August, 
 and September. The means of procuring this species are the " Nasses " 
 or Clap-nets. These are to be pegged out on some open plot of ground, 
 removed from the vicinity of any large trees. The manipulation of the 
 nets is identical with the customary uses. In the neighbourhood of Paris 
 Ortolans are too scarce to be netted — at least so says Buliard, adding 
 that the species in question is shot when met with by sportsmen. In 
 Grascony, he continues, the arrival of the Ortolans upon the stubble-fields 
 in autumn is as great happiness to the natives of that province as were 
 flocks of migrating Quail to the Israelites in the wilderness. The much- 
 prized Buntings are netted like Larks. It is curious that Belon seems 
 to pass over the Ortolan without comment. Yet the learned Gesner only 
 chanced to be acquainted with this bird because he had received a speci- 
 men from Aldrovandus. The latter furnishes his ponderous text with no 
 fewer than seven figures of the Ortolan, representing white and yellow 
 varieties, as well as birds in normal plumage. Aldrovandus mentions 
 
54 
 
 BULLFINCHES AND BUNTINGS. 
 
 that great quantities of Ortolans were caught in the fields around Florence 
 and Bologna. Not only did men of high rank take a pleasure in despatch- 
 ing presents of Ortolans, carefully packed in meal, to their friends at 
 Eome; the dealers were also able to command remunerative prices for 
 such Ortolans as found their way into the public markets. The Common 
 Bunting (JSmheriza miliaria) is another bird which often garnishes the 
 table of the Tuscan epicure. Savi observes that many of these birds are 
 taken in Clap-nets on the plain of Pisa. The fowlers secure their largest 
 hauls of the " Strillozzo " by pitching their nets across the line of flight 
 which the species in question is found to adhere to in returning to its 
 favourite roosting-place. The " Diluvio " or Bat- folding net is likewise 
 employed to capture Corn Buntings, as well as the Yellow Bunting 
 {Emheriza citrinella), when roosting in low bushes. The latter species 
 is often taken with birdlimed sticks placed at intervals on the top of a 
 hedge, notably in Scotland and the north of England. All the examples 
 of the Snow Bunting (Plecirophenax nivalis) and Lapland Bunting 
 {Calcarius lapponicus) that have been sent to me by the Brighton bird- 
 catchers had been caught in Clap-nets. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is based upon a sketch of the '' Uccellanda " 
 worked by Count Gabriel Camozzi Vertova of Bergamo. It was drawn for this 
 book, and shows the fowling-liouse from which the scarecrows are raised to 
 frighten the birds into the nets. These last are represented as hanging between 
 the foHage of trellis-work in the right corner of the picture. The fowler can 
 approach his walls of net unobserved by passing under the gallery of vines 
 which connect the nets with the house. 1 
 
»^l 
 
 VV 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CHAPTEE VII.— FOWLING FOE LAEKS. 
 
 THE LAEKS (^Alaudidm) enjoy the enviable prestige of possessing 
 vocal powers superior in charm and compass to those of most other 
 Passerine birds. This reputation has been earned by the splendid variety 
 of liquid notes poured forth by the Calandra Lark {MelanocorypJm cal- 
 andra), the Wood Lark (Alauda arborea), and especially the Common 
 Skylark {Alauda arvensis). But the European reputation of the last named 
 rests principally upon the merits which its flesh is considered to possess. 
 The English have never indulged in the destruction of small birds for the 
 cuisine to the same extent as their French or German neighbours. Yet 
 even in England (I believe Scotland to be guiltless in this matter) there 
 
56 FOWLING FOR LARKS. 
 
 has long existed an unholy penchant for the flesh of Skylarks. Polydore 
 Vergil, who resided in England for many years subsequent to 1501, 
 assures his readers that " The cheefe foode of the Englisheman consisteth 
 in fleshe. ... Of wilde burdes these are most delicate, partiches, 
 phesaunts, quayles, owsels, thrusshes and larckes. This laste burde, in 
 winter season, the wether being not to owtragios, dothe waxe wonderus 
 fatte, at which time a wonderful nombre of them is caughte, so that of all 
 others they chefle garnishe menus tables " {History of England, First Book, 
 p. 23). It is not impossible that the capture of the Larks just described 
 was effected by driving the flocks of Larks gently up to strings which had 
 been smeared with birdlime previous to being stretched between small 
 stakes across a suitable field. This plan is occasionally resorted to even 
 at the present day in the north of England. Another time-honoured 
 device was to stretch long strings between short pegs in the haunts of 
 these birds; numerous horsehair nooses were attached to the strings in 
 question at a distance inches apart. Grain was then sprinkled between the 
 rows of snares to attract the birds, which, of course, flocked to the food, 
 and were caught by their feet as they ran between the lines of nooses. 
 This plan has been widely practised in Europe. In Syria and the East 
 it is replaced to some extent by the kindred device of fastening a number 
 of horsehair nooses to the sides of a cage in which a living decoy is con- 
 fined. The German fowlers are fond of securing single Skylarks as cage 
 pets by means of a limed twig tied to the tail of a decoy-bird. The 
 limed twig consists of a forked branch, which is so adjusted as to inter- 
 cept any wild Lark that descends to attack his supposed rival. The latter 
 is turned loose in a field with the points of its wings tied together. This 
 bird naturally excites the amatory jealousy of any free Lark that happens 
 to be soaring in the heavens above. Down he comes to oust the tres- 
 passer from his home, and becomes the prey of the fowler, who is lying 
 in watch. I have not been able to ascertain that spring-traps are used 
 for catching Larks in the north of Europe, though aware that large quan- 
 tities of Calandra Larks are caught by such means in Sicily. Thus in 
 the province of Caltinisetta the peasants catch a large number of the 
 species of Lark just mentioned, in the month of February, while engaged 
 in sowing the corn which they call " MarzuUo." The trap employed for 
 this purpose is that designated as the " Balestre," which I believe to be 
 identical with the circular spring-trap which the French distinguish as 
 
FOWLING FOE LAKKS. 57 
 
 the " Arbalestre." I have not found any description of the " Arbalestre " 
 being specially used in France for catching birds; but the "Solitaire 
 Inventiv " commends its adoption as a means of capturing the Garden 
 Dormouse [Myoxus nitela), when that pretty little animal commits ravages 
 upon fruit. The " Arbalestre " is adopted in the north of Africa as a 
 means of trapping Larks and other small birds. Mr W. H. Watel, of 
 Algiers, has been good enough to send me a couple of the small wire traps 
 now used in his neighbourhood for catching Larks. I cannot see any 
 difference between these circular wire spring-traps and the similar traps 
 which can be bought at any ironmonger's shop in England. Mr Watel 
 says that an Arab will set three or four dozen of these little traps in a 
 stableyard, a field, or an unfrequented roadway, covering over the trap 
 with sand. There can be no doubt that these cheap European traps have 
 displaced the old Moorish stamp of " Arbalestre." Mr Charles A. Payton 
 writes to me that " the town-boys of Mogadore have curious little springes, 
 of a bow shape, for trapping the numerous little marsh and mud-birds, 
 such as Eing Dotterel, Sandpipers, Wagtails, and the like." Mr Gr. H. 
 Eernau, of Casablanca, has taken the trouble to procure a specimen of the 
 Moorish trap to which Mr Payton alludes. The " bow " portion of this 
 
 Moorish Trap. 
 
 trap is formed by the rib of a quadruped, and measures about nine inches 
 in diameter. A strongly-plaited string is drawn tight between the two 
 extremities of the rib, having in the centre a piece of wood about three- 
 tenths of an inch in breadth, and a length of five inches. A fine but 
 strong splint of cane is fitted into a central groove in the distal extremity 
 
58 
 
 FOWLING FOR LAUKS. 
 
 of the centre-piece, so as to form a second bow, which lies, when at rest, 
 underneath the bow formed by the rib. It only requires the addition of 
 a short piece of cane attached to the centre-piece of the gin. If a short 
 loop of string or grass is attached to the centre-piece inside the bow, it 
 becomes an easy matter to adjust this trap. The bone is then forced 
 back and kept in position by the wooden peg, which catches the loose 
 noose already referred to. A grain of corn or an insect is attached to 
 the trigger of the trap. When a lark or partridge pecks at the seed, it 
 springs the snare. 
 
 The Dean of Cairo has most kindly brought to me from Egypt a 
 couple of these bow-shaped traps. These small engines are made with 
 
 Egyptiajt Trap. 
 
 three pieces of cane. The bow which falls upon the bird measures about 
 one inch in depth, and is heavy in proportion to its size. The spring is 
 supplied with a piece of tightly coiled plait of hair. When the trap is 
 in use the heavy bow is held back by the wooden peg or trigger, which 
 catches in a thread loop. A single pea is strung upon the thread loop. 
 As soon as a bird touches the pea, the bow is released and springs for- 
 ward upon the bird. 
 
 Mr Styan has brought to me from China a trap of the same construe- 
 
FOWLING FOE LAKKS. 
 
 59 
 
 tion. It is made of wood. It only seems to diifer from the African 
 patterns in the provision of a small wooden catch, in which the trigger 
 rests. I am indebted to Mr F. W. Styan for a specimen of the little 
 trap here figured. 
 It is employed by 
 Chinese peasants 
 for catching Larks 
 and Buntings. A 
 small snare is ex- 
 tended on the two 
 centre - pieces of 
 the trap. The bird 
 alights on these 
 low perches to peck 
 at the seed with 
 which the trap is 
 baited. Its weight 
 
 releases the catch, Chinese Teap. 
 
 and the snare is jerked into the air and becomes entangled with the bird's 
 feet. This trap was brought to me from the Yangtse Kiang Valley. 
 
 The ground-loving habits of the Larks expose them to the risk of 
 capture when roosting on the open plain. The peasants of the Eoman 
 Campagna still catch Larks and some other birds surreptitiously by 
 means of a long-handled net, which Olina figures as the " Lanciatoia." 
 A round bag-net, knitted of the usual mesh for catching Larks, is 
 attached to the end of a long pole by means of two pieces of wood, 
 which form a fork, so that the engine bears some resemblance to a 
 landing-net. A Eoman sportsman observed to me that the " Lanciatoia " 
 appears, in Olina's drawing, to consist of a net attached to a mry short 
 handle ; whereas the pole which bears the net should not measure less 
 than seven feet. The fowler chooses a dark winter night for catching 
 Larks with this net. He carries a lantern and drowns the sound of his 
 footsteps with a bell. So far as I can gather (and I have made various 
 inquiries on the subject), the use of the " Lanciatoia '' is not recognised 
 in Northern Italy at the present day. That it was formerly practised 
 in the vicinity of Bologna is rendered certain by the remarks of 
 Bartolomeo Alberti in his Cacciator Bolognzse. He there incidentally 
 
60 FOWLING FOR LARKS. 
 
 describes the use of the long-handled Lark-net, in similar terms to those 
 used independently by Olina. But, whereas Olina represents the Eoman 
 peasant as carrying a large bell attached to his waist-belt, Alberti informs 
 us that the fowler must have his belt or legs loaded with small bells 
 (" Campanelli e di campanacci "), so attached as to tinkle when the person 
 thus accoutred walks through the fields ; for the birds are familiar with 
 the tinkling of cattle bells. The Bolognese fowler carries a lantern like 
 his Eoman counterpart, and quietly drops his net on the top of the 
 birds as they crouch on the ground. Alberti himself compares the net 
 used in this kind of fowling as similar to the fishing-net which his 
 fellow-countrymen termed the " Canossa " (" Eete da pescare "). 
 
 In the south of Spain the practice of taking Larks and other little 
 birds with bell and lantern supplies the markets with myriads of small 
 fry. Mr Abel Chapman has referred me to his charming work, Wild 
 Spain, in which he says that the engines of the fowler are the 
 " Cencerro " or cattle-bell and the dark lantern. " As most cattle carry 
 the ' Cencerro ' around ther necks, the sound of the bells at close 
 quarters by night causes no alarm to the ground birds. The bird- 
 catcher, with his bright candle gleaming before its reflector and the 
 cattle-bell jingling at his wrist, prowls nightly over the stubbles and 
 wastes in search of the roosting birds. Any number of bewildered 
 victims can thus be gathered, for Larks and such like birds fall into a 
 helpless state of panic when once focussed in the bright rays of the 
 lantern" (p. 36). There was a time in "Merrie England" when the 
 right of catching Larks by such means was so highly valued as to be 
 restricted in practice to the owners of land. The title of " Low-belling " 
 was employed to distinguish this variety of fowling from other methods. 
 An old indenture of lease between Lawrence Eogers, citizen and cloth- 
 worker of London, and Francis Aunger of East Clandon in County 
 Surrey, Esquire, dated 24th Eliz. Nov. 20 (1582), expressly reserves 
 " to and for the said Edward Carleton and Marie, their heirs and assignes, 
 all views of Frankpledge, felons- goods, wayfes and estraies within the 
 said manner, . . . together with liberty to go to a batt fowling, liberty 
 to go with lowbell, liberty of hawking, and liberty of hunting the hare, 
 ffox, and other beasts of warren " {Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, 
 Vol. III. p. 35). That the sport was widely recognised as a pastime may 
 be inferred from its mention in the baUad of " St George for England " : — 
 
FOWLING FOK LARKS. 61 
 
 "As timorous larks amazed are 
 With light and with low-bell." 
 
 The compound term of Low-belling requires an explanation, because 
 the word " Lowe " has become nearly obsolete. Yet it survives in the 
 homely dialect of the north of England. As an instance of this, I may 
 mention that one of the Esk poachers described to me in the vernacular 
 how a light is often employed in gaffing salmon that are lying alongside 
 of a weir. He told me that the reflection of the lantern or candles, cast 
 upon the fish, is still known to the members of his fraternity as the 
 " Lowe " or " Low." Hence it will be readily understood that " Low- 
 belUng " is the combined use of a light and bell. For instructions as to 
 how to go " Low-belling " we must refer to the early English writers, and 
 especially to the work entitled A Jewell for Qentrie. The use of this 
 form of fowling is " to goe with a great light of Cressets or ragges of 
 linnen dipt in Tallow that will make a goode light, and you must have a 
 panne of plate, made like a Lanterne, to carrye your light in, which must 
 have a great socket to hold a great light, and carrie it before you on your 
 brest, with a Bell in your other hand of a great Bignesse, made in manner 
 like to a Cowbell, but of greater bignes, and you must ring it allwayes after 
 one order, with two to goe with Nets one of each side of him that carries 
 the Bell, and what with the light that so doth amaze them, and the Bell 
 that so doth astonish them, they will, when you come neere them, turn 
 up their white bellies, which you shall quickly perceive, then lay your 
 nets on them and take them ; but the Bell must not stint going : for if 
 it cease, then the birds will flye up if there be any more nigh. This is 
 a good way to catch Larkes, Woodcockes, and Partriches, and all other 
 land-Birdes." 
 
 Markham also gives an interesting account of the Low- Bell " After 
 the night," he says, " hath covered the face of the earth (which commonly 
 'tis about eight of the clock at night), the Ayre being mild, and the Moon 
 not shining, you shall take your Low-Bell, which is a Bell of such a 
 reasonable size as a man may well carry it in one hand, and having a 
 deep, hollow, and sad sound, for the more quick and shrill it is the worse 
 it is, and the more sad and solemne the better : and with this Bell you 
 shall also have a net (of a small mesh) at least twenty yards deep, and 
 so broad that it may cover five or six ordinary Lands or more, according 
 
62 FOWLING FOE LARKS. 
 
 as you have company to carry it (for the more ground it covers, the more 
 is your sport, and the richer the prey that is taken) ; with these instru- 
 ments you shall go into some stubble field, either Wheat, Eye, or Barley, 
 but the Wheat is the best, and he which earrieth the Bell shall goe the 
 formost, and toll the Bell as hee goeth along, so solemnly as may be, 
 letting it but now and then knock on both sides ; then shall follow the 
 net, being borne up at each corner and one each side by sundry persons ; 
 then another man shall carry an old yron Cresset, or some other vessell 
 of stone or yron in which you shall have good store of sinders or burning 
 coales (but not blazing), and at these you shall light bundles of dry Straw, 
 Hay, Stubble, Linkes, Torches, or any other substances that will blaze, 
 and then having spread and pitcht your Nette where you thinke any Game 
 is (having all your lights blazing), with noyses and poles beat up all that 
 are under the Net, and then presently, as they flicker up, you shall see 
 them in tangled in the Net, so as you may take them at your pleasure : as 
 Partriges, Eayles, Larkes, Quailes, or any other small Birdes of what kind 
 soever which lodge upon the ground, which done, you shall suddenly 
 extinguish your lights, and then proceede forward and lay your Net in 
 another place." The Germans are famous as a nation for the havoc 
 wrought in the numbers of their native Larks by means of the method 
 widely known as " Das Lerchenstreichen," which was, however, confined 
 in its most flourishing days to certain districts. It is now, I understand, 
 illegal, or at any rate restricted in its action. 
 
 Of the vast number of birds which perished through the " Lerchen- 
 streichen " there is no necessity to speak. The system involves the 
 erection of long walls of perpendicular nets, ranging one after another 
 across the open plain in which this branch of fowling was carried on. 
 The mesh of the net measured two inches. Each net measured about 
 three hundred yards in length and about six feet in depth. Twelve such 
 nets, according to Brehm, usually constituted one " Wande " or wall of 
 net. These walls of net were placed at a distance of from twelve to 
 eighteen feet apart. Sometimes the fowler was satisfied to range only 
 three of these long walls of flight-nets behind one another ; but the series 
 usually consisted of six "Wandes." Occasionally as many as eight or 
 even nine " Wandes " would be set together. These great walls of nets 
 varied but little in height. Those which were placed in the rear were 
 usually furnished with two additional rows of meshes, so that they 
 
FOWLING FOB LARKS. 63 
 
 projected a little above those in front of them. Thus the Larks which 
 flew over the first lines of nets probably entered the last of these engines. 
 The fowler set his bands of nets in a flat stubble country, facing east. 
 The posts intended to support the nets were as much as nine feet in 
 length, and were driven into the ground at a distance of seventy or eighty 
 feet apart. The first row of posts was twelve feet wider than the next. 
 The second, third, and fourth rows exceeded their immediate predecessors 
 by distances of thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen feet respectively. On the 
 other hand, the last net but one only exceeded the last by a single foot. 
 The nets were supported by a strong line, which passed through a series 
 of thirty or forty small rings, each of which was firmly secured to the 
 outer margin of the upper portion of the net. 
 
 These little rings were variously made of iron, brass, or horn, and 
 were of a sufiicient diameter to allow the upper line to pass freely through 
 their centres. They enabled the nets to be pulled together like the folds 
 of a curtain. In places where the stubble was smooth and level, the nets 
 might be allowed to touch the ground with their lower edges ; but they 
 generally hung at a height of a foot, or at least six inches, off the ground. 
 Autumn was the time when the German Lark-catchers reaped their 
 harvest, particularly from the middle of September to the end of October. 
 Eainy weather was unfavourable to such an enterprise. If dew or rain 
 fell heavily the nets were liable to be soaked. Silken thread was found 
 to resist the action of weather better than that made of flax or hemp 
 fibre. The labour required for working a set of these nets was consider- 
 able. Two or three men were often kept to attend to each wall of net. 
 Their business was to drive the birds, and see that all the meshes of the 
 walls of netting hung in the way desired. Twenty or thirty men were 
 required to drive the Larks into the nets, a ticklish undertaking, which 
 was carried out about dusk. The modus operandi was for a man and a 
 boy to take a portion of the field and drag it with a ground line, which 
 they paid out gradually. A number of drivers started together, directed 
 by the whistle of the foreman fowler, who decided whether the driving 
 (" Treiben ") was to be early or late, and rapidly or slowly carried out. 
 As soon as the drivers arrived within a hundred or a hundred and thirty 
 paces of the nets, the foreman made his men halt, leaving the Larks to 
 be finally driven up to the nets. 
 
 The fowlers of Thuringia used to regulate the time of their Lark- 
 
64 FOWLING FOE LARKS. 
 
 driving by the appearance of the " Abendsterne " or " Evening Star." 
 Driving commenced when that planet became visible. In other districts 
 the fowlers were guided by what they termed the " Lerchensterne." "We 
 are left to guess to which of the heavenly bodies this term may have been 
 appropriated. It was a star of medium size, set high in a southern 
 quarter of the heavens, which is all the information that Brehm vouch- 
 safes to give us. As soon as the head driver recognised that the planet 
 had commenced to exercise its beneficent influence, he whistled to his 
 subordinates, who at once dragged the ground up to the nets with long 
 cords, shouting noisily. The Larks, thus roused from their expected rest, 
 hurried low over the ground, and the greater number flew into the first 
 wall of net ; the remainder entered one or other of the nets behind the 
 first row. As soon as driving terminated, the fowlers at once disengaged 
 the struggling birds from the meshes, and killed them by crushing their 
 heads or breasts. The produce of the nets was thrown into small sacks 
 or baskets. The number of the birds thus captured varied according to 
 circumstances. In many instances the fowler was well content to catch 
 twenty or thirty dozen in a single evening. This estimate was often 
 surpassed in specially favoured fowling stations, where eight or even nine 
 " walls " of nets were worked. Under such circumstances as many as 
 twelve and even fifteen hundred Larks were netted in an evening. Such 
 returns were needed to recoup the outlay of four hundred thalers or more 
 which the establishment of such a set of nets would necessitate. More- 
 over, the bands of nets were liable to be much injured by gales of wind. 
 
 I cannot say that the German method of Lark-catching has found 
 much favour in other European countries. It appears to be equally 
 unheard of in France and the British Isles ; Spain and Portugal know it 
 not. It is represented in the north of Italy by the system entitled the 
 " Antennella." Count Camozzi Vertova has procured for me a photograph 
 of this variety of fowling, taken in the immediate vicinity of Bergamo. 
 It represents a long series of very fine perpendicular nets, stretched 
 between posts, and extending right across the " campo " or field, the wall 
 of net being set at the angles most likely to intercept any flocks of Larks 
 that might be driven into the meshes of the " Antennella." Although 
 the meshes of these nets are woven of silk or fine thread, the birds would 
 see them in the daytime. At dusk, on the other hand, the folds are not 
 so easily perceived ; hence considerable numbers of Larks are taken, as 
 
FOWLING FOE LAEKS. 65 
 
 well as some Snipe and other birds that frequent the open plain. This 
 method of fowling was known to Savi ; but he expressly passes it over in 
 silence, on the ground that it was not practised by the birdcatchers of 
 Tuscany. 
 
 It has already been observed that our Teutonic neighbours at one 
 time consumed an almost incredible quantity of Skylarks. More than 
 500,000 Larks were supplied to the city of Leipzig in the month of 
 October. But it may be questioned whether the war of extermination 
 waged against these birds on British soil was not almost equally severe. 
 The stubble fields of the Midlands in particular afforded attractive feeding 
 grounds to the swarms of foreign Larks which then, as now, sought to 
 winter in this country. The most celebrated centre of the Lark- 
 catching industry was the town of Dunstable. Thomas Baskerville 
 visited Dunstable in 1681, and entered the following remark in his 
 itinerary :-^—" Dunstable is a pretty good market-town in Hertfordshire 
 (^sicy It hath a fair church in it, and the ruins of an abbey or a religious 
 house, situate in a plain under the hills, having large fields about it, 
 where in the season they catch good larks, which have the greatest 
 esteem for birds of that kind in London" (Portland MSS. n. p. 274). 
 The same traveller observed that the expression "A Dunstable lark 
 and straw hats " had passed into a proverb when he passed through 
 Dunstable. 
 
 It is interesting to learn from Pennant that the Dunstable Lark- 
 catchers plied their trade by means of Clap-nets. This form of engine 
 was used for Lark-catching four hundred years ago, and perhaps earlier. 
 The nets described by Pennant measured fifteen yards in length and two 
 and a-half yards in breadth. The nets described in the Jewell for 
 Gentrie measured " about foure fadome and the breadth a fadome and 
 somewhat better." Markham recommends that the nets should measure 
 three fathoms in length and a single fathom or six feet in breadth. 
 Buliard estimates the length of the French nets at forty feet, which is 
 less than some of those which I have seen used in Italy. The season for 
 Lark-catching is identical in England and the Continent, except that the 
 Englishmen in early times may have commenced operations before the 
 tide of immigration of Larks had begun to flow upon our shores from the 
 Continent. Markham remarks that "the time of the yeare for these 
 Nets is from August till November." We know from Pennant that the 
 
 E 
 
66 FOWLING FOR LAEKS. 
 
 Dunstable Lark-catching commenced about the 14th of September and 
 lasted until the 25 th of February. On the Continent the month of 
 October is par excellence the season for La chasse avx alaiiettes. In 
 England the fowler has never, to my knowledge, fixed his nets continually 
 in a single field, finding it more profitable to shift his position according 
 to circumstance of weather and local conditions. The Italian fowler does 
 the same if he is a poor man and has no special rights, for then he is 
 obliged to fix his nets wherever he can find an advantageous spot from 
 which he will not be dismissed by the owner of land. But the local 
 proprietor who keeps a regular Lark-catching establishment in Italy 
 fixes his nets permanently in the centre of some " Campo " or wide, flat 
 field. He often cultivates a little green patch of lucerne or other crop, 
 as an inducement to the Larks to drop into the " Piazza," as the open 
 space between the two spread nets is termed. The man of means 
 improves upon the ordinary Lark-nets. Some of those which I saw 
 worked near Bergamo were so long, and mounted on such heavy poles, 
 that the addition of strong spiral springs of steel had been found 
 necessary to enable the fowler to pull the nets together with sufficient 
 rapidity. I was assured that these springs weighed as much as a 
 hundred and twelve kilos. They were fixed to large masses of rock 
 which were buried in the ground. The portion of the springs exposed 
 to view was painted green, to match the colour of the field. The Italian 
 birdcatchers showed me a few live Larks in their store-cages of decoys ; 
 but they chiefly attracted the Larks into their nets by means of the 
 braced birds, which they call " Zimbelli " or " Endici." Some of these 
 are simply tied to a small peg, which is flxed in the ground. These are 
 called " Passeggini " in Tuscany, and are what an old English fowler 
 would have dubbed his " Stales." The " Endici " are live Larks, tied to 
 a crossed arrangement of two slender rods. These two rods are tied flrmly 
 athwart one another, and their lower ends are tied to a couple of 
 pegs driven into the ground a little distance apart. The " Endici " are 
 secured to the free ends of the rods. But the arrangement of decoy- 
 Larks, which the Bergamo fowlers seemed to think of most importance, 
 is that which they know as the " Zambellona." Two stout poles of about 
 eight feet in length are planted in the ground between two different sets 
 of Clap-nets ; for the Italian can work five pairs of nets at one and the 
 same time, a feat which, I believe, would surprise most of his British 
 
FOWLING FOB LAEKS. 67 
 
 confreres. A glass ring of one inch diameter, called the "Anello di 
 vetro," is fastened edgeways to the side of that pole which stands nearest 
 to the hut of the fowler, at a distance of about eighteen inches from the 
 summit of the pole. A long string is firmly fastened to the top of the 
 furthest pole and carried to the fowling hut, passing through the glass 
 ring of the second pole. When at work the fowler ties a dozen or two 
 of live Larks to that portion of the line which lies between the two poles. 
 The birds are allowed to rest quietly on the ground, when nothing is 
 doing. If a flock of Larks appear on the " Campo," the fowlers whistle 
 their lustiest. The man who sits in the hut pulls his string of Larks, 
 and the poor birds swing in the air with fluttering wings, as if they 
 desired to alight. The sight stimulates the desire of the free birds to 
 join company with the decoys, and they are thus lured to their doom. 
 
 The city of Pisa has a special reputation for Lark-catching. Savi 
 gives a pleasing description of how his fellow-citizens of all ranks used to 
 become amateur fowlers, to find a relief from the constant cares and 
 worries of the year (" per aver cosi un soUievo alle continue e nojose cure 
 dell'anno"). The Larks which I saw caught in the Italian Clap-nets 
 were Wood Larks and Skylarks. Many Calandra Larks were exposed in 
 the Florence Market in October. These, I was told, had been taken in 
 the Clap-nets. The same remark would apply to the south of Spain, 
 where the Calandra is much sought after as a cage-bird. One feature 
 of Lark-netting which I missed in Italy was the use of an artificial 
 mirror to attract the Larks into the nets. The Italians more often shoot 
 Larks to the mirror, or to a Little Owl or "Civetta." Sometimes a 
 " Civetta " is placed in the centre of a pair of Italian Clap-nets, in order 
 to induce the birds to strike at the Owl ; but this is the exception. In 
 France, as in our own country, the use of a revolving mirror has long 
 been regarded as a serviceable adjunct of netting Larks. It is scarcely 
 necessary to add that considerable ingenuity has been developed in the 
 manufacture of a toy which is as much to the taste of our Parisian 
 neighbours as to that of the sportsmen of the Japanese empire. The 
 pastime of popping at Larks, as they dart to the mirror, has also been 
 naturalised in Eussia. Personally, my interest in the Lark-mirror 
 belongs to the past, since modern improvements rob old uses of their 
 interest. The Lark-mirror, described in A Jewell for Gentrie, was " a three- 
 sqjiare peece of wood, a foote in length, and three inches each square : it must 
 
68 FOWLING FOE LAEKS. 
 
 be painted red, and be all inlaid with square or round peeces of looking- 
 glasse, it must have a foote in the midst, which must goe into a wide 
 socket of wood, made in a strong stake, which must be stricken into the 
 earth, then to the foote must be fastened a pack thread, which being 
 wounde many times about the foote, and issuing through a little hole of 
 the Stake, must come to your feate, so that when you pull it, the woode 
 will turne so round that it will give a strange reflection, and so con- 
 tinuing the turning, it will entice the Birds to play wonderfully." 
 
 Markham furnishes a somewhat similar account of the " Looking- 
 glasse ; " but the triangular body-piece of the mirror which he mentions 
 was two instead of three inches deep, and studded with " about twenty 
 small pieces of Looking-glasses, & paynt all the spare wood betweene 
 them of a very bright red colour, which in the continuall motion and 
 turning about, will give such a glorious reflection, that the wanton birds 
 cannot forbear but will play about it with admiration till they be taken." 
 The " Solitaire Inventiv " describes and figures the Lark-mirror as made 
 of an arched piece of wood an inch and a-half thick, the lower extremi- 
 ties being about nine inches apart. This headpiece has five facets, which 
 are grooved to admit of the insertion of small pieces of mirror. This 
 five-sided mirror, when complete, revolves on its axis by means of a string, 
 which passes through the support of the glass, and is pulled by the fowler 
 at his will. The French birdcatchers placed the mirror in the centre of 
 the nets, just like the Dunstable men, who used both the Lark-mirror and 
 decoy- Larks to coax the wild birds into their nets. Buliard tells us that 
 some Lark-mirrors are crescent-shaped, others flat below and round above ; 
 others, again, both round and flat like a plate, and some are oblong in 
 form. He enjoins that the framework of the glass should be painted 
 reddish brown, thus conforming to the old English use. Anyone who is 
 interested in the mechanical details of Lark-mirrors should consult the 
 twelfth chapter of the Aviceptologie Frangaise. It should here be observed 
 that the author of the Jewell for Gentrie advises the fowler to supplement 
 the use of " Stales " by means of " a long pole, hung about with shittle 
 cocks of feathers, which you shall place within thirtie or fortie paces of 
 your Nets, so directly in the mouth of the winde, that they may wherle 
 and turne about with a ceaselesse motion : this will gather about you 
 abundance of Larkes and all sorts of Birds." Similarly, Markham enjoins 
 upon his readers that when the nets are spread " you shall, some twenty 
 
FOWLING FOR LAKKS. 69 
 
 or thirty paces beyond your Netts, and as much on this side, place your 
 Gygges, or playing wantons ; being fastened to the toppes of long poles, 
 and turned into the winde, so as they may play and make a noyse therein, 
 and these Giggs are certaine toyes made of long Goose feathers in the 
 manner of shettlecocks, and with little smal turnells of wood running in 
 broad and flat Swan quilles made round like a small hoope, and so with 
 longer strings fastened to the Pole, will with any small winde or ayre what- 
 soever, twirle and flicker in the ayre after such a wanton manner, that the 
 Birds will come and in great flockes to wonder and play about the same." 
 In the coast districts of Lancashire the title of "Cymbal-nets" has been con- 
 ferred upon the " Day " or Clap nets of our south coast. Thus we read 
 in A Cavalier's Notebook : " A great help to the Cymbal-nets for bringing 
 in of larks about your net, is a gigg of feathers standing a distance off, 
 which twirleth swiftly round on the least breath of wind. When the sun 
 doth not shine, a fox tail pulled up within the compass of your net will 
 make the larks strike at it as if it were a weasel" (p. 272). Mr F. S.. 
 Mitchell says that the working of these nets is known on the Lancashire 
 coast as " Simmin " or " SimbUn." He adds that the Lancashire fowler 
 uses a small stand termed the " Mill," with a piece of looking-glass and a 
 red rag fastened to it, which revolves when the cord is pulled. The nets, 
 of which the mesh is ten to the foot, are set on a bright sunny day, with 
 the wind blowing directly into the face of the fowler. He sits on his 
 empty box, and as soon as a Lark approaches begins to whistle ; its atten- 
 tion being attracted, he makes the brace-birds flutter and twirls the mill, 
 and when the wild bird has come sufficiently near, whether impelled by 
 curiosity or what, the nets are rapidly pulled over and the prize secured. 
 In favourable weather an average of eight or ten dozen a day, of which 
 about eighty per cent, will be caught alive, can be taken, September and 
 October being the only months in which birds " strike," as it is called, well . 
 (Birds of Lancashire, p. 96). Pennant warns us that Skylarks will not 
 " Dare '' or strike the mirror after the weather has grown gloomy, for 
 which reason the Dunstable birdcatchers discarded their Clap-nets after 
 the 14th of November. Their industry was carried on, after that date, 
 by means of the Trammel-net, a square engine measuring twenty-seven or 
 twenty-eight feet in length and five feet in depth. This was mounted on 
 two poles, each eighteen feet long, and carried by two men. " The fowlers 
 quarter the ground as a setting dog ; when they hear or feel a Lark hit 
 
70 FOWLING FOB LARKS. 
 
 the net, they drop it down, and so the birds are taken " {British Zoology, 
 Vol. L p. 300). Markham also gives a terse description of the "Tramell 
 or long Tramel Net," which, he says, differed chiefly from the net used in 
 Lowbelling in being of somewhat greater "length. " This Nette," he says, 
 " when you come into the place where the haunt of Birds are, which rest 
 upon the earth (being such as are before named) you shall then spread it 
 upon the ground, and let the neather or furtherst end thereof (being 
 plummed with small plumets of lead) lye loose on the ground and then 
 bearing up the former ende, by the strength of men at the two formost 
 endes, onely traile it along the ground, not suffering that ende which is 
 borne up to come neere the ground by a full yard or more. Then one 
 each side the Nette shal bee carried great blazing lights of fire, such as 
 were formerly spoken of, and by the lightes others with long poales to 
 beate up the birds as they goe, and as they rise under the Netts so to 
 take them." 
 
 We are told, in A Jewell for Gentrie, that the fowler who is ambitious to 
 use a " Trammail " must provide himself and his mate with a net " Seaven 
 yardes of length and five in breadth; then take a couple of Poles or long rods, 
 so long as your net is, and tye your poles to your nets all along the length 
 of your nets, one of one side and the other of the other side, then may you 
 take your pole in your hand, and plucke out your pole out of bredth, and one 
 goe in one thorow of the land and another in the other thorow, and goe 
 along in lands, and carry your net as farre forwardes as you can, and when 
 they heare you tread, then will they flutter up into your net, which you 
 shall quickly heare, then let downe your net to the ground, and gripe them, 
 and take them from under your net ; but if it be in a very darke night, 
 that you cannot see them, you should have a little close lanterne, that one 
 may perceive no light, but when it is opened to see to take them, but we 
 commonly make shift without." The " Solitaire Inventiv " and other 
 French writers dilate at great length on the use of the " Traineau " or 
 Trammel-net. It is employed for Lark-catching in Russia and Germany, 
 under the title of the " Nachtgarn ; " but I cannot say that the foreign 
 uses of this engine differ materially from the English use. It is right to 
 mention that the old-fashioned French fowlers used to capture large 
 numbers of Skylarks in frosty weather by setting two Clap-nets in a line, 
 so that they covered the entire length of the ground which the nets occu- 
 pied. This plan was called the " Eid^e." Decoy-Larks were pegged down 
 
FOWLING FOR LABKS. 
 
 71 
 
 beside the net. The free birds were gently driven up to the net from 
 three-quarters of the field. When the expectant birdcatcher calculated 
 that they were sufficiently near, he pulled a string of decoy-Larks, which 
 fluttered and twittered to their wild brethren, thus luring the latter along- 
 side of the Clap-nets. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from Olina. It represents the 
 now illegal amusement of netting birds by night with the long-handled net 
 known as the Lanciatoia. The peasants of the Roman Campagna employ this 
 engine chiefly to effect the capture of Larks and Quail. According to the 
 Sporto Illustrato, the Woodcock is occasionally netted in the same fashion.] 
 
CHAPTER VIII.— TITS AND PIPITS. 
 
 THE WAGTAILS (Motacillidce) contribute an appreciable number of 
 victims to the autumn fowling of the Italians. One of the species 
 which crosses the Alps into Upper Italy in September and October is the 
 White Wagtail (Motacilla alba). The common Italian name for this bird 
 is the " Ballerina." The Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail {Motacilla flava) 
 is called the " Strisciajola." These two species are netted in scores with 
 the Clap-nets, especially if the toils are laid in the vicinity of water. 
 When studying the Bergamo fowling, I saw the Blue-headed Wagtail 
 driven up to the nets by one of the birdcatcher's assistants ; but the 
 White Wagtail is par excellence the prey of the birdcatchers. I have 
 known the Yellow Wagtail [Motacilla raii) netted in dozens by London 
 birdcatchers, who called them " Woolwites " ; but this is a scarce bird in 
 Italy. The greatest hauls of the "Strisciajola" are made during the 
 burning heat of August, when the birds eagerly resort to the waterside. 
 
TITS AND PIPITS. 73 
 
 The birdcatchers of Italy generally place a number of live Wagtails in 
 the " Piazza " or centre of the nets to allure their wild fellows to join 
 them company. I found that the Bergamo fowlers used caged Wagtails 
 as decoys. Another plan is to place a Little Owl in the middle of the 
 nets. Sometimes these birds are taken with limed twigs placed on the 
 ground in the neighbourhood of the " Civetta." Yet another method is 
 to catch these birds with the aid of a lantern (" Frugnolo ") when at 
 roost on the banks of some pond or stream. 
 
 The Pipits (Anthus) swarm in the grassy plains of Italy in autumn, 
 especially the Meadow Pipit (Anthiis pratensis) and the Tree Pipit 
 (Anthus trimalis), with a lesser number of Water Pipits (Anthus 
 aqvMticus). I saw this latter bird netted at Bergamo, and feel no doubt 
 that many of those that are bred on the high summer pastures of the 
 Alpis furnish the Italians with a dainty dish. Even Eichard's Pipit 
 (Anthus richardi) shares the same fate. But the Meadow Pipit is taken 
 in far greater numbers than the other members of the family, especially 
 in Lombardy. The Clap-nets are the chief engines used in the capture 
 of this bird. Decoys are used ; but success is said to depend largely on 
 the skill with which the fowler imitates the call-note of the "Moss- 
 cheeper." That exquisite representative of the Creepers (Certhiidce), the 
 Wall Creeper (Tichodroma muraria), sometimes succumbs to the strategy 
 of the Swiss peasant. The only bird of this species that I ever held alive 
 in my hand was a lovely old male which had been crippled by a shot 
 which did not draw blood, but yet disabled it from flight. Bailly affirms 
 that its capture is sometimes effected by means of hooks ; these are baited 
 with insects, and placed along the rocks or precipices which the Wall 
 Creeper is accustomed to traverse. Eobson informed Dresser that on one 
 occasion a Wall Creeper was caught on board a vessel on the Bosphorus. 
 Belon was acquainted with this bird as a native of Auvergne ; for he 
 describes its colour correctly, even to the crimson of its wings, which he 
 observes are " mouchetees de rouge, comme celles d'un beau Papillon." 
 Nevertheless, his figure of the "Pic de Muraille" appears to have been 
 based on the skin of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Gesner gives a 
 woodcut of the Wall Creeper in winter dress, and Aldrovandus does the 
 same. 
 
 The Common Nuthatch (Sitta caesia) is perhaps almost the only 
 member of the family (Sittidce) that is ever sought after by the fowler. 
 
74 TITS AND PIPITS. 
 
 It is an easy bird to trap on account of the constancy with which it 
 returns to a favourite haunt, and the eagerness which it manifests to 
 possess itself of any nuts that may form the bait of a spring-trap. I 
 have known English birdcatchers who were in the habit of catching both 
 Nuthatches and Titmice (Faridce) in Clap-nets pitched under the trees 
 which these birds frequented to feed on beechmast. 
 
 The Nuthatch is more difficult to catch in spring than in autumn ; 
 but even at the former season a caged decoy and limed twigs are the only 
 articles necessary for procuring its capture, for the male birds are very 
 pugnacious in the breeding season. Not that I advocate the capture of 
 the Nuthatch at any time, for I would far rather see the bird unmolested. 
 But it is an entertaining bird in captivity, and far better company than 
 any Finch. The Germans are fond of trapping Titmice in the forests of 
 the Vaterland. 
 
 The Great Titmouse (Parus major), which is called the " Kohlmeise " 
 in Germany, is the species taken in the largest numbers at the " Meisen- 
 hiitte." The Coal Tit [Parus ater), which the Germans term the 
 " Tannenmeise " or " Fir - mouse," is also frequently captured. The 
 Crested Tit [Lopophanes cristatus) occasionally pays a visit to the 
 " Meisentanz," but only when the fowler is catching birds in black 
 forests of pines ; at least so says Brehm. I do not know why it should 
 be so; in Spain I certainly found the Crested Tit in woods composed 
 exclusively of deciduous timber. All the same, I never met with the 
 Crested Tit in Switzerland except in fir woods. The Blue Tit [Parios 
 ccerideus) and the Marsh Tit [Parus pahistris) are not very often found 
 in coniferous forests. If the German birdcatcher desires to capture these 
 two species, he builds his hut in a plantation of mixed timber. The hut 
 is a square structure built of branches, and provided with an open space 
 on one side. If the hut happens to be placed in a fir wood, it is con- 
 structed of fir branches. Elsewhere it is covered with reeds, sedge, ivy, 
 or other handy materials. Its position is selected with a view to intercept 
 the numerous droves of Titmice which wander from east to west or from 
 north-east to south-west in autumn. The season for Tit-fowling begins 
 in the middle of September and lasts until the end of October. The 
 birdcatcher provides himself with a Tit-call (" Meisen-pfeise "), which 
 measures three inches long, and is made out of the barrel of the quill 
 feather of a goose. 
 
TITS AND PIPITS. 
 
 75 
 
 The trap by which the Titmice are intended to be taken is composed 
 of a kind of perch, called the " Kloben." This measures about three feet 
 in length, and is intended to capture any bird which alights upon it by 
 the toes. So far as I can 
 judge, the principle of the 
 " Kloben " is identical 
 with that of the French 
 instrument known as the 
 " Brai." This was known 
 to Belon. Buliard figures 
 the "Brai" as used in 
 Auvergne, Lorraine, and 
 Burgundy. It is formed 
 by dividing a cane longi- 
 tudinally. The two 
 halves are united by 
 means of a line, which 
 is secured to the lower 
 extremity of the inferior 
 perch. After passing 
 three times through both 
 of the perches, the cord 
 finally reaches the hand 
 of the birdcatcher. The 
 fowler holds the cord in 
 readiness, to be jerked 
 tight whenever any bird 
 alights on the rod. The 
 fowlers of Burgundy 
 were in the habit of 
 making huts in the 
 woods, and attracting 
 Titmice, Chaffinches, and 
 other small birds with 
 
 the usual calls. The idea Thb B.a. (after Bu.i.rd). 
 
 is not familiar to the ordinary Italian fowler. Mitelli, of Bologna, not 
 only adopted the idea, but developed it further, inventing perches armed 
 
76 TITS AND PIPITS. 
 
 with serrated edges or teeth, by which the detention of any unlucky bird 
 that incautiously alighted upon the engine was rendered certain. Mitelli 
 did not succeed in engrafting his ideas upon the fowlers of Italy. 
 
 But to return to the " Meisenhiitte." The Deutsch birdcatcher fixes 
 half-a-dozen of the " Kloben " upon the roof of his hut, taking care that 
 he can obtain a view from inside of any Titmouse which comes to spy out 
 the cause of the mysterious call. If a Great Tit alights, with its customary 
 twitter, upon a " Kloben," the perch closes with a snap, and the bird is held 
 tight by its feet until extricated by its captor. The fowler often supple- 
 ments the " Kloben " by making what is called the " Meisentanz," or 
 " Titmouse-dance." For this purpose a square space is marked out on 
 the open side of the hut. This is next fenced in with three six-foot 
 poles, which are fixed between posts, forming a horizontal railing around 
 
 
 
 a. 
 
 0' 
 
 d 
 
 The Meisen-huite. 
 
 the three sides. The fourth side, which is immediately in front of the 
 hut, is left open. The three sides of horizontal railing are required to 
 support a large number of horsehair snares, which are set at a distance of 
 three or four inches apart. The railing stands at a height of four or five 
 feet from the ground. The plan shows A, the centre of the hut ; h is 
 the door of the hut ; the six letters, d, d, d, d, d, d, indicate the six spy- 
 holes through which the fowler works the " Kloben ; " c is a corner of 
 the hut in which a bench and table are placed ; B, C, D are the sides of 
 the " Meisentanz " set with snares (" Sprenkeln ") ; E is the near side of 
 the enclosure, left open to enable the fowler to command a clear view 
 
TITS AND PIPITS. 77 
 
 of the parallel side C. Another plan is to mount small limed twigs on 
 the ends of tall hazel rods, which again are elevated on poles. 
 
 Di Valli figures the Italian method of catching the Great Tit or 
 " Spernuzzola " by means of a decoy and birdlime. The call-bii'd is placed 
 in a square cage, and a number of limed twigs are set at an angle all 
 round the cage, which is covered with green leaves. This Titmouse is a 
 common species in all parts of Italy, but the ranks of the resident birds 
 are increased in autumn by fresh arrivals from beyond the Alps. Signore 
 Delaito writes from Belluno that an extraordinary autumnal movement 
 of the Great Tit occurs in the district of Feltre about every ten years. 
 The quantity of birds that pass on such exceptional circumstances is 
 immense. Delaito has seen an expert fowler capture three hundred Great 
 Tits in a single operation of five hours' duration. The birdcatcher had a 
 call-bird and eight limed twigs ("Panioni") to take this noteworthy 
 number of birds {Avifauna Italica, Vol. iv. p. 203). At other times, 
 five or six Tits would have represented a fair day's catch. The Coal Tit 
 also appears at intervals in unusual numbers. Stefanini observes that 
 this species appears in Bergamo in large numbers in September and the 
 latter half of October every two or three years. At such times the boys 
 of Bergamo hang decoys out of the windows of the houses, attaching a 
 limed twig to each cage. I have known the Blue Tit to be caught in 
 Bayswater in the same way, except that a trap-cage was substituted for 
 the limed twig. OUna mentions that even in his time the Titmice were 
 taken in trap-cages as well as with clap-nets and birdlime. Brehm 
 remarks that the blossom of the common sunflower is an excellent bait 
 for Tits. When a boy, I assisted in capturing a few Marsh Tits and 
 Great Tits by this identical ruse. The popular name of " Oxeye," which 
 is so often applied to the Great Tit, dates back to the sixteenth century 
 at least. It seems to have been suggested by the small size of the Tit. 
 Gesner affirms that this bird was known in Britain as the " great tit- 
 mouse or the great oxei." In Italy, according to the same authority, 
 the Golderest was called the "ochio bouino, id est oculus bouinus, a 
 magnitudine." The Germans apply the name of " Meissen Schlag " to 
 the trap-cage which they employ for catching Titmice and other small 
 birds ; it does not seem to differ from the traps used in other parts of 
 Western Europe for a similar purpose. The chief feature of these con- 
 trivances is, that when a bird enters the trap, its weight upon the perch 
 
78 TITS AND PIPITS. 
 
 dislodges the latter from a catch, and allows the lid of the cage to spring 
 forwards, thus cutting off the means of exit. The French adopt the 
 same trap, variously modified, under the name of " Tr^buchet." But they 
 likewise employ another trap for Tits, which is called the " Mesangette " or 
 " Balongette." This latter is intended to serve as a winter amusement. The 
 peasant takes a board and bores a hole at each corner and a fifth hole in 
 the centre, to admit of the same number of small pegs or upright pieces 
 of wood being fixed in the holes. The two longest pegs are placed at 
 the back of the board to serve as pillars, to which the lid of the trap 
 can be attached. The two front pegs measure three inches, and serve 
 to bear the weight of the lid when the trap is closed. The peg in the 
 centre measures only two inches. The sides of the trap are built up 
 with small willow or elder twigs, to form a lattice-work, reaching to 
 three inches in height. A second board, of the same size as that already 
 used for the floor of the trap, is hinged on to the two tallest pegs, so as 
 to complete a box-trap. The " Mesangette " is baited with grain, and 
 the lid is supported by a small peg which rests on two little perches laid 
 across the central prop. In this case also the bird, in entering the trap, 
 alights on and disturbs the equilibrium of the perches ; the lid is thus 
 set at liberty and drops on the intruder. The countrymen place a 
 number of these Tit-traps about their gardens, walls, and even their 
 chimneys. The fell-folk of Cumberland have a contrivance of their own 
 for snaring Tits. They adopt this measure in the belief that the buds 
 of fruit trees are damaged by the attacks of these birds. The modus 
 operandi is to tie a number of horsehair nooses to a string, and then 
 wind the line around a small bundle of corn. Care is taken that the 
 nooses stand out in all directions from the wisp of grain. The sheaf is 
 then placed in a gooseberry or black currant bush, to await the arrival 
 of the petty pillager. That exquisite gem the Azure Tit (Parus cyanus) is 
 caught in Eussia by means of a trap-cage like other Titmice. The Bearded 
 Tit (Panurus biarmicus) is occasionally sought after by Continental bird- 
 catchers. Mr Labouchere furnished the following note to Dresser: 
 "These birds are comparatively common in Holland, especially in the 
 marshes round Amsterdam, where they are yearly caught in great num- 
 bers by the birdcatchers, the time to catch them being the early part of 
 October, when the old birds go on foraging expeditions, accompanied by 
 the young ones to the number of six or seven in a flock. They are 
 
TITS AND PIPITS. 
 
 79 
 
 caught by means of nets, which are laid down among the reeds, while 
 decoy-birds are placed at a short distance." Professor Nermann captured 
 several specimens by " the aid of a little birdlime placed on the end of a 
 stick." Hoy remarks that Bearded Tits are so intent on searching for 
 the seeds of the reed that he found it possible to capture specimens 
 " with a birdlimed twig attached to the end of a fishing-rod." 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is based upon Mitelli's engraving.] 
 
CHAPTER IX.— SHEIKES AND WAXWINGS. 
 
 THE SHEIKES (Laniidm) are chiefly sought after as pets in China 
 and Japan. The Chinese Eed- tailed Shrike {Lanius litcionensis) is 
 the favourite of the Pekin birdcatchers, who train this species to sit on 
 artificial perches and to hawk little birds. They value it, likewise, on 
 account of the excellence of its song. The bird which the Japanese 
 fanciers prefer is the Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius iucephalus), a common 
 resident in Southern Japan. This Shrike lives a solitary life, each 
 individual tenanting its own district of the wood or mountain. If a 
 strange Shrike enters the domain of another individual, the owner 
 endeavours to expel the intruder as a trespasser. The Japanese fowler 
 provides himself with a live Shrike, which he equips for the fowling 
 operations by sewing up the eyelids of the bird, thus temporarily depriv- 
 ing it of vision. The bird is then tied by its feet to a T-shaped perch. 
 The perch is smeared with birdlime (" Mochi ") with the exception of 
 the three inches of its length nearest to the perch. A line is then 
 
SHRIKES AND WAXWINGS. 81 
 
 attached to the bamboo on which the bird is mounted, in order that the 
 fowler may control the tame bird. The birdcatcher places his decoy in 
 a suitable position under a tree or bush, in full view of any wild Shrikes 
 that may come to reconnoitre. He then retires to the shelter of an 
 adjacent bush, holding in his hand the line which is attached to the 
 upper portion of the decoy's stand. He uses the string to pull the 
 Shrike's perch too and fro. The blinded bird cries out with fear. Its 
 chattering draws together any other individuals of the same species that 
 happen to be in the vicinity. The free birds resent the intrusion of the 
 new arrival, and attack it, desiring to drive it off their ground. The 
 captive stretches out its wings, and stoops forward to avoid the blows of its 
 assailant, which first strikes at its head. The latter then seeks to tackle 
 its rival from below. With this object it perches on the side of the rod 
 on which the decoy is fixed. But, alas ! the birdlime holds the wild bird 
 in its tenacious grasp. The fowler at once runs out of his shelter and 
 seizes his booty. A Japanese birdcatcher can secure several Shrikes in 
 a day by this method. In Italy the birdcatchers take the Eedbacked 
 Shrike (^Lanius coUurio), and in lesser numbers the Woodchat (Lanius 
 rufits) and the Lesser Grey Shrike {Lanius minor). Olina figures the 
 latter bird as the " Castrica," called the " Verla " in Tuscany, and the 
 " Stragazzina " or " Eagazzola " in Lombardy. The name " Averla " is 
 now conferred on all the Shrikes in Italy. Olina remarks that this bird 
 was taken in his time with springes (" Archetti "), as well as with the Trap- 
 cage (" Gabbia scarcatoia ") and the " Eagna " or Spider-net. It becomes as 
 fat as a " Beccafico." Count Ettore Arrigoni degli Oddi enumerates the 
 Eedbacked Shrike in his list of the birds supplied in the greatest numbers 
 to the poulterers of Padova. Giglioli supplies some interesting statistics 
 of the birds received by a Florentine poulterer from country districts. 
 In 1886 this dealer received 378 Shrikes on the 25th of August from 
 Fano. On the 1st of September no fewer than 810 were sent in from 
 Fano. On the 3rd of September 400 Shrikes and Calandra Larks 
 arrived from the same quarter ; on the 4th and 5 th the numbers of 
 these two species despatched from Fano amounted to 300 and 700 
 respectively. The smaller number of 176 Shrikes was received from 
 Fano on the 15 th of September, and the supply of Shrikes terminated in 
 that month. The birds taken represented the Lesser Grey, Eedbacked, 
 and Woodchat Shrikes. Later in the year the Great Grey Shrike 
 
82 SHRIKES AND WAXWINGS. 
 
 [Lanius excuUtor) is occasionally represented in the markets of Northern 
 Italy. I found a fine example of this bird hanging, in a bunch of Jays, 
 outside a small poulterer's shop in Bergamo. Count Salvadori informed 
 Dresser that the Woodchat is taken in Italy, " either in snares or on 
 limed twigs with a grasshopper as a bait.'' Savi volunteers that the 
 Shrikes of Tuscany are taken in either the Trap-cage (" Eitrosa "), with 
 limed twigs, or in springes (" Archetti "). A live Grasshopper, placed 
 inside the " Ritrosa " or before the snare of the " Archetto," is an irresist- 
 ible bait for the Shrike. The fowler is careful to set his springe or Trap- 
 cage in a field on the edge of a wood, or at any rate in the neighbourhood 
 of some tree or tall bush such as the " Averla " is likely to alight upon. 
 The wholesale destruction of these birds is reducing their number. 
 Fucini, for example, remarks that " The Shrikes (Lanius), now compar- 
 atively rare, were at one time extremely common. I remember that, 
 when I was a boy, I used to catch them with limed twigs and the Mole 
 Cricket, of which they are gluttonously fond, and one could take forty or 
 fifty in a day." The device just referred to requires that a Grasshopper 
 or other insect should be suspended in the air by a string, so that the 
 appetising bait hangs a few inches above the ground. Three or four 
 limed twigs are planted in the ground near the insect, in order that 
 when a Shrike observes the bait it may fly on to one of the limed stakes. 
 This plan is carried out among the hills near Florence. Mr G. E. H. 
 Barrett-Hamilton kindly tells me that the Woodchat and various other 
 birds, which like to perch in conspicuous places, are snared in the 
 neighbourhood of Tangiers. The trap employed for their capture is a 
 " Springe," of a similar pattern to that used in Poland for snaring Field- 
 fares. The horsehair snare is drawn over a small perch. When the 
 bird alights on the perch, its weight releases the little peg which keeps 
 the switch bent. The bough springs back, and the noose is drawn tight 
 round the feet of the victim. It is curious that the same type of trap 
 should exist in Poland and North Africa. It was formerly in fashion 
 in England for taking Jays (see pp. 6, 94). 
 
 But to return to the use of birdlime for taking Shrikes. Jerdon 
 refers to a strange expedient which is practised by some Indian bird- 
 catchers. These men use the Shrike as a means of bringing other birds 
 within reach of their limed twigs. A Pallid Shrike (Zanitis lahtora) is 
 picketed to the ground, closely attached to a Starling, and the bushes in 
 
SHRIKES AND WAXWINGS. 83 
 
 the vicinity are smeared over with birdlime. " All sorts of birds come to 
 witness the supposed fight and to separate the combatants, and many are 
 captured by the limed branches." The Great Grey Shrike is indispens- 
 able to the Dutch Hawk-catchers, who depend upon its keenness of 
 vision to detect the flight of any passing falcon. It might be supposed 
 that the same individual decoys would answer the purposes of the falconer 
 for several seasons. This is not the case. The late Mr Adrien MoUen 
 himself assured me that the decoy Shrikes become so tame, after being 
 used for a few weeks at the nets, that it would be of little service to keep 
 them for another season. He told me likewise that it was a matter of 
 some trouble to catch the Shrikes in the early autumn, even with the 
 adjunct of birdlime. The present Mr MoUen writes to me, "The 
 first Shrike we catch without another bird, but the first caught is used 
 to get the others." 
 
 Belon tells us that in his day the French birdcatchers applied the 
 sobriquet of " La blanche " to the Great Grey Shrika Its ordinary 
 name in France even then was " La Pie-griesche." The French employed 
 Shrikes to hawk little birds for their amusement in the sixteenth century. 
 Turner was informed that boys often reared Shrikes from their nests, 
 with the intention of training them like Hawks. He shows that this was 
 an amusement sanctioned by the example of the Kiag of France : " Audio 
 Franciseum Galliarum regem, cicurem habuisse lanium, eoq ; ad manum 
 redeunte aucupari solitum." Similarly, Louis XIII. used to hawk little 
 birds with Great Grey Shrikes in the plantations of the Tuilieries. He 
 caused fine silk nets, of the kind known as " I'araigne," to be stretched 
 between the shrubberies, to prevent the Eedbreasts and other little birds 
 from eluding the pursuit of his trained " Pies-grifeches." Audot and the 
 " Solitaire Inventiv " independently assure us that the Great Grey Shrike 
 is easily attracted to the birdlimed tree used in the " Pip^e." " If 
 Pipfe," says the former, " are made in the woods in which these birds 
 are numerous, a great number of Jays and Grey Shrikes can be secured, 
 for these birds are very eager to fall into the trap." Similarly, Mr 
 Hartert tells me that the Great Grey Shrike, which is generally called 
 the " Eaubwurger " in Germany, shows a keen curiosity in the " Krahen- 
 htltte." Gesner says that in his time this Shrike was known in some 
 parts of Germany as the " Thorntraer " or " Thomkretzer," a name signi- 
 fying the Thorn-shrike, suggested, doubtless, by its habit of impaling its 
 
84 SHRIKES AND WAXWINGS. 
 
 prey on thorns. In Westphalia, Hesse, and Thuringia it was called the 
 " Nuntoder " or " Nunmorder," in the belief that a bird of this species 
 required to kill nine birds for its subsistence in a single day. Englishmen 
 of the sixteenth century had very little knowledge of Shrikes. Turner 
 found a few of his countrymen who already recognised the Great Grey 
 Butcherbird by its modern title of Shrike (" quod Angli etiam schricum 
 nominant"). Charleton referred to it as "the Butcher or Adder-bird, 
 because in colours resembling the Adder." It remains to add that both 
 the Great Grey Shrike and the Eedbacked Shrike are occasionally 
 captured when attacking the decoy-birds of professional birdcatchers. 
 Bailly notices that this fate befalls the Great Grey Shrike in Savoy, 
 where it is thus secured in the Clap-nets. I have received more than 
 one Grey Shrike from English birdcatchers. The most delightful of the 
 number was a beautiful male, which was sent to me from Dover in 
 January 1892. He was timid at first; but my attentions soon disarmed 
 his fears, and he became very familiar. He took great pride in preening 
 his dainty grey feathers, carefully passing each plume separately through 
 the mandibles. He was disposed to try to bolt the mice (Mtos musculus) 
 given to him for food. He would seize a dead mouse and swallow it head 
 first with a series of gulps, amid much choking ; he looked delightfully 
 solemn when endeavouring to dispose of a whole mouse. The tail baffled 
 his ingenuity, for he could not get it down at once, but was obliged to sit 
 on his perch, with the extremity hanging out, until he could find room 
 for it in his gullet. I generally induced him to impale his food and tear 
 it to pieces. It is a great misfortune that Englishmen nearly always 
 shoot this Shrike at sight, for it destroys an immense number of mice. 
 
 The Waxwing {Bombycilla garrula) has long been known in Central 
 Europe as a winter visitor from more boreal regions. Gesner records the 
 irruption of numerous droves of this species into the country between 
 Bingen and Mayence, in the neighbourhood of the Ehine, in the year 
 1552, adding that these birds were captured in many places near Mayence 
 and used as food. Aldrovandus relates that flocks of Waxwings appeared 
 in Italy in the year 1571, when as many as thirty and forty birds were 
 taken at the same time in the vicinity of Piacenza and Modena. Bailly 
 refers to such immigrations reappearing in Savoy, as, for example, in 
 November 1816, and again in October and November 1833. On these 
 occasions the bands of " Jaseurs " were so fearless that quantities were 
 
SHEIKES AND WAXWINGS. 85 
 
 shot and felled with stones. The mountaineers, who had never before 
 seen such birds, were eager to secure them alive. They set snares 
 (" Pi^ges ") to catch the rare visitors, especially horsehair nooses 
 (" Laeets "), baited with grapes and other fruit. I have never obtained 
 satisfactory proof of Waxwings being taken alive in England. On one 
 occasion a couple of Waxwings were offered to me which were stated to 
 have been taken in Clap-nets near London. But though many of us 
 bird-lovers have kept this interesting bird in captivity, and thus learnt 
 something of its habits, the market supply of live Waxwings reaches us 
 from Russia. The Thrush-catchers of Germany and Scandinavia capture 
 the Waxwing in snares (" Dohnen ") which they bait with service berries. 
 Snared specimens reach Leadenhall in the flesh from time to time. 
 
 Bechstein indicates the month of February as being the most suitable 
 for setting snares for Waxwings, provided that the nooses are baited with 
 the berries of the service-tree. Gloersen affirms, in his essay on " Snaring 
 Thrushes in Norway," that the Waxwing is often taken in the snares 
 intended for the destruction of the different species of Turdidae. 
 Biesickierski informs me that the Waxwing is frequently snared in Poland 
 by means of the springe which the peasants employ for procuring Fieldfares. 
 The Eussians catch both Waxwings and Thrushes by means of open nets of 
 the Pantiere type. These nets are used in different ways according to local 
 circumstances. The fowler sometimes plants a long strip of ground 
 with trees and bushes to form a shrubbery measuring about one hundred 
 and forty yards in length and seventy feet or more in breadth. The trees 
 selected to make the fowling garden are chiefly those which bear berries 
 which are likely to attract the presence of Thrushes, Waxwings, and other 
 frugivorous birds. The mountain ash, elder, bird cherry, and juniper all 
 serve the same purpose. An open space, about seven feet in breadth, is 
 left in the centre of the plantation. Two long upright poles are fixed in 
 the ground, one on each side of the opening. These poles are secured by 
 being planted in the ground, and are furnished with cross-pieces. These 
 last serve to bear the lines of a net, which is thus extended across the 
 passage. Similar nets are placed on each side of the passage. The nets 
 are worked by pulleys attached to the lines which support the nets. They 
 are thus elevated or lowered at the pleasure of their owner. The mani- 
 pulation of driving the birds into the nets requires the co-operation of 
 two men. The birds are first allowed to enter the plantation and glut 
 
86 
 
 SHRIKES AND WAXWINGS. 
 
 themselves on the berries. As soon as the fowlers (who have concealed 
 passages in the shrubberies, from which they can watch the birds unnoticed) 
 have satisfied themselves that the birds have settled down, they separately 
 wend their way, at first with caution, towards the centre of that planta- 
 tion to which the birds have resorted in the greatest numbers. Taking 
 up two boxes of fine earth, which are kept in readiness on the spot, the 
 men proceed to cast handfuls of soil into the air, taking care to produce 
 the impression that it drops upon the trees from above. The birds are 
 thus deluded into mistaking the sand for drops of rain. They settle 
 lower down in the trees, and only fly from bough to bough in front of the 
 slowly advancing fowlers. In this deliberate fashion the Waxwings are 
 driven within a short distance of the nets. It is then that the critical 
 moment arrives. The fowlers now quicken their pace, throw sand more 
 frequently, and, shouting loudly, do their utmost to scare the birds right 
 into the bosom of the nets, which are standing ready to intercept their 
 flight as they dart across the apparent line of escape. When one side of 
 the plantation has been driven in the manner just described, the fowlers 
 proceed to the other end of their ground, and in due course beat the 
 bushes on that side in the same manner as before, with similar results. 
 These details are slightly condensed from The Sportsman's Book for 
 Capturing Animals and Birds. 
 
CHAPTER X.— THEUSH-SNAEING. 
 
 THE THRUSHES of Europe {Turdidae) have gratified the palates of 
 epicures since the days of remote antiquity. Readers of the 
 Odyssey vfTll recall a fine passage in which Telemachus is represented as 
 executing his father's vengeance upon the maids who had proved unfaith- 
 ful to Penelope : — 
 
 " As doves or long-winged Thrushes on a net 
 Strike in a thick bush, when to bed they get, 
 And find ill-roosting where they nightly throng, 
 So were their heads caught, and the nooses set 
 Fast round their necks to make their misery strong, 
 And with their feet they writhed a little while, not long." 
 
 {Worsley's Translation of the Odyssey, Vol. ii. p. 243). 
 
 Another interesting reference to the fact that the Greeks were in the 
 habit of snaring Thrushes is supplied by the pastoral tale of Daphnis and 
 GMoe. It is supposed that Longus composed this idyll in the fourth or 
 fifth century. The scene of the adventures of the shepherd and his 
 beloved one is laid, as many people will remember, in the island of 
 
88 THRUSH-SNAKING. 
 
 Lesbos. That particular stage of the courtship which always delights me 
 arrives whea a spell of severe weather divides the lovers. Daphnis finds 
 it impossible to live without seeing the object of his affection. Accord- 
 ingly he decides to terminate his sleepless misery by paying a surprise 
 visit to the neighbourhood of Chloe's home. An excuse for the adventure 
 is suggested by the fact that two large myrtles are growing in front of 
 the cottage of Dryas, the maiden's adopted father. Many birds resort to 
 the spot in search of the berries which hang in clusters from the bushes. 
 Daphnis provides provisions and a supply of snares and birdlime. Thus 
 accoutred, the love-stricken swain struggles through the snow to the 
 fowling-bushes, upon which he eventually sets the snares which he has 
 brought with him. Long twigs are also smeared with birdlime and 
 cunningly arranged. Daphnis finds no difficulty in catching as many 
 birds as he pleases ; but the coy shepherdess whose graces have inflamed 
 the youth's passion remains discreetly at home. Daphnis tries to invent 
 an excuse for calling at the dwelling-house ; but the bashful rustic fears 
 that his designs will be easily seen through. At last a happy accident 
 sets his apprehension at rest. The farmer runs out of the house in 
 pursuit of a dog which has stolen his master's dinner. In chasing the 
 peccant quadruped, the goodman runs across the amorous fowler. The 
 visitor is at once taken into the house and subjected to the playful satire 
 of pretty Chloe, who is delighted to find a safe opportunity for teasing 
 her devoted admirer. The gloaming is passed by the fireside. After 
 breakfast on the morrow, Daphnis introduces his mistress to the pleasant 
 amusement of catching the plump Thrushes and other song-birds. I 
 suppose that the " moral " of this charming tale must be that mothers 
 should beware of the wicked designs of love-lorn birdcatchers. The 
 practical worth of the allusion lies in the fact that Longus considered 
 this fowling episode so natural an incident of the homely life of Greek 
 peasants, that he did not scruple to embody the idea in his tale of 
 Arcadian happiness. Horace, the friend of our youth, depicts the good 
 luck of the easy-going sportsman who fixes his nets, 
 
 " turdis edacibus doles." 
 
 His country-fellow of a later day invents a sonnet, which Eosetti sets to 
 music of his own : — 
 
 " I am caugit like any Thrush the nets surprise." 
 
THEUSH-SNAKING. 89 
 
 The fact is, that no one can visit the markets of Italy in late autumn 
 without being confronted with immense numbers of the Thrush family. 
 The species which I found most plentiful upon the stalls of the poulterers 
 at Milan and Florence was the Song Thrush {Turdus musicus). Italians 
 distinguish this bird as the " Tordo bottaccio/' " Tordo comune," or plain 
 " Tordo." The caterers who contracted for the kitchens of rich men in 
 the days of the Eoman Empire made an extensive business of keeping 
 Thrushes. Some of their number contrived to make a handsome profit 
 out of their speculation in fresh-caught " Tordi." A single Thrush-mew 
 was known to fatten five thousand thrushes in a season. The birds 
 fetched as much as three denarii apiece. Cramming newly-caught 
 Thrushes really paid a better profit on capital than cultivating a good 
 farm. The birds were confined in a dark room, and encouraged to gorge 
 themselves until their bodies became loaded with fat. The birds now 
 retailed in the chief cities of Italy are captured in a variety of ways. A 
 large proportion of the market supply is obtained by the peasants. These 
 men set snares for the " Tordi " in those situations which the birds are 
 expected to visit in the course of their autumn journeys through the 
 woods and thickets of the country districts. Savi acquaints us with the 
 modus operandi of the fowlers who ply their calling among the groves and 
 copses of the Maremma. These individuals confer the title of " Penere " 
 upon an arrangement of four snares plaited on a cord of horsehair. The 
 nooses in question are kept in the desired position by means of two small 
 sticks called the " Stagette." The trap is secured to the twig upon which 
 the wild bird is expected to alight in such a way that it stands up at 
 right angles to the branch. " Balco " is the name the fowlers give to this 
 perch ; it may be a branch of the identicsil bush that is chosen as suitable 
 for the snare, or it may be an artificial substitute. The woods in which 
 the fowlers set the snares consist of myrtle, juniper, arbutus, and such 
 other trees as Thrushes and Blackbirds (Merula nigra) usually resort to 
 in search of food. A great many of the inhabitants of the Maremma 
 make " Merlai," as they call the snare of which the " Penere " forms part. 
 The peasants of the Apennines also find employment in catching these 
 birds. Each fowler, technically dubbed a " Merlajo," chooses a certain 
 stretch of woodland for his fowling operations. All his time is devoted 
 to setting his snares and keeping them in repair during the passage of 
 Thrushes. Many of the woods of the Maremma are so thick that it is 
 
90 THKUSH-SNAEING. 
 
 impossible to penetrate them without crawling col ventre over the ground, 
 following the small paths which the wild animals have tracked out, 
 exposed all the time to be torn with thorns. It is therefore necessary 
 that the fowler should commence his work by cutting his path with his 
 pruning-axe. He must be clad in such a way as to defy the thorns and 
 prickles. The " Merlajo " wears strong woollen stockings which cover 
 the knee. A thick cloth apron, or a goat-skin to which the hair still 
 adheres, is fastened round the neck iu such a way that it falls below the 
 knee, protecting the chest and thighs. This garment is provided with a 
 slit at the lower extremity to allow the limbs full liberty of movement. 
 The knife which the " Merlajo " uses to cut his way through dense cover 
 is suspended by a thong of leather, so that it hangs behind him. A 
 canvass bag rests against his right side. 
 
 This satchel contains a supply of fresh snares, which the fowler 
 utilises to replace those which are broken or worn out. On the left side 
 of the fowler hangs a bunch of berries, intended as a means of enticing 
 the birds to venture within reach of the snares. A single fowler 
 generally attends to about three thousand snares. He disposes of his 
 birds to middlemen, who make it their business to collect the produce 
 and convey the birds to the neighbouring cities. The British Vice- 
 Consul of Terranova assures me that immense quantities of Thrushes are 
 annually snared in Sardinia. The number of birds thus taken varies in 
 different years, depending partly upon the relative abundance or scarcity 
 of olives and other fruit. The birds are captured between the end of 
 October and February. It is customary in the province of Cagliari to 
 pickle the Thrushes in a strong solution of salt, into which myrtle leaves 
 are thrown. The birds thus acquire a delicate flavour, and fetch a high 
 price in consequence. 
 
 When I visited the Don Carlos district of Navarre the peasants 
 showed me a little frame of three pieces of wood, held together by a 
 connecting wire ; from this last hung the snares, intended to hold any 
 bird that tried to swallow the berries which formed the bait. I have 
 reason to think that similar snares are employed in the forests of 
 Southern Spain. In certain parts of France the peasants are clever in 
 trapping Thrushes in snares, some of their engines being almost identical 
 in form with those used in other parts of the Continent. The French 
 give the name of " Volant " to the frame to which the Thrush-snares are 
 
THEITSH-SNAEING. 91 
 
 tied. In Lorraine the country folk use a single switch as the frame to 
 hear the snares. They make two incisions or slits in the hranch of a 
 tree. They insert into these openings the two ends of a switch, the 
 latter being thus held in the form of a semicircular bow. Both the 
 running noose and a bunch of grapes or other berries are suspended from 
 the upper part of the " Collet pendu " (as this trap is termed in common 
 with the other snares). It is in the fall of the year that Jacques 
 bonhomme interests himself in snaring any fat " Grives " that happen to 
 visit his garden or vineyard. A very large proportion of the " Grives " 
 sold in the Paris markets are imported into France from other countries. 
 The " Solitaire Inventiv " lays stress upon the predilection which the 
 " Traye " or Missel-thrush displays for the berries of the mistletoe. The 
 
 Old French Snare for Missel-thrdsh. 
 
 French peasant takes advantage of the avidity with which this large 
 thrush devours the fruit in question to set snares for its destruction. A 
 series of horsehair nooses are arranged around a circular hoop of green 
 wood. The hoop is suspended by five strings, in the same way as a 
 hanging lamp might be, secured to some branch which just overhangs the 
 viscous berries. The fowler climbs up into a tree which bears a spray of 
 
92 THRUSH-SNARING. 
 
 mistletoe, and arranges his trap in a likely place. The running snares 
 stand out at different angles from the hoop which bears them, in order to 
 ensure as far as possible the success of the device. 
 
 We must not forget that Belon alludes to numbers of Eedbreasts and 
 other small birds being snared in the forest of Ardennes. My friend 
 Mr Benson informs me that great numbers of birds, principally Song 
 Thrushes, are snared in autumn in the vicinity of Spa. I have not 
 succeeded in procuring fresh details of " La Tenderie," as this Thrush- 
 catching is called ; I therefore reproduce some of the information upon 
 this subject which Mr Box contributed to the second volume of Gould's 
 Birds of Ch-eat Britain. Mr Box states that many families of Liege, 
 Luxemburg, Limburg, Namur, with those of parts of Hainault and 
 Brabant, devote themselves to snaring Thrushes. Each family which 
 engages in this industry prepares the snares for Thrush-catching during 
 the leisure of the winter months. One such party will make ready from 
 five to ten thousand horsehair nooses, and numerous pieces of wood, 
 rather thicker than a swan's quill, on which to hang the snares. Some 
 of the traps appear to be identical in form with the " Volant " which I 
 described as used in Lorraine, the noose being suspended within the 
 semicircle formed by the twig which is fixed by both ends into a branch. 
 Another and distinct form of the " Collet pendu " is supplied by securing 
 a switch in the form of the numeral six. The tail of the "six" is 
 inserted into a slit in a bough of a tree, the noose and the mountain 
 ash berries, which form the bait, are placed within the body of the 
 numeral. The demand for the berries of the mountain ash is so brisk 
 that the wild fruit is sold for five francs a bushel, and has even reached 
 the famine figure of £2 per bushel. The fowler does not set his snares 
 at random. On the contrary, he hires what he calls his " Tenderie " for 
 the special purpose of setting snares within its limits. The " Tenderie " 
 consists of four or five acres of underwood, from three to five years old. 
 The rent paid for this privilege amounts to about thirty shillings. The 
 same spot is used by one man in successive years. As many as one 
 hundred and fifty birds have been captured in one " Tenderie " in a single 
 day. The fowlers prefer foggy weather for the purpose of their craft, 
 because, in thick weather, birds settle quietly in a copse instead of 
 wandering about. The birds fetch from 5d. to lid. per dozen. Snaring 
 is now illegal in Denmark ; but Mr Hagerup informs me that, until it 
 
THEUSH-SNAEING. 
 
 93 
 
 used to snare many 
 of " Dones " or snare 
 
 was prohibited by law, his fellow-countrymen 
 
 Thrushes on the autumn migration. The form 
 
 which Mr Hagerup has kindly sketched 
 
 for me is that known in Norway as the 
 
 " Hsengedoner." It is made by cutting 
 
 a forked branch of birch or other wood 
 
 (Mr Hagerup says that willow was 
 
 generally used). The extremities of 
 
 the fork are pressed back and bound 
 
 together to form the base of a triangle, 
 
 or that portion of the trap on which 
 
 the wild bird is expected to alight in 
 
 order to feed upon the rowan berries. 
 
 Mr Hagerup informs me that it was 
 
 usual to hang these "Dones" in the 
 
 trees at a height above the ground of 
 
 about six feet. I understand from my 
 
 friend John Young, F.Z.S., that he saw 
 
 such snares on the island of Texel. In nokweoian thbush-snahes. 
 
 that instance the snares had been left hanging for some months. Mr 
 
 Young found that an unlucky cuckoo had been accidentally strangled in 
 
 one of the nooses. 
 
 The custom of snaring birds is adopted very largely in some parts of 
 Scandinavia. Professor CoUett has kindly drawn my attention to an 
 essay on the subject in the Byreliv i Norge, of Mr K. Glovsen. This 
 author distinguishes between " Stadoner " or standing snares, and " Haen- 
 gedoner " or hanging snares. The latter are what the French would call 
 " collets pendus ; " in other words, they hang freely in the air like those 
 used in Belgium. The juniper is commonly used to make the standing 
 snare, the two ends of a switch being inserted into the side of a tree. 
 The slip-knots are suspended from the top of the trap in the case of the 
 " Stadoner," but are fastened to the sides of the " Hsengedoner." The best 
 kind of a wood for snaring Thrushes is one in which evergreens are 
 mixed with larger timber. Thickets of young pines, juniper, and birch 
 are considered suitable places for snare-setting. In the autumn or early 
 winter, when flocks of hungry Thrushes are searching eagerly for wild 
 berries, almost any copse or large garden near the villages will answer 
 
94 
 
 THRUSH-SNARING. 
 
 for fowling, but the snares have to be set with skill. Dummy snares 
 are sometimes set above the rows of real traps, to delude the birds into 
 imagining that no deception is intended. The service or rowan berries 
 are hung low in the trap, in order that the Thrush may be compelled to 
 put its neck into the snare in the act of craning after the coveted food. 
 When the season of fowling has expired the " Hsengedoner " must be 
 removed and housed at home. The " Stadoner," being made of juniper, 
 stands the exposure of winter. It is left by the Norwegian trapper in 
 the same position as long as required. 
 
 The snaring of Thrushes is an important industry in Eussia and 
 
 Poland. The Fieldfare (Turdus 
 pilaris) is caught in the largest 
 numbers. Mr Jules Biesickierski 
 writes to me that a large sandy 
 waste, in the neighbourhood of the 
 town of Skierniewiee, in the king- 
 dom of Poland, is a special rendez- 
 vous of birds of the Thrush family, 
 in consequence of the abundance of 
 juniper. The berries of that plant 
 are ripe in October, in which month 
 the birds begin to assemble. The 
 peasants of the district find the 
 trapping of the Fieldfares and 
 Missel-Thrushes (Turdus viscivorus) 
 highly remunerative. The form of 
 trap which the Polish fowler uses 
 is not a simple snare, but rather 
 what we should call a " Springe." 
 Each trap invariably consists of an 
 elastic and flexible switch one and 
 a-half metres long. A small hole 
 is bored with a gimlet through the 
 
 -'■^•dlVTu ^^^^^ ■^ ^°°P made of two horse- 
 
 ^' ■ hairs twisted together is attached, 
 
 Polish Spbinoe. 1.1 ^ i ■ i ■, „ 
 
 the loop being knotted. The loop 
 and the knot are passed through the hole, after which the peg (which is 
 
THEUSH-SNAKING. 95 
 
 sharpened at the end) is lightly inserted into the hole. By this arrange- 
 ment the knot is' kept in its place, and the switch is prevented from losing 
 its tension. The loop or snare is laid upon the peg. A bunch of service 
 berries is inserted in a split made at the thick top end of the switch. 
 When the fowler begins to fix the snare, he forces the branch into the 
 ground by the side of a juniper bush ; the snare is then ready for action. 
 The bird, seeing its favourite fruit, alights on the peg, which falls from 
 under its feet and sets free the knot. The switch suddenly straightens out 
 and draws the loop tight, thus securing the feet of the Thrush within 
 the noose. The fowler sets about fifty such snares upon a score of acres, 
 and spends his time in visiting them at proper intervals. Mr G. N. 
 Douglass informs me that the Kielce government is rich in Fieldfares. 
 Great numbers are caught both in nets and in snares. The entire export 
 of these birds is in the hands of one Jew, who has a contract with the 
 peasants to pay them three copecks apiece for each bird. These snared 
 birds are conveyed for sale to the market of Warsaw. 
 
 The Germans have long practised snaring Thrushes on an extensive 
 scale. They employ hanging snares (" Dohnen ") similar to those used in 
 Norway. The horsehair nooses are termed " Schlingen," and are attached 
 to wooden frames of the kind familiar to us. Mr Douglass has drawn 
 my attention to two little articles on this subject, published in the 
 Zoologische Garten (xxxvi.Jahrung, Nos. 6 and 7, pp. 178-182 and pp. 
 206-207). Von Dr Med. Carl E. Hennicke comments on a previous 
 protest against the snaring of small birds in the Ehine Provinces. He 
 asserts that the statement was, in his opinion, of a needlessly alarmist 
 character. No doubt thousands of birds, principally Song Thrushes, are 
 snared in Western Germany for the Paris market, the destruction being 
 wrought by foresters. " But then," says Hennicke, " this catching has 
 been practised already for centuries, and still the Throstles are not likely 
 to become extinct." He proceeds to quote the statistics furnished in two 
 small MS. volumes, which supply notes of all the game killed in a certain 
 district between 1611 and 1632. The small birds were netted, caught 
 with birdlime, or strangled in snares set in the " Gestell " or frame. 
 Eedwings figure most numerously. No fewer than 7409 individuals of 
 this species were secured between 1611 and 1632. In 1615 the 
 number of Eedwings killed in this district was only 58. On the other 
 hand, no less than 948 birds perished in 1611, and 932 birds were 
 
96 THKUSH-SNAEING. 
 
 obtained in 1614. The score continued to rise and fall in diiferent 
 years, and reached the high score of 775 birds in 1631. The numbers 
 of the " Zeumer " or Fieldfare never assumed a proportion comparable to 
 those of the Eedwing. The greatest number of Fieldfares killed in any 
 one year was 305 in 1631. But this bird seemed at times to escape 
 the birdcatchers altogether, for only 3 individuals are returned in 1613. 
 The grand total of Fieldfares slain in the whole period was 1810. The 
 " Schnerrer " or Missel-Thrush contributed very little to the amusement 
 of the fowlers. The largest number taken in a season was only 32, and 
 the total number amounted to 185. The "Zipfen" or Song Thrush 
 fared ill, as might be expected. The grand total of these birds killed 
 was 5254; but as few as 19 were taken in 1613, and none in 1618. 
 The best haul of Song Thrushes was made in 1630, when 641 birds 
 perished. Of the " Amlisch " or Blackbird, only 216 were taken in the 
 whole period, and only two " Eein-Amliss " or Ring Ouzel. The remainder 
 of the score was made up by 744 Eedbreasts, 52 Common Eedstarts, 
 54 Yellow Buntings, 155 Chaffinches, 3 Goldfinches, 42 Greenfinches, 5 
 Bullfinches, 9 Sparrows, 2674 Skylarks, 1 Woodlark, 1059 Titmice (of 
 which the extraordinary number of 999 birds were all taken in 1625), 
 3 Woodpeckers, 14 "Waxwings (entered as " Seidenswentz "), 8 Starlings, 
 5 1 Jays, and a few sundries. Von Schenkling-Pr^v6t tells us that it is 
 still lawful to net the " Wachholder " or Fieldfare in the " Vogelherd " 
 from the 15 th of October to the 31st of December in Germany (he does 
 not specify any particular area). The use of Hanging-snares (" Dohnen- 
 stiege "), Ground-snares (" Laufdohnen "), Lark-nets, and Lark-mirrors has 
 long been regulated by law in Germany. The " Singdrossel " or Song 
 Thrush and the " Misteldrossel " or Missel-Thrush are now partially pro- 
 tected, at any rate in the Ehine Provinces. Dr Liebe explains that these 
 birds are intended to enjoy a meed of protection denied to the Eedwing 
 and Fieldfare, because the former are resident and breeding species. 
 Nevertheless, he says, they are in as much danger of being taken in the 
 snares (" Dohnenstiege ") as the other Thrushes. "It is certainly true 
 that the capture with the fixed nooses (' Dohnenstiege ') is an ancient 
 and practised right of the Game Proprietors, and that it is looked upon, 
 though only in isolated districts, as a small portion of the income of 
 forest sub-officials. On the other hand, it is not to be overlooked, when 
 speaking of ' Krammetsvogeln ' from the sportsman's point of view, that 
 
THRUSH- SNAKING. 
 
 97 
 
 under this title all kinds of Thrushes are understood, and divided into 
 ' whole ' and ' half ' birds when they fasten them together into ' Kloppen ' 
 (bunches). The ' Krammetsvogel,' " he continues, " are caught in the 
 snares (' Schlingen ') of the Frames (' Dohnenstiege ') by the neck, and are 
 often only choked after fluttering for a quarter of an hour; or, again, 
 are caught by the wing or leg, whereby they are almost always so injured 
 that they cannot live. Apart from the altogether unsportsmanlike cruelty 
 of this method, it is to be noted that its pursuance ends fatally for the 
 birds which are expressly protected. Statistics prove that the great 
 majority of ' Krammetsvogel ' caught, and also brought to market, is com- 
 posed of Song Thrushes ; and also that Blackbirds and Missel Thrushes 
 are strongly represented." 
 
 [The headpiece to this chapter is reproduced from Di Valli's plate. It 
 represents a party of Italian fowlers driving Thrushes and other small birds 
 into a perpendicular net (" Ragna "). One of the fowlers is depicted as employ- 
 ing an artificial kite. The tailpiece illustrates the " Drosselherd " described in 
 the following chapter.] 
 
 
 -^ '!• 
 
 
CHAPTER XI.— THRUSH -NETTING. 
 
 THE Teutonic weakness for the flesh of the coveted " Krammetsvogel " 
 is a curious survival from the usages of the Middle Ages. Heres- 
 bachius wrote in 1537 that these birds were even then held in high 
 esteem by his countrymen. " In Germania autem maxime hyeme 
 capiuntur," he observes ; adding " Coquuntur integri, nam et intestina 
 simul eduntur. . . . Ingluviem plenam habent baccis Juniperi " (Bei 
 JRusticae, p. 298). The flavour of the juniper was no doubt a pleasant 
 contrast to black sausages or Saure Krauter. William Turner alludes 
 to the fact in his work A New Herbal, published in 1551, remarking of 
 the juniper that " it groweth in Germany in many places in greate plentye, 
 but in no place in greater than a lytle from Bon, where as at the time of 
 year the feldefares fede only of Junipers berries, the people eate the 
 feldefares undrawen with guttes and all because they are full of the 
 berries of Juniper." The most popular plan of securing these birds was 
 
THEUSH-NETTING. 99 
 
 that identical with the " Drosselherd " or " Krammetsvogelherd." This 
 engine is a form of Clap-net. It occupies a permanent base or fowling- 
 floor, usually situated in the middle of the woods. The ground plan of 
 the "Drosselherd" given by Brehm furnishes a bird's-eye view of the 
 pair of nets, which lie in folds around the sides of the " Straueh " or 
 Fowling-floor. The size of the nets has always varied. The Fowling- 
 floor described by Brehm is a large one, intended for taking Thrushes. 
 It measures twenty-seven feet in length, independent of the " Zipfel " or 
 pointed Tips, which extend to a further distance of fourteen feet. The 
 nets are made of strong material, that they may be weather-proof. They 
 are usually green in colour, to deceive the eye of the birds. As the nets, 
 when they close over the Moor, lie in loose folds, they of necessity form 
 what is called a " Bosom " of considerable extent. It follows that when 
 the nets lie over the Floor, they have only a length of twenty-five feet 
 and a breadth of fourteen feet. The remainder of the netting forms the 
 bosom. The Tips are intended to form an empty space, into which the 
 birds can be driven. The nets are mounted on staves like ordinary Clap- 
 nets ; but the staves of the Fowling-floor are called the " Larvenstecken.'' 
 These measure five feet in length, and are fixed on the ground by the 
 arrangement called the " Larvenstocke." The " Larvenstocke " are the 
 claws of the Staves, and are four in number. They are placed in the 
 middle of the Floor. Each stave has its lower extremity fixed in the 
 claw of the " Larvenstocke " by an iron pin, which permits the stave to 
 move freely. The tops of the staves are secured to the four corners of 
 the nets by iron rings, and are worked by lines on the principle of the 
 Clap-nets. But since the German nets are so ponderous, it is desirable 
 to have resort to some additional machinery to furnish the force necessary 
 to pull the nets rapidly over the Fowling-floor. Hence the German 
 fowler provides two immense Tension-poles. These beams are termed the 
 " Spannreithel," " Spannholzer," or " Schlagbaume," and are made of elastic 
 piue-wood or beech-wood. These beams lie on the ground between the 
 nets and the Fowling-hut. They are pinned in the right position by posts 
 which are driven firmly into the ground. The beams iu the Floor now 
 described measure thirty-four feet in length, and their thick ends lie flat 
 on the earth, while their free extremities rise to a height of sixteen inches 
 from the ground. The space covered by the Floor is technically termed 
 the " Herd " or " Strauch," This is a kind of wooden platform, measuring 
 
100 THRUSH-NETTING. 
 
 twenty-four feet in length by eleven feet in breadth. The frame is built 
 in the form of an arch, standing two feet four inches in the centre and 
 twelve inches or fourteen inches at each side. The fowler sits in his hut 
 and pulls the nets over the Floor by means of a central pull-cord ; the 
 force to reverse the Staves, which bear the nets with them, being supplied 
 by the Tension-beams. The lines which draw the nets together pass 
 through the upper meshes of the nets, and terminate in the central pull- 
 cord. They are, of course, quite independent of the lines attached to the 
 Tension-beams, which connect the latter with the upper ends of the Staves 
 or " Larvenstecken." The success of the fowler depends largely on a 
 supply of caged call-birds of the species which he purposes to catch. 
 Brehm gives a table of the number of Turdidce caught in the year 1824. 
 The Eedwing supplied the chief harvest of " Krammetsvogel." Of this 
 species no fewer than 625 birds were captured, as compared with 233 
 Fieldfares, 87 Song Thrushes, 9 Missel Thrushes, and a solitary Black- 
 bird. The netting commenced on the 1st of October and terminated on 
 the 2nd of December. Most of the Eedwings were taken in October, 
 only 60 of these birds being taken after that month closed. On the 
 other hand, only 74 Fieldfares were secured in October, as contrasted 
 with 159 birds caught after the commencement of November. 
 
 The greatest number of Eedwings taken in a single day in October 
 was 119, this being the largest individual catch of the season. The 
 number of Song Thrushes caught in a single day was 14, and the 87 
 birds of this species returned were all taken in October. Brehm like- 
 wise furnishes the figures of the "Krammetsvogel," taken on a good 
 "Vogelherd" during thirteen seasons, viz., between 1819 and 1833, 
 excluding the years 1824 and 1825, for which the returns were pre- 
 sumably lost. In the whole period of thirteen seasons a grand total of 
 7222 birds were taken. This number consisted of 5196 Eedwings, 
 1010 Fieldfares, 1028 Song Thrushes, 66 Missel Thrushes, and 22 
 Blackbirds. The highest return was made in 1826, when 978 birds 
 were taken ; but this was accounted for by the capture of no fewer than 
 787 Eedwings and 114 Song Thrushes. The poorest of thirteen years 
 was 1832, when only 203 Eedwings succumbed to the craft of the 
 fowler. The initiative cost of a " Vogelherd " is reckoned by Brehm as 
 varying from thirty to fifty thalers. Herr Borstel tells me that, when 
 he was a boy, the birds caught in the " Drosselherd " used to be hawked 
 
THRUSa-NETTiNGt. 101 
 
 about in bunches through the streets of his native town of Dusseldorf. 
 Another method of supplying the market with birds of this family is 
 to be found in the " Drosselgarte." Herr Gaetke assures us that the 
 item of " Troosel-supp " is an important feature in the menu of the 
 Heligoland housewife, who consigns every kind of bird to the stew-pot. 
 " All the Thrushes," he writes, " are caught here in nets. The means of 
 allurement, singular as it may appear, is formed by a few withered bushes 
 planted in the ground. The following is the arrangement: — a space 
 measuring about twenty feet in breadth and six or eight feet in depth is 
 enclosed with bushes ten feet high, space being left for the Thrushes to 
 run through the shrubs. On one of the long sides the bushes are set 
 perpendicular, those of the opposite side being planted obliquely, inclining 
 to the first. A strong net is stretched over the oblique side, reaching 
 from the top of the bushes to within two feet of the ground, enclosing 
 one side of the enclosure in a long semicircle; a second net, loosely 
 suspended on a line, is hung by means of the latter round the lower 
 portion of the same side a little above the lower edge of the first net, 
 and like that forms a semicircle round the Throstle-bushes. Below, 
 however, this net is spread loosely on the ground for a distance of about 
 a fathom from the bottom of the bushes ; in this way the depth of the 
 whole arrangement is considerably increased. The bushes must be set 
 up in such a way that the Thrushes can spy them at some distance, and 
 so that they can fly freely towards the open side ; if the fowler is able to 
 employ living bushes, the birds will be decoyed in a greater degree " {Die 
 Vogelwarte Helgoland, p. 240). Gaetke adds that about a score of these 
 " Drosselbusche " existed on Heligoland in 1890. It is not unusual for 
 the Heligolander to obtain a couple of himdred birds in his Throstle- 
 bush during a strong flight of birds, but when the weather is less pro- 
 pitious he is satisfied to get from thirty to fifty birds. An old fowler, 
 named Payens, once caught a thousand Song Thrushes in a day, but 
 that was in October 1824, when the prevailing winds were more 
 favourable. 
 
 The species principally taken on Heligoland is the Song Thrush, 
 which the islanders dub the " Gru-Troosel," or Grey Thrush. Gaetke 
 observes that the Thrushes which alight on Heligoland are sometimes 
 taken with open, vertical nets, similar to those set to take Snipe, but of 
 finer mesh. In Italy the employment of nets for taking Thrushes has 
 
102 THRUSH-NETTING. 
 
 almost been reduced to a fine art. The simplest method is that of 
 suspending a long perpendicular net at the side of a wood, into which 
 the " Tordi " are driven by beaters at sunrise and sunset. Count Camozzi 
 Vertova showed me a net of this description on his property at Costa, 
 near Bergamo. It sloped inwards from the beams of the posts to which 
 it was attached. It was suspended between a row of stout upright posts, 
 each of which carried a strong wire rod running outwards from the top. 
 A crossbar was secured to the main post at an angle, to assist in bearing 
 the weight of the net, which was secured to its supports by iron rings. 
 This net was made of a mesh specially intended for the capture of 
 Thrushes. It was therefore unsuitable for catching tiny birds. The net 
 which I examined was a single long net ; it also difi'ered from the other 
 nets which were shown to me, in the fact of its being suspended at a 
 receding angle. It recalled Savi's description of the " Eagna,'' or Spider- 
 net, which is set for many birds. But the '' Eagna," which Savi declares 
 to be of Florentine origin, is not a single net, but a triple net, and the 
 outside meshes are large, and serve to make pockets to support the finer 
 net which hangs between the two outer walls of net. The Thrush-net 
 is set in a place which has been planted with the favourite bushes of the 
 Thrush family. 
 
 The use of Thrush-nets is most common in the north of Italy ; but it 
 is not limited to any one region. Moretti states that the rich profusion 
 of olive woods found in the plain of Calabria induces numerous Thrushes 
 to choose this region as their winter quarters. The Song Thrushes 
 annually make their appearance in millions, so that in certain seasons 
 their presence is regarded as a calamity. Of late the numbers of these 
 birds has undergone a vast diminution, which is ascribed to the havoc 
 wrought in their numbers by the birdcatchers. The peasants of a village 
 named Molochio, which is situated on the ridge of a hill near Eeggio, is 
 famous for its thrush-catchers. Every man in the hamlet keeps nets for 
 catching Thrushes, and waits in the early morning to intercept the birds 
 which are then descending from the hills to the plain. The fowlers 
 stretch their nets across the mountain gorges and on the slopes of 
 ravines. The owner of one of the " Passi," as the fowling stations are 
 termed, makes money by letting a span of earth (which would be 
 useless for any other purpose) to the fowler for its weight in gold 
 {Avifauna Italica, Vol. III. p. 538). The Swiss mountaineers used 
 
THRUSH-NETTING. 103 
 
 similar contrivances to catch the Thrushes migrating through their 
 native passes as long ago as the sixteenth century. The fowlers of 
 Zurich used in those days to net great quantities of Thrushes. Their 
 method was to cast stones or other implements into the air with slings, 
 by which means they induced the frightened Thrushes to dive down into 
 fixed nets, which stood about six feet high. 
 
 This method, formerly used in the Alpine passes, seems to have borne 
 some resemblance to that which is still carried out on an extensive scale 
 in the north of Italy under the title of the " Eoccolo." The precise form 
 of this contrivance varies in different districts, and even in diiTerent 
 situations in the same district. For example. Count Camozzi Vertova 
 showed me two " Eoccolos " on his property at Costa. The first of these 
 was situated in the plain, and was an elaborate structure. The second 
 was built on the crest of a low hill, and was of a simpler character. But 
 the main idea of the " Eoccolo," modified though it may be, and indeed is, 
 presents no difficulty. It is a piece of ground surrounded by high walls 
 of netting, and overlooked by a hut or house from which the fowler can 
 see into the enclosure. The " Eoccolo " is sometimes circular, as figured 
 in the engraving reproduced here from the Arten von Vogeln. The 
 " Eoccolo " of which Count Camozzi Vertova has favoured me with a 
 ground plan consists of three high walls of netting. The fourth side of 
 the enclosure is occupied by the fowler's house or watch-tower. The 
 netting is stretched on lines between strong posts planted at regular 
 distances in the ground. The two parallel sides of this " Eoccolo " 
 measure twenty metres each in length. The semicircle which forms the 
 fourth side of the " Eoccolo " measures a distance of forty metres. The 
 inside length of this " Eoccolo " is twenty-five metres. It is usual to 
 leave a few trees standing in the centre of the "Eoccolo " ; but no trees 
 or bushes are allowed to grow near the sides of the "Eoccolo." The 
 "Eoccolos" which I inspected were furnished with triple walls of 
 netting. 
 
 The walls of netting are forty feet in height, and made of one-inch 
 netting. The walls of net sometimes slope inwards from the top of the 
 " Uccellanda " to the ground. The sides of the " Eoccolo " are in some 
 cases left bare. In others the nets are suspended between an elaborate 
 trellis-work, in which the cages of the decoy Thrushes and other birds are 
 suspended. The fowler often occupies a comfortable two-storeyed cottage, 
 
104 
 
 THRUSH-NETTING. 
 
 M. 
 
 i{. 
 
 but he may have to content himself with a lofty wooden hut, according 
 to circumstances. His business is to rise long before dawn and hang out 
 his caged Thrushes. These decoys call down any 
 flocks of migrating birds which may happen to cross 
 the line of the " Roccolo." The " Uccellanda " is 
 always placed upon a well ascertained track of 
 avian migration. The tired birds alight within the 
 enclosure to rest and feed. The fowler watches 
 their movements as soon as light arrives. When 
 he sees any birds alight on the trees in the centre 
 of the " Eoccolo," he sends a wicker racket whizzing 
 through the air, giving at the same moment a horrid 
 yell. The birds are startled by this strange sound, 
 and mistake the weapon which rushes through the 
 still air for the attack of some bird of prey. Accordingly, they dart away 
 to escape the swoop of their imaginary enemy, only to be entangled in 
 the meshes of the triple nets. The German print represents the 
 " Eachette " as shaped like a Sparrowhawk. The racket figured here is 
 one which I saw used in the " Eoccolo " of Count Gabriel Camozzi 
 Vertova. The capture of Thrushes is the principal feature of the working 
 
 Plan of Roccolo. 
 
 c:^ 
 
 Bird Backet. 
 
 of the " Eoccolo." Many species of birds are caught in those " Uccellande " 
 which are supplied with finely-meshed nets and a variety of decoys. But 
 the Song Thrush and the Chaffinch are the two species which bulk most 
 heavily in the returns of the " Eoccolo." The former species is the most 
 sought after. All the birds taken in the " Eoccolo " are netted between 
 the middle of September and the end of the year. A " Eoccolo " used for 
 
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THRUSH-NETTING. 105 
 
 taking Thrushes and other birds of relatively large size, such as Jays and 
 Hawfinches, in the district of Cantu and province of Como, between the 
 years 1806 and 1835, when birds were more numerous than now, in the 
 season of 1816 yielded no less a number of birds than 1128, of which 
 792 were Song Thrushes. In two diiferent years the returns of Eedwings 
 reached the high figure of 127 birds; but the number of that species 
 taken seldom rose above a score. The Fieldfare is not represented in 
 the returns. Very few Missel Thrushes were taken — never more than 
 twelve in a season, and usually only one or two. The returns of a 
 " Eoccolo" worked at Brianza, in the same province, between 1851 and 
 1885, yield figures proving that enormous quantities of Song Thrushes 
 perished annually, the numbers varying from 238 in 1858, to 940 in 
 1865 and 927 in 1879. The Eedwing was seldom taken in any 
 abundance; but the exceptional number of 133 Eedwings was secured in 
 1874. The chief passage of Song Thrushes takes place in October, while 
 the Missel Thrush, Eedwing, and Fieldfare fall victims chiefly in Novem- 
 ber. The passage of birds over the Alps varies annually. The autumn 
 of 1895 was remarkable for the very large number of Song Thrushes 
 netted in the province of Bergamo. The most noteworthy returns from 
 any single " Eoccolo " are those which Brambilla supplied to Professor 
 Griglioli. These refer to a " Eoccolo " in the neighbourhood of Castellanza, 
 in the province of Milan, which has been in the possession of the Bram- 
 billa family for a century. The original " Uccellanda " or Fowling-station 
 was founded in 1792, at which time the birds were taken by means of 
 birdlime instead of in a netted enclosure. The use of birdlime was 
 abandoned in 1808, when a "Eoccolo" was constructed. The numbers 
 of Tordi captured with birdlime prior to the establishment of the 
 "Eoccolo" varied from 64 Thrushes caught in 1796, to 464 
 Tordi caught in 1803, the latter being an exceptionally good season 
 and the former an exceptionally poor one. After the " Eoccolo " was 
 brought into use a variety of birds were captured, and this continued 
 until 1851, when the old "Eoccolo" was transformed into a "Bres- 
 cianella," with a special net for capturing Thrushes. The use of 
 birdlime for capturing Thrushes dates from a remote period. It is still 
 carried on in some localities on the Knes described by Savi as practised 
 in Tuscany. The title of " Boschetto " is applied to an evergreen planta- 
 tion composed of laurels, holm-oaks, arbutus, and other shrubs. These 
 
106 THRUSH-NETTING. 
 
 bushes are kept down to the height of about five feet, and trimmed into 
 cylindrical form. In the early morning, before the passage of the 
 Thrushes has commenced, the birdcatcher conceals among the bushes a 
 number of caged Thrushes. These birds have been kept in confinement 
 all the previous summer. 
 
 The birdcatcher next places limed twigs on the tops of the bushes. 
 He then retires to a little house builb in the centre of the " Boschetto." 
 The ground is intersected by four paths, each of which converges on the 
 hut in the centre, so that the fowler commands a view of all that goes 
 on. When the passage of birds begins, the wild Thrushes, flying over at a 
 great height, hear their captive relatives calling iu the bushes far below. 
 Descending in answer to their invitation, the strange birds alight on the 
 limed twigs which are placed on the summit of the evergreens. The 
 birdlime adheres to their feet or wings, and the poor Thrushes drop to the 
 ground, unable to fly away. The fowler draws the birds into his hut 
 without being seen by means of a little rake or a long hook. Bargaeus 
 was well acquainted with this species of fowling. He dwells with 
 obvious pleasure upon the proper position of the " Uccellanda," and draws 
 a vivid picture of the enthusiastic fowler shivering at his post in the 
 dawn of a frosty morning. Moreover, he expatiates on the value of good 
 call-birds, warning the tyro that if any of the decoys gives a sharp alarm- 
 note it must be killed, for it is a traitor, and intends to warn its free 
 brethren to shun the wiles of the fowler. The delight of the fowler in 
 making a good haul of Thrushes is described as culminating in his 
 sending a message to Chloris, begging " mia Cara " to leave the city and 
 join her fond admirer amid the joys of a rural environment. Tempesta 
 seems to have shared in the erotic impressions of the old poet, for he 
 frequently enlivens his pictures of fowling by representing a charming 
 Signora as resting on the knee of some sporting gallant. 
 
 The employment of birdlime for capturing Thrushes obtains favour 
 in the south of France, particularly in the neighbourhood of Marseilles. 
 Jaubert and Barthdlemy-Lapommeraye devote several pages of the 
 Richesses Ornithologiques to explaining the manner in which " La chasse 
 aux Grives" is carried on in the Bouches-du-Ehone. The species, 
 obtained are Song Thrushes, with a smaller number of Missel Thrushes 
 or " Drennes," and Blackbirds. These authors calculate that no fewer 
 than 326,000 birds are shot annually by the chasseurs, who occupy 
 
THRUSH-NETTING. 107 
 
 8000 "Postes k feu," i.e., huts constructed of planks or fir branches, 
 situated on the lines of flight usually followed by migrating flocks of 
 Thrushes. The shooting station is built facing a row of trees, and a 
 framework of branches is raised within shot, known as the " Cimeaux." 
 The wild birds, lured down by the song of numerous caged birds of their 
 own kind, alight on the " Cimeaux " in the grey light of breaking day, 
 only to expose themselves to the murderous fire of the concealed gunners. 
 Independently of the hecatombs of " Grives " which are slaughtered by 
 the gunners, the peasants of the district are estimated to secure 24,000 
 birds alive by means of birdlime. The birdcatcher plants a number of 
 young firs in a favourable spot, taking care to arrange them at proper 
 intervals from one another, placed in such a way as to form a sort of 
 labyrinth around the " Cabane " of the fowler, which occupies the centre 
 of the ground. Numerous limed twigs are placed transversely across 
 the bushes. The wild birds stop to perch on the firs, solicited by the 
 "chiquerie" of the "Appelants" or decoys, and drop helpless on to 
 the ground, where they are, of course, at the mercy of the fowler. 
 
 It should be noted that the Thrush-catchers reap their harvest near 
 Marseilles during a period varying in extent from twenty to twenty-five 
 days, that is to say, from the 21st of September to the 15th of October. 
 The 21st of September, which is St Matthew's Day, is reckoned to witness 
 the arrival of the van of the migrating host, composed of Song Thrushes 
 and Blackbirds. On the other hand, St Theresa's Day, the 1 5 th of October, 
 is held to be the culminating point of the migration. After the latter 
 day, the number of birds that pass sensibly decreases, and by the end of 
 October the birds have aU disappeared.* The 21st of September is a 
 memorable day in the calendar of the birdcatchers, who draw an augury 
 of their approaching fortune from the dawn of the fateful morning. If 
 the day breaks in splendid weather with a northerly wind, the fowling 
 season will be highly successful. On the other hand, if the day breaks 
 in sullen gloom, the sky is clouded, and the wind blows from the south, 
 then the hopes of the peasants are dashed with the presentiment that 
 their campaign against the " Grives " is doomed to be a comparative 
 failure. 
 
 * The belief that a strong migration of Thrushes is sure to occur on "Santa 
 Teresa " has passed into a proverb still current among the Roman birdcatchers (Sporto 
 Ilhistrato, 1895, p. 658). 
 
108 
 
 THEUSH-NETTING. 
 
 In concluding this essay upon Thrush-catching, it may not be out of 
 place to remark that similar measures for capturing the Turdidce are 
 largely in vogue in Japan. Professor Ijima assures me that the Dusky 
 Ouzel {Merula fuscata) is caught in large quantities during its migratory 
 journeys. There are two principal methods for effecting its capture. 
 The first is by the perpendicular " Kasumi-nets," extended in rows on 
 the tops of the hills. Alternatively, the Japanese fowler employs an 
 ingeniously poised twig, which has previously been smeared with bird- 
 lime. This trap is called the " Kera-hago." A small wooden base is 
 provided, upon the centre of which is tied a live insect of the genus 
 Gryllus. The limed bamboo is bent in arched form over the insect. It 
 is so adjusted that when the bird pecks at the insect the limed twig 
 instantly falls upon its back. The Ouzel is thus incapacitated for flight, 
 and falls an easy prey to the birdcatcher. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter represents the enclosure of a circular 
 " Roccolo." Contrary to the usual style now found in Italy, the nets are 
 represented as separated from the fowler's house. The bird-racket, shaped 
 like a hawk, is shown as it passes from the fowler's window over the " Roccolo." 
 The original engraving is to be found in Arten von Vogeln.] 
 
CHAPTEE XII.— CHATS AND EEDBEEASTS. 
 
 THE BLUE THEUSH {Monticola cyanus), the " Passaro solitario " of 
 the Italians, is associated in the popular mind with the picturesque 
 ruins among which, at any rate in Southern Europe, the rich notes are 
 poured forth to the delight of the passer-by. It is justly prized as a 
 cage-bird ; but the specimens which I have kept or seen in confinement 
 had invariably been reared from the nest by hand. Under such conditions 
 the Blue Thrush loses much of its natural dread of human society, and 
 manifests the most devoted affection towards its owner. A specimen 
 which I bought at Milan on one occasion showed great timidity in 
 travelling ; but when once installed in its new home, and regaled on ripe 
 
110 CHATS AND KEDBKEASTS. 
 
 grapes and other favourite food, the " Passaro " soon learnt to fly about 
 the shoulders of its owner, and speedily won everybody's regard. Gesner 
 received a description of the difficulty experienced by the fowlers in taking 
 the young of the Blue Thrush from his friend Eaphael Seilerus. The 
 hunters climbed into precipitous places to reach the nests of this species. 
 The nestlings were carried home to be reared by hand. The males were 
 subsequently sold for high prices or presented to men of rank ; in such 
 esteem was this bird held, even in the middle of the sixteenth century. 
 Di Valli figures the present species, which he says may be kept in captivity 
 for eight or ten years. He devotes a separate paragraph to explaining 
 how to capture the " Passaro solitario." The " Modo di pigliarlo " is to 
 carry a caged Blue Thrush to some spot which a wild individual of the 
 same species has been noticed to frequent. The Blue Thrush is of a 
 jealous disposition, and is likely to resent the arrival of a stranger. Limed 
 twigs are placed around the cage of the decoy. When the free bird darts 
 down on the imprisoned " Passaro," it is detained by the treacherous bird- 
 lime. In default of a caged Blue Thrush, the fowler is advised to employ 
 a " Civetta " or Little Owl to attract the Blue Thrush within reach. In 
 this case four long limed twigs are arranged about the Owl. The 
 " Passaro " endeavours to mob the Owl, and falls a victim to its 
 imprudence. Tanara states that the Blue Thrush can be taken in the 
 Clap-net, if a caged decoy of the same kind be set in the middle of the 
 toils. The Eoek Thrush (Monticola saxatilis) was known to Belon as 
 frequenting the volcanic hills of Auvergne. He terms the bird the 
 " Paisse solitaire," it is true ; but his description of its colour renders it 
 certain that his remarks referred to the present species. In his time it 
 was greatly prized as a cage-bird in France. King Francis himself 
 delighted in the possession of tame Eock Thrushes. Friderich tells us 
 that this bird, which is well known in Germany as the " Steindrossel," is 
 too shy and suspicious to permit of easy capture. The nestlings are 
 usually brought up by hand. Such had been the case with the only two 
 specimens that I have kept as pets. But a skilful fowler is sometimes 
 able to capture adult Eock Thrushes by means of limed twigs or snares 
 (" Laufschlingen "), provided that these are set in the haunts of the 
 " Steindrossel." The Wheatears {Saxicolinae) offer little attraction to the 
 fowler, with the notable exception of the Common Wheatear (Saodcola 
 oenanihe). The Italians are partial to the " Culbianco " as an addition to 
 
CHATS AND EEDBKEASTS. Ill 
 
 the delicacies of the table. Many of these birds are, therefore, trapped 
 and netted in the plains of Italy. Some fowlers take the " Culbianco " 
 by means of snares (" Archetti "). With others trap-cages (" Gabbiuze ") 
 are in greater favour. These engines are set in open country, or in the 
 meadows which the Wheatears frequent when resting on migration. Savi 
 tells us that the pleasantest and most remunerative sport is to be had 
 with the " Civetta." The fowler who desires to go in search of Wheatears 
 rises before sunrise, and furnishes himself with six or seven long bird- 
 limed rods (" Panioni "), together with a Little Owl. Thus accoutred, 
 the Tuscan peasant wends his way to the spot in which he expects to find 
 the " Culbianchi." As soon as the darkness has become sufficiently dissi- 
 pated to enable him to distinguish the surrounding country with clearness, 
 he fixes the perch (" Gruccia ") of the Little Owl in the ground. The 
 " Stale " is surrounded by the limed twigs, which are set in the earth 
 slightly slanted, and at a distance of five or six feet from the Owl. When 
 this preliminary has been arranged, the fowler hides himself behind some 
 bush or in a ditch. Thus concealed, he incites the Owl to fly about, 
 imitating at the same time the whistle, " cia, cia," which the Wheatears 
 usually make. After the lapse of a few minutes, all the Wheatears which 
 are sufficiently near to hear the call or to see the Owl hasten to the snare. 
 They fly from one clod to another, anxiously desiring to obtain a better 
 view of the strange bird. The Chats are thus induced to alight on the 
 limed twigs, when their feet and wings become so smeared with the bird- 
 lime that they cannot keep their balance. Their weight detaches the 
 twigs, which fall to the earth, when the birds become incapable of escape. 
 Fresh contingents of " Culbianchi " speedily make their appearance, and 
 fall victims to the same device as their predecessors. It is not surprising, 
 therefore, that ten or twelve birds are often caught before the fowler has 
 stirred from his post. This variety of fowling lasts from daybreak until 
 about 9 A.M. The Germans generally capture the " Graue Steinmaker " 
 or " Weiszchwanz " in a similar manner to that of the Itahans, only they 
 discard the use of the Little Owl. They are contented to drive the 
 Wheatears in the direction of the limed rods which have been placed in 
 their expected line of flight. The English never seem to have taken any 
 pains to trap Wheatears except upon the Sussex Downs. The bird was 
 variously known to English fowlers as the " Clotburd, Smatche, Arlyng, 
 or Steinchek." None of these sixteenth century names were familiar to 
 
112 CHATS AND REDBREASTS. 
 
 Willughby. He introduces this bird to his readers under the title of the 
 " Fallow- Smich, in Sussex the Wheat-ear, lecause the time of Wheat-harvest 
 they wax very fat ; called by the Italians, Culo Bianco, and hy us also in 
 some places, White-tail, from the colour of its Rump." He adds that " The 
 Sussex Shepherds, to catch these Birds, use this Art. They dig long turves 
 of earth, and lay them across the holes whereout they were digged, and 
 about the middle of them hang snares made of horse-hair. The Birds, 
 being naturally very timorous, if a Havrk happen to appear, or but a cloud 
 pass over and intercept the Sun-beams, hastily run to hide themselves in 
 the holes under the Turves, and so are caught by the Neck in the snares." 
 
 Wheatear-snabes (after Harting). 
 
 An interesting article, entitled " The Wheatear on the South Downs," 
 appeared in the Field of July 28, 1894. The writer, Mr J. E. Harting, 
 furnished various details concerning the former capture of these birds. 
 His remarks were illustrated with the sketch, here reproduced, of a 
 Wheatear-trap which the late Mr Blomfield bought from a Sussex 
 shepherd. " It will be seen," observes Mr Harting, " that by inserting 
 this contrivance in the opening which has been cut in the ground 
 immediately under the turf which is laid across the hole thus made, a 
 double horsehair snare is set in such a manner that a Wheatear passing 
 under the sod cannot escape." 
 
 Mr Borrer quotes the following remarks from the mouth of a 
 celebrated South Down shepherd, who tended his flocks near Brighton : — 
 "The farm extending along the sea coast, I caught great numbers of 
 Wheatears during the season for taking them, which lasts from the 
 middle of July to the end of August. The most I ever caught in a day 
 was thirteen dozen, but we thought it a good day if we caught three or 
 four dozen. We sold them to a poulterer at Brighton, who took all we 
 
CHATS AND KEDBKEASTS. 113 
 
 could catch in a season at eighteenpence a dozen. From what I have heard 
 from old shepherds, it cannot he doubted that they were caught in much 
 greater numbers a century ago than of late. I have heard them speak 
 of an immense number being taken in one day by a shepherd at East 
 Dean, near Beachy Head. I think they said he took nearly a hundred 
 dozen, so many that they could not thread them on crow-quills, in the 
 usual manner ; but he took of3f his round frock and made a sack of it to 
 put them into, and his wife did the same with her petticoat. This 
 must have happened when there was a great ilight. Their numbers are 
 now so decreased that some shepherds do not set up any coops, as it 
 does not pay for the trouble." Charles il. was exceedingly fond of 
 Wheatears. He was once entertained at a dinner given by the Earl 
 of Dorset, when no fewer than twenty dozen of these birds were eaten 
 by the company. But it is not only in England that the Wheatear 
 enjoyed a high reputation as a gibier. Herr Gaetke assures us {Die 
 Vogelwarte Helgoland, p. 337) that great numbers of the "Ohlen," as 
 the islanders dub the bird, visit the Heligoland on their autumnal 
 migration. Many immature birds are taken to supply delicacies for 
 the holiday-makers. 
 
 The capture of the birds is ei3f'ected by means of a simple Clap- 
 net ("eines einsachen Zugnetzes"). These birds like to perch on the 
 small elevations to be found on the upper edge of the cliffs. The fowler 
 therefore heaps up a hillock in that part of the island, measuring about 
 five feet in length and raised to a height of eight or nine inches. The 
 net is laid parallel to the artificial mound of earth, and is so arranged 
 that it can be drawn over the hillock when the fowler jerks the pull- 
 cord. Formerly the net used to be pulled every time that a Chat 
 settled on the projection, but the fowlers have latterly baited the 
 fowling-floor with ants, which readily attract a number of birds, so that 
 several may be taken at a single pull of the net. The Tuscan bird- 
 catchers are likewise in the habit of baiting their traps with ants. 
 Gaetke estimates that a single fowler can net about a hundred Wheatears 
 during a strong migration of these birds. As many as two hundred 
 individuals have been secured, under exceptional circumstances. Chats 
 are sometimes taken with the Arab Nightingale trap, mentioned in the 
 next chapter. Mr Aplin tells me that he purchased a male Black- 
 throated Chat {Sasdcola melanoleuca) at Gafsa, which had been obtained 
 
 H 
 
114 CHATS AND EEDBREASTS. 
 
 by means of this engine. The Whinchat {Pratincola rvibetra) is little 
 sought after by English birdcatchers. An old Carlisle birdcatcher 
 named Walton, now deceased, was clever at procuring living specimens 
 of this bird. He was accustomed to drive the " Utick," as it is called 
 in the north of England, up to the limed twigs which he had previously 
 arranged in conspicuous prominence on the hedgerows. The same plan 
 of securing the " Braunkechlen " is adopted in Germany. The Germans 
 are also adepts at catching this Chat in gardens by means of springes 
 (" Sprenkeln "). The springes are planted in the ground among the cabbages. 
 The fowlers then gently urge the birds which they desire to take in the 
 direction of the traps. When the Chats alight on the perches displayed 
 in tempting situations, they find their poor little feet entangled in the 
 horsehair snares. 
 
 The Common Eedstart {Ruticilla phoenicurus) and the Black Eedstart 
 (JRuticilla titys) are both trapped and snared for the Italian markets in 
 the autumn, when these birds are usually "grassissimi e buonissimi per 
 mangiarsi," as Savi observes. I have had occasion to trap both adults 
 and nestlings of the Black Eedstart. It is easy to take them alive 
 with an ordinary Nightingale trap. In Auvergne I trapped a male 
 belonging to a brood which frequented a stone wall. I repeated the 
 experiment in a garden at Montreux with the same result. Some of 
 the " Codirossi " supplied to the Italian markets are taken with the 
 Little Owl and limed twigs. But most of the Black Eedstarts which 
 I picked out of the bunches of small birds exposed for sale on the 
 poulterers' stalls seemed to have been caught in horsehair snares, which 
 had in one or two cases almost severed the imprisoned limb. Once, 
 indeed, in Germany, I found a newly fledged Black Eedstart accidentally 
 detained by a horsehair which had become entangled with one of its feet 
 in the nest. This shows how easily birds of this kind may be snared. 
 I picked out one or two perfect adult specimens of the Black Eedstart 
 from those which I found in the Florence market ; but most of the birds 
 in question were immature. Their numbers are very small, indeed, 
 infinitesimal, when compared to the thousands of Eedbreasts (Erithacus 
 rubeoula) which annually pass through the hands of the Italian dealers. 
 We are accustomed to revere this species, the " Euddocke," " Eobbyn" 
 or "Eedbreste," as our British forefathers dubbed the " Eouge-gorge " 
 of our French neighbours; yet it must be admitted that I have seen 
 
CHATS AND EEDBEEASTS. 115 
 
 great store-cages full of fresh-caught Eobins in the birdshops of Club 
 Eow. 
 
 German sentiment is strongly hostile to the destruction of the 
 " Eothkehlehen " or any singing-bird. Yet writers of Teutonic nationality 
 record the fact that the Eedbreast shares the fate of other woodland 
 species. It is often strangled in the nooses set for Thrushes and other 
 migrating birds, especially in Western Germany. But the chief sinners 
 are the Frenchmen and the Italians. Belon tells us that the French 
 peasants of his day used to snare Eedbreasts at their drinking-places. 
 Buliard regards the "Pip^e" as the favourite method of securing this 
 bird. Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeray observe that the " Eouge- 
 gorge," the " joyous harbinger of autumn," first arrives in the south of 
 France during the second week in September. Its appearance is there- 
 fore associated in the minds of the peasants with the commencement of 
 " la chasse aux Grives." But it is when the hapless Eobins, that seek 
 to exchange our northern climate for the warm winter sunshine of Italy, 
 have crossed the Alps and taken up an abode in the land of their desire, 
 that the task of extermination commences in grim earnest. Until I 
 visited Italy, I had no conception that the Eedbreast existed anywhere 
 in Europe in such abundance as to outnumber every other bird except 
 the Song Thrush and the Sparrow. It is only when one has turned 
 over piles of fresh-killed Eobins on the street barrows that one realises 
 the immense numbers of the " Pettirosso " that succumb to the guile of 
 the professional birdcatcher. 
 
 Di VaUi instructs us that the Eoman plan of catching the " Petto 
 Eosso " is to employ a tame Eobin as a decoy. This is placed in a 
 spherical cage, mounted on a spiked staff, so that it can be easily planted 
 in the ground. A number of limed twigs are grouped around the cage 
 of the decoy, to which Savi gives the name of the "Gaggia." The 
 peasant carries his decoy to some copse in which he expects to find a 
 Eobin. He then challenges the wild bird with a bird-whistle, or with 
 the "Chioccolo." The pugnacious "Pettirosso" flies in a fury to the 
 fray, but while endeavouring to attack his caged rival is himself held 
 fast by the limed twigs. Eobins are caught in the " Brescianella," in 
 trap-cages, snares, and in many other ways. But the chief market 
 supply is obtained by the instrumentality of the " Civetta " or Little Owl. 
 The fowler leaves home as soon as the dew has dried on the grass, and 
 
116 CHATS AND REDBREASTS. 
 
 marches along the hedgerows until he hears the sweet cadence of the 
 Eedbreast's autumn strain. The " Civetta " is then placed on the perch 
 (" Gruccia "), which is always employed for the Little Owl. The 
 specimen of this perch which I brought from Italy consists of two 
 parts, the staiT and the circular headpiece. This latter is covered with 
 cloth, above which a loose network is spread, to give the Owl a firm 
 seat. The staff on which the headpiece revolves (for it is not fixed, but 
 can be spun round at pleasure) consists of a piece of hard wood fitted 
 with an iron spike at the extremity. 
 
 The " Civetta " is allowed to hop to the end of the leash attached to 
 the swivel which secures it to the jesses of the bird. The fowler 
 places the " Civetta " in an open space, and arranges a few limed twigs 
 (" Panioni ") about the nearest bushes, or above the turf, in the 
 
 Italian Lime-Twiq (" Paniuzza "). 
 
 likeliest positions for the wild " Pettirosso " to alight. The fowler then 
 hides behind a hedge to watch the effect of the Owl upon the Eedbreast. 
 The little bird soon emerges from the shadow of the hedge, and hops 
 from one place to another in the hopes of securing a better view of the 
 " Civetta." At last he perches on one of the limed rods, when his 
 curiosity seals his fate. If the fowler finds that the first Eedbreast 
 which he wishes to take proves too crafty to succumb to his wiles, he 
 takes his Owl up and moves on to some more auspicious spot. A clever 
 fowler has been known to capture one hundred and fifty or even two 
 hundred Eobins in a single day with the aid of a " Civetta." 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from the first edition of Olina's 
 work. It depicts an Italian peasant endeavouring to catch small birds with 
 the aid of a Little Owl. The " Civetta " is perching upon the top of the 
 " Gruccia," to which it is tethered in the fashion still customary in Italy. 
 Three limed rods, all inserted in their sheaths of hollow cane, are lying on the 
 ground to the right of the fowler. 1 
 
CHAPTEE XIII.— NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHEOATS. 
 
 rpHE NIGHTINGALE {Daulias luscinia) has found hosts of admirers 
 X ever since the days when the shepherd Alcon sought to win the 
 smile of his beloved Donace by the offering of a tame bird of this 
 species. The little favourite was already so domesticated as to prefer 
 his wicker cage to the freedom of the woods. Doubtless the captive 
 thus detained at will would warble his sweetest and most varied trills 
 in honour of his pretty mistress. Olina furnishes a pathetic epitaph 
 preserved in the villa of Sig. Jacopo. Bosio, outside the Porta del Popolo 
 at Eome, in affectionate remembrance of a " Eusignolo," which came to 
 an untimely end by drowning : — 
 
 " In poculo murrhino Caput abluenti 
 Infeliciter summersae." 
 
 The inscription thus concludes : — 
 
 " In cavea picta saltans quae dulce canebat 
 Muta tenebrosa Nunc jacet in cavea." 
 
 Almost all the Nightingales that have succumbed to the craft of the 
 fowler owed the loss of their freedom to the ingenuity of some kind of 
 spring trap, baited with an insect which proved irresistible to the little 
 minstrel, whose powers of charming the human ear had thus proved his 
 
118 NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHEOATS. 
 
 ruin. An exception to this must be made in the case of such Night- 
 ingales as may at any time have landed on the Island of Malta. Mr 
 Wright states that numbers of Nightingales are taken on that island at 
 the seasons of their migration. The peasants spread hanging nets over 
 low-spreading Carob trees, and proceed to drive the newly arrived and 
 wearied Nightingales into the meshes. The Island of Capri is also 
 famous for the multitudes of small insectivorous birds which rest upon 
 its shores when journeying to Europe from Northern Africa. Every 
 peasant, young or old, looks after twenty or thirty of the little traps, 
 caUed " Gratiglie." I obtained a specimen of this " Trappola " through 
 the great courtesy of Messrs Thomas Cook of Naples. This contrivance 
 is of simple workmanship. The peasant cuts a stout switch about 
 thirty-eight inches long and bends it in the form of a half hoop. He 
 then takes eleven pieces of split cane, nine of which are of equal length. 
 The other two are shorter, in order that they may fill up the space. 
 These eleven pieces of cane are arranged side by side within the wooden 
 arch. They are bound in their places by two lines of twine, which are 
 secured to the outer hoop by notches cut on its outer edge. The trap, 
 when complete, presents the appearance of a rude cover. It is placed 
 above a small hollow in the ground, and is propped up with stones on 
 either side. It is set by means of three pieces of wood. The first of 
 these is a small ring of wood which slips up and down one of the bars 
 of the trap. A forked piece of wood is inserted in the ground to support 
 a small perch, which has a sharpened extremity. This last is so 
 adjusted that it rests in the steni of the loose ring, and a live mealworm 
 is attached. When a bird pecks at the insect it disturbs the equipoise 
 of the trap, which falls on the top of it. The wooden bars render 
 escape hopeless, and the bird awaits the arrival of the fowler in this 
 extemporised prison. 
 
 When Mr 0. V. Aplin undertook his adventurous journey through 
 Tunis in 1895, I requested him to ascertain what methods of trapping 
 birds were practised in that country. He most kindly brought back 
 the trap for Nightingales and other warblers which is figured here. 
 The net consists of a light mesh-work of the fibres of the date-palm. It 
 measures about nine inches in height and about nine inches also in 
 breadth at the base. It is attached to a hoop of wood, which is kept 
 in an arched position by the band of strongly-plaited fibrous cord which 
 
NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHKOATS. 
 
 119 
 
 forms the base of the trap. The arch of wood measures about three- 
 quarters of an inch in diameter. A stout wooden stake measuring an 
 inch across and upwards of sixteen inches in length passes through the 
 centre of the cord which forms the base of the trap. This stake is 
 
 
 Trappola. 
 
 sharply pointed at the upper extremity. Mr Aplin remarks that it 
 was when staying in the important oasis town of Gafsa that he dis- 
 covered that the little Arab boys were in the habit of trapping many 
 small birds with this clever contrivance. Mr Aplin himself saw several 
 of these traps set in the oasis for the purpose of catching Nightingales, 
 Eedstarts (Buticilla phoenicurus), Subalpine Warblers (Sylvia subcUpina), 
 Orphean Warblers (^Sylvia orphea), and other members of the same 
 group. The traps were always baited with " a tough white, brown- 
 headed grub found underground." Mr Aplin explains that when the 
 Arab wishes to set the trap the stake is driven into the ground and the 
 base of the hoop net is brought down to the ground. If the hoop is 
 raised into an upright position and then released, it falls sharply to the 
 
120 
 
 NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHKOATS. 
 
 ground. To keep the net in the required position, the short cross stick, 
 which measures five and a half inches and is tied to the stake by a string 
 of fibre, is brought over the top of the hoop, and is next passed through 
 a loop of fibre which is attached to the centre of the net on the inside. 
 The bait is attached to the loop of grass which holds the cross-piece in 
 position. When a Nightingale pulls at the bait it releases the cross- 
 
 Tdnisian Nightinoale Tbap. 
 
 piece from the loop and the trap falls over the bird. The trap is neatly 
 finished, and quite unlike the traps which I have ascertained to be 
 employed for catching Nightingales in different parts of Europe. 
 
 Di Valli figured two traps of Italian workmanship in 1601. Olina 
 reproduced both of these twenty-one years later, on a larger scale, but 
 
NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHKOATS. 121 
 
 without altering the details of either, though he perhaps made their 
 manipulation clearer than his predecessor had done. One of these 
 traps is a trap-cage, supplied with a spring lid, which closes when the 
 Nightingale alights on the perch, to which the bait of a mealworm 
 is pinned. This trap is termed a " Scarcatora " by both authors. It is 
 also termed " La Gabbia scaricatoia," and is just such a trap as is often 
 used in England for trapping Titmice and other small birds. The 
 second Nightingale trap, to which we are introduced by Di Valli and 
 Olina, is a veritable spring trap, of a pattern which has probably become 
 obsolete, though it may still exist in some out of the way places. We 
 do not receive any instruction as to the setting of this trap from either 
 of the authors who figure it. But there can be no doubt that the switch 
 shown as planted in the ground beside the trap supports the net until 
 the hungry Nightingale tugs at the bait and brings down the trap. The 
 Nightingale traps which I have purchased from time to time in Trance 
 and Italy vary in details, but they agree in the main principle of 
 structure. They generally consist of two wire half-hoops, to which a 
 small net is attached. Such a net, purchased at Milan, measures just 
 twelve inches when the two halves of the trap are open. These two 
 halves are doubled backwards when the net is set, and are kept in their 
 place by means of a small notched piece of wood. A piece of wire 
 twisted round this piece of wood serves to hold the bait. "When the 
 Nightingale pulls at the mealworm, which invariably forms the bait, the 
 two halves of the trap spring together and enclose the dicky-bird within 
 the meshes of the net. In this Italian trap the wire springs are placed 
 at the opposite ends of the wire hoops, but in the commonest Parisian 
 trap the wire springs form a continuous base to the trap. Little interest 
 attaches to these differences. The traps are made like any other articles 
 of trade, and there is no romance or flavour of antiquity about them. 
 English fowlers used to catch Nightingales by means of a small spring 
 net, but in their case the net was often single, and when sprung covered 
 a green board to which the bait was secured by means of a cork. This 
 cork was connected with a small piece of tin or other sheet metal. A 
 hole bored through the piece of metal enabled the fowler to keep the 
 net back, the tin piece resting lightly on a small nail driven into the 
 board which the falling net covered. When the Nightingale pecked at 
 the insect, which was pinned on the cork, its action released the string 
 
122 NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHROATS. 
 
 which upheld the net, and thus sealed its fate. Once when walking 
 along a suburban lane I came across a Nightingale trap of a form 
 unfamiliar to me. It consisted of two oblong or rectangular nets, which 
 closed together by a spring when the bird attacked the insect used as a 
 bait. When I saw the trap it was being employed to catch Eobins ; but 
 the East Londoner who owned it assured me that its proper function 
 was to capture Nightingales. Nearly all these modern traps work on 
 one identical principle, viz., that of the bird pulling a fat grub. It is 
 this that tempts the appetite of the whimsical Nightingale, and thus 
 induces the bird to disturb the equilibrium of the net. The valuable 
 co-operation of Mr Norman Douglass has obtained for me two specimens 
 of the spring trap adopted in Western Eussia for capturing the Northern 
 Nightingale {Daulias philomela). This type of trap diifers from any 
 others that I have personally examined in one or two interesting parti- 
 culars. The net employed is large enough to rather more than cover 
 a wooden hoop of a diameter of thirteen inches and a half. Only one 
 single half-hoop of wire is used. The net is attached around to the edge 
 of the wooden hoop for one half of its circumference by a series of small 
 hooks. The outer half of the net is threaded upon the outer meshes of 
 the wire half-hoop, which works upon two springs of wire which are placed 
 inside the wooden hoop, about the centre of its width. All the other 
 Nightingale traps that have been mentioned here are designed to be 
 pulled over by the bird when it endeavours to seize the mealworm in its 
 bill. This Eussian trap is worked on a different principle. A slender 
 twig nine inches long is strung on four fine threads. These radiate from 
 four points on the inside of the hoop. The wire half-hoop falls on to a 
 piece of tin, which is pierced at the one end to admit of these threads being 
 thus held together. The other end of this metal piece, which measures 
 two inches in length, is turned over, so as to work on a square or oblong 
 wire frame, which rests half in and half outside of the wooden hoop. 
 When the net is laid back, a wire attached to the outside of the wire 
 frame just mentioned is adjusted to lie over the rim of the wire half- 
 hoop. This catch is kept in its place by passing into a small hole in the 
 metal piece first named. The trap is baited with mealworms, which are 
 tied to the perch. When the Nightingale spies the insects it hops on to 
 the slender perch. Its light weight serves to release the wire catch, and 
 the net flies down, enclosing the Nightingale. 
 
NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHEOATS. 123 
 
 The season at which the Nightingale is usually captured is early 
 spring. Before the capture of Nightingales was made illegal in England 
 our birdcatchers used to catch these birds on their first appearance in the 
 woods near London about the middle of April. These men always told 
 me that when they had marked down a Nightingale which they wanted 
 to catch, they first disturbed the earth, and then set the trap on the 
 fresh soil. Chittenden of Oxford, a veteran who boasted that he knew 
 " every bird wot flew,'' often amused me by the cleverness with which 
 he could whistle the love-song of this bird. To my untrained ear his 
 accuracy seemed great, nor had I any reason to doubt that it assisted 
 him in alluring the wild songster to the trap prepared for its capture. 
 He told me that one of the Nightingales which he netted lived in his 
 possession for four years, and was in fine condition when he parted with 
 it. A Norfolk bird-fancier told me that he caught one or two Nightingales 
 for his own amusement every year. This man generally lured the birds 
 up to the net by imitating their call-note, " Krr," His method of 
 inducing the fresh-caught birds to take to the cage diet, technically 
 known to "the fancy" as "meating the birds off," was to feed them 
 at first with live " black-beetles," a fare upon which, as he assured me, 
 the Nightingale will sing splendidly. If the French birdcatchers are as 
 adept as those of Italy in trapping the " Eossignol," the bird is, or was, no 
 less persecuted when it crossed the Ehine, and became the " Nachtigall " 
 of their beer-drinking confreres. The " Nachtigallnetz " is fully described 
 by Brehm {Der Vogdfang,^. 101). But the Germans also snared the 
 bird. The Frenchmen secured its capture with one or other of the 
 spring-nets, which are classed together under the title of Tr^buchet. 
 The Germans are also accredited with having taken the Nightingale by 
 driving the bird gently into a fine net, which hung suspended in its 
 favourite copse. The Northern Nightingale is no less ardently sought 
 after as a pet than its western relative. Mr Douglass informs me that 
 the finest songsters are repiited to be obtained in the neighbourhood of 
 Koursk, Central Eussia, and Volhynia. The numbers of this bird are 
 rapidly decreasing in the vicinity of St Petersburg, in consequence of 
 the activity of birdcatchers. Most of the birds appear to be captured 
 with the spring-trap, already described ; but some are also taken by 
 means of snares. The latter method is explained in Selivanovski's 
 Sportsman's Book for Capturing Animals and, Birds. The Eussian fowler, 
 
124 
 
 NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHEOATS. 
 
 who aspires to catch these birds, provides himself with some horsehair 
 snares and goes oif into the woods. When he has called to a wild 
 Nightingale in imitation of the cry of the female, and has been answered 
 by a cock, he makes a " Floor," which is a suitable spot on which to 
 prepare his trap. Upon the "Floor" so selected the peasant sets up 
 two thin sticks, which are connected together by a piece of twine. The 
 snares are tied to the connecting piece of twine in such a manner that 
 they hang down close to the ground. The trap is then baited with a 
 few ants' eggs or cocoons. The Nightingale is then driven in the 
 direction of the snares. Hopping furtively from bush to bush, the 
 newly arrived warbler quickly descries the delicate morsels placed in 
 
 Chinese Nightingale-Trap. 
 
 readiness to catch his sharp pair of eyes. He settles on the " Floor " to 
 pick up the food, and soon becomes entangled in the fine snares. Mr 
 Blaauw assures me that the Nightingale is sometimes caught in Holland 
 
NIGHTINGALES AND BLUETHEOATS. 125 
 
 in the following way. A large tumbler is pressed into the earth, and 
 some mealworms are dropped into the glass. The bird jumps into the 
 glass to secure the insect, but cannot extricate itself on account of the 
 narrowness of the vessel. The Chinese are enthusiastic birdcatchers. 
 They trap a variety of birds for the market. The Eubythroat {Calliope 
 camtschatkensis) and the Bluethroat Warbler (Huticilla suedca) are special 
 favourites in the neighbourhood of Pekin. The Eubythroats are taken 
 principally in the months of September and May. The birds haunt the 
 borders of streams, and their capture is effected by means of spring-nets. 
 These traps are baited with " un ver de bois " {David and Oustalef, Oiseaux 
 de Chine, p. 236). I have to thank Mr Styan for a specimen of the 
 Bow-net used for catching the Eubythroat in China. The trap in 
 question consists of two wire hoops, one of which is fixed into a section 
 of a wooden hoop, thus forming an irregular circle. Another wire 
 connects the two ends of the bent piece of wood, and is furnished 
 with a spiral wire spring. A half hoop of wire plays on the wire rod 
 which connects the two ends of the arch of wood. This last is covered 
 with a fine net. Another wire crosses the middle of the net. To this 
 is attached a small piece of wood, which is also fixed at its lower end 
 to the spiral spring. The trap is set by means of a piece of wood, 
 which is tied by a thread to the wooden arch of the trap. This passes 
 through the net and fits into a small catch, which is loosely tied to the 
 other side of the trap. In short, the Chinese trap works on a similar 
 principle to that of the French and English traps. When a bird tugs 
 at the bait the catch which holds the net is released and the net flies 
 over the bird. In the interior of China such a trap would be entirely 
 constructed of bamboo and string. The Pekinese catch great numbers of 
 the red-spotted Bluethroat in spring and autumn, chiefly in their environs, 
 but occasionally in the town itself (David). One autumn I myself tried to 
 take a Bluethroat with a Nightingale-trap, but food was plentiful, and the 
 dainty little fellow seemed shy and vigilant. It must, however, be admitted 
 that young Bluethroats are at first as bold and confiding as Eedbreasts. 
 BaUly considered the Bluethroat an easy bird to trap. He caught a young 
 male Bluethroat three successive times in the same net (" Tr^buchet "). 
 
 [The frontispiece of this chapter depicts two German fowlers in the act of 
 driving a Nightingale into a trap. It is reproduced from Arten von Vogeln.] 
 
CHAPTEE XIV.— BECCAFICOS. 
 
 ONE of the most brilliant of modern lawyers once asked me at dinner 
 whether a " Beccafico " was the same bird as a Quail. I mention 
 the fact as illustrating the wide variety of opinions that have prevailed 
 as to the actual identification of the "Beccafico." There is not the 
 slightest question that several small species of insectivorous birds have 
 been regarded as the " Beccafico," even among the Italians themselves. 
 Thus Francesco Monari observes in his little treatise, La Caecia dell 
 Arcohugio, published in 1672: "Certain little birds of many species 
 which are all classed together under the title of Beccafichi, are very 
 good when fat; they arrive in April and leave Italy in autumn when 
 the Chaffinch (Fringuello) and the Eedbreast (Pitar rosso) are arriving." 
 Even at the present time the title of " Beccafico " is sometimes applied 
 
BEOCAFICOS. 127 
 
 to the Garden Warbler (Sylvia salicaria), the Orphean Warbler (Sylvia 
 orphea), the Common Whitethroat (Sylvia eurnica), and the Barred 
 Warbler (Sylvia nisoria). The first of these is beyond all doubt the 
 " Beccafico," and the only species that can be correctly designated thus. 
 Mediaeval writers were much exercised as to what species should be 
 regarded as the " Ficedula " or " Becfigue." Belon apparently identified 
 the Stonechat as the species signified. He figured the bird as possessing 
 a black head. Gesner was disposed to identify the " Becfigue " with the 
 Capo nero or Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). Our countryman Turner had 
 already expressed his opinion that the " Beccafico " was " avicula Germano 
 grasmucho similis." Modern Germans apply the title of " Grasmiicke " 
 to several species of Warbler ; but the bird which seems to have the best 
 claim to this name is the Garden Warbler. Di Valli figures a plain- 
 coloured Warbler which he separates as the " Beccafico Canapino," per- 
 haps referring to the Whitethroat. The name of " Canapino " properly 
 belongs to the Icterine Warbler (Hypolais iderina). Olina adopted part 
 of Di Valli's remarks on the " Beccafico " as his own, but gave fresh 
 figures of the " Beccafici ; " one of the birds being described as " Beccafico 
 ordinario." This last appears to be an undoubted Garden Warbler. 
 Savi tells us that numbers of Garden Warblers or " Bigioni " (as the 
 Beccafici are called at Pisa) are taken in some parts of Tuscany by 
 means of limed twigs placed on the top of a tree. The Warblers are 
 attracted to the spot by one or two caged Chaffinches in song. Count 
 Ettore Arrigone degli Oddi remarks that the various Warblers are caught 
 from August to October in the " Eagna portatile " or " Pantiera ; " at any- 
 rate in the province of Padova. The " Eagna " or " Spider-net/' which 
 the Prench call "I'Araigne," and the Germans entitle the "Spinnen- 
 gewebe " or " Hangenetz," is a fine open silk net, usually dyed green, 
 stretched between two bushes or posts. It is intended that the small 
 Warblers should be gently driven into this net, which they are unable to 
 distinguish from the surrounding leaves. 
 
 The late Dr Maclean of Colchester informed Mr T. C. Heysham that 
 he captured a variety of birds with his " Spider-nets." " The extraordinary 
 success," he writes, " I have had with my spider nets will afford you much 
 amusement. I have taken all the Warblers except the Wood Wren, the 
 Grasshopper Warbler, and the Dartford Warbler ; also Kingfishers, Eock 
 Larks, and an endless number of other birds ; and I have not the least 
 
128 BEOCAFICOS. 
 
 doubt but that I could take any birds except those which are constantly 
 at the tops of high trees." The nets used by this Essex naturalist were 
 made of the finest knitting silk, and of a very small mesh. The Japanese 
 are expert at capturing song-birds, such as the Japanese Eobin {Urithaous 
 akahige), with a species of " Eagna " or " Spider-net." Mr S. Fukushima 
 tells me that his countrymen adopt for this purpose an engine which is 
 called " Ten-no- Ami " or the Net of Heaven. It is woven of such fine 
 silk texture as to be invisible to the birds. The length of this net 
 extends to twenty-four or thirty feet, and it is about five feet deep. The 
 net is stretched perpendicularly between strong bamboo supports ; the 
 weight of the net is borne by lines which are secured to three rings, 
 attached at suitable distances to the bamboos on each side. The fowler 
 takes his net into a bamboo copse, in which he arranges the net or nets ; 
 for several may, of course, be used at the same time. The Wild birds are 
 attracted to the spot by the caged decoys which the fowler hangs up in 
 the midst of the bamboo grass; as the birds fly to and fro they are 
 intercepted by one or other of the nets. Beaters are sometimes employed 
 to drive the birds out of cover into the nets. 
 
 The Blackcap or " Pauvette h, tete noir " is one of the most popular 
 cage-birds on the Continent. The Parisians especially are warm admirers 
 of its pretty song. This species is always represented in the bird-shops 
 on the banks of the Seine. It is often taken with the bow-shaped 
 spring-trap used for catching Mghtingales. This is especially the case 
 in spring, when a plump mealworm is an irresistible bait for most of the 
 little insectivorous birds. Both the Frenchmen and the Germans catch 
 the Blackcap or " Schwarzkopfigge " in the autumn. The springes are 
 baited with currants in July and August. In September elder berries 
 are most attractive ; I have seen elder bushes near Montreux which had 
 been stripped of all their fruit by the Blackcaps. My friend Count 
 Camozzi Vertova is in the habit of hanging up caged Blackcaps in his 
 woods near Bergamo, in the hope that they will attract others of their 
 brethren to take up their quarters in his delightful preserve of singing- 
 birds. I tried on a certain occasion to catch some specimens of the 
 Great Eeed "Warbler (Acrocephahis turdoides) among the reed-beds of the 
 Ehone, in the hope of studying one of these fine songsters in captivity. 
 My success was nil. Priderich, however, says that it is possible to trap 
 this retiring species with snares prepared in the following way. The 
 
BECCAFICOS. 129 
 
 birdcatcher chooses a natural branch of a tree to which several twigs are 
 growing. He attaches a number of horsehair nooses to the twigs, so that 
 the branch is festooned with a row of snares. He takes several boughs 
 which have been prepared in this way, and sets them in a bed of reeds 
 projecting out over the water, or standing up from the side of a marshy 
 bank. The Great Eeed Warbler soon creeps through the reeds. Spying 
 the newly erected perch, he naturally alights upon it, and is held an 
 unwilling prisoner. The chance of success is increased if a live meal- 
 worm is tied to the decoy bough. The Sedge Warbler {Acrocephalus 
 schmnoboenus) can be taken with birdlimed twigs ; but the method which 
 Friderich commends for procuring specimens is that of stretching a 
 closely clinging net (" Klebegarn "), made of green silk or of grey thread, 
 and of so fine a mesh that the Sedge Warbler cannot creep through, 
 across some ditch frequented by one of these birds. The net hangs 
 perpendicular to the water. The fowler fixes up his net, and then, with 
 the aid of a companion, proceeds to drive the bird into the wall of silk 
 intended to arrest its flight. The Japanese are fond of caging the Bush 
 Warbler (Oettia cantaris) for the sake of its sweet song. It is chiefly 
 caught -by means of birdlime ("Mochi"), especially in spring or early 
 summer, when birds have begun to breed. The fowler catches a live 
 Sparrow (Passer montanus), and threads a fine line of about four feet 
 through its nostrils. He next takes a long slender bamboo. He proceeds 
 to attach the Sparrow to the top of the bamboo by the thread which 
 passes through its nostrils. The Sparrow has thus freedom to fly at a 
 distance of four feet from the bamboo. The fowler plants the bamboo in 
 a bed of reeds or other imdergrowth frequented by the Bush Warbler. 
 He has previously smeared the sides of the bamboo with birdlime, only 
 taking care to leave the uppermost four feet of the bamboo free of bird- 
 lime. Other twigs covered with birdUme are placed on the bushes in the 
 neighbourhood. A long string is tied round the bamboo, by which means 
 the fowler is able to jerk the rod at pleasure. When the Japanese tugs 
 the cord tied to the bamboo, the Sparrow finds his perch rock uneasily ; 
 accordingly, he flies round and round at the end of his tether. The Bush 
 Warblers resent the appearance of the thievish Sparrow in the vicinity of 
 their nests. They therefore emerge from their favourite cover in order to 
 expel the intruder from their special domain. Ko sooner does a Bush 
 Warbler alight on the side of the bamboo, or upon any of the twigs, than 
 
 I 
 
130 BECCAPICOS. 
 
 it is held by the birdlime. " The best season for this game is April and 
 May when they rear their young ones." The Alpine Accentor (^Accentor 
 collaris) is taken at intervals in some numbers for the German markets. 
 The birds of this species that formerly lived in my aviary, and delighted 
 us with the esprit and vivacity of their sweet strains, had been sent to 
 Paris, where I bought them, from Geneva. These birds are snared and 
 trapped by simple devices in the neighbourhood of the Alpine villages in 
 the winter time. Gesner described and figured the Alpine Accentor from 
 a specimen which accidentally entered the ancient castle of Kyburg 
 through an open window in the year 1559. Nobody knew what it was, 
 but all the company were charmed by its sweet song. The Common 
 Hedge Sparrow {Accentor modularis) is easily caught with snares, in a 
 spring-net, or by any simple device. The Chinese are fond of caging the 
 Mountain Accentor {Accentor montanellus), feeding it on millet. 
 
 It is an astonishing fact that such diminutive birds as the Goldcrest 
 {Begidus cristatus) and the rarer Firecrest {Begulus ignicapillus) should be 
 thought worthy of the pursuit of the fowler. I was surprised to find 
 whole bunches of Goldcrests, with an occasional Firecrest, in the Italian 
 markets ; not, indeed, in the same numbers as the Common Wren 
 {Troglodytes europceus), but still far from uncommonly. Two Firecrests, 
 a male and a female, which I picked out of the bunches of dicky-birds in 
 the Florence market were in perfect plumage ; but, from the appearance 
 of the feet of the male, I judged that they must have been snared. The 
 only Goldcrest that I ever kept as a pet appeared to have been reared 
 from the nest by hand. Frenchmen are adepts at bringing up the young 
 of this, as well as the Brown Wren and many other insectivorous species. 
 But Goldcrests are captured as pets when adult. Friderich says that the 
 best plan is to take a caged Goldcrest and hang it out in the woods, 
 placing a few limed twigs around the cage. Belon is the earliest author 
 known to me who figures the Goldcrest. He tells us that in his day it 
 was called the " Soulcie " or " Poul " in France. He describes its colour 
 accurately, and observes that it frequents hedges and garden plants, 
 feeding on minute flies. It is difficult to keep in a cage ; yet he vouches 
 for the nestlings of the Goldcrest having lived for two or three months in 
 captivity. Gesner figures the Goldcrest as the bird which was known to 
 the Germans of those days as the " Goldhendlin." 
 
 Gesner tells us, too, that the Goldcrest was known at Florence as the 
 
BECCAFICOS. 131 
 
 " Fiorrancio/' an allusion to the fact that the golden crest of this Begulus 
 bears some resemblance in colour to the blossom of the orange tree 
 (Melarancio). Aldrovandus figures the Goldcrest from a specimen bought 
 in the Bologna market. He remarks that the species was called " Capo 
 d'oro " at Verona, from its bright crown. Di Valli gives a rude figure 
 of what he calls the "Eeatino maschio." The artist evidently took a 
 Firecrest for the subject of his engraving. He has produced a bird with 
 a conspicuous, white superciliary stripe, and three black facial streaks. 
 So far as 1 can discover, this is the very first illustration of the Firecrest. 
 It is noteworthy that, though this figure appeared in 1601, it was not 
 until 1820 that the elder Brehm pointed out the distinctions between 
 the Fire-crested Wren and the Golden-crested Wren. This becomes the 
 more surprising when we remember that Oliaa, whose work was widely 
 circulated in Europe, furnished a very fair likeness of the Firecrest in 
 the first edition of his Uccelliera in 1622. He did more than figure the 
 Firecrest, which he calls by the Tuscan name of " Fior Eancio," for he 
 describes exactly the plumage of the bird, even drawing attention to the 
 white superciliary stripe, which he expresses as " sopra I'occhio ha una 
 macchietta biancha." He and other Italians are unanimous in stating 
 that the Reguli are captured with limed twigs placed around a Little 
 Owl. I believe that the Common Wren, or " Ee de gli Uccelli," is 
 captured in the same fashion in diiferent parts of Italy. 
 
 The Dippers {Cinclidm) can ill brook captivity. They are therefore 
 seldom harried by the fowler. Campbell mentions having seen the 
 " Merlo acquaiolo," or Water Ouzel (Ginclus aquaticus), netted along 
 with the Kingfisher in the neighbourhood of the Italian lakes, but I 
 understand that this species seldom reaches the Italian poulterers. 
 
 The Bulbuls {PyonotidcB) include in their number several species 
 which the Indian birdcatchers trap for the market. Mr Harold Littledale 
 informs me that the natives of Baroda generally rear Bulbuls and other 
 song-birds from the nest. They are also caught when adult by means 
 of birdlime "( Lachchha "). This substance " is smeared on thin twigs of 
 bamboo, which are laid cross-wise on the ground, and have grass-hoppers 
 and other insects (fresh-water larvae are very attractive) tied by hairs 
 near them or stuck with a little of the birdlime, or else the limed twig, 
 lightly adhering to the end of a long thin bamboo, is gently pushed up 
 into a tree in which the unsuspecting victim is perching." Jerdon 
 
132 
 
 BECCAFICOS. 
 
 states that the long rod supporting a limed twig is called " Leishra " in 
 Hindostani. In December 1894 Mr Littledale came across some natives 
 who were catching Bulbuls in the neighbourhood of his own house at 
 Baroda. He induced the fowlers to carry their gear to his house, where 
 he most kindly took a photograph of the arrangement of limed twigs 
 which these men employed. " You will see," he writes, " from the photo, 
 that a tame Bulbul is tied by the body to a long string end in a knot 
 
 Decoy Bulbhi, akd Limed Twigs. 
 
 and a perforated bullet ; this string is wound several times round a piece of 
 brick, and so the decoy is placed about eighteen inches from the snare. 
 The snare consists of two bamboo laths about fifteen inches long, tied cross- 
 wise, and bent down at the ends for two inches to form a sort of table. 
 Finer twigs covered with birdlime are laid on this, and some large insect 
 (which they find in mud on river banks) is tethered beneath by a thread 
 tied round its middle. They caught two Bulbuls with this snare 
 yesterday, specimens of the common Eed-vented Bulbul (Molpastes hcemor- 
 rhous)." It is a singular fact that the Black-eyebrowed Bulbul {Pycnotus 
 tricolor) often becomes intoxicated by eating fruit that is over-ripe and has 
 undergone fermentation, more especially the Cape gooseberry. Mr Ayres 
 observes that, in this drunken state, the Bulbuls " are easily caught, as 
 they can fly but a few yards at a time, and then not straight, soon 
 tumbling to the ground." 
 
BECCAFICOS. 133 
 
 The Japanese turn the Bulbul's love of fruit to good account. The 
 Brown-eared Bulbul {Hypsipetes amaurotis) is a popular cage-bird in 
 Japan. It is taken by a device which is called the " Orange . trap " 
 (" Mikan hago "). The fowler first discovers some favourite haunt of this 
 species. He next chooses a tree of suitable dimensions, and carefully 
 smears the branches with birdlime (" Mochi "). He then arranges a number 
 of oranges about the boughs. When the Bulbuls alight in the tree and 
 commence the feast, the unfortunate birds are taken prisoners by the 
 viscous lime. Unable to retain their proper equilibrium, they hang 
 helpless from the branches until the fowler neatly receives them into a 
 net which he keeps in readiness. This net is shaped like a butterfly-net. 
 The circular ring supports a purse-shaped net, well adapted to catch the 
 bird, which is easily detached from the bough to which it is clinging. 
 The net is attached to a long bamboo rod, at such an angle as enables 
 the fowler to give the net the necessary play among the branches. The 
 actual connection between the net and the handle is a half-hoop, which 
 moves in a socket fixed at the top of the long bamboo. 
 
 The Italians have an old proverb, " Per San Benedetto la Eondine e 
 sul tetto," which may be rendered, " The Swallow nestles under the eave 
 on St Benedict's day." The 21st day of March is earlier than we can 
 hope to congratulate ourselves upon the Swallow {Hirundo rvstica) 
 twittering under our windows in England. Unfortunately both this 
 bird and the House Martin {Ghelidon urbica) have to run the gauntlet 
 of the southern fowlers before they can speed their swift flight around 
 our gables and battlements. The House Martin, or " Balestruccio " as 
 it is called in Italy, is often caught in Tuscany by means of a horse- 
 hair snare, which has been tied to a feather or a tiny morsel of cotton. 
 The Martin spies the object floating in the air at the end of a fine line, 
 which the fowler holds in his hand as he stands at an upper window. 
 The bird, being intent on gathering materials for its nest, makes a dart at 
 the feather, only to find its head encircled by an unsuspected noose. 
 Mr Hugh Popham reports to me that the small boys of Teniseik contrive 
 to catch Pallas's House Martin (^Ghelidon lagopoda) by a simple ruse. 
 " They tie a white feather on the end of a fine thread and leave this on 
 the ground near a church where all the Martins are breeding, on the 
 chance of the thread entangling the bird's wings as it carries off the 
 feather to its nest." Such trifling devices as those just named inflict no 
 
134 
 
 BEOCAFICOS. 
 
 serious injury on birds of this family. It is by the use of the Clap-nets 
 that the real havoc is wrought in the ranks of our pretty Swallows. 
 Savi deeply deplored the destruction thus worked among the legions of 
 Swallows and Martins which traverse the plains of Tuscany on their 
 migration. Count Ettore Arrigone degli Oddi, writing in 1894, found 
 himself obliged to include the House Martin and Swallow in a list of the 
 birds which are of the greatest commercial value to the poulterers in the 
 province of Padova. He tells us that in certain localities, e.g., Borgoforte, 
 on the Adige, numbers of Swallows are captured in the " Paretajo " or 
 Clap-net in the month of May. 
 
 Five hundred birds are sometimes netted in a single day. In the 
 south of Italy the Crag Martin (Ootile rwpestris) shares the fate of its 
 less distinguished congeners. This species is abundant in Sicily in some 
 winters. In February 1886 great numbers appeared in the province of 
 Syracuse, and many were netted for the table. " The birds proved to be 
 very fat, and were consequently much in request" {Avifauna Italica, 
 Vol. III. p. 572). 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter illustrates the Japanese method of capturing 
 the Bush Warbler by means of birdlime and a decoy Tree Sparrow, described 
 above (p. 129).] 
 
'^&/^fc. 
 
 CHAPTEE XV.— HONEYSUCKERS. 
 
 THE original adaptation of feathers to the purposes of personal adorn- 
 ment carries us back into the prehistoric period. It continues to 
 exist among those races which have emerged most recently from the 
 slough of barbarism. The Aleuts of the Pacific, the North American 
 Indians, the Kaffirs of South Africa difiFer widely in most other respects ; 
 but they agree in the value which they place on the plumes of rare or 
 gaudy birds. The desire to possess this particular kind of ornamentation 
 seems to have reached its culminating point in the uses of the Maoris 
 and their ancestors in Hawaii. Dr N. B. Emerson contributed a valuable 
 paper on this subject to The, Hawaiian Annual for 1895. He tells us 
 that the old kings of Hawaii had men in their service who specially fol- 
 lowed the vocation of birdcatchiag, called "Kia-manu." It is even 
 related that an ancient sovereign tided over a crisis in imperial affairs 
 by leading his warriors into the mountains on the pretext of engaging in 
 birdcatching. The fowler wore a special dress when carrying on his 
 fowling duties. The climate of Hawaii is characterised by fierce, tropical 
 downpours of rain. The birdcatcher clothed himself in a long waterproof 
 cloak, which encased his person from the head to the knees. " The basis 
 
136 HONEYSUCKEES. 
 
 of this garment was a net-work, into the meshes of which were looped 
 strips of dried Ti-leaf, that hung point-down on the outside. The method 
 was ahnost identical with that used in roofing a grass-hut." The species 
 most sought after hy the birdcatcher was a Honeysucker, the O-o 
 (Acrulocercm nolilis). It is of this species that Mr Scott Wilson writes : 
 " It is doubtful whether in ancient days it was from the yellow feathers 
 that grow beneath its wings, or from the still more beautiful yellow 
 feathers of the now extinct Drepanis pacifica, that the state robes of kings 
 and chiefs were wrought. It was the privilege of those classes alone to 
 wear them; and it cannot be denied that they formed a becoming 
 apparel. . . . The fabrication of the great yellow war-cloak of Kame- 
 hameha I. had been going on through the reign of eight preceding 
 monarchs. The ground-work is of coarse netting, to which are attached 
 with skill, now impossible to be applied, the delicate feathers, those on 
 the border being reverted. Its length is four feet, and it has a spread of 
 eleven feet and a-half at the bottom, the whole having the appearance 
 of a mantle of gold. The examples of the cloaks and capes which I 
 examined were all of the lighter shade of yellow which belongs to the 
 feathers of the present species." The feathers were largely used in pay- 
 ment of the annual tribute or land-tax. A higher valuation was formerly 
 set upon these feathers than upon any other form of Hawaiian property. 
 The Mamo {Drepanis •pacified) is supposed to be extinct. It is conjectured 
 that the golden-yellow feathers taken from the back of this bird were 
 utiUsed to adorn the war-cloaks of the chiefs. Eed or scarlet feathers 
 were procured from the liwi ( Vestiaria coccinea). These were plucked 
 from the breast, and adorned capes and helmets. The tree which supplied 
 the nectar upon which the Honeysuckers subsisted is the Ohia (Metrosi- 
 deros polymorpha), which is adorned with brilliant crimson blossoms. The 
 favourite hunting grounds of the fowler were the moist woodlands of 
 Hilo ; but he also plied his craft in Hamakua, Kohala, Kona, and Puna, 
 as well as on the other islands of the group. The birds were not perse- 
 cuted at all seasons. The campaigns planned for their destruction were 
 carried out when the Ohia was in flower. The trees of the lower grounds 
 blossomed in March, April, and May ; those which grew on the more 
 elevated stations blossomed from the beginning of August until the close 
 of October or the beginning of November. Hence the birdcatcher plied 
 his trade in spring, and again in the fall of the year. The birds generally 
 
HONEYSUCKERS. 137 
 
 performed a local migration, from the lower grounds to the higher regions, 
 or conversely, as best suited their food supply. But the Mamo was 
 always a bird of the mountains. A fowling expedition was prefaced by 
 religious rites. A service of intercession for the success of the under- 
 taking lent solemnity to the proposed enterprise. Dr Emerson supplies 
 the following version of an ancient invocation of the Hawaiian bird- 
 catcher, as used by an old fowler of Hilo : — 
 
 (Original.) (Translation.) 
 
 " Na aumakua i ka Po, Spirits of Darkness primeval, 
 
 Na aumakua i ke Ao, Spirits of Light, 
 
 la Kane i ka Po, To Kane, the eternal, 
 
 la Kanaloa i ka Po, To Kanaloa the eternal, 
 
 la Hoomeha i ka Po, To Hoomeha, the eternal, 
 
 I ko'u mau kupuna a pau loa i ka Po, To all my ancestors from eternity, 
 
 la Ku-huluhulumanu i ka Po : To Ku-huluhulumanu, the eternal ; 
 
 A pale ka Po, That you may banish the Darkness, 
 
 A puka i ke Ao, That we may enter the light. 
 
 Owau, o Eleele, ka mea iaia ka mana, To me, Eleele, give divine power, 
 
 Homai he ike. Give intelligence, 
 
 Homai he loaa nui, Give great success. 
 
 Pii oukou a ke kuahiwi, Climb to the wooded mountains, 
 
 A ke kualono. To the mountain ridges, 
 
 Ho'a mai oukou i ka manu a pau. Gather all the birds, 
 
 Hooli oukou iluna i ka manu kepau Bring them to my gum to be held 
 
 kahi e pill ai, fast. 
 
 Amama ! Ua noa. Amen ! The way is open.'' 
 
 When the hunter had thus inaugurated the fowling season, he set to work 
 to construct the huts in which he and his wife intended to camp. The 
 engines of his craft varied according to circumstances. Many of his 
 prizes were captured by means of birdlime. Mr Scott Wilson observes 
 that the Hawaiian birdlime was made of " the sticky juice of the bread- 
 fruit, and of the tenacious gum of the fragrant ' Olapa,' a common tree in 
 some parts of the forests." 
 
 Dr Emerson explains that birdlime was made in several ways. " The 
 sticky gum of the breadfruit tree was sometimes used, but that of the 
 ' Papala ' and of the ' Oha ' were more highly esteemed. Sometimes a 
 compound of two or more was made, being mixed and purified while 
 
138 
 
 IIONEYSUCKBES. 
 
 gently boiling with water over a fire." The birdlime was manipulated in 
 various ways. The most usual plan was to employ a long, slender pole 
 of dark spear wood, resembling a fishing-rod. This bird-pole was called 
 the " Kia " or " Kia-manu." The pole was furnished with a hook at the 
 slender extremity, by means of which its owner could hitch it over the 
 bough of a forest tree. The pole had a cross-piece, called the " Kano." 
 
 FowLiNO Pole. 
 
 A forked branch was bound above the cross-piece, designated as the 
 " Lalua " or " Amana." Both the fork and the cross-piece were smeared 
 with birdlime. " The hunter himself," writes Dr Emerson, " must remain 
 concealed beneath the shelter of the foliage ; or if that be too scanty, 
 under a covert extemporised from material at hand, fern leaves, or ' i-e-i-e ' 
 fronds. If the day is a good one and the charm of his prayer works well, 
 the birds will presently make their appearance singly, or by twos and 
 threes. Anon a struggling and a fluttering of wings announces to the 
 watchful hunter that the little creatures have alighted on his poles and 
 are held fast by the sticky gum. It would seem as if the alighting of 
 one bird on the limed fork or cross-piece of the hunter's pole did not deter 
 others from seeking to put themselves in the same plight. At the right 
 time the hunter cautiously withdraws one pole after another, and using 
 
HONEYSUCKERS. 139 
 
 care that no bird escapes, transfers the captured birds to the bag that 
 hangs at his side, or to a cage of wicker-work that is kept at hand." Mr 
 Scott Wilson remarks that the birdcatcher often smeared the birdlime 
 about the branches of a fiower-eovered Ohia. This explanation tallies 
 with Emerson's observation that the fowler often made his pole attractive 
 to the birds by baiting it with their favourite flowers : "With this intent 
 he sometimes attached to his pole a flowering branch artfully smeared with 
 gum, or the ' Kepau ' would be applied to directly to some part of the tree 
 where the hunter's judgment told him the bird would alight to feed." Scott 
 Wilson and Emerson state independently that the Hawaiian fowler used 
 to employ decoy-birds to entice their free brethren to the fowling-pole. 
 The species which seems to have been utilised as a decoy with the greatest 
 frequency was the beautiful scarlet Apapane {Himatione sanguinea). One 
 reason for the selection of this bird as a decoy was supplied by its pug- 
 nacity, since the free bird could easily be limed, in its eager onset upon 
 its brilliant but tethered rival. Another consideration iiifluencing the 
 choice of the fowler was the fact that this bird was generally one of the 
 first captured in the day. If the fowler caught one of these birds, it was 
 an easy matter to attach the newly-made prisoner to the prong at the tip 
 of the pole. At the same time we must remember that it was customary 
 to keep live examples of the Apapane, the O-o, and the liwi in special 
 cages, in order that these tame birds might be used to attract wild indi- 
 viduals. The captives were supplied daily with the nectar-flowers from 
 which they derived subsistence in their native woods. 
 
 The title conferred on the decoy-bird was " Maunu," which signified 
 " bait." While the O-o, and several other species sought after by the 
 fowlers, moved from one elevation to another in search of food ; the 
 extinct Mamo frequented the upper forest regions. In these surroundings 
 it was generally snared. The engine employed for its destruction was a 
 simple noose (" Pahele "), arranged beside the blossom of the fruit or flowers 
 which the Mamo loved. Great care was needed in setting the snare 
 without arousing the suspicions of the Mamo. The snare was attached 
 to a fine line fifteen yards or more in length. The fowler first adjusted 
 the snare and concealed himself in the vicinity, holding the end of the 
 line in his hand. He then commenced to imitate the penetrating whistle 
 of the Mamo. " If the Mamo was within hearing and pleased with the 
 hunter's call, he would answer and soon be on the wing in that direction, 
 
140 HONEYSUCKERS. 
 
 to make acquaintance of the siren that had called him. At the bird's 
 approach the hunter modulates his voice, only piping forth an occasional 
 reassuring note, to lead the Marao still nearer, relapsing into silence and 
 motionless quiet so soon as the bird has come within sight of the baited 
 trap. Having made his reconnaissance and satisfied himself that all is 
 right, the bird alights, and warily cocking his head to one side and the 
 other to observe more closely, he moves forward to taste the hunter's 
 bounty ; in doing which, he must set his foot within reach of the nicely 
 placed snare ; — on the instant the birdcatcher pulls his line and the bird 
 is his." The birds were sometimes liberated when they had been deprived 
 of their brilliant plumelets. Kamehameha I. is reputed to have rebuked 
 his fowlers for killing the birds they caught, in words which passed into 
 a proverb : " The feathers belong to me, but the birds themselves belong 
 to my heirs." It was the custom of some fowlers to release the first 
 bird they caught, uninjured, as an offering to the gods. " The Mamo and 
 such other birds as the fowler intended to eat, when plucked, were killed 
 by pressure over the breast, wrapped in the dry outer sheath of the 
 banana stalk, and placed in the fowling-bag. The O-o and other species 
 which were not eaten were kept in cages until the task of stripping them 
 of their coveted feathers had been completed." So far as I can judge, 
 the Hawaiian method of snaring Honey suckers seems to have borne a close 
 resemblance to the usage of the Maori. Pre-eminent among the smaller 
 birds which fell victims to the wiles of the Maori during the first half 
 of our century was the Bell-bird (Anthornis melanura). If its plain 
 olive-green plumage lacked the lustre of some other members of the same 
 family, yet its rare powers of melody have been famous ever since Cook 
 sailed across the Pacific. But its edible qualities constituted its chief 
 merit in the eyes of the aborigines. The engine employed for securing 
 the Bell-bird is figured by Sir W. Buller. He describes it as " formed of 
 a carefully selected piece of kareao vine, having the necessary curve 
 upwards. The lower part of this is fastened to the thick end of a bush- 
 rod, eight or ten feet in length, through a small hole in which a looped flax 
 line is passed, — a crook, to serve as a support, being placed on the opposite 
 side. At the upper extremity of the artificial perch thus produced, a 
 circular flower-holder, made of split vine, is fixed, and a string connects 
 it with the stem of the tuke, whilst the attachment of the lower end to 
 the support is concealed by a covering of soft moss, carefully tied round 
 
HONEYSUCKEES. 141 
 
 with a strip of green flax, every precaution being taken to give it a 
 natural appearance. Having baited and set his snare, the birdcatcher 
 hitches it by the crook to a branch in some favourable position, and 
 prepares for action. Concealing himself in a shelter of fronds, torn from 
 a tree-fern, and hastily stuck into the ground with the tops overlapping, 
 he imitates the alarm-cry of the bird by means of a nikau leaf placed 
 between his lips. The call is soon responded to, and birds from far and 
 near hurry to the fatal spot. The artful Maori then stops calling, and 
 the birds, as soon as their excitement has subsided, begin to look about 
 them and are attracted by the flowers. The instant one touches the 
 treacherous perch, a pull on the string bringing the loop home secures 
 it firmly by the leg. The tuke is then gently unhitched and lowered 
 from the branch, cleared of its victim, and quickly re-set." BuUer adds 
 that in bygone days, when this bird was abundant, certain ranges were 
 famous as preserves of the Bell-bird or Korimako. At the present day 
 the snaring of Korimakos by their ancestors is frequently pleaded as 
 supporting native titles to the ownership of land. Mr W. W. Smith of 
 Ashburton, to whose valuable assistance I owe much of the information 
 here embodied, writes to me that he has a personal knowledge of native 
 fowling. " When living," he says, " on the Eangitata Eiver fifteen years 
 ago, we spent many pleasant days snaring Bell-birds (Moko Mokos), 
 Tuis, and Kaka Kakas on the stately, mellifluous flowers of the native 
 flax {Phormiuvi tenax). The Kaka Kaka was more easily snared than 
 the Moko Moko or the Tui. We used the simple noose snare made in 
 a few minutes from the fibre of the flax, fastened on the end of a fine, 
 pliable rod. During the last twenty years we have experienced two 
 irruptions in the native districts, of the native paroquets. The failure 
 of their natural food in the forests is the cause of these occasional 
 irruptions. It is truly pitiable to observe the emaciated condition of 
 these beautiful little birds when they arrive, and the eagerness with 
 which they devour all cultivated fruits. During the last irruption we 
 snared scores of these birds in the gooseberry and currant bushes. 
 Although naturally cautious, shy birds, they were so intent in eating the 
 green fruits that we were able to approach them unobserved and capture 
 them with the flax noose-snare. We obtained some very variable and 
 beautifully marked specimens by this means." It may be remarked, in 
 this connection, that the simple flax snare which Mr W. W. Smith has 
 
142 HONEYSrrCKERS. 
 
 sent to me is no thicker than the ordinary gut cast attached to a trout- 
 fly. The species for which the flax snare is now most commonly 
 employed is the Tui {Prosthemadera novm zealandim), a bird rendered 
 conspicuous by its metallic-green plumage. The throat of the male of 
 this Honeysucker is ornamented with two small tufts of white and 
 spiral feathers, which suggested the popular title of " Parson-bird." 
 Buller informs us that when the Kowhai {Sophora grandiflora) has cast 
 its leaves, and is covered with a beautiful mantle of yellow flowers, its 
 branches are alive with Tuis. 
 
 The illustrations prepared for White's Ancient History of the Maori 
 include a representation of a Kowhai tree in bloom. Numerous running 
 nooses hang on every twig and spray. Several Tuis are depicted as 
 hanging by their necks in the snares. In December and January, when 
 the Phormium tenax is in full bloom, the Tuis leave the forest and repair 
 to the flax -fields to feast on the korari honey. " At these times large 
 numbers are caught in snares or speared by the natives, who thus supply 
 themselves with a delicious article of food. On these occasions the best- 
 conditioned birds are preserved in their own fat, and potted in calabashes, 
 ' hua-hua-koko ' being esteemed a great delicacy. At the periodical festi- 
 vals one or two of these pots, decorated with Pigeons' feathers, are placed 
 on top of the great pile of food which is presented to the visitors at these 
 ceremonials. Calabashes of kaka, titi, and kereru are plentiful enough, 
 but one of ' Tui ' gives the finishing touch to the menu at a Maori feast 
 of the kind I have indicated." Tamati Eanapiri describes no fewer than 
 seven methods of capturing the " Tui " or " Koko." He describes this 
 Honeysucker as wild and shy when in good condition, though its caution 
 becomes less marked when the bird is thin. The snares employed for its 
 capture resemble those in vogue for catching parrots and pigeons. The 
 method by "Striking," on the other hand, is specially adapted to the 
 habits of the Tui. " "When the experienced fowler goes to the forest to 
 ' strike ' Tui or Kokomako, he very carefully searches for a suitable place 
 for the perch ; for on its suitability alone depends whether the birds will 
 come to the perch. If the suspension of the perch or the locality is bad, 
 no birds will come near it, for the perch is the principal thing, and of 
 most consequence in this system of taking. The ' call ' is not of so much 
 consequence ; most men know how to do that. Should a suitable place 
 be found by him who uses the perch, when he has finished his work he 
 
HONEYSUCKEES. 143 
 
 destroys it, together with the fern-tree hut, so that no one else shall find 
 it, and retains the knowledge of the place to himself. It is not, however, 
 the knowledge alone, of how to select a proper site for the perch, that 
 discloses its suitability ; but the ease with which the birds can alight on 
 it is a factor also. The perch (Pae) is a pole about 7 ft. long, and an 
 inch thick ; one end of which is suspended on a tree and the other on 
 another tree, so that one end is much higher than the other. The fern- 
 tree hut in which the fowler sits, is much beneath the lower end of the 
 perch. So soon as the hut and perch are completed, the man occupies 
 the former, and commences to call the birds that they may fly on to the 
 perch, which is done by the aid of a Patete leaf {Schefflera digitata), inserted 
 between his lips : with this he makes his call (imitates the note of the 
 Tui "). The birds are knocked off the perch with a long flexible stick. A 
 great number of birds are caught in this manner ; an experienced man 
 will take as many as one hundred in a day. The method of taking Tuis 
 with a snare is called " Pewa." Its most important accessory is the 
 "Wheka" or artificial perch upon which the snare is extended. It is 
 baited with a flower. The Tui does not alight on the trap as soon as it 
 hears the caU of the fowler, preferring to warble first from some neigh- 
 bouring bough. Another form of Tui-fowling is that known as the 
 " Tumu." This is adopted in the season when this Honeysucker becomes 
 very fat by feeding on the berries of the Poporo or Kaoho (Solarium 
 aviculare). In this case a slip-snare is arranged over a natural perch, 
 and a bunch of ripe fruit is suspended at the end of the perch. The 
 Tui passes along the perch to seize the fruit, and as soon as its feet are 
 placed within the snare, the fowler jerks the string hand-line and secures 
 his prize. From ten to twenty Tuis are caught in a day by this method. 
 The Maoris also secure the Tui with bird-spears. This variety of fowling 
 is resorted to on rainy days, when a wind is blowing. The noise of the 
 wind enables the native to creep unnoticed up to the low shrubs in which 
 the Tui finds its favourite food at certain seasons. The Tui is also taken 
 at its roost. "In the month of June," writes Tamati Eanapiri, "in 
 winter, in frosty weather, in the evening of the day, the expert fowler 
 seeks out the sleeping-places of the Tui. Experts will never fail in 
 finding the sleeping-places of the Tui. The numbers to be found on 
 a single perch sometimes amount to ten or twelve, sometimes more, 
 sometimes less. The men listen for the return of the Tui to their 
 
144 HONEYSUCKEES. 
 
 sleeping-place, known by their cry, which is the guide in such cases to 
 their sleeping perches. Their cry in the evening is Koee, ! Koee ! and 
 the same when on the sleeping perch. When a perch is found, it is 
 carefully noted ; two or three are found on a single evening. Before the 
 darkness of night a torch is made, and during the darkness, before dawn, 
 the men who have found a sleeping perch proceed to the forest, where 
 they light their torches. They then climb to the trees where the Tui 
 are, — one to enlighten by the torch, another to climb, and so soon as he 
 gets to where the birds are, he catches them. The birds will not fly, not 
 the least, because their claws are contracted by the cold of the night ; 
 they, of their own accord, cannot loosen their claws from their sleeping 
 perch at that time of night, owing to their being benumbed. So soon as 
 they have secured the Tui of one perch, the men proceed to another, and 
 so on, and thus obtain all the birds of the sleeping perches seen the 
 previous night." The fowlers do not iind it worth while to climb the 
 trees, unless the night is frosty. 
 
 Another small bird generally associated with the Honeysuckers is 
 the White-eye {Zosterops caerulescens). Its appearance is insignificant, its 
 upper feathers being olive-yellow and the breast greyish-white. In size 
 it is no larger than a Willow-wren (^Phylloscopus trocMlus). It is one of 
 the few New Zealand birds which have increased in numbers of late 
 years, to which fact it owes its occasional destruction at the hand of the 
 Maori. " In the Bay of Plenty district," writes BuUer, " it is particularly 
 plentiful, so much so as to form an article of food to the natives. They 
 are in season in the months of March and April, and are then collected 
 in large numbers, singed on a bush fire to take the feathers off, and forth- 
 with converted into Huahua and potted in calabashes. The catching is 
 effected in a very primitive way. The birds have their favourite trees 
 upon which they are accustomed to congregate. Selecting one of these, 
 the birdcatcher clears an open space in the boughs and puts up several 
 straight, horizontal perches, under which he sits with a long supple wand 
 in his hand. He emits a low twittering note in imitation of the birds', 
 and, responding to the call, they cluster on the perches, filling them from 
 end to end. The wand is switched along the perch, bringing dozens down 
 together and a boy on the ground below picks up the stunned birds as 
 they fall." Another species of the same genus {Zosterops borhonica) is 
 known in the island of E^union as the " Oiseau-blanc." It feeds chiefly 
 
HONEYSUCKEES. 
 
 145 
 
 on nectar, and is much sought after by the mountaineers. These little 
 birds are captured by means of birdlime, and sold in hundreds to the 
 people in the towns. The usual method of cooking them is to roast 
 them on spits, each bird being separated from its fellows by a small 
 piece of bacon (Pollen, Faune de Madagascar, 2me partie, p. 75). 
 
 [The headpiece represents a Maori engaged in snaring Honeysuckers. It is 
 reproduced, by kind permission, from the Journal of the Polynesian Society. 
 The tailpiece illustrates the capture of the Tui.] 
 
CHAPTEE XVI.— WOODPECKEES AND KINGFISHEES. 
 
 THE EUEOPEAN WOODPECKEES (Ficidce) have generally little to 
 fear from the craft of the fowler. It would, however, be a mistake 
 to suppose that these forest-loving birds enjoy complete immunity from 
 persecution. I have repeatedly seen both the Great Spotted "Woodpecker 
 (Dendrocopus major) and the Green Woodpecker (Gecinus viridis) exposed 
 for sale on the stalls of the Italian poulterers. Savi remarks that the 
 habits of the Woodpeckers expose them to the danger of being captured 
 iQ their nesting holes ; adding that, in Tuscany, whole broods are often 
 captured by the peasants, who enlarge the orifices of the entrances to the 
 nests with hatchets, so as to admit the entrance of the arm of the raider. 
 Similar practices obtain even in England. I have had both old and young 
 birds brought to me by country fellows, who had yielded to the tempta- 
 tion of securing a rare species. The nestlings of both the Great and 
 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are easy to bring up artificially, and become 
 most attractive pets. A female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker {Dendrocopus 
 minor) lived in my possession for more than a year, and afforded us end- 
 
WOODPECKEKS AND KDTGFISHEES. 147 
 
 less diversion by her wood-boring habits. But it is chiefly by the agency 
 of snares that Woodpeckers are taken when adult. In the north of 
 Europe birds of this family are not unfrequently taken by accident in 
 the snares which are suspended in the trees for catching different species 
 of Thrushes. A fine example of the Great Black Woodpecker {Picas 
 martius), which T purchased one day in Leadenhall market, still retained 
 a horsehair noose tightly fastened round its neck ; a proof that even birds 
 of considerable strength occasionally succumb to the wiles of the thrush- 
 catcher. 
 
 The Eev. H. F. Snell of Hohenstein, Nassau, records that the Grey 
 Woodpecker {Gecinus canus) eats the berries of the Service-tree. He adds, 
 " I have caught the bird once in the snow with these as a bait, and found 
 on examination that it had swallowed the berries " (J. f. 0. 1857, p. 186). 
 Similarly, Professor CoUett informed Mr Dresser that all the Wood- 
 peckers feed on berries in autumn. The White-backed Woodpecker 
 {DendroGopiis leiiconotus) is taken every autumn in the snares set for 
 Thrushes near Christiania; a fate which is shared by its congener the 
 Great Spotted Woodpecker. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is taken 
 by the Turkish birdcatchers. Mr Eobson states that the capture of this 
 bird is effected by means of " limed twigs, set on low trees in hedgerows 
 during the autumn migration." Savi states that the Green Woodpecker 
 is sometimes taken in the Clap-net, when a Little Owl has been placed in 
 the centre of the toils. All the Continental writers agree that the Green 
 Woodpecker, or " Pic-vert " as the " Solitaire Inventiv ' calls it, is occa- 
 sionally secured upon the limed twigs which are set at the drinking- 
 places of the woodland birds in sultry weather. Selivanovski informs us 
 that the Eussian peasants capture the different species of Woodpeckers at 
 the decoy tree used in the sport which the French call the " Pip^e." He 
 adds that " To catch the Woodpecker, it is necessary to produce a noise 
 by tapping the handle of a knife against the heel of a boot, in imitation 
 of the noise made by these birds when pecking a tree. For the Wood- 
 pecker it is necessary, moreover, to set up twigs covered with birdlime on 
 the stem of the tree as well as on the branches." 
 
 The numerous Woodpeckers of the United States appear to be bitterly 
 persecuted by our Transatlantic brethren; but their skins are usually 
 obtained by means of powder and shot. An exception to the rule is sug- 
 gested by Audubon's description of the way in which the Eed-headed 
 
148 WOODPECKEES AND KINGFISHERS. 
 
 Woodpecker {Mdanerpes erythrocephalvs) is, or was, exterminated in Ken- 
 tucky and other Southern States : " As soon as the Eed-heads have begun 
 to visit a cherry or apple-tree, a pole is placed along the trunk of the 
 tree, passing up amongst the central branches, and extending six or seven 
 feet beyond the highest twigs. The Woodpeckers alight by preference on 
 the pole, and while their body is close to it, a man standing at the foot of 
 the pole gives it a sharp blow with the head of an axe, on the opposite 
 side to that on which the Woodpecker is, when, in consequence of the 
 sudden and violent vibration produced in the upper part, the bird is 
 thrown oif dead." The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) 
 is a beautiful bird. Its crimson pendent crest is coveted as an ornament 
 for the war dress of the Indian chiefs. Audubon examined entire belts, 
 belonging to Indian chiefs, closely ornamented with the tufts and bills of 
 this species. He states that the birds were often killed with the gun ; 
 otherwise we should naturally have imagined that the blow-tube was the 
 engine which most frequently added the scalp of this magnificent Wood- 
 pecker to the red-skin's wigwam. 
 
 The Wryneck (lym; torquilla) is not sought after by European fowlers, 
 except for the purposes of the table. I found it in the markets of 
 Northern Italy in the month of October. The specimens I examined 
 were fat and doubtless good eating, unless indeed the flesh of this bird 
 is flavoured with formic acid. Bailly affirms that the Wryneck or 
 " Torcol " is often caught by the fowlers of Savoy in the month of Sep- 
 tember in the nets spread in the open country. Savi tells us that 
 the " TorcicoUo," or " Girasole " of the Florentines, is taken in snares 
 (" Archetti "), and with the limed twigs set to capture Wheatears. 
 Bechstein opines that the " Wendehals," as the Germans phrase the title 
 of this bird — otherwise rendered " Drehhals " or " Natterwindel " — can be 
 taken with snares (" Schlingen ") or limed twigs set around its nesting 
 hole. 
 
 It does not appear that any member of the Cuckoo family (Oicculidce) 
 is much sought after by native hunters. Belon says that young birds 
 of the European Cuckoo {Gucuhos canorus) are good eating. This may 
 explain the fact of their being occasionally snared and taken in traps 
 (" Gabbiuze ") in Tuscany in the month of August. Tanara advises that a 
 Cuckoo should be cooked like a Thrush. Mr Miller Christy discovered 
 in the British Museum a curious document, headed " Bush Inn (Bristol), 
 
WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 149 
 
 Bill of fare for Christmas, 1800." In this, the item of "1 Cuckoo" 
 occurs among a variety of birds that were served up to the guests. Per- 
 haps the owner of the ancient hostel of the " Bush " had reared a foundling 
 Cuckoo from the nest the previous summer, and cooked it as a surprise 
 to his guests. The tale, at all events, is not more apocryphal than that 
 which Buliard relates of another Xmas festival. It is customary, in 
 some parts of France, to burn a large log on Christmas Eve. A family 
 party had assembled in a house at Mel-le-Eond, to join in the celebra- 
 tion of the rite. When the log was thrown on the fire and began to 
 blaze, the guests heard the cry of " Coucou, coucou," issuing from the log. 
 The wood was taken off the fire and the sparks extinguished. " La sur- 
 prise redoubla lorsqu" on s'apercut que c'^tait un coucou vivant enferme 
 dans cette buche avec une immense provision de bl4" 
 
 The EoUers (CoraciidcB) are persecuted on account of their beautiful 
 plumage, which renders their skins valuable to plumassiers. The European 
 Roller (Ooracias garrula) spends such a small part of the year in Europe, 
 that it but seldom falls into the hands of the fowler. Savi notices the 
 fact that a gi-eat number of EoUers visited Tuscany in April 1824, and 
 again in August of the same year. At the latter time great numbers of 
 these birds were captured by the peasants. Savi says that the birds were 
 invariably caught by means of trap-cages (" Gabbiuzze ") and springes 
 (" Archetti "). The traps were baited with grasshoppers (" Cavaletta "), 
 and set upon the outskirts of woods to catch Shrikes. The fact that 
 grasshoppers proved an attractive fare to the EoUer coincides with 
 the experience of Mr Eobson. He informed Dresser that quantities of 
 EoUers are shot by sportsmen in Asia Minor and Turkey during their 
 vernal and autumnal migration. " In the autumn," he says, " they feed 
 almost entirely on locusts and are then very fat." The German fowlers 
 are contented to take the young of the EoUer from the nest. Keulemans 
 mentions that the EoUer is sometimes taken in Holland in the snares set 
 for Thrushes. But this is an accidental circumstance, and might be said 
 of many species. 
 
 The Bee-eaters (Meropidce) are too beautiful to escape the attention of 
 those who supply the feather markets of Europe with dried skins. Their 
 extermination is principaUy accomplished by means of firearms. In some 
 parts of Spain the peasants find that the Common Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) 
 Inflicts serious damage upon their hive bees. Cetti makes a simUar 
 
150 WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 
 
 observation regarding the Bee-eaters which visit the island of Sardinia. 
 Mr Howard Saunders remarks that in some districts of Southern Spain 
 the country people adopt stringent measures to kill the Bee-eaters, which 
 ravage their swarms. Their mode of fowling is to spread a net over the 
 face of a bank in which a colony of Bee-eaters has become established. 
 A trench is cut at some distance parallel to the bank in which the birds 
 are breeding. When the net has been secured in the desired position, 
 water is poured into the trench, and the poor birds are thus compelled to 
 leave their flooded holes. When they emerge from their nests, they 
 become meshed in the net spread over the bank. Belon observes that, 
 when he visited the island of Crete, he found that the native boys were 
 in the habit of catching Bee-eaters. The device to which they resorted 
 was to attach a Cicada or " Cigalle '' to a pin which had been bent into 
 the form of a hook. A string was attached to the end of the pin, in 
 order that the fowler might guide the flight of the insect. The Cicada 
 flew into the air, only to fall into the maw of the passing Bee-eater, which 
 at once pounced down upon its victim, and was taken prisoner by the 
 bent pin. Savi observes that the Bee-eater is occasionally taken in 
 Tuscany by means of snares fixed over its nesting hole. Mr Charles 
 Hose tells me that the Sumatra Bee-eater (Merops sumatranus), which 
 frequents the rivers of Borneo, is generally captured by means of a snare 
 set over the hole in which it nests. But the splendour of the Bee-eater 
 family is forgotten when we recall the lustrous plumes of the Trogons 
 (Trogonidce). Of these, the species best known in Europe is the Quezal 
 (Fharoniacrus mocinno), a native of Guatemala. The earliest account of 
 the Quezal was supplied by Hernandez, whose remarks are repeated by 
 Willughby : " Fr. Hernandez in some pretermitted annotations adds con- 
 cerning the manner of taking these birds some things worth the knowing : 
 ' The Fowlers (saith be) betake themselves to the mountains, and there 
 hiding themselves in small Cottages, scatter up and down boil'd Indian 
 Wheat, and prick down in the ground many rods besmeared with Bird- 
 lime, wherewith the Birds intangled become their prey ' " {Ornithology, 
 Appendix, p. 392). This method was devised to preclude the possibility 
 of any injury accruing to the captured bird. When a Quezal was 
 caught, it was stripped of its beautiful feathers, and then allowed to 
 fly back into its native forest, where it was expected to renew its lost 
 glory at the next moult. Mr Salvin has given a description of how the 
 
WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 151 
 
 Quezal is lured within shot by those who are able to imitate the cry of 
 the bird. He does not refer to the use of birdlime for capturing this 
 species. The ancient method of fowling has probably become obsolete. 
 
 The Kingfishers (Alcedinidce) are so solitary by habit that one might 
 have hoped that their dazzling hues would escape the greed of the col- 
 lectors who cater for the milliners of Bond Street. The patience of the 
 Asiatic fowler, unfortunately, overcomes the difficulty experienced in 
 capturing Kingfishers in sufficient numbers to render their extermination 
 a profitable venture. The late Lieut. Barnes, F.Z.S., wrote to me from 
 Ahmednagar that the Indian species of Kingfishers are easily caught by 
 the native fowlers. " The man has a wild bird in his pocket, and walks 
 along the stream until he sees a bird of the same species. He then puts 
 up a small net, about 4 by 2, which is lightly propped up by a twig, and 
 on the other side he pegs down his callbird. The free bird hardly waits 
 until the man is clear of the net, when it flies straight down to attack 
 the tethered bird, and striking the net, down it falls on the top of him. 
 The man runs up at once, catches the bird, and puts him in his bag. In 
 this way they will clear five or six miles of Kingfishers in a single 
 morning." The species more particularly referred to by Lieut. Barnes is 
 the White-breasted Kingfisher {Halcyon smyrnensis). This bird owes the 
 decimation of its numbers to the commercial value of the beautiful blue 
 feathers adorning its upper surface. Mr Lockwood records that on a 
 certain occasion, when going round his district, his attention was arrested 
 by a patch of cobalt blue on the countryside. When he investigated the 
 phenomenon, he found that several thousand skins of the White-breasted 
 Kingfisher were drying in the Indian sunshine. " They belonged to a 
 couple of hunters who had been prowHng about the country, catching the 
 birds in the pairing season. They had a tame decoy, and a net with 
 them, and whenever they found a Ukely-looking place, they tethered the 
 decoy bird to the ground, and set up their net close by. They had not 
 long to wait before the Kingfisher, which looked on that part of the 
 country as his own, irritated at seeing a rival near, dashed down to 
 punish the intrusion, and being blind with rage, flew against the net, 
 which entangled him in its folds " (Nat. Hist., Sport, and Travel, p. 186).* 
 
 * Mr J. Davidson infoi-ms me, independently, that there is a great commercial 
 demand for the skins of H. smyrnensis, which are exported, he believes, to China. As 
 an Indian Government official, he had "the satisfaction" of expelling "several gangs 
 of Kingfisher-fowlers " out of districts which he had charge of. 
 
152 WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 
 
 Pfere David makes a curious statement regarding the Eastern form of our 
 European Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida), which he distinguishes as Alcedo 
 lengalensis. The Chinese, he says, actively pursue this Kingfisher in 
 order to secure the brilliant dorsal plumes which are employed in em- 
 bellishing pretty ornaments for the ladies. They catch the birds by 
 stretching small nets over the water, imitating the cry of the bird to 
 induce it to fly into their toils. The birds are not killed when captured, 
 but are restored to liberty as soon as they have been stripped of their 
 bright feathers. P^re David adds, that although this operation must be 
 " trhs douloureuse, au moins fort d^sagr^able pour les martin-p^cheurs," 
 yet the Kingfishers are far tamer in China than in Europe. 
 
 The ruse of suspending a fine silk net beneath a bridge that spans 
 some sluggish stream to intercept the Kingfisher, as it darts like a flash 
 of azure through a well-remembered archway, is known to the peasants 
 of most European countries. Tanara says that the net employed for this 
 purpose by the Bolognese is a " Eagna," of the kind called a " Balbas- 
 trello," which is arranged to touch the surface of the water. Campbell 
 tells us that he saw Kingfishers captured on a stream near Lago Maggiore 
 by means of " a silk flue net." The fowlers extended their net across the 
 river, fastening the ends of the engine to the trees on each side of the 
 river. " The net thus remained tightly stretched across the river, the 
 bottom just touching the water, the upper edge about four feet and a half 
 above it. The trees and bushes overhanging the stream threw a shade on 
 the spot, so that the net was hardly perceptible at a few yards' distance." 
 The fowlers then armed themselves with large poles, and striking a higher 
 point of the stream proceeded to beat the bushes with their poles, shout- 
 ing at the same time. The Kingfishers which were breeding in the 
 locality hastened down stream, and soon found themselves fluttering in 
 the meshes of the net. The net was then loosened on one side, and 
 pulled to the other, when the birds were taken out and killed (Life in 
 Normandy, YoL i. p. 68). Canon Tristram has shown that the "Hal- 
 cyon " of the Greek writers, around which so many pretty myths gathered, 
 was not the Kingfisher, but a species of Tern. It was well known to 
 the people of Etruria, who figured its graceful form upon their coins. Di 
 Valli passes the Kingfisher over in silence. Olina tells us that the 
 " Pescatore " or " Ee Pescatore " is known in Tuscany as the " Uccello 
 Santa Maria o della Madonna," from the fact that its azure feathers bear 
 
WOODPECKEKS AND KINGFISHERS. 153 
 
 some resemblance to the colour in which Italian painters have agreed to 
 depict the drapery of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Olina adds that the 
 Kingfisher can be captured by means of two open nets, of the kind called 
 " Eagniuole," one of these being suspended at a low elevation, while the 
 other is hung at a greater height, the more effectually to entangle the 
 hapless victim. Numerous writers suggest the use of birdlime to catch 
 the Kingfisher upon the branch or ledge on which it perches. An enter- 
 taining note upon the subject is given in the quaint phraseology of Leonard 
 Mascall : " There is a bird which is a great destroyer of all young fry 
 and small fish, and he is called the Kinges fisher : he is about the big- 
 nesse of a Larke, and doth commonly breede in bankes, sides of riuers 
 and brookes, in the spring of the yeare : his feathers are greene and 
 blewe, and he will alwayes haunt about the sides of riuers and brookes, 
 whereas small fish is, and as soone as he hath caught a fish, he will 
 straight way flie to the next bough, and there will sit on a twigge and 
 eate the fish, and so fetch an other. Thus he liueth by the deuoring of 
 all sortes of small frie, such as he may take and carrie away. For to 
 take this birde, they vse to marke where his haunt is, and there they set 
 downe a bush or branch, and they putte a limed twigge vnder the saide 
 bush or branch : for as soone as he hath taken a fish, he will flie to the 
 next bush and light on that vnder twigge lymed, and so they take 
 him." 
 
 The Hornbills (Bucerotidce) are so widely distributed that we might 
 fairly expect that a variety of devices would be practised for effecting 
 their capture. Nevertheless, the only method of catching Hornbills that 
 appears to be generally adopted is the simple expedient of taking the 
 female bird from the hole in which she has been built up for nesting 
 purposes by her mate. Wallace describes how the natives of Sumatra 
 brought to him a female and nestling of the great Hornbill {Bichoceros 
 Ucornis), which they had extracted from a hole in a tree. A similar 
 account of the habits of the Crowned Hornbill (Tockus melanoleucv^) was 
 furnished to Layard by Mrs Barber. The South African Ground Horn- 
 bill (Bucorax ca/er) is associated in the Kaffir's mind with the superstition 
 that, if one of these birds is killed, a period of wet weather will follow. 
 In periods of severe drought the " rain doctor " orders a " Brom-vogel," 
 as this Hornbill is called from its droning cry, to be killed. The body 
 of the bird is thrown into a pool in a river. " The idea is, that the bird 
 
154 WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 
 
 has SO offensive a smell that it will ' make the water sick,' and that the 
 only way of getting rid of this is to wash it away to the sea, which can 
 only be done by heavy rains, and flooding of the river." Another varia- 
 tion of this curious custom is to take a living Hornbill, tie a stone to it, 
 and then throw it into a vley ; a rainfall is supposed to follow. The 
 Ground Hornbill is very weak on the wing. When the " rain doctor " 
 requires a specimen, the men of a number of kraals turn out together, 
 select a particular bird for pursuit, and then follow it from one hill to 
 another. " After three or four flights, it can be run down and caught by 
 a good runner" {Birds of South Africa, p. 123). 
 
 Dr Percy Eendall wrote from Fort Johnston, Nyassaland, under date 
 of June 13, 1895, to inform me that about a week previously he had 
 obtained a female of the Trumpeter Hornbill {Bueeros hibccinator) in a 
 living state. This bird had been captured by a native near the village 
 of Livingstonia, which is situated at the junction of the S.W. and S.E. 
 arms of Lake Nyassa. On inquiry, Dr Eendall ascertained beyond all 
 doubt that the bird had been caught by means of birdlime. The birdlime 
 ' used in that part of British Central Africa is made from the boiled juice 
 of a species of Euphorbia known as the " Candalabra Cactus." The 
 glutinous material must be very tenacious to secure the capture of so 
 large a bird as a Hornbill. 
 
 The Hoopoes {Upupidce) are seldom molested by the fowler. In 
 the East a certain sanctity has long Ijeen attached to the Common 
 Hoopoe {Ufupa epops). Unhappily, no such scruples exist in 
 the British Isles, where the first appearance of a stray Hoopoe is a 
 signal for the nearest gunner to wreak destruction upon the hapless 
 stranger. 
 
 Neither Di VaUi nor Olina describe any methods for capturing the 
 " Bubbola," as the Hoopoe is called in Italy, though they remark that it 
 does not thrive in confinement. Tanara suggests that the young of the 
 Hoopoe should be reared from the nest if they are to be kept as cage- 
 birds. He also informs us that a Hoopoe should be cooked like a Thrush. 
 Buliard says that the " Huppe " is difficult to snare. Bechstein advises 
 the fowler to ascertain the spot in which a Hoopoe is accustomed to feed. 
 A piece of wood eight inches long is smeared with birdlime, and planted 
 loosely on the top of a mole-hill. A thread, to which some living meal- 
 worms are tied, is secured to the extremity of the limed rod. When the 
 
WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 155 
 
 unlucky " Wiedehopf " spies the appetising insects it endeavours to seize 
 them. It therefore becomes entangled in the thread by which the grubs 
 are secured. The limed twig is thus brought into contact with the 
 feathers of the Hoopoe, which falls an easy prey to the expectant 
 fowler. 
 
 The Swifts (Gypselidae) are rarely troubled by the wiles of the bird- 
 catcher. The Savoyards occasionally capture the Alpine Swift {Cypsdus 
 melia) in the nesting season by the device of attaching a feather or a 
 morsel of white cloth to a hook. This artificial fly is employed at the 
 end of a line at the riverside, or in any other spot in which Swifts and 
 Swallows love to congregate {Omithologie de la Savoie, Vol. i. p. 230). 
 Savi remarks that the flesh of the Common Swift {Oypselus apus) is very 
 tough ; hence the old birds are only shot for amusement. On the other 
 hand, the nestlings are excellent and much in demand for the table. As 
 this bird not uncommonly nests in places diflicult of access, the device 
 usually adopted in Tuscany is to prepare a place in the highest wall of a 
 house, in the top of a tower, or some similar situation, for the " Eondone " 
 to occupy as its summer quarters. The custom is to allow the old Swifts 
 to rear one nestling in each brood. The rest of the family is, or are, 
 removed when sufficiently plump to merit the attentions of the cook. 
 Savi adds that in his day there stood, at a short distance from the Massa 
 di Carrara, a building in the shape of a tower which overhung the Fiume 
 Eigido. This curious building occupied the top of a rock, which rises 
 like a pike out of the bed of the stream. This tower had its walls 
 perforated with holes to admit the Swifts to their breeding ledges in the 
 interior. It had been built for the sole purpose of sheltering the Swifts, 
 in order that their nestlings might be plundered at the pleasure of the 
 owner. Entrance to the tower could only be gained in Savi's time by 
 climbing a crazy staircase. 
 
 The Humming-birds (TrochUidce) appear to be supplied to the market 
 by those who kUl these exquisite creatures with tiny missiles, projected 
 through a blowpipe or a gun. Audubon mentions that he could secure 
 the Euby throat (^TrochiLus colubris) with an ordinary butterfly net. Dr 
 Edward Hasell assures me that the Nootka Humming-bird [Sdasphorus 
 ru/vs) is captured by the Indian boys of Fort Eupert. The method 
 employed is curious. The youths employ twigs coated with the slime 
 of the huge wood slug (which is found throughout the woods of that 
 
156 
 
 WOODPECKERS AND KINGFISHERS. 
 
 region) for the purpose of securing the Humming-birds with the viscous 
 substance. 
 
 They catch these aerial gems solely for the purpose of teasing them, 
 frequently threading a horsehair through their nostrils to prevent their 
 escaping. 
 
 Mr E. A. M'llhenny states that the Eubythroat often gets drunk on 
 the nectar of the flowers of the china tree (Melia azedarach). " It some- 
 times imbibes so much of the nectar that it becomes stupefied and falls 
 from the tree, when it can be readily taken in the hand and offers no 
 resistance. I have also taken them by putting a little brandy and honey 
 in honeysuckle and jasmine blossoms ; they readily take this, and become 
 so intoxicated that they are easily caught " (Bendire, Life Histories of 
 North American Birds, p. 194). 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter has been drawn to illustrate the Indian 
 method of netting Kingfishers, described at p. 151.] 
 
CHAPTEE XVII.— PAEEOT FOWLING. 
 
 THE beauty and intelligence possessed by the large and widely 
 dispersed family of Parrots (Psittacidce) has always rendered their 
 capture an object of desire to the fowler. In modern times an extensive 
 trade has been developed for the purpose of supplying the markets of 
 Europe with the various species of Parrots and Parakeets, which find a 
 popular demand as cage-birds. It so happens that the Parrots which 
 are famous for their linguistic talents are most easily educated when 
 taken young. Thousands of Grey Parrots {PdttcLcus erithacus) are 
 imported to this country as nestlings, having been taken from their 
 native forest by the black fowlers of Western Africa. Mr 0. V. Aplin 
 assures me that the Parrots of South America are taken as nestlings 
 and reared by hand. Similarly, Mr Ernst Hartert writes to inform me 
 that, in Venezuela, all the Parrots are taken from the nest when young, 
 both for export and home use. Mr Littledale reports that the Green 
 Parakeets (Pcdceornis) are commonly caged in the neighbourhood of 
 Baroda. He adds that these birds are caught " by tethering a decoy of 
 the same species under a net raised on twigs." Mr H. J. Eainey states 
 that the large Eose-ringed Parakeet (Falceornis torguatus) of the Eastern 
 Sunderbun is much sought after by the natives, as a pair of these birds 
 readily fetch about a rupee in the local fairs on account of their beauty 
 and vocal powers. During the month of June the fowlers go out bird- 
 
158 PAEKOT FOWUNG. 
 
 nesting into the interior of the forests of the Sunderbun, and take the 
 nestling Parakeets out of their holes in the trees. The broods of young 
 birds are able to leave the nest and fly away in the month of July. 
 These birds then resort to the cultivated tracts, roosting at night on the 
 reed jungle known in the vernacular as " Nal " (Arundo karka), along 
 the banks of streams. Vast flocks of these birds congregate in the same 
 place every night, where they remain if undisturbed, before dispersing 
 themselves all over the surrounding country. Consequently they are 
 easily caught in large numbers with birdlime in the following manner : — 
 " Slender sticks of split bamboo, with their upper ends well smeared with 
 birdlime, are placed in those parts of the ' Nal ' jungle where the birds 
 are likely to settle for the night, and the next morning the flocks fly 
 away, leaving those of their companions that have been caught with the 
 birdlime to captivity for life. Many are secured in this way, which is 
 evidently profitable, for one such patch of jungle as they frequent (another 
 may be miles away) is leased for this purpose for twenty rupees and 
 upwards" {Stray Feathers, 1875, p. 384). 
 
 Another Indian method of using birdlime is that of employing a 
 limed twig at the end of a long rod of bamboo, to which one joint after 
 another can be added. Mr Grove writes to me that the native fowler 
 marks his intended prey in the act of perching on one of the higher 
 branches of a lofty tree. The native creeps under the tree and proceeds 
 to fit up his long rod, which ends in a detachable twig smeared with 
 birdlime. The fowler gradually pushes the rod upwards, until at last he 
 has only to give a rapid jerk to bring the twig against the sitting bird, 
 which thus becomes entangled in the sticky substance provided for its 
 capture, and falls to the ground. Sometimes the birdcatcher carries a 
 rough shield of leaves to screen his person from the observation of the 
 fowl which he endeavours to trap. I imagine that the ancient Greeks 
 learnt this form of fowling from the East. The Eomans were also 
 familiar with the device just described, and applied the title of " Harundo 
 erescens " to the jointed rod. 
 
 Mr Charles Hose tells me that the natives of Borneo contrive to 
 catch the Blue-crowned Hanging Parakeet {Loriculus galgulus) and other 
 species of the same family by means of birdlimed twigs, which are 
 inserted among the branches of forest trees. Mr Hose has sent me a 
 specimen of the native engine for liming birds. The twig intended to be 
 
PAEEOT FOWLING. 
 
 159 
 
 smeared with the viscous fluid measures about seventeen inches in length, 
 independent of the crutch-handle, in which the twig proper terminates. 
 The crutch portion of the rod measures just four and a-half inches. It 
 enables the fowler to handle the twig without any risk of his hands being 
 daubed with the birdlime. The twig is carried in the hollow stem of a 
 piece of bamboo, which measures an inch across, and about eighteen 
 
 Limed Rod used in Borneo. 
 
 inches in total length. The bamboo sheath enables the fowler to carry 
 a number of limed twigs in a small compass without any likelihood of 
 the birdlime being brought into contact with foreign substances. 
 
 The Uvaean Parakeet (Nymphicus uvaeensis) of the Loyalty group is 
 sought after for as food by the islanders. Mr Hadfield assures me that 
 this species is frequently captured in a fishing-creel. This engine is 
 provided with a funnel-shaped entrance, after the fashion of an eel-trap. 
 When improvised as a bird-trap, the fish-basket is set upon the ground in 
 a situation which the Parakeets are likely to visit. It is carefully baited 
 with fruit, of which the birds are passionately fond. The birds enter the 
 trap to feast upon the fruit and find it impossible to escape. 
 
 In Australia, the variety of the Parrot family is legionary, and many 
 species are netted for the trafiic with Europe. The most characteristic 
 plan of securing Cockatoos (Cacatua) is to hurl a boomerang or other 
 form of throw-stick into the midst of a large flock of the birds when 
 they are gathering together to drink or to go to roost. Mr Carter writes 
 to me that he has seen the blacks in Western Australia procure the 
 young of Cockatoos and Parrots by thrusting a sharp stick or spear 
 down the hollow tree in which the birds are nesting. He adds : " I have 
 often been enraged by seeing them do this with the pretty Warbling 
 Grass Parakeet, and throwing the hapless young alive on the fire to 
 cook, after pulling them ofi" the point of the spear or stick." The bird 
 just mentioned is best known in England as the Budgerigar {Melopsittacus 
 undulatus), one of the commonest cage-birds in this country. Apropos of 
 cooking Parakeets, I ought to observe that the native plan of preparing 
 birds for a meal is, or was, to place the birds intended for that purpose 
 
160 PAEEOT FOWLING. 
 
 upon an oven of heated stones, which were strewn with wet grass. 
 Smyth notices that the birds were placed on the damp grass, and covered 
 with it, after which more heated stones were laid on. The entire 
 apparatus was then covered with earth, and the game was stewed in this 
 primitive fashion. Europeans generally prefer to convert Cockatoos into 
 soup to roasting them entire. 
 
 The Kaka Parrot {Nestor meridionalis) of New Zealand has long been 
 an object of keen pursuit to the Maori fowler. The capture of this 
 handsome Parrot is principally effected by the medium of a decoy-bird. 
 According to Tamati Ranapiri, there are two methods of catching the 
 Kaka. He refers first to the method of snaring these birds by the noose 
 of cord known as the " Aho." I am indebted to the generosity of Mr 
 W. W. Smith for a specimen of this trap, which he informs me is now 
 rare and difficult to procure. The crutch or bar of the trap, which forms 
 the perch on which the wild bird is expected to alight, in order to feast 
 upon the honey of the crimson blossom of the Eata (Metrosideros robusta) 
 — for this Parrot loves to suck the nectar with its brush-fringed tongue — 
 measures nine inches and a half. The actual space upon which the 
 Parrot is intended to be noosed measures five inches. These birds fly in 
 flocks to their favourite flowers. Accordingly the first of Tamati Eana- 
 piri's methods is adopted when the flowers of the Rata are in full bloom. 
 The Maori fowler selects a suitable tree, in the branches of which a light 
 stage is erected for his use, as shown in the engraving. The use of a 
 covered hut is also known. In either case the snarer " places himself on 
 the ' tutu ' with his favourite bird, which remains on his ' Turuturu ' or 
 perch, with his basket of food (' kori ') hanging on the perch. The 
 ' Turuturu ' is a piece of wood just like a spear as to thickness and length. 
 It is hewed out of maire, manuka, or some other hard wood, in order 
 that it may be sufficiently hard when bitten by the decoy Kaka to pre- 
 vent its chipping. The ' Kori ' or basket is the place for the decoy 
 Kaka's food ; it is woven in the same way as a fishing-net. Now when 
 the man ascends to the ' Tutu ' with his decoy Kaka, he causes the bird 
 to call out, to entice the others to the place. When the Kaka arrive, 
 they alight on the ' Tumu ' of the ' Tutu,' when the cords of the ' Tumu ' 
 are drawn and the birds are caught. In accordance with the perfection 
 of the ' Tutu ' and the decoy bird, is the number taken. If the ' Tutu ' 
 is a bad one, the birds will be shy of lighting on it, but on a good one 
 
PAEEOT FOWLING. 
 
 161 
 
 •«ii55;-~ 
 
 they light readily. In the season when the Eewarewa {Knightia excelsa) 
 flowers, is another time of taking the Kaka by the ' Tutu.' Great numbers 
 of Kaka are taken by this system ; sometimes as many as two hundred 
 in a day, at others more or less." The second method of capturing this 
 
 fine Parrot, described 
 by Tamati Eanapiri, 
 is that of the " Taki." 
 The " Taki " is a long 
 pole, as much as 2 5 ft. 
 long, more or less, with 
 a thickness of 2 in. 
 This pole is stuck in the ground in a slanting direc- 
 tion, whilst at its foot is built a hut of tree-fern 
 leaves. The pole is slanted, in order to facilitate 
 the descent of the Kaka along it, when the fowler 
 or the decoy-bird calls them. 
 
 " In the event of a decoy-bird not having been 
 secured, a man understanding how to call the birds 
 will remain in the hut built at the foot of the 
 ' Taki,' and thence call the Kaka by his voice (imi- 
 tate their cry). When the birds hear the call they 
 approach and light on the 'Taki,' whilst the man 
 continues his call in order to induce the Kaka to 
 descend along it until they arrive in front of him. 
 The habit of the bird in descending along the 
 ' Taki ' is to turn from side to side, first on one 
 side of the ' Taki,' then on the other, until it arrives in front of the man 
 within his hut. Immediately the bird turns away its head to the far 
 side of the ' Taki,' it is caught by the man by placing one hand over one 
 wing, another over the other, and he then carries it into his hut. So 
 soon as one is caught it is used as a decoy, and by its cry to call others, 
 directly it has been taught, fed, and accustomed to its perch, with a ring 
 (' Poria ') round its leg. It is only very skUful persons that succeed 
 in securing Kaka by this method, because the Kaka is a bird of great 
 sense and very shy ; by knowing how to search for a proper place to 
 set up the ' Taki,' and also through the training of the decoy Kaka ; 
 by the strength of its cry, by its constant tearing up of the earth. 
 
 Maori Snabe. 
 
162 PAEEOT FOWLING. 
 
 and by its power of biting anything given to it, will he be successful." 
 " The fowler," continues this Maori writer, " goes forth to the forest 
 with his tame Kaka to catch birds with the ' Taki,' the setting up of 
 which is finished, as well as his fern-leaf, tree-leaf hut, and the decoy 
 deposited at the foot of the ' Taki,' close to the hut, one end of the pole 
 being within the hut in order that it may be close to him to incite the 
 tame bird to cry out, and to bite that which is given him to bite. When 
 the Kaka near hear the cracking of the thing bitten, they are deluded 
 into thinking it is some seed in the ground that the decoy is biting. 
 When they look down and behold the decoy digging (with his claws) in 
 the earth they think there are a great many seeds, and directly begin to 
 descend the ' Taki.' The decoy in the meantime is digging away, and 
 biting at his bone, all the time calling out. Thus he continues, and soon 
 the Kaka quickly descend the ' Taki ' right down in front of the man 
 within his hut. If the bird's head is turned away, he is caught ; he does 
 not flap his wings or do anything. Brought into the hut, the man treads 
 on his head, and the bird dies, while others are descending to meet the 
 same fate." BuUer tells us that " the Kaka is particularly abundant in 
 the Urewara country, and during the short season the Eata is in bloom 
 the whole Maori population, old and young, are out Kaka-hunting. An 
 expert birdcatcher will sometimes bag as many as 300 in the course of a 
 day ; and at Ruatahuna and Mangapohatu alone it is said that from 
 10,000 to 12,000 of these birds are killed during a good Eata season, 
 which occurs about every three years." Buller adds that he has known 
 a Maori refuse the sum of £10 for a well-trained call-bird or " Mokai." 
 The means by which the bird is secured to the perch on which the decoy 
 lives is the " Poria," a bone ring or carved circlet, through which the foot 
 of the bird is squeezed, so that the " Poria " encircles the tarsus. A 
 thong or cord of plaited flax-fibre is attached to the " Poria," and the 
 cord is also tied to the perch, which is often elaborately carved or 
 illuminated with " Paua " shell. The months of December and January 
 are those in which the Kaka is chiefly snared. When the industry of 
 catching these birds is in full swing, the birds trapped are buried in the 
 ground each day ; but when a sufficient number of them have been 
 collected, the bodies of these Parrots are unearthed, stripped of their 
 feathers, fried in their own fat, and potted in calabashes for winter use 
 or for presents to neighbouring tribes. A method of catching these 
 
PARROT FOWLING. 163 
 
 Parrots (which Tamati Eanapiri does not describe, but which is figured in 
 the illustrations prepared for "White's Ancient History of the Maori) is that of 
 night-fowling. These Parrots appear to roost close to one another; the native, 
 having marked the trees on which the birds are in the habit of roosting, 
 steals upon them under cover of darkness and seizes his sleeping prey. 
 Several handsome species of Parakeets are found in New Zealand. BuUer 
 remarks of one of these, the Yellow-fronted Parakeet (Flatycercits auriceps), 
 that it loves to frequent the Tutu bushes (Ooriaria ruscifolia) to regale 
 itself on the juicy berries of this bushy plant shrub. On these occasions it 
 is easily snared by the natives, who use for that purpose a flax noose at the 
 end of a slender rod. The Kea or Mountain Parrot of the New Zealanders 
 (Nestor notabUis), whose penchant for mutton has given rise to so much 
 correspondence in print, is occasionally trapped in the same way. 
 
 That curious bird, the Owl Parrot (Stringops habroptilus) of naturalists, 
 but known to our colonists as the " Ground Parrot," is sought after by 
 the Maoris as an article of food. The natives term it the " Kakapo," 
 " Tarapo," or " Tarepo." It is a nocturnal bird of retiring habits. 
 Accordingly, its capture is, or was, effected by fowlers who used to hunt 
 the bird at night with dogs and torches. The late Sir Julius von Haast 
 has stated that in former years the Maruia Plains were a celebrated 
 hunting-ground of the Maoris for this bird. They generally went there 
 on fine moonlight nights, when the berries of the Tutu (Ooriaria), a 
 favourite food of this great Parrot, were ripe, and ran them down with 
 dogs, or even killed them with long sticks upon the Tutu bushes. Another 
 method of capture was to search for the hole of a Kakapo, into which, 
 when found, the fowlers introduced a long stick, to which thej had 
 fastened several strong flax snares. Peeling the bird with the end of the 
 pole, they twisted the stick until some part of the bird was caught in the 
 snares, and thus drew it out. " The cry of the Kakapo, heard during 
 the night, very much resembles the gobble of a Turkey." BuUer states 
 that a Maori named Ngatoroairangi was a renowned naturalist and a 
 successful hunter of this Parrot. His custom was to lie in ambush near 
 the beaten tracks of these birds, and capture them in the early dawn on 
 their way to their hiding-places. 
 
 [The illustration at the head of this chapter explains a Maori method of 
 fowling. It is reproduced by permission from the Journal of the Polynesian 
 Society.] 
 
CHAPTER XVIII.— SPOET WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 
 
 THE EAGLE OWL {Bubo ignaims) was highly prized upon the 
 Continent in mediaeval days. The sportsmen of Prance used this 
 great owl, as Belon tells us, to lure the Kite down to the plain, in order 
 to fly their falcons at a favourite quarry. In Italy the " Grand Due " 
 of the French became the " Gufo " of the fowler, who also knew it as the 
 " Barbagianni." The " Gufo reale," or " Diavol de Montagna," as it is 
 called in Lombardy, does not seem to have ever been a common bird in 
 Italy. It is figured by Di Valli, whose bird is represented as resting 
 on a similar perch to the " Gruccia," so well known in connection with 
 the Little Owl. The precise purpose for which Di Valli introduced the 
 
SPOET WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 165 
 
 mention of the " Gufo " into his work was to describe the use to which 
 this grand species might be put as a " stale " for Crows and Kites. He 
 illustrates his instructions by giving us a woodcut representing a flock of 
 Crows (or, perhaps, Eooks) alighting on an isolated tree, which is in close 
 proximity to the " Gufo." The decoy tree is covered with long limed 
 twigs ; the Crows are deceived by this device, and fall to the ground in 
 confusion. Olina reproduces the statement of Di Valli, though he omits 
 to quote the very interesting remark of that author, that he had himself 
 practised this sport, and knew it to be in vogue at Perugia, and greatly 
 in request in Umbria. Olina waxes enthusiastic over the sport to be 
 derived from the custom mentioned by Belon in 1555 of hawking the 
 " Nibbio " or Kite with the assistance of a " Gufo." We can well believe 
 that it was a " bellissima Caccia " to liberate the great " Gufo," with the 
 customary fox's tail trailing behind him, as a quarry for the coveted Kite. 
 I imagine that this particular form of sport has now fallen into abeyance, 
 but the " Uhu " of our German neighbours is still an object of interest to 
 Teutonic sportsmen from the ease with which they are able to lure 
 Crows and birds of prey within shot through its agency. 
 
 I am indebted to Mr Ernst Hartert for some interesting reminiscences 
 of the diversion which he found in former years in frequenting the 
 so-called " Krahenhiittes " of Eastern Germany. 
 
 The trysting-place of the sportsmen is a small hut, well concealed, 
 generally underground ; or, for lack of it, a pit in the earth covered with 
 rushes, and provided with holes large enough for the sportsmen to shoot 
 through. The locaUty selected for a " Krahenhiitte " is usually one which 
 commands a good view and is easily seen from a distance. The sports- 
 man, for he hardly deserves the title of fowler, plants his hut within 
 shooting distance of a tree of moderate height, of which some at least of 
 the branches are dead and withered ; failing to find a growing tree, he 
 fixes for himself a tree brought on purpose to the spot. The " Uhu," or 
 Eagle Owl, is perched upon a cross-perch, at a height of about eight 
 inches from the ground. The bird, having been carried to the " Krahen- 
 hiitte " in a basket or dark cage, is chained to its perch. If a live bird 
 cannot be obtained, a stuifed one may be made to do duty in its place, 
 provided that its eyes are not directed upwards, because the wild Hawks 
 easily detect glass eyes and sheer off on discovering the fraud. Mr 
 Hartert assures me that he has shot the Carrion Crow, Kough-legged 
 
166 SPORT WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 
 
 Buzzard, Kite, Hooded Crow, and Great Grey Shrike with the assistance 
 of an old, moth-eaten specimen of the Eagle Owl, and likewise with a 
 stuffed specimen of the American bird (Bubo virginianus) in Hesse. 
 
 But a living decoy is naturally more attractive to the wild hawks, 
 and furnishes greater amusement to the spectators. The latter have to 
 observe a rule of silence, and to stay in the hut until the day's sport is 
 concluded. The birds which are attracted in the greatest numbers are 
 Crows and Books. If the " Uhu " is set in the vicinity of gardens or on 
 the outskirts of woods, then jays may be shot in great quantities. The 
 Baven hates the " Uhu," and often comes to the " Krahenhlitte." Of the 
 birds of prey, the species which evinces the strongest aversion to the 
 " Uhu " is the Bough-legged Buzzard. Accordingly, this species is killed 
 in large numbers in East Germany, where it is common in winter. The 
 Common Buzzard is also a confirmed enemy of the " Uhu." Mr Hartert 
 tells me that the Goshawk hates the Owl, and sometimes hovers so 
 close over the head of the decoy that the gunner is unable to fire for 
 fear of shooting the Owl. Both the Black and the Bed Kites come to 
 the " Krahenhlitte," but the Harriers find it less attractive. The Golden 
 Eagle has a standing antipathy to the " Uhu," and swoops down at the 
 captive, putting the latter in great danger, though the Owl knbws how 
 to defend himself. Beregrines, Kestrils, Sparrowhawks, and even the Sea 
 Eagles occasionally pay the penalty of their lives for their traditional 
 detestation of the great forest Owl. Nay, even the Great Grey Shrikes, 
 in spite of their small size, find a strong temptation to mob the " Uhu." 
 If spared by the gunner they remain a long time beside the Owl, noisily 
 demonstrating their wrath at the invasion which their sworn enemy has 
 presumed to make into their territory. Friderich states (MturgescMchte 
 der Deutschen Vogel, p. 550) that the gunner who intends to use a 
 " Uhu " at the " Krahenhlitte " should select a male, because, though the 
 males are smaller than the females, they are more vivacious and more 
 observant. It is noteworthy that young birds are of more service than 
 old ones. Young birds, which have never been attacked by birds of 
 prey, are specially anxious, and keep such a keen lookout that the 
 human eye can often descry a bird hovering like a speck in mid air 
 after the attention of the sportsman has first been made acquainted of 
 the fact which the wonderful vision of the Owl has enabled it to manifest 
 in its customary way. 
 
SPORT WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 167 
 
 Such young birds ruffle up the plumage to an enormous size, lower 
 the head, and peer intently up into the sky, and snap the hill, while old 
 birds are quite indifierent and go quite near the hut when the wild birds 
 approach. As the bird of prey comes near, the Owl often raises its head 
 upwards. The Hawk generally strikes at the back of the Owl, and tries 
 to strike it with its claws. It is then that the Owl flies a short distance 
 from the enraged bird, and prepares to defend itself with its talons. Each 
 species of Hawk has its own method of attack. Many dart here and 
 there, up and down, and finally disappear again. Others make vigorous 
 strokes at the Owl, and often sail round in circles with Owl-like flight. 
 The Sea Eagle, Buzzards, Peregrine, and Merlin attack swiftly and in various 
 ways. The Eed Kite and the Honey Buzzard strike at the Owl with 
 great impetuosity. The Kestril strikes straight down, and then often 
 wheels about. A Goshawk, as already remarked, attacks very eagerly 
 and persistently. It frequently hangs so closely over the Owl that the 
 gunner cannot fire without endangering the Owl. The Goshawk often 
 perches in the tree, as do the common birds of prey. Friderich inde- 
 pendently confirms the experience of Mr Hartert, that the Harriers are 
 indifferent to the " Uhu," and are generally content to leave it alone. 
 An exception to this is to be found only when the Owl is tethered out- 
 side the hut in the evening. At that time of day the Harriers will strike 
 vivaciously at the Owl, like any other birds of prey. Another method 
 of utilising the " Uhu " is to place it in the neighbourhood of the nest of 
 the Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, or Peregrine. The old birds, of course, 
 attack the intruder, and are then shot by the gunner, who is lying in 
 wait for them. Mr Hartert assures me that the interest which this sport 
 has for his fellow-countrymen seems rather to increase than to diminish. 
 There exists quite an extensive trade in Owls, which are regularly 
 supplied from the vast forests of Eastern Germany, Kussia, and Hungary, 
 at remunerative prices. Apart from the demand for Eagle Owls to be 
 used at the " Krahenhiitte," many of these great birds are required for 
 pubUc gardens, which reminds us of an old Alpine story. " A certain 
 fastidious Englishman, sojourning in a remote Swiss valley, and weary of 
 the perpetual trout at his meals, asked the landlord if he could not have 
 some change of diet. Mine host duly supplies a fricassie de volaille, 
 which was as duly appreciated. An inquiry by the guest as to its 
 possible stock and origin, in the manifest absence of fowls, brings to light 
 
168 SPORT WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 
 
 the fact that it was made of a tame Owl, frequenting the garden of the 
 cMlet, and heretofore the pet of the traveller in his solitude. Suppressing 
 some natural qualms, the Englishman pityingly says : ' Oh, hut why did 
 you kill the poor Owl for me ? ' ' Sir,' says Boniface, ' we did not kill 
 him ; he died.' " — Fidd, Sept. 14, 1878. 
 
 The late Mr A. C. Chapman and I had a somewhat similar experience 
 in the province of Navarre. We asked a young muleteer, who was 
 caressing a young Tawny Owl which belonged to our party, whether he 
 would like to take it home. The youth's countenance beamed with 
 prospective pleasure, as he assured us that nothing could be more in 
 harmony with his wishes, for that as soon as he first saw the Owlet he 
 longed to make a meal of it. This is shocking to us, but it is quite in 
 harmony with what Belon has recorded of the capacity of his own 
 countrymen for eating Owls. Nor must we forget that the Maltese 
 at the present day consider the dainty little Scops Owl a savoury morsel, 
 and shoot it on its spring migration without any qualms of conscience. 
 Alexander Wilson has left on record the fact that numbers of Grey Owls 
 (Strix nebulosa) used to be offered for sale as food in the market of New 
 Orleans. But this is a discursion. In the palmy days of falconry in 
 Prance, the Eagle Owl or " Grand Due " was in great favour ; not that 
 it might be used to enable cold-blooded gunners to slay high-spirited 
 falcons at their leisure, as is now the case in Germany, but that the 
 falconers' darlings might strike at the Owl when placed inside their nets. 
 
 The best account of the French method of training the Eagle Owl to 
 act as a decoy is that given by the " Solitaire Inventiv " in the third book 
 of Les Buses Innocentes, pp. 178-184. We learn from this writer that 
 the first step in the education of an Eagle Owl that was intended for 
 fowling was to train the bird to eat on the fist. When this preliminary 
 had been attained, the bird was turned into a room or gallery, in which 
 were two blocks of wood standing two feet from the ground. These were 
 intended for the bird to use as perches. These blocks had their tops cut 
 away so as to form two shelving ridges. A block was placed at each end 
 of the room. A cord as thick as a man's fourth finger ran from one 
 block to the other ; to this was attached a second cord a yard long, which 
 was attached to the legs of the Owl. The Owl had thus the power to 
 change his perch at pleasure. At first the two blocks of wood were 
 placed only one fathom apart ; but the fowler gradually increased the 
 
SPOBT WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 169 
 
 distance, accustoming the Owl to fly from one block to the other to be fed. 
 When the " Grand Due " had been properly trained to fly from one block 
 to the other, the fowler took the bird out in the country as a decoy. He 
 generally used the Owl to lure the Hawks into the centre of " les 
 Araignes," i.e., perpendicular nets, set at the base of a large tree in an 
 open plain. The " Grand Due " might also be placed in the centre of 
 a pair of " Eets-saillans " or Clap-nets. If the fowler decided to employ 
 the former method he chose a suitable tree, such as a walnut-tree of 
 moderate size, and trimmed it into the required shape with a billhook, 
 leaving three long arms of the tree as supports for the nets. The nets 
 were made with a lozenge-shaped mesh, and were hung on cords. 
 
 The size of these nets depended on the size of the tree, but the length 
 was about six feet on each side of the tree, and the height from twelve 
 to eighteen feet. The nets were placed in the form of two sides of a 
 triangle, leaving the base of the triangle open. The Owl was able to fly 
 from one block to the other, and the Hawk could only attack the Owl on 
 the open side of the tree. The fowler concealed himself at a short 
 distance in a hut extemporised of the boughs which he had cut in 
 trimming the tree into the proper shape. The fowler started operations 
 early in the morning, and carefully watched the Owl, knowing that the 
 latter was sure to detect the approach of the bird of prey long before he 
 would see it himself. When a Hawk approached, the fowler gave a tug 
 to the cord which was attached to the Owl, thereby inducing the bird to 
 quit the block on which it was first placed near the fowler, and to take 
 a heavy flight to the block which was placed under the tree. The Hawk 
 saw his enemy in flight, and stooped to attack the Owl. When the 
 Hawk found that the Owl had sought refuge under the tree, he perched 
 on one of the upper branches to take stock of his adversary. After a 
 short pause the Hawk made a dart down at the Owl, with the natural 
 result that he landed in the nets, which extended in triangular form on 
 the two flanks of the Owl. 
 
 When the fowler decided to catch Hawks with the Clap-nets (a 
 method which the " Solitaire " himself preferred, as obviating the difficulty 
 of finding a tree of exactly suitable dimensions), he provided himself with 
 a pair of the large Clap-nets used for catching Plovers, and set the nets 
 in an open country. The decoy Owl was placed in the centre of the nets, 
 so secured that it could fly from one block to the other as before. When 
 
170 
 
 SPORT WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 
 
 NBTTiifG Hawks with the Eagib Owl (after the Buses Ivmocmtes). 
 
SPORT WITH THE EAGLE OWL. 
 
 171 
 
 a Passage Hawk spied the Eagle Owl, she was sure to approach the net, 
 that she might attack her enemy. When the Falcon was actually striking 
 at the Owl, the fowler pulled the nets over, and the Falcon or Goshawk 
 was secured within the folds of the " Eets-faillants." The fowler was 
 advised to peg down some live Magpies or Jays within and at either side 
 of the net, as an additional inducement to the Hawk to stoop at the lure. 
 In the absence of the " Grand Due," a Long-eared Owl (Asio otus) might 
 be provided as a substitute. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter illustrates the sport which mediaeval falconers 
 enjoyed in hawking with the Eagle Owl. It is reproduced from the first edition 
 of Olina.] 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^■^i^Z^ ■-. 
 

 *.-- 
 
 ^wM>^Mi 
 
 CHAPTER XIX.— SPOET WITH THE SMALLER OWLS. 
 
 THE Japanese fowlers, like their Italian confreres, are adepts at trap- 
 ping birds of many species. This object is frequently accomplished 
 by means of a decoy Owl and birdlimed twigs. Mr Owston informs me 
 that the Ural Owl {Strix, toralensis) is frequently employed for the purpose 
 of attracting Jays to the vicinity of limed twigs. This observation refers 
 to the neighbourhood of Yokohama, where Mr Owston resides. Professor 
 Ijima reports, however, that the species of Owl which chiefly finds favour 
 as a decoy-bird with the native fowlers of Japan is the Feather-toed 
 Scops Owl (Scops semitorques). He adds that other species of Owls are 
 occasionally impressed into the service of the birdcatchers. The decoy 
 Owl is secured to a bamboo perch. The captive rests upon a cross-bar 
 affixed to the top of the main stem, which is planted in the ground in 
 the midst of a copse or other locality frequented by small birds, as 
 shown in the headpiece of this chapter. 
 
 Numerous twigs, smeared with birdlime, are placed upon the tops of 
 the surrounding bushes. The fowler ties a string to the perch of the 
 Owl, so that he can rock it to and fro at pleasure. Sometimes he arranges 
 the Owl in such a way that he can pull the bird in and out of some 
 
SPOET WITH THE SMALLEK OWLS. 173 
 
 natural cover. He then hides himself at a distance of fifty or sixty 
 paces, and commences to excite the denizens of the woods by imitating 
 the cries which birds make in mobbing an Owl. He accomplishes this 
 by means of a bird-whistle. He also jerks the Owl backwards and for- 
 wards, so that it becomes excited, and thus increases the agitation which 
 the first announcement of its unwelcome presence has aroused in the 
 birds rapidly assembling from all parts of the forest, to mob and, if pos- 
 sible, expel the intruder. The indignant dicky-birds advance upon their 
 common enemy with every manifestation of displeasure. Forgetting their 
 natural caution, many of them alight on the limed twigs and are taken 
 prisoners. This method of catching birds is called " Zukubiki " in Japan. 
 The beautiful little Scops Owl {Scops giu) is well known in the south 
 of Europe, where it is often caught and treated as a pet. The peasants 
 of Tuscany are adepts at imitating the love notes of the male of the " sad 
 Assiolo," with a bird-call. The " Assiolo " is a bird of amorous disposi- 
 tion, and easily lured within range of the fowler. It happens occasionally 
 that one of these lovely little Owls is discovered in hiding among the 
 green leaves of some tree during the hours of daylight. The country 
 fellows adopt a simple ruse for securing the drowsy bird. One man 
 places his hat upon the top. of a long rod. A confederate selects a 
 similar wand, and cuts some slits in the extremity, into which he proceeds 
 to insert some limed twigs in the shape of a fan. The first man then 
 . slowly approaches the Owl, gently twirling the cap round and round on 
 the end of his stake. While the attention of the " Assiolo " is concen- 
 trated upon the approach of the strange object, the second peasant creeps 
 stealthily up to the tree in which the bird is resting, and drops the limed 
 twigs upon its back. 
 
 The birdcatchers of Savoy, according to Bailly {Orniihologie de la 
 Savoie, p. 176), hold the Scops, or "Petit-Due " as they call it, in high 
 esteem as a decoy-bird for the " Pip^e." Indeed, they prefer it to the 
 Little Owl for this purpose, contrary to the usage of the Italians. The 
 Savoyards consider the " Petit-Due " easy to domesticate, and apt at luring 
 the small birds within reach of the treacherous limed twigs. The Scops 
 is certainly a much more elegant species than the Little Owl. This fact 
 may account for the preference given to the former bird in Savoy. Else- 
 where, the Little Owl {Athene nodua) has always enjoyed a marked 
 popularity, in consequence, doubtless, of the quaint solemnity of its 
 
174 SPORT WITH THE SMALLER OWLS. 
 
 gestures and the docility of its disposition. The Athenians chose this 
 bird as the emblem of the divinity that watched over the fortunes of 
 their city, while the country folk employed it as a decoy for the fowler. 
 But it is in Italy that the " Civetta " finds the warmest appreciation. 
 Journey where you will throughout the length of Italy, it is certain that 
 you will find the " Civetta " a universal favourite. The title which it 
 bears varies very little. The name becomes slightly modified, as " Scigu- 
 etta," " Sieta," " Zivetta." " Marugella " is its name on the island of 
 Elba, while at Malta it becomes the " Qoqqa " or " Kokka." But the 
 title of " Civetta " is that which many generations of Italians have 
 adopted to designate this Owlet. The diminutive form " Civettazza " 
 has come to signify " a little dear." Crescentius mentions that this bird 
 is employed by fowlers with both nets and birdlime. It is to Agnolo 
 Firenzuola that we owe our thanks for a dainty poem in praise of a 
 beloved " Civetta." The poet mourns that the yellow eyes of his favourite 
 have closed in death. The rambles which he had shared with his pet 
 in the endeavour to capture Eedbreasts along the hedges, and the grace 
 with which the little bird was wont to ascend to and alight from the 
 perch, are dwelt on with plaintive regret. Bargaeus devotes the 24th 
 stanza of his Ixeuticon to the Little Owl. He warns us that it is un- 
 desirable to train the male of this species for bird-catching. It is for the 
 female that his admiration is reserved. She it is of whom he sings, " Ti 
 servira con sua mirabil' arte." It is the female therefore which, trained 
 in the cottage of the fowler, learns how to sit upon the perch, and how 
 to hop to and fro in such a way as to attract the attention of the dicky- 
 birds. She shakes the head, cranes the neck, and withal performs such 
 ludicrous antics as are best calculated to deride the indignation of the 
 scolding small fry. Aldrovandus, in his turn, emphasises the fact that 
 the " Civetta " is made use of by the fowlers in two different ways. The 
 first is to set the " Civetta " in the centre of the Clap-nets, so that when 
 the little birds mob the Owl the fowler can pull his nets over them. The 
 alternative is the plan of setting a " Civetta " (or, in default of it, the 
 head of a cat) in the centre of a number of long limed twigs. The small 
 birds try to mob the " Civetta," and of course some of their number perch 
 on the limed sticks. Olina tells us that the " Civetta " ought to be fed 
 upon meat. Savi remarks that the " Civetta " which is intended to act as 
 a decoy, or " fare i ritornelli," as the Italians say, should be taken from 
 
SPOET WITH THE SMALLER OWLS. 175 
 
 the nest and reared by hand. In the plains of Tuscany the "Civetta" 
 commonly rears its young in the roofs of cottages. The birds which are 
 found in holes in trees are less appreciated than those taken from the 
 vicinity of houses, being regarded as unlucky, and as having more than 
 usually fragile and brittle feathers. In some parts of Tuscany the Little 
 Owl is often captured even when adult, either to serve as a decoy or as 
 food, since the flesh of the Little Owl is considered delicate and savoury. 
 The fowler who aspires to obtain adult specimens of the Little Owl starts 
 in the gloaming for some little valley which is devoid of trees or bushes, 
 although surrounded by wood, and not removed far from the neighbour- 
 hood of houses. 
 
 When the peasant reaches the centre of the intended scene of his 
 crepuscular fowling, he proceeds to set up a post to which a nimiber of 
 limed twigs are attached. He then stretches himself under whatever 
 natural cover he can take advantage of, and begins to imitate the cry of 
 the " Civetta." All the Little Owls in the vicinity soon begin to fly 
 around ; as they flit past the post, which stands in the open ground, they 
 come into accidental contact with the limed twigs, and are taken one 
 after another. The late Dr Wilson of Florence informed me that a 
 great fair of decoy-birds is held every year on the road outside the Porta 
 Eomana of that city. Professor Gigholi tells me that the day set apart 
 for this transaction is the 28 th of September. The vicinity is then 
 thronged by an animated crowd of fowlers of all ages, desirous of 
 trafiicking in caged songsters and the various adjuncts of " La Caccia 
 degli uccelli." On this occasion a great many tame " Civettas " change 
 hands. For it must not be imagined that the use of the " Civetta " is 
 limited to the capture of live birds. It is used in a diversity of ways. 
 Not the least important service which the " Civetta " is called upon to 
 render is that of luring Skylarks within gunshot. ItaUans and French- 
 men are much devoted to this so-called sport. When the " Civetta " is 
 required to assist in the diversion, the bird is placed on a circular perch 
 or roller, which is mounted on a rod, formed of four separate pieces, 
 which fit into one another like the sections of a fishing rod. The first 
 joint is armed with an iron point, so that it may be inserted into the 
 ground. The rod is steadied by three cords. These are attached to the 
 base of the fourth joint of the rod, and are moored to the ground by 
 means of pegs driven firmly into the earth. The Owl's perch, or 
 
176 SPOET WITH THE SMALLER OWLS. 
 
 " Mazzuolo," is furnished with a steel spring, and is made to revolve by 
 means of a long cord. When a flock of Skylarks arrives within two or 
 three hundred metres of the sportsmen, the attendant pulls the string 
 attached to the Owl-perch ; the " Mazzuolo " revolves, the " Civetta " 
 shakes its wings to steady its body, the Larks stoop at the *Owl, and 
 the gunners shoot the Larks. The Little Owl is used as a decoy to 
 attract small birds in France, where it is called the " ChevSehe." I have 
 not satisfied myself that the " Steinkauz " is used for this purpose in 
 Germany. Bechstein and other German writers direct us to catch the 
 Little Owl by the simple expedient of placing a bag-net over the entrance 
 to the hole in which the bird is found to spend the day. In Holland 
 the use of the " Steenuil " as a decoy is very common. Mr W. Bridger 
 informed Dresser that the Dutch plan of catching the Little Owl, when 
 mature, is to peg a live mouse down to the ground in the proximity to 
 its nesting haunt. A branch consisting of three slender twigs all smeared 
 with birdlime is then set in the ground in such a way that the Owl 
 cannot seize the mouse without coming into contact with the birdlime. 
 The Dutch fowlers employ the Little Owl as a decoy by securing it to a 
 low perch, allowing the Owlet freedom to hop about at the end of its 
 leash. A couple of sticks, each bearing a limed twig inserted into a small 
 cleft, are placed in front of the Owl. Mr Bridger caught Redbacked: 
 Shrikes, Yellowhammers, Tree Pipits, and other field birds in this way. 
 Mr J. G. Keulemans incidentally confirms the opinion so long ago expressed 
 by Bargaeus that the male of this species is an inferior call-bird. It is 
 smaller than the other sex and more distinctly spotted, as well as 
 generally of a darker colour ; but the cause of its inferiority as a decoy 
 lies in the fact that it is more shy and retiring than the other sex. The 
 coyness of the male renders it loth to sit quietly on its perch, since it is 
 ever trying to find a hiding-place. Lloyd remarks that Tengmalm's Owl 
 (Nydala Tengmahai) is employed as a decoy for little birds in some 
 districts of Scandinavia. The Owl is tethered on the ground in the 
 centre of a circle of limed twigs. The fowler hides behind a tree, and 
 makes a chirrupping noise to bring the wild birds to the spot. At first 
 the Owl is viewed with apprehension, but familiarity breeds contempt. 
 Before long the excited birds alight on the limed rods, and so lose their 
 liberty. Lloyd does not suggest how Tengmalm's Owl is captured, but 
 we know independently that it is easily snared. Godlewski states that 
 
SPOET WITH THE SMALLEE OWLS. 177 
 
 the Siberian hunters detest this Owl on account of the frequency with 
 which it falls into the snares which they set for sable and other fur- 
 bearing animals. The practice of taking small birds with a decoy Owl is 
 not confined to Europe and Japan, for it is well known in some parts of 
 India. The Spotted Owlet {Athene brama), the best known of aU the 
 Indian Owls, lives in gardens, and is commonly found breeding in the 
 roofs of houses. Jerdon tells us that some Shikarees utilise this Owlet 
 for fowling. The man first snares an Owlet, or catches it with birdlime 
 and a long rod. Having secured the Owlet, the native betakes himself to 
 that part of the jungle in which the birds that he wants are to be found. 
 There arrived, he ties the Owlet on the ground near some low bush, 
 which he smears with birdlime. As soon as the little birds spy the 
 Owlet they hasten to mob the intruder, with the inevitable sacrifice of 
 their liberty (Birds of India, Vol. i. p. 143). In this connection 
 mention must be made of another Indian species, the Mottled Wood-Owl 
 {Symium ocellatum). It is a larger bird than the Tawny Owl of Europe, 
 and frequents mango-topes and the large trees about villages. Mr Harold 
 Littledale informs me that this Owl is common near Baroda, where it is 
 known to the natives as the " Guar," a title suggested by its dissyllabic 
 cry, which may be rendered " Go-er." This bird is required by Hindoos 
 for medicinal purposes. The tongue of the bird is the portion of its body 
 used as a specific. This Owl is accustomed to prey on small mammals, 
 such as mice, rats, and squirrels. The capture of the Owl is efiected by 
 means of snares. Mr Littledale has been kind enough to procure me a 
 set of the snares in question. The complete set consists of twenty-eight 
 separate snares of black horsehair. Each separate snare is formed of two 
 stout strands of plaited hair, forming a running noose with a diameter of 
 about three inches. Each snare is carefully bound to a flat, vegetable 
 stem measuring about three inches, and is secured in its place by coarse 
 cotton thread, which is wound round and round in such a way as to give 
 a firm support to the snare which it bears. The snare being thus 
 mounted, it is next secured to a wooden peg, measuring from five to 
 seven inches in length, and having the lower end sharpened, to facilitate 
 its insertion into the ground. A notch is cut on the inner side of the 
 upper end of the peg, thus enabling the fowler to attach his twenty- 
 eight pegs to a single long cord, the interval left between the pegs being 
 about six inches. A small wedge is inserted into the cotton thread to 
 
 M 
 
178 SPORT WITH THE SMALLER OWLS. 
 
 tighten the attachment of each noose to its supporting peg. When the 
 native has arranged his snares on the long line, some care is still required 
 to prevent the nooses from being twisted or otherwise injured in 
 transit. The fowler therefore selects a sound piece of cane and twists 
 the upper part of it into the shape of a circular noose about five inches 
 
 ft 
 
 IiTDiAcr Owl Snake. 
 
 in diameter, leaving a bare stem of about six inches as a handle. This 
 hoop is then placed in sandwich fashion between the snares, fourteen of 
 these being arranged on each side of it. The whole series are then 
 bound in the proper position by the free end of the cord to which the 
 snares and their accessory pegs are bound. The loose end of the cord in 
 question measures about six inches, and is intended to serve a further 
 purpose. When evening arrives the fowler sets out for some spot which 
 he knows to be frequented by Owls. There arrived, he selects an open 
 patch of ground, such as would afford no cover to any small animal. 
 He then proceeds to peg his snares out in a circle, and completes his 
 operations by attaching the free end of the cord to a live mouse. The 
 mouse runs round the centre of the snares, endeavouring to make his 
 escape, and soon attracts the notice of some hungry Owl. The Owl stoops 
 noiselessly at his victim, and is pretty certain to find himself caught in 
 one or other of the snares. The use of the Owl for medicinal purposes 
 so-called recalls the fact that when Surgeon-Lieut.-Col. Scully visited 
 Turkestan he found that the " Chaghundak " of the natives — which 
 signifies an Eastern desert form of the Little Owl, known to naturalists 
 as Button's Owlet {Athene bactriana) — was much in demand, in order 
 that its flesh might be mixed with other ingredients of a medicine 
 supposed to be a certain remedy for a serious disorder {Stray Feathers, 
 p. 130). In the Yukon district of Alaska the Esquimaux use the liver 
 
SPORT WITH THE SMALLER OWLS. 
 
 179 
 
 of the Short-eared Owl (Asio accipiirinus) as a " bevanda amorosa," or 
 love philtre. The liver of the " Mung ku che wuk " or Owl is dried and 
 powdered and administered in food to the lady or gentleman whose 
 affection is sought. Mr Turner tells us {Nat. Hist. Alaska, p. 161) that 
 he knew a native who sought to regain the love of his wife through the 
 medium of this potent remedy ; unfortunately the beneficent action of 
 the charm was in that instance thwarted by the counter influence of 
 a mother-in-law. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter depicts a Japanese fowler engaged in 
 capturing small birds with the aid of a decoy Owl.] 
 
CHAPTEE XX.— EAGLE-LORE. 
 
 ALAEGE amount of ingenuity has been expended by men of widely 
 different races to encompass the destruction of birds of prey. Thus 
 the goatherds or " cabreros " of the Spanish sierras are only too ready to 
 blame the Bearded Vulture {Gypmtiis harlatus) or " Quebrantahuesos " for 
 the loss of any kids that they may miss, and to devise the doom of that 
 magnificent bird. Godlewski tells us that when he passed through the 
 Siberian villages of Touransk and Changinsk, situated on the upper part 
 of the river Irkout at the foot of the Tounka range, the hills of which 
 are bare and precipitous, the hunters of the district assured him that the 
 Lammergeyer or Bearded Vulture inhabited the neighbouring mountains, 
 and that they found it easy to catch these great birds with the aid of 
 pebbles of such a size as the birds could swallow. The method of the 
 fowlers was to steep a quantity of these pebbles in blood, and to pile 
 them in a heap in a place where the Bearded Vulture would be sure to 
 find them. The bloody gore with which they covered the surface of the 
 stones induced the Vulture to swallow the stones. This heavy meal so 
 indisposed the bird that it became heavy and unwilling to take wing. 
 Whether this tale has a solid foundation in fact, or whether it was 
 intended to impose upon^the credulity of the traveller, is a point upon 
 
EAGLE-LORE. 181 
 
 which the public can form their own opinion. The name of the bird in 
 the locality just mentioned is " Jello." This species is met with on the 
 frontiers of Mongolia, and the Pekinese call it the " Soa-kou-tiao," which 
 means " the bone-swallowing Eagle." The Chinese employ the tail of the 
 Bearded Vulture in the manufacture of costly fans (^TaczanowsM, Faune 
 Ornithologigue de la SiMrie Orientale, p. 9). In this connection mention 
 must be made of the large Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga of Pallas), which 
 the Chinese call the " Hoang-chou-tiao," or " Eagle of the yellow rats," 
 because it feeds on members of the genus Gerhillus and other small 
 quadrupeds. Mr R. T. Turley informs me that the province of Manchuria 
 has to forward annually to Pekin, as a tax in kind, three hundred skins 
 of these Eagles. The reason of this is that the tail feathers of this Eagle 
 are much in request for manufacturing fans for the mandarins. A good 
 single tail feather is worth two shillings or half-a-crown. The quills of 
 the wings are likewise valuable, since they are employed in the manu- 
 facture of the celebrated Manchu arrows. The annual tax of three 
 hundred and sixty Eagle skins is made up almost entirely of the examples 
 of the present species, though a few of the skins, Mr Turley thinks, may 
 belong to the Golden Eagle. The mountains at the extreme end of the 
 Liao-tung Promontory, S.W. of Port Arthur, are or were kept as an Eagle 
 preserve. The Spotted Eagle resorts thither in numbers at certain 
 seasons, especially in winter and early spring. Other mountainous tracts 
 are also Eagle preserves. Living Eagles are employed as decoys, and 
 nets are set for the capture of the wild Eagles. When a free Eagle 
 alights beside the decoy, the fowler pulls the cord which holds the net, 
 and this falls over the coveted stranger, which, of course, remains a 
 struggling prisoner. Mr Turley tells me that the capture of this Eagle 
 is not by any means confined to mountainous districts ; it is caught like- 
 wise on the plains, both for the sake of the valuable plumes and also 
 because these birds destroy so many lambs and small calves. Some of 
 these birds are kept for many years in confinement, and their tail 
 feathers are annually plucked and sold ; but the plumes taken from 
 these tame birds are less valuable than those of the wild Eagles, as they 
 are not so fine in quality. It does not appear that the Chinese use the 
 flesh of Eagles as food. Belon tells us that, in Crete, the young Vultures 
 were taken from their nests in the precipices near Panormus, and prepared 
 for the table, the natives esteeming them highly and comparing them to 
 
182 EAGLE-LOEE. 
 
 capons. It is only fair to add that they rejected the flesh of the old 
 birds because of their feeding on carrion. Belon {Histoire de la Nature 
 des Oystaux, p. 5 6) favours us with quite a long disquisition upon edible 
 birds. He recalls a tale of Boccaccio by assuring us that he has it on 
 the word of good falconers that the flesh of Falcons and Vultures is 
 palatable when these birds are roasted or boiled like poultry. Certainly 
 the exquisite taste of Longfellow has enshrined for us in graceful measures 
 the fate of the " Falcon of Ser Federigo." It is a well-known fact, too, 
 that the Honey Buzzard is shot and eaten on its vernal migration by the 
 rural sportsmen of Calabria. 
 
 The Highlands of Scotland long enjoyed the reputation of affording 
 many secure fastnesses to the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetus) and the 
 Sea Eagle {Aquila alhicilla). My own imperfect researches have clearly 
 demonstrated that the latter species occupied several eyries among the 
 precipitous mountains of the English lakes up to the close of the 
 eighteenth century. In the course of the last fifteen years I have con- 
 versed with many shepherds and other persons intimately acquainted 
 with the habits of our native Eagles, but I have never been able to hear 
 of any devices that were used for the capture of these noble birds in the 
 nature of ancient traps or snares. The Eagles of the Lake district 
 became extinct through human agency. One chief element of destruction 
 was the custom of the more daring mountaineers of taking the Eaglets 
 from their nests before they were able to fly, by means of ropes with 
 which the raiders descended to the eyries. An old shepherd who recently 
 died in the island of Skye, and who, perhaps, accounted for the deaths of 
 more Eagles than any other man in the Hebrides, told me with great 
 satisfaction that he once killed five Eagles in a single day. This event, 
 which was unique in his experience, took place in the island of Eum in 
 the year 1825. He was then a young and active shepherd lad, ignorant, 
 as he remained to the end of his ninety odd years, of a knowledge of 
 English, but keenly intent on destroying anything in the shape of a bird 
 of prey. On this memorable occasion Macdonald (for he belonged to that 
 clan) went alone to the precipices which overhung the shelf of rock upon 
 which a pair of Sea or White-tailed Eagles were endeavouring to rear 
 their young. After some hours of watching he succeeded in shooting 
 both the female and the male parents. He then lowered himself into 
 the eyrie by means of a rope which he had secured to the rocks above. 
 
EAGLE-LORE. 183 
 
 To his surprise he, for the first and last time, found three Eaglets in the 
 eyrie. The birds were young, and he secured all three without difficulty. 
 He managed to return in safety to the top of the cliff, and went home to 
 his shepherd's " stance " not a little elated at his achievement of having 
 slain five Eagles in a single venture. In later years he shot many Eagles 
 from inside a " bothy " on one of the green hills in the west of Skye. The 
 birds were allured to the spot by the carcase of a dead sheep. His 
 muzzleloader was charged (as he told me) with " B.B." shot, the letters 
 " B.B." being the only approach to an English word that I heard him 
 admit the knowledge of. But he never but once in the course of his life, 
 which did not fall far short of a hundred years, killed five Eagles in one 
 day. Of equal interest is the testimony of Angus Macleod, a native of 
 Harris, who was employed for many years as a shepherd at Kinloch, Isle 
 of Skye. When I met this man in July 1896 he was in his 104th year, 
 but was able to undertake a six mile walk alone, and retained all his 
 faculties intact. He remarked to me that he believed that he had 
 personally killed more Eagles than any man of his acquaintance. About 
 sixty years ago (=1836) he destroyed a large number of Eagles in Park 
 Deer Forest, Lewis. He killed some " black " ( = Golden) Eagles, but 
 the bulk of the birds which he shot were " grey " ( = Sea) Eagles. He 
 volunteered that the latter species frequently captured sea-trout. He had 
 seen the birds plunging into the sea in pursuit of their prey. The 
 greatest number of Eagles that he ever killed in a single year in the 
 Lews was thirteen birds. He received five shillings for every bird which 
 he destroyed. His custom was to shoot one of the old Eagles in the 
 vicinity of the eyrie when the birds were engaged in the duties of 
 incubation. He first climbed down to the ledges near the nest with the 
 aid of a rope. He then shouted loudly to scare the sitting Eagle off the 
 nest. As soon as the old bird appeared he fired his muzzleloader at her. 
 His next task was to try to burn out the young birds. This unhandsome 
 proceeding was usually accomplished by thrusting a pole covered with an 
 old bag or other combustible material, smeared with tar and set on fire, 
 into the midst of the eyrie. Sometimes the young birds were suffocated 
 in their eyrie ; often they tumbled out of the nest, and were afterwards 
 found by Macleod at the foot of the precipice in which the eyrie was 
 situated. One of these Eaglets was kept as a pet ; it fed readily on fish 
 and mutton. Indeed, Angus had several tame Eagles at different periods 
 
1S4 EAGLE-LORE. 
 
 of his life. He had in later years trapped a good many Eagles in Skye. 
 These birds were taken in steel traps. He usually baited an Eagle trap 
 with a piece of sheep's liver, and was careful to set it at the side of 
 a loch, usually on a small point of land. The bait was deposited on the 
 ground between the trap and the water, so that the Eagle could not reach 
 the carrion without entering the trap. 
 
 Sea and Golden have frequently been surprised by shepherds after 
 the birds had gorged themselves with " braxie " mutton. One of a pair 
 of Sea Eagles which used to nest in the rocks of Eamasaig, on the west 
 coast of Skye, was captured some sixteen years ago by a lad named 
 Maclean, who afterwards became a shepherd in the Falkland Isles. He 
 observed that the Eagle had gorged itself to repletion upon the carcase of 
 a dead sheep. He contrived to scramble up the face of the rocks, and so 
 reached the crag upon which the drowsy bird was resting. There arrived, 
 he threw his plaid around the bird, which he managed to overpower. On 
 another occasion the same individual observed two Golden Eagles fighting 
 together. It was the spring of the year, and no doubt one of the birds 
 had invaded the territory of a rival. The birds closed in the air, and fell 
 to the ground before they could recover themselves. Maclean and his 
 collie gave chase. The birds had descended into a natural hollow on the 
 hill. It was a very still day, and there was no breeze to give the big 
 birds assistance in rising off the ground. One bird managed to get on 
 the wing. The second was seized by the dog, which gripped it with such 
 firmness that he was able to detain it until his master completed its 
 capture. The bird was sent to a gentleman in Oxfordshire, in whose 
 possession it lived as a captive. I had these details from the lips of 
 Maclean, who is a son of one of my own small tenants. In Greenland 
 the Sea Eagle used to be pursued with bow and arrow. Another device 
 was to dig a hole in the snow in winter, and bait it with flesh. A snare 
 made of sealskin or whalebone was arranged around the bait. The fowler 
 himself concealed his person in the hole, holding in his hand the free end 
 of the snare. When the Eagle sought to swallow the bait it was caught 
 by the noose, which the fowler at once drew tight. At other times the 
 birds were permitted to gorge themselves until they became so stupid that 
 the fowlers could knock them down. 
 
 The most curious instructions for vermin-catching known to me are 
 contained in Leonard Mascall's Boohe of Fishing. The first of these is 
 
EAGLE-LORE. 
 
 185 
 
 " A spring for a Buzard or Dun Kite." I cannot do better than repro- 
 duce it in the quaint language of the original : — " This engine is called a 
 whippe sspring, made and set to take Buzards and Kites, and commonly 
 set by a bush side; it may also be set in a plaine; the sspring must be 
 of some gi-owing poale ; or some rodde set fast in the ground where ye 
 think best. There is also two stakes set halfe a yard asunder fast in the 
 ground, and that 
 stake with a crooke 
 must stand towards 
 the loose of the 
 sspring, and tild 
 with a clicket, which 
 clicket above must 
 stay under the 
 crooke; and the 
 neather end thereof 
 must stand in the 
 nicke of the end of 
 the bridge, which 
 hath a hooke at the 
 other end about the 
 other stake, which 
 bridge must stand 
 three inches from 
 the ground, and thereon spread your line as ye see, with a showe buckle 
 to slide soone. Then baite your bush side made somewhat hollow that 
 she can come no way to the baite but over the bridge : which baite may 
 be a Conies head, or some cats flesh." 
 
 The Common Buzzard {Buteo vulgaris) is now chiefly restricted to 
 the more mountainous districts of England, but I imagine that it must 
 have been to be seen circling over most of our commons in Shakespeare's 
 day. My reason for thinking so is this, that I have found the Buzzard 
 a very common bird in different parts of Germany and France, and even 
 Spain. As it feeds on rats and voles, lizards, and other small and numerous 
 animals, it ought to be able to find a plentiful subsistence in most parts 
 of England. It is quite as natural for this Buzzard to rear its young in 
 a tree as in the side of some overhanging precipice. But, be this as it 
 
 A Whippe Spring (after Mascall). 
 
186 
 
 EAGLE-LORE. 
 
 may, there can be no doubt of Mascall's close acquaintance with the 
 bird, as well as with the now banished Kite (Milvus ictinus), which at 
 
 one time was the 
 scavenger of the 
 London streets. 
 Mascall describes no 
 less than four other 
 devices for catching 
 Buzzards and Kites. 
 One of these is a 
 "hoop net," intended 
 for catching Buz- 
 zards in winter. It 
 was to be set in a 
 plain or open space. 
 The net was to be 
 concealed from the 
 prying eyes of the 
 
 A Hoop Net (after Mascall). hlJldi of prey by SOme 
 
 Hght fronds of fern being placed in front of it. Perhaps the general 
 
 reader would find 
 
 more amusement in 
 
 Mascall's description 
 
 of the "trappe," or 
 
 " fall," for " Buzarde 
 
 and Kytes, with a 
 
 hurdell." The fowler 
 
 is instructed to set a 
 
 hurdle on the ground, 
 
 resting on a forked 
 
 stick, which rests in 
 
 turn on a second fork. 
 
 The latter is kept in 
 
 the desired position 
 
 by means of two 
 
 threads, which are fall for Buzabde (after Masoall). 
 
 secured also to the ground, apparently with small pegs. When a Hawk 
 
EAGLl-LORE. 
 
 187 
 
 tries to seize the bait placed under the hurdle, it alights on, or at any 
 rate dislodges, the second forked stick, which is supporting the first ; the 
 hurdle naturally falls over the bird. The " Basket Fall " consisted of a 
 framework large enough to allow a man to stand inside. It was supported 
 in precisely the same way as the hurdle. " The Warriners do commonly 
 in some places use (in Eabbet time) to set him in plaines, in warrens, 
 and in parkes, wheras Connies are bred, and so they take the Kyte and 
 the Buzarde ia this Basket." 
 
 Maseall tells us that the Eed Kite is proof against drugged meat, 
 because, instead of digesting the doctored meat, he casts it up again. I 
 do not find that the 
 Italian writers give 
 any elaborate instruc- 
 tions for catching 
 Kites. Savi says the 
 bird was common in 
 Tuscany in his day, 
 and refers to the use 
 of the Kite as a quarry 
 for falcons. Olina tells 
 us that the Kite can 
 be taken with a snare 
 arranged to cover a 
 piece of meat, which ^'f^Vi 
 is transfixed by a 
 wooden skewer, in such 
 a way that the Kite -ri^^^ fali, (after ^[ascau). 
 
 throws the snare over his neck in his endeavours to bolt the meat. Mr 
 Styan teUs me that the Indian Kite (Milvus govinda) is taken by native boys 
 in the following way : — " A bait is placed on the ground under a fine line ; 
 no hooks are used, but the bird, rising vertically with its prey, strikes the 
 liae with the back of its neck ; the wings are thrown up, and in struggling 
 the primaries get over the line, and the bird is hopelessly caught." 
 
 A great number of raptorial birds are annually killed in Scandinavia. 
 The methods employed for compassing their destruction are described in 
 Lloyd's Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Sweden and Norway with a fulness 
 which leaves nothing to be desired. The trap which Mr Lloyd considered 
 
188 
 
 EAGLE-LORE. 
 
 to be commonly used for the capture of hawks is called the " Hok-Bur." 
 It appears, from his description, to consist of a large square frame 
 divided into two compartments, and mounted on a stout post of four feet 
 in height. The lower compartment serves as a cage for a decoy fowl or 
 pigeon, and the sides of the frame are netted. The trap is left open at 
 the top, but a spring net is arranged to descend and cover the trap as 
 soon as a Hawk alights on a cross-bar. , 
 
 Before closing this chapter, let me call attention to an interesting 
 iron trap which has been brought to my notice through the kind inquiries 
 of Mr C. F. Archibald. Mr Oliver Baker, whose courtesy enables me to 
 figure this engine, informs me that it was dug out of the ground in the 
 
 /^ 
 
 Old English Hawk-tbap, 
 
 neighbourhood of a grand old mansion in Warwickshire — namely, Abbotts 
 Salford Hall. He informs me that the Eev. T. B. Hewitt, who possesses 
 a special knowledge of old country life, has pronounced this curious 
 specimen to be a pole-trap, intended to catch Hawks alive for the sport 
 of falconry. This decision is supported by the absence of serrated teeth. 
 There is also an iron socket, apparently intended to receive a piece of 
 wood, upon which a Hawk might alight. The diagram shows this trap 
 both set and closed. In the set trap, the rings by which the trap could 
 be secured to a pole or the natural branch of a tree are well shown. One 
 can imagine that such a trap would be useful for catching the Sparrow- 
 hawk or any other species of medium size. This trap measures eight 
 inches in length ; the breadth of it, when expanded, is five inches. It was 
 sprung, of course, by the weight of the bird. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from the II Falconiere of Tuano.J 
 
CHAPTEE XXL— HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 WITH us in the Western Highlands, the return of spring witnesses 
 to the destruction of many beautiful Peregrines [Falco peregrirms). 
 These adult birds are trapped by the feet or shot in the neighbourhood 
 of their nesting ledges. On the other hand, the Valkenswaard Hawks 
 are all captured in the fall of the year when migrating to the south from 
 more northern breeding-grounds. Mr Eearel MoUen writes to me that 
 he has not kept a return of the number of Baptores taken by his family, 
 but he is certain that more than two hundred birds have passed through 
 their hands in the last decade. In the autumn of 1895 the weather 
 was at first very unsuitable for the work of the Hawk-catchers, rain and 
 fog preventing their working their nets with much success. Twelve red 
 falcons and three tiercels were the nett result of the entire season. Mr 
 MoUen was unable to supply all the tiercels for which he had received 
 orders. The tiercels or male birds are generally the first birds on the 
 passage. Mr MoUen conjectures that the birds part company in foggy 
 weather. The actual capture of the birds is effected on the open moors 
 which command the fly-lines of the Peregrine and other Hawks. The 
 hut in which the falconer awaits the arrival of the falcon is mound- 
 shaped! ; partly excavated out of the soil, partly built up with sods of 
 
190 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 heather. The diameter of the hut inside does not exceed five feet. Two 
 fir poles, measuring from sixteen to twenty feet in height, are inserted as 
 uprights in the ground about fifty yards in front of the hut. A strong 
 but light line passes to the hut from the summit of each pole. These 
 lines when slackened pass down the poles and run along the ground until 
 they enter the window of the hut. The right-hand pole is required for 
 the use of a decoy Peregrine. This bird is attached to the line which 
 travels from the top of the pole to the hut. A bunch of feathers is 
 attached to the Peregrine's line on the side nearest to the hut. The left- 
 hand pole is required for the manipulation of a tame pigeon, a white 
 bird. This is attached with a short line to the cord which runs from 
 the top of the pole into the hut. The decoy pigeon is thus enabled to 
 take refuge in a small shelter built of heather sods, should occasion 
 require. Other shelters or cages for pigeons are built of sods, and placed 
 at either side of the hut, and in the rear if needed. The birds thus 
 imprisoned in these shelters are secured by braces to lines which run to 
 the fowler's hut. A Bow-net is pegged down a few yards on the inside 
 of each pigeon-cage. These nets are hidden with heather. The fowler's 
 outfit is completed by a couple of Great Grey Shrikes. These birds are 
 tethered to two little mounds of heather immediately in front of the 
 fowling hut. When the Shrikes detect the flight of a wild Hawk at 
 a distance, they scream, flutter, and seek refuge beneath their perches. 
 When the wild Hawk draws nearer, the fowler hoists the decoy Falcon 
 in the air by drawing tight the line attached to the top of the pole 
 on his right hand. As the falcon circles round and round at the end of 
 the line, and the bunch of feathers tied to the line flutters in the air, the 
 stranger is deluded into mistaking the decoy Hawk for a wild bird which 
 is flying a quarry. The falconer suddenly drops the right-hand line, 
 thus allowing the tethered falcon to return to the ground. The white 
 pigeon is hoisted at the same moment, and the strange Hawk starts in 
 pursuit. Suddenly the white pigeon is dropped, its place being taken 
 by one of the pigeons set loose from the huts beside the Bow-nets. The 
 released pigeon flies up into the air, only to be cut down by the Passage 
 Hawk, which binds to its prey and alights on the ground a few yards 
 from the Bow-net. The falconer then drags the dead pigeon towards 
 the Bow-net, which is finally pulled over the falcon. 
 
 The method of catching Passage Hawks, which is still carried on at 
 
HAWK-CATCHING. 191 
 
 Valkenswaard, may probably owe its origin to a simpler plan of operations 
 described by a Greek writer, Demetrius of Constantinople. He was 
 physician to the Emperor Michael Palaeologus in 1270. Demetrius 
 instructs the fowler to leave home at the time for catching young Hawks, 
 and to repair to the tops of the mountains and search for the young 
 Hawks, using a bird-call made of cherry-tree bark to imitate the cries of 
 the old Hawks. Having ascertained the whereabouts of the young 
 Hawks, the fowler selects some open spot, in which he builds a low hut 
 covered with green leaves and furnished with a window, out of which he 
 can watch. The fowler then goes in search of the young birds, and 
 endeavours to call them up to the hut, close to which he tethers a 
 pigeon or a fowl. He then hides in the hut. The wild Hawk soon 
 spies the pigeon or chicken, and of course strikes at her quarry, which 
 she kills. But at this critical moment the fowler pulls the string by 
 which the pigeon is secured ; the Hawk finds that her victim is escaping, 
 and holds on all the more tightly to her prey. She is soon drawn up to 
 the entrance to the hut, when the fowler deftly slips his hand out of the 
 window and secures her. The fowler is instructed that, if he finds that 
 it is difficult to decoy the young birds while their parents are at liberty, 
 he must capture the old birds, and keep them until their nestHngs are 
 starved into following the whistle of the fowler, which lures them up 
 to the hut at which the decoy pigeon is tethered (i2ei Acdpitrariae 
 Scriptores, pp. 2-6). "When the young birds have been captured the old 
 Hawks are released, in order that the breeding stock may be kept up. 
 
 Modern falconers usually prefer the Peregrine to the Iceland 
 Gyr-falcon {Falco islandios). In earlier days the latter birds were held 
 in the highest estimation at the courts of Europe. Even the Barbary 
 Falcon (Faleo harlarus) used to be imported into Britain, although the 
 conservative taste of Englishmen did not encourage such innovations in 
 their practice of falconry. Sir Edward Winter of Lydney, Herefordshire, 
 wrote in November 1595 to Sir Eobert Cecil: "Your Barbary Falcon 
 I received, which if I should praise very much, you would rather com- 
 mend me for a courteous knight than a skilful falconer. But howsoever 
 I thank you for her, though I think she be dead ere this. The tassell of 
 a gosshawk had been fitter for our woodland country " (Salisbury MS., 
 Vol. V. p. 479). But the Gyr-falcons of Norway and Iceland commanded 
 high prices. Horrebow furnishes an entertaining account of the latter 
 
192 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 bird. " Some are white," he observes, " some half white and half grey, 
 but they are all of the same kind, and sometimes in one and the same 
 nest a young one of each colour has been hatched. This the inhabitants 
 have declared to me, and I daresaye there is hardly a falcon-nest in the 
 island without being known ; for every falcon - catcher in his district 
 takes care to watch them closely, and to place his nets pretty near the 
 place where they build. . . . The king of Denmark sends every year a 
 falconer with a couple of attendants to Iceland, to buy up the falcons. 
 They go to Beffested, where the king's falcon-house is, but it is not their 
 business to catch them ; for in every district there is a certain number of 
 people licensed for this purpose. They are all native Icelanders, and get 
 by it a pretty deal of money, when they are successful. It is about Mid- 
 summer that the falcon-catchers bring what they have caught to Beffested. 
 They come on horseback, holding a pole with another fixed across, on 
 which ten or twelve falcons will sit all capped ; the pole they hold in 
 their hand, and rest it on the stirrup. The falconer's business is to 
 examine them, to return those that are not good, and send the rest 
 on board the ship, to take back with him to Copenhagen. To the persons 
 that bring them for sale a written testimony of their respective qualities 
 is given, by virtue of which they receive of the king's receiver-general 
 fifteen rix dollars for a white falcon, ten rix dollars for one half white, 
 and a gratuity of from two to four rix-doUars to encourage them for their 
 pains in this business. For a grey falcon they had formerly five rix- 
 doUars, but for several years past they have had seven rix dollars for 
 every one of this kind." The same writer gives a detailed description of 
 how the Icelanders contrive to take the Falcons alive. " They strike two 
 posts into the ground, a little distance from each other ; to the one they 
 tie a Ptarmigan or pigeon, (or for want of either a cock or hen) by 
 a small Une two or three yards long, that they may flutter about a little 
 and that the falcon may the sooner observe them ; to the leg of the 
 Ptarmigan or pigeon they tie another string, one hundred yards long or 
 more, which goes through a hole in the other post ; in order to draw the 
 bait to that post, where a net is fixed like a fishing-net, with a hoop in a 
 semicircle of six foot diameter. This being pulled down, it goes over and 
 covers the post, for which purpose there is another string fastened to the 
 upper part of the hoop, which goes through the first post to which the 
 bait is tied. These two strings the falcon-catcher has hold of, that he 
 
HAWK-CATCHING. 193 
 
 may pull the bait where he pleases, as also the net over his prey. These 
 nets they fix near a nest, or where they see a flight of Falcons approach. 
 As soon as the Falcon sees the bait fluttering on the ground, he takes 
 a few sweeps about in the air just over the place, and looks about to see 
 if there be any danger ; then he strikes with such violence that he takes 
 the bait's head oif as clean as if cut off with a knife. The moment he 
 has struck the bait, he generally flies up again, unless very hungry, to 
 look about if any danger be at hand, or any thing to interrupt him in the 
 enjoyment of his prey. In the meantime of his flying up, the Falcon- 
 catcher pulls the string and dead bait to the other post close under the 
 net, which the Falcon not observing presently darts to devour his prey, 
 but the other string being pulled, he is catched in the net. . . . The 
 Falcon-catcher is generally hid behind some stones or bushes, one hundred 
 yards or more oif, where, even if the Falcon sees him, he has no mistrust, 
 being at such a distance. . . . During the voyage the Falcons are kept 
 between the decks, tied to poles, two rows of a side, and these poles are 
 covered with coarse cloth, and stuffed with straw, and lines are hung from 
 one side to the other pretty close, that they may have something to catch 
 hold of, if the ship should be tossed about " (^Natural History of Iceland, 
 p. 59 et seq). But it must not be supposed that the passion for training 
 falcons has at any time been confined to the sportsmen of temperate 
 climes. 
 
 The noble pastime of falconry has long claimed earnest devotees 
 among the Arab sheikhs of Northern Africa. The Barbary Falcon 
 (Falco harbarus) and the Saker (^Falco sacer) are specially esteemed, being 
 trained to fly at Eagles, Kites, Sand-grouse, and especially at the Houbara 
 Bustard. Mr G. H. Fernan of Casablanca has kindly written to enlighten 
 me on this subject. He reports that the Moorish Arabs capture Hawks 
 by means of a semicircular net, which is dyed dark brown or black. 
 The net is propped up with sticks, which are placed in the centre of the 
 semicircle and at the entrance of the net.- Wooden pegs are often used 
 to secure the edges of the net to the ground. A tame blue pigeon is 
 tied to a stake near the mouth of the net. The falcon strikes boldly at 
 the lure. The tremendous impetus of the descending flight carries her 
 onwards into the toils of the net before she has time to recover herself. 
 The Arab is lying in hiding. "When the bird is taken he dashes up and 
 secures the prize. Von Heuglin records (Ornithologie Nord Ost Africas, 
 
 N 
 
194 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 Vol. 11. p. 30) that in his experience the Arabs capture the Saker by- 
 means of traps which he calls " Tellereisen." He is not as clear as he 
 might have been, but I understand his traps to have been flat, bow-traps, 
 having the half-hoops bound round with strips of cloth to preclude the 
 possibility of any injury accruing to the bird. The Arab studies the 
 habits of the particular bird which he has determined to catch. He 
 ascertains the exact spot in which this Hawk is usually in the habit of 
 roosting. He sets one or more of these traps on the bird's perch, and 
 then lies in wait for its arrival. When the balance of the trap is sprung 
 the bird hangs helpless until released by its captor. 
 
 The falconers of India attach the highest value to the Shahin [Falco 
 peregrinator) — a near ally of our European Peregrine — as a bird of 
 splendid courage and amazing speed. It is principally employed for 
 hawking Francolins and Florican. Jerdon states that this and the 
 other Indian falcons are generally caught by what is known as the 
 " Eerwan," viz., a thin strip of cane, which measures the approximate 
 alar expanse of the falcon which it is desired to capture. This piece of 
 cane is tied securely to a dove or other quarry in such a way that the 
 extremities of the cane project on each side of the dove. The fowler 
 smears the ends of the cane with birdlime for several inches. He also 
 sews up the eyelids of the dove. The blinded bird, on being released, 
 soars upwards in the air, and thus attracts the attention of the Wild 
 Hawk. The latter hastens to strike its victim, but its pinions come into 
 contact with the viscous fluid, and it falls helpless to the earth. The use 
 of birdlime for catching Hawks is not by any means confined to Asia. 
 Thus Demetrius of Constantinople is careful to inform us that some 
 Greek fowlers employed limed twigs for catching Hawks in his day. 
 Their plan was to peg down a pigeon to the ground — allowing it a 
 long tether — and to place twigs which had been smeared with birdlime 
 all round. Markham (^Hunger's Prevention, p. 153) furnishes elaborate 
 instructions for "Taking with Lime diversly," as he phrases it. The 
 capture of a Hawk, he says in substance, may be effected by employing 
 birdlime in two ways. The first is by the manipulation of " a little 
 small Lime-bush artificially made of fine twiggs fixt so gently into 
 a little socket of woode made like a handle, that as soon as any 
 thing toucheth or striketh them, they presently depart from the socket 
 and clappe close to the thing that toucheth them, whereby they are 
 
HAWK-CATCHING. 195 
 
 intangled, these little bushes are artificially placed about the stand wher 
 the hauk useth to sit, compassing it so about that the Hawk cannot come 
 to the same, whether with wings opened or wings close, but he must of 
 necessity touch the points of the rodds, and then as soon as the points 
 are touched, they clap under the Hawkes winges and so entangle her." 
 Markham enjoins that when limed rods are used by themselves "they 
 must be fixed to the nearest branches to the stand, coming sloapwise so 
 near unto the stand, that the Hawke cannot come in, or settle her selfe 
 upon the same, but must of force touch some one point or other of them, 
 which no sooner shall be touched, but presently it must forsake the 
 place where it was fixt, and clap unto the Hawke; which as soon as 
 shee feeleth, and beginneth to be angry, and to beat or struggle with her 
 wings, then instantly the rest clap about her, and altogether intangle 
 her." The drawback to the use of birdlime for catching Hawks is 
 identically the same in the experience of such widely different writers 
 as Markham and Demetrius. They agree that the use of lime injures 
 the flight feathers, and renders the birds so taken of less value than if 
 they had been caught by other means. Most people would be inclined 
 to imagine that birdlime was ill adapted for the capture of large birds 
 of prey. Nevertheless, the Creoles of the island of E^union adopt bird- 
 Hme as a means of reducing the numbers of a fine species of Harrier 
 [Circus maillardi), which has a penchant for chickens, and often commits 
 raids upon their poultry yards. This Harrier more nearly resembles the 
 young of the Marsh Harrier, in first plumage, than any other European 
 Hawk; but the E^union bird is shorter in the wing than the Marsh 
 Harrier, and has the circular ruff around the face a little more fully 
 developed. The Creoles endeavour to capture the marauder by pegging 
 down a chicken in such a way that it cannot move far. They then set 
 a number of small branches covered with birdlime around the chick. 
 When the " Pied jaune," as they call the Harrier, passes by, its attention 
 is attracted by the cries of the chicken, which has been taken away 
 from its mother. As soon as the Hawk observes the chicken it darts 
 upon the little bird, but the moment that it seizes the chicken the wings 
 of the Hawk come into contact with the limed twigs, which prevent the 
 Harrier from making good its retreat (Pollen, Reeherches sur la Faune de 
 Madagascar, p. 41). 
 
 Gould's Harrier (Oircm gouldi) is captured in New Zealand in a 
 
196 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 somewhat similar way to the species last named, that is to say, by means 
 of a chicken or other feathered bait. The Maoris do not, however, 
 employ birdlime for catching Hawks. They contrive to secure the 
 Harrier by means of flax snares. These last are arranged in such a way 
 that when the Harrier strikes at the lure its feet are held fast by a 
 running noose. This hawk-trap is known as the "Karapiti," and is 
 figured among the illustrations prepared for White's Ancient History of 
 the Maori. The drawing in question represents two long and pliant 
 switches as being inserted in the earth a few feet from a small shelter, 
 apparently intended for the use of the decoy. A number of slip-nooses 
 are attached to the smaller ends of these rods, which are held in position 
 by threads. The snares hang in the air immediately in front of the 
 little shelter of the decoy. The Harrier essays to seize his quarry and is 
 entangled in the fine but strong snares which have been prepared to 
 eifect his detention. The struggle of the bird of prey liberates the upper 
 end of the rod bearing the nooses which have proved his ruin. The rod 
 being released flies up into the air and the Hawk flutters in a tangle 
 of nooses. Before discussing the various ways in which Sparrowhawks 
 are or have been netted, attention may be drawn to the following note 
 of the late T. C. Heysham, detailing a wrinkle for taking these birds with 
 birdlime : — " A white cloth or napkin is spread on the ground and 
 fastened at the corners with hooked sticks. In the centre of the napkin 
 a live Sparrow or other small bird is fixed by means of a string three or 
 four inches in length. Slender twigs are stuck up on both sides of the 
 cloth, to prevent the Hawks from attacking the sparrow on either side. 
 Two long, slender twigs of the weeping willow, well covered with bird- 
 lime, are stuck in the ground, one at each end of the napkin, the two 
 together forming an arch over the bird, but at such a distance that the 
 sparrow cannot touch them with its wings whilst fluttering; neither can 
 any Hawk reach the sparrow without coming in contact with the limed 
 twigs. The use of the limed cloth is to attract the attention of the 
 Hawks at a greater distance to the sparrow fluttering upon it. The 
 limed twigs are stuck so lightly in the ground, that if the Hawk, upon 
 finding himself entangled should struggle, they would go off with him 
 and prevent his flight." 
 
 Gervase Markham devotes the twelfth chapter of The Art of Fowling 
 to the " taking of Hawkes of all kindes " and all ages. He was personally 
 
HAWK-CATCHING. 197 
 
 familiar with the Goshawk, Sparrowhawk, Merlin, Hobby, Kestrel, and 
 Harriers. He distinctly affirms that all of these " have their Ayries and 
 breed in this Kingdome." This is a very important statement, seeing 
 the obscurity in which the former residence of the Goshawk {Astur 
 palumbarius) in Great Britain is still enveloped. I do not think that 
 the notes which I am about to quote refer to the Goshawk, for this 
 reason, that the size of the nets described seem to be too small for the 
 capture of the Goshawk. Consequently it would seem wiser to conjecture 
 that the Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and the Hobby {Falco suhluteo) 
 are the species which Markham had specially in view. He advises the 
 fowler to first discover the whereabouts of an " Ayrie " of Hawks, which 
 may be ascertained by searching for the "mutings" of the old birds ; "which 
 wil not only bedaube the Tree and trenches under the Ayrie, but also the 
 ground and other places." The young Hawks can either be taken by 
 hand out of the nest before they are able to fly or caught as branchers in 
 pocket-nets set around the net, these nets measuring about two feet or 
 thirty inches square, and being arranged in such a way as to intercept 
 the young birds when accompanying the female to the nest at feeding 
 time. The nets are to be made " of strong twisted Housewifes threed, 
 and dyed as neere as you can to the colour of the leaves, that it may 
 give no affright or disKke to the Hawkes." Another method of taking 
 Hawks is to take them in their " sorage, which is indeede from that time 
 they have preyed for themselves and are masters of their owne strengthes 
 and courages, being able to make a true choise of their prey, and to 
 conquer it ; until the first whole yeare be fully expired and that they have 
 mewed and exchanged either all or at least most, part of their first 
 feathers." The fowler is instructed to study the habits of a " Sore- 
 hawke," and to set a pair of " those Nets which Faulkoners commonly doe 
 call Urines or Urnes," which are to be bought " almost of any Barber, or 
 Net-makers which dwell in the Wood Countries," and must be " of strong 
 twisted brown thrid, and dyed either Blew or Green, as aforesaid, with a 
 reasonable large mash, for that sooner entangleth and holdeth the faster." 
 The " urnes " are set round the " stand " which the Hawk uses, " so as she 
 may come no way to the stand without danger of the Nets, into which if 
 at any time she strike, she is presently taken." If the fowler does not 
 find the arrangement last named succeed, he must adopt another plan. 
 " Pitch and place your Urines, and under the guard of them, you shall fixe 
 
198 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 Stales of such Birdes, either great or little, as you see the Hawke daily 
 preyeth upon, and these Stales you tye at such a convenient liberty, that 
 they may flutter with their wings, and flye a little up and down about the 
 Net, yet by no meanes without the guard of the Nets, nor so as the Hawke 
 may not in any wise come unto them, or offer to strike at the without the 
 certain danger of the Nets." Yet another method of capturing the " sore 
 Hawk " is to catch the roosting bird with the assistance of a lanthorn. 
 
 Demetrius of Constantinople was familiar with the device just ex- 
 plained ; for he tells us that some fowlers set nets for the Hawks in the 
 tops of trees, placing a pigeon or fowl in the centre (" columbamque in 
 medio aut gallinam ponunt, atque hunc in modum accipitres capiunt "). 
 The Sparrowhawk is the bird which I fancy that Markham had chiefly 
 in mind in giving the elaborate instructions epitomised here. His 
 earnestness reminds one of the pains bestowed upon the capture of the 
 Sparrowhawk in other parts of Europe. The most classical account of 
 netting Sparrowhawks is that of Belon, who obtained his experience in 
 the Levant. It was at the end of April (in what year he does not 
 say) that this French naturalist was amazed to witness a great migration 
 of two species of Hawks, Kites, and Sparrowhawks. A fowler was busily 
 employed in netting the Sparrowhawks, and with such wonderful success 
 that he caught a dozen in an hour, or one every five minutes, as the birds 
 came off the Black Sea. The fowler had arranged his nets around a level 
 fowling-floor, in the centre of which he had the " stales," a number of 
 little birds all tied to the end of a cord, the other end of which he held 
 in his own hand. The nets were made of fine green thread, and were 
 suspended in pairs on each side of the floor ; that is to say, to the right 
 and left of the fowler. These nets were supported by six stakes, which 
 stood as high as a man, and the nets adhered to niches cut in the top of 
 the stakes. When the fowler saw a Sparrowhawk coming near he pulled 
 the cord to which the wild decoys were attached, and made them flutter 
 (just as an Italian fowler would pull a string of Larks), to induce the 
 Sparrowhawk to strike at one of the little birds. The Hawk was then 
 sure to dart right or left into one of the nets, which immediately dropped 
 to the ground, covering the Hawk, which was thus effectually secured. 
 
 Di Valli figures, with a brief description on the block, a " Eagna " or 
 net to be set between four stakes for the capture of the Sparrowhawk. 
 It is arranged as a square, and Olina reproduces the same cut with a 
 
HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 199 
 
 slightly altered inscription on the plate, adding in his letterpress that the 
 nets should be made of green or azure silk or fine twine, and eight cubits 
 square. A conical net is placed inside the sides of the " Eagna," in which 
 some young Sparrows or other small birds are placed to induce the passing 
 Hawk to swoop into the folds of the net. Some fowlers attach the nets 
 to growing saplings, taking care that the leaves do not obscure the Hawk's 
 
 Kiomeraavwdt) dirium,cmsltradenovam>i>JL 
 
 h'^ftrmeri, stdbri ucellili Tapma.;perch umtufe'r 
 mamiare U Jaffarii t rcjhuio jrcji tffx, con mDlto £ 
 Utti Mcacdtttorc 
 
 Bagna (after Olina). 
 
 view of the small birds. Olina remarks that this method is closely 
 related in principle to the nets which Belon saw used in the Levant. In 
 India the Sparrowhawk is trained to kill Sandgrouse and pigeons as 
 well as smaller birds. The most popular Hawk for training in that 
 country is the Shikra (^Asfur hadius). Mr Littledale of Baroda informs 
 me that this bird is generally taken by Mohammedans connected with the 
 Maharajah's " baz-khana " or hawking establishment. Mr Littledale has 
 procured for me the arrangement of snares by means of which the Shikra 
 is usually captured. This consists of fifteen slender pieces of split cane, 
 each measuring about twenty and a half inches in length. These rods 
 are arranged across one another at equal distances, and are bent over on 
 both sides of the common centre in such a way as to give the appearance 
 of a conical basket, with the apex placed upwards. The several pieces 
 
200 
 
 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 of cane are bound together firmly at the apex of the cone with cotton 
 thread. Ten separate threads are wound in and out of the canes in such 
 a way as to form a series of meshes of cane and thread, varying from 
 about half an inch to an inch in size. The framework of the trap being 
 
 Shikra-trap. 
 
 completed, the fowler dabs a lump of wet clay on each side of the trap 
 in order to steady it. He then covers the exterior of the trap with a 
 series of nooses. These running nooses average three and a half inches 
 in diameter, and are composed of strands of black horsehair. It only 
 remains for the fowler to attach, from the inside of the cone, four fine 
 horsehair snares, in order that he may be able to suspend in them a 
 corresponding number of little birds. The falconer takes his trap to a 
 suitable spot for catching the Shikra. After baiting it with a small bird 
 or two, he places the trap in the desired position, and proceeds to hide 
 himself. When a wild Hawk sees the little bird fluttering under the 
 snare, it pounces at its intended victim, but is speedily entangled in one 
 of the numerous nooses hanging from the outside of the cane framework. 
 The Besra [Accipiter virgatios), another Indian Sparrowhawk, is highly 
 esteemed by falconers for its speed, courage, and endurance. Jerdon 
 states {Birds of Ijidia, Vol. i. p. 53) that this and other Hawks are 
 
HAWK-CATCHING. 201 
 
 usually caught by what is called among falconers the " Do Guz." This 
 is a small thin net measuring from four to five feet in length and a yard 
 in depth. It is stained a dark colour, and is suspended between two thin 
 pieces of bamboo by a cord on which it travels. The bamboos are fixed 
 lightly in the ground, and a live bird is picketed about the middle of the 
 net within a foot of it. When the Besra swoops at the decoy it involun- 
 tarily darts into the net, which, like those described by Belon, drops to 
 the ground with its struggling prisoner. Somewhat similar in principle 
 to the net just mentioned is that which Mr A. J. Sundius tells us is used 
 on the plains of China : " A long, cylindrical cage of fine network, 
 resembling the extreme end of a decoy, the tubular structure being kept 
 in position with light bamboo hoops, is pegged down on the ground, 
 usually in an orchard. In this cage are some half-dozen small birds. 
 At right angles across the centre of this cage there is placed a fine net 
 about four feet square, weighted at the top with small bullets, and 
 travelling up and down two slender rods, at the top of each of which is 
 a light clip, which just supports the weight of the net. The hawk dives 
 at the little birds, which fly to the other end of the cage, and the hawk, 
 following them, goes full tilt into the net, which is released by his impetus 
 and falls, entangling him in its folds, when he is immediately seized upon 
 by the falconer, who is close by in ambush " {Field, January 16, 1892). 
 
 The sport of Falconry is believed to have been introduced into Japan 
 from Korea more than two thousand years ago. It was extensively prac- 
 tised in Japan as long as the feudal system flourished, and still survives 
 as the amusement of a few wealthy men. The Japanese plan of taking 
 Hawks is very similar, if not actually identical with the system employed 
 in China. A perpendicular net, measuring about seven feet square, is 
 extended between two bamboo posts, which stand about seven feet from 
 the ground. A cylindrical net, measuring about thirteen feet six inches 
 in length, is extended beneath the upper net, as shown in the diagram. 
 This net is kept in the required position by means of a series of bamboo 
 hoops, which secure to the net a girth of five feet six inches. The 
 falconer adapts his lure to the species of Hawk which he desires to take. 
 If a Peregrine is the object of his operations, he places a live pigeon 
 inside the lower net. Alternatively, Tree Sparrows are allowed to flutter 
 inside the net, when catching small Hawks is the order of the day. When 
 the Hawk swoops at the quarry, the impetus of her flight carries her into 
 
202 
 
 HAWK-CATCHING. 
 
 the perpendicular net. This at once collapses and falls to the ground, 
 bearing the bird along with it. The accompanying diagram of the 
 Japanese Hawk-net is based upon a specimen of this engine which I 
 procured from Tokyo through Professor Ijima. 
 
 ■H"»- 
 
 Japanese Hawk-net. 
 
 The engine in the foreground is represented as it appears when 
 hoisted to catch a Falcon. The net shown in the distance is depicted 
 as having dropped, after being struck by the Hawk which is struggling in 
 its meshes. The small diagram in the corner is intended to explain the 
 mechanism by which the net is suspended from, or lowered from, the 
 bamboo uprights (x y), by means of the pullies. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter has been drawn to explain the principle of 
 the system of Hawk-catching in vogue at Valconswaard. This is admirably 
 described in the Esswys on Sport and Natv/ral History of Mr J. E. Harting, 
 who kindly suggested that I should abridge his experiences.] 
 

 
 CHAPTEE XXIL— PELICANS AND GANNETS. 
 
 THE Pelicans (Pelecanid^) are rarely identified with the traditions of 
 sport, nor can it be contended that these birds are often sought after 
 as an addition to the supply of human food. Even in this respect, an 
 
204 PELICANS AND GANNETS. 
 
 exception must be made in the case of the American Pelicans (Pelecamts) 
 since Audubon records that the negroes of the plantations on the eastern 
 coast of the Floridas are, or were, partial to the flesh of these fishy birds. 
 Their method was simply to shoot the birds, which were skinned " like 
 so many racoons," and afterwards consigned to the stew-pot. In the 
 East the Pelican is utilised as a decoy for other birds, in consequence of 
 its eminently cautious and wary disposition. 
 
 The Dean of Cairo has been kind enough to draw my attention to the 
 fact that a white Pelican (presumably Pelecamts onocratalus) is killed and 
 stuffed by some of the Egyptian fowlers, who wear the skia of the bird as 
 a species of head-dress when they wish to catch different species of Wild 
 Ducks. A similar device is practised on a large scale in Sindh. Mr 
 Hume found that the fishermen who make their home on the inland 
 waters of that part of India, spending their lives upon their houseboats, 
 not only eat Pelicans, but employ these birds as decoys, both in life and 
 as stuff'ed dummies. When the Sindh fisherman desires to obtain a stuffed 
 Pelican — the species which Hume found in use as a decoy was the Dal- 
 matian Pelican {Felecanus crispus) — the man first kills a wild bird. He 
 proceeds to skin the specimen with considerable care, retaining the entire 
 skin, with the exception of a portion of that of the belly, which is dis- 
 carded, with the feet, because these parts cannot in any case be exhibited 
 in the stuffed decoy. The body of the skin is placed in the desired posi- 
 tion by the insertion of a light bamboo framework. Special paius are 
 taken to render the head and neck as life-like as possible. The large 
 pouch of the Pelican is coloured with turmeric, and the eyes are replaced 
 by artificial eyes made of lac. 
 
 The stuffed decoy is used in conjunction with one or more living 
 birds of the same species. The fowler keeps several of these tame birds 
 upon his boat. In order to deter the captive bird from any fruitless 
 efforts at escape, its owner is careful to blind it ; not, however, by destroy- 
 ing the vision of the bird, but by sewing together the edges of its eyelids. 
 Such a tame decoy is placed, with one or more companions of its own 
 kind, in some retired spot which Wild Ducks are in the habit of visiting. 
 The tame decoys are prevented from swimming away by being moored 
 by strings (fastened round their legs) to the roots of some bunches of 
 rushes, or to stakes driven into the ground under the water. When the 
 flocks of wildfowl that pass over the spot in which the tame Pelicans are 
 
PELICANS AND GANNETS. 205 
 
 swimmmg observe the presence of their larger neighbours, they gain con- 
 fidence and readily join company to the Pelicans. When the fowler finds 
 that the live decoys have gathered some Ducks about them, he enters 
 the water, accoutred in the stuffed skin. He is careful to approach the 
 Ducks slowly and softly, making the skin, which covers his head, sail 
 about in the most natural manner imaginable. As soon as the man 
 reaches the spot where the Wild Ducks are swimming unsuspiciously 
 around his blinded decoys, he adroitly pulls as many Ducks as he desires 
 under the water. The task accomplished, he retires without having 
 caused any alarm to the survivors. Mr Hume states that even Pelicans 
 are pulled under water, and retained by the native as unwilling prisoners. 
 The birds caught in the manner just described are seized by their legs, 
 and have no opportunity for raising an outcry. 
 
 The long-winged and graceful Prigate Bird (Fregcita aquila) does not 
 apparently offer any inducement to the fowler to sacrifice its existence 
 for the sake of acquiring its flesh or feathers for practical purposes. It 
 is the more remarkable that an organised system of capturing this ocean 
 wanderer should exist upon Pleasant Island. 
 
 The chiefs of Pleasant Island indulge in a rivalry as to the number 
 of Frigate Birds which they can obtain during the month of July, when 
 the Frigate Birds appear to pass the shores of this island on migration. 
 " My attention," writes Dr Otto Finsch, " was called first to a large 
 bower or shelter about seven or eight feet high and twenty feet long, 
 made of sticks and some green trees, which were partially cut down, but 
 were still growing and covered with leaves. On this bower were placed 
 eight living Tachypetes, apparently perfectly tame ; for I could not make 
 out that they were fastened by a cord. These tame specimens serve as 
 decoys and attract the wild individuals, who pass by the reef where the 
 bower stands. The bower is always erected near the shore, so that it 
 may be seen at a great distance at sea. The birdcatchers are ever on 
 the watch to be ready, in case a straggler should make its appearance. 
 These men are ' tabooed ' during the time of their duties in this sport, 
 and may do no other work. They get their food separately cooked, and 
 may not have intercourse with women. The sole apparatus for catching 
 the Frigate Bird is, as I said before, a sort of lasso, consisting of a fine 
 cord of cocoanut-fibre seventy to eighty feet long, on which a ' Bola ' of 
 long conical form, about three inches long, made of shell [Tridacna gigas) 
 
206 PELICANS AND GANNETS. 
 
 or iron, is fastened. As soon as a wild bird approaches the stand, 
 where the decoys sit, the birdcatcher watches it with the greatest care, 
 endeavouring to hide himself under the leaves of the trees. In wide 
 revolving lines of flight the Tachypetes (the best and most elegant flyer 
 of the Pacific) comes nearer and nearer, hovering bye and bye above and 
 near to its tame comrades, but without resting in their company. 
 Apparently it does not care for the dark-skinned native, although it may 
 see him. Anyhow the birdcatcher is more careful than the bird, and 
 taking a shot when the latter skims along just above his head, like a 
 flash of lightning throws his ' Bola ' above the bird, which, entangled in 
 the cord, falls and becomes his prey. The captured bird is fastened by 
 a cord around the wings, and placed on the platform of the bower 
 among the other victims of this sport " (76is, 1881, p. 248). 
 
 Dr Finsch remarks that at the time of his visit one of the chiefs was 
 bent on getting sixty Frigate Birds alive, and required only one dozen to 
 make up the number, thirty having been captured for him by one bird- 
 catcher and eighteen by another. 
 
 The Common Gannet {Sula hassana) has long been associated with 
 daring feats of climbing ; nor is this to be wondered at, considering the 
 precipitous character of the stacks which afford a resting-place to the 
 nests of this gregarious bird. The number of adult birds which are to 
 be seen sitting on their eggs at one time is immense. The cloud of 
 Solan Geese which floats overhead after the discharge of a gun only 
 represents one half, or perhaps less, of the breeding colony. Many birds 
 pass the day in fishing at long distances from their native rock. The 
 fowlers of St KUda are adepts at taking the Gannet by dropping the 
 noose of the fowling rod around the neck of the bird. A stranger might 
 do the same ; indeed, my ground-officer tells me that, as a young man, 
 he helped a crew of St Kildeans to snare a quantity of Gannets in 
 orthodox fashion. All the same, the man who is to engage in such a 
 risky undertaking needs to have a good head and sure footing. In 
 bygone days the inhabitants of St KUda were accustomed to make the 
 fullest use of the birds they caught. The breastbone of this Gannet 
 served them as a lamp or receptacle for bird oil. The dried stomach of 
 the same bird was found to answer the purpose of a bottle. Sir George 
 Mackenzie informed Professor Wilson that when he visited St Kilda 
 some of his party discovered a cask of wine which had been washed up 
 
PELICANS AND GANNETS. 207 
 
 upon the beach. The strangers marked the position of the barrel, and 
 returned — to find it drained of its contents. The islanders had also 
 noticed it, and had drawn the liquor off into the stomachs of Gannets, 
 which were found suspended from the rafters of the cottages. In old 
 days the Gannets used to be caught at night. Martin quaintly observes, 
 " The Solan Geese have always some of their number that keep Centinel 
 in the Night-time, and if they are surprized (as it often happens) all that 
 flock are taken one after another ; but if the Centinel be awake at the 
 approach of the creeping Fowlers and hear a Noise, it cries softly Grog, 
 Grog, at which the Plock move not ; but if this Centinel see or hear the 
 fowler approaching, he cries quickly Bir, Bir, which would seem to 
 import danger, since immediately after, all the Tribe take wing, leaving 
 the Fowler empty on the Rock, to return home re infectd, all his Labour 
 for that Night being spent in vain " {A Voyage to St Kilda, p. 53). The 
 islanders of that day remarked that the Solan Geese which frequented 
 St Kilda appeared to make long flights in search of fish, since hooks of 
 English origin were often found adhering to the fishbones deposited in 
 the nests of these birds. Macaulay, whose history of St Kilda was 
 written in his name by Dr Macpherson of Sleat, furnishes a note on the 
 growth of the young Gannet : — " The young Solan Goose is fit for use in 
 the month of September, if the first egg laid by the old bird remains 
 untouched. If otherwise, the young fowl is not fit for the table till the 
 month of October. Before the young Solan-Geese, which they call Gmig, 
 fly off, they are larger than the mothers, and excessively fat. The fat 
 on their breasts is sometimes three inches deep. The inhabitants of 
 Hirta have a method of preserving their greese in a kind of bag, made of 
 the stomach of the old Solan-Goose caught in March. In their language 
 it is called Gibain, and this oily kind of thick substance, manufactured in 
 their way, they use by way of sauce, or instead of butter, among their 
 porridge and flummery. In the adjacent isles they administer this oily 
 substance to their cattle if seized with violent colds, or obstinate coughs ; 
 and it is the general belief that the application of the Gibain, in such 
 cases, has a very good effect." 
 
 The Bass Eock has been visited in our own day by many naturalists. 
 Perhaps the most classical landing ever effected on the island was that 
 carried out by WiUughby and Eay, the pioneers of British ornithology. 
 They found the young Gannets still unfledged in August : — " The manner 
 
208 PELICANS AND GANNETS. 
 
 of getting them is by letting down a man in a basket by a rope from the 
 top of the cliff, who gathers the young off the ledges of the Eocks, as 
 they let him down or draw him up" {Ornithology, p. 19). The Warwick- 
 shire squire comments on the tameness of the nesting birds, which " never 
 being shot at or frighten'd are so confident as to alight and feed their 
 young close by you." Willughby was assured by the Cornish fishermen 
 that they were in the habit of capturing Gannets by the widely circulated 
 recipe of a fish secured to a thin plank of wood, which drifted on the 
 surface of the waves until a Gannet spied the glittering scales of its prey 
 and shot headlong at the prize. Thompson has drawn attention to the 
 fact that Gannets are often drowned in herring nets, even when these have 
 been sunk at a depth of nine, ten, or thirty fathoms. 
 
 The Tropic Bird {Phaeton candidus) is an object of pursuit at the 
 hands of the cr^ole fowlers of E^union. This species nests, according to 
 Pollen, in the holes and clefts of precipitous cliffs. The chase of the 
 " Pailles-en-queue " is therefore accompanied by some personal danger. 
 The natives take pains to ascertain the precise spot in which the Tropic 
 Birds are in the habit of nesting or of passing the night. When this 
 point has been satisfactorily settled, a raid upon the birds is arranged, 
 the operation being carried out at night while the birds are sleeping. 
 When the fowling party has arrived at the proposed scene of operation, 
 one of the men is lowered by his associates at the end of a rope. He 
 makes his way to the nests, and endeavours to seize both old and young 
 birds, his booty being consigned to the sack which he carries with him 
 in his descent. The old birds show fight when surprised in their rocky 
 fastnesses, but are drawn out of their holes by means of sticks, which 
 have previously been smeared with birdlime. 
 
 The members of the Cormorant family {Phalacrocoracidai) are seldom 
 held in much estimation. It must be confessed that their ungainly form 
 and ugly splay feet are little calculated to inspire admiration ; yet some 
 of the species found at the Antipodes are remarkable for the beauty of 
 their decoration. Perhaps the most valuable quality of the Cormorant 
 is the extreme docility which it evinces in capturing fish for its owner, 
 when properly trained. Fishing with tame Cormorants is a sport well 
 known in India, China, and Japan ; but the flesh of the Cormorant is 
 used for human food. The European Shag {Phalacrocorax graciilus) has 
 long been held in favour as an addition to the poor fare of the people of 
 
PELICANS AND GANNETS. 209 
 
 the Hebrides. Formerly the birds were caught in the caves which are 
 still frequented by this maritime species. Martin thus describes the 
 capture of this bird in the island of Skye : " On the south side Loch- 
 Portry, there is a large Cave, in which many Sea-Cormorants do build ; 
 the Natives carry a bundle of Straw to the door of the Cave in the night- 
 time, and there setting it on fire, the Fowls fly with all speed to the Light, 
 and so are caught in Baskets laid for that purpose " {Description of the 
 Western Isles, p. 151). I have never found any trace of this habit in my 
 various visits to Skye, and believe the custom to have become obsolete. 
 But a simpler plan is that of raiding the nesting haunts of the Shag, or 
 of capturing the nestlings when they have left the nest only a few days, 
 and will allow a boat to approach them very closely. In our day, the 
 conventional method of procuring " Scart " soup is to shoot the white- 
 breasted or immature birds ; the adults are too strong for most stomachs. 
 I knew an old Crimean veteran, who spent his' later years in the con- 
 genial occupation of shooting wildfowl upon the waters of the Solway 
 Firth. He asked his wife one day to cook a " Water Crow " or " Black 
 Diver." The worthy woman obeyed the behest of her goodman, but she 
 afterwards assured me that both she and her spouse suffered martyrdom 
 in consequence, and that nothing would induce her to try to eat a Cor- 
 morant again. 
 
 The Greenlanders are, or were, fond of slaying the Common Cormorant 
 (^Phalacrocorax carlo) for the use of their families, as Fabricius records. 
 Their usual way of killing the Cormorant was to shoot it, especially when 
 gorged with fish, with their bird-arrow. But they had two alternative 
 devices. One was to snare the bird at its breeding-place. This could 
 be accomplished by approaching the bird from above with a long pole, 
 to the end of which one or two strong nooses made of whalebone were 
 attached. It was found by experience that the Cormorant easily became 
 entangled in the snare. Their other device was to climb down or up the 
 precipices, and surprise the roosting birds by seizing them alive or by 
 catching them on a hook lowered from above. 
 
 Such expedients are not peculiar to Greenland. Pennant states that 
 the natives of Kamtschatka capture the Eed-faced Cormorant {Phalacro- 
 eorax urile) " in snares, with a running noose hung to the end of a pole, 
 with which the fowlers creep quietly towards the birds, and fling it round 
 their necks, and draw them up the rock. The rest of the flock are so 
 
 
 
210 PELICANS AND GANNETS. 
 
 stupid that, notwithstanding they see the fate of their companions, they 
 remain shaking their heads on the same spot till they are all taken." 
 Another plan is to take the birds in nets, a device which appears to be 
 practised in different parts of the North Pacific. Thus Turner observes 
 that some of the Aleuts used to take the Pelagic Cormorant (Fhalacrocorax 
 pelagicus) with a kind of net, which was thrown over the birds when 
 they had been driven from their usual haunts on the outlying reefs by a 
 severe storm, and were compelled to perch upon the rocks which jut out 
 from the sea-beach. 
 
 It was perhaps of this Cormorant, which Turner considers the most 
 beautiful bird of Bering Sea (its plumage glittering with metallic reflec- 
 tions of blue, purple, and bronze), that Krasheninnikof wrote in his Natural 
 History of Kamtschatka, the English edition of which appeared in 1764. 
 That writer assures us that the natives angled for Cormorants in the 
 following way. A thick wooden or iron hook was baited with a fish and 
 attached to a long rope, the hook being inserted into the back of the fish, 
 and thus perhaps detaining the fish without much injury. The Cormorants 
 soon observed the bait when thrown into the sea and would quarrel for 
 its possession among themselves. The strongest bird, having swallowed 
 the bait, became hooked, and was then drawn ashore by the waiting 
 fowler. This plan was rendered all the more successful by the supple- 
 mentary device of securing a decoy Cormorant to the same rope as the 
 fish. The decoy was prevented from swallowing the fish by having its 
 bill (or, perhaps, its neck) secured with a cord. The wild Cormorants 
 were attracted to the spot by the movements of the decoy. Smyth states 
 that the Australian blacks capture Shags and Cormorants in an ingenious 
 fashion, i.e., they plant stakes in the water in places where there are no 
 natural resting-places for these birds. When the Cormorants alight on 
 the artificial resting-places thus provided, the fowlers swim quietly up 
 to the unsuspecting birds and seize them. This piece of strategy is 
 independently supported by the experience of Mr Tom Carter, of Point 
 Cloates, Western Australia, who writes to me : " On Frazer Island here, 
 we have gone off in the dingey when the young Shags {? Phalacrocorax 
 novce-hollandim) were almost fledged, and chased them into the sea, when 
 the blacks swam in pursuit and dived after them until they caught 
 them." Smyth says also that the blacks knock these birds off the 
 branches of stranded trees, and the withered stumps on which these 
 
PELICANS AND GANNETS. 211 
 
 scarts like to congregate, with sticks or with the boomeraiig {Aborigines 
 of Victoria, Vol. I. p. 194). 
 
 A curious fact in the history of the Common Cormorant is furnished 
 by Belon, from whom we learn that the gentlemen of Venice used, in 
 bygone days, to hunt the Cormorant on their lagoons. 
 
 The sport was carried on in a season of fine weather, when the whole 
 company of gallants embarked in a flotilla of small boats, of the kind 
 known locally as the " Fisolera," each of the little crafts being manned 
 by five or six oarsmen. The whole company rowed out to sea, and then 
 the fun began. The sportsmen endeavoured to surround a Cormorant, 
 and when the bird was enclosed by a circle of boats they opened fire 
 upon the unlucky " Corvo marin " with their stone-bows. At first, of 
 course, the bird sought to escape from its enemies by diving, but when- 
 ever the bird came up to the surface of the water to breathe, all the 
 sportsmen shot at it, thus forcing the Cormorant to make a rapid descent. 
 This amusement was continued until the bird was completely exhausted, 
 and could be taken on the top of the water. " Cest un beau spectacle 
 de voir un tel deduit," concludes the lively Frenchman. We can well 
 believe that plenty of diversion was experienced by everyone except 
 the Cormorant. 
 
 [The headpiece illustrates the method of snaring Gannets employed by the 
 fowlers of St Kilda.] 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII.— HERONS AND FLAMINGOES. 
 
 THE COMMON HEEON (Ardea cinerea) has long ceased to be 
 esteemed as food in this country. That it was at one time pro- 
 nounced to be capital eating is evidenced by the eulogium which 
 Alexander Neckam has preserved in verse : 
 
 " Judicio procerum grati solet esse saporis, 
 Vix horum mensas gratior ornat avis." 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the nestlings of this species were regarded 
 with chief favour. I find that a terrier of the Manor House of Meare, 
 Somerset, drawn up in the year 1517, expressly mentions that the woods 
 belonging to the abbot yielded an annual return of about one hundred 
 young Herons. Nor did the custom of preserving the Heronries of 
 England as a source of property easily die out. That the usage sur- 
 vived into the middle of the seventeenth century is proved by the 
 remark of Willughby, "We have Heronries in England such as they 
 have in France, however Bellonius denies it : in which Herons are so 
 well instructed and accustomed to breed, that the owners make yearly a 
 good profit of the young" {Ornithology, p. 278). The young birds no 
 doubt owed their good qualities to the pains bestowed upon their dietary 
 in the " stews " in which they were fattened for the table. At Naworth 
 Castle, for instance, the year 1620 witnessed the construction of a house 
 intended to be the aviary of no fewer than seventeen young Herons, as 
 
HEKONS AND FLAMINGOES. 213 
 
 evidenced by the following " Extraordinary Paiment '' : — " July 1. To 
 Andrew Creake making the room for the hernsues xiiijd." 
 
 The old birds were eaten by the common people at all seasons. 
 
 Both English and Continental fowlers used to catch Herons by means 
 of baited hooks, as described in the Epitome of the Art of Hiisbandry : 
 " Now the best way to take this great enemy of Fish is this : Having 
 found his haunt, take three or four small Eoches or Daces, and having a 
 strong Hook with a Wire to it, to draw the Wire just withinside the skin 
 of the fish, beginning withoutside of the Gills, and running it to the tail, 
 and then the fish will live five or six days alive : For if the fish be dead, 
 the Heron will not touch him. Let not your Hook be too rank. Then 
 having a strong Line made of Silk and Wire, about two yards and half 
 long, (if you twist no Wire with your Silk his sharp Bill will bite it in 
 two immediately) and tie a round stone of about a pound weight to the 
 Line, and lay three or four Hooks, and in two or three nights you shall 
 not fail to have him if he comes to your Ponds. Lay not your Hooks in 
 the deep water, where the Heron cannot wade to them, for if you do 
 they may lie long enough before you see any effect of your pains. Colour 
 your Line of a dark green, for a Heron is a very subtle bird." Similar 
 instructions are given in the &ises Innocentes as likely to be of 
 service in effecting the capture of the Heron or the Bittern (^Botaurus 
 stellaris). The " Solitaire Inventif " suggests the employment of a frog 
 as a bait for either of these birds. It is probably because the Heron is 
 such a cautious bird that Markham suggests that the fowler who desires 
 to take large water-fowl in nets should utilise a decoy Heron : " If you 
 shall close by your Fet stake down a live Heron (formerly taken) for a 
 stale, & to entice the Fowle within your danger it will be better, making 
 her now and then to flutter her wings." 
 
 The Japanese fowlers are accustomed to capture Herons by means of 
 the " Muso-ami," which corresponds to our Clap-net. The Eev. L. B. 
 Cholmondley has sent me a little sketch illustrating this variety of 
 Fowling. The Japanese artist depicts two nets as laid in a tract of 
 marshy ground encircled by an amphitheatre of hills. Live decoys or 
 stuffed dummies are placed beside the net to disarm the fears of the wild- 
 fowl. The fowler remains concealed in the long grass or reeds watching 
 for the fitful moment to arrive when he must puU his net over his 
 quarry. Professor Ijima has sent to me a specimen of the net used for 
 
214 HERONS AND FLAMINGOES. 
 
 taking Herons in Japan. This engine measures about twenty-five feet 
 eight inches in total length, and is extended between stout bamboo staves 
 measuring five feet ten inches in length. The net is fastened down by- 
 means of strong bamboo pegs. These pegs are about thirteen inches 
 long, and have flat sides and sharp points, which would render it an 
 easy matter to drive them deeply into soft, marshy ground. The net is 
 made of strong dust-coloured thread, and has a mesh of about two and a 
 quarter square inches. 
 
 The familiar grey Heron of our English trout streams is used as a 
 decoy for wild-fowl in some parts of India. Mr Hume observes that 
 hundreds of these birds can be observed about every fishing village in 
 Sindh. These tame birds are blinded by the edges of their eyelids being 
 sewn together. They are usually tethered, a string being attached to the 
 shank of each bird. Even the lovely Great White Heron {Herodias alia) 
 and two smaller species of Egret share the same fate. The birds are 
 kept on the fishing boats. When required for the purposes of acting as 
 decoys, the captives are tied to stacks of wood which float in the water, 
 or to poles set in the shallows to serve as perches for them. It may not 
 be out of place to remark that many examples of the Purple Heron 
 {^Ardea purpurea) and the Night Heron {Nycticorax griseits) are annually 
 imported into England. The birds in question appear to be immature 
 examples, taken before they could leave the parent nest in their native 
 swamps. Another bird which has recently made its appearance in the 
 British market as a pet is the Bittern (Botauriis stellaris). I do not 
 know whether the few Bitterns which are brought to England are caught 
 before they can fly, but it is highly probable. It was once the custom 
 even in England for boys to wade out bare-limbed into the reed-beds 
 among which the " Bitter " or " Miredrum " reared its young. The urchins 
 captured by hand the long-legged brood of the " Bitter-bump." But it 
 should not be forgotten that, in the sixteenth century, the custom was to 
 drive the Bittern into nets by means of an artificial stalking-horse. 
 William Turner, to whom we are indebted for our knowledge of this fact, 
 wrote in 1544 that the fowling just described was rendered possible by 
 the sluggish character of the Bittern. He referred, no doubt, to its 
 unwillingness to take wing unless closely pressed. 
 
 He describes the " buttour " or " Myre dromble " as, " avis . . . piger- 
 rima et stolidissima, ut quae in retia ab equo facticio agi potest facilime." 
 
HERONS AND PLAMtNGOfiS. 215 
 
 In the absence of a fuller explanation, we are left to conjecture that the 
 fowlers first stretched their nets across the margins of the reed beds 
 which were thought to shelter a Bittern, and then endeavoured to drive 
 their quarry with the stalking-horse. 
 
 The White Stork {Ciconia alba) is nowadays an article of trade. In 
 Holland the half-fledged young are taken from their nests to supply the 
 markets. In Egypt the adult birds are captured by the Arabs. The 
 Dean of Cairo writes to me that the White Storks make their appearance 
 in Lower Egypt in the month of March. The native fowlers mark down 
 the flocks of Storks that alight to rest upon the sandbanks of the Nile 
 before dusk. Having surrounded the birds, the men wait until the 
 leader of their party considers the moment for action has arrived. When 
 the signal is given, the men dash into the middle of the flock. Every 
 fowler generally secures one or more birds. 
 
 The Spoonbill {Platalea leucorodia) is generally captured before it is 
 old enough to escape from its captors by flight. Mr Blaauw tells me 
 that the Dutch fowlers capture the Spoonbill when adult by a hand-net. 
 " The man," writes Mr Blaauw, " hides himself among the reeds between 
 the nests during the night, and when the birds fly to and fro from the 
 nests, sailing over the marshes, the man catches them with a large net 
 in the same way as butterflies are usually caught." 
 
 The Indian Shell Ibis (Anastomvs oscitaiis) is taken by means of a 
 device apparently similar to the " Springe " for Woodcock. Mr J. Shil- 
 lingford informed Jerdon that this species "is sometimes caught in the 
 Purneah district by a bamboo, with a noose attached, being bent down 
 and fixed lightly to the ground by a small peg, to which an Ampvllaria 
 is affixed. The SheU-eater hunting about, finds the shell, and moving it 
 to get at its contents, the peg is withdrawn, the bamboo flies up, and the 
 noose catches the bird, which remains dangling in mid-air" {Birds of 
 India, VoL ii. p. 767). 
 
 The European Flamingo (Phcenicopterus antiquoriim) is too subtle a 
 bird to be approached by any gunner upon the open expanse of the tracts 
 of brackish estuary in which it usually flnds its home. Nevertheless, 
 even the alert Flamingo is occasionally outwitted by human ingenuity. 
 Cetti enlarges upon the peculiarities of "II Fenicottero." He tells us 
 that the Sardinians substitute the leg-bones of this bird for a reed stem, 
 when desirous of making a flute of the highest quality ( ITccelli di Sardegna, 
 
216 HERONS AND FLAMINGOES. 
 
 p. 297). Jaubert and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye fail to supply any in- 
 formation as to the actual capture of " le Flammant " in the marshes of 
 the Camargue. They remark that the zoological gardens of Europe are 
 supplied with numerous captive Flamingoes from the lakes of Menzaleh 
 and Maroeotis in Egypt. They go so far as to state that the birds are 
 taken by the Egyptians by means of large nets, made with wide meshes, 
 which are fixed upon the islands which these birds resort to at nightfall. 
 It is upon dark nights that the Flamingoes are taken by surprise in 
 these engines. " How many of these poor birds, surprised in the nightly 
 stillness, are borne down by the weight of the meshes or the wooden 
 posts which bear them ! By far the larger number are struggling noisily, 
 until the moment when a quick and firm hand seizes them, dexterously 
 cuts their pinions, and cramms them, as prisoners, into huge cages made 
 of palm-stems, in which they are shipped abroad " (^Hichesses Ornitholo- 
 giques, p. 373). 
 
 The foregoing account of Flamingo-catching is apparently identical 
 with the mode of taking these birds detailed by Mr J. E. Harting, whose 
 information was supplied by the late Lord Lilford, Dr G. H. Kingsley, 
 and Mr W. P. Burrell. " From the letters forwarded," says Mr Harting, 
 " it appears that the capture of live Flamingoes is made chiefly at Lake 
 Menzaleh, between November and the end of the winter. It is effected 
 by means of two nets from 20 to 25 yards long, and from 3 to 3-^ yards 
 wide, connected at the two ends of one side by a stout cord. To these 
 nets are attached at intervals upright poles, from 3 to 3-| yards high, at, 
 the foot of which are fastened small wooden stakes, each about 18 or 20 
 inches in length, one-half of which is driven into the ground below the 
 water, the other half remaining above. To the top of each pole is fixed 
 a strong line, about 50 or 60 yards in length, to be held and pulled by 
 a man at the proper time, the cords of the right hand net being pulled 
 from the left, and vice versa, so as to cause the two sides to fall towards 
 the centre, and meet each other like the ordinary ' clap-net ' employed 
 by English bird-catchers. When the proper time arrives, the men 
 employed at this work to the number of five or six in each boat, go in 
 search of the Flamingoes at night, and as soon as they can make them 
 out, standing where the water is from 18 inches to 3 feet deep, they 
 stop the boat about a hundred yards off and commence to lay down their 
 nets and apparatus under water, driving into the ground for half their 
 
HERONS AND FLAMINGOES. 217 
 
 length the little stakes to which they are attached. They then stick 
 into the ground under water a lot of slender reeds about a yard high, 
 and at a little distance apart, so as to form a sort of lane about 10 or 12 
 yards wide, leading up to, and passing on either side of the nets. All 
 being in readiness, the men row round and put up the Flamingoes, driving 
 them towards the lane of reeds, where, the water being comparatively 
 shallow, they are almost sure to alight. At a given signal the men who 
 are holding the cords pull over the nets and a number of birds are caught, 
 when the men hiirry up to get hold of them. Crossing their wings over 
 their backs, they put them in the boats and take them away for sale to 
 Damietta, Matarieh, and Port Said" {Zoologist, 1888, p. 136). It should 
 be added that a few stuffed Flamingoes are placed as " Stales " in the 
 middle of the nets, to encourage the wild birds to alight in the centre of 
 the toils. These dummies are mounted " with their heads under their 
 wings," to deceive the birds that iiy over into supposing that their 
 brethren have found a safe roosting-place. 
 
 Dr Couvidou states that " The Arab who is poor, and without capital, 
 goes at night, sinking himself in the water up to his mouth, his head 
 covered with grass, from the lake, crawls near the sentinel [upon the 
 vigilance of which its mates rely] which he seizes by the legs, and draws 
 swiftly under water before it can cry out or give an alarm ; and by 
 keeping the beaks of his victims closed, he can secure a certain number 
 before the flock has awakened and departed." Yet another ruse is for a 
 solitary fowler to crawl near a flock of Flamingoes in silence, until he 
 can throw a cast-net over them. 
 
 [The tailpiece of this chapter is based upon the sketch which appeared in 
 the Zoologist, illustrating the article upon " Netting Flamingoes " by Mr J. E. 
 Harting.] 
 
CHAPTER XXIV.— WILD GEESE. 
 
 THE vast flocks of Wild Geese which annually visit the shores of 
 Hudson's Bay have long played an important part in victualling 
 the scanty population of that remote region. Barnston estimated that 
 no fewer than 57,500 examples of the Snow Goose {Chen hyperbm-tus) 
 were formerly shot in that territory every year. The commonest Goose 
 in the interior of North America is the Canada Goose {Anser canadensis), 
 often called the " Grey Goose " by settlers. Barnston assures us that in 
 former days immense numbers of this species were procured with the 
 bow and arrow by the Indians. But even in the last century the gun 
 was the weapon chiefly employed for killing this and other species of 
 Geese. Pennant records that the Englishmen of Hudson's Bay used to 
 salt off three or four thousand of these birds in a favourable season. A 
 
WILD GEESE. 219 
 
 series of huts, constructed of branches, were built in a line across the 
 marshes. Each hut, or " Stand " as it was called, held a single sports- 
 man. The latter was armed with two fowling-pieces. His success 
 depended on his skill in imitating the cackle of the Wild Geese, for it 
 was only by reproducing the call of the bird that he could hope to lure 
 the game within shot. Birds must have been prodigiously numerous in 
 that era. Pennant asserts that a single Indian had been known to shoot 
 two hundred Geese in a single day. The natives of Alaska are reported 
 to adopt a curious strategy in order to entice that beautiful bird the 
 Emperor Goose (^Anser canagicus) within shot " Should a flock not fly 
 sufficiently near," writes Turner, " a favourite method is for the hunter 
 to lie on his back, swing his arms and hat, kick up his legs, and imitate 
 the call of the geese." 
 
 I am assured that the modern Indian despises the bow of his fore- 
 fathers, having a more serviceable weapon in the cheap shot-gun of 
 civilisation. He appears to have equally discarded the use of the fowHng- 
 net. But Dr Hasell is good enough to inform me that " Some thirty or 
 forty years ago, in the early days of the Hudson Bay Co., the Indians 
 about the mouth of the Nanaims Eiver were in the habit of erecting nets 
 on stout poles to intercept the flight of Geese and Ducks. Some of the 
 poles are, I am told, still standing or were, a few years ago ; but the 
 practise has entirely died out." We are left to conjecture for ourselves 
 the precise nature of the flight-nets just referred to. More exact infor- 
 mation is happily forthcoming as to the form of net employed for 
 capturing Wild Geese on the shores of Alaska. Turner speaks of the 
 older men still adopting this engine when he wrote ten years ago. He 
 gives the following .explanation of how this net is prepared : " Strips of 
 whalebone about three feet in length are tied by cords at intervals of 
 two inches apart, so that the length of the net may be thirty feet and 
 three feet high. The net is placed edgewise on the margin of a pond 
 frequented by Geese in October. A stout cord is secured to the end of 
 the net, and firmly fastened to a peg in the ground. The other end is 
 secured in a Kke manner. A long cord reaches from the middle and top 
 of the net to the owner, who sits a convenient distance off to be out of 
 sight of the Geese. On the approach of a flock of Geese to the pond 
 they are not alarmed at the net, as the strips of whalebone stand on end 
 and resemble grass stalks. They swim near the net, and, when sufficiently 
 
220 WILD GEESE. 
 
 near, the cord held by the man is jerked by him, and causes the net to 
 be thrown on the Geese. The interstices of the net entangles their 
 heads, necks, and wings ; so they cannot fly. The hunter runs out to 
 twist their necks, and again sets his net for another flock." 
 
 The species of Goose to which the net just described proved specially 
 fatal is that small western form of the Canada Goose which American 
 naturalists distinguish as the White-cheeked Goose (Bernida leuoopareia). 
 Turner mentions another plan by which these Geese, and likewise Ducks, 
 were killed in former days. First of all, the beach was searched for 
 three rounded stones of nearly equal weight and size. These generally 
 measured about one and a half inches in diameter, though this varied 
 with each individual's strength. The women chose lighter stones than 
 those used by the men. After the stones had been selected, a groove 
 was cut round each stone, deepened sufficiently to hold a strong thong of 
 sealskin about twelve inches long. Each stone was thus prepared, with 
 the thong securely tied to it. The three loose ends of the strings were 
 then tied together, so that the distance between the two outstretched 
 stones was about twenty inches. The strings were then taken by the 
 knotted ends and laid carefully in the palm of the hand. The stones 
 attached to the other ends of the strings were carefully disposed on the 
 coiled thongs in the hand. This Bolas was thrown at any flock of Geese 
 that came within reach. It was certain to become entangled on the neck 
 or wings of some Goose, which fell to the earth and was immediately 
 secured. The women were adepts at throwing these stones. An old 
 woman told Turner that she had often secured two and occasionally three 
 Geese at a single throw. Another member of the genus Bermcla that 
 affords good sport to fowlers is the familiar Brent Goose, three forms of 
 which are usually recognised by ornithologists as distinct species. The 
 form of Brent Goose which occurs upon the Pacific coast-line is the 
 Black-breasted Brent {Bernida nigricans). Dr Hasell has ascertained 
 that the Indians of Fort Eupert, which is situated at the extreme north 
 end of Vancouver Island, have a peculiar method of catching these Black- 
 breasted Brent Geese. 
 
 " A dark, wet, still night," writes Dr Hasell, " is chosen in the winter 
 when the Geese are feeding on the beds of Zostera in shallow water. Two 
 Indians go out in a canoe, one in the bow armed with a torch of resinous 
 pine-spUnters known as " Gun-stick," and a large net like a landing-net 
 
WILD GEESE. 221 
 
 on a pole ; the other sits in the stern and paddles the canoe in the 
 direction of a flock of Brent. As soon as the canoe has got in amongst 
 a flock, the torch is suddenly lighted and as suddenly extinguished. The 
 birds at once get up and fly about a short distance, but settle again as 
 soon as the light disappears. The Indians mark the direction taken by 
 the birds and follow them, again paddling noiselessly into the flock. The 
 torch is again lighted and extinguished with the same result. After this 
 manoeuvre has been repeated some three times, the Geese become quite 
 bewildered. When the torch is lighted, they do not attempt to fly, but 
 stay and gaze at it. They are then quickly scooped out of the water by 
 the Indian with the net." I imagine that the European Brent Goose 
 {Bemicla hrenta) is too sophisticated to be netted by torchlight. Thompson 
 vouches for this species being netted at flight-time " in nets placed across 
 the rivers " near Londonderry. 
 
 Sir Ealph Payne-Gallwey informs me that the white-breasted form 
 of the Brent Goose is that most frequently met with on the Irish coasts. 
 
 Brent and Bernacle Geese {Bernicla leueopsis) are netted on dark 
 nights on the Dutch coast in the Flight-nets which are set for a great 
 variety of birds. Irving Murray, an aged wildfowler, assured me that 
 Bernacle Geese are occasionally entangled in the flight-nets which are 
 fixed at the mouth of the Mth in Dumfriesshire to catch fowl of every 
 kind. Perhaps the most spirited narrative of a hunt after Brent Geese 
 is that furnished by Mr Trevor Battye, whose adventurous researches 
 into the zoology of the island of Kolguev are still fresh in the recollection 
 of the pubUe. 
 
 It has long been known that the natives of Siberia take advantage 
 of that helpless condition of Geese which results from the birds being 
 forced to perform the renewal of their wing qiiills. The interest of the 
 plan of operation adopted upon Kolguev hes in the employment of nets 
 to check the advance of the birds after they have been driven from their 
 favourite quarters upon the open part of the coast. The trap employed 
 on Kolguev consisted of three-inch netting, four feet in depth, attached 
 at the outside to a couple of poles, which were driven into the ground at 
 a distance of thirty yards apart. " The net was then carried inland, the 
 two walls converging, untU at a point some forty yards from the entrance, 
 they were not more than five yards apart. From this point they bellied 
 out, and formed a circular cul de sac." The Samoyedes spent five hours 
 
222 WILD GEESE. 
 
 in driving the Brent Geese, the party being carried in seven boats, which 
 were ilanked by teams of Eeindeer, to anticipate any attempt of the 
 Geese to execute a diversion. The drive commenced at 4 A.M. and lasted 
 until 9 A.M., when the army of Brents, with a smaller number of Grey 
 Geese, tried to escape shoreward, and ran into the fatal enclosure. 
 
 Another primitive method of driving Wild Geese into shore nets was 
 that formerly practised on the Pomeranian coast. The island of Euden 
 was famous for the number of Wild Geese which resorted to its shores 
 when moulting, just as the Grey Lag Goose (Anser ferus) of the Hebrides 
 nowadays retires to the Sound of Harris when about to shed its quill 
 feathers. The Geese which frequented Euden were in the habit of 
 feeding ashore under cover of night. The German fowlers were not 
 content to chance the success of their operation. They secured the result 
 by laying nets all along the shore over which the birds passed when 
 going to their feeding grounds. The nets were at first craftily covered 
 over with sand. When a flock of Geese had marched to their usual 
 grazing ground, the fowlers raised the concealed nets, and stretched them 
 in an upright position. The men then drove the flightless birds towards 
 the sea by the route which they had previously followed. When the 
 terrified birds reached the unexpected barrier they became entangled in 
 the meshes of the net, or were felled by the sticks carried by the fowlers. 
 It sometimes happened that as many as forty, or even fifty, birds were 
 obtained in this fashion in a single night. Professor CoUett writes to 
 me that the Lesser White-fronted Goose {Anser erythropiLs) is hunted by 
 the Lapps on the Fells of Finmark when the old birds are flightless and 
 their progeny are also unfit to fly. The capture of these birds is effected 
 with the assistance of the dogs which one is accustomed to see hanging 
 about a Lapp encampment. The goslings are taken home and domesti- 
 cated, but are killed for food before the arrival of winter. 
 
 The Tunguses of the Lena Delta diet themselves largely upon Wild 
 Geese, which they sometimes shoot, like the Eed Indian, with bow and 
 arrow. They kill the birds likewise when they are in the moult. 
 Melville explains that a favourite method of capturing Geese upon the 
 Lena is to run a line of horsehair nooses across a point of land or con- 
 venient place frequented by the birds. These nooses are fastened to 
 short flexible rods, after the manner of fishing-poles, which are then 
 thrust into the ground, and the snares are arranged so close together that 
 
WILD GEESE. 223 
 
 it is impossible for the game to thread its way through the line uncaught. 
 The Geese settle on the point of land to feed, whereupon the native boy 
 or woman approaches them, and they gradually retreat into the real 
 danger, and the nooses tighten around their necks until the whole flock 
 has been driven through the line of poles, or frightened away by the 
 fluttering wings of the captives, which the natives soon despatch with 
 heavy sticks {The Lena Delta, p. 132). Pallas devotes some space to 
 describing how the natives of Siberia contrive to capture large numbers 
 of Geese by means of the flight-nets called " Pereves." These I shall 
 have occasion to describe from more recent information when treating 
 of the sport of netting Wild Ducks. It will suffice to say here that 
 Pallas describes the process in very similar terms to Mr Jules Biesickierski, 
 from whom he differs chiefly in saying that these nets are, or were, set to 
 take Geese instead of Ducks. No doubt the natives use them for hoth 
 Geese and Ducks. The goose-net is set in a passage cut in a wood 
 between a lake and the fields in which the geese feed during the night. 
 The net hangs on lines stretched between two convenient trees. It is 
 worked by means of pulleys, which enable the fowler to lower the net at 
 pleasure. 
 
 The peasant who engages in this method of fowling lies out in the 
 grass and awaits the arrival of day. The Geese commonly flight an hour 
 before daylight. As it is still dusk, they do not perceive the net which 
 is stretched across their usual passage. The fowler seizes this critical 
 moment to release the cords of the net. The net drops, borne down by 
 the weight of the Geese, and envelops the birds so completely that they 
 have no chance of making their escape. As many as thirty Geese are 
 sometimes taken in a night by this device {Voyages de M.P.S. Pallas en 
 differ entes Frovinces de L' Umpire de Bussie, Vol. n. p. 463). 
 
 We learn, too, from PaUas that the natives of the Obb Eiver region 
 catch great quantities of WUd Swans, Geese, and Ducks when the snow 
 and ice begin to thaw and break up at the termination of the long, dreary 
 arctic winter. The sportsmen build little huts at the edge of the water, 
 and employ stuffed Geese or Ducks to lure the living birds within shot. 
 The Ostiaks make use of the flight-net, already described, by making Unes 
 through their native forests between the different sheets of water, and 
 hanging glade-nets across the expected route of the waterfowl. Another 
 plan is for the fowler to stretch a net called " Kistan " upon the earth in 
 
224 WILD GEESE. 
 
 the direction of the birds' probable passage. The two extremities of. the 
 net are secured to the tops of two trees in such a way that the fowler 
 can hoist up the net to the tree-tops when he desires. The birds drop 
 instinctively to pass under the net, but the fowler simultaneously releases 
 the net, which drops down on the Geese, generally securing every bird. 
 
 Perhaps it may be as well to add the exact words of Pallas himself : 
 " L'Oiseleur construit k cet efFet une cabane de branchages k une des 
 extr^mit^s de ces petites routes, afin de s'y cacher, et d'y observer les 
 oiseaux qui passent. II a un filet fetendu par terre, nomme ' Kistan ; ' 
 deux des extr^mit^s de ces filet tiennent k des cordes qui sont attachees 
 aux cimes de deux arbres. Des que I'oiseleur voit les oiseaux s'dlever, 
 il tend aussi-tot son filet au moyen des deux cordes aux quelles il donne 
 beaucoup de jeu. Les oiseaux qui leur pesauteur empeche de s'^lever 
 promptement assez haut pour ^viter le filet, donne dedans. L'oiseleur 
 laisse retomber le filet, qui enveloppe le gibier" (lb. cit, Vol. iv. p. 124). 
 
 The Ostiaks employ living decoys to attract the attention of the fowl, 
 but they are themselves adepts at reproducing the call-note of Wild Geese 
 with a call made from a piece of birch bark. 
 
 Pallas notices that the peasants in the neighbourhood of Samarof 
 employ a large ground-net for Goose-catching, which they entitle " Poush." 
 This appears to be identical with the Clap-net which we know from other 
 sources to be commonly employed in some parts of Eussia for catching 
 Wild Geese. The dimensions of the net described by Pallas are very 
 much in excess of any net of the kind now used in England. He estimates 
 the length at forty yards and the breadth at two yards. This long, narrow 
 net is set on the banks of rivers, care being taken that the two halves of 
 the net are parallel. The Wild Geese frequent the banks of sandy rivers 
 in springtime, in order to feed on the shoots of Horse-tail (Uquisetum). 
 The fowler waits for a party of Geese to alight in the middle of his toils, 
 when he pulls the cord and the birds are taken. 
 
 But the use of Clap-nets for taking Wild Geese in Siberia was wit- 
 nessed by a countryman of our own before the time of Pallas. A traveller 
 named Bell was sailing along the waters of the Obb, near Surgute, on 
 the 14th of October 1721, when he and his party landed at a small 
 settlement upon a flat, low shore. At this village," he writes, " we 
 saw great quantities of wild Geese, picked and smoked and hung in 
 shades for winter provisions. We had some of them dressed, but I can- 
 
WILD GEESE. 225 
 
 not much praise them for agreeable food. This people of this place catch 
 vast numbers of them in day nets, more on account of the down and 
 feathers than of their flesh, which is but of small value. "We let our 
 barques proceed, and detained a boat to follow them as soon as we had 
 seen the method of catching the Wild Geese. The sportsman conducted 
 us into a spacious open plain, encompassed with woods and water. Here 
 he had his large nets, with wide mashes, spread ; and a small hut, made 
 of green branches, to conceal himself. Upon the grass were scattered 
 about a score of geese-skins stuffed, some of them standing, others sitting 
 in natural positions. As soon as he sees a flock flying over his head, he 
 calls, with a bit of birchen bark in his mouth, exactly like the wild 
 geese. On hearing the call, they take a turn round, and then alight 
 among the stuffed skins ; which being perceived by the sportsman, he 
 immediately draws a string, and claps the nets over the whole flock, or 
 as many of them as are within their reach. The geese always alight and 
 rise with their heads to windward ; to prevent, therefore, such as escape 
 the day-net from flying off, he has a deep, long net placed, on tall slender 
 poles, to windward, which entangles great numbers in their rising" 
 {Travels from St Petersburg, Vol. ii. p. 150). 
 
 Mr Blaauw assures me that the modern Dutch fowler catches Geese 
 with Clap-nets. " A large net," he writes, " is worked by a man in a hut 
 made of turf. The whole contrivance is usually placed on low or even 
 on flooded land, in which case the water is of use for concealing the net. 
 Tame decoy geese are used of the same species of which specimens are to 
 be caught. When geese are in sight, a tame male bird is let loose. This 
 bird flies to the place where it knows food is to be found, and calling 
 loudly attracts the wild birds to the same place, which can be covered 
 by the net at will. Geese are also caught in snares made of horsehair 
 or brass wire, which are placed on the ground, and fastened by one end 
 to a piece of wood fixed in the ground. As the geese walk over the 
 ground in search of food, their feet are caught in the snares and the 
 birds are made prisoners." 
 
 Sir E. Payne Gallwey states that the Bean Goose (Anser segetum) is 
 sometimes taken in Ireland by means of pitfalls. The trap is dug in an 
 open meadow frequented by grey Geese. It is cut out to such a depth 
 that a Goose can just touch the bait which is scattered at the bottom. 
 The shape of the pit resembles a flower-pot, narrowing to the bottom. 
 
 P 
 
226 WILD GEESE. 
 
 The sides are smoothed off. " A man in Co. Monaghan has been known 
 to capture a dozen in a day" {The Fowler in Ireland, p. 150). Curiously 
 enough, the Siberian hunters adopt the identical strategy employed by 
 the Irishman for trapping Geese. 
 
 The Swan-Goose (Anser cygnoides), so well known in England as a 
 domesticated bird, visits certain parts of Eastern Asia in great numbers 
 upon migration. Godlewski affirms that these birds rest at the time of 
 their annual passage upon vast and bare extents of sandy plain. The 
 natives dig pitfalls for the birds, just large enough to admit of the 
 entrance of a Goose, and of adequate depth. These holes are covered 
 over with straw, which sinks under the weight of any bird that happens 
 to tread upon it. 
 
 The Japanese are proficient also in the art of capturing Geese in pit- 
 falls. These birds usually feed on open ground. The fowlers ascertain 
 the customary feeding grounds of the birds, which is easily learnt by 
 searching for their droppings and loose feathers. The fowlers then dig a 
 few pitfalls in the earth. These holes are excavated at a distance apart 
 of from seven to ten feet. Each pitfall measures from two to three feet 
 in depth and breadth. When all the traps are completed, the natives 
 cover them over with a layer of grass or a few twigs, so that they are 
 completely hidden from view. Towards evening, when the Geese begin 
 to arrive upon their feeding-ground, the fowlers light their torches at 
 some distance, and proceed in the direction of the gaggle of Geese, carrying 
 their blazing lights before them. The Geese, seeing the strange light, 
 begin to retreat, and suspecting no danger from the direction in which 
 they proceed, they sooner or later fall into some of the pitfalls prepared 
 for their destruction. Messrs Hirouki Oda and Denzo Myzoguchi, to 
 whom I am indebted for this information, state that sometimes three or 
 four Geese are taken in a single pitfall ; in this case the traps must be 
 of larger dimensions than those which they describe. But the Japanese 
 fowlers usually capture Wild Geese by means of Flight-nets extended 
 between bamboo poles. They also take them in the large " Muso-ami " or 
 Clap-net, with the assistance of tame decoy-birds tethered near the net. 
 
 The Swan-Goose is supplied in large numbers to the markets of North 
 China. Mr E. A. Currie writes to me that " Near Tientsin in the province 
 of Chih li there are many villages, the inhabitants of which are dependent 
 for a living on the duck and goose harvest. Every man owns a punt 
 
WILD GEESE. 
 
 227 
 
 
 _X55^v> 
 
 with one or more guns. If one gun only is used, it is laid horizontally ; 
 with two or more guns, one is laid horizontally and the others cocked up 
 
 a little, so as to take 
 the birds when they 
 rise. The guns are 
 from seven to nine 
 feet long, the bore 
 one and one-eighth 
 to one and a quarter 
 inches, very roughly 
 made and very heavy. 
 The metal is from 
 a quarter to three- 
 eighths of an inch 
 thick at the muzzle, 
 and over an inch at 
 the breech. They 
 are of course muzzle- 
 loaders fired by a 
 touch-hole, no sort 
 of lock being used. 
 The punts are flat- 
 bottomed, about nine 
 or ten feet long and 
 about three feet wide, 
 drawing about three 
 inches or so of water 
 mdso-ami. with the gun aboard, 
 
 with very little free-board. As the gun-muzzle only clears the water by 
 a few inches, the least lop makes it dip under water, and in order to 
 prevent the water from entering, one or two feathers from the breast of 
 a duck or goose's breast are tied underneath the muzzle, curling up in 
 front. When the muzzle dips under, the feathers press up tightly against 
 it and prevent water from entering, like a sort of automatic valve, while 
 there is no obstruction at the muzzle to burst the gun when it is fired. 
 The Chinese assured me that it never failed to prevent water from 
 entering, and on the one or two occasions that I tipped up a gun to see. 
 
228 WILD GEESE. 
 
 it certainly worked. Some Chinese fill up the whole gun, from the top 
 of the charge to the muzzle, with feathers and down. The villagers 
 always beg one not to shoot in the vicinity, and offer to give you two or 
 three geese if you want them, rather than have a place disturbed. The 
 geese usually roost in the marsh, and a goodly number having been 
 marked down at sundown in a favourable spot, the boatmen go out about 
 nine o'clock, the punts are got out, the guns loaded, and a lighted slow- 
 match placed in a tin box or can beside the gun. The line, or rather 
 crescent, of punts is formed and the men walk along in the water about 
 thigh-deep, crouching down and shoving the punts ahead of them. On 
 the occasion I went out, we found an immense mass of ducks and geese, 
 partly on the water and partly on the bank, dimly visible in the gloom, 
 and got to within about fifty yards of them when the signal to fire was 
 given, by a slow-match held up in the air by the head-man. The level 
 guns went off almost simultaneously, followed in about a second by the 
 elevated ones. All the dead birds were gathered at once, while the 
 cripples were left till daybreak, and we waded home .with the punts full 
 of dead birds. Most of the men were out by daybreak cripple-catching 
 with bamboos, and the total bag was piled up in an irregular heap, nearly 
 seven feet high, in the morning. There were thirty-four guns in all. The 
 number of geese, ducks, and teal bagged I could not say, but it was 
 huge. It is cold, wretched work. The men never get into the punts, 
 but use them simply as gun-carriages and game-carriers. The gun being 
 rigidly fixed to the boat can be more easily directed' by a man in the 
 water astern, and the gun and boat recoil together. The powder used is 
 very inferior, dusty stuff, in small, irregular lumps varying in size from 
 fine dust to a small pea without any attempt at grain. The shot is of 
 iron, rusty, irregular, and any shape except spherical, not sized, a charge 
 containing pellets from No. 10 to S.S.G-." In answer to my inquiries, Mr 
 Currie informs me that the Geese which he saw shot belonged to three 
 species of Grey Geese, which he believes to have represented the Grey 
 Lag Goose (Anser ferus), the eastern form of the Bean Goose (Ariser 
 segetum, var serrirostris), and the Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anseo- 
 erythropus). The last-named was the most numerous. Mr Styan sends 
 me an account of how this small Goose (which by the way is a rare 
 visitor to the British Isles) is captured by the crafty and painstaking 
 Celestial birdcatchers. 
 
WILD GEESE. 
 
 229 
 
 " On a vast swamp," writes Mr Styan, " of many miles in extent, in 
 the neighbourhood of Wuhu on the Yangtse, the natives employ a method 
 of snaring geese which is rather strange, and which I have never seen 
 practised elsewhere. Long rows of slender bamboos are planted in the 
 ground about thirty yards apart, and between them are stretched thin 
 lines seven feet above the ground, which is swampy and sometimes 
 covered with a foot of water and floating weeds. On the lines are 
 suspended at short intervals common iron hooks, sharp but barbless, 
 which hang about a foot below the line. These lines cross each other, 
 making, as it were, a huge network with meshes thirty yards square. 
 The plan of operation is to allow the geese, which are here in countless 
 numbers, to settle on the swamps, and then suddenly startle them. The 
 birds rising in alarm ignore the hooked lines and occasionally get hooked, 
 probably by the shoulder. It seems rather an off-chance, and I have 
 never myself seen a bird caught ; but it must obviously come off 
 sufficiently often to make it worth the fowlers' time and trouble in laying 
 out the lines, which sometimes extend a mile or more in one direction." 
 
 Kum Ayen declares that a common Chinese method of catching 
 Geese " is to lay down a long line to which are attached a number of 
 thin bamboo slips, bent double, and the two ends of the bamboo inserted 
 in a bean. This bait is laid on a regular feeding-ground, and the hungry 
 goose swallows it greedily, with the result that the act of swallowing 
 liberates the bent bamboo, which, resuming its original shape, chokes the 
 bird" (With Boat and Chin in the Yangtze, Valley, p. 182). 
 
 [The headpiece is reproduced from the woodcut drawn by a Chinese artist 
 for Mr H. T. Wade's recent work, With Gun and Boat in the Yangtze Valley. 
 It represents a Chinese punt-gunner pushing his gun through the water, as 
 described at page 227. The tailpiece is after Gervase Markham.] 
 
 V^vVvr^^ 
 
CHAPTER XXV.— WILD SWANS. 
 
 THE WHOOPER SWAN or ELK, as our forefathers preferred to call 
 it {Cygnus ferus), is too rare a visitor to the marshes and rivers of 
 the south of Europe to be a frequent object of pursuit to Spanish or 
 Italian fowlers. The peasants of Western Ireland have a prejudice 
 against destroying Wild Swans, but elsewhere in temperate and Northern 
 Europe these birds are keenly sought after by gunners of various 
 nationalities. Almost the only time at which the Whooper Swan can- 
 not take good care of its safety is the close of the breeding season, when 
 it has lost its flight feathers. In former days it was customary for the 
 natives of Iceland to hunt the birds at this season. The same treatment 
 was meted out to the wild Mute Swans {Cygnus olor), which breed in 
 Sweden. Mr Jon Stefanoson, Ph.D., communicated to the Field news- 
 paper of November 2, 1895, a picturesque narrative — perhaps we should 
 call it a " Saga " — of how the unsophisticated Swans of the north-east 
 of Iceland are captivated by the strange music of the country folk. "In 
 autumn," says this gentleman, "the Icelandic Swans moult, and their 
 beautiful long white feathers drop off and lie about the upland moors. 
 Then they patiently wait in their inland recesses and nests near mountain 
 lakes until their feathers grow again. This weary time of moulting the 
 
WILD SWANS. 231 
 
 Icelanders call ' lying in wounds,' because moulting is painful to them. 
 As autumn days shorten the new feathers grow apace, and one fine day 
 the farmers, busy in their hayfields, may see a flock of from fifteen to 
 twenty swans slowly and gracefully winging their way to the coast, 
 uttering their long-drawn musical notes — sounds which the poets of 
 Iceland never tire of praising, and which at a distance are of great 
 sweetness. Now the wily farmers have carefully prepared for their 
 exodus. They have assembled with their dogs, rattles, and various 
 instruments of noise, on the route the Swans are likely to take, and are 
 lying in ambush for them. As the white-feathered flock approaches, 
 they begin to make the most unearthly noises, shouting at the top of 
 their voices, turning round their rattles, knocking stones against stones, 
 inciting their dogs to bark themselves hoarse, in short behaving like 
 madmen in the eyes of those who do not know their object. The old 
 Swans, some of which have heard this before, are not affected by it, 
 while the young Swans, restiug on their wings, listen with eager curiosity 
 to the deafening, unusual noise that rises up to them ; when, what with 
 fright, what with being weak and inexperienced in the art of flying, they 
 become so startled and dazed at this infernal noise, following as it does 
 close upon the deep, unbroken silence of their inland lakes, that losing 
 control of their wings, they descend helpless like falling stones, through 
 the air to the ground, where they are ruthlessly seized and killed. The 
 rest of the flock continues its way, leaving them to their fate. These 
 young Swans are fine big birds, and their flesh is tender and luscious." 
 This story may or may not be apocryphal. The most obvious way 
 in which it is possible to capture Wild Swans is by setting snares 
 in the tracks which the birds make through the banks of sedge, 
 around which they delight to paddle, browsing from time to time upon 
 the submerged vegetation. In Siberia the fowler first weights his snares 
 with a heavy stone and then sinks them in the waters of some lonely 
 tarn. The birds crane their long and supple necks beneath the surface 
 in order to grub up the roots of water grasses, which form their chief 
 diet. They thus unwittingly insert their heads into the strong runnrug 
 nooses devised for their destruction. 
 
 A variation of the same idea is to construct a square frame of willows, 
 in basket form, and attach running nooses all round the trap, which is then 
 weighted and sunk in the lake which the Swans frequent. Occasionally 
 
232 WILD SWANS. 
 
 the sitting female is snared upon her nest by the wily Samoyede. The 
 natives of Eastern Greenland make a curious use of oil in hunting Wild 
 Swans. Dr 0. Helms writes to me that if the Greenlanders see a flock 
 of Swans lying in the open sea near the shore they pour out some oil on 
 the surface of the water. When the oil reaches the Swans the birds are 
 unable to rise from the water, and are killed by the bird-arrows of the 
 Greenlanders. I confess that I was always under the impression that 
 Swans found it difficult to rise suddenly from a plane surface. The 
 birds that I have induced to rise off the water invariably flapped at first 
 heavily, as if they found some difficulty in getting under weigh. This 
 remark applies to Bewick's Swan {Cygnus bewicki) as well as to the 
 Whooper. But Mr W. Mcol assures me that on a recent occasion he 
 fired his punt-gun at a herd of Bewick's Swan, which was resting, high 
 and dry, on one of the many sandbanks of the Solway Firth. He was 
 obliged to risk a long shot, because his punt had grounded, and he could 
 not get nearer to the birds. Happily, he missed them ; to his surprise, 
 the birds instantly rose buoyantly into the air, without the least apparent 
 effort. The day happened to be exceptionally calm and yet the birds 
 had not the faintest difficulty iu raising themselves into the air when 
 startled by the discharge of the gun. Yet Mr W. H. Hudson states 
 that the Black-necked Swan (Cygnus nigricollis) is sometimes captured 
 on the pampas near Buenos Ayres by Gauchos, who charge down wind 
 upon the birds, uttering terrifying shouts. 
 
 " When these Swans attempt to rise with the wind, they only flap 
 along the ground and are easily knocked over. A Gaucho of my 
 acquaintance one day caught three out of a flock of six in this way; 
 but a very strong wind favoured him, and the birds were at some 
 distance from the water, and allowed him to come near before making 
 the sudden charge" {Argentine Ornithology, Vol. II. p. 125). Large 
 numbers of Wild Swans were formerly killed in Alaska for the sake 
 of their skins, but so far as I can gather, the gun was the instrument 
 used in compassing their destruction. The Black Swan of Australia 
 {Cygnus atratus) has long been persecuted by the blacks, but its 
 extermination has been brought about in many districts by the agency 
 of the white man. Smyth writes that " In Gippsland the natives caught 
 the wildfowl also when moulting and when sitting on their eggs or 
 when just fledged. It does not appear that they used either the net 
 
WILD SWANS. 
 
 233 
 
 or the noose. The Swan was usually taken by stratagem. He was 
 driven into reeds, and then speared or knocked on the head with a 
 waddy." Mr Tom Carter assures me that in Western Australia the 
 Black Swan is often captured, when in moult, by men who row it 
 down in a boat. Gould mentions that this form of catching these 
 splendid birds was commonly practised for the sake of obtaining the 
 down of the bird. " I have heard," he writes, " of the boats of a whaler 
 entering an estuary and returning to the ship nearly filled with Black 
 Swans destroyed in this manner." Nowadays the birds so captured 
 are forwarded to Europe to grace the ornamental waters of our home 
 and Continental cities. 
 
 [The headpiece was drawn by Miss M. I. Macpherson from photographs of 
 a tame Whooper, also utilised for the tailpiece.] 
 
CHAPTEE XXVI.— DEIVING AND SPEAEING WILDFOWL. 
 
 IT would not be easy to exaggerate the importance of the Duck family 
 (^Anatidae) as a means of human subsistence. Whether we turn our 
 thoughts to the swamps of Australia and New Zealand, or enquire the 
 diet of the remote tribes that pass a lonely existence on the shores of 
 the arctic seas, or whether we consider only the food-markets of Europe, 
 we are equally astounded at the immense quantity of Ducks of all kinds 
 which annually yield up their lives to feed the human race. An interest- 
 ing statement on this topic was made by the late General Prejevalsky. 
 That distinguished traveller found that the degraded inhabitants of Lob- 
 Nor in Central Asia depend largely on Ducks for their food supply. 
 " Boats, nets, fish, ducks, and reeds, these are the only things step-mother 
 nature has endowed him with. He thinks of nothing, hopes for nothing 
 beyond his native lake, the rest of the world does not exist for him. . . . 
 Girls marry at the age of fourteen or fifteen. . . . The ' Kalym ' or pur- 
 chase money paid to the bride's parents is considerable, ten bundles of 
 asclepias fibre, ten strings of dried fish, and a hundred or two of ducks. 
 . . . Ducks trapped in nets form a variety to the fish diet. . . . The 
 
DRIVING AND SPEARING WILDFOWL. 235 
 
 inhabitants of Lob-Nor never shoot ducks, but set traps wherever they are in 
 the habit of resorting. In this way every trapper secures his two hundred 
 birds in the course of the spring" {From Kulja to Ldb-Nor, p. 121). 
 
 It is a pity that the precise character of the Duck-nets used at Lob- 
 Nor is not stated. We are left to conjecture that the nets were possibly 
 stretched across the openings in the reed-beds frequented by these birds. 
 The art of making such nets to arrest birds in flight is not characteristic 
 of a high state of development. The ancient Lake-dwellers of Switzer- 
 land were expert at weaving serviceable nets, intended for catching fishes 
 and probably birds as well. When I examined the nets in the Archae- 
 ological Museum at Zurich, I found portions of several nets which had 
 been discovered in the explorations carried on at the Pfaffikon Lake in 
 the canton of Zurich. The curator expressed his firm belief that a piece 
 of netting which he showed me had belonged to one of the fowlers of a 
 pile-dweUing village. He based his opinion on the character of the net- 
 ting, which measured about two inches square, and was tied with a single 
 knot so that it might slip if necessary. It is quite conceivable that this 
 net may have been used to catch Teal (Qtierqiiedula crecca), and such other 
 aquatic birds as then frequented the waters of the Pfaffikon Lake. Cer- 
 tainly the Australian blacks not only possess a ready facility for manu- 
 facturing nets, but they also understand how to net Ducks successfully. 
 Mr Tom Carter writes to me that the indigenes of Western Australia 
 make their diet mainly on fish and turtle, and dugong when they can 
 get it. " They make good nets out of bark, grass, &c., but I have never 
 seen natives attempt to snare any birds or net them, or use birdlime." 
 
 In Eastern Australia, on the other hand, Mitchell found that the 
 " Natives had left in one place a net overhanging the river, being sus- 
 pended between two lofty trees, evidently for the purpose of catching 
 ducks and other water-fowl. The meshes were about two inches wide 
 and the net himg down to within about five feet of the water. In order 
 to obtain water-fowl with this net, it is customary for some of the natives 
 to proceed up and others down the river, in order to scare the birds from 
 other places ; and when any flight of them comes into the net, it is 
 suddenly lowered into the water, thus entangling the birds beneath, until 
 the natives go into the water and secure them. Among the few specimens 
 of art to be found in use with the primitive inhabitants of those wilds, 
 none came so near our own manufacture as the net, which even in quality 
 
236 DRIVING AND SPEARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 as well as in the mode of knotting could hardly be distinguished from 
 our own" (^Interior of Eastern Australia, p. 152). 
 
 Smyth states that the Duck-net generally used by Australian blacks 
 measures about sixty yards in length, and is set across a water-course, 
 swamp, or lagoon, the lower part being three or four feet above the water. 
 " The ends of the net are either fixed to trees, or held by natives stationed 
 in trees. One man proceeds up the river or lagoon, and cautiously moves 
 so as to cause the ducks to swim towards the net. When they are near 
 enough, he frightens them and they rise on the wing, and at the same 
 time another native near the net throws up a piece of bark, shaped like 
 a hawk, and utters the cry of that bird. The flocks of ducks at that 
 moment dip, and many are caught in the net. Four men are usually 
 employed when this sport is pursued." Smyth derived the foregoing 
 information from a black named " Wye-wye-a-nine," a native of the 
 Lower Murray. Mr Beveridge independently informed him that as many 
 as three dozen Ducks are sometimes taken at one time in this manner, 
 without a single mesh of the net being broken. 
 
 The Indians of Washington Territory depend largely upon Wild 
 Ducks for their subsistence. They formerly used to kill Ducks by 
 means of stones thrown from a sling. This plan seems to have fallen 
 into desuetude. But they continue to hunt Wild Ducks with hunting 
 spears. These weapons are furnished with handles which measure from 
 fifteen to twenty feet. The prongs of the spear are placed so far back 
 as not to injure the body of the bird when caught. The teeth of the 
 prongs are on the outside, so as simply to catch in the feathers. These 
 were formerly made both of bone and hard wood, but iron has been 
 substituted for wood. These spears are used by night, by the light of a 
 fire kindled in the back of the boat, which is generally occupied by two 
 men, one to use the spear and the other to paddle. The birds which 
 these Indians kill are the Pintail {Dafila acuta), the Canvas-back (Fuli- 
 gula vallisneria), and other species of wildfowl. Sometimes, in foggy 
 weather, these Indians cover their canoes over with green boughs, and 
 then paddle quietly into the centre of. the Ducks which they wish to 
 surprise {Smithsonian Report, 1887, p. 632). 
 
 Audubon tells a doleful story of how the wildfowl that frequented 
 the Bay of Fundy were slaughtered some sixty years ago by the Indians 
 of that region. "When July has come, all the water-birds that are no 
 
DKIVING AND SPEAEING WILDFOWL. 237 
 
 longer capable of reproducing, remain like so many forlorn bachelors and 
 old maids to renew their plumage along the shores. At the period when 
 these poor birds are unfit for flight, troops of Indians make their appear- 
 ance in light bark canoes, paddled by their squaws and papooses. They 
 form their flotilla into an extended curve, and drive before them the 
 birds, not in silence but with simultaneous horrific yells, at the same 
 time beating the surface of the water with long poles and paddles. 
 Terrified by the noise, the birds swim a long way before them, endeavour- 
 ing to escape with all their might. The tide is high, every cove is filled, 
 and into the one where we are now, thousands of Ducks are seen entering. 
 The Indians have ceased to shout, and the canoes advance side by side. 
 Time passes on, the tide swiftly recedes as it rose, and there are the 
 birds left on the beach. See with what pleasure each wild inhabitant 
 of the forest seizes his stick, the squaws and younglings following with 
 similar weapons. Look at them rushing on their prey, falling on the 
 disabled birds, and smashing them with their cudgels until all are 
 destroyed ! In this manner upwards of five hundred wild fowls have 
 been procured in a few hours" {Orn. Biogr., Vol. ii. p. 488). The natives 
 of Greenland pursue the Eider (Somateria mollissima) in somewhat similar 
 fashion to that just described ; but the Greenlanders kill their birds upon 
 the open water. Their plan is to mark down a flock of Eiders while the 
 birds are engaged in feeding, and to row their canoes in a long line, keeping 
 as close to the land as possible, to diminish the risk of their movements 
 attracting the attention of the Eiders. The birds, all unconscious of 
 danger, continue to feed, thus increasing their weight and unfitting them- 
 selves for flight. As soon as the fowlers have reached the vicinity of the 
 diving birds they all advance with as much noise as possible, endeavour- 
 ing to surround the birds. The fowlers then discharge their arrows into 
 the midst of the ducks, which induces many of them to dive under water. 
 Each party of fowlers follows the bird which they have selected out of 
 those which (being heavily gorged with shellfish) seek safety below, 
 watching the air bubbles, m order to be able to press closely on the 
 fugitive. The Eider, under these circumstances, tries to reach the beach 
 and there obtain shelter, skulking among the rocks and seaweed ; but the 
 fowlers make it their business to guard against such a contingency. At 
 last the poor bird, worn out by its fruitless endeavours to escape from its 
 implacable foe, succumbs to the blow of a well-aimed arrow, or is taken 
 
238 DRIVING AND SPEARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 by hand. The moulting season is the time when the Eider suffers most 
 at the hand of the Greenlanders, but birds that are heavily gorged with 
 undigested shellfish often pay the penalty of hunger with their lives. 
 The use of the spear for killing Ducks in North America and the bird- 
 arrow of Greenland remind us of the skill displayed by the Australian 
 blacks in spearing wildfowl. Smyth says that the natives send their 
 spears into dense flocks of " Widgeon," and transfix the birds as they fly. 
 They likewise drive the moulting birds into nets specially set for their 
 reception. " Most of the wildfowl on the lakes," says Mr Taplin, " are 
 unable to fly in the moulting season ; they then betake themselves to 
 the reeds. A net is put by the natives round a clump of reeds ; beaters 
 are sent in to drive out the ducks, which rush into the nets and are 
 captured by scores." Occasionally a black will cover his head with mud 
 and then swim so close to a Duck as to be able to hit it with ease with 
 any weapon he may have with him. When Ducks are flying along a 
 watercourse, a boomerang thrown among them will bring down one or two. 
 The Maoris are keenly alive to the advantages of hunting the com- 
 mon Grey Duck of their country (Anas swperciliosa) during the moulting 
 season. Buller remarks that, " In the Bay of Plenty district there are 
 Duck-preserves which are a source of great profit to the natives and are 
 jealously guarded by them. From October to February no canoes are 
 permitted on the principal lake, and no fires are allowed to be lighted in 
 the vicinity. Various kinds of Duck breed here in great numbers. 
 From feeding on the small green beetle, and on the ' nahonaho,' a sting- 
 less gnat, which swarms in countless myriads all over the waters in the 
 lake district, the birds become extremely fat ; and during the moulting- 
 season, which extends over part of February and March, they are in- 
 capable of flight, owing to the loss of their quills. The strict ' tapu ' 
 which is enforced during the close season is now removed with great 
 ceremony, and all the population, men, women, and children start together 
 on a duck-hunting expedition. The men with dogs in short leashes keep 
 within the belt of manuka scrub along the margin of the lake ; the 
 women and children proceed to the middle of the lake in canoes, then 
 take to the water and with great noise and splashing drive the frightened 
 birds up into the bays or inlets, where they seek refuge in the scrub and 
 sedge, and are immediately pounced upon by the trained dogs which are 
 still held in leash. The Duck-hunter snatches the bird away from the 
 
DRIVING AND SPEARING WILDFOWL. 239 
 
 dog, kills it noiselessly by biting it in the head, and then throws it 
 behind him to be collected by a party of women who follow on foot for 
 that purpose." In the season of 1867, seven thousand, it is said, were 
 caught in this manner, in three days, on one lake alone. Most of these 
 were Grey Ducks. The bag included also the Black Teal or Scaup 
 (Ftdigula novce zecdandice), and the Shoveller {Spatula variegatd). 
 
 Tamati Eanapiri writes regarding the Grey Duck (Parera-maori) 
 that birds of this species are hunted with dogs when advanced in moult 
 (TuruM maunu). " The time of moulting is when the birds are fat and 
 not able to fly very well. They are found in pools which they are 
 accustomed to, and they remain there until the moulting time. In the 
 same way the fowlers are acquainted with the pools frequented by the 
 ducks as the moulting time approaches. The owners of these pools do 
 not allow any other people to chase the ducks in them. When the 
 moulting season comes, the fowlers proceed in their canoes with their 
 dogs to hunt the ducks on each day, so long as the moulting lasts. Large 
 numbers of ducks are caught in this manner, as many as two hundred, 
 three hundred, or more. They are then cooked as Huahua (preserved in 
 their own fat). This is the Maori method for preserving birds, and they 
 will keep good for a whole year iu the calabashes ; if particularly well 
 done, they will keep good for two years." The Maori is expert in cap- 
 turing wildfowl by swimming after the birds. He jerks them under 
 water by seizing their feet from beneath. The fowler who engages in 
 this diversion covers his head with a screen of bushes or water-plants. 
 The Chinese practise the same ruse. Kum Ayen thus describes his own 
 observation during a shooting trip : " At the close of a cold December, 
 some seven miles from the walled city of Kintang, near a large pond, I 
 saw a man beckoning to me, and as I approached, he asked me not to 
 shoot the ducks in the pond. He explained that his friend was in the 
 water, so I waited to see what would happen. After some time his 
 friend landed, bearing a large bamboo collar or cangue, and carrying a 
 basket containing a few wild and three tame ducks secured together by a 
 string. He was dressed in goatskin with the wool inside ; his stockings 
 were stitched to the clothing, and so oiled as to be nearly water-proof. 
 Thus accoutred, he immersed his body, using the cangue as a float. On 
 his hat were placed bunches of grass, and on the cangue two or three 
 decoy-ducks. He slowly approached the wildfowl, and when near enough 
 
240 DEIVING AND SPEARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 dexterously caught the unsuspecting duck by the leg, and dragged it 
 under water. I watched him until he had gathered nearly the whole lot." 
 
 Similarly, the Egyptian employs the stuffed skin of a Pelican as a 
 helmet, under cover of which he is able to work his way among the flocks 
 of wildfowl. Devices of a kindred character have been reported from 
 both North and South America. The practice is pretty nearly universal, 
 in those warm countries in which Ducks happen to abound. It must 
 not, however, be supposed that the carrying out of this elementary idea 
 of fowling involves no pains for its accomplishment. The Australian 
 black, low as his intelligence may rank, knows by experience that it is 
 only by the exercise of cunning that he has any chance of outwitting the 
 shy and cautious waterfowl of his native lagoons. When he determines 
 to give chase to a party of Duck, he enters the water far below them, his 
 head covered with flags or rushes, or any water-plant which happens to 
 be growing in the same locality. He is content to swim a long way to 
 the Duck, and only ventures to appropriate the unsuspecting victims of 
 his savage craft when success is certain. 
 
 Or again, when an Indian fowler wants to catch some Teal or other 
 Ducks in a tank frequented by wildfowl, he takes the trouble to prepare 
 for operations of an active kind by sending a few empty " chatties " adrift 
 on the tank a few days in advance. Not until the birds have grown 
 familiar with the appearance of the " chatties " does the fowler commence 
 business. When he is satisfied on that point, he puts a " chatty " over 
 his head, and worms his way through the water until he has reached the 
 birds and can pull them under water unnoticed by their companions. 
 While speaking more particularly of the duck-catching of uncivilised 
 men, I ought to observe that even the degraded Australian understands 
 the value of snares in practical fowling. Sometimes a native sneaks 
 along the banks of a river and conceals himself among the rushes and tall 
 reeds until he gets an opportunity of slipping a running noose over the 
 head of some unsuspecting Duck. The noose is tied to the end of a long 
 rod, and is therefore cognate in form to the rod and noose used for snaring 
 sea-birds on St Kilda. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from a print in the British 
 Museum, and represents flight-less Ducks being driven into a " Pipe."] 
 
CHAPTER XXVII.— SNAEIISTG WILDFOWL. 
 
 WE saw in the previous chapter that the Australian fowler under- 
 stands the manipulation of snares for catching the Ducks of his 
 native creeks and lagoons, though his practice is primitive and simple. 
 The Maori fowler also makes use of the snare, but in a different way from 
 the Australian black. Tamati Eanapiri says : " If a place is found by 
 the fowler which the Ducks much frequent, in a stream, or other place 
 that they come to, or where their food is, snares are made in such places. 
 Should it be a river, the snares are made to reach from side to side, that 
 is in moderate-sized streams ; if it be a place where they feed, the snares 
 are placed all round, enclosing the feeding place, and in such other places 
 as the fowler finds to be suitable." BuUer independently refers to the 
 Maoris snaring Wild Ducks : " Those [Ducks] that escape the dogs are 
 caught by snares set at night. The snares are placed along the margins 
 of the lake and on the warm stones where the Ducks are accustomed to 
 congregate after dark" {Birds of New Zealand, Vol. ii. p. 254). It is a 
 misfortune that neither BuUer nor the native author just cited describe 
 the Duck-snare of the Maori in detail. The plan of stretching a string 
 across the water, furnished with snares, is not peculiar to the Maori, being, 
 in fact, adopted in many parts of the world. The natives of Madagascar 
 
242 SNARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 catch the African Wattle-duck (Sarcidiomis africana) by stretching two 
 cords across the surface of some lake to which these birds resort in the 
 rainy season. The surface of the cords is closely set with running nooses, 
 which intercept the birds whenever they endeavour to cross the fatal 
 lines (Pollen, Becherches sur la Faune de Madagascar, 2me Partie p. 142). 
 The same race of men catch the White-faced Tree-duck {Dendrocygna 
 viduata) in large numbers when the birds are moulting and unable to fly. 
 It is in this way that the market is supplied with individuals of both this 
 Tree-Duck and the African Wattle-Duck. To tell the truth, I hardly 
 know any part of the world in which Ducks are not captured at the 
 season of moult. 
 
 Mr Biesickierski has favoured me with an interesting description of 
 Duck-catching in Siberia, in which he refers to these birds being both 
 captured when moulting, and also in snares which hang across a sheet of 
 water like the devices just instanced. The precise locality in which this 
 gentleman resided in Western Siberia is the district of Narymsk, which 
 forms part of the government of Tomsk. Its superficial extent is equal 
 about to the area of France, but its fixed population, consisting of 
 Eussians, Finnish Ostiaks, and nomadic Tunguzi, amounts only to about 
 five thousand souls. The country consists for the most part of low, 
 alluvial land. It contains a great number of lakes and very numerous 
 rivers, all of which discharge their waters into the magnificent Obb. The 
 higher grounds are covered with virgin forest. Agriculture is carried on 
 to a very limited extent owing to the severity of the climate of these 
 high northern latitudes and the vernal inundations, which force the 
 inhabitants to turn their attention chiefly to hunting for such animals as 
 supply costly furs, and to fishing. Wildfowl of all kinds arrive here in 
 such enormous numbers that it is hardly possible to realise them, owing, 
 no doubt, to the favourable conditions under which they can exist here 
 during the warmer months of the year. In the absence of all roads and 
 markets, each individual supplies himself largely and easily with game- 
 birds, hence their value is insignificant. Nobody would even dream of 
 shooting them, as the cost of shot and powder alone is greater than the 
 value of the birds secured by them. The feathered game is, therefore, 
 secured by other means, and the Wild Ducks are held in special estima- 
 tion, both on account of their excellent flesh and for the soft, warm 
 feathers utilised for bedding. 
 
SNAKING WILDFOWL. 243 
 
 The Wild Ducks that nest in this region are caught in various ways. 
 " In July," writes Mr Biesickierski, " the old drakes are moulting, and 
 are too weak to fly, but hide in safe and out-of-the-way places until their 
 new feathers have grown. In the wide expanse of the Narymsk district, 
 there are lakes that attract the moulting drakes in innumerable quantities. 
 Having found such a lake, five or six men with as many dogs approach 
 the water quietly ; one of them then rows into the middle of the lake, 
 making as much noise as possible. The frightened birds swim for shelter 
 to the banks, and hide in the grass. Thereupon each man, carrying 
 empty sacks on his shoulder, holding a dog in his left hand by a short 
 string, and a stick in his hand, walks round the lake. The dog spots 
 the hiding drake, and the man kills it with his stick as it endeavours to 
 rise. Such expeditions are not organised annually ; for lakes where the 
 birds have gathered in large numbers are not discovered every year. 
 During the nine years which I spent in Siberia the result of such Duck- 
 hunts only proved considerable upon two occasions. In 1866 six men 
 killed 26,000 birds in three days, while in 1869 five men bagged 38,000. 
 These birds are taken as quickly as possible to Narymsk, where they are 
 plucked clean and their fiesh is salted and packed in barrels. So pre- 
 pared, they sell on the spot at one kopek each, and in Tomsk at a kopek 
 and a half, or one halfpenny and three farthings respectively." 
 
 Mr Biesickierski tells me also that many Ducks are captured by 
 nooses in the spring of the year. " The great river Obb, rising ia the 
 Altai mountains, and falling into the Arctic Ocean, rolls its waters across 
 the whole breadth of Siberia, and of course traverses regions subject to 
 very diiferent climates. When the warmer spring weather frees the 
 waters of the Obb from their icy prison, in the more northern latitudes 
 a thick and solid crust of ice still hems in their progress. Hence, that 
 river annually rises to a considerable height and spreads itself upon large 
 stretches of the adjacent land, forming, temporarily, inland seas. Almost 
 the whole district of Narymsk, especially that portion which lies on the 
 left bank of the Obb, is then completely submerged. The moment the 
 waters begin to subside, and shrubs and bushes appear above the surface, 
 the inhabitants catch Wild Ducks in snares called ' Plennice ' (see figure). 
 In a free passage between bushes, a cord set with horsehair nooses is 
 stretched above the surface of the water, between two branches, so that 
 the loops just touch the surface of the water. The loops overlap one 
 
244 
 
 SNARING WILDJTOWL. 
 
 another, leaving no free spaces for the birds to swim through. This is 
 the most general method of catching Wild Ducks, in that country, and is 
 used not only by the towns people of Narymsk, but also by the Ostiaks. 
 From five to fifteen Wild Ducks are caught in the course of a day in 
 fifty such snares." 
 
 Such snares are used too in India, notably in certain parts of the 
 Punjab. Mr C. T. Tickell states that " Horsehair nooses are tied about 
 a foot apart along a stout fishing line, which is laid, supported at intervals 
 by small cork floats, across a suitable strip of open water ; when a flock 
 of Ducks has settled near it, one of the trappers shows himself on the 
 
 
 bank or in his boat in the opposite direction, which manosuvre, if judi- 
 ciously performed, induces the Ducks to swim against the floating line, 
 which in the innocency of their hearts they take to be a strip of ribbon- 
 weed, and they accordingly dive under it ; a certain number emerging on 
 the other side with their necks in the nooses." 
 
 Mr Littledale reports a kindred Indian fowling device, which he finds 
 to be practised on the Null, near Ahmedabad. This consists of " a long 
 line of joined rods (or reeds sometimes), about 5 yards long. It is laid 
 out over the floating leaves on the lake and is covered with nooses. The 
 ducks feed near it, and occasionally some unwary duck runs its head into 
 the noose. Next morning, if anything is on the line, it is hauled in. 
 The bird is, more often than not, drowned or strangled." 
 
 French peasants are, or were, adepts at snaring Wild Ducks. I speak 
 doubtfully of the present, simply because the gun has destroyed so many 
 of the interesting ruses of old-fashioned sportsmen. The " Solitaire In- 
 ventif " assures us that it is an easy matter to trap Wild Ducks, referring 
 presumably to the Common Mallard. He directs us to throw corn in a 
 suitable place for Ducks to feed in, and to do so for two or three days 
 until the birds have grown accustomed to resort to the spot to make a 
 
SNARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 245 
 
 meal. The horsehair snares, by which the capture of the birds is to be 
 effected, are attached in pairs to wooden stakes which are driven into the 
 ground at the bottom of the water. Sometimes as many as three snares, 
 
 or running nooses, are 
 
 tied to the upper end of 
 each stake. Seven or 
 eight dozen snares are 
 set at one time and place. 
 The snares are set in 
 some ditch or other suit- 
 able spot, and corn is 
 carefully sprinkled 
 around. The fowler is 
 enjoined to examine his 
 traps every morning and 
 evening, to see what birds 
 have been taken. The 
 snares just described 
 are not intended to be 
 set in water of a greater 
 depth than eighteen 
 inches. Another plan 
 suggested by the same 
 authority is to take a 
 stake about two feet in 
 length, and pierce it 
 across in two directions, 
 so as to allow two cross- 
 sticks, about the thick- 
 ness of the fourth finger 
 and two inches in length, 
 to be passed through the 
 
 first-named stake, which thus becomes a centre from which four rods 
 radiate in different directions. Three slip snares are tied to the end 
 of each of the four cross-pieces, and the main stake is planted in the 
 water in such a way that the stakes are hidden and the snares alone 
 float upon the water. Grain is then sprinkled round. A number of 
 
 La GLAirfiE (after Billiard). 
 
246 SNARING WILDFOWL 
 
 similar composite snares are to be set within seven or eight feet of one 
 another. 
 
 An interesting chapter of Buliard's Aviceptologie Francaise is devoted 
 to explaining the system of snaring Ducks known as " La Glance." This 
 device is chiefly practised in Burgundy. To prepare this kind of trap 
 for waterfowl, the fowler provides himself with a number of flat tiles, 
 some wire of moderate strength, and a number of horsehair nooses. He 
 then selects a tile, and proceeds to bore a hole through the centre, of 
 such a size that he is able to insert four wires, each of about a foot in 
 length. He twists the four wires into the form of a straight stick, 
 leaving the four ends free in order that they may serve as a support for 
 the snares. Seven or eight of these nooses are attached to each of the 
 free arms of the wire. Care is taken to leave enough wire, on the reverse 
 side of the tile, to serve as a ring, through which the cord, which is to 
 secure this trap to another of the series, can be passed. 
 
 In Burgundy, the peasants are content to fix a wooden cross in the 
 tile, instead of the wire tree. The snares are suspended in precisely the 
 same way, from the four points of the cross. In either case, whether 
 the snares depend from the crossed wires or from the arms of the wooden 
 cross, the complete trap is set in shallow water, in some quiet nook which 
 is baited with corn. In order to drive the Ducks out of the ditches or 
 creeks in which no snares have been set, and to ensure the birds visiting 
 the traps, some fowlers set scarecrows in such other tempting places as 
 are thought likely to interfere with the success of their operations. The 
 fowlers of our English fens used in bygone days to take Wild Duck by 
 means of what Markham entitles the " Great Springe." 
 
 The mechanism of the "Great Springe" is nearly, if not quite, 
 identical with that of the " Sprint " employed in the north of England 
 for catching Woodcock. Markham mentions in detail the various parts 
 of the " Springe " enumerated in my explanation of the " Sprint ; " but he 
 is careful to instruct his readers that the " Springe " for Wildfowl is to 
 be set in " the furrowes and water tracts '" in which such birds are 
 accustomed to feed. " You shall marke which is most padled with the 
 Fowle, or which is easiest and fittest for Eowle to wade in. . . . This 
 passage found out and chosen, you shall take small and short sticks, and 
 prick them crosse-wise overthwart all the other passages, one sticke 
 within halfe an inch of an other, making as it were a kind of fence to 
 
SNARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 247 
 
 guard every way but one, which you would have the Fowle to passe, and 
 if these sticks stand but above the water a handful! or somewhat more, 
 such is the nature of the foule that they will not presse over them, but 
 stray about till they finde the open way, wherin they wiU runne swiftly 
 up, padling up & down for their victuals." The unsuspicious Ducks are 
 thus " enticed to goe and wade up the furrow " in which the " Springe " 
 is set, "where they shall no sooner touch the Springe either with head, 
 foote, or feather, but they shall presently be taken." In the north of 
 England the " Springe " was chiefly employed to catch Snipe and Wood- 
 cock. The engine which found favour on the English side of the Solway 
 Firth was an arrangement of simple horsehair nooses, known locally, if 
 not universally, as the " Wile." A specimen of the " Wile," supplied to 
 
 The Wile. 
 
 me by my kind friends Messrs Mann of Aigle Gill, consists of a long 
 switch, measuring nearly three feet, bent into the shape of a pear, with 
 the two ends overlapping. These ends are firmly tied together. A flat 
 piece of wood, measuring one inch across and ten inches in length, is 
 firmly nailed to the undersurface of the pear-shaped switch. This cross- 
 
248 SNAKING WILDFO-V\rL. 
 
 piece projects about five inches on one side of the trap. ' The portion 
 which overlaps is sharpened, to admit of its being driven into the earth. 
 Three or four slipknots of strongly plaited horsehair are tied to the 
 edges of the pear-shaped hoop, secured in such a way that when the 
 fowler plants the " Wile " in the side of some wet ditch the snares float 
 upon the shallow water. The safety of the " "Wile " is, or rather was, 
 provided for, as regards any Duck that might be noosed, by the trap 
 being tied by a piece of strong string to a stout peg, which was fixed in 
 the bank side. The possibility of any doubt as to the ownership of any 
 particular " Wile " was safeguarded by the adoption of the simple pre- 
 caution of cutting the initials of the fowler upon the flat surface of the 
 crosspiece of the trap. A few handfuls of corn or barley were scattered 
 on the mud beneath and around the "Wile." Both Wigeon and 
 Mallard used to be taken in " Wiles " among the swamps which formerly 
 existed upon the southern shores of the Solway Firth. Any dishonesty 
 as to the birds taken by the use of the " Wile " had to be atoned for by 
 a summary ducking. This method of securing wildfowl has been very 
 little practised for the last thirty years, owing no doubt to the diminishing 
 numbers of Wild Ducks and the increase in the number of cheap guns ; 
 but Mr Clark, an elderly parishioner of mine, remembers the time when 
 many Mallards were snared upon the becks near AUonby in frosty 
 weather. 
 
 The Greek peasants of the Morea capture large numbers of the 
 Mallard (which is as common in that country as with us at home) by 
 the adoption of a very simple form of snare. I have to thank Mr A. L. 
 Crowe for the information which has been supplied to me on this subject 
 by Mr Dionysius Pantagopulo of Calamata. This gentleman reports that 
 a great many Wild Ducks are shot, but the fowlers catch a great quantity 
 in snares in the marshes of Pamisus (" on en prend beaucoup beaucoup au 
 lacet dans les marais du Pamisus "). The snare of the Greek fowler is made 
 of horsehair, the strands being plaited together to form a running noose, 
 which is attached to a couple of wooden stakes, as shown in the illustra- 
 tion. This trap is set in one of the narrow passages which the Ducks 
 feed in. It is hidden by the bushes or long grass ; indeed, the noose 
 itself is often suspended between two growing plants. Snares are used 
 also in the north of Europe for capturing Wild Ducks. Heins describes 
 a method of snaring Wild Ducks which differs in detail from any of the 
 
SNARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 249 
 
 devices already described. It is used in Sleswig. A line, of the thick- 
 ness of a man's finger, and measuring from fifty to a hundred fathoms in 
 length, is plaited of three strands of horsehair. A number of running 
 horsehair nooses, each plaited out of six or eight stout horsehairs, are 
 then fastened to the long line, about three inches apart. The engine is 
 placed in a piece of water 
 in which any species of 
 Ducks are seen to dive 
 in search of food. The 
 cord is fastened at the 
 bottom between two stones, 
 and a piece of lead is made 
 fast to the line at every 
 other fathom of its length, 
 partly to keep the line at 
 the bottom of the water, 
 and partly to make the nooses stand in a vertical position. Decoys are 
 moored to the spot with string to mark the place where the snares are set, 
 and also to attract the free birds. It is of importance that the running 
 nooses be made of the best and strongest horsehair, all taken from the 
 tail of the animal, and all of one colour. The horsehair nooses are said 
 to be invisible in the water. They preserve their elasticity as no other 
 material would do. 
 
 Linnaeus describes another method of snaring Ducks, but it has 
 probably become obsolete. It consisted of a very long line, pegged out 
 upon the ground by a series of wooden pins. A horsehair noose was 
 inserted on each side of every wooden peg, and held in the desired 
 position by a piece of quill. This Fogel-ref was placed upon a bank 
 above the water, in order to trap the Ducks when they went on shore. 
 Another Scandinavian engine is that known as the " Sjofogelflater." It 
 embodies the idea of a number of running nooses arranged around the 
 sides of a raft. The raft is constructed out of boards, each of which 
 measures four feet square. Four upright stakes, measuring about a 
 foot in height, are inserted into holes bored in the corners of the raft, 
 and are joined together by a stout cord. This enables the fowler to 
 attach a series of hanging nooses to all four sides. The floor of this 
 floating raft is covered with sods of grass, so that it resembles a green 
 
250 
 
 SNARING WILDFOWL. 
 
 island. Corn is sprinkled upon the raft. The Ducks quit the water 
 in order to feed upon the grain, with the natural result that some of 
 
 Finnish DnoK-BAPT. 
 
 their number become unwilling prisoners in the hanging nooses. This 
 invention is, or was, employed at the break up of frost in spring, and 
 likewise in autumn (GraH and Handlog for Jagore, p. 1 3 7). 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from an illustration of Heins'. 
 The tailpiece represents a Japanese Decoy -pond.] 
 
CHAPTER XXYIIL— THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 THE Decoys of England owe their origin to the mediitval custom of 
 driving the common Wild Duck (Anas boscas) and other home- 
 breeding fowl into nets when unable to Hj. Trouble was early experienced 
 even in Scotland from the desire of the peasantry to capture wildfowl at 
 a time when the loss of the powers of flight temporarily placed the birds 
 at the mercy of their four-footed and hviman enemies. James ii. of 
 Scotland found it requisite to ordain, in 1457, that none of his subjects 
 should destroy the eggs of " wilde duk and sik lik fowlys." In addition 
 to this, they were expressly prohibited from catching " wilde foulys in 
 mouting tyme quhe thai may not tie '' (Ads of the Parliaments of Scotland, 
 Vol. II. p. 51). But it was in England, always a more populated country, 
 that the practice of driving "Wild Ducks assumed the most serious pro- 
 portions. Sometimes it led to grave remonstrance on the part of the 
 authorities. Thus in 1622 a Eoyal AVarrant was directed to the Earl of 
 Eutland, Lord Lieutenant of the county of Lincolnshire, as to the Sheriff 
 and Deputy Lieutenants of that county, against the destruction of Ducks, 
 Mallards, Teals, and other fowls in moulting time. It bore special 
 
252 
 
 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 reference to a place called the " Porsanute," belonging to the King's 
 Manor of Crowland. The tenants of this place had recently tried to 
 claim the right of chasing the Wildfowl (Aucupacionem ei libertatem 
 atocupandi), and the abuse was to be put a stop to {Report Hist. MS. Com., 
 Vol. IV. p. 312). Willughby, writing some years later, tells us that the 
 practice complained of in the Fowling Warrant of James I. continued to 
 exist in the middle of the same century. " In the Fens," he says, " in 
 the Isle of Ely, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire about Crowland, and elsewhere. 
 
 DuoK-DBivE (after Willughby). 
 
 DvAiks, Wigeons, Teal, and other birds of this kind, at what time they 
 moult their feathers and cannot fly, are taken yearly in great numbers in 
 Nets placed after this manner. AB, CD are Nets extending a great 
 length in form of a wall or hedge, inclining one to another, at the 
 further end of which, before they concur in an angle, are placed 1, 2, 8, 
 or more conoideal Nets, like tunnelling Nets for Partridges. Wliich 
 things being so prepared, and the day for fowling set, there is a great 
 
THE DECOYS OE BAST AND WEST. 253 
 
 concourse of men and boats. These drive the birds, now unable to fly, 
 into the grounds enclosed in the Nets with long Staves and Poles, and so 
 by degrees into those Conoideal Tunnels, 1, 2, 3, disposed as we said in 
 the angle. By the way many are knocked down by the Boatmen, and 
 other Eabble with their Poles, others and more are driven upon the side 
 Nets AB, CD. These belong to those who own the Nets (for the Nets 
 for the most part have several owners), those fall to their shares that 
 killed them. Those which are cooped up and driven into the end-tunnels 
 1, 2, 3, belong to the Lord of the soil. To one Fowling sometimes you 
 shall have four hundred Boats meet. We have heard that there have 
 been four thousand Mallards taken at one drive in Beeping Pen." 
 
 Similar tactics were resorted to in some parts of France. Selincourt 
 tells us that a great Duck-hunt was held every year on the " dtangs '' of 
 Ponthieu, at the very time when the Lincolnshire men were raiding 
 Wigeon, Wild Ducks, and Teal on the English fens. In the case of 
 the royal estate of Ponthieu, the month of July was always chosen for 
 duck-hunting. Many of the peasants of the neighbouring villages were 
 obliged to assist in driving the birds, under the title " of statutable 
 labour" {litre de corvde). The labourers were compelled to strip off 
 their clothes and enter the water to drive the birds out of the beds of 
 reed. The of&cers in charge followed in boats, to see that the drivers 
 advanced in good order. Great bag-nets (" Panneaux ") were extended at 
 regular intervals across the lake. I suspect that they were similar in 
 form to those used in England ; at all events, they answered precisely the 
 same purpose. The beaters (" Traqueurs "), armed with long poles, gently 
 drove the Ducks, both old and young, towards the nets. Watchers were 
 specially stationed at the end of the nets (" les filets, au lout desquels 
 4taient apostfe des guettuers"). The nets do not seem to have been 
 ranged in a single line, but at an angle, so that when the fowlers had 
 driven a batch of birds into the first net and seized the birds, they 
 drove another mob of fowl to the next net. The sport lasted until they 
 had driven the whole of the " ^tang." I have little doubt that this plan 
 was introduced into the Southern States of America by French colonists. 
 Audubon, as an Americanised Frenchman, was familiar with the customs 
 of the French who made their home in the new country. 
 
 Audubon used to capture the Wood Duck {Aix q>onsa) in what he terms 
 a " Bag-net." This engine resembled the Tunnel-net employed for taking 
 
254 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 Virginian Quail. His plan of catching Ducks was to partly immerse the 
 net in a suitable piece of water. He then drove the birds, both old and 
 young, by slow degrees, first within the wings of the net, and finally into 
 the bag. The Dutch and North Germans appear to have been the first 
 to recognise that the principle of the Tunnel-net might be applied to a 
 series of covered canals or " Pipes." When Evelyn visited Dort in 1641, 
 he passed by " the Decoys where they catch innumerable quantities of 
 fowle." 
 
 Mr Blaauw writes to me that even at the present time " The common 
 ducks, such as the Mallard, Gadwall, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal, and Garganey, 
 are generally caught in the contrivance which we in Holland call the 
 ' Eendekooi,' which means Duck-cage." One of the most famous of 
 English Decoys was that which Charles ii. completed in St James's Park 
 in the spring of 1665. "The Parke," says John Evelyn, " was at this 
 time stored with numerous flocks of severall sorts of ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary wild fowle, breeding about the Decoy, which for being neere so 
 greate a Citty, and among such a concourse of souldiers and people, is a 
 singular and diverting thing. . . . There were withy-potts or nests for 
 the wild fowle to lay their eggs in, a little above the surface of the 
 water" {Diary of John Evelyn, p. 304). The idea of supplying country 
 houses with " all sorts of fowle in season " from their own Decoys no 
 doubt received a stimulus from the Eoyal example. 
 
 Evelyn visited Mr Denzil Onslow at Purford in 1681, and was 
 astonished at the splendour of his entertainment. "After dinner we 
 went to see sport at the decoy, where I never saw so many herons." 
 But the adaptation of the Dutch device was originally carried into 
 practice by a subject, for the first man who made a Decoy in England 
 was Sir William Woodhouse, a well-known adherent of the Stuart cause. 
 The knight belonged to a Norfolk family, and himself owned the property 
 of Waxham in that county. His Decoy is described as "Decipulum 
 Anatarium, peregrino nomine A Kaye i.e. Cors seu Cavea nuncupatum." 
 Spelmann observes that the Decoy in question consisted of an open pond, 
 enclosed on one side with reeds. This portion of the water, which we 
 should call the " Pipe," narrowed gradually. Tame call-ducks were kept 
 on the " Pipe," and accustomed to range over the neighbourhood. These 
 birds returned from their excursions to their home accompanied by wild 
 strangers, which they had induced to join their flights. A trained dog 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 255 
 
 (" Cane subdolo ad hoc edocto ") would then make its appearance and 
 attract the curiosity of the new-comers by its strange manoeuvres. The 
 birds were thus enticed to enter the " Pipe," when, of course, they were 
 seized by the fowlers (" Anatarii "). Spelmann remarks, in conclusion, that 
 Decoys were very unpopular, because they injured the sport of other 
 fowlers. Hence the working of Decoys was prohibited in Germany. 
 At what particular time the use of a decoy-dog first came into notice 
 I am unable to say. Tempesta executed the interesting print of a Duck- 
 hunt, which forms the headpiece of Chapter xxvi. This refers to the 
 practice of driving moulting birds into a " Pipe " or Tunnel-net. 
 Thus we are shown punts carrying ladies and gentlemen and their 
 attendant boatmen. The boats have drawn up on either side of the 
 " Pipe," as though they had but recently converged upon the same central 
 point, after driving the wildfowl from opposite sides of the lake. One 
 of the gallants holds a fowling-piece, with the intention of shooting at 
 any birds that might try to turn back. The final close of the mancEuvre 
 is effected by a large water spaniel, which is shown swimming in the 
 water towards the " Pipe," into which it is forcing the birds. The dog 
 is figured as performing a duty quite distinct from the offices of the 
 decoy-dog. 
 
 I have not been able to satisfy myself that the Decoy was ever 
 used in Italy. 
 
 It would be a mistake, however, to infer that Italian sportsmen are 
 indifierent to the pleasures of practical wildfowling. I am indebted to 
 Count Professor Ettore Arrigone Degli Oddi, an accomplished naturalist 
 as well as wildfowler, for a number of photos of the Venetian lagoons, 
 upon which an elaborate and ancient system of fowling is carried out 
 under the title of " La Caccia Di Botte." The Count has likewise 
 favoured me with a copy of his memoir, La Gaccia Di Botte o Di Voile 
 nelle Lagmie Di Venezia. From this we learn that the great sheets of 
 salt or brackish water, which are comprised in the Venetian Province, 
 are preserved by private owners, who draw a revenue from the fish and 
 fowl which these waters supply. 
 
 The various lakes into which the estuary is divided are separated 
 from one another by shallow banks of sandy clay. These are covered 
 by the Lesser Sea Eush (Juncus maritimus) and other literal plants. 
 Numerous channels and creeks diversify the surface of the estuary at 
 
256 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 low water. The peculiar character of the Venetian fowling arises partly 
 from the many curious customs which have been handed down from past 
 generations of local wildfowlers. But the special feature of the sport is, 
 that the gunners are provided with numerous stations, in which they wait 
 for their opportunity to wreak vengeance among the black legions of 
 Mallards and Coots. Each shooting station consists of a small artificial 
 islet, of round or oval shape, sloping inwards or outwards as the ease 
 may be. The island is protected from the wash of the tide by ramparts 
 of reeds. The surface of the island, or at least that portion of it which 
 is visible to any fowl that might fly over, is covered with sods of aquatic 
 plants. In the centre of the island is placed the shooting tub, known as 
 the " Bote," which affords shelter to the gunner. The " Bote " is made of 
 oak, walnut, or larch. Of recent years cement has been employed in the 
 place of wood. The " Bote " is built in the shape of a truncated cone, 
 measuring about one metre in diameter at the base. It tapers gradually 
 to a diameter of eighty centimetres (thirty-one to thirty-two inches) at 
 the summit. The steadiness of the " Bote " is secured by iron supports. 
 The fowler does not leave his share of sport to accident. He adopts an 
 elaborate system of artificial or living decoys to lure the free birds within 
 range of his " twelve bore." When living decoys are utilised, they con- 
 sist of two or more Ducks reared in domestication ; usually two female 
 birds (Anare) and a single Drake (Mazorin), which constitute a set (MtiA 
 de anare). These decoys are conveyed to the shooting station in a kind 
 of cage called " Tasselo." The decoy is prevented from escaping by being 
 tethered on the water by means of a hempen cord. This latter is again 
 attached to another line wound round a large stone, which is thrown into 
 the water and siaks to the bottom. A substitute for the stone is often 
 provided in the shape of a long stake, which bears an oval piece of wood 
 upon its summit called the " Crozzola." When the stake has been driven 
 into the mud the duck can rest, if tired of swimming, upon the " Croz- 
 zola." The fowlers vary the decoys according to circumstances. Thus, 
 if there happen to be many Coots, Pochards, or Wigeon on a lake, only 
 Drake decoys are used; because the call-note of the female Duck is 
 thought to alarm these birds. The same precaution is observed at the 
 end of the season, when Coots and Wigeon are principally shot. Decoys 
 of both sexes are employed indifferently in frosty weather, or when a 
 large number of wild Mallards happen to be present. 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 257 
 
 Coots are more numerous than Ducks on some parts of the lagoons. 
 To outwit their well-known caution, the Venetian fowler resorts to the 
 stuffed skins of Coots, mounted on wooden frames, and set upon the 
 water in life-like attitudes. Alternatively, he tethers Drakes of a black 
 variety of the domestic Duck, known locally as the " Canard de Labrador." 
 The wildfowl which are killed on the Venetian estuaries of the Provinces 
 of Venice and Padova annually are calculated to amount to about 30,000 
 couples. Count Ettore Arrigoni Degli Oddi writes to me that the birds 
 which are sent every year to the Venice market produce a sum of from 
 70,000 to 90,000 francs. Much of this must be expended in wages to 
 the professional gunners and boatmen, whose assistance is indispensable 
 to the " Caceia di Botte." 
 
 Grey Geese are scarce on the estuaries of Venice, but Mallard, Wigeon, 
 Teal, Garganey, Pochards, Tufted Ducks, Pintail, and Shovellers are killed 
 in large quantities. 
 
 The Italian sportsmen whom I have had the advantage of meeting 
 are accustomed to Duck-shooting of the kind familiar to all Englishmen ; 
 in pursuit of which they willingly encounter the risk of malarial fever. 
 Savi, however, tells us that in his day special ponds were prepared for 
 wildfowling. This was the case at Mugello and other places in Tuscany. 
 Such a sheet of water was filled by the rain in winter. It measured 
 about seventy or eighty yards in diameter. Sometimes a low bank, 
 planted with trees, encircled the pool. Alternatively, the fowler con- 
 cealed himself in a little hut. The birds were induced to alight on the 
 water by the natural appearance of the stuffed dummies which were 
 allowed to float upon the surface. The hidden gunner fired from his 
 ambuscade at any birds that were unlucky enough to afford a mark for 
 his weapon. Sport of this kind exactly suits the French conception of 
 what wildfowling should be. Hence we find that the term of Canardiere 
 has generally been bestowed upon some specially designed shooting-pond. 
 As long ago as 1825, a contributor to Hone's Every Day Book described 
 the wildfowling of Pieardy. " Every labouring man in France," he says, 
 " has a right to sport and keeps a gun. The consequence is that from 
 the middle of October . . . vast quantities of wild-fowl are annually 
 shot in and about the fens of Pieardy, whither they resort principally in 
 the night, to feed along the different ditches and small ponds, many of 
 which are artificially contrived with one, two, and sometimes three little 
 
 K 
 
258 THE DECOYS OP EAST AND WEST. 
 
 huts. ... A piece of ground is raised sufficiently high to protect the 
 fowler from the wet ground, upon which is fixed the frame of the tem- 
 porary edifice. This is mostly made of osier, firmly interwoven. . . . 
 This frame is covered with dry reeds and well plastered with dry mud or 
 clay upon which is placed, very neatly, layers of turf, so that the whole 
 at a little distance looks like a mound of verdant earth. Three holes, 
 about four feet in diameter, for the men inside to see and fire through, 
 are neatly cut ; one is in the front, and one on each side. Very fre- 
 quently there is a fourth at the top. This is for the purpose of firing 
 
 at the wildfowl as they fly over To allure the birds, two or three 
 
 tame ducks, properly secured to stones near the huts, keep up an inces- 
 sant quacking during the greater part of the night" (Vol. I. p. 1577). 
 
 But the term " Canardifere " has also been applied to real Decoys, of 
 which several seem to have existed in France at different times. One of 
 the best was on the ^tang d'Armainvillies en Brie. This Canardifere 
 belonged to the Duke of PenthiSvre at the close of the last century. 
 M. Suchetet advises me that the only Canardifere or Decoy now existing 
 in France is at Kehl, near Strasbourg. In Holland, of course, there are 
 numerous Decoys. The Dutch are naturally jealous of imparting the 
 details of their operations to strangers. Some interest, therefore, attaches 
 to the following letter, sent by Mr Thijsse of Texel to Messrs C. and H. 
 Candler : — 
 
 " Texel, 21st October, 1890. — Last week, I had at last an opportunity 
 of visiting one of our duck-decoys (' Eendenkooien ') and of witnessing 
 the capture of some Ducks and Teal. The decoy lies half an hour to 
 the north-east of Koog, in a level between low dunes, and consists of a 
 small wood of alder and poplar trees and bushes from three to six metres 
 high, in the middle of which is a pool, fringed with reeds, and twenty to 
 thirty metres broad. From out of the pool run, in the directions of the 
 most prevalent winds, four channels (' Kanalen '), which at first are five 
 metres broad, but gradually become smaller, and end in a small, enclosed 
 cage of wooden lattice-work. These channels do not run in straight lines, 
 but are somewhat curved. On each side they are bordered by reed- 
 screens two metres high, in which are openings at intervals of four metres. 
 Between the reed-screens a net is placed stretched over the channel. The 
 capture of the ducks is effected in the following way : — The decoy-man 
 (' Kooiker ') and his dog betake themselves to the entrance of one of the 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 259 
 
 channels, and the dog then runs up between the reed-screens and the 
 water. The man remains concealed. The ducks which are swimming 
 round in the pond (some fifty tame ones and many wild) become curious 
 at the sight of the dog, and swim into the channel ; the man (still out of 
 sight) now throws oats and barley over the reed-screens into the water. 
 In the meantime the little dog continues running about along the water's 
 edge. Attracted by curiosity and by appetite, more and more ducks 
 gather together. As soon as the man perceives that there are enough 
 inside, he shows himself at the entrance ; the tame ducks remain quietly 
 feeding, while the wild ones, terrified, fly to the end of the channel, and 
 are there taken in the cage. With a favourable wind (east to north-east) 
 thirty to fifty are readily taken daily ; at my visit the take was poor as 
 the wind was south-west. Ducks on passage (' Trekeenden ') are chiefly 
 taken captured " {Travs. Norfolk and Norvnch Nat. Soc, Vol. v. Part il. 
 pp. 174-5). The Decoys of modern England have received such ex- 
 haustive treatment at the hands of Sir E. Payne-Gallwey, that there 
 is no room for anyone else to say much about them. 
 
 The kindness of Mr W. Sewell has enabled me to procure a few live 
 Ducks from the well-known Tillingham Decoy, including Wigeon, Pintail, 
 Gadwall, Pochards, and Tufted Ducks. The two species last named were 
 taken only during severe weather. Diving Ducks usually endeavour to 
 dive out of a " Pipe " when they discover their mistake. The English 
 " Pipe " terminates in a net instead of the wooden cage preferred in 
 Holland. 
 
 I am disposed to believe that the Decoy was a recognised institution 
 in Northern Germany long before its principles were adopted in either 
 France or England. When George i. .of Hesse desired to enter upon 
 working decoys, it was in Friesland that he bought up decoy-ducks at 
 the price of a thaler a-piece, importing fourteen birds in the year 1574. 
 He had apparently a Decoy already, for we are assured that he captured 
 102 Wild Ducks with the aid of his newly-acquired birds the same 
 year. In 1575 he employed one Hildebrand of Lich to construct a new 
 Decoy at Biebesheim, between the Ehine and the Moldau. In the same 
 year he made a Decoy out of the pond at Kranichstein. Finding himself 
 short of decoy-birds, and desiring to avoid having to send a messenger 
 to Friesland, the Landgrave obtained four Long-billed Ducks ("lang- 
 schnabliger Enten ") from Graff von Solms. 
 
260 
 
 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 Hildebrand of Lich evidently understood his business, because the 
 Decoy at Biebesheim proved eminently successful The following figures 
 prove how remunerative this Decoy became : — 
 
 1579 birds 
 
 were taken in this Decoy in 1575 
 
 3017 
 
 I) » 1 
 
 1576 
 
 2843 
 
 a >t ) 
 
 1577 
 
 2169 
 
 ij i) I 
 
 1578 
 
 1732 
 
 )) jj ) 
 
 1579 
 
 2514 
 
 » J) ) 
 
 1580 
 
 3739 
 
 )) )) > 
 
 1581 
 
 3820 
 
 j» )) J 
 
 1582 
 
 4773 
 
 )) 1} ) 
 
 1583 
 
 3479 
 
 )9 J) J 
 
 1584 
 
 making a grand total of 29,665 Ducks caught at a single Decoy during 
 a decade. 
 
 It is not altogether surprising, that other members of the Hesse 
 family aspired to embark in a sport which promised to yield such 
 excellent returns. George i. assisted his brother Wilhelm IV. in starting 
 a Decoy upon his own property. He also presented the Landgraf Moriz 
 with twelve decoy-ducks in January 1593, and sent his own decoy-man 
 in 1595 to see that his Decoy was perfected. A few other Decoys were 
 started in Hesse in subsequent years, but these appear to have yielded 
 unsatisfactory results. The foregoing details, supplied by Landau 
 {Die Geschichte der Jagd und der Falhnerei in beiden Hessen, p. 300), 
 might no doubt be augmented, but for present purposes they will probably 
 suffice. Friderich states that a few Decoys still exist in Germany, 
 including one near Worth (Eheinpfalz), Weiszensee (Thuringen), Maien- 
 burg (Hanover), Eintheim near Karlsruhe, and the islands of Sylt and 
 Fohr. He estimates the breadth of a decoy-pond at one hundred metres, 
 and observes that it should be surrounded with reeds, sedges, willows, 
 and elders. The custom of employing a reddish-coloured dog to allure 
 the fowl into the " Pipe " finds a parallel in the American custom of 
 training a reddish dog to entice Wild Ducks to swim within range of 
 ambushed gunners {Gf. Wilson, American Ornithology, Vol. iii. p. 129). 
 
 I have failed to find any evidence that decoy-pipes are used in any 
 part of the East under the same conditions as those which have so long 
 been recognised in Western Europe. But the actual plan of driving 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 261 
 
 wildfowl into a tubular net, which seems to have been the original form 
 of the European decoy-pipe, is included among the many devices by 
 which "Wild Ducks are captured ia different parts of India. Thus Mr 
 Harold Littledale writes to me that he " has noted some peculiar snares 
 for waterfowl used by the Wagris on the Null, a great sheet of water 
 west of Ahmedabad. The Phansi Pardis use a lozenge-shaped piece of 
 tan-coloured cotton cloth, spread by stretching rods (two in number), 
 and with a circular hole near the middle, as a screen for stalking or for 
 hiding behind — near water. Their snares for Morican, Partridge and 
 Quail are so like those I sent you (of Wagri make) as to be almost 
 identical with them. They use nooses for taking Peafowl, Cranes, 
 Bustard, &c. These are very strongly made of some kind of gut. They 
 VjSb a long wide-mouthed tubular net for Hares. It has two wings at the 
 sides of the entrance and is distended at intervals by rings of bamboo about 
 two feet in diameter. On the Ifull, the Wagris iise a very similar tubular 
 net, much as a Decoy for ditcJcs is constructed. They take coots and duchs 
 alive in the long net at night, crouching on the ground with their chins 
 almost touching the earth, until some unwary bird feeds up into the creek 
 where the Decoy is set." I have ventured to italicise a few words of Mr 
 Littledale's letter, in order to emphasise the importance of his description 
 of this " tubular net with wings," which I conceive to be the parent 
 form of the decoy-pipe. The idea of capturing wildfowl which have 
 ventured up narrow creeks, in accordance with the natural instinct of 
 Mallard and other surface-feeding Ducks, has been cleverly developed by 
 the sportsmen of Japan. 
 
 Desiring to obtain the most recent information about the Decoys of 
 Japan, I applied to Professor Ijima for particulars, which he was peculiarly 
 well fitted to supply, since he is not only a distinguished naturalist, but 
 also an enthusiastic sportsman. Accordingly I quote his description of 
 the Japanese Decoy almost verbatim. The ground plan of a Japanese 
 Decoy, reproduced here from a pen and ink drawing of Professor Ijima, 
 represents an open pond (A), in the centre of which is shown an island 
 (B), upon which the wildfowl rest and sun themselves. Professor Ijima 
 remarks that this islet also tends to keep the birds to the sides of the 
 pond, and encourages them to swim round and round in a circle, thus 
 facilitating their readiness to enter the numerous " Pipes " with which 
 the Decoy is furnished. These " Pipes " (D, D, D) are slightly curved. 
 
262 
 
 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 all in the same direction, near their entrances, so that the actual capture 
 of any Ducks that may have entered a " Pipe " cannot be seen by the 
 birds assembled upon the pond outside. Twenty, or even a greater 
 number of "Pipes" are present in a large Decoy. Each "Pipe" is 
 about five feet wide and twenty or thirty feet long, lined on both sides 
 with a low embankment about two feet in height. There is a small 
 space outside the embankment, where the duck-catchers take up their 
 
 Plah of Japanese Decoy. 
 
 position. At the extremity of each ditch is a small shed ; this is 
 provided with a small peep-hole, and with a bamboo tube, which last 
 slants down to the water. It is through the bamboo tube that the 
 feeding is done from the interior of the shed. There is, besides, a special 
 shed (C), called the " Great Peep," from which one can overlook the 
 entire pond. Feeding is also done from this " Great Peep," but not when 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 263 
 
 the birds are being caught, at which time it is done only from the 
 small " Peep-sheds." The feeding process is always preceded by knock- 
 ing softly on a board with a wooden hammer. The meaning of the 
 sound is soon understood 
 by the decoy-birds (domes- 
 ticated Ducks and Wild 
 Ducks, with cut wings) 
 which gather to the place 
 where the food (wheat, 
 rice, &c.) is being dropped 
 down through the bamboo 
 tube. The tame birds are 
 naturally followed by the 
 wild ones. The entrance 
 to each ditch is furnished 
 with a wire door. This is 
 usually dropped beneath 
 the water, but can be sud- 
 denly raised by means of 
 a string, when the duck- 
 catchers are ready at their 
 positions (F) on both sides 
 of the ditch. The capture 
 of the Ducks is carried out 
 during the daytime. The 
 best hour depends upon 
 the wind and other circum- 
 stances of the weather ; but 
 
 generally early morning and late afternoon are the best time. On 
 the day appointed the guests assemble in the waiting-room. This 
 is comfortably warmed by a fireplace on the floor, where charcoal 
 is kept ablaze. "Hot wine (i.e., native spirits) is served, and all 
 are pleasant in a manner as only men bent upon sport can be. 
 Meanwhile the decoy-men are busy in feeding the birds. They keep 
 absolute silence, only interrupted by the sound of knocking. Only the 
 leeward ditches are used at one time. Suddenly an 'electric bell rings 
 in the waiting-room. The guests, on looking up, know at once that, at 
 
 A 'Watch-hoose from which the Ducks are fed. 
 
264 
 
 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 ditch number so and so, sport is awaiting them. Each of the company, 
 furnished with a sort of a hand-net with a long handle, hastens noise- 
 lessly to the ditch indicated. The keeper with beaming face, com- 
 municates with extended fingers that so many Teal, Wigeon, Mallards, or 
 whatever it may be, have been enticed into the ditch by his efforts. The 
 
 sportsmen range them- 
 selves in a row on either 
 side of the ditch. The wire 
 door at the entrance is 
 quickly raised by pulling 
 the string attached to it. 
 Whirr-r-r-r go some of 
 the frightened Duck; others 
 try to escape by diving. A 
 skilful 'catcher may scoop 
 up the first Duck from the 
 water, catch the second on 
 the wing, and then suc- 
 cessfully throw out his 
 hand-net in order to reach 
 a third bird that has flown 
 some distance from him. 
 Whereas a novice might 
 triumphantly scoop up a 
 decoy bird, much to the 
 amusement of the com- 
 pany, but to the chagrin 
 of himself and the keeper. 
 Usually, a keeper with 
 hawk is in attendance. 
 His task is to bring down 
 the Duck that has escaped 
 all the nets. The excitement hardly lasts for three seconds. The 
 company then adjourns to the waiting-room, until the bell calls them 
 to the next fray. Such Duck-ponds are not numerous nowadays. 
 Probably only a dozen of them exist in Tokyo, kept by the Emperor, 
 nobles, or rich men." 
 
 The Look-out House overlooking the Decoy. 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST ANB WEST. 265 
 
 This Japanese system of decoying different species of Ducks into 
 " Pipes " presents so many points that will be fresh to the majority of 
 readers, that I venture to supplement the admirable remarks of Professor 
 Ijima by furnishing a translation of Dr Doenitz' essay, Ueber den Vogel- 
 fang m Japan, so far as it bears upon the question at issue. 
 
 " Among the many ways of catching wild ducks for sport, the most 
 peculiar is by means of ' Kaschers ' (a species of net on bamboo staffs). 
 Special lake districts are required for its practise, where lakes can be 
 found covering large areas. Decoy-ducks are placed on a suitable lake, 
 and from corners or recesses of the lake small Pipes (' Kanalen ') are formed 
 about six feet wide, which, after running a short distance inland change 
 their direction, so that any ducks that are on the pond may not see what 
 is going on in the second section of the Pipe. The edges of the lake, 
 and the spaces between the different Pipes are thickly planted with 
 shrubs. Along the sides of the second section of the canal runs a low 
 dyke about three feet high, behind which the fowlers can pass along 
 without being seen by the ducks which are in the canal. The top end 
 of the canal is also covered with brushwood, amongst which a kind of 
 hut is built from which, through a fine opening in a thin copper sheet, a 
 view of the entire Pipe is afforded. The nets, which are made of hemp 
 or silk, are spread between two bamboo poles, about six feet long and 
 about two and a-half feet apart. These in turn are attached to a third 
 bamboo about six feet long. Furnished with these ' Kaschers ' or nets, 
 the fowlers take up their position behind the dykes on both sides of the 
 Pipe, maintaining a stooping posture and carefully avoiding the slightest 
 noise. Suddenly one of the party thrusts his net across the Pipe, cutting 
 off all retreat ; and, as the startled ducks rise up, they are captured in 
 the nets of the other sportsmen. This has to be done with absolute silence, 
 bran or some similar substance being spread upon the ground to ensure 
 soft and noiseless footing. In order that the company may be at ease 
 when there happen to be no ducks upon the pond, a hut is erected at 
 some distance, wherein the sportsmen can gather until such time as some 
 ducks put in an appearance, when the fowlers are instantly apprised of 
 the fact by the noise of a ' clapper ' in the hut, which is instantly set in 
 motion by a cord conducted from the pond in bamboo poles. Electricity 
 has lately been used for this purpose. It is considered most favourable 
 when only two or three ducks are in the Pipe at once. When there is a 
 
266 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 larger number, one or more are apt to escape and alarm all the other 
 ducks upon the pond. For greater security in this connection, a trained 
 falcon is often kept in readiness to be launched at the fugitive. Not 
 only the true falcon but various other kinds are used. The falcon is 
 always attached to the falconer by a cord lest it should take it into its 
 head to make an excursion into the well-covered pond on its own account, 
 when its mere appearance over the bushes would scatter the whole flock, 
 as the sight of a Cormorant passing over the district high in mid-air is 
 quite sufficient to put the whole lot to flight. A soft piece of leather is 
 fastened round one of the falcon's legs, to which is attached a long cord, 
 so coiled up that it is easily unrolled from within. The falcon is held 
 in the right hand and then placed upon the gloved left hand, the arm 
 being held outstretched and slightly backwards, ready to throw ! Should 
 a duck escape the reach of the ' Kascher,' the falcon is thrown violently 
 towards it, and with a few flaps of its wings both it and the fugitive are 
 brought to the ground. The falconer quickly raises both from the ground, 
 the falcon doing its best to dismember its prey in the meanwhile ; and, 
 in order not to discourage the bird, the falconer thrusts his fore-finger 
 into the duck's body, and, tearing out the heart or lungs, gives them to 
 the falcon while he removes the unfortunate duck. Although this system 
 of duck-hunting involves considerable outlay, it is nevertheless very pro- 
 fitable; from 3,000 to 5,000 Teal having been taken off a single pond 
 in one winter" {Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Natur wnd VoUcerkunde, ii. 
 p. 71). 
 
 The kindness of my friend the Eev. L. B. Cholmondeley enables me 
 to figure the engine already alluded to as the " Kascher " or Duck-net from 
 •a specimen in my own possession. I have also to thank Mr S. Fukishima 
 of Tolfyo for a neat drawing of this net, in further elucidation of its 
 mechanism. 
 
 The net is mounted upon a long bamboo, which is perfectly straight, 
 and measures about four feet six inches in length. The lower end of 
 this handle is furnished with a square block of wood (G). This enables 
 the fowler to balance his net in mid-air, and likewise prevents the smootli 
 bamboo from slipping from his grasp. The upper end of the handle (H) 
 is furnished with a short cross-piece (CC), measuring about ten inches in 
 total length. The net is usually made of fine string, and is of a conical 
 shape at its greatest diameter, gradually passing into a purse-shape. A 
 
THE BECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 267 
 
 Stout line (A) is stretched between the points (KK) of the two straight 
 bamboo rods (BB), each of which 
 measures seven feet six inches. 
 The sides of the net (FP) are 
 furnished with rings, which en- 
 able the net to travel freely 
 along the bamboo rods (BB). 
 These rods (BB) are passed 
 through the two strong rings 
 fixed in the cross-piece (CO), 
 and, crossing one another by a 
 few inches, are firmly bound to 
 the bamboo handle (H) at the 
 point (E). The only free part 
 of the net (D) is secured loosely 
 to the cross-piece by a short 
 string, which catches in a nick 
 provided for that purpose in 
 the centre of the cross-piece. 
 It will be easUy understood 
 that when a Duck, rising from 
 a " Pipe," strikes the middle of 
 this triangular net, the force of 
 its flight jerks out the string 
 by which the pointed side of 
 the net (D) is loosely attached 
 to the cross-piece (CC). The 
 net is thus set free, and being 
 rapidly reversed and held down- 
 
 * This Japanese engine bears a remarkable resemblance to an implement used in 
 the Pelew Isles under the name of the " Sigero-Netzes." The latter consists of a tri- 
 angular net made of Si'5iscM«-fibre, which is suspended between two bamboo rods 
 (2.30 M. in length), and mounted upon a straight handle (measuring 2.77 M.) It has 
 been figured by Kubary {Die Industrie Der Pelau-Insvlaner, Taf. xvi. No. 3), who 
 states that it is principally employed for capturing " Flying Foxes " (Pteropus). The 
 native hunter sits in the middle of a tree, and catches the bats, as they circle round, 
 with his long-handled net. Kubary states that he has taken a Goatsucker (Capri- 
 mulgus phakena) and an Owl {Noctua podargina) by means of this hand -net. 
 
 GO 
 
 Japanese Ddck-Net.* 
 
268 
 
 THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 wards, the sides of the net secured to rings (FF) run down the bamboo 
 rods (BB) to the points (KK). The bird is thus enclosed in a loose bag 
 of meshes, and vainly struggles to regain its liberty. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a lighter or more handy weapon. It would 
 be a mistake, however, to suppose that this invention can be manipulated 
 without long practice. On the contrary, great pains are requisite to 
 develop the necessary skill upon which the value of the " Sakadori-ami," 
 as this net is called in Japan, entirely depends. The native sportsmen 
 
 DUOK-OATOHINO WITH THE " SaKADOBI-AMI. " 
 
 distinguish three variations of the use of their favourite net. The first 
 is to spoon the Duck into the net as the bird is swimming in the water. 
 The second exercise is to catch a Duck as it springs into the air from the 
 surface of a " Pipe." A third feat is to throw a net at a bird which is fly- 
 ing out of reach, and bring it to the ground entangled in the meshes. A 
 common plan of practising with this net requires that one man should 
 stand upon the roof of a house, and throw straw horse-sandals (which are 
 used instead of iron horse-shoes in Japan) into the air, while his mate 
 
THE DECOYS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 269 
 
 endeavours to intercept these articles in his net before they reach the 
 ground. 
 
 The " Sakadori-ami " is not limited in its use to Decoys. It is 
 generally employed by the native fowlers of the Echizen, Kaga, lyo, and 
 other provinces. These men lie in wait upon the edges of morasses in 
 the uncertain light of the gloaming and early dawn, in order that they 
 may secure any flighting fowl that venture within reach of their long- 
 handled nets. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter illustrates the interior of one of the " Pipes " 
 of a Japanese Decoy. It is reproduced, with two smaller engravings, by kind 
 permission of the owners of the Graphic. The tailpiece depicts the use of the 
 Japanese Clap-nets described at page 213.] 
 
CHAPTER XXIX.— CLAP-NETS FOR WILDFOWL. 
 
 THE Delta of the Nile has been the winter resort of millions of Wild- 
 fowl from remote antiquity. Nowadays European sportsmen expend 
 their cartridges upon the surface of the lakes which were in ancient days 
 the happy preserves of the Egyptian fowler. Then, as at the present day, 
 the native plan of capturing Wild-ducks and even Geese was to take the 
 birds in large Clap-nets, which were surrounded with captive decoy-birds. 
 Mr J. H. Gurney tells us that about twenty years ago he found that the 
 fishermen of Lake Menzaleh were in the habit of netting Wigeon and 
 other species of Ducks in Clap-nets similar to those which we find 
 sculptured upon the tombs. All the representations of Egyptian Clap- 
 nets that I have seen reproduced are of the same shape as the Italian net 
 known as the " Aiolo " or " Iscata." This type of Clap-net chiefly differs 
 from the more familiar form of engine only in the fact that the nets are 
 extended in hexagonal form between two strong posts. The nets have 
 two long and four short sides. A good example of this variety, of net is 
 figured by ChampoUion-le Jeune (Monuments de I'Egypte, Vol. iv. Plate 
 
CLAP-NETS FOE WILDFOWL. 271 
 
 cccxciv.) This shows four stalwart men, all naked save for a loin- 
 cloth, standing in single file at a distance from the nets, which they 
 control by means of the long rope which each man grasps with both 
 hands. The central rope is wrapped around a stout post driven into the 
 soil to the rear of the fowlers (" La corde passe autour I'un poteau "). 
 The fowlers, whose business it is to pull the nets, appear to depend for 
 their directions upon a fifth companion, who has hidden himself behind 
 a clump of Papyrus, in the hope of being thus enabled to detect the 
 movements of the Wildfowl unnoticed. Another plate (Vol. ir. No. 
 CLXXXV.) represents a company of seven fowlers in the act of pulling 
 their nets together, under the guidance of their foreman. My friend Mrs 
 H. H. Worthington most kindly photographed for this work a particularly 
 fine example of the ancient Egyptian Clap-net, which she met with at 
 Abydos, in the temple of Seti L, who reigned from 1366-1333 B.C. A 
 variety of Ducks and Geese are represented as being enclosed in the net. 
 Mr Worthington has likewise sent me a sketch drawn by Professor A. M. 
 Worthington of another representation of a Clap-net preserved in a 
 temple at Edfore. These nets are of the usual type used by the ancient 
 fowlers of the Nile valley. In the case of small nets a fowler no doubt 
 worked liis toils single-handed. The Dean of Cairo informs me that 
 Teal are netted in the rice-fields at Damietta. A native clears a small 
 space in the stubble, and heaps up sufiicient earth to form a floor for the 
 extended nets, which are duly staked out. The native then retires to 
 watch the result of his scheme. Wlien the Teal are tired of swimming, 
 they land on the mound of earth, and of course are taken in the nets, 
 which are worked by a pull-line of eighty yards. Mr J. H. Gurney 
 witnessed the manipulation of the Clap-nets of the modern Egyptian. 
 One of his boatmen placed a small Clap-net at the end of an island, and 
 made a kind of cache in which he spent the night. On the following 
 morning he produced a drake Pintail which he had captured in his nets. 
 Mr Gurney gives some interesting particulars as to the netting of Wildfowl 
 on the Nile. The principle of combined labour has always found 
 acceptance in the land of the Pharaohs, and the modern fowlers are no 
 exception to the rule. At the time of Mr Gurney's visit to the Nile the 
 fishermen of Lake Menzaleh were liable to be called upon to supply orders 
 of a thousand live Ducks at a time to the Viceroy. The task of supplying 
 this number was divided, each company of seven boats having to supply 
 
272 CLAP-NETS FOR WILDFOWL. 
 
 about three hundred birds. When fowling operations commenced, the 
 birds were slowly driven by the boatmen to that part of the lake where 
 the nets had previously been laid. " Great care is necessary," writes Mr 
 Gurney, " for if they go too fast or tack too slantingly, the Ducks are up 
 directly, and all their trouble will have been for nothing. The nets are 
 not unlike what were in use among the ancient Egyptians. The men 
 have a rope to pull ; they are concealed on an island, and when they see 
 that the Ducks are in the right place, they all unite their strength, tug at 
 the rope, and entrap them before they have any time to swim further. A 
 couple of forked sticks are seen standing out of the water, and when the 
 Ducks are between them, this indicates that they are in the right place. 
 The net may be about twenty-five yards long ; the rope is at least seventy " 
 (BamUes of a Nahoralist, p. 93). 
 
 The use of Clap-nets for capturing Wildfowl was recognised in Italy 
 as early as the opening of the 14th century. Crescentius of Bologna 
 gives a detailed instruction as to the necessary preparations for capturing 
 Wild Ducks with these engines, which he designates in Latin as the 
 " Panthera." The fowler is advised to choose a situation for his sport 
 in the neighbourhood of a marsh. A trench is prepared as a floor for 
 the nets. It measures from sixteen to twenty-five feet in length, and 
 ten or twelve in breadth. It is intended to hold a few inches of water. 
 A fence is erected around the fowling-floor to keep out wolves, foxes, or 
 any other beasts which might otherwise disturb the birds. Two large Clap- 
 nets are then suspended on long staves, the necessary weight to work the 
 pull-cord being supplied by a large chest full of earth. When pulled, 
 the two nets meet like the sides of a house in the centre, thus enclosing 
 any birds which may happen to have alighted on the water. The fowler 
 carefully trains twelve or sixteen Duclcs to feed in the fowling trench. 
 These decoys induce their wild brethren to resort to their own feeding- 
 ground. The fowler has only to wait for the proper moment to arrive. 
 When the birds have alighted in the trench he pulls the cord and the 
 nets are reversed. The wild birds then fall into the bag of the net or, 
 in other words, flutter to the end of the pit, which terminates in an 
 angular recess, such as has been described in our account of the 
 " Drosselherd." This early form of the Clap-net seems to have been 
 hexagonal, or similar to the Egyptian pattern of Clap-nets. The parti- 
 culars of the trench furnished by Crescentius resemble those supplied 
 
CLAP-NETS FOR WILDFOWL. 273 
 
 by Bargaeus, whose account of a youthful sportsman taking Wildfowl in 
 Clap-nets is full of spirit. On the whole, I am inclined to think that 
 Bargaeus celebrated the subject in verse with material drawn from his 
 own observation. No doubt he was well acquainted with the writings of 
 Crescentius. He may therefore have been influenced by his predecessor ; 
 but not, I think, to any marked degree. Bargaeus explains that the 
 fowling-floor .should be a trench dug on the banks of a river or in the 
 marshes. The pit in question is to be fourteen braccia in length, and 
 the two parallel sides are to gradually taper away like the end of a top 
 ("a guisa Dell 'acuto paleo"). The trench is only to hold a small 
 quantity of water. The Clap-nets are arranged to cover the artificial 
 floor as soon as the wakeful fowler jerks the pull-cord. The surprised 
 fowl then flutter into the narrow termination of the pit, and are 
 despatched by the triumphant sportsman. Neither Di Valli nor Olina 
 figure or even explain the use of Clap-nets for taking Wild Ducks. But 
 an illustrated work {Delle Caccie) was published by Eaimondi at Naples 
 in 1826, only four years after the appearance of the first edition of 
 Olina's Uccdliera. It is a defect of the woodcuts which adorn Eaimondi's 
 small quarto that they are not limited to single subjects. The upper 
 part of one of the plates in this work pictures the employment of Clap- 
 nets for taking Wildfowl. Two fowlers are shown sitting in a log hut, 
 from which they are watching a party of Wild Ducks or Geese. Five of 
 these birds are depicted in the act of alighting beside two captive birds 
 of their own kind which are feeding in the middle of the net. The nets 
 employed are of the usual oblong type, but that on the right hand of the 
 fowlers is rather shorter than the other. The " Solitaire Inventif," 
 writing in 1660, devotes two chapters of the Buses Innocentes to explain- 
 ing how Wild Ducks can be netted with Clap-nets. He remarks that 
 the French nets are the same as those used for catching Plovers, or are 
 identical with the "Nappes" used for taking Ortolans. They must, 
 however, be mounted upon iron staves, and require to be pitched in a 
 foot or at least six inches of water. The upper edges of the nets are 
 also weighted with lead, to assist the fowler in closing them. The 
 success of fowling in this fashion depended upon the birdcatcher being 
 well supplied with tame, full-winged decoys. Seven or eight birds of 
 each sex are required. Some of the females are tethered inside the nets, 
 others are placed on the outside. The males are kept in the hut of the 
 
274 CLAP-NETS FOE WILDFOWL. 
 
 fowler. When a flock of Wild Ducks makes its appearance the fowler 
 releases one of the Drakes, which at once flies off and circles round the 
 spot with the strangers. Hearing the quack of his tethered mate, the 
 wild decoy-drake alights beside his mate on the water, followed by the 
 unsuspecting fowl to which he has just joined company. If the first 
 Drake liberated fails to execute the desired manoeuvre, the fowler throws 
 out another and then another until the strategy is completely successful. 
 When the company have all alighted within the toils, the fowlers exert 
 their strength to pull the levers, and the sides of the nets are reversed, 
 enclosing the coveted booty. The decoy-birds are marked by pieces of 
 cloth attached to their legs, in order that they may be distinguished 
 from the newly-caught birds when the latter are killed. 
 
 The Clap-net seems to have been used by old English fowlers to cap- 
 ture wildfowl. Gervase Markham instructs his readers how to set a 
 single Clap-net in the haunts of wildfowl. The engine employed " would 
 be not above two fadome deep at the most, and six in length." This net 
 was " verged on each side with very strong cord, and at each side ex- 
 tended out stiff upon long poles." When the fowler had arranged his 
 net, he covered it with grass, to hide it " from the view of the Fowle, for 
 they are subtill, and upon the least dislike are gone suddenly : when 
 things are thus fitted, you shall lye close and watch their feeding time, 
 and if you shall close by your Net stake down a live Heron (formerly 
 taken) for a Stale, & to entice the Fowle within your danger it will be 
 better, making her now & then to flutter her wings, and thus the Fowle 
 comming unto their haunt, and feeding up and down as their natures are, 
 as soone as you perceive a competent number come within the danger of 
 your Net, you may draw your Cord suddenly, and cast the Net over them, 
 and so take at your pleasure, and thus you may doe till the Sunne bee 
 almost halfe an houre high, but not after" {Hunger's Prevention, p. 16). 
 
 Mr Blaauw assures me that Clap-nets are used in Holland for cap- 
 turing Wigeon. These birds feed on grass and love to frequent wet 
 meadows. The birdcatcher lays his nets in the favourite resort of the 
 Wigeon, and entices them within reach by the agency of call-birds. The 
 Germans seem to have adhered most tenaciously to the mediaeval custom 
 of netting wildfowl in the " Entenherd." Brehm discusses the formation 
 of this institution with much gusto. He observes that the fittings of an 
 " Entenherd " or Fowling-floor for wildfowl cost at least 300 thalers. It 
 
CLAP-NETS FOK WILDFOWL. 275 
 
 is therefore necessary to consider whether such an enterprise is likely to 
 prove remunerative. The fowler requires to work his nets from a suit- 
 able hut. This is built over the water, near to or at a short distance 
 from the shore. It stands upon posts, which are driven deep into the 
 bottom of the lake. If the fowler can obtain oaken posts, he secures a 
 material that will not rot. The hut is connected with dry land by a 
 small bridge, and is concealed from view by reeds or sedges. The bottom 
 upon which the nets have to lie must be made level. If it is very 
 muddy, or too deep, the fowler constructs an artificial floor of green turf 
 upon which the nets can rest. The machinery of the Clap-nets is identical 
 with that already explained in the description of the " Drosselherd," but as 
 the bottom of the pond is soft, the stakes which secure the nets require to 
 be of greater length than those adopted on terra firma. The tension-beams 
 must possess great elasticity, in order that the nets may be pulled together 
 upon the water with the necessary rapidity. The fowler cannot work such 
 formidable nets without preliminary practice, by which he obtains the neces- 
 sary knack. Accordingly, he makes it his business to exercise his skill in 
 pulling the nets over a wooden dummy which is fixed on a stake in the 
 fowling-floor. He thus learns by degrees to gauge distances accurately, and 
 to recognise whether a wild bird is swimming within reach of his toils. 
 
 The fowler generally wears strong hide boots greased with fat. In 
 default of such waders, he may content himself with encasing his ex- 
 tremities in wooden boots, somewhat similar in shape to a German churn. 
 In these the fowler can wade all over the decoy, provided he has acquired 
 the practice necessary to keep himself from falUng. Such implements 
 were formerly in use at the Siebleber ponds, near Gotha. Brehm remarks 
 that one of the advantages of the " Entenherd " is the variety of birds 
 which can be taken within its limits. Thus, for example, a clever fowler 
 will find means of netting Geese, Herons, Water Eails, Sandpipers, and 
 other aquatic species from his hut. Sometimes even the Marsh Harriers 
 will be found to hover within reach of the net. 
 
 But the fowler stands in need of much patience, for there will be 
 many mornings on which no birds are taken. Kot only must the fowler 
 watch his nets with vigilance, in readiness to avail himself of every 
 opportunity, but he depends also upon the assistance of decoy-ducks for 
 complete success. If the fowler has not supplied himself with domesti- 
 cated individuals of the Wild Mallard, he selects tame birds that bear 
 
276 CLAP-NETS FOR WILDFOWL. 
 
 the closest possible resemblance to wild ones. He keeps a couple of 
 these decoys in his hut. When he sees the wild birds flighting round 
 but unwilUng to alight on the fowling-fioor, he opens the window of the 
 hut and lets out a tame bird which cannot fly, but falls down into the 
 centre of the nets. The fowler then releases a second bird, which, of 
 course, joins the first. The wild birds imagine that the decoys are 
 voluntarily resting on the fowling-floor, and proceed to follow their 
 example. The fowler now takes a cautious glance round the pool. The 
 more nimble species of Ducks, such as the Pintail, Gad wall, Wigeon, and 
 Shoveller, generally manage to make their escape if they happen to be 
 sitting in the middle of the nets when the fowler closes these engines. 
 Consequently, if the fowler ascertains that examples of any of the fore- 
 going are visitors to his waters, he takes care to allow them to swim 
 right and left, so that they can be distinguished near the dummy or 
 " mark-duck." Adopting this precaution, he is able to enclose the birds 
 in the nets by pulling these last together at the proper moment. 
 
 India is such an immense country, that methods of fowling may be 
 common in one presidency and quite unknown in another. In some 
 parts of India large numbers of Teal {Querquedula crecca) and a good 
 many Garganey {Querquedula ciroia) are netted for the use of Europeans, 
 who keep quantities of these birds in artificial enclosures to supply the 
 demands of the commissariat. Hume and others state that, of the Teal 
 procured for such purposes, a considerable proportion are captured by 
 means of large " Flap-nets " or Clap-nets, worked in shallow water. The 
 Chinese also use the Clap-net in certain provinces. Swatow is the great 
 place in China for wildfowl, and no doubt a large portion of the Wild 
 Ducks sent to the market of that city are taken in Clap-nets. 
 
 Mr E. A. Currie writes to me that he was introduced to this form of 
 Celestial fowling by an accident. " One day," he says, " when shooting 
 on the marsh at Ching-Shui-Ho, I winged two geese, and while incautiously 
 following them across the marsh, got bogged. The marsh consisted of 
 fluid mud, covered with tangled weeds, through which I had gone up to 
 the shoulders, managing to keep myself from sinking entirely by spread- 
 ing out my arms and gun on the top of the weeds. Prom this unpleasant 
 position I was rescued with some difficulty by a man in a tub, who took 
 me to a large patch of reeds in the middle of the marsh, where there was 
 a hut made of, and concealed in, the reeds. In the course of conversation 
 
CLAP-NETS FOB WILDFOWL. 
 
 277 
 
 he told me that he was a duck-netter, and through a rude window pointed 
 out a patch of water about 20 yards long by 15 wide, on which five or 
 six decoys were swimming about. The two nets, he said, were lying just 
 under the water, and the tops of the poles on which they worked were 
 just visible. When a number of ducks, attracted by the decoys, alighted 
 on the water, the nets were pulled by two bamboo ropes about an inch 
 in diameter, which were led into the hut. The nets clapped down on 
 them and the birds were caught, — so he said. It was very hard to get 
 any information out of him, as a Chinaman is very suspicious and does 
 not understand anyone's wishing to know a thing for the sake of knowing 
 it, and he probably thought that I would be starting a rival net. He 
 refused to pull the net to let me see how it worked, and would not let 
 me do it. The decoys were wild ducks, reared from eggs found in the 
 marsh. The roof of the hut had reeds stuck in it upright, so as to be 
 indistinguishable from above by ducks coming to the decoys. When I 
 had scraped off most of the mud with which I was covered, the man put 
 me on a path made of reeds laid on the tangled weeds, and begged me 
 not to shoot in the neighbourhood." 
 
 [The headpiece is reproduced from Eaimondi's work, Delle Caccie. The 
 tailpiece illustrates the sport of Rev^rbfere described on page 294.] 
 
 '\ <f^, 
 
 ;|jil!l-f^^ 
 
 
 
 — *&* 
 
 
 Wr -i -^ 
 
 
CHAPTEE XXX.— FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 THE practice of stretching perpendicular nets in the line of flight 
 which Ducks are observed to adopt in journeying to and from their 
 favourite feeding-grounds finds employment for the fowlers of many 
 lands. The Japanese are as clever in netting Wildfowl as in taking 
 them with birdlime. Captain Blakiston remarks that numbers of netted 
 Wild Ducks are brought for sale to Hakodadi. " For Ducks and Teal," 
 he adds, " the usual method is to clear away the grass from a swamp for 
 a space of about 35 by 20 yards, so as to form a clear surface of open 
 water, likely to attract the birds at feeding-time. Across this several 
 nets are stretched, which are fastened to cords attached to stakes on either 
 side, and hung vertically over the water, being about two feet above it at 
 the bottom and about 6 feet high. The net is made of fine twine, and 
 with large meshes, so that it is not easily seen, and easily entangles the 
 birds when they fly against it in skimming over the surface of the pool 
 before alighting. The evening is the principal time for the operation, 
 and men sit watching the nets from small turf huts or screens made of 
 branches. These duck-catchers mostly occupy themselves in cutting 
 grass during the day. In October I saw a great many of these places, 
 
FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 279 
 
 and probably the same plan is adopted in the spring " (Ibis, 1862, p. 332). 
 
 The usage just described appears to be nearly or quite identical with 
 
 Duck-catching by means of what our Japanese writer calls the " Harikiri- 
 
 net," intended to catch "Wildfowl on dark nights, though the engine 
 
 described under this title is of greater size than the nets which Captain 
 
 Blakiston met with. The " Harikiri - net " has a square mesh. It 
 
 measures from 90 to 120 feet in length, and from 7 feet to 10 
 
 feet deep. The net is stationed in a rice-field, moat, or pond to which 
 
 Wildfowl resort regularly. The net is strained between tall bamboo 
 
 posts, and the lower portion forms a bag into which the birds flutter 
 
 down after striking the net. Several similar nets may be pitched in a 
 
 favourable spot. The Japanese fowler watches his nets to prevent the 
 
 foxes from tearing the birds out of such nets as happen to be extended 
 
 at the side of the water. When any birds are meshed, the fowler wades 
 
 into the water and places them in a circular basket, which is covered 
 
 with network and slung over his right shoulder. The Japanese are also 
 
 practised in the manipulation of nets worked by pulleys. The engine 
 
 employed for this purpose is the " Okoshi-net." It is not intended for 
 
 the plain, but for an elevated summit. The fowler chooses the brow of 
 
 a mountain which is occupied on both sides by rice-fields, ponds, or 
 
 marshy grounds. He erects two great posts on the ridge of the hill. A 
 
 long hempen net, made of two square inches' mesh, 40 feet in depth and 
 
 150 feet in length, is extended between the posts. The net is provided 
 
 with pulleys, by means of which it can be raised or lowered at the 
 
 desire of the birdcatcher. The net is worked by two men, one of 
 
 whom is stationed at each end of the net. From October to the end 
 
 of spring the flocks of Wildfowl are found to cross the summit of the hill 
 
 at dusk, and again in the grey light of breaking day. The men watch 
 
 for the right opportunity to hoist the net from the ground. A leader 
 
 (in winter a male, in spring a female bird) usually heads the main body 
 
 of Wildfowl that wing their swishing flight from one marsh to another. 
 
 The fowler is careful to hoist the net as soon as the first bird or the first 
 
 few birds have passed. He thus intercepts the main body of Wild Ducks 
 
 as they follow in the wake of the pioneer. The " Yakkiri Ami " is 
 
 brought into operation with a view of capturing both Wild Geese and 
 
 Wild Ducks when passing through the passes of the mountains. The 
 
 net in question is nearly identical with the " Okoshi-net." The fowler 
 
280 FLIGHT-NETTIKG IN JAPAN. 
 
 chooses as the scene of his labour a narrow mountain gorge which he has 
 ascertained to be a connection between two different haunts of Wild 
 Ducks. Instead of fixing the pulleys of the net to strong posts, he 
 secures these implements to the highest trees that happen to grow on 
 either side of the pass. If trees are absent, the pulleys are fastened to 
 the sides of the rocks which unite to hem in the gorge between their 
 opposing flanks. The ropes which span the space through which the 
 birds are expected to pass are attached to the net by being threaded 
 through a series of rings made of deer's horn or bamboo. The double 
 cords which bear the weight of the toils pass through the pulleys, and 
 are secured at the bottom of the trees. The net, when not in operation, 
 is allowed to rest on the ground, or on the stubble, should the net happen 
 to be stretched over a cultivated field. When the passage of birds is 
 imminent, the watchful fowlers instantly hoist the nets, and thus arrest 
 the impetuous flight of the surprised birds, which anticipate no obstacle 
 to their favourite course. The consternation of the birds which suddenly 
 find their favourite defile blocked by a vast net, and have no time to 
 retrieve their fatal error, must be tragic. The fowlers allow their victims 
 no chance of escape ; as soon as the main flock of Ducks or Geese has 
 flown against the nets the ropes are slackened, and the nets fall to the 
 ground, enclosing the fluttering prisoners in their treacherous meshes. 
 The length and depth of the nets employed vary according to the 
 requirements of each valley ; but a net is often 30 feet in height, and 
 may be as much as 162 feet in breadth. The same method is brought 
 to bear upon wildfowling on the banks of ponds and in other open 
 situations. But in the latter case the nets have to be fixed between 
 posts instead of between growing trees. If this kind of net is used in an 
 ordinary situation, such as a wet swamp or inland lake, the birds are first 
 allowed to settle for the evening on the water. When the fowl have 
 descended without fear, and are in full enjoyment of their customary 
 quiet, the fowlers left in charge of the net silently hoist the folds of 
 meshes between the supports. A third man is then sent to drive the 
 birds, which he endeavours to direct into the net. As soon as the birds 
 come into contact with the opposing nets, the fowlers haul down their 
 nets. The birds and nets fall prone together, to be disentangled by the 
 birdcatchers. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing observations that the Japanese 
 
FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 281 
 
 fowler is equally adept at capturing Wildfowl with fixed nets and with 
 those which are hoisted into position by a carefully devised system of 
 weights and pulleys, the latter system not being confined in action to 
 the swamps of the plain, but being practised on the spurs and in the 
 defiles of the mountains. Of course, the details of the nets differ in the 
 various islands which compose the kingdom of the Mikado. Whether 
 these nets are actually indigenous to Japan in their origin I am unable 
 at present to decide. But there can be no doubt that the use of the 
 flight-net is understood in certain Chinese provinces. Mr 0. B. Eickett 
 reports that the fowlers of the Min Eiver catch Duck and Teal by 
 planting perpendicular nets on the muddy islets in the tideway, sup- 
 ported between thin bamboo uprights. The birds enter the nets during 
 the night-time. Allusion has already been made to the circumstance that 
 the Australian blacks are practised in netting Waterfowl in nets that 
 span their creeks and rivers. It may not be out of place to remark that 
 the Colonials adopt a similar course of tactics. Mr Arthur Kemp favours 
 me with the following remarks contained in a letter dated from Bendigo, 
 Victoria, 1895 : — "The following is one method practised with consider- 
 able success on our northern creeks and billabongs. A large net, the 
 width of the stream where operations are to be carried on, and about 
 thirty feet in depth, with something like a two-inch mesh, is stretched 
 across and secured to a tree on either bank, the lower part of the net 
 being a couple of feet from the water. It is provided with two rows of 
 pockets, one a little above the centre, and the other near the bottom, the 
 lower ones being larger [that is wider], and generally a little deeper, than 
 the ones above. In the evening and early morning, and also during the 
 night, the ducks very frequently tly at a tremendous pace close to the 
 surface of the water, following the creeks either up or down, and from their 
 great velocity are powerless to stop themselves before reaching the net, 
 even if it is observed. They strike the net with great force and usually 
 get their necks caught at the first rush ; but as a rule they seem to get 
 clear of where they first strike, and, after a more or less protracted 
 struggle, fall back into the pockets, when they become hopelessly 
 entangled and are secured by the netter in the morning. Most of the 
 ducks are practically unhurt and the netter places them in crates until 
 he has sufiBcient for his purpose, or sees the opportunity of a favourable 
 market, when they are killed by means of a large strong needle which 
 
282 PLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 leaves no mark. All kinds are caught in this way, but mainly they 
 consist of Black Duck [Anas sujoerciliosa], Teal [ = Chesnut-breasted 
 Duck (Anas castaTiea)], Wigeon [? Whistling-Tree-Duck {Bendrocygna 
 gouldi)\, and Wood Duck [ = Maned Goose (Bernida Juhata)], all of 
 which are firstclass birds. The sportsman and the men who catch 
 ducks in this manner are anything but the best of friends, so the netter 
 is cautious enough to remove his nets in the daytime, as even if it is 
 proved to be legal he stands a very fair chance of having to provide a 
 new net whenever a gun appears on the scene. The only other way I 
 know of getting ducks in a wholesale manner is by means of the swivel- 
 gun, and I suppose this, though against the law, is carried on wherever 
 wildfowl are numerous." The great lakes of India afford a winter home 
 to myriads of the Wildfowl which annually rear their young among the 
 lonely tundras of Siberia. It is natural, therefore, that many of those 
 which wing their way from Arctic frost to Indian sunshine should 
 surrender their liberty to the wiles of the native shikaree. Mr A. 0. 
 Hume says that the nets used for flight -catching are made of two-inch 
 mesh, which is the size of mesh generally used elsewhere. The Indian 
 net is about fourteen feet in depth, and measures a hundred yards in 
 length. As many as half-a-dozen nets may be used in conjunction in a 
 suitable locality for fowling. Each net is mounted upon twenty-one 
 strong and light bamboos. These supports are sixteen feet long, and are 
 painted a dull lead colour. The net is dyed with a weak solution of 
 indigo. The fowlers carry their engines to some shallow Jheel which 
 they know to be much resorted to by Wild Ducks. There arrived, they 
 proceed to erect their toils in the water, at a distance of at least one 
 hundred yards from the shore. Each sheet of netting takes twenty-five 
 minutes to erect in the desired position. As each section of the wall of 
 network is completed the lower folds of the net are thrown up over the 
 upper margin of the same, so that any fowl which happen to be spend- 
 ing the hours of daylight on the lake can swim to and fro beneath the 
 toils without suspecting danger. Just at dusk, and before the various 
 species of water birds begin to arrive at their various rendezvous, the 
 fowlers pull down the underside of the netting, so that it hangs per- 
 pendicular. The sport does not begin as soon as the Ducks return to 
 their beloved morasses. An interval of time is allowed to permit the birds 
 to settle down comfortably to their evening meal. About 8 or 9 p.m. the 
 
FLIGHT-NETTING tN JAPAN. 283 
 
 fowlers enter the water at a distance from the nets. When possible each 
 fowler provides himself with a living screen in the shape of a trained 
 buffalo, and walks slowly backwards and forwards at right angles to the 
 direction in which the birds are to be driven. The fowlers are always 
 approaching nearer and nearer to the birds, which swim steadily in the 
 direction of the long wall of netting in front of them. When the bulk 
 of the Waterfowl has been forced within a short distance of the netting 
 the leader of the party fires a gun. At this signal the whole company 
 of beaters shout, splash, and run towards the nets. The birds spring up 
 into the air in wild perturbation, and many of their number find them- 
 selves detained by the meshes of the nets. A fowler who drives a tame 
 buifalo before him can approach within ten yards of the Wild Ducks, 
 since these birds are accustomed to regard the buffalo without concern. 
 Great quantities of Wildfowl are captured also in Northern Persia, 
 particularly on the shores of the Caspian Sea. 
 
 Holmes records that he met with the nets of the fowlers among 
 extensive banks of reeds. The men passed the night in small reed huts. 
 Two methods of taking the birds were found by this traveller to be in 
 vogue on the southern shores of the Caspian. The first of these was a 
 modification of the Clap-net, such as we know to be resorted to in some 
 other localities. " A large net," says Holmes, " is fixed upright, and kept 
 in that position by a long cord held by the fowler, who is concealed 
 among the high reeds. Decoy-ducks are placed within its range, and on 
 the Wildfowl alighting among them, the string is let go, and the net 
 falling over the birds makes them fly upwards, when they are caught in 
 the meshes." The other method adopted by the fishermen whom Holmes 
 visited was that of perpendicular Flight-nets, such as have been already 
 described in this chapter. " In many places near the coast are extensive 
 swamps, the resort in winter of immense numbers of wildfowl, where 
 long nets are suspended to high poles in various directions, and below 
 them are placed decoy-ducks, tied by the legs to a short piece of twine, 
 which is fixed by a peg in the bottom. During the night the wildfowl 
 are attracted by the cry of the tame birds, and flying low, are caught by 
 the neck in the meshes of the net " (Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian, 
 p. 67). Vast numbers of Wild Ducks are annually netted in the wilds 
 of Siberia by means of nets suspended in the line which the birds strike 
 in crossing from one to another of the forest lakes. Biesickierski writes 
 
284 
 
 FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 to me that he has a pleasurable recollection of this form of fowling, with 
 which he became acquainted in the government of Tomsk. " When two 
 large lakes," he adds, " lie close together and are both surrounded by a 
 forest, the inhabitants take advantage of such a situation in the following 
 
 Diagram of Siberian Net. 
 
 manner. 
 
 They make a clearing, fifteen paces wide in the narrow part 
 of the wood which separates the two adjacent lakes. In the middle 
 of the clearing they fix two strong posts (provided with pulleys), 
 
FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 285 
 
 Wood, 
 
 Diagram of Clearing between two Lakes. 
 
 which are driven firmly into the ground, so that the tops of the poles 
 are on a level with the summit of the adjacent trees. The fowlers 
 . . _ attach a Flisht-net to the two 
 
 ""■ • * puUeys, so that the net can he 
 
 lowered or raised at pleasure. 
 The net is nearly as wide as 
 the clearing itself, so that the 
 latter is completely divided by 
 the net. In the spring a very 
 great number of wild ducks are 
 caught by this arrangement, 
 locally called ' Pierewies.' Most 
 of them are caught in the twi- 
 light, and just before daylight. 
 During the night but few are 
 caught, and in the daytime the wild drakes see the apparatus too well to 
 be caught in it. When the birds, flying from one lake to another, strike 
 against the outspread net, the man who attends to the pulleys suddenly 
 lets the net fall to the ground, thus covering the birds entangled in it. 
 To satisfy my own curiosity, I took part several times in such expeditions, 
 and always witnessed satisfactory results ; for, from twenty to forty birds 
 were taken each night. Such an arrangement, if fixed in a good locality, 
 is highly prized, and according to local custom becomes private property, 
 passing from father to son." 
 
 The experiences of Mr Eiesickierski are independently corroborated 
 by Dr Otto Finsch {Beise nach West-Siberien im Jahre, 1876, pp. 603-4). 
 " In the thickets near the shore," writes Finsch, " clearings are often seen, 
 leading from the river bed to some open water farther away. These 
 openings (' Plochi '), cut out in the wood, are by the waterside furnished 
 with nets about 60-70 feet long and 70-100 feet wide, fastened to the 
 trees at either side. When the ducks that are fond oi using these paths, 
 fly against the net, it falls down and makes them prisoners. This method 
 of capturing ducks is followed during the time of migration from the 8 th 
 to the 15 th of May, and from the 15th of August until the month of 
 October. They are taken in great numbers in the early morning and 
 late in the evening, though also in moonlight nights and by day. Even 
 at this time the birdcatcher will not be noticed by the ducks, though 
 
286 FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 sitting only a few paces from the net and not very Carefully hidden. 
 Fifty ducks are often caught in one night in the same net. It often 
 happens that Cranes and Swans are caught in the meshes, and this is not 
 a pleasant surprise to the birdcatcher, as they generally tear the net. 
 The Ostiaks have a very simple way of killing the ducks as they break 
 their necks with the teeth. The great number of ducks caught in this 
 way, and dried in the smoke of the Tschum, — a method that does not 
 make them very tempting to the appetite, — serves as food in winter. 
 Our guide was present when one hundred ducks were taken in such a 
 net, and declared that the spoil often amounted to several hundred birds. 
 . . . Later naturalists have also stated that lassos or slings (' Plenizi ') 
 are used with advantage in the capture of ducks. The Siberian peasants 
 generally fumigate them with worm-wood to protect them against the 
 ' Evil Eye,' a superstition common among the Ostiaks." 
 
 The system just described is not peculiar to Siberia, or the Urals. 
 Mr N"orman Douglass writes to me that "in parts of Eussia — Voronsh, 
 Orenburg, &c. — large nets are loosely hung to two poles by the two 
 upper corners ; cords are fixed to these, passing through rings that are 
 loosely fixed to the tops of the poles. These nets are stretched at dusk 
 across some narrow path between two woods, where the birds are accus- 
 tomed to pass towards night from their feeding grounds. They fly low 
 at dusk, and strike the net. The sportsman loosens his hold of the cord, 
 and the net drops and entangles the fowl. Decoys are also employed, 
 but not apparently very systematically ; they are most usual in the Polish 
 provinces." 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that it is only in the interior of 
 Northern Europe that Flightrnets are employed for taking wildfowl. 
 Prior to the invention of gunpowder, nets were systematically used on 
 the coasts of Scandinavia, for the purpose of providing the resident 
 peasants with their share of feathered spoil. Odmann states {Kongelig 
 Patriotiska Sallahapets Hushallnings Journal for 1786, p. 310) that the 
 Samoyedes seem to have carried their bird-catching devices from Siberia 
 to the shore of the White Sea, where they were practised at the time of 
 Olaus Magnus. The bird-net has, however, been used so long on the 
 Swedish coast, that it is named in the oldest Swedish game-laws as being 
 " the right of the coast peasants." The use of the Swedish net is based 
 on the fact that many species of waterfowl pass the night on the sea, but 
 
FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 287 
 
 repair at sunrise to the islets near the coast to seek their food in shallow 
 waters between the islands. The birds mostly flight at a height of only 
 six or eight feet above the water, and usually steer a similar course. The 
 net which is, or was, employed measures four fathoms in depth, and from 
 thirty to one hundred fathoms in length. It is made of strong thread, 
 with four-inch meshes. The upper margin of the net is furnished with 
 rings placed at intervals of a yard apart. The net is stretched over the 
 narrow sound between two islands. A post called " Bakslags-stangen," 
 thirty feet in height, is placed on one of the islets. To this a rope is 
 secured, and afterwards drawn as tight as possible in a line to the adjoin- 
 ing island, where it is fastened round another similar post to the first, 
 called " Fallstangen." When the folds of the net have been hauled into 
 position, the net hangs like a curtain across the narrow strait, and bars 
 the flight of any birds that try to pass that way. Pulleys are attached 
 to the net. As soon as the fowlers see a flock of Eiders {Somateria mol- 
 lissima) or Long-tailed Ducks {Harelda glacialis) wheeling up to the net, 
 which is invisible to the birds in the broken light, the men slacken the 
 ropes and the net falls on the birds just as they enter its meshes ; con- 
 sequently the net falls into the sea, bearing with it the fowl which have 
 become entangled in its folds. If the net is not lowered as the birds 
 strike its meshes, there is a probability that some birds will break through 
 and make their escape. The most favourable moment for this form of 
 fowling is when a light breeze is blowing. The net cannot be worked 
 successfully in stormy weather. 
 
 In former days our English fowlers used Flight-nets to catch wildfowl, 
 which then frequented our brooks and rivers in greater numbers than in 
 the present era of punt-guns. 
 
 Gervase Markham, who, by the way, was a Nottinghamshire man, 
 advises his reader to use triple nets for the purpose of such fowling : 
 " These Nets shall be lined on both sides with false Nets of strong pack- 
 thread, every mash being very neare a foot and a halfe square each way, 
 that as the fowl striketh either through them or against them, so the 
 smaller Net may passe through the great mashes, & so straiten and in- 
 tangle the Fowle." He adds that these long and narrow nets were to be 
 "pitched for the Evening flight of Fowle, before Sunne set; and you 
 shall stake them fast downe on each side of the Eiver, about half a foote 
 within the water, the lower side of the Net being so plumd that it may 
 
288 FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 sinke so farre ; and no more, then for the upper side of the Net, you 
 shall place it slantwise shoaling against the water, yet not touching the 
 water hy a foot and a halfe at the least ; and the strings which supports 
 and holds up this upper side of the Net shall be fastned to small yeelding 
 sticks, prickt in the banke, which as the Fowle striketh may yeeld and 
 give libertie to the Net to runne and intangle the Fowle." 
 
 Sometimes the old-fashioned sportsman, having set his nets, fired a 
 few shots in neighbouring localities, with the view of driving the birds to 
 seek their food in the undisturbed retreats which were already encircled 
 with his slanting nets. Simple as were the devices for netting birds 
 practised by Master Gervase Markham and his contemporaries, it would 
 be an error to suppose that no innovations were introduced, as time 
 passed, from foreign parts. 
 
 The Pochard has long been a numerous winter visitor to the Essex 
 coast. Its superior craft and pertinacity in escaping from the machina- 
 tions of the decoy-man led to the adoption of a Dutch mode of compassing 
 its capture. I refer to the " Flight-pond," described in the fifteenth 
 chapter of Folkard's well-known work, The Wild Fowler. The idea 
 seems to have found its first initiation at Mersea in Essex, and to have 
 been extended to Goldhanger and the Old Hall Decoy, ToUesbury, in that 
 county, and to Brantham in Suffolk. 
 
 Dr J. H. Salter writes to me that he has shot and rented the Old 
 Hall Decoy for nearly thirty years. He considers Folkard's description 
 of Pochard-netting to be substantially exhaustive. The custom of netting 
 Pochards became obsolete at the Old Hall Decoy prior to his own tenancy. 
 " Some remnants of the poles and irons still lie about in the Decoy yard." 
 He adds that the outline of catching Pochards in the " Flight-ponds " was 
 as follows : " Seeing that these birds, which collect in large quantities on 
 this coast in winter, cannot by reason of their formation, rise quickly 
 into the air, like ducks, but skim the water for a certain distance before 
 getting into their flight, nets of about 50 yards long by 18 feet deep, 
 were placed on poles, so fixed and adjusted by weights that they could 
 be quickly moved up and down by the aid of ropes and pulleys ; so that, 
 as soon as the fowl were flushed and made to fly in the direction of the 
 nets, the nets were raised and thus intercepted their flight, the birds 
 tumbling down in scores and at the foot of the net, where receptacles 
 were made ready for their reception and from which they could not 
 
FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 289 
 
 escape. Hundreds used to be taken in this way at a single haul." The 
 illustration given at page 89 of Folkard's Wild Fowler explains the 
 peculiar formation of a " Might-pond." It will be seen that four Plight- 
 nets were provided, in order that the fowlers might be able to take the 
 Pochards with any wind. The first birds which reached the net were 
 allowed to pass over in order to encourage their following, which struck 
 the net just as it was newly hoisted into a perpendicular position from 
 its usual horizontal plane between the posts to which it is lashed. 
 Enclosures called "Pens," made of reed screens, occupied the bank 
 between the net and the water. When the Pochards struck the meshes 
 of the net, they fluttered down pell-mell into the " Pens." 
 
 Mr W. Sewell writes to me that " We have not done any Dunbird 
 catching at our Decoy, never having as a rule many in the pond, never 
 more than from 20 to 50 except one year, — in 1870, — when we had 
 from 700 to 800. They drove all our other birds out. Not being able 
 to catch them owing to their diving, we shot them, shooting over 70 the 
 first day and over 200 in all, as they persisted in returning every day 
 for over a week." This relates to the TilHngham Decoy. 
 
 Not only are Pochards difficult birds to take in a Decoy, but Mr 
 Southwell says that they inspire other birds with their own restlessness. 
 I cannot say that I have found the Pochard to be a more fidgety species 
 than any other species of Wild Duck ; but, then, I have only met with 
 small flocks of Pochards, which are doubtless more easy to approach than 
 large flocks of the same species. I imagine that the live Smews which 
 are sometimes imported into this country must be taken in similar nets 
 to those just described ; indeed, it is almost impossible to take these shy, 
 diving Ducks in any other way. 
 
 In Greece the Plight-net is a simple affair, being a long net stretched 
 perpendicularly between two beds of reeds in the marshes which are 
 resorted to by wildfowl. Lindermayer gives an interesting explanation 
 of the manner in which the Greeks drive the birds into their staked nets : 
 " The Kopai lake covers several square miles, and is overgrown with flags, 
 and rushes ; in this wilderness of rank vegetation there are long passages 
 of open water, these being too deep to allow the water-plants to take 
 root. When the winter approaches, these places are fitted with nets 
 made for that purpose ; and on the evenings when the snow drives the 
 Ducks down, a couple of boats are manned, each being provided with a 
 
 T 
 
290 
 
 FLIGHT-NETTING IN JAPAN. 
 
 lantern and bell. These boats are rowed from different directions to the 
 place where the nets stand ; the Ducks do not fly but swim away from 
 the sound of the bell and the light, until they get entangled in the nets. 
 Not only are Thebes and Livadia supplied with abundance of Wild Ducks 
 from thence, but several hundreds have been sent to Athens in one day " 
 {Die Vogel Griechenland, p. 161). These remarks are supplied in Linder- 
 mayer's account of the Mallard, which seems to be the commonest species 
 of Duck in the marshes of that country. Other species of Anatidce are 
 no doubt taken along with the Mallards. 
 
 [The headpiece is reproduced from a Japanese work — Illustrated Methods of 
 Hunting.^ 
 
CHAPTER XXXL— NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 IT has long been the custom of seafaring men to sink nets under water 
 on purpose to entangle Scoters (CEdemia) and other members of the 
 IhiliffulincB when diving in search of the MoUusca which form so large 
 a portion of their subsistence. The ancient practice of the Chinese 
 duck-catchers of the Min River was more advanced than that of most 
 other fowlers. Mr Rickett observes that their hereditary usage has 
 become obsolete in consequence of the modern supply of guns. Formerly 
 the Chiaaman spread his net " parallel to the surface at low water and 
 the fowler concealed himself near by, armed with a piece of wood, a board 
 about a foot square, weighted with lead. The Teal drifted in on the 
 rising tide, and as soon as a party of them were over the net, the man 
 skimmed the weighted board over the birds, which, mistaking it for a 
 Hawk, dived, and were entangled in the net below." This method was 
 followed in the Fohkien province. It recalls the practice of the 
 
292 NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 Australian blacks mentioned at page 236. The Italians also are familiar 
 with the principle of frightening birds into a net by the descent of an 
 imaginary Hawk. Sometimes they used an artificial Kite to drive even 
 small birds into the " Spider-net." But it does not seem to have occurred 
 to the wit of the Tuscan wildfowler to have recourse to a similar strategy. 
 He is accustomed, nevertheless, to capture large quantities of Diving 
 Ducks, chiefly Tufted Ducks (Fuligula cristata), with a submerged net, 
 known as " Delia rete sott' aqua." This engine consists of a great, wide- 
 meshed net, furnished with a series of cork floats, so that the upper 
 portion may lie on the surface of the water. This net is held suspended 
 by four or more ropes, which are attached to its several corners. It is 
 also weighted with stones or pieces of lead, to facilitate its being lowered 
 to the requisite depth. The fowlers are careful to ascertain the precise 
 spot at which the "uccelli da tuffo" ( = Diving-ducks) are accustomed to 
 feed. The birds descend to seek their food at the bottom of the water. 
 As they return to the surface many of them dart into the meshes of the 
 net, from which they vainly struggle to extricate themselves. A similar 
 practice is, or was, carried out upon the shores of Schleswig, the wild 
 birds being lured to the spot by artificial decoys. These are sometimes 
 used as floats for the nets. Otherwise they are moored upon the water 
 in the vicinity. The net requisitioned for this purpose measures, says 
 Heins, at least forty fathoms in length, and is spread out in such a way 
 that it stands vertically in the water. Care is taken to prevent the 
 vertical net from being too tightly stretched, lest it should be damaged 
 by the waves dashing against the dummies. Two other nets are laid at 
 some distance from the first net, which they exceed in size. These nets 
 are set on either side of the first net, forming a bow, the ends of which 
 touch the ends of the vertical net, thus making a complete enclosure. 
 The two outer nets are entirely under water, buoyed up by small floats 
 of wood or hollow tin, which are not visible on the surface of the sea. 
 The Sea Ducks join company to their imaginary companions, and soon 
 commence to search for shellfish at the bottom of the sea. Some of the 
 birds avoid the nets, but many of their number are entangled in the 
 walls of network which hem them in. The fishermen of Heligoland are 
 adepts at capturing the Common Scoter (CEdemia nigra) and other salt- 
 water fowl by means of nets. Herr Gaetke states that even the White- 
 eyed Duck (Fuligula nyroca) has been taken in the waters of his island 
 
NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 293 
 
 home. But the Goldeneye {Clangida glaiicion), Long-tailed Duck, and 
 Scoter are the customary victims of the sea-nets. 
 
 The nets used at Heligoland are not of the cumbrous pattern used on 
 the Schleswig coast. Gaetke says that the former are made of strong 
 thread, with large meshes, and measure three fathoms square (=18 
 feet). Corks are fastened to the edges of these nets to enable them to 
 rise and fall as the tide ebbs and flows. The nets are not set in deep 
 water, but in the shallows near the island, so that they are left uncovered 
 at low water. A line is tied to each corner of the net, weighted with a 
 stone at the lower end. This precaution steadies the net. The liues are 
 of such a length that when the tide Lifts the netting the folds of the net 
 are stretched out horizontally a little below half-high tide mark. The 
 Ducks pass over the nets as they chase the crustaceans and little fishes 
 which are found in the shallows, and become meshed in the strands of 
 twine. Night time yields the richest return to the netter. The birds 
 are then bolder in swimming near the shore than during the hours of 
 daylight, as well as less able to detect the whereabouts of the sub- 
 merged nets. 
 
 The cockle-gatherers who earn a precarious livelihood upon the mud 
 flats of the Lancashire coast were formerly in the habit of setting nets 
 to catch Scoters and Scaups in the vicinity of their favourite feeding- 
 grounds. Indeed, it is quite possible that the practice in question is stUl 
 in vogue, though the fisher-folk assured me on my last visit to their 
 neighbourhood that the Ducker-nets were seldom required, since the large 
 flocks of Scoters had shown a disposition to retire to more sequestered 
 quarters. The nets used by the fishers were of different sizes, but usually 
 measured about four feet in breadth, and were staked out on the sands 
 at low water. The birds were taken when the swift - racing and 
 treacherous tide had covered the immense expanse of estuary which 
 stretches away from the banks of Flookburgh and Arnside, ever travel- 
 ling westward until at last it merges imperceptibly into the uneasy 
 waters of the Irish Channel. It is reported that large numbers of Scaups 
 were taken in fishing nets in the Forth during the wruter 1895-6. Mr 
 J. A. Harvie Brown states, on the authority of Mr Lloyd Patterson, that 
 many Pochards have been taken of recent years in nets sunk on the 
 shores of Lough Neagh. The fishermen of Normandy occasionally make 
 big hauls of Scoters and other sea-birds in the nets which they stake on 
 
294 NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 the feeding-grounds of those fishy birds. M. Gadeau de Kerville records 
 that on the 30th of March 1885 a no less distinguished visitor than an 
 adult male Surf Scoter (CEdemia perspicillata) was obtained at Merville 
 " dans les filets k Macreuses." He writes to me that this rara avis 
 shared the fate of more ignoble fowl, becoming entangled in one of the 
 nets set to secure examples of the Common Scoter. 
 
 Another method of procuring Wildfowl, which is, or at any rate was, 
 extremely popular on the other side of the Channel, is the strategy 
 known as the " Eeverbke pour les canards." This form of sport was 
 chiefly practised in Burgundy. Labruyfere assisted in this amusement in 
 Dauphin^ on the banks of the Durance, and affirms that he saw fifteen 
 ducks shot to the artificial light in one evening. It must be explained 
 that a copper pan (" chaudron"), freshly scoured, serves as the " Eevdrbfere " 
 or reflector. When this sport is to be followed upon the banks of a 
 river, the sportsman requires the assistance of a friend — called the 
 " Porte-rev^rbfere " — because he carries the copper utensil tied round his 
 neck. He holds in his hand a small vessel containing oil. He contrives 
 to reflect the flame of the lamp upon the burnished copper, and thence 
 upon the surface of the water. Should he be so fortunate as to fall in 
 with any Ducks, the birds are expected to swim towards the light and 
 quack with surprise. The gunners, who join company with the " lamp- 
 reflector," shoot at the Ducks as soon as they descry the outline of the 
 birds swimming in the water. When this sport is carried out on the 
 bank of a marsh or swamp, the fowler can act single-handed by attaching 
 his brazen pot to a post, at the same time setting the lamp on the ground 
 in such a position that its light is cast upon the smooth surface of the 
 " Eev^rbere." The Ducks and other aquatic fowl are amazed at the 
 light and swim within shot. The " Solitaire Inventif " reminds us that 
 many French peasants capture Ducks by means of hooks baited with 
 acorns, small fishes, earthworms, or little pieces of meat. Some fowlers 
 attach a number of hooks to one single cord ; but our author says that 
 the result is that the first bird hooked alarms all the rest and frightens 
 its companions away. He prefers to enjoin that each hook and line 
 should be attached to a separate peg, and placed under water in a ditch 
 to which the Ducks resort to feed. It is usual to scatter some grain to 
 attract the birds. It may seem trivial to mention so simple a ruse as 
 taking Wild Ducks with a hook, but the interest of the practice lies in 
 
NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 295 
 
 the wide area over which its actual employment extends. Mr Henderson 
 assures me that the peasants in the west of Ireland frequently catch 
 Wild Ducks by means of a hook. Their custom is to insert each hook 
 in a small potato, and leave it floating in a drain. In the east of 
 Cumberland it is a common custom of country lads to endeavour to 
 negotiate the capture of Wild Duck by means of baited hooks placed in 
 shallow brooks in which Ducks are in the habit of feeding. The same 
 plan is occasionally resorted to in Siberia. Mr Tickell tells me that he 
 saw Ducks successfully captured with hook and line on the Kashmir 
 lakes : " A number of willow sticks, each about as long as the depth of 
 the water, have attached to one end a yard of line and a hook ; the hooks 
 are baited with a kind of water beetle, and the ends of the sticks are 
 then pushed into the bottom, leaving visible above the surface only the 
 bait and part of the line ; the ducks hooked themselves exactly as fish 
 do, by swallowing the bait." Mr Tickell cannot remember which species 
 of Ducks were taken in this way. The commonest Ducks in that region 
 are the Mallard and the Ferruginous Duck. Both these species breed in 
 enormous numbers in Kashmir. 
 
 The Japanese are expert in catching Ducks with hook and line. The 
 usual procedure is to take a fine but strong silk thread five or six feet 
 in length (seven or eight feet of line are occasionally used), to the end 
 of which a hook is attached. The fowler provides himself with some 
 carp about three inches long as bait for his tackle. He betakes himself 
 to some pond or moat which he knows to be frequented by Ducks, and 
 chooses a favourable spot in which to cast his hook and line. When this 
 point has been decided, he ties the free end of the silk cord to the roots 
 of a bush or tree by the waterside. Alternatively, he attaches his line 
 to a large stone. The little fishes float upon the surface of the water, 
 and are greedily swallowed by the Ducks, which find escape barred by 
 the hooks which they have unwittingly bolted. The Blue-winged Teal 
 (Querquedula discors) was formerly trapped by American fowlers in an 
 ingenious fashion. Wilson states that in his day this Teal abounded 
 at certain seasons in the inundated rice-fields of the Southern States. 
 Consequently, many of these birds were procured in traps set upon the 
 small dry eminences which rose here and there above the water. The 
 precise form which the trap assumed is not described. It appears to 
 have consisted of a small pit in the ground, which was covered by a 
 
296 NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 weighted board. A figure of four was so contrived that when a hungry 
 Teal entered a trap to gormandise upon the rice strewn inside, its weight 
 dislodged the supporting prop and closed the exit. 
 
 Audubon alludes to the Wood Duck being captured in a similar way. 
 " I know," he writes, " a person now residing in South Carolina, who has 
 caught several hundreds in the course of a week, bringing them home in 
 bags across his horse's saddle, and afterwards feeding them in coops on 
 Indian corn. In that state they are bought in the markets for thirty or 
 forty cents the pair. At Boston where I found them rather abundant 
 during winter, they bring nearly double that price; but in Ohio or 
 Kentucky twenty-five cents are considered an equivalent " {Orn. Biogr., 
 Vol. III. p. 58). 
 
 Old English writers often suggest the use of drugs as a means of 
 obtaining Wildfowl. Thus we read in A Jewell for Gentrie of " An 
 excellente way to make a baite to catch wilde Geese, and wild Duckes, 
 and all other sorts of Fowle : — ' Take the seede of Belenge, and the 
 rootes also, and steepe them in water the space of a day and a night ; 
 then seeth the saide seedes and roots in the water that they were steeped 
 in, so that the seedes may well drinke and soke up the water, then lay 
 the saide seedes or graine in the places where wilde Duckes, and wilde 
 Geese are wont to resort, and they will eate this graine or seede so 
 prepared, and thereupon will sleepe as they were drunke, and in the 
 mean time you may take them with your hands : but there must be a 
 pretie quantitie of this, especially for wilde Geese. This may also serve 
 to take all other manner of Fowle that go together in sholes or com- 
 panies. If you seeth this graine in Brimstone and lay it in the places 
 where Birdes and Fowles are wont to feede, and all that eate of it will 
 fall downe and die ; but to keepe them that they die not, you must give 
 them to drinke Oyle Olive, and shortly after they will reuive againe.' " 
 
 Mr Styan writes to me that a rumour was at one time spread in 
 Shanghai that the Duck and Teal supplied to the local market had been 
 poisoned : — " The wily heathen soon rose to the occasion, and hanging 
 the birds up in bunches, discharged a barrel or two at them, which settled 
 all doubt as to their manner of death. I have heard it said that grain 
 steeped in ' samshu ' — native spirit — is sometimes spread on the feeding 
 grounds and the birds becoming intoxicated are picked up by hand, but 
 I have not been able to verify this." 
 
NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 297 
 
 Mr E. A. Currie informs me that "Wild Ducks are, or were till 
 recently, frequently to be seen in the Shanghai market, in a paralysed 
 state, produced by poisoning with N'ux vomica, and were freely bought 
 and eaten without ill effects to the consumers. The ducks were 
 paralysed, not dead, as could easily be seen by their eyes. Nux vomica 
 beans were scattered on the mud flats on which the wild ducks came 
 to feed, and next day the paralysed ducks were picked up. My 
 authority for saying that the poison used was Nux vomica is Mr A. 
 Michie, formerly of the Chinese Times, Tientsin, — a naturalist and a 
 gentleman of the widest information, who first drew my attention to 
 this subject." 
 
 I am not aware that the Japanese drug Wildfowl, but they certainly 
 capture great quantities of them by means of birdlime. The method 
 known as " Taka-nawa " is em- 
 ployed in rice fields and other 
 favourite haunts of fowl. The 
 fowlers first take a quantity of 
 birdlime (" Mochi ") and mix it 
 with seed-oil. The lime is then 
 boiled to make it soft. It is 
 next smeared over a fine but 
 strong hemp thread, which is 
 wound on to a reel or frame. 
 The fowlers repair with their 
 birdlime to the spot selected for 
 their fowling operations. They 
 provide themselves with two 
 dozen or more female bamboos, 
 six feet in length, which are 
 sharpened at one end. These 
 bamboos are duly staked across 
 the side of a pond, marsh, or 
 paddy-field, at a distance of 
 five or six feet apart. The 
 tops of the bamboos are greased with seed-oil, so that they allow an easy 
 play to the limed thread, which is wound off the reel and stretched in a 
 line along the tops of the bamboos. The limed thread is allowed to hang 
 
 ILLTJSTBATIOH OP JaP LiMES ThBEADS. 
 
298 
 
 NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 in festoons between its supports. When flight-time comes the Ducks and 
 Teal arrive upon their usual feeding ground. As they circle over the 
 water many of them come into contact with the loose threads, and drop 
 to the ground entangled by the sticky strands. The position in which 
 the lines are set depends upon the wind. The native fowlers wear a 
 kind of patten, by means of which they are able to traverse the surface 
 of thin mud in safety. 
 
 But the Japanese do not content themselves with catching Wild 
 Ducks with limed threads stretched in mid air. If the fowlers possess 
 a boat which is lying on a river or lake, they prepare to take the Wild 
 
 Liming Wild Ducks im Japan. 
 
 Ducks when they fly in from the sea to feed in the fresh water. A 
 long string is therefore woven of tender reeds. This is smeared with 
 birdlime and coiled upon a frame or reel. The fowlers then embark in 
 
NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 299 
 
 their fishing-boat and proceed to pay the line out until it reaches across 
 the lake or river. The reel, upon which the " Nagashi-mochi " or 
 " floating birdlime " is wound is held in the left hand, while the fowler 
 slowly unfolds the line with the forefinger of the right hand. The men 
 calculate that the Wildfowl are sure to swim against the wind, and that 
 the reed line will be drifted by the wind upon the birds. Either it will 
 adhere to the breasts of the Ducks or the birds will try to throw the 
 lines over their heads with their mandibles, the result being the same in 
 both cases. Some fowlers use the stem of a species of creeping plant as 
 a substitute for reeds in manufacturing the water-line for Ducks. The 
 branches are stripped of their leaves and are then joined together in one 
 long chain. The fowler then passes his line through a hole in a wooden 
 ball which has been filled with birdliine. The creeper-line is thus 
 smeared with " Mochi," and is wound off on a reel, to be used in the 
 same way as the reed-line. It seems surprising that birdlime should 
 be sufficiently tenacious to hinder Wild Ducks from flying away. Yet 
 Gervase Markham dwells with obvious satisfaction upon the old English 
 custom of capturing " Fowles " both great and small with limed strings 
 and twigs. As to the former, the Notts fowler advises that the sports- 
 man should supply himself with " strings or Lines made of small Coard 
 knotted here and there, and containing in length many fadomes." These 
 strings are to be covered with the strongest birdlime that can be 
 procured. The birdcatcher is directed to have " a whole burthen of 
 little stickes about two feet long at the most, sharp at the nether end 
 and with a little forke at the upper end ; he shall prick them in even 
 rowes all over the ground or place of haunt, one row distant from 
 another a yard or two, and one stick siding another, within fowre or 
 five yards as they may conveniently bear up the Strings, and they shall 
 he prickt a little shoaling or slantwise : so as they may be within a foot 
 and a halfe of the ground at the uttermost, then shall these limed 
 Strings be drawne and layd upon the forkes some rowes higher then 
 other some, like a billow of water, higher in one place then another, till 
 every row be filled, and the haunt covered all over, then you shall fasten 
 the ends with a slipping loope, in such wise that upon any violent straine 
 the whole string may loosen and lap about any thing which toucheth it, 
 and in this wise you shall take a great number of Fowles together, 
 according to the flockes and herds in which they flye." Markham also 
 
300 
 
 NETTING AND LIMING WILDFOWL. 
 
 explains how a limed string can be stretched across a river, supported 
 upon forked twigs which have been planted in the water. He likewise 
 instructs the countryman how to set limed twigs to catch Ducks, both in 
 the water and on the river bank. " Now for the placing of these Eods, 
 as you did pricke them on the dry land, so you shall prick them in the 
 Water, as much of the Eod as is limed being above the water, and 
 amongst your Eods you shal stake downe here and there a live- Stale, 
 being either a Mallard, or a Widgeon, or a Tayle, and thus you may doe 
 all over either any shallow plash, fenn, or any other blank waters which 
 is wadeable." The Japanese peasant of the present day is adept at 
 capturing Wild Ducks with limed pieces of bamboo (" Higo-mochi.") 
 The fowler goes to a paddy-field or small pond, carrying a bundle of 
 from forty to fifty pieces of slender bamboo. These measure about two 
 feet in length, and are well coated with birdlime. The stakes are set 
 in the ground wherever a Duck is likely to alight. The ill-fated Ducks 
 which feed in the spot during the night strike against the treacherous 
 canes and become incapacitated for flight. It is usual to darken the 
 " Higo-mochi " with a little Indian ink. 
 
 [The headpiece is reproduced from Mr H. T. Wade's work on Sport in the 
 Yangtse Valley. The original block was specially drawn by a Chinese artist.] 
 
CHAPTEE XXXII- 
 
 -PIGEON-TEAPPING IN THE OLD AND 
 NEW WOELDS. 
 
 ALTHOUGH pigeons usually lack the prime qualities of game-birds, 
 they are eagerly sought after in many countries. The European 
 Eock Dove (Colwmha livia) exhibits so much wariness that the adults are 
 seldom deprived of their liberty. The squab young are occasionally taken 
 from the dark niches of the gloomy, spray-dashed caverns of the Hebrides 
 to be brought up in semi-captivity. In some parts of India the resident 
 form of Eock Dove (Golumia schimperi) is much persecuted by fowlers. 
 
 Mr Littledale of Baroda informs me that in his district the "Blue 
 Eocks " abound in the deep village wells. The capture of these birds is 
 accomplished by the simple device of spreading nets over the wells after 
 
302 PIGEON-TKAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WOELDS. 
 
 sunset. The pious Hindu of high caste much objects to the capture of 
 pigeons ; but the native fowler generally carries out his operations when 
 the pious Hindu is asleep or at his dinner. 
 
 The pigeon which affords the best sport in Western Europe is the 
 Eing Dove {Columba palumhtcs). This bird has other associations than 
 those of " La Caccia ; " for was it not the favourite of Venus — the bird 
 that the peasant of the Apennines delighted to carry off from its crazy 
 nest, that he might bear it as an offering to some dark-eyed shepherdess ? 
 But the popularity of the Ring Dove in our own times is due to its 
 excellent edible qualities. Hence from Palestine to the Pyrenees the 
 Wood Pigeon is eagerly sought after. 
 
 Canon Tristram teUs us that countless numbers of Wood Pigeons 
 frequent the forests of Mount Gilead in winter. Many of these birds fall 
 a prey to the Arabs, who take both the present species and Turtle Doves 
 in ground-snares made of horsehair. The Arabs make use of their snared 
 birds as decoys. " A wild bird is snared and its eyelids sewn together ; 
 it is then tied to a perch which is then set among the trees. The poor 
 captive keeps flapping its wings and uttering its call-note. The birds of 
 its kind soon assemble in flocks, attracted by curiosity, and fall an easy 
 prey to the fowlers who are concealed under brushwood close by " 
 {Natural History of the Bible, p. 164). 
 
 It may be inferred from the passage just quoted that the Arabs shoot 
 Wood Pigeons to the decoy ; such, certainly, has been the custom in Italy 
 for the last three centuries. The Italian sportsman selects a tall and 
 isolated oak in some spot through which the birds are expected to pass. 
 He next builds a small hut at the foot of the tree, a little distance out 
 from the trunk, and sufficiently large to hold two or three persons. A 
 decoy-pigeon is fastened upon a play-rod, termed the " lachetta," which is 
 firmly secured to the top of the tree. The fowler works the " lachetta " 
 by means of a long string. When he pulls the play-rod up and down, 
 the pigeon fears that it may slip from the perch ; consequently it opens 
 its wings. This action encourages any passing pigeons to join company 
 to the captive. The decoy is termed a " Zimbello." Di Valli suggests 
 that young birds should be taken from the nest and trained as decoys. 
 
 Savi assures us that great preparations for shooting Wood Pigeons 
 are made in the woods of Montepulciano and Pitigliana in the State of 
 Eome. A hut capacious enough to hold two or three men is constructed 
 
PIGEON-TEAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WOELDS. 303 
 
 of branches in the top of a tall tree. It is screened from observation by 
 the foliage, and provided with two or three windows, besides various 
 peepholes through which the gunners can shoot at the wild pigeons. An 
 adequate time before the sport is expected to commence, ten or twelve 
 pigeons, called " Colombini " because they are of the same colour as the 
 " Colombaccio " or "Wood Pigeon — young birds that do not know their 
 own dovecot — are carried up into the hut and reared in this veritable 
 " Crow's nest." These young pigeons are at the outset, say for the first 
 fortnight, confined in the hut. After this preliminary period of detention, 
 the birds are released and accustomed to receive their food at the window 
 of the hut. They fly about the neighbourhood, returning to the hut to 
 be fed. When the passage of wild pigeons commences, these decoys 
 stand the fowler in good stead, since they induce great troops of Wood 
 Pigeons to perch within gunshot of the hut. This sport is the " Volan- 
 tini," that term being applied to the decoys trained in the tree. 
 
 Another Italian method of catching Wood Pigeons, figured by both 
 Di Valli and Olina, is to fix a decoy on the top of a tree which is covered 
 with limed twigs. The Italians also take Wood Pigeons by setting Clap- 
 nets in places to which the birds resort in search of acorns. This method 
 is principally adopted when the ground is covered with snow. In 
 Germany the Clap-nets are, or were, generally set for Wood Pigeons at 
 the salt-licks (Salzlecken). Both this bird and the Stock Dove {Columba 
 oenas) are very partial to salt, and will sit still on the salt-lick while the 
 fowler pulls his nets together. The Eussians are well aware of the 
 predilection of the Wood Pigeon for salt, and take the bird in specially 
 prepared saltings. We learn from Selivanovski's Sportsman's Book for 
 Capturing Animals and Birds, that the salting for Wood Pigeons is 
 accomplished in the following way. The fowler takes a few seeds of 
 coriander, anise, carraway, and other seeds and roots, and mixes them 
 with some finely powdered clay taken from an old stove. He proceeds 
 to knead this compound together, with the addition of some herring 
 brine. In the absence of herring brine, water containing salt may be 
 used instead. Hemp seed and lentils may be added to the compound, 
 which is placed in a wooden box about three feet square, the clay being 
 highest in the centre of the box. The box is then buried in the earth 
 to a level with the surface of the surrounding ground, and becomes the 
 centre of a fowling-floor. Care is needed to keep cattle away from this 
 
304 PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 salting, for if they gain access to the salting they devour the mixture. 
 It is a good plan to make the salting in the neighbourhood of some 
 stream at which the Wood Pigeons are accustomed to drink. The nets 
 used are very large, measuring seven fathoms in length, and are worked 
 in the usual way from a small hut. An inducement for the wild birds 
 to alight on the salting is provided by the presence of a couple of tame 
 Wood Pigeons which have been taken from the nest and reared up as 
 decoys. These decoys are fastened to play-sticks, upon which they are 
 worked by means of lines held by the fowler, in the same way as any 
 small birds. The best month for catching these birds in Eussia is 
 August, for they gather into flocks for migration in that month, and are 
 also very fat. It does not appear that Wood Pigeons were ever 
 extensively netted in Great Britain. Our forefathers caught them in 
 considerable numbers by setting limed twigs on the ground around live 
 or dead decoys. The old-fashioned ruse of driving an extemporised 
 skewer into the breast of a Wood Pigeon, and setting it up as a decoy in 
 a field of newly-sown barley, will at any time afford a modern gunner a 
 modicum of amusement. I have known a Perthshire farmer shoot from 
 thirty to forty " Cushie Doos " in the course of a single forenoon by 
 adopting this simple expedient. Markham says that Wood Pigeons can 
 be taken at night with the bat-folding net. Belon entertains us with a 
 description of night-fowling for Wood Pigeons in France, which he styles 
 " Chavari." This sport is carried out by a party of men on a dark night. 
 Some of the party carry lighted wisps of straw, so that they may see 
 well. Others carry pans and metal basins, or are armed with cross- 
 bows. When the peasants arrive at the spot where the birds are roosting, 
 those who carry the brazen instruments beat them and make such a din 
 as to completely stupefy the drowsy birds. These continue to perch on 
 the branches, and afford an easy target to the sportsmen who handle the 
 bow. But this is child's play compared with the serious operations 
 carried out by French mountaineers in " la chasse aux filets des ramiers 
 et des bisets." This is a local method of fowling, though identical in 
 principle with an Italian method which will be described presently. The 
 system carried out in the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees is intended to 
 intercept parties of Wood Pigeons whilst migrating from the plains of 
 France into the forests of Spain and Portugal. In former days this sport 
 was honoured by the presence of ladies of the highest rank. A single 
 
PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 305 
 
 instance of this may be given here. In the year 1578, the Vicomte 
 de Turenne, " ayant voulu rendre visite a Catherine de M^dicis en la ville 
 d'Auch, ne put voir la Eeine-Mfere." Her Majesty had gone to " une 
 tente de palombes ! " I have never had the good fortune to visit the 
 Pyrenees in the autumn, but several French and English writers have 
 described the details of the " Palombiferes " or fowling-stations. Mr E. C. 
 Weld has given a capital account of a Palombifere in the vicinity of 
 Bagnferes {The Pyrenees, West and East, pp. 220-230). The "Chasse" 
 visited by this gentleman was situated on the ridge of a hill, about two 
 miles from Bagnferes, between some tall trees. The spaces between these 
 trees were occupied by nets extending from within a few feet of their tops 
 to three feet of the ground. About one hundred yards in front of the 
 nets, and on the side from which the Wood Pigeons were expected to 
 arrive stood the structure known locally as a "Tripled," consisting of 
 poles spliced together so as to form two mast-like erections about 150 
 feet high. " One mast is nearly vertical, the other slightly curved ; the 
 thick ends are embedded in the ground about five feet from each other, 
 and the smaller ends meet at the top, and sustain a kind of ' crow's nest,' 
 consisting of a basket sufficiently large to contain a man. Access to the 
 ' crow's nest ' is gained by means of pegs inserted in the curved mast at 
 intervals of two feet, and up these a lad goes with as much coolness as if 
 he were ascending an ordinary ladder. All persons except the ' crow's 
 nest '-man conceal themselves carefully behind leafy screens ; and from 
 early dawn to dusk a keen look out is kept for the expected visitants. 
 When a flock of ' Eamiers ' is seen on the horizon, the watcher gives 
 notice, and when the pigeons heading the flock are within about a hundred 
 yards of him, he throws the piece of wood at them. The result is that 
 the flock dip, and forfeit their lives in their endeavour to pass between 
 the trees. For the nets are so cunningly set, that, when the pigeons 
 strike against them, they fall, being liberated by the pulliag of a trigger, 
 and enclose the poor birds within the meshes. Death rapidly follows, 
 the work of destruction being performed by old women who mercilessly 
 WW the pigeons by biting their necks." The " Palombifere " just described 
 belonged to the Commune of Gdras. At the time of Mr Weld's visit it 
 was rented by eight parties, each of which had a separate " Chasse." In 
 1858 their rents varied from one thousand to two thousand francs per 
 annum. The Wood Pigeons realised from five to ten sous a-piece. 
 
 u 
 
306 PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WOKLDS. 
 
 The Field of the year 1885 contains an account of another " Palom- 
 biere " in the Commune of Sare, situated on a ridge of a spur of the 
 Pyrenees running east and west, and about two thousand feet above the 
 level of the sea. " The ridge," says this writer, " is more or less level for 
 some two hundred and fifty yards, which space has been cleared of all 
 wood with the exception of six huge oaks standing in line. At the height 
 of about 40 feet in each oak was fixed a spar, from which depended a 
 rope, with the lower end pegged to the ground and carrying a wooden 
 travelling ring weighted with iron. Each spar had a block and halyards, 
 the standing part of the latter being fast to the wooden ring. The nets. 
 If in. mesh and about fifty feet broad, have their upper corners hooked 
 on to two of the wooden rings, and are thus hoisted into position ; the 
 lower ends are drawn backwards, i.e. southwards, for about thirty feet 
 and pegged down ; the two halyards of each net are hooked to a single 
 trigger, and all is then ready." Some small huts covered with bracken 
 are used in this locality for hiding-places. The pigeons are first sighted 
 by the flag-boys, who, by waving their flags, confine the birds to the 
 valley, and force them in the direction of the nets. When the birds 
 approach, the chief of the fowlers gives a shrill whistle to warn his party 
 to get into hiding. When the birds are near he utters a roar and throws 
 out a wooden disc from the tree in which he is stationed ; the birds take 
 this for a Hawk, and, stooping to avoid it, rush into the nets, which fall 
 with a simultaneous rush, the pigeons fluttering on the ground under- 
 neath. The net-men seize the birds, and plucking out the feathers of 
 one wing, put them into the front pocket of the apron which they wear, 
 from which the pigeons are eventually transferred to a receptacle formed 
 of boughs built round the trunk of a tree. One of the lessees of this 
 " Palombifere " stated that the right to net Wood Pigeons on the spot 
 referred to is rented by twelve partners from the Commune of Sare. 
 The passage of the " Eamiers " is supposed to last from Michaelmas until 
 Martinmas Day. No fewer than a hundred and twenty-four birds have 
 been taken in a single net at one flight. Magn^ de MaroUes states that one 
 hundred is as many as are normally taken in a " Palombi^re " at one time, 
 and even this is a considerably larger number than should be looked for. 
 A few " Bisets " or Stock Doves are taken with the Wood Pigeons in the 
 " Palombi^res." 
 
 Tanara states that large numbers of Stock Doves were taken in his 
 
PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 307 
 
 time on the coast of the Eomagna by a somewhat similar arrangement of 
 a net. The Italians suspended a large-meshed net between two tall trees. 
 The engine was secured with cords and pulleys in such a way that the 
 net could be dropped in a moment by two men who leant agaiust the 
 base of the tree. Three other men were stationed at intervals between 
 the net and the sea, provided with slings and stones. The stones were 
 of an oval shape, properly smoothed, and grey in colour. When a flock 
 of Stock Doves happened to pass, the men cast the stones from their 
 slings in succession after the flock. The birds, imagining that they were 
 pursued by a Hawk, diverted their intended course and darted into the 
 net. This plan was practised in the woods of Antium in the time of 
 Blondus (as quoted by Aldrovandus), in the autumn when the birds 
 lingered on the Italian shores before crossing the sea to their winter 
 quarters in the north of Africa. Nor was this method in vogue only in 
 the neighbourhood of the Eomagna. The fowlers of other districts 
 practised the same system, with variation, according to local circum- 
 stances. 
 
 The late Mr Walter Campbell tells us, in his Life in Normandy, that 
 on two difierent occasions he saw large numbers of the Turtle Dove 
 (Turtur auritus) netted in Italy. On the first occasion the scene of 
 operations was a large wood near Florence. A net was hung across a 
 road in the wood, which ran nearly north and south. " Crows' nests " 
 were erected in two high trees near the road, and these were occupied by 
 boys, who were furnished with artificial decoys in the shape of stuffed 
 doves mounted with outspread wings, and weighted in the head. A 
 string about a yard in length was attached to each dummy. Whenever 
 a flock of Turtle Doves appeared in the distance, the first boy whirled 
 the decoy round his head and cast it towards the net. The string acted 
 like a sling, enabling the boy to throw the lure to a great distance, the 
 weight in the head making it fly straight forward Kke a shuttlecock. If 
 the decoy was seen by a flock of doves, they were sure to turn towards 
 it ; if they did not turn, it was because the first cast had not been seen, 
 and then the same boy threw a second or third time, until the flock came 
 towards him. The second boy always remained still until the flock of 
 Turtle Doves was close at hand, when he threw a decoy straight towards 
 the net. The secret of success lay in the fowler judging the proper 
 moment to cast his decoy, iu throwing it in the right direction, and in 
 
308 PIGEON-TKAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 accomplishing his work without being seen himself ; for, when the strategy 
 was cleverly executed, the whole flock was sure to go headlong into the 
 net. The second situation in which Mr Campbell witnessed the capture 
 of Turtle Doves was a narrow valley to the south of Naples. The net 
 was suspended between two rocks. The lures were thrown by several 
 boys and men, who concealed themselves in small huts built of turfs. 
 Upwards of a hundred doves were taken at once in the net. 
 
 Di Valli affirms that in his day the Turtle Dove was taken both on 
 the spring migration in the month of April, and also in August, when 
 these doves frequent the stubble fields, by means of Clap-nets. Savi 
 opines that many are taken in Tuscany at the two seasons of migration 
 with Clap-nets. In July and August, when water is scarce, many are 
 shot, netted, and taken with limed twigs at their watering-places. Olina 
 remarks that doves are taken in horsehair snares, like Thrushes, and 
 with limed twigs set around a decoy on the top of an oak. Decoy-birds 
 of this species are, of course, required for eii'ecting their capture with the 
 Clap-nets. Mr "W. C. Tait, of Oporto, informs me that it is by means of 
 Clap-nets and decoy-doves that the Portuguese capture large numbers of 
 Turtle Doves on their autumnal migration to Africa. A good many 
 Turtle Doves are taken in the Quail nets in spring on the island of Capri. 
 It is through the instrumentality of Clap-nets that large numbers of 
 doves are obtained upon the island of Malta. 
 
 Mr C. A. Wright states {Ills, 1864, pp. 137-138) that this Turtle 
 Dove passes Malta in large flocks " in April and May, when great numbers 
 are caught in platform-nets. Hooded decoy-birds, which are sometimes 
 kept for six or eight years, are used to entice the wild ones into the nets. 
 This sport is a favourite amusement with the country gentry ; and in most 
 of the ' Casals ' or villages the village priest, whose occupation and duties 
 afford him an abundance of idle time, pursues it with great assiduity. 
 The manner in which the doves are taken is the following : A spot is 
 chosen, generally on the summit of a hill over which it is ascertained 
 from experience the birds are accustomed to pass. This spot is laid out 
 with flat stones over an area of (say) 24 feet by 8 or 9, so that the nets, 
 in turning over, may lie flat. The nets are laid, and fastened to the 
 ground, one on each side of this platform Two hooded birds are placed 
 at one end in a depression, in order that they may be perfectly free of 
 the nets when they are pulled over them. They are fastened by the leg 
 
PIGEON-TKAPMNG IN THE OLt) AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 309 
 
 to a piece of wood, moving on a hinge, so that by pulling a string the 
 bird can be gently raised in the air and exposed to the view of passing 
 flocks. It is generally the custom to post two or three birds, hooded 
 and secured in like manner, as outsiders, on raised heaps of stones, to 
 render them more conspicuous objects of attraction. When the doves 
 are seen approaching in the distance, one or more of these trained decoys 
 are first raised and let down, and afterwards the others. Twenty and 
 thirty doves and upwards are frequently caught in this way at one 
 haul." 
 
 Much interest attaches to the capture of vast numbers of Turtle 
 Doves at the present time in Greece, notably upon the island of Zante. 
 My warmest thanks are due to Mr A. L. Crowe, the British Vice-Consul 
 of Zante, for the pains which he has taken to procure information on the 
 methods of fowling still extant in Greece. Mr Crowe has a personal 
 knowledge of the device by which the peasants of Zante capture the 
 Turtle Doves in the month of April. The birds are then making their 
 
 Snaring Turtle Doves in Zante. 
 
 passage from the coast of Barbary to the cornfields of Bessarabia and 
 Southern Eussia. Along the ridges of the southern portion of the island, 
 where there are trees (mostly fir or pine), the peasants carefully strip the 
 lower branches and fix upon the bare stems certain frames, composed of 
 tough boughs to which a series of horsehair nooses (of which Mr Crowe 
 has thoughtfully sent me a specimen) are secured. From four to six 
 snares are attached to a single frame. Several frames may be placed 
 upon a single branch, according to its length. When the doves alight 
 
310 PlGEON-TEAPtlNG IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 on these branches, wearied with their long flight across the sea, they 
 generally get caught in the- snares by the feet or wing, and are therefore 
 taken alive. Such birds as happen to get their necks into the nooses are 
 often strangled before the fowler arrives to extricate them. This business 
 is carried out systematically by the peasants who live in the villages in 
 the south of the island. Every man has his own trees, which no one else 
 may make use of, and shooting in the neighbourhood is strictly prohibited. 
 Contracts for forward delivery are made with poulterers in the town, who 
 advance money thereon. Thousands of Turtle Doves are brought in. The 
 living birds fetch from sixty to eighty leptas, i.e., fivepence or sixpence 
 a-piece, and the dead birds fetch about half-price. Zante is the only place 
 in Greece in which these doves are caught in great quantities. The live 
 birds are therefore in great demand, being bought up eagerly, and dis- 
 tributed all over the country. The Turtle Dove is thin and tough when 
 caught in spring, but soon becomes plump and well flavoured if fattened 
 on wheat or maize. 
 
 The Japanese fowlers capture large numbers of Turtle Doves {Turtur 
 orientcdis) and other pigeons by means of the Muso-net. The net intended 
 to be used for taking pigeons is made of hempen thread. The wild birds 
 are allured to the toils of the fowler by a captive example of their own 
 kind. This bird is mounted upon a play-rod, to which a line is attached. 
 This arrangement enables the birdcatcher to seize the right opportunity 
 of enticing the free birds to alight, by jerking the perch of the tame bird. 
 This action induces the decoy to flutter its wings to retain its perch. It 
 serves, however, to disarm the fears of the strangers, which are thus 
 emboldened to venture within the area covered by the net. 
 
 Professor Ijima has also procured for me a Japanese Dove-call. This 
 consists of a hollow piece of bamboo, which measures rather less than 
 two inches in diameter. The total length of this call is five inches and 
 a-half, but the tubular portion measures only three inches and a-half. 
 The remainder is continued as two parallel shafts of wood, which are 
 united with two inserted splints of wood to form a mouthpiece. The 
 fowler imitates the cooing of a dove by covering the open end of the 
 bamboo cylinder with his hand, while he blows softly through the mouth- 
 piece. The sound thus produced escapes through a hole below the mouth- 
 piece. Professor Ijima renders the sound of calling doves as, " Steteppo-po, 
 Steteppo-po." 
 
PIGEON-TEAPMNG IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 311 
 
 The Romans who lived in the Augustan age were at pains to fatten 
 Turtle Doves for their luxurious tables. Such eminent authorities on 
 
 Japanese Muso-Net. 
 
 rural affairs as Varro and Columella agree in advising that the captive 
 doves should be carefully tended, and provided with millet and wheat 
 as well as plenty of fresh water. Palladius {Be Me Eustica, Lib. I. Cap. 
 XXV.) adds the additional information that the wheat or millet intended 
 for Turtle Doves should be moistened with honey (" triticum vel milium 
 mulsa maceratum "). Tanara advises that Turtle Doves should be 
 fattened in a similar chamber to that used for Ortolans, except that 
 the Turtle Doves must not be permitted to fly about "in pregiudicio 
 dell'ingrassamento." Another species of Turtle Dove {Twrtur Tnalaccensis) 
 
312 
 
 PIGIlON-TRAPMNG IN TttE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 is common in the island of Reunion, and is known to the Creoles as the 
 " Tourterelle du pays." The native fowlers effect its capture by placing 
 
 Japanese Dove-call. 
 
 limed twigs in the places where doves are likely to roost. The Tooth- 
 billed Pigeon (Bidunrndus strigirostris), a native of the Samoan Islands, 
 is also captured by means of birdlime. But many devices are used in 
 the East for catching different species of pigeons. Thus, in Northern 
 Borneo, the Green-winged Dove (Chalcophaps indica), which is common 
 in the S.E. monsoon, is caught in hundreds by the natives. The flesh of 
 these birds is very sweet, and much sought after by the natives. Mr 
 "Whitehead states that the fowler builds a small covered place on the 
 ground, around which he strews some grain, after which he proceeds to 
 attract the birds with a peculiar bird-call (^Ibis, 1890, p. 136). The 
 mechanism of the bird-call in question has been fully elucidated by Mr 
 Burbidge, who sent the following account of its structure to Dr Sclater : 
 — " Herewith I send you sketches and a short account of the ' call- 
 
 DOYE-OALL 03ED IN BOENEO. 
 
 wigwams ' used by the Kadylans (a pastoral race who live in N.W. Borneo) 
 in order to capture the small green ' Puni ' Pigeon. The call is formed 
 of two pieces of bamboo, (a) a slender tube, (&) a short piece 3 in. to 4 in. in 
 diameter, and a connecting piece of wood (c). At (6) is a hole similar 
 to the embouchure of a flute ; and the lower end of the blow-tube (a) is 
 
PlGEON-TRAtPlNG IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 313 
 
 fitted to this in such a way that, on blowing at (a), a soft, low, flute-like 
 ' cooing ' is easily producible ; and this can be readily modulated so as to 
 be heard either at a long distance or near at hand. The native who has 
 taken up his position in the forest or jungle where these little birds are 
 found, blows very softly at first ; but if there be no answering call from 
 the birds he blows louder and louder, thus increasing the radius of sound. 
 If there really be any pigeons of this kind within hearing, they are sure 
 to answer ; and then the hunter blows softer and softer until they are 
 enticed into the * wigwam ' of leafy branches which he has erected in 
 order to conceal himself from sight. The door or entrance to these 
 ' wigwams ' is partially closed by a screen of palm {Nipa fruticans) 
 leaves. This is elevated a little to allow the Pigeons to enter, after 
 which it is allowed to fall, portcullis-like, entirely, so as to close the 
 entrance, and the bird is then easily secured. Above the entrance two 
 holes are made, so that the hunter can look out without being seen. 
 These huts are formed of a few poles or sticks, rudely thatched with 
 twigs and palm-leaves, and vary from four to six feet in height " (P. Z. S., 
 1879, pp. 346-34'7). 
 
 Mr Whitehead differs from Mr Burbidge in one particular, the doves 
 being secured, according to the former gentleman, by being noosed. "We 
 Europeans should prefer the nets of a " Palombifere," as affording more 
 exciting sport than that of sitting still for hours in the hope of being able 
 to drop a snare at the end of a long rod over the head of a pigeon ; but 
 the latter method seems to suit the natural indolence of the Asiatic. Mr 
 Charles Hose informs me that the pigeons of Borneo (with the exception 
 of the Green-winged Dove) are usually caught in snares which are fixed 
 up in the branches of the trees which these birds frequent. It is by 
 means of tree-snares that the capture of the Bronze Fruit-Pigeon {Garpo- 
 phaga osneaj is effected, as also that of Garpophaga iadia, Treron nasica, 
 Treron vernans, Turtiur tigrina, and other Malayan pigeons. Professor 
 Veth states that the natives of Sumatra are clever at trapping wild birds, 
 including the Bronze Fruit-Pigeon and another species which he calls by 
 the native name of " Balam." This last Dr Forbes believes to be identical 
 with Treron vernans. The species known in Sumatra as " Balam " is 
 sometimes caught with birdlime, but Veth figures a snare (here repro- 
 duced) as the chief method of capturing individuals of this small pigeon. 
 The decoy-pigeon is tethered to a stake which is securely fastened to the 
 
314 
 
 PIGEON-TRAtWNG IN THE OLD AND NEW WOELDS. 
 
 ground, and the snares, thirty-five in number, are arranged in a circle 
 around, so that the wild birds cannot reach their captive mate without 
 crossing the fatal circle of nooses. 
 
 During the prevalence of westerly winds the fruit-bearing trees of 
 the Pelew Islands are covered with fruit, and the natives repair to the 
 
 Sumatiian2Snaiies"'for Doves. 
 
 interior of their islands to hunt doves. Like the Samoans, they call 
 the sport " merenet " when they use tame doves as decoys. The birds 
 
 are also shot with bow and arrow. For 
 the latter purpose the fowler, according to 
 Kubary, tethers a live dove, by a string 
 attached to its leg, to a branch of the 
 tree which the wild pigeons frequent; 
 when the wild birds come within shot 
 of his hut, which is covered with branches, 
 he shoots them with his bow and arrow. 
 The doves are taken likewise in snares, 
 which are fixed on to the branches, close 
 to the growing fruit. 
 
 Mr Harry Hadfield informs me that 
 many pigeons and doves are caught for food by the inhabitants 
 of the Loyalty Isles. Some of these birds are snared with nooses 
 affixed to the branches of trees. The Fruit-pigeons, which live upon 
 the ground, are obtained by means of a kind of springe. The illustra- 
 tion is drawn from a model of this trap which Mr Hadfield kindly 
 made in my presence. The long switch is retained in the proper 
 
 A Tbeb Snare. 
 
HGEON-TRAPPlNG IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 315 
 
 bent position by means of a short piece of wood, which is pressed 
 against the crossbar. This last rests against the sides of the bent 
 switch. The little platform of twigs covers a hole in the ground, 
 
 <H-. 
 
 Loyalty Isle Fioeon-snabe. 
 
 which has been filled with grain. A few grains are strewn around, to 
 attract the attention of any pigeon that may be in the vicinity. When 
 the bird alights on the platform its weight releases the switch, which 
 flies backwards, carrying with it the pigeon, which is now fast in the 
 running snare attached to the extremity of the switch. 
 
 The New Zealand Pigeon {Carpcyphaga novce Zealandice) is not only 
 one of the largest and most beautiful of the fruit-eating pigeons, but is 
 also a good sporting bird. In times past this species has supplied an 
 important addition to the diet of the Maoris, e.g., at the season of the 
 year when these birds assemble in large flocks to feed upon their favourite 
 fruit. I am under great obligation to Mr W. W. Smith of Ashburton 
 for the pains which he has taken to obtain for me accurate information 
 regarding the fowling methods of the Maoris. One of the most valuable 
 contributions to the subject is to be found in a paper by Tamati 
 Eanapiri. This has been translated by Mr S. Percy Smith, and pub- 
 lished in the Journal of the Polynesian Society under the title of "Ancient 
 
316 PIGEON-TRAPtlNG IN T'HE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 Methods of Bird-snaring among the Maoris." The native names of this 
 pigeon are " Kereru " and " Kukupa." It is a handsome bird : the head, 
 neck, and forepart of the breast are shining gold-green, while the nape, 
 shoulders, and upper surface of the wings (as far as the carpal joint) are 
 coppery purple with bright metallic reflections ; the back and rump are 
 greyish -green, with dull metallic reflections ; the breast and underparts 
 are white. We are accustomed to regard our English Eing Dove as a 
 fairly large pigeon, but it only measures seventeen inches in length, 
 while the New Zealander measures twenty-one inches. The latter retires 
 to the high-wooded lands of the interior to breed, and therefore is little 
 harassed in the breeding season. It is strictly arboreal in its habits, 
 and prefers the densest foliage. The Maoris take large numbers of this 
 pigeon by means of snares, and many are killed likewise by spearing. 
 So important has the latter method proved to the Maori race in past 
 years that a Maori proverb, intended to inculcate the wisdom of providing 
 for what may be wanted upon a journey, says : — " Don't forget pro- 
 vender ; there will be no ' Tarainga Here ' (bird-spearing) on the way." 
 The " Tahere " or " Here " is a long piece of wood, carefully prepared. The 
 Maoris have, or had, two kinds of spears. One of these was used in 
 warfare as a defensive instrument. It was adapted for being thrust 
 through the palisade of a fort against the legs or bodies of the attacking 
 party. But the bird-spear was always much lighter, and made of the 
 wood of the Tawa tree {NesodapTiTie tawa). The Eev. W. Colenso tells us 
 in his " Eeminiscences of the Ancient Maoris " (Trans. N. Z. Inst., 
 Vol. XXIV.) that he never could understand how the pigeon-spears of the 
 Maoris were manufactured until he visited a tribe of Maoris at Euatahuna, 
 from whom he learnt the secret of the construction of these spears. 
 
 When the Maoris had determined to make a pigeon-spear, they 
 selected a straight, tall, and sound Tawa tree standing in the forest. 
 The next step was to fell the tree with their stone axes. The top and 
 branches of the felled tree were carefully cut off. The trunk was then 
 dragged into the open and split down the middle into two equal halves. 
 If the stem split easily and straight, then it would probably serve for 
 two spears. The Maoris next prepared a raised bed of clay, from thirty- 
 five to forty feet long, i.e., longer than the proposed spear, beaten and 
 trampled down so that the surface was quite smooth and regular. One 
 half of the split trunk was dragged on to this clay bed, and carefully 
 
PIGEON-TEAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 317 
 
 adzed down, by degrees ajid at various times, to the size and thickness 
 desired for the spear. The spear was not continuously worked at, but it 
 was continually being turned and fixed by pegs in the ground to prevent 
 the wood warping and becoming crooked. It took a considerable time — 
 about two years — to finish a spear. The last operation was that of 
 scraping the weapon with a broken shell or fragment of obsidian, and 
 rubbing it smooth with pumice-stone. When the spear is complete, it 
 has been adzed down to the thickness of one inch and a quarter in the 
 middle, tapering off to three-quarters of an iuch near the ends, and then 
 fitted with a " Tara-kaniwha " or barb. The barb is made of bone, one 
 end of which is sharpened by scraping, and one side is serrated (" Kani- 
 wha "), in order that it may hold the bird when driven home. When 
 the barb is finished, it is bound on to one end of the spear, and is then 
 fit for the use of the fowler. 
 
 I have been careful to summarise here the details of spearing, as 
 given by three different writers, ia order to explain what an immense 
 amount of trouble the Maoris expend upon the manufacture of theii- 
 bird-spears. The kernel of the matter lies in the Maori proverb, " You 
 cannot hew a bird-spear by the way ; " or, in other words, " without 
 timely preparation you may die from want of food, though the pigeons 
 are plentiful in the forests near you." 
 
 Major Heaphy, V.C, gives the following description of spearing 
 pigeons : " On another occasion I accompanied a party of natives into 
 the lulls near Belmont, to spear pigeons. The spears are about twelve 
 feet long [this is much shorter than usual] and very slender, not more 
 than -g^ in. in diameter at the thickest part. They have to be held near 
 the point, and, on a journey, trailed behind until wanted for unmediate 
 use. The pigeons are probably feeding in low trees, or are about water 
 holes, and are scarcely frightened at the approach of the hunter, who 
 quietly steals under them, sometimes even ascending the lower branches 
 of the tree the bird occupies. The spear is then quietly directed among 
 the foliage towards the breast of the bird, which takes little notice of the 
 operation. When the point is within half a yard, a sudden thrust is 
 made and the bird is transfixed. The point of the weapon is of bone, 
 and barbed. This bone is hung securely by a lanyard at its base to the 
 spear-head, but when ready for use is lashed with thin thread alongside 
 the wood. The wounded bird flutters with such force as would break 
 
318 PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WOELDS. 
 
 the spear were the whole rigid ; but, as arranged, the thread breaks, and 
 the bird on the barbed bone falls the length of the lanyard, where its 
 stragglings do not affect the spear, and it is easily taken by the fowler's 
 left hand. This mode of capturing birds very soon after our arrival 
 went out of vogue. The spears were exceedingly difficult to make, 
 and the few that were finished were eagerly bought by the whites as 
 curiosities." 
 
 At the time when the fruits of the forest are ripe, such as the 
 " Whanake " or " Ti " {Conlyline australis), large numbers of these 
 pigeons may be seen flying about and eating the ripe fruit. When they 
 take flight they resemble a swarm of bees, flying round and above the 
 trees, occasionally alighting. This is their constant habit so long as that 
 fruit lasts. Sometimes the fowler builds a hut in a tree, and remains 
 aloft until the pigeons arrive to feed, when, of course, he spears all that 
 come within -range of his long weapon, generally striking the birds so 
 deftly that the weapon does not remain in the body of the bird, but is 
 withdrawn after inflicting a mortal wound, while the bird drops dead or 
 dying to the earth. The sport of spearing the pigeons is most remunera- 
 tive in years when the birds are very numerous. 
 
 Mr Colenso states that a long spear is sometimes flxed loosely to the 
 trunk of a tall tree which has been trimmed of its smaller branches in 
 such a way as to run easily through a series of small round loops which 
 are attached to the tree at regular distances. By this contrivance a 
 Maori is able to stand at the foot of the tree and direct his spear into 
 the body of any pigeon that may happen to perch within reach. But the 
 most profitable method of fowling for these pigeons is to adopt the use of 
 snares. There are two methods of employing the snares. The " Tutu " 
 system is that of snaring the pigeons in the trees. The name " Tutu " is 
 applied to an erect, growing tree, in the branches of which a stage is 
 formed, on which sits the fowler who is engaged in snaring pigeons. As 
 soon as the birds begin to fly about the ripe fruit in dense swarms, " all 
 the men of each ' Hapu,' " says Tamati Eanapiri, " possessed of pluck, 
 strength, and knowledge, who live in the neighbourhood, that is to say 
 the native people of the place, decide to make ' Tutus ' to catch the 
 ' Kereru.' They search out a tree which has a suitable top, with inwardly 
 inclined branches, and where the surrounding trees have projecting 
 branches. "When one is found it is prepared for a ' Tutu.' In case there 
 
PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 319 
 
 is no vine or creeper adhering to the tree, by which to ascend, maybe 
 another suitable one close at hand will be found to serve the same 
 purpose, from which a stage (or ladder) can be made to connect it with 
 the tree used as a ' Tutu.' Should no such tree be available, the ' Tutu ' 
 tree itself has a ladder lashed to it, reaching right up to the branches. 
 As soon as the tree can be ascended, poles are cut below and hoisted up 
 the ' Tutu ' tree to form a stage on which one or two persons can arrange 
 the ' Poukas.' The ' Pouka ' is a wooden rod carefully made, about 5 feet 
 long, 2^ wide, by 1 inch thick. Three or four of these are used. They 
 are tied to different branches, directed upwards in an upright position, so 
 that the upper ends of the 'Poukas' project above the topmost branches, 
 where they are used to attach the ' Tumus ' or parts on which the 
 ' Kereru ' are caught. The ' Tumu ' is very carefully adzed into shape, 
 and to it is attached the ' Aho ' (cord), made of ' Muka ' (scraped flax), by 
 which the feet of the ' Kereru ' are snared. The cord forms a noose 
 spread on the ' Tumu,' the long end of which passes through a hole in the 
 ' Tumu,' thence down the side of the ' Pouka ' to the hand of the snarer, 
 who, as soon as the pigeon alights, by a quick pull tightens the noose and 
 catches the bird. Large numbers of ' Kereru ' are killed by this method 
 by the Maoris, sometimes as many as two hundred in a day, depending 
 on the number of birds about." The alternative method of snaring these 
 birds is due to the fact that the pigeons are devotedly fond of the fruit 
 of the Miro tree {Podocarptos ferruginea). This fattens the birds very 
 rapidly, but at the same time creates great thirst. A short time before 
 the harvest of this fruit has arrived the Maoris ascertain which trees are 
 likely to yield good crops, each native taking his own share in the fowling 
 which follows. The Maoris anticipate the thirst of the pigeons by pre- 
 paring a number of " Wakas " or " Kumetes " to hold water before the 
 pigeons visit the trees. The troughs or drinking vessels are filled with 
 water, and either placed on the ground or secured to the branches of the 
 trees. The snares are then set in the form of running nooses arranged 
 all round the sides of the water troughs, so that the birds cannot reach 
 the water to quench their thirst without putting their heads into the 
 nooses. One Maori often has six or seven water troughs and three or 
 four trees set with snares to look after. A custom exists that the pigeons 
 caught on the day that the snares are first set should remain in the 
 nooses until the following day. The utmost quiet is maintained in the 
 
320 
 
 PIGEON-TEAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 neighbourhood of the snares. No one is allowed to split firewood or do 
 any other work in the vicinity until the evening has arrived and the 
 pigeons have gone off to roost. If a Maori happens to travel through 
 the forest when the Miro tree is laden with fruit, and he comes across a 
 pool of water, he at once examines the adjacent trees for marks of the 
 
 Maori Snares fob Piqeons. 
 
 birds. If these are found to be in evidence, he sets snares around the 
 pool in order to catch the pigeons when they return to drink. The 
 Maoris who have set snares around the water troughs sleep in the forest, 
 though some of the party are detailed to carry the birds home. This 
 system of snaring the pigeons is most deadly as long as the fruit of the 
 Miro hangs on the tree, but when the fruit falls the snaring ceases. Sir 
 W. BuUer states that some of his fellow-colonists consider this pigeon 
 is less numerous than formerly, but he entertains no fears for its becoming 
 extinct so long as the native forests remain. " Its relative abundance," 
 he writes, " may be inferred from the fact that in July and August 1882, 
 Eawiri Kahia and his people snared no less than eight thousand of them 
 in a single strip of Miro bush, about two miles in extent by half a mile 
 in width, at Opawa, near Lake Taupo. The birds thus snared are 
 preserved in their own fat, and potted as 'huahua kaereru.' Food of 
 this kind is esteemed a great delicacy, and elaborately carved ' kumetes ' 
 
PIGEON-TEAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WOKLDS. 321 
 
 are sometimes used for serving it at the tribal feasts " {Birds of New 
 Zealand, Vol I. p. 234). Mr Colenso states that it is of the green bark 
 of the Totara tree that the drinking-vessels are made. 
 
 It is impossible to read of the vast numbers of pigeons killed by the 
 Maoris in New Zealand without being reminded of the remarkable 
 quantities of the Passenger Pigeon {Eeiopistes migratorius) which were 
 formerly slaughtered in the United States. The " red-skin " had hunted 
 these birds on their periodical migrations long before white men 
 appeared upon the scene. The method of the savage was simplicity 
 itself. The Indian watched the movements of the birds and ascertained 
 where the pigeons roosted. He and his mates then repaired to the spot 
 when the birds were fast asleep, and knocked the poor things down with 
 long poles. Thousands of pigeons were secured in this way and used as 
 food. Pennant tells us that, in the interior of Carolina, the small Indian 
 towns were so well supplied with Passenger Pigeons that a hundred 
 gallons of pigeons' oil or fat, which the Indians used with their maize as 
 we should make use of butter, could be obtained in one of these settle- 
 ments at any time. The bird itself would' not bulk at all in the same 
 way as the fat Fruit-pigeon of New Zealand, being, in fact, a bird of 
 slender build. 
 
 Mr Ashton Blackburne wrote from New York in the year 1770 
 to describe to Pennant the extraordinary flights of these pigeons which 
 passed through the States at the end of February or the beginning of 
 March, and again at the end of July or the beginning of August. He 
 refers to the taste for a saline draught, to which allusion has been 
 already made, as enabling sportsmen to compass means of destroying 
 large numbers of pigeons. " They make a hut of boughs of trees, and 
 fix stale pigeons on the ground at a small distance from the hut. They 
 plant poles for the wild pigeons to light on when they come ' a saltiTig ' 
 (as they term it), which they do every morning in the season, repairing 
 to the marshes near the sea-side ; then the persons in the hut pull the 
 stale pigeon, when the birds will alight in large numbers on the poles, 
 and great multitudes are shot. Sir William Johnson told me that he 
 killed at one shot with a blunderbuss a hundred and twenty or thirty" 
 (Arctic Zoology, Vol. ii. p. 326). Audubon tells us that in the year 
 1805 he saw steamers coming into the docks at New York laden with 
 Passenger Pigeons. The birds had been caught on the Hudson Eiver, 
 
 X 
 
322 PIGEON-TBAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WOKLDS. 
 
 and only fetched one cent a-piece. He himself repeatedly visited one 
 of the wonderful roosting-places of this species, which was situated on 
 the banks of the Green Eiver in Kentucky. Two farmers who lived at 
 Eussellville, more than a hundred miles off, had driven their pigs, three 
 hundred in number, to be fattened on the pigeons which it was proposed 
 to slaughter. The trees were of great magnitude, and the number of the 
 birds immense. The fowlers armed themselves for the capture of the 
 birds in advance. Some of them were supplied with iron pots contain- 
 ing sulphur, others with torches of pine-knots ; many of them carried 
 poles, and the remainder were furnished with guns. The noise of the 
 birds approaching reminded Audubon of the sound of a hard gale at sea 
 passing through the rigging of a closely-rigged vessel. " Thousands were 
 soon knocked down by the polemen. The birds continued to pour in. 
 The fires were lighted, and a magnificent as well as wonderful and 
 almost terrifying sight presented itself. The pigeons, arriving by 
 thousands, alighted everywhere one above another, until masses as large 
 as hogsheads were formed on the branches all round. Here and there 
 the perches gave way under the weight with a crash, and, falling to the 
 ground destroyed hundreds of the birds beneath, forcing down the dense 
 groups with which every stick was loaded. It was a scene of uproar 
 and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak or even to shout 
 to those persons who were nearest to me. Even the report of the guns 
 were seldom heard, and I was made aware of the firing only by seeing 
 the shooters reloading" (Orn. Biography, Vol. I. p. 325). Alexander 
 Wilson records that the capture of this bird was generally effected 
 by Clap-nets. His evidence is supported by the earlier testimony of 
 Ashton Blackburne. Wilson tells us that the Clap-nets "are spread 
 out on suitable situations, commonly on an open height in an old buck- 
 wheat field. Four or five live pigeons, with their eyelids sewn up, 
 are fastened on a moveable stick ; a small hut of branches is fitted up 
 for the fowler at the distance of forty or fifty yards ; by the pulling 
 of a string, the stick on which the pigeons rest is alternately raised 
 and depressed, which produces a fluttering of their wings similar to 
 that of birds just alighting; this being perceived by the passing flocks, 
 they descend with great rapidity, and finding corn, buckwheat, &c., 
 strewn about, they begin to feed and are instantly (by the pulling of 
 a cord) covered with the net. In this manner ten, twenty, and even 
 
PIGEON-TRAPPING IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 
 
 323 
 
 thirty dozen have been caught at one sweep. Wagon loads of them 
 are poured into market, where they sell from fifty to twenty-five and 
 even twelve cents per dozen, and pigeons become the order of the day, 
 at dinner, breakfast, and supper, until the very name becomes sicken- 
 ing" (American Ornithology, VoL n. p. 205). 
 
 The old birds were considered diy eating and inferior in delicacy to 
 the squab young ; but even the adult birds became well-flavoured when 
 fattened on corn and buckwheat. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from Di Valli's work. It 
 depicts a number of Wood-pigeons alighting upon birdlimed rods in response to 
 the invitation of a tame decoy. The tailpiece is after Audubon's plate of the 
 Passenger Pigeon.] 
 
CHAPTEE XXXIII.— SAND-GEOUSE. 
 
 VAEIOUS species of Sand-Grouse inhabit the warm plains of Central 
 Asia, as well as the more arid regions of the African continent. 
 Although their flesh is dry, the splendid flight and beautifully arranged 
 patterns of plumage peculiar to the family secure a certain popularity 
 for these birds. To those of us who live in Europe, the most familiar 
 species of Sand-Grouse is Pallas's Sand-Grouse {Syrrhaptes paradoxus). 
 This is the Sand-Grouse which swept across Europe in a vast aerial wave 
 in the summer of 1888. 
 
 The Northumbrian peasants are reputed to have slaughtered these 
 lovely birds in the breeding season, on the score that the birds were 
 excellent under a covering of pie-crust. I did not obtain any evidence 
 of these birds being trapped alive. It would have been better to have 
 caught our distinguished visitors than to have bruised their delicate 
 feathers with powder and shot. One intelligent farm-hind oifered to 
 snare a few specimens, in order that I might try to induce them to 
 breed in captivity; but I happened to be too closely associated with 
 endeavours to protect these creatures to consent to any abridgment of 
 their liberty. 
 
 Mr Turley informs me that the Chinese fowlers still catch this 
 species of Sand-Grouse as Swinhoe described a good many years ago. 
 His observations were made near Tientsin, where the birds were called 
 " Sha chee " = sand-fowl. Clap-nets were the means of their capture. The 
 birdcatchers made the best hauls of Sand-Grouse after a heavy fall of 
 
SAND-GEOUSE. 325 
 
 snow had covered the plains, and forced the birds to shift their quarters 
 in search of food. The fowler first cleared an open space in the snow, 
 and then proceeded to lay his Clap-nets, after which he strewed the 
 ground with small green beans. The open space in the centre of the 
 wide expanse of snow was sure to catch the acute vision of the flocks of 
 Sand-Grouse as they drifted with arrow-like swiftness over the wintry 
 landscape. The natural result was that the nets were spread in their 
 sight only too successfully. When the birds checked their swift course 
 to settle upon the cleared spot in the middle of the net, the fowler knew 
 that his opportunity had arrived. Jerking the fatal cords from his distant 
 watching place, he frequently enclosed all the members of a flock within 
 the meshes of his toils. It is therefore small wonder that the market of 
 Tientsin is sometimes glutted with these birds. David says that the 
 netting is extensively carried on between Takou and Tientsin. 
 
 It is also by means of Clap-nets that our pretty European Pin-taUed 
 Sand-Grouse {Pteroclurus pyrenaicus) is captured in the deserts of Southern 
 France. The occasion chosen, however, is not in the depth of winter ; 
 but, contrariwise, in the burning heat of July, when the watersprings 
 are well-nigh all absorbed by the scorching rays of the sun. Then the 
 " Gangas," as the peasants of the Crau d' Aries phrase the name of this 
 bird, are sorely pinched to flnd a supply of water to satisfy their needs, 
 and the fowler knows that his opportunity is near. Accordingly, he 
 searches out some isolated rivulet of water which has escaped so far the 
 disastrous effect of the drought. His nets are pegged out at the water- 
 side, and their folds artfully concealed ; the operation having been com- 
 pleted, the fowler himself takes up his position before the first flush 
 of dawn. When daylight grows strong and clear, the Pin-tailed Sand- 
 Grouse gather together and wheel up and down their remote retreat, 
 anxiously scrutinising the face of the country in the hope of obtaining 
 their morning draught. No sooner have these charming birds perceived 
 the silvery stream, beside which the fowler lies in ambuscade, than with 
 one accord they steer their flight to the tempting spot, and fearlessly 
 aUght within the reach of the nets. But the fowler must be careful to 
 pull his string as soon as the birds commence to drink, for the Sand- 
 Grouse (say MM. Jaubert and Barth^lemy-Lapommeraye) drinks so 
 quickly that, unless the fowler is adroit, he will probably lose his chance 
 of detaining the birds in his nets. 
 
326 SAND-GROUSE. 
 
 The Pin-tailed Sand-Grouse of Asia {Pterodurus alchatus), which is 
 not so rich in colour as the European form, and has a chestnut instead 
 of pale rufous chest, is well-known to Anglo-Indian sportsmen. Hume 
 states that it is easy to catch birds of this species in nooses made of 
 horsehair. He witnessed the method in question being carried into 
 effect. 
 
 The handsome black-bellied Sand-Grouse (Fterocles arenariits) is found 
 in the wildest districts of Southern Spain, in North Africa, and eastward 
 to N.-W. India. Mr E. M. Adam tells us (Stray Feathers, 1873, p. 391) 
 that he found this bird very plentiful at Sambhur in cold weather. He 
 informs us that the local fowlers catch these Sand-Grouse by throwing a 
 net over the birds as they crouch upon the ground in the dark. Mr 
 Hume assures us that the fowlers take this Sand-Grouse by lying in 
 watch with nets, or by setting snares at the spots which these birds 
 frequent for drinking purposes. 
 
 Mr E. Thompson writes concerning the Painted Sand-Grouse (Pterodes 
 fasciatus), which is distributed throughout India, that large numbers are 
 captured during the rainy season by fowlers. Their method of capturing 
 these birds is to approach the birds unseen under cover of a screen made 
 of green leaves and twigs. When the fowler has managed to creep up 
 to the unsuspecting birds in this fashion, he endeavours to drop a net 
 over them. The net is circular, suspended from a hoop, and held out 
 horizontally at the end of a long bamboo, so that it may be silently 
 dropped over the birds as they squat upon the ground. It is by daylight 
 that the last-mentioned manceuvre is carried out ; but, as I have already 
 remarked, the Sand-Grouse is pursued by its human enemies by both day 
 and night. Mr Hume considers that the common Indian Sand-Grouse 
 (Pterodunis exustus), which, by the way, is a plentiful species also in 
 many parts of Africa, keeps a vigilant watch against nocturnal surprises. 
 " Still," he says, " native fowlers wUl at times surprise them, and, during 
 dark nights, in some fashion creep up and drop a net over the entire 
 party. The net used is a very light one, a truncated triangle, about eight 
 feet wide at bottom and four feet at top, attached to two light bamboos, 
 each about eight feet long. The covey is marked as it goes to roost, and 
 then the man about 10 o'clock (the night must be dark and is all the 
 better for being windy) steals up and drops the net over the entire 
 pack" {Gamebirds of India, Vol. I. p. 72). 
 
SAND-GKOUSE. 
 
 327 
 
 Colonel Yerbury reports that this Indian Sand- Grouse is numerous in 
 the vicinity of Aden. " These birds," he says, " begin to come in numbers 
 about 7.30 A.M. on return from drinking, to the fields around Al Hautah, 
 and snaring them is a favourite amusement of the small Arab boys, the 
 modus operandi being as follows : Eight or nine hardened balls of clay 
 (about one inch in diameter) are fastened together ; each ball is perforated 
 by a horsehair, having a noose at the end of it. A hole is scratched in 
 one of the fields visited by the birds, and the balls buried in it, so that 
 the nooses are free ; each noose is then opened out, laid on the ground, 
 and baited with a few grains" (Ibis, 1896, p. 30). 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter illustrates the netting of Pallas's Sand-Grouse 
 in snowy weather.] 
 
CHAPTEK XXXIV.— EED GEOUSE AND WILLOW GROUSE. 
 
 THE Red Grouse {Lagopus scoticus) has always afforded a strange joy 
 to the moorland fowler. Many of us associate the Grouse with 
 the exhilarating exercise of a long day's tramp through the purple heather. 
 The man whose ways are dark and ambiguous prefers to take the birds 
 by craft and subtlety in springes, secretly placed in the runs which the 
 birds follow when feeding on the tops of their favourite ling. It is at 
 least consoling to reflect that the Grouse has survived the bitterest per- 
 secution. As long ago as the year 1428, our Sovereign Lord James the 
 First of Scotland found it requisite to approve an Act of the Scottish 
 Parliament, " anent pertrik pluvar blak cok gra henys and mur cok that 
 na sic foulis be tane with na man of instrument fra the begying of 
 lentyn quhill august " under " payn of fourty schillings " (Acts of the 
 Parliaments of Scotland, Vol. il. p. 16). Yet in spite of bad seasons and 
 the strategy of poachers, the sturdy " Muirfowl " shows no sign of being 
 rendered scarce by the efforts directed to reducing its numbers. 
 
 I have described in my " Natural History of the Red Grouse " (Fur 
 and Feather series) how the hardy dalesmen of Yorkshire and Westmor- 
 land shoot Red Grouse by the system which is called " Becking." It is 
 an accomplishment well known to many old-fashioned men in the north 
 of England. I have not as yet traced the custom across the Border. 
 One of our quaint characters, half naturalist and half poacher, remarked 
 to me that, during the sharp spell of frost which we experienced during 
 the last days of October 1895, he had had "a hit sport — becking grouse." 
 He had, in fact, killed two fine cocks in one morning from his own door. 
 The truth is that his cottage is situated on the edge of a large moor, which 
 
EED GROUSE AND WILLOW GROUSE. 329 
 
 is not preserved by the owner. Consequently our friend has no scruple 
 in testing his capacity to imitate the " call " of the female Eed Grouse, 
 either with a wooden stem, with the stem of a clay pipe, or with his lips 
 alone. 
 
 It is in the grey and uncertain gloom which immediately precedes the 
 approach of breaking day that " Becking " is carried on. The fowler has 
 usually to turn out of bed at some very unseasonable hour, and to trudge 
 across the bleak and desolate moors shivering with cold ; for it is chiefly 
 in frosty weather that Eed Grouse " beck." Arrived at the " smittle " 
 spot, he has to endure the discomfort of a cramped position behind some 
 peat-hag, in the bottom of some drain, or behind the friendly shelter of 
 some stone wall, waiting in silence until the exciting moment approaches. 
 Then it is that he prepares to immolate the bold cock bird which tries so 
 amorously to join himself to the company of an imaginary siren. 
 
 I am told that the employment of netting, now so common in England, 
 has well-nigh put an end to the mediaeval but sinful practice of setting 
 snares for the Eed and Black Grouse. Not long ago I had a visit from 
 an intelligent Cumbrian, who as a boy had a good deal to do with snaring 
 Grouse. He was employed to look after snares by those who rented the 
 moor. They rented the moor that they might shoot it at their leisure. 
 As they required, being poor men, to make their rent out of the moor, 
 they not only shot over it whenever they had a spare afternoon, but they 
 also covered it with snares, assigned to the care of my informant, who 
 was very young at the time. He became very deft at this, and could set 
 three hundred snares in a day. Each snare was made of a single copper 
 wire (this replacing the earlier and more primitive horsehair noose), and 
 was set in oval form a handbreath or span from the ground. It was 
 supported in the proper position by a cleft stick or twig, and secured to 
 a bunch of growing heather by a piece of string. The snares were set 
 " as rank as possible," chiefly in broken, mossy ground, in runs through 
 the heather, and in places where the birds " sand," i.e., pick up gravel to 
 aid their digestion. " Where ever there is a place where a Grouse is likely 
 to settle and turn round, — there a snare must be set ; " such is, or at any 
 rate was, the theory of those who followed this shameful system of per- 
 secuting the gay and unsuspecting " Gorcock." The difficulties were con- 
 siderable. Eooks often filled the snares in the place of more savoury 
 game. When this happened, the captive jumped up and down until 
 
330 BED GROUSE AND WILLOW GKOUSE. 
 
 relief came ; for the Eook is too acute a fowl to strangle itself in vain 
 efforts to escape. I ought, perhaps, to explain that the Grouse-snare was 
 set with the intention of catching a bird by the neck. Sometimes it 
 happened that a snare slipped over the shoulders of a Grouse. In such 
 an emergency the bird was certain to be retained alive in the trap. 
 
 My informant, a thoroughly veracious person, assured me that the 
 number of snares set at one time upon the moor where he was employed 
 as a lad was not less than one thousand. The best returns from snaring 
 were obtained in late autumn. When the wild gales of winter arrived 
 great damage was done to the snares. A fall of snow was worse, for it 
 beat the nooses down to the ground and rendered them useless. Black 
 Game lose heart when they find themselves ensnared, but Eed Grouse do 
 not do so. The Moorfowl is a bird of high spirit ; if he has the mis- 
 fortune to place his head in the halter, he fights gamely to obtain his 
 liberty. Mr Harold Henderson, who has exceptionally good opportunities 
 for studying the customs of the Irish peasantry, informs me that he has 
 come across traps intended for catching Hares on several occasions. A 
 specimen of such a " Hare-trap," which Mr Henderson recently observed 
 upon a bog in Co. Leitrim, consisted of a pitfall in the ground. The trap 
 measured about fifteen inches by nine inches at the top, and was about 
 eighteen inches in depth. The earth had been taken away from inside 
 the pitfall. Perhaps I should rather say that the sides of the trap had 
 been hollowed out at the bottom, so that any Hare that might have the 
 misfortune to topple into the pit laid for its destruction must resign its 
 liberty to the artful trapper. The bait employed to entice the small 
 mammal to precipitate itself into the hole in the ground is generally a 
 sheaf of corn. This is fastened to a pole at the edge of the trap. The 
 grain is quite as attractive to the Eed Grouse as to four-footed animals, 
 and the peasant has often to extricate a Grouse from his pitfall. The 
 poacher often sets as many as four different " Hare-holes " about one 
 bundle of corn, which is secured in the centre of the traps. When any 
 stray Grouse from the higher ground observe the bundle of corn, they 
 naturally fly to the spot which offers the attraction of a feed. As the 
 hungry birds endeavour to strip the grain from the straw, one or two of 
 their party very probably miss their footing, and flutter into the bottom 
 of the " Hare-hole." 
 
 It is in the great, lonely mountain valleys of Norway, and on the 
 
EED GROUSE AND WILLOW GKOUSE. 331 
 
 bleak fells of Lapland, that such marvellous numbers of the White Willow 
 Grouse {^Lagopits albus) are annually snared to supply the markets of 
 Paris, London, and other great cities. Many a household of the far north 
 would fare badly if there were no Eipa to be trapped during the long 
 months of ice and snow that follow the brilliant arctic summer. When 
 my friend Mr John Benson was returning to his favourite fishing quarters 
 at Opheim in the spring of 1895, I requested him to ascertain for me 
 the exact method by which the Willow Grouse are captured in that part 
 of Norway. Accordingly, he discussed the subject with the farmers of 
 the district, and favoured me with the accompanying information : " In 
 this part of Norway, the Willow Grouse or ' Siryper ' is taken in snares 
 in the winter. The snare is made by taking two lots of white horsehair, 
 six hairs in each lot. These are rolled together, and the two lots are 
 then rolled into one. When the strand is complete, an ordinary slip- 
 knot is made at one end, and the snare is attached to a stout fork of 
 wood (as shown in the head-piece). The fork is then set in the snow, and 
 a small fence of birch twigs is inserted on each side. The prongs of the 
 fork which supports the noose are six inches apart. The snare is tied to 
 ■ the stoutest side of the fork, and kept open by means of two small pegs 
 which are inserted in slits made on the outer surface of the two sides 
 of fork. The noose is preserved in the desired position, by the two 
 strands of hair being separated so as to permit the pegs to pass between 
 them and thus give them support, the hair closing again on the pegs ; 
 alternatively, a small notch is cut on the surface of the peg which keeps 
 the snare in the necessary position. The noose should be about eighteen 
 or twenty inches long, and the lowest part of the noose should hang about 
 four inches above the surface of the snow." 
 
 Mr Benson's remarks corroborate the account of trapping Willow 
 Grouse which Mrs Kinney has been good enough to translate for me 
 from Tidskriff for Jagarr och Naturforshare, 1833-1835 : — "In Lapland 
 and Sweden," says the Scandinavian writer just referred to, " these birds 
 are generally caught in snares (' reusak-kiel ') put up in the following 
 manner : an enclosure is made of birch twigs, stuck into the groimd as 
 if they were growing. Openings a foot wide are left for the snares. A 
 noose is attached to a birch-rod with the bark left on. A forked branch 
 is then placed in the opening, the two ends of the fork being planted 
 in the ground. Small notches are cut in the bark to keep the noose in 
 
332 KED GROUSE AND WILLOW GROUSE. 
 
 position. The noose is made of twisted hemp or linen thread about the 
 thickness of fine packthread, and must be four inches in diameter, and the 
 lower edge must hang a little more than an inch above the snow. Small 
 branches of birch twigs, full of buds, are then tied to sticks, and put 
 down in the snow, one before and one behind the snare, two feet apart. 
 When the Willow Grouse has eaten the buds off one bunch, it wants to 
 have those on the other side, but has to run through the snare to get at 
 them, and is caught. Some fowlers have a thousand of these snares and 
 less than a hundred thousand grouse are never snared." Mr Biesickierski 
 tells me that the Siberian trappers take Willow Grouse in the winter 
 time by means of old and worn out nets. The fowler first ascertains the 
 favourite feeding grounds of these birds by searching for their droppings 
 upon the surface of the snow. He then spreads his nets on a spot 
 cleared of snow and trodden down by human feet. The Willow Grouse 
 run over the cleared space and become entangled in the meshes of the 
 net. Another method of netting the Willow Grouse is that which 
 Turner saw practised in Alaska. The male birds are very pugnacious in 
 that wild region in the early months of the year. The natives turn their 
 bellicose propensities to good account. The fowler prepares a stuffed 
 male and fastens it firmly to a sharpened stick, which is inserted into 
 the body of the dummy. He provides himself also with a small net of 
 three or four feet square, to the corners of which two pegs are attached 
 to secure it to the ground. The native then starts in search of a pair of 
 Willow Grouse, which he is sure to find near some patch of snow on the 
 open ground. He approaches the birds, pegs his net by two corners to 
 the ground, and retires. The male bird hastens to show fight to the 
 supposed intruder, and while he is giving battle to the dummy the native 
 jerks a string, which throws the net over the Willow Grouse. So 
 unsophisticated are, or were, the Willow Grouse in Alaska that Mr 
 Turner once saw a male bird advance to the decoy while the native was 
 still setting the net, not a foot from the decoy. But in Alaska, as in 
 other parts of the circumpolar regions, this hardy bird is principally 
 captured by the instrumentality of snares. When the Willow Grouse 
 return in spring to their summer haunts on the Kavyayak Peninsula the 
 natives adopt a ruse for their capture not dissimilar to that which is 
 familiar to us as practised in the north of Europe. They arrange pieces 
 of brush into small clumps, set in a line, and extending along the ice. 
 
EED GKO0SE AND WILLOW GEOUSE. 333 
 
 On the branches of this brush they hang nooses of sinew. " The place," 
 says Mr Turner, " where the birds usually go back to the peninsula is 
 near the end of Norton Bay, opposite Shakatolik and Egowik. The 
 natives there prepare these thickets set with nooses during this season 
 of migration. The birds come in such numbers to those places that, 
 when they see the bushes, they follow them and many thousands are 
 caught in the snares. A single native, having only half a dozen of these 
 bushes, placed about seventy-five yards apart, cannot take the captured 
 birds out fast enough. They say the birds seem to fall to the ice from 
 every direction, they come in such numbers. A single man will, in a 
 single day, catch a sledge-load of them. The natives bring them to 
 St Michael's by the load ; and sell them in that quantity for a mere 
 trifle. They are used for dog-food at this season " {Nat. Hist. Alaska, 
 p. 153). 
 
 The Ptarmigan {Lagopus mutus) is not, to my knowledge, captured 
 in snares on our Scottish mountains to any large extent. Mr J. G. 
 Millais has given an entertaining description of a novel method of 
 capturing this bird in his Game Birds and Sporting Sketches (p. 71). 
 The poacher discovers a place on the hill where the Ptarmigan are in 
 the habit of sitting when snow has fallen. To this he repairs while the 
 snow is still soft, armed with a bag of oats and a beer or champagne 
 bottle. Arrived on the ground, he makes a number of indentations in the 
 snow with his bottle, and fills up the bottom of these cavities with corn, 
 taking care to sprinkle some grain around the holes. The Ptarmigan 
 over-reach themselves in craning their necks to devour the grain which 
 they see at the base of the holes. Slipping in head-foremost they are 
 unable to extricate themselves from their awkward position, but remain 
 prisoners perforce. 
 
 In Iceland the Ptarmigan (Lagopas rupestris) is captured by means 
 of rude string nooses set in the snow, to which the birds are attracted by 
 grass seeds, these being strewn about the snares. Great quantities of 
 birds were taken in this way in former years, and sent by steamer to 
 Denmark {lUs, 1885, p. 396). Pabricius observes that in his day the 
 Ptarmigan was extensively snared by the Greenlanders. The engine used 
 to effect the capture of the birds consisted of a long, plaited cord made of 
 threads of sinew, in the centre of which some running nooses were tied. 
 When two men decided to hunt Ptarmigan, they started in pursuit of the 
 
334 
 
 EED GEOUSE AND WILLOW GROUSE. 
 
 birds, with the cord just mentioned borne between them. If they found 
 the birds, they endeavoured to get a single bird between them, when 
 they contrived to hitch one of the nooses round its neck. Fabricius 
 records that the birds became so tame in winter that it was comparatively 
 easy to approach them. He himself often assisted in snaring the birds 
 in the snow. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter illustrates the Norwegian method of snaring 
 Willow Grouse. It is based upon sketches prepared by Mr Benson when in 
 Norway. The tailpiece depicts " Becking " for Red Grouse.] 
 
 
 f 
 
 r ■ - 
 A. 
 
 f y. 
 
 .c 
 
 -yi V-v' 
 
 f ' 
 
 f'-fi^ 
 
 ".' ' 1 
 
 t *- 
 
 
 
 -> v'^.-J'-^^ 
 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XXXV.— BLACK GROUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 
 
 THE BLACK GROUSE {Lynirus tetrix) figures largely in the com- 
 mercial statistics of fowling, its flesh being almost as familiar an 
 article of consumption in the great cities of Europe as among the forest 
 wilds of Central Siberia. Our poachers in the north of England 
 occasionally capture a few head of Black Game in the ground-snares 
 which they set for the Red Grouse. They assure me that the Black Cock, 
 in spite of his brave appearance, is not as plucky a bird as the Red 
 Grouse ; or at least that the former does not fight very determinedly for 
 his liberty when once ensnared, but soon loses heart, and abandons all 
 hope of breaking through his bonds. The " poults " of this species are 
 so tame and skulking in the month of August that many of them are 
 felled by the Border shepherds with their pastoral staffs. These fellows 
 are often adept at disposing of game which has been obtained unlawfully. 
 Mr Benson tells me that the snares used for catching Black Game in 
 Western Norway in the winter months are similar to those used for taking 
 Willow Grouse, but are made of stronger strands of hair. They are set 
 near juniper bushes, or, if the weather is open, near ants' nests. Our 
 Scotch peasants, especially in the eastern counties, set snares to catch 
 
336 
 
 BLACK GEOUSE AND CAPEECAILLIE. 
 
 \ 
 
 ._, 
 
 Siberian Corn-btack. 
 
 both Black Game and Grouse on the corn when it is standing in " stocks " 
 to dry, prior to its being placed in stacks for the winter. Mr Biesickierski 
 writes to me that in those parts of Southern Siberia where corn is grown 
 large flocks of Black Game gather about the stacks in winter, especially 
 when these are composed of wheat or buckwheat, and are situated near 
 a forest. Owing to the paucity of farm labourers, the stacks of that 
 
 region are made narrow, scarcely 
 three or four sheaves abreast, but 
 often fifty paces long. In order 
 to keep these stacks from falling, 
 staves are driven into the ground 
 on both sides of them. The 
 stacks are seldom carried to a 
 greater height than three metres. 
 During severe frost. Black Game 
 fly to these stacks to feed upon 
 the corn, and are caught in the manner now to be described. A cylinder 
 is plaited of willow twigs in basket fashion, and built up to the same 
 height as the stack, having a base broader than its general diameter. 
 This arrangement is placed inside the stack in the course of its formation. 
 The opening at the top of the cylinder is fitted with a lid, which revolves 
 round a string of twisted horsehair, so that the lid covers the opening of 
 the cylinder, always returns to the horizontal position, and is hidden from 
 sight by small pieces of straw. When a Black Cock, perching on the 
 top of the stack, happens to tread on the lid of the cylinder, the latter 
 turns, and the bird falls inside the cylinder. Sometimes, when the stack 
 is longer than usual, two such traps are placed inside the sheaves. 
 
 Pennant, who doubtless derived his information from Pallas, the great 
 explorer of Siberia, describes a method of trapping Black Game in that 
 country which bears a close resemblance to that reported by Mr 
 Biesickierski : " In the open forests of birch, a certain number of poles 
 are placed horizontally on forked sticks ; by way of allurement small 
 bundles of corn are placed on them ; and not remote are set certain tall 
 baskets of a conical shape, with the broadest part uppermost ; within the 
 mouth is placed a small wheel, through which passes an axis fixed so 
 nicely as to admit it to play very readily, and permit one side or the 
 other, on the least touch, to drop down and again to recover its position. 
 
BLACK GKOUSE AND CAPEKCAILLIE. 
 
 337 
 
 l^ti 
 
 The Black Grous (sic) are soon attracted by the corn on the horizontal 
 poles, first alight on them, and after a short repast fly to the baskets, 
 attempt to settle on their tops, when the wheel drops 
 side ways, and they fall headlong into the trap, which 
 is sometimes found half full " (Arctic Zoology, Vol. ii. 
 p. 315). Mr Millais suggests that a " somewhat deadly 
 method of capture is by clearing a small space in the 
 centre of a wood where the birds are known to resort 
 to rest or feed during the day. The ground is cleared 
 of all the sticks and heather, and thickly strewn with 
 corn &c. in the centre, which is surrounded by a net- 
 work of nooses, through which the birds must endeavour 
 to pass to get at the food " (Game Birds and Shooting 
 Sketches, p. 38). 
 
 Mr J. G. Millais tells us also that a highly success- 
 ful method of killing Black Game is for the poacher to 
 erect over himself a little arbour of sheaves, when the 
 fields have been cleared of the stocks. "He knows 
 well that, so long as there is a single stook left standing 
 in the field, the birds will come to it in preference to 
 hunting for the food which is scattered all over the 
 field ; and in addition to this. Blackcock always like a 
 situation which gives them a commanding view of the 
 surrounding country, so that even when feeding they 
 may be well on the alert to guard against surprise. He 
 therefore erects in his ambush a stake to support the 
 sheaves around him, and of such a height as to make 
 j^^^^^'-y^^ another stake, fixed at right angles, a comfortable perch 
 'ii^^^^^^ for the arriving birds to pitch on, and feed on the ears of 
 traJ^blacJ GAME corn around them. For a man of ordinary height, this 
 BET INSIDE coKN-sTACK. cross-bar is then within easy reach of the arm when 
 extended, and it only requires caution and adroitness on the part of the 
 poacher to be successful in pulling down his unconscious victims within his 
 hiding-place. A stuffed Black Cock will also tend to attract the others to 
 the spot" (Ibid. p. 38). Godlewski mentions that in Siberia many Black 
 Cock are shot to decoys (" Mannequins "), that is to say, to stuffed dummies. 
 Mr Douglass reports that this practice is also common in Western Kussia. 
 
 Y 
 
338 
 
 BLACK GROUSE AND CAPEKOAILLIE. 
 
 An ingenious method of snaring " Orrfogel " or Black Grouse is that 
 known in Finland as "Puma" or "Kaha" {Tidshrift for Jcigare, 1834, 
 p. 831). A funnel-shaped cage is made of birch sticks, six feet in length ; 
 at the bottom, the sticks are placed close together ; at the upper end, the 
 distance is greater, and the ends of the sticks are pointed. In the centre 
 is a pole two feet higher than the sticks ; a cross-stick is loosely fastened 
 near the upper end of the pole. The ends of the birch sticks forming 
 the funnel, as well as the cross-stick fastened to the pole, are garnished 
 with oats. When the bird, attracted by the grain, alights on the cross- 
 
 Trap fob Black Game. 
 
 stick, the latter tilts, and the bird falls into the basket. A pine branch 
 turned upside down and fastened to the pole contributes to keep the 
 bird a prisoner. In order to entice the bird to the spot, two young and 
 slender birches, stripped of their branches, are placed in front of the trap. 
 A pole is placed between them at the height of the cage. This trap 
 answers best in late autumn and early winter, as the bird has less access 
 to grain at such a season of the year. 
 
BLACK GKOUSE AND CAPEKCAILLIE. 339 
 
 In Norway Black Grouse are snared by means of the so-called " Orr- 
 banne." This (as shown in the headpiece) consists of a thin, unbarked 
 stick, four to six feet long. Holes are bored through the ends of the 
 pole, in which the fowler inserts two small birch branches, each garnished 
 with a snare. The centre of the pole is now fastened to the top of a red 
 pine or birch, but so far above the branches that the " Orrfogel " or Black 
 Grouse is obliged to walk out on the pole to reach the bait, which consists 
 of two bunches of birch twigs full of buds, that are tied to the ends of 
 the pole under the snares. 
 
 Yet another plan of capturing this handsome bird is to take it by 
 night in the depth of the Northern winter. The Black Grouse roosts 
 chiefly on the ground, except during pairing time. In severe frost the 
 bird burrows under the snow, in which case it is not only liable to fall a 
 prey to the fox, but, as Pontoppidan tells us was the case in his day, is 
 often placed at the mercy of the fowler. The good bishop assures his 
 readers that the Black Cock burrows in the soft snow with its crop full 
 of food. The peasant observes during the daytime the trees on which 
 the Black Game are in the habit of perching, knowing that the birds are 
 fond of roosting in a favourite haunt. When evening arrives, a couple of 
 fowlers start in search of the sleeping birds, wearing snow-shoes in order 
 that their approach may be as noiseless as possible. The leader of the 
 party carries a torch, while his companion bears a long-handled net, shaped 
 like a landing-net. As soon as the peasants discover a hole in the snow 
 in which a Black Cock is conjectured to be hiding, the net is placed over 
 the orifice, and pressed as hard as possible to the ground. The capture 
 of the bird is thus secured. Great commercial importance attaches to 
 the pursuit of the Capereaillie (Tdrm urogalhts), thousands of which 
 are killed in different parts of Eussia. Mr Biesickierski informs me 
 that the trap by which this large gamebird is most commonly obtained in 
 different parts of Siberia is that known as the " Stopiec." This is a 
 variety of what we popularly call a " Deadfall." It is set in conformity 
 with the habits of the species which it is designed to capture. 
 
 The Capereaillie, like the Black and Eed Grouse, is very partial to 
 pebbles, which assist the muscular action of the avian digestive system. 
 The Siberian hunters have consequently come to regard small gravel as 
 the best bait to attract these birds during the long and dreary winters 
 of their country. Accordingly, they sweep away the snow from small 
 
340 
 
 BLACK GROUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 
 
 patches of gravelly soil in the forests, and utilise the spots thus laid bare 
 for the erection of traps. When a fowler desires to build one of these 
 engines, he commences operations by driving two upright posts into 
 the ground. To these he affixes two walls, each of which consists of 
 two logs, which are two metres in length. Between the two wooden 
 walls thus formed the peasant sets two more logs, three metres in length, 
 and nailed together, his intention being that the latter logs should crush 
 any bird which may enter the trap. The " Stopiec '' is set in the 
 
 ^*^<^!t^ 
 
 SiBEEiAH Deadfall (after BiesiokiersM). 
 
 following way. The logs are lifted, and through the interstices of one 
 of the walls a small stick is inserted, so that it just reaches the opposite 
 wall. Upon this horizontal stick there rests vertically another, which 
 supports the log in a raised position. The birds run to the gravelly spot 
 free from snow, between the log walls, and when one of their number 
 touches the stick, the stick slips from it, and causes the logs to fall and 
 crush the birds with their weight. This trap is used throughout Siberia; 
 indeed, Mr Biesickierski is convinced that the majority of the Capercaillies, 
 Black Game, and Hazel Grouse brought into the Siberian markets are 
 birds which have been obtained in this fashion. Linnaeus describes the 
 trap which he found to be commonly employed to catch Capercaillie in 
 Lapland as consisting of " six parallel pieces of wood, each placed at a 
 little distance from the next, and all joined together by a transverse 
 
BLACK GROUSE AND CAPEKCAILLIE. 341 
 
 bar at each end. Over them the twig of a tree is placed horizontally, 
 one end of it being fastened to the frame, the other introduced into a 
 loop holding an upright weight. An upright splinter of wood is made to 
 support this twig in an arched position, so that when the bird goes under 
 it to roost, or otherwise touches the splinter, the latter falls down and 
 the bird is caught" (Lachesis Lwpponica, Vol. I. p. 179). Linnaeus tells 
 us likewise that in his time it was the custom to preserve the breast of 
 the Capercaillie by drying it with salt, and then baking it in an oven. 
 When thus cooked, the breast of the bird was hung up in the roof of the 
 house until wanted, which might not be for two or three years. 
 
 The trap which Linnaeus met with appears to have been that known 
 as the " Flaka." This possesses the advantage that no beast or bird of 
 prey can touch the game caught in it. It is intended to be placed in 
 places where berries grow plentifully ; indeed, the fowler is careful to 
 bait the trap by scattering cranberries round about it. The " Fallstock " 
 is made of two poles about four feet long, of which the one fastened to 
 the ground is slender. The other, which is placed erect, is either so 
 heavy that it kills the game of its own weight, or it is artificially weighted 
 with stones. In order that the Deadfall may descend straight on the 
 thinner pole, a post is placed at the end of the latter, and two pegs are 
 driven into the ground at the other end, between which it falls. Yet 
 another engine, devised for the destruction of this splendid forest bird, 
 is that which the Norwegians call the " Lam." Three stout poles, four 
 feet long, are required to make this Deadfall. One of these poles is placed 
 on the ground and made fast by two sticks which are so put down as 
 to form a cross at either end of the pole. The other two poles, which 
 constitute the "drop," are split at one end and fastened together by 
 means of a cross-stick inserted in the crevices. The distance between 
 the joined poles must not be greater than such as the third pole can fill 
 up, so that when the joined poles descend upon the third the trap looks 
 as if the three poles were lying side by side. The pole which is placed 
 on the ground must be so much shorter than the other two as to reach 
 exactly to the cross-stick between them. The falling beams are often 
 weighted with stones. 
 
 Dr Finsch has kindly called my attention to his description of the 
 Siberian Deadfall illustrated in the accompanying engraving. "The 
 woods were interesting also in other respects. Along the ridges were 
 
342 
 
 BLACK GKOUSE AND OAPERCAILLIE. 
 
 found countless numbers of a peculiar sort of trap. They were placed, 
 one to three in number, at short distances in the path cleared in the 
 woods, serving as an obstacle rather than as an ornament. This trap 
 
 Siberian Deadfall (after Finsch). 
 
 consists of three or four poles, ten feet in length, ingeniously held up by 
 a lever so as to fall down the moment the foot of the bird touches the 
 spring (' das Stellholz ') on the path, which is strewn with twigs. These 
 traps are of use only in countries where game is so abundant that no 
 protection is needed; our green-coats would condemn them in spite of 
 their ingenious construction. The Eussian name of these traps is ' Slopzi,' 
 and they are commonly used all over Siberia. Not only are Hazel Grouse 
 and Black Game caught in them, but also hares ; and as the weight of 
 the beam is capable of killing a wolf, it is easy to imagine how flat a 
 Hazel Grouse is made by it" (^Beise nach West Siberien, p. 626). 
 
 But it must not be supposed that it is only by the aid of Deadfalls 
 that Capercaillies are secured. A common method in Scandinavia is to 
 take the birds in snares, especially in the month of October. The modus 
 operandi is to drive two stout sticks into the ground, between two trees 
 or in a narrow mountain pass. The stakes in question, when driven into 
 the earth, stand up about a foot above the ground. Several smaller twigs 
 are planted beside them, to make a little fence on each side of the snare. 
 
BLACK GROUSE AND CAPEECAILLIE. 343 
 
 The two upright sticks either end in crooks or they are forked at the 
 upper ends, and a third stick is placed across the two uprights. Pine 
 branches are fastened to the stakes to disarm the fears of the birds, and 
 two or three horsehair (or wire) snares are attached to the top bar, in 
 such a way as to hang within three inches of the ground. The snare is 
 occasionally set between the two uprights, without any top bar being 
 employed to connect the side posts ; but, in such an eventuality, the 
 snares are purposely set in the runs of the birds, and plenty of twigs 
 must be employed to guide the birds up to the opening in which they 
 are to be noosed. The bait used in this case also, to attract the birds, 
 consists of a few berries. It happens occasionally that the fowler desires 
 to capture Capercaillies alive. For that purpose it is usual to employ a 
 net called a " Kasse." This is woven of twisted silk, five feet square, 
 with meshes through which the Capercaillie can thrust its head. When 
 the fowler wishes to set the net to catch a Capercaillie, he seeks to find 
 the run of the bird among the bushes. He then suspends his net across 
 the usual path of the bird, fastening it with fine woollen threads to the 
 surrounding pine branches, and securing it also to the trunks of some 
 neighbouring trees by the agency of a coarse silk cord, which passes 
 through the outer meshes of the net. "When the Capercaillie runs his 
 head into one of the meshes, and finds that his progress is impeded, he 
 pushes his body forward ; the cord pulls the net together, and the bird 
 lies as in a bag, with the wings pressed close to the body. Godlewski 
 tells us that some of the Siberian hunters in the Baikal district kill 
 Capercaillies in late autumn and winter by making artificial hedges or 
 fences in the favourite quarters of the Capercaillies, leaving only a few 
 openings. In these they place Deadfalls, presumably of the pattern 
 mentioned by Biesickierski, though no doubt the plan varies in detail in 
 different districts. Every one knows that shooting CapercaiUie at break 
 of dawn, when the old males are singing, if the expression may be used 
 to express the love-notes of this bird, is extensively practised among the 
 great forest regions of Northern and Central Europe. It is not perhaps 
 equally well known that Siberian sportsmen pursue the Capercaillie at 
 other seasons with dogs — not that the dogs may " set " the birds in the 
 ordinary sense — but that the dogs may force the Capercaillies to remain 
 perching on a bough within gunshot until the gunners come up. The 
 old Capercaillie is a cunning bird, and understands how to keep a tree 
 
344 BLACK GKOUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 
 
 between himself and the gun. But when the Siberian birds are " tree'd " 
 by dogs, which stand at the foot of the tree and bark, the birds are so 
 much interested by the phenomenon of the barking dog that they allow 
 their curiosity to get the master of their prudence, and thus expose 
 themselves as marks for the sportsmen. 
 
 Another species of grouse which is often shot when "tree'd" by 
 dogs is the pretty "Gelinotte" or Hazel Grouse (Tetrastes .honasia), the 
 " Francolino di monte " of the Italians, and the " Haselhuhn " of German 
 foresters. 
 
 It is to be regretted that this bird is decreasing in the north of 
 Italy m consequence of the persecution to which it is subjected. The 
 fowlers in Lombardy set snares for these birds and Black Game under 
 the pine trees in winter, because the ground beneath the trees is free 
 from the load of snow, which is intercepted by the branches. The 
 slaughter thus effected is more destructive than remunerative, on account 
 of the difficulty which the fowler experiences in returning to his traps 
 after a heavy fall of snow has taken place. Consequently the unfortunate 
 birds which find their way into the snares are often devoured by Marten 
 Cats and other furred poachers. Belon tells us that the Paris market 
 was supplied with " gelinottes " from the forests of the Ardennes. 
 
 Stumpfius, quoted by Aldrovandus, affirms that the Hazel Grouse 
 was in his time chiefly captured in the spring and in the fall of the year. 
 The fowler, he says, who wants to capture these birds, imitates the call 
 of the species in the wood. When the wild birds hear his call they 
 gather together. The fowler, having located the birds which he wants 
 to take, makes a small hut, and fixes a staked net (" rete erectum ") in 
 front of it. The fowler then entices the bird to the hut by means of his 
 whistle, and when the Hazel-hen is running about in front of the hut, 
 it soon becomes entangled in the net. He adds that, if the fowler 
 chances to capture a male bird, the female will find other mates, so that 
 he may take one male after another if the female stays in the vicinity 
 of the net. On the other hand, if the female happens to be caught, the 
 males will go away in search of another female. 
 
 BaiUy says that the Savoyards decoy this bird within shot by repro- 
 ducing its call with a small silver or tin whistle, or even with a hollowed 
 beech-nut. The birds are so simple in heeding the voice of the charmer 
 that they fly from tree to tree in search of their supposed relative, and 
 
BLACK GKOUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 345 
 
 at last alight above the head of the fowler, " who usually allows the 
 birds to perch before he fires ! " Mr Dresser considers that it is an easy 
 matter to " call " Hazel Grouse, and he speaks from personal experience 
 in Finland. He adds that it is difficult for a person who has not shot 
 these birds to imagine how very easy it is to look carefully all over a tree 
 on which the birds are sitting, and still not to be able to discover a 
 single one ; for the colour of the plumage harmonises so well with the 
 dark brown tone of the tree-bark, that the bird appears to form a portion 
 of the branch on which it is sitting. Dresser was told by Mr Sachse 
 that Hazel Grouse are sometimes caught in the snares set for Fieldfares, 
 baited with berries. Snares are also placed for them, attached to sticks 
 which are bent in a bow-shape and fixed in the ground. 
 
 An American ally of the " Gelinotte " is to be found in the 
 Euffed Grouse (^Bonasa unibellus). Audubon tells us that birds of this 
 species were chiefly killed in his time in Deadfalls set by means of 
 a figure of four. Many of them were taken, however, in trap boxes 
 during the winter. He further informs us that the Euffed Grouse is to 
 be heard " drumming " from different parts of the woods in spring and 
 towards the latter end of autumn. He shot many cocks by imitating 
 the sound of the bird's wings striking against the body, beating an 
 inflated bladder with a stick, preserving as far as possible the same time 
 as the bird. 
 
 A contributor to the Field of 24th August 1878 states that it is 
 rare to see a Euffed Grouse engaged in drumming, as it requires a vast 
 amount of patience to creep up close enough to obtain a fair view, and, 
 moreover, the sound is very deceptive, being ventriloquial in character ; 
 but the actions of the bird, when seen, are very peculiar. " After a 
 moment of quiet, as if in a deep trance, he raises his head to see if the 
 coast is clear, and then puffing out his ruff and cocking his tail, and 
 seeming to swell to twice his natural size with self-importance, he beats 
 tattoo with his wings, as he sidles along the log which he has chosen for 
 his stage, his audience consisting only, as he believes, of his admiring 
 mate, who seems doubly impressed by her lord and master's extraordinary 
 pantomime." The same writer states that this bird is commonly snared 
 for market by the following device : — A fence is constructed of stakes or 
 " straddle-trees " in the woods, by the hill sides, usually where fruit and 
 mast are abundant, and the interstices filled with brushwood and leaves. 
 
346 BLACK GROUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 
 
 making an almost impermeable hedge, two or two and a-half feet high 
 and twenty or more rods long. At intervals of about four feet a hole 
 some three or four inches in diameter is made, in which is set a noose of 
 fine brass wire. When a bird meets with this obstruction he prefers 
 to follow along and seek a passage through rather than fly or jump over, 
 and knowing this trait, the trapper often clears a little path the width 
 of his hand on either side of the hedge for the bird to run in. The 
 grouse speedily finds the openings, and in attempting to pass through 
 inserts his head into the running noose, which is consequently drawn 
 tighter and tighter with each attempt to escape. This device is visited 
 daily in warm weather, and every other day in cold weather, for the 
 purpose of collecting the birds and resetting the snares. 
 
 The well-known Prairie Hen of North America {Tympanuchus 
 americanus of The Gatalogioe of Birds, but better known in its own 
 country as Gupidonia cupido), is, or was, snared in large numbers for 
 the markets of Europe. Audubon states that the Indians with whom 
 he lived on the Mississippi killed these birds with their arrows when- 
 ever the grouse chanced to alight on the ground or low bushes. The 
 same ornithologist was informed by Mr David Eckleiy {sic), of Boston, 
 in 1832, that in the spring of the year the birds of this species 
 assembled in large companies to hold their tournaments of love. "In 
 these chosen spots, it is said, the cunning natives were accustomed to 
 strew ashes, and rush upon the birds with sticks, when blinded by the 
 dust they had raised." Major Eoss King tells us that the packs of 
 Prairie Hen which remain unbroken at the end of the season, or others 
 collecting from all quarters in immense numbers, often form a sort of 
 " yard " in the snow, squatting together at night, as the quail do under 
 similar circumstances. "At such times the whole of them may be 
 easily netted at once, and it is principally in this way, I fear, that 
 the birds now so largely sent to the English market, packed in barrels 
 with bran, are obtained by Yankee dealers " {The Sportsman and Naturalist 
 in Canada, p. 152). 
 
 Mr T. H. Pritchard, of the Lac Seul Mission, has most kindly sought 
 to obtain information for me as to the methods of snaring birds adopted 
 by the Indians of his distant station. He reports that the Indians 
 procure most of their winged game by means of the gun and the bow 
 and arrow. The only bird which he has ascertained that the Indians do 
 
BLACK GKOUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 347 
 
 snare is the Canada Grouse (CanacMtes canadensis), popularly dubbed 
 the "Wood-partridge." These birds are "usually found perched on 
 trees and as a rule are very tame and will permit a man to approach 
 with a long stick, having a noose or snare attached to one end. He 
 raises the stick very cautiously until the snare is around the bird's neck, 
 when it is of course easily drawn down to the ground." 
 
 Hine refers to the same device as practised in Labrador : — " In 
 crossing the portage, Pierre saw a partridge or Canada Glrouse, sitting 
 on the branch of a tree. ... He then cut a stick eight feet long, and 
 made a noose of twine, and cautiously approached the bird, which, 
 according to its habit, quietly waited until the noose was placed before 
 it, when it thrust its head in, and was caught; but as Pierre was 
 triumphantly carrying his prize towards me, the noose gave way and 
 off it flew, after short but very embarrassing gyrations on the ground, 
 during which we vainly endeavoured to catch it. This mode of snaring 
 the partridge, or Canada Grouse as it ought to be called, is usually 
 practised by the Indians, as well as by the settlers in the inhabited parts 
 of Canada, where the bird is common." Mr Bell of the Canadian Geo- 
 logical Survey took large numbers of this bird in the same manner. His 
 description is given in Sir William Logan's Report for 1857: — "On the 
 way we killed a number of Canada Grouse every day, but other game was 
 rather scarce. The grouse were always very tame, and we generally 
 killed them in a way that would surprise most people. When we came 
 upon a covey we gave it a sudden start, which made the birds fly up 
 into the surrounding trees. A rod was then cut, to the end of which 
 was fastened a noose. This was held up in front of the nearest bird, 
 which generally darted its head into the noose ; but if it did not do so, 
 then the noose was gently passed over the head, and by a sudden jerk 
 the bird was brought to the ground. In this way we went from one 
 bird to another, and usually secured all we saw that were within reach. 
 Sometimes they are killed with stones, and it is wonderful to see how 
 pertinaciously a bird will sit, however near the stone may whiz past 
 it, until it receives such a blow as will knock it over. Even when 
 struck, if not severely injured, it will occasionally remain sitting " {The 
 Labrador Peninsula, Vol. i. p. 174). This custom of snaring grouse extends 
 across the entire breadth of the North American Continent. Dr Hasell 
 assures me that Franklin's Grouse {Canachites franhlini), which replaces 
 
348 
 
 BLACK GEOUSE AND CAPERCAILLIE. 
 
 the Canada Grouse to the west of the Eocky Mountains, is still snared 
 by Indians and whites in the Cascade Mountains by a noose on the 
 end of a stick, as it sits on a bough by the side of the trail. Nikolski 
 afi&rms that the Sharp-winged Grouse {Falcipennis hartlaubi) is so remark- 
 able for its stupidity that the natives often take the bird with the 
 hand or fell it with a stick {Faune Ornithologique de la Siberie Orienfale, 
 p. 772). 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter illustrates the Norwegian device of snaring 
 Black Game known as the "Orrbanne" (p. 335). Two hybrids (male and 
 female) between the Black and Red Grouse form the subject of the tailpiece. 
 They were shot in Kirkcudbrightshire.] 
 
 *^^ / 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVI.— TUNNELLING FOE PAETEIDGES. 
 
 THE COMMON GEEY PAETEIDGE {Perdix dmrea) has long been 
 a prime favourite with the sportsmen of Europe. Nor is this 
 surprising when we recollect its many excellent qualities, especially the 
 hardiness of its constitution, which renders it able to adapt itself to the 
 vicissitudes of climate experienced in diiferent parts of its range. Indeed, 
 it appears to be as much at home on the steppes of Eussia, or in the 
 sunny valleys of Central Italy, as among the rye-fields of Germany or the 
 oat-stubbles of the Inner Hebrides. Eastward of Persia our home bird 
 is replaced by one or other of its three allies. The Bearded Partridge 
 [Perdix daurica) is paler than our Partridge, and the male has a con- 
 spicuous black " horseshoe," as may be seen on reference to Eadde's figure 
 of this Asiatic bird (Beisen im Suden von Ost-Siberien, Taf. xn). The 
 feathers of the chin and throat are also elongated. I mention this fact 
 
350 TUNNELLING FOR PARTRIDGES. 
 
 because examples of the Common Partridge have been shot in Britain 
 which possessed entirely black " horseshoes." Hodgson's Partridge (Perdix 
 hodgsonim) inhabits Southern Tibet, and has the breast ornamented with 
 a large black patch. Prjevalsky discovered a similar but smaller species 
 in Northern Tibet. This last is known as Perdix sifanica. Whether the 
 form of the Common Partridge found in the north of Spain is entitled to 
 be considered a separate species is still a matter for individual opinion. 
 I was myself struck by the small size of the birds which I saw in 
 Navarre. It is to be expected that a gibier which thrives in such a 
 variety of situations should develop well-marked local races. Most of us 
 associate the Partridge with the breechloader ; but in bygone days the 
 sport enjoyed with this game-bird was of a varied kind. Of course the 
 most elementary fashion of capturing the Partridge was to take it by the 
 instrumentality of horsehair nooses. To us moderns this practice seems 
 consummate villany. 
 
 Nevertheless, as a matter of ciiriosity, we may bestow a passing glance 
 at the experiences which the " Solitaire Inventif " recorded more than 
 two hundred years ago. One of the pastimes of the Prench peasantry 
 was to snare Partridges. The peasant who found a covey of Partridges 
 in a wood made a ring or circle of twenty or thirty paces. He then 
 arranged a small hedge of broom, six inches high, between the roots of 
 the coppice-wood, leaving interstices in this miniature fence only large 
 enough to admit the passage of a Partridge. He next inserted a couple 
 of small stakes into the earth on each side of these openings, between 
 which he suspended a horsehair snare at such a height as to catch the 
 neck of a Partridge. Sometimes he completed his trap by scattering 
 grain in the vicinity of the snares. If the birds happened to be found 
 frequenting a heath, the peasant altered his tactics so far as to set his 
 nooses in the little footpaths which the birds were observed to follow. 
 In this eventuality the poacher visited his snares about one in the after- 
 noon. When the birds were pairing in the spring, and especially on 
 mornings when a hoar frost covered the ground, the peasant used to catch 
 the birds as they ran along the paths through the growing corn during 
 the early hours. In this case also the poachers made artificial hedges to 
 hinder the progress of the birds. When the poor things ran playfully 
 after one another they found their course checked by the fences set across 
 their runs. The birds had then to stoop their necks in order to pass 
 
TUNNELLING FOE PAETKIDGES. 351 
 
 through the artificial gaps. By so doing they incautiously ran their 
 heads into the nooses. Both the German and French peasants used to 
 snare Partridges when snow was lying on the ground. 
 
 Biesickierski informs me that Partridges are still snared in Poland. 
 Their capture is contrived by means of running nooses made of twisted 
 horsehair. These are attached to string stretched crosswise upon a 
 common wooden hoop. This engine is laid upon the snow, and baited 
 with buckwheat or waste grain. I am not certain that English poachers 
 
 ..-siH 
 
 are strangers to this device. Certainly some of their number think very 
 little of setting snares in the places where Partridges dust their plumage. 
 This is generally at the bottom of an old hedge, in a position which gets 
 the sunlight, often in a run made by sheep ; indeed, you may find their 
 feathers in such places. The snare used in the north of England is 
 similar to that which I have described in the chapter on the Eed Grouse. 
 But for snaring Partridges in the snow, the most wicked information is 
 to be gleaned from the pages of the " Solitaire Inventif." When the 
 country-side lies wrapped in a sheet of snow the Partridges become 
 pinched for food, and search for subsistence in all open places, often at 
 the base of bare trees, or even in the neighbourhood of houses. The snow 
 is always less deep in such situations. The peasant who understands the 
 metier of " Colleter " or poacher looks out for the traces of the birds upon 
 the surface of the snow which covers the fields which have been sown 
 with corn. Should he succeed in locating a covey of birds, he returns in 
 the evening to the same spot. Seizing a wooden shovel, he proceeds to 
 clear away a square space of from eighteen to twenty-four feet. The 
 fowler plants across the middle of the exposed surface a small hedge only 
 six inches high, in which he leaves open passages, each of which is 
 furnished with a snare. He then scatters some corn on both sides of 
 
352 TUNNELLING FOR PARTRIDGES. 
 
 this little barrier. When morning light arrives the famishing birds soon 
 find out this open spot in the centre of the snowy fields. Accordingly, 
 they alight upon the bare earth and run to and fro, picking up the seeds. 
 While so employed they naturally wander from side to side, and sooner 
 or later some of them find their necks entangled in the hanging nooses. 
 
 The Germans also understand the capture of Partridges by means of 
 snares (" Schlingenstellen "). Bechstein says that in his day both old 
 and young birds used to be taken by this means. The Frenchmen used 
 to employ basket traps for the capture of this species, as well as to take 
 Blackbirds and Thrushes. The " Solitaire Inventif " tells us that it was 
 a common thing in many parts of France to see such a trap in use for 
 taking Partridges. Some people called it a " Tomberau." Others dubbed 
 it a " Mue," and others again termed it a " Trebuchet." He liked the 
 third name best. The illustration (p. 42) shows its form. When used 
 for taking Partridges it measured from thirty inches to three feet square 
 at the base. This trap was often set in a vineyard or piece of natural 
 cover. The fowler first chose some retired spot, which he baited 
 with a train of oats. When he had accustomed the birds to return to 
 the same spot to feed, he set his trap, carefully concealed by some bushes 
 from the gaze of the curious public. The precaution was also needed to 
 prevent the Partridges from being needlessly alarmed. Heather, or in 
 autumn the stalks and leaves of vines, might be spread over the trap, 
 the better to disguise its nature. It is only fair to interpose the remark 
 that the " Solitaire Inventif " describes this and other methods of illegal 
 fowling, in order that those who wish to prevent poaching may be able 
 to look out for the dodges which they desire to detect. Some people 
 think that such knowledge is dangerous. A little reflection would con- 
 vince them that a man needs a regular apprenticeship to poaching to enable 
 him to practise the wiles of the craft with success. An amateur is no 
 more likely to succeed at poaching than at any other trade which requires 
 special qualifications. 
 
 The employment of birdlime for taking Partridges' sounds strange 
 enough to the present generation of sportsmen, yet no shame was attached 
 to this pastime in the early years of the seventeenth century. Markham 
 instructs his readers on this very topic. He lays down the axiom that 
 the fowler should first provide himself with an adequate supply of 
 wheaten straw, which he proceeds to cut to suitable lengths. The straws 
 
TUNNELLING FOR PAKTEIDGES. 353 
 
 SO prepared are taken out into the fields. When the fowler finds a covey 
 of Partridges he sets his limed rods across the ground which lies between 
 the birds and his own hiding-place. He then begins to call the birds 
 with a partridge-call. This induces the birds to run towards the charmer, 
 with the fatal result that they are detained by the limed straws which 
 lie across their way. Markham does not give any description of the 
 instrument to which he refers as a partridge-call. What variety of bird- 
 call he may have had in his mind I am quite unable to decide. But it 
 seems not impossible that the whistle or pipe to which he referred may 
 have resembled one or other of the calls for Partridges which were used 
 on the Continent. I refer more particularly to the smaU circular whistles 
 of silver or pewter metal stiU in favour in Italy as a medium for com- 
 municating the cries of wild birds to their respective mates. There is 
 the alternative that the pattern of Markham's " Partridge-call " was 
 identical with the old-fashioned partridge-call of the north of England. 
 My attention was drawn to this contrivance by Mr Henry Dryden of 
 Eenwick, a native of the Pennine Range. The call in question consists 
 of a small disc of metal, about an inch in length and the same in diameter. 
 A piece of parchment has been fitted to serve as a cap for the call, and 
 is secured in its place by some waxed thread. The parchment has been 
 pierced with a needle to admit of the insertion of half a dozen horsehairs, 
 which are knotted, so that they cannot be displaced. Dryden obtaiaed 
 this bird-caU from a native of East Cumberland, who had himself shot 
 many Partridges with its agency. He stated that the practice of obtain- 
 ing birds in this manner was frequently employed in his youth. The 
 fowler imitated the call-note of the bird by drawing the horsehairs across a 
 piece of resin, modifying the speed of the operation to the note of the bird 
 which he was trying to decoy within shot. This ruse was found to be most 
 successful in September, but not until the coveys of birds had been shot 
 over and broken up ; or, as Cumbrians would prefer to say, the birds had 
 become " squandered." It would appear that we owe the presence of this 
 Partridge-call in Cumberland to some Scandinavian settler of the old 
 days. On referring to Lloyd's Game-Birds of Norway and Sweden, I find 
 the very same call figured as the " Eapphons-Pipa " (p. 165). In modern 
 Sweden the tube of the call is said to be made by a tailor's thimble, but 
 in all other respects the call is identically the same as that which Dryden 
 brought to me from his native village as an old-fashioned accessory of 
 
 z 
 
354 TUNNELLING FOB PAETEIDGES. 
 
 fowling. I incline to believe that the arrival of the fowling-piece caused 
 liming Partridges to pass out of fashion long before certain other 
 devices of the fowler ceased to be practised in England. But there is 
 clear and substantial proof that birdlime was used for taking Partridges 
 on the Continent at the beginning of our own era. 
 
 The Carlisle Journal of March 10th, 1802, relates the fate of one Del 
 Caffas, a shoemaker by trade, who presumed to catch Partridges on the 
 lands of the royal parks near Lisbon. The scheme devised by this rascal 
 was not novel in principle. He made use of a trap, which was then often 
 prepared for Eooks and Crows, by daubing the interior of a paper cone 
 with birdlime. Del Caffas had the acumen to adapt this ruse to his own 
 evil ends. He showed his originality, if he had any, in the fact that he 
 baited the papers with vetches, which he knew to be regarded by Partridges 
 as delicate eating. The miscreant distributed his traps in the haunts of 
 the birds. The Partridges seem to have lent themselves to this nefarious 
 project. They inserted their heads into the prepared cones of paper, and 
 so lost their liberty. But the artful fowler was himself overtaken by 
 justice. He was convicted of his crime and sent to the galleys. The 
 birds which he caught were doubtless Eed-legged Partridges. 
 
 At the present day the natives of India are adepts at driving Quail 
 and Francolins into a bag-net, which is enclosed on either side for some 
 little distance by a wall of low netting on each side. The principle 
 involved is thus identical with the mediaeval plan for driving Partridges 
 into the net known in France as " la Tonnelle." I have failed to obtain 
 historical proof that the conical net in question was ever employed in 
 England. Very possibly it may have been. But if it ever was fashion- 
 able in this island, its use had apparently passed out of recollection when 
 Eay edited the English edition of Willughby's Ornithology. This is 
 evidenced by the seriousness with which Eay alludes to the use of the 
 Tunnelling-net in Italian sport. It seems certain that he copied his 
 information on this engine direct from Olina, who had appropriated the 
 account of this pastime published by Di Valli a few years earlier. After 
 Willughby had popularised Olina's hints on fowling in this country, 
 Xicolas Cox and other book-makers sought to engraft the sport of " la 
 Tonnelle " on to British fowling. They appear to have failed, probably 
 because our native sportsmen preferred to exercise the accomplishment 
 of driving Partridges after the fashion of their Saxon forefathers. In 
 
TUNNELLING FOE PARTRIDGES. 355 
 
 England the custom was to utilise a ground-net, placed ia a slanting 
 position above the grass. It was raised sufficiently high to permit a 
 covey of birds to run beneath its toils. The net was dyed green, and 
 was concealed from view by herbage or bushes. The fowler first marked 
 a covey down in some convenient field. He then provided himself with 
 the engine familiar to us as a " stalking-horse." This was a screen of 
 wood or canvas, painted to resemble a cow, a horse, or even a stag. The 
 fowler approached the birds behind this dummy, and endeavoured to 
 drive the Partridges down wind, so that they might eventually run into 
 the net. 
 
 The operation must have required considerable skill. Therein its 
 interest no doubt lay. The Tunnelhng-net may or may not have found 
 admirers among English gentlemen, but as to its popularity abroad there 
 is ample evidence. The Italians used this net in the neighbourhood of 
 Rome under the title of " Butrio " or " Cuculo." In Germany it became 
 known as the " Kegelnetz " or " Garnsack." In Sweden it is still recog- 
 nised as the " Eyssja." The original woodcut produced by Tempesta for 
 Di Valli, and subsequently circulated in the two editions of Olina's work, 
 is defective in one respect. The artist has unluckily conveyed the 
 impression that the Tunnel-net was intended to stand some six or seven 
 feet from the ground at the entrance of the " pipe " or tunnel. Tempesta 
 appears to have misinterpreted the meaning of the letterpress. The truth 
 is that "la TonneUe" was quite a low engine, intended to be hidden 
 altogether in the corn or grass in which it was pegged out. Di Valli 
 does not go into much detail as to the measurement of the "Butrio," 
 which he compares to a fish-basket (" Nassa ") in shape. He adds that 
 the side- wings which led the birds up to the net measured about six paces 
 in length and three paces in height, so that when once the game had 
 entered escape became impossible. The fullest particulars of how to 
 manufacture " la Tonnelle " are supplied in the Ruses Innocentes. Accord- 
 ing to this authority, the Tunnel-net proper measured about fifteen feet 
 in length, and stood about nineteen inches high at the entrance to the 
 Pipe or Tunnel. The net was knitted of green or yeUow twine, and was 
 made in a conical form, tapering off towards the extremity. The net was 
 mounted upon wooden hoops, which passed through the meshes. The 
 wings or side-nets consisted of two of the low staked nets known as 
 " Halliers." Each of these stood at least a foot high, and extended, when 
 
356 TUNNELLING FOR PARTEIDGES. 
 
 pegged out, a distance of from forty-two to forty-eight feet. Brehm 
 describes the Pipe or Tunnel-net used in Germany as having a length of 
 sixteen or twenty feet. The opening of the Tunnel varies from thirty 
 inches to three feet in the German pattern. Brehm offers a hint that if 
 the side nets are absent their place can be supplied by two hedges of 
 stakes, but these must be so closely set on either side that no Partridge 
 can creep through. 
 
 Loyd informs us that the " Kyssja," as the Tunnel-net is called in 
 Sweden, generally measures about twenty-four feet, while the diameter 
 at the entrance of the Tunnel is only fourteen inches. The flank nets 
 stand sixteen inches high, and each measures sixty-two feet. Selivanovski's 
 account of the manufacture of the Tunnel-net used in Eussia is minute, 
 but dreary. It does not throw further light upon the subject. Di Valli 
 was only accustomed to see Partridges driven into this engine by means 
 of a fowler, who carried a screen, and covered his head, if necessary, with 
 green boughs. In France the peasants, who used this engine by stealth, 
 used to commence operations at the break of day without the assistance 
 of a dog. Men of good family followed the amusement openly, with the 
 addition of both a dog and an artificial stalking-horse or cow. The dog 
 was held by a long cord. When it found the game the screen came into 
 play, to enable the fowler to work the birds towards the net. The best 
 situation in which to set the Tunnel-net was a field of green corn. 
 Other positions were adopted as convenience suggested. The Germans 
 preferred to set the net in long grass, or in a hedgerow. Several men 
 joined together to drive the birds, proceeding with great caution lest the 
 game they coveted should take flight, and wing their way to another field. 
 In Sweden it is, or was, customary for sportsmen to make use of a 
 living horse as a screen behind which to approach a covey of birds. A 
 pointer is employed to find a covey of birds, but takes no part in the 
 proceedings which foUow. The fowler pegs out his net, and then 
 advances towards the unsuspecting birds. The latter see only the form 
 of a horse and dog approaching them, and therefore retreat by running 
 along the ground. Such is a brief summary of the use of Tunnel-nets 
 for taking Partridges or Quails. I question whether this engine ever 
 enjoyed as wide favour on the Continent as the "Tirasse." The latter 
 was deemed worthy of royalty. In course of time it lost some of its 
 prestige ; indeed, it was ordered to be discontinued in France in the year 
 
TUNNELLING FOR PARTRIDGES. 357 
 
 1600, though the Parliament of Toulouse reserved the rights of the 
 landed classes to the enjoyment of " la chasse k la tirasse et aux chiens 
 couchant dans son ressort." Louis xiv. used to look on while his 
 courtiers practised the sport of casting the " Tirasse " over both Partridges 
 and Pheasants, in the presence of the grandes dames who were admitted 
 to the royal parks. The net or engine known as the " Tirasse" seems to 
 have preserved the same shape in different countries. In form, it seems 
 to have been a square net, made of either lozenge-shaped or square 
 meshes, of a brown colour, and varied in size according to the intentions 
 of the fowler. The Italians of Olina's day knew it as the " Erpicatoio " or 
 " Strascino." Such a net was meant to be carried by two fowlers. These 
 men carried the net over their shoulders, and drew it over the dog and 
 covey when the exciting moment arrived. Sometimes one of the 
 sportsmen mounted a nag, in which case the net was longer than when 
 borne by two men on foot. 
 
 One of the essential points in taking birds with a dog and net was 
 that the dog should be purged for the occasion. This net was used in 
 the same way in Germany as in France and Italy, the dog being of the 
 breed known as a " Vorstehenderhund " instead of a " Bracco da rete " or 
 " Can da fermo," or what was known in France as " un chien couchant." 
 Willughby refers to the capture of Partridges in England by means of a 
 Draw-net as a fact of every day experience. The use of the " Tirasse " 
 had evidently become familiar to some of our countrymen abroad ; unless, 
 indeed, the idea had independently occurred to British sportsmen. The 
 dog trained for this purpose in England was "a lusty Land-Spaniel." 
 Willughby remarks that a single man might draw a net over birds, but 
 only after first securing one end to the ground. Italians found the same 
 precaution necessary. The partiahty which this Partridge evinces for 
 roosting in the company of its own kind has offered an opportunity to 
 poachers of several nationalities. The Germans regarded this net as an 
 addition to their national industries, for which they were indebted to 
 their neighbours across the Ehine. However this may be, the details of 
 netting ("jugging") Partridges have been described in the fullest possible 
 detail by historians of both nationalities. The net employed for this 
 purpose is that termed a "Traineau" in France, but a Drag-net in 
 England. The " Solitaire " tells us that the net used to take Partridges 
 by the peasants requires to be made with a lozenge mesh, and should not 
 
358 TUNNELLINQ FOE PAETEIDGES. 
 
 exceed eighteen feet in depth. An alternative plan is to use a smaller 
 net of triangular form, which a single man can wield without help from 
 any confederates. In either case, the rural fowler first ascertains the 
 whereabouts of his game, and then proceeds to sweep the field. Some of 
 the French peasants used to illuminate their proceedings by carrying a 
 tin lantern in a wooden bushel-measure, tied round the waist. 
 
 Although the Germans adopted the use of both the drag-net and the 
 " Tirasse " they have a marked preference for two national engines, the 
 " Hochgarn " and the Bell-net or " Glockengarn." The former consists of a 
 line of stake-nets often fixed at a height of from nine to twelve feet from 
 the ground. When the sport of driving these birds is conducted on a 
 moonlight evening, or if the birds have been much harried, the nets have 
 to be raised to a greater elevation. Partridges are chiefly taken in these 
 nets in the gloaming or in the dim light of breaking day. Lloyd alludes 
 to the occasional adoption of this engine in Sweden, where it is termed 
 the " Hog-net " or " High-net." It there extends from thirty to forty 
 fathoms ia length, and to as much as thirty feet in depth. " At early 
 morn and late in the afternoon. Partridges, when going to or returning 
 from their roosting-places, always fly low, often hardly at the height of a 
 man, and they moreover almost invariably take the same course. This 
 point ascertained, the net is set up on two poles of about twenty feet in 
 height, the upper line being fastened at some eighteen feet from the 
 ground, and the under line at four feet, so that the lower portion of the 
 net forms a sort of bag. Two men keep watch near the net, whilst 
 others with dogs hunt the surrounding country, so that when the 
 Partridges are flushed, and take their usual course, they fly against 
 the net and fall into the bag mentioned. The watchers at the same 
 instant wrench up the poles supporting the net, and throw them to the 
 ground, on the top of the latter, which renders the escape of the birds 
 almost impossible" [Game-birds of Sweden aind Norway,^. 171). The 
 " Glockengarn " or Bell-net is a square sheet, knitted of coarse twine, 
 having three-inch meshes, except near the borders, which are made of 
 finer string. The net must be of such a size that when the four corners 
 are fastened to the ground, and the centre of the net is lifted up, the 
 distance from the apex of the net measures about six feet. When thus 
 erected, the net resembles a lell or, as the Eussians say, a tent, in outline. 
 A round hole is cut in the centre of the net, to admit of the insertion of 
 
TUNNELLING FOE PARTRIDGES. 
 
 359 
 
 a brass or iron ring, of three inches diameter. The net is first pegged 
 down to the earth by hooks attached to the four corners. The body of 
 the net is then raised up on the support of a three-inch pole of oak or 
 elm. This prop is driven firmly into the ground, in the middle of the 
 space intended to be occupied by the net. The net is then lifted up, and 
 
 The Bell-net, 
 
 the metal ring is laid on the rounded top of the pole. A string is then 
 tied to the ring, of such a length that the other end, to which a bundle 
 of corn is attached, just reaches the ground. The net is sufficiently 
 stretched, by being thus suspended on the pole, to allow of Partridges to 
 enter. "When a covey has crept under the net to feed, the first bird that 
 
360 TUNNELLING FOR PAKTKIDGES. 
 
 pulls at the bunch of corn disarranges the equilibrium of the ring. This 
 slides off the smooth top of the pole and falls to the ground, covering the 
 birds beneath its folds. This trap is intended to be made use of in 
 winter, when snow is lying on the ground. The birds are fed on the 
 spot in which it is proposed to set the " Glockengarn " in late autumn. 
 When their natural supply of food grows scanty, they eagerly resort 
 to their accustomed feeding-place. Another German contrivance is the 
 " Schneehaube '' or " Snow-cap," a square net pegged out in the shape of 
 a bird-cage. This appears to be similar in principle, if not in detail, 
 to the square arrangement of a net recommended by the " Solitaire 
 Inventif" {Ruse Innocentes, Book IL Chap, v.) for capturing Partridges 
 in some place in which the birds have been fed. This consists of a net, 
 which is propped up by twelve stakes, which are connected together 
 by cords. A long line is connected with the cords in question, by which 
 the fowler can pull the net into the form of a cage, when he sees that the 
 birds are underneath. Yet another device for catching live Partridges is 
 that known to the Germans as the " Eebhuhnersteige." This is a large 
 square trap cage, provided with spring-doors. The birds are inveigled 
 into entering this engine by a train of food. When the trap is first set 
 the doors are purposely kept open. As soon as the birds have learnt to 
 wander in and out of the trap without fear, the doors are released and 
 adjusted so as to close upon any birds which venture in. 
 
 The last method of netting Partridges that will be noticed here is the 
 old French plan of capturing cock birds by means of a female decoy. 
 The " Solitaire Inventif " shares the belief of many other sportsmen that 
 there is a redundant population of male Partridges, and that the breeding 
 stock is improved by the capture of the surplus males. Accordingly he 
 advocates the employment of a caged hen, which is placed in a green cage 
 and set in a field of corn, between a hedge and one of the nets known as 
 " Halliers." The decoy is termed " une chanterelle," and, if very tame, is 
 sometimes allowed to run over the ground inside the fence of the 
 Halliers. This method of fowling is intended to be employed only 
 between sunset and the arrival of night and at the break of day. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter has been reproduced from the engraving used 
 by Olina ; the plate, as in other instances, being of finer finish than Di Valli's 
 original engraving.] 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII.— QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 
 
 THE Quail {Goturnix communis) is familiar to most Englishmen as an 
 irregular visitor to our home stubbles. On the Continent, and 
 particularly in the south of Europe, this game-bird occupies the first 
 place in the minds of sportsmen of all ranks of society. The vast ilocks 
 of Quail which annually return to Europe in the spring of the year 
 appear to make their way across the Mediterranean by different routes. 
 The left wing crosses the Straits of Gibraltar during the months of March 
 and April. The right wing crosses the ^gean, and arrives on the shores 
 of Turkey and the Black Sea. The main phalanx steers a course for the 
 coasts and islands of Italy. Many of these birds direct their flight to 
 the southern coasts of France, whence they endeavour to push detached 
 companies up the valley of the Ehone, intending to take possession of 
 the wide and sunny lauds which stretch away for miles between the pine- 
 clad hills of the Black Forest and the long, poplar-bordered reaches of 
 the majestic Ehine. But the full swell of the invading tide of wanderers 
 from Northern Africa expends its force upon the island of Capri and 
 other parts of the kingdom of Italy. Indeed, the island upon which 
 Tiberius spent his last years in luxurious debauchery is no less famous 
 for the myriads of QuaU which strike upon its shores alike in the spring 
 and fall of the year, than for the scenic loveliness which attracts the 
 Continental traveller to cross the Bay of Naples, in order to make himself 
 acquainted with beauties upon which he is sure to expatiate long after 
 his return home. Dr Cav. Ignazio Cerio has most kindly sent me an 
 interesting description of the Quail-catching at Capri, through the 
 courtesy of our mutual friend Professor Giglioli. We learn from this 
 
362 QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 
 
 report that the Quail-catching at Capri commences on the 11th of April, 
 and is continued until the end of June. The autumnal campaign against 
 these birds opens towards the end of August, and is continued until the 
 end of October. The largest numbers of Quail are taken upon Capri 
 between the last days of April and the 16 th of May. The 21st day of 
 April is reckoned by the fowlers to be an exceptionally good day, provided 
 that a Levante or east wind is blowing. In springtime the fowling is 
 carried out in the neighbourhood of the sea, and the nets are fixed upon 
 the rocks and precipices a few metres above sea level. The peasants 
 apply the names of " Conti " and " Schiappari " to the engines by which 
 their harvest of birds is gathered in. These nets are made of very fine 
 and strong string, dyed a grey colour, and they are set in spring on the 
 south and east of the island. Each net measures from eight to ten 
 metres in length and depth. The meshes are two and a half centimetres 
 across. The nets have to be suspended between long poles, which are 
 planted in the ground. The supports require to be so securely fixed 
 that the wind cannot blow them down. The nets are attached to the 
 posts at both ends by means of cords fastened to rings of iron or horn, so 
 that the fowlers can lower their toils at the hour of the day when the 
 passage of birds ceases, or when a strong wind threatens to blow them 
 down. The nets have to be set on level ground, as far at least as circum- 
 stances permit. There is a distance of sixty centimetres between the 
 " Canali " or folds, which traverse the entire length of each net in the 
 style of bags. When the Quail strike the meshes of the nets, they flutter 
 down into the " Canali," and so remain unwilling prisoners. A set of 
 nets is called " Parate," and consists of four, eight, or a greater number 
 of " Schiappari," arranged close to one another, all facing seaward, and set 
 so placed as to shut out all way of escape for the Quail, which fly low 
 in spring. The fowling commences at each station with the first flush 
 of dawn, and lasts until about 8 a.m., after which time birds are rarely 
 caught. Many Quail dash themselves against the rocks of the island, 
 and drop dead or moribund into the sea. The Falcons and Gulls contend 
 with the fowler for a share of the spoil, and account for many victims. 
 The autumn fowling differs from that of spring in the height at which 
 the nets are set, for the birds fly at a different elevation in their return 
 passage to the African coasts. In autumn the fowlers make use of decoy- 
 birds, called " Eichiami." These are male Quail, which have been 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 363 
 
 barbarously blinded with red-hot irons. These call-birds are employed 
 to lure the flocks of migrating Quail into the nets. The number of 
 Quail annually taken upon Capri amounts to about 56,000 birds. These 
 are disposed of to dealers, who place them in chests and cloth-covered 
 baskets. They are sent first to Naples, whence they are again exported, 
 chiefly to France. It should be observed that the number of Quail 
 taken in Capri during the vernal passage of these birds varies according 
 to the prevailing winds. If a Levanter blows in the early morning and 
 in the evening of a spring day, the fowlers expect that a great number of 
 Quail will make their appearance on the following day. In autumn the 
 most favourable wind for the fowlers is the Maestrale. It is useless to 
 look for an arrival of Quail when the Scirocco is blowing. Old fowlers 
 assert that the numbers of the Quail which visit Capri have decreased 
 during the last twenty years. They account for the difference in the 
 supply of birds by suggesting that the " Schiappari " have been intro- 
 duced to the African coast by Italian emigrants. Another engine by 
 which many Quail are obtained upon Capri is the net known as the 
 " Ventaglio." This is a flat, triangular net, five or six metres in depth. 
 It is supported laterally by two long canes. The fowler employs this 
 hand-net upon the edges of the precipices and in other parts of the 
 island. He holds his net in his hand, pressed against the chest. The 
 fowler uses the " Ventaglio " with a sporting dog. The dog flushes the 
 bird, which is then adroitly netted by the fowler. This method yields 
 satisfactory results when Quail are plentiful. The netters cannot take 
 any birds if shooting is going on. In former days the Bishop of Capri 
 exacted a tithe of the Quail taken on Capri. My friend the Eev. E. A. 
 Fuller informs me that he has seen great quantities of Quail taken on 
 the shores of the Bay of Naples in high nets. On the other hand, the 
 late Mr Walter Campbell describes the nets which he found in use on 
 the Italian coast as measuring " about a yard deep, but of great length ; 
 the bottom of this is pegged to the sand, close to the edge of the sea ; 
 the top is hung on small notches cut in sticks, about two feet and a-half 
 long, which are stuck upright about a foot before the net, and about 
 three yards apart. When the net is set, it is thus made to stand up, 
 being suspended on these sticks ; but as the upper part rests only on 
 the notches, a very slight blow knocks it off, and then it falls on the 
 sand, covering with its meshes whatever chances to strike it. I remember 
 
364 QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 
 
 once lying for hours among some sea-ware, watching one of these snares ; 
 at every moment I saw the little jerk, and then a portion of the net 
 fall ; but I never could distinguish the birds, they flew so fast and so 
 close to the water. I never perceived one, till I followed the proprietor 
 and saw him put his hand under the net at every place where it had 
 fallen, lift up a quail and deposit it in a large hollow gourd, that he 
 carried instead of a basket, and then hang the net again on the notch in 
 the stick. The net of which I speak was more than half a mile long, 
 and the owner spent the whole day in walking gently from one end of it 
 to the other ; and as he reached each end, he emptied his gourd into a 
 number of long, narrow boxes with canvas tops and fronts, which were 
 ranged in readiness. All the boxes were provided with seed and water- 
 troughs, and the Padrone told me that if the canvas front was shut 
 down, so as to prevent the birds from looking about, they were such bold 
 little fellows, that they would eat and drink freely ten minutes after they 
 were taken " {Life in Normandy, Vol. i. p. 78). 
 
 Great numbers of Quail visit Sicily in the spring of the year. 
 According to Signore Gorra, the Quail arrive at Palermo about the 10th 
 of April, but their passage is accentuated during the closing days of 
 April and the first ten or twelve days of May according to the weather. 
 The winds favourable to the passage vary in different localities, but the 
 most favourable, according to Gorra, are the Maestrale, the Seirocco, the 
 Libeci or south-west wind, and the Grecale or north-east wind. The 
 most unfavourable wind at Palermo is the Ponente or west wind. After 
 a very fine night the birds are found in the greatest numbers on the 
 mountains; on the other hand, if it is windy, and especially if the 
 Seirocco is blowing, the Quail are to be met with in the greatest plenty 
 upon the plain and in the vicinity of the sea. Palermo is partly sur- 
 rounded by an amphitheatre of mountain, known as the Conca d'Oro, or 
 Golden Shell. This affords the best ground for Quail. 
 
 Tanara remarks that Aristotle agrees with other writers in declaring 
 that the Quail performs its migration with the north wind, as that gives 
 support to its body. He then gives his own experience. " I have seen 
 them," he says, " arrive with side-winds such as the Levante and Ponente, 
 and when they have been taken in quantities it was the Levante which 
 brought them ; the fowlers of the coast say that the birds will not fly 
 with the wind behind them, because it disarranges their feathers. What 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 365 
 
 astonishes me is their advent to Italy, and that they arrive on one and 
 the same day on all the coasts which face south, as all along the shores 
 of the Eomana and Calabria ; others arrive on the coasts which have a 
 northerly aspect, such as Eomagna, Ancona, and Marca ; others upon the 
 coast which faces east, such as Taranto and Otranto ; so that one may 
 say that the Quail visit Italy with every wind, and from every quarter." 
 
 Blondinus, quoted by Aldrovandus, states that Swallows and Quail 
 simultaneously return across the Mediterranean to Italy in the beginning 
 of spring, when the natives of Neptunium cover the shores of Antium 
 with nets for 5000 paces. Each man stays on his own farm, and having 
 hired a suitable place for fixing his nets, he entices the Quail when they 
 come at night with a Quail-call. If any tired bird falls on the ground 
 outside the nets the birdcatcher picks it up in his hands. The fowling 
 season lasts one month. Aldrovandus likewise cites the experience of 
 Franciscus Arrivabenus, who writes that the party to which he belonged 
 had hardly left Astura before they fell in with the Quail-catching. The 
 nets covered a space of 4000 paces, and an enormous quantity of birds 
 were taken. The fowlers reported that the Quail crossed to Italy from 
 Barbary, and that they crossed the sea in a single ihght, leaving Barbary 
 in the evening and landing in Italy on the morntag following. In 
 support of this view, the fowlers affirmed that they had taken the seeds 
 of the herb called Basil out of the crops of the Quail on their arrival, 
 and sown them in the ground, where they germtaated and flourished. 
 The local magistrate was asked how many birds had been taken that 
 morning, and replied that more than a thousand had been netted. This 
 estimate was confirmed on the following day, when a much larger number 
 were secured. The fowlers sold the birds to Eoman poulterers, who came 
 in quest of supplies to Neptunium. Many of the Quail which visit Italy 
 are mere migrants, travelling to or from the centre of Europe. But a 
 large percentage endeavour to spend the summer among the millet-fields 
 and vineyards of the south. 
 
 Tanara, who wrote between 1622 and the middle of that century, 
 considered that the indiscriminate capture of Quail by his countrymen in 
 the spring of the year was calculated to injure the interests of sportsmen. 
 He pointed out this view of the case to the fowlers, but met with no 
 sympathy. They answered his complaint by pointing out that they only 
 captured male QuaU, adding that, as one male would suffice to pair with 
 
366 QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 
 
 a dozen females of the same species, the latter were perfectly able to keep 
 the country replenished with QuaiL Tanara was acquainted with the 
 system of Quail-fowling in vogue at Antium and in the district of 
 Nettuno. Birds of both sexes were taken in the passage-nets. But the 
 sport to which he had referred, in his protest against spring- fowling, was 
 apparently identical with the system which he explains, of a fowler 
 surrounding himself with walls of netting, and then challenging any male 
 Quail which happened to be in the vicinity. In this case the fowler 
 selects as the scene of his operations a small piece of level ground 
 surrounded by a ditch, which is three feet broad and two feet deep. The 
 nets are eight feet deep, and are extended between high poles, like those 
 used on Capri. The nets are allowed to belly out, so as to form three 
 long bags, like the " Canali " of the Capri nets. The ground which is not 
 occupied by the walls of net is devoted to a larger net of wider meshes, 
 which is held in the centre with a long pole. The high net serves to 
 intercept the flight of those Quail which come up to the nets flying at a 
 greater elevation than the walls of net which surround the fowler. The 
 birds which only run along the ground become entangled in the lowest 
 band of the stake-nets, and fall with the nets into the ditch. The fowler 
 carries on this species of sport only at night, since, says Tanara, Quail do 
 not flight during daylight. Nevertheless, the fowler is described as con- 
 cealing himself in a small hole which has been dug in the centre of the 
 fowling-ground, while he lures the birds within reach of his toils. Female 
 birds were often employed to supplement the artificial call of the bird- 
 catcher. Such a bird sometimes fetched the price of a horse, since 
 females that called persistently were hard to meet with. Tanara thought 
 that Quail-catching ought to be confined to the autumn, after the old 
 birds had reared their young ones. How far Quail-catching is now 
 permitted in spring in any part of Italy except Capri I am unable to say ; 
 but the penalties for poaching vary in different provinces. When Quail 
 are found to have been caught unlawfully, the birds are forfeited. We 
 read, for example, in Lo Sporto Illustrato of May 11th, 1895, that on the 
 5th of that month the Milanese authorities had made a seizure of 200 Quail, 
 which had been caught illegally. The birds were sent to the convalescent 
 patients of a local hospital. Olina tells us that in his day the birds were 
 frequently taken on their first arrival inland with somewhat similar nets 
 to those which Tanara has described. Neither Olina nor Di Valli suggest 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 367 
 
 that the fowler should dig a trench around his nets, or conceal his person 
 in the middle of his fowling-ground. The net described by these last 
 authorities consisted of a green net, of the kind known as the " Eagna." 
 Four such nets were stretched between posts, forming a square wall of 
 netting around the caged decoys, which were hung on a pole in the middle 
 of the net. This method received the name of " Tramaglio," though I am 
 not certain that the term was always restricted to this particular form of 
 fowling. 
 
 Savi informs us that the engine which the Tuscan peasants used for 
 catching newly arrived Quail in his day, i.e., early in our own century, 
 was a triple net, made like a " Eagna." It was called the " Paratella." 
 It was a low net, only measuring a few inches in height, though ten or 
 eleven feet in length. The meshes were triple, the inner wall of the 
 net being fine, while on either side the large meshes of the outer nets 
 formed a supporting band. I believe this net to have resembled a long, 
 narrow net made of fine thread dyed green, which was sold to me for 
 Quail-catching at Milan. It is mounted on a series of short wooden 
 stakes, and can be rolled into a very small compass. The way of using 
 the '' Paratella " was the following : — The fowler, having provided himself 
 with a Quail-call, walked out into the open country shortly before sunrise 
 and imitated the call of the female Quail with his pipe. When he had 
 thus ascertained the spot in which a male Quail had found shelter he 
 fixed his net in the ground, in such a way that the lower end of the net 
 touched the earth. He then retired twelve or fifteen paces from the net 
 on the side furthest from the bird, and commenced to call like a female 
 Quail. The male being full of amatory passion, would run over the field, 
 searching for the imaginary belle. Disregarding the meshes of the green 
 and, therefore, invisible net, he became entangled in the toils extended to 
 effect his capture. The sport of Quail-catching was formerly practised 
 by princes and noblemen. One favourite form of their amusements was 
 the so-called Tunnelling for Quail. 
 
 Di Valli tells us that the fowler who proposed to catch Quail in the 
 " Butrio," or Tunnel-net, selected fifteen or sixteen live Quail, which he 
 kept in captivity. In the month of April these birds were placed in a 
 room or chest, in which they could be forced to moult prematurely. The 
 process of keeping these birds under a system of forcing was termed 
 " la Chiusa alle Quaglie." At the beginning of August the birds were 
 
368 QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 
 
 taken out of their forcing-house, when, having completed their moult, 
 they were in fine condition for being used as call-birds. The fowler then 
 picked out a suitable spot upon which the " Butrio " could be erected. 
 A patch of standing Indian corn or millet answered his purpose, provided 
 the ground was even. More frequently the net was pitched on a stubble 
 of fair height. The "Butrio" was arranged in such a way as to be 
 concealed by the grass and branches heaped over the hooped netting. 
 The net was arranged as far as possible to be attractive to the Quail, 
 — " per far intrar in amor dette Quaglie " — as the old adage ran. The 
 nets were dyed green, and were set up three or four hours before day. 
 " If there be moonlight," says Di Valli, " one can fowl all night, but it is 
 usual to do so in the morning, and above all the place where the fowling 
 is, must be level and plentifully strewn with millet, and you can drive 
 them as the illustration shows with a bunch of bells (un mazzo di 
 sonaglio), which a man jingles from hand to hand as he advances towards 
 the Butrio." Another title for. the " Butrio " was " Cuculo." The call- 
 birds were hung one above another from posts, as shown in his engraving. 
 The perpendicular nets or wings (" Ale "), staked on each side of the 
 " Butrio " to guide the birds into the Tunnel-net, stood three feet high 
 and were six feet long. Di Valli omits to state the height of the 
 " Butrio," while Olina does little more than adopt Di Valli's statement 
 as his own. He shows more independence in his remarks upon " Delia 
 Caccia col bracco" — in other words, the use of drag-nets for taking 
 Quail in the daytime. The great square net employed for this sport 
 was termed " Coperto " or " Erpicatoio " by some. Others preferred to 
 know it as the " Strascino " or, if it was more extended than usual, 
 the " Strascino maggiore " or " Strascinaccio." The " Strascino " could be 
 carried by two men, who bore it by means of ropes attached to the two 
 upper corners. The " Strascino Maggiore " was carried by mounted men, 
 who supported the cords of the net upon the bows of their saddles. 
 Alberti explains how the Italian sportsman of the seventeenth century 
 trained his dog for the special purpose of pointing Quail. The animal 
 was first allowed to run after a couple of Quail which had had their 
 wings clipped, so that they could only run along the ground. After this 
 preliminary, the dog was taken into a field with a rope, termed the 
 " Lungagna," tied to his neck. If he tried to chase any Larks or other 
 small birds, he was punished. " The next step," says our author, " is to 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 369 
 
 take the dog into the fields when the weather is hot, holding the cord 
 (' Lungagna ') in your hand, and when you meet with any Quail in the 
 field, he will point, holding his tail stiif. Then the fowler plants the 
 hook [attached to the end] of the ' Lungagna ' in the ground, and covers 
 the dog and birds with the net ; if the dog wishes to seize a Quail he 
 may be allowed to do so once, but if he wishes to repeat such conduct 
 he must be beaten, so that he may drop this bad habit." 
 
 The hook attached to the " Lungagna " or leash was intended to 
 prevent the dog from mouthing the game when covered with the net. 
 The fowlers used to carry Quail-calls, by which they were able to locate 
 the birds with some degree of certainty. Monari remarks that the 
 sportsman should make a point of rewarding his dog when he finds Quail, 
 by giving him a bit of cheese or some other tit-bit. Count Ettore 
 Arrigone Degli Oddi informs me that the chief form of Quail-netting 
 at present practised in the province of Padua is that known as " La 
 caccia alia stanga," vulgarly termed " Quaiara." It consists of a long 
 pole, which is planted in the middle of a field of growing millet ; this 
 pole is crowned with a hoop (" Cerchio "), which is held in its position by 
 a cord. A number of cages containing male Quail are suspended from 
 the hoop. These caged Quail attract the attention of any wild birds of 
 their own kind that happen to pass over. When the dawn arrives the 
 fowlers appear at the other end of the ground and proceed to drive 
 the birds into the net which they have fixed in the shape of a funnel 
 (" una rete ad imbuto ") at the end of the field. This kind of fowling is 
 followed in August and September. Savi supplies a similar account 
 of the form of " Quaglieraja " pursued in Tuscany at the end of August. 
 He says that the piece of land devoted to this amusement should be 
 triangular in form. The cage of the call-bird (he does not speak of more 
 than one being employed) is made in the form of an inverted cone, and is 
 covered with cloth. It is attached to a high post planted in the middle 
 of the fowling-ground, and can be elevated or lowered by means of a 
 pulley fixed on the summit of the pole. 
 
 The call-bird begins to reiterate his well-known challenge towards 
 sundown, and continues to call at intervals during the night. Any Quail 
 which chance to be in the vicinity, or to be crossing that part of the 
 country, are attracted to the field from which the voice of their fellow 
 issues. Naturally, they check their flight to rest in the millet. When 
 
 2 A 
 
370 
 
 QUAIL-CATCHING IN ITALY. 
 
 day arrives, and the Quail are hiding in the cover, the fowler returns 
 to the Quail-ground, and advances gently up to the decoy, ringing some 
 little bells or other instruments. On arriving at the millet he strikes 
 the sides of the enclosure with a mallet, and drives the Quail towards the 
 " Paratella " or staked net which is set in triangular form at the narrow 
 end of the crop of millet. This essay on Italian Quail-catching may fitly 
 conclude with a brief extract from the Archduke Louis Salvador's work 
 on the Lipari Isles: — "Por catching Quail in Stromboli, low nets, 
 so-called ' Siparii,' are drawn along the lower edge of the vineyards and of 
 the hedges of planted reeds. The people put up the birds with the call 
 ' Monachella coco' co', pasarella monachella co' co' co',' and by clapping 
 their hands, until the Quail entangle themselves in the nets, and remain 
 held fast by the neck in the lower part of them. This takes place during 
 the month of September" (Vol. vin. p. 119). 
 
 The mechanical Quail-calls used in different parts of Italy vary in 
 construction. The Quail-call here figured is that used in the north 
 of Italy. It consists of a small bag of leather, closed with a metal 
 stopper. When the fowler strikes a smart blow upon the leather 
 with the edge of his hand, the sound produced closely resembles the 
 challenge of the male Quail. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is based upon photographs of the Quail-nets 
 used in Capri. The negatives were specially taken for the use of this work, 
 through the kindness of Professor Giglioli and Dr Ceric] 
 
 Italian Quail-call. 
 
CHAPTEE XXXVIIL— QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUEOPE. 
 
 THE country around Marseilles has been famous since the days of 
 antiquity for the enthusiasm with which " la chasse aux Cailles " is 
 carried on by the inhabitants. Indeed, the territory nearest to the sea 
 was long reserved for this sport, no doubt because Quail were found 
 to be more numerous there than further inland. The most famous 
 " Caill^res " or Quail-grounds were those of Clary, Jullien, Mousquet, and 
 a few others. Jaubert and Barthdlemy-Lapommeraye state that in our 
 own time the ancestral haunts of the migrating Quail have undergone 
 numberless changes. " The vast estates have been cut up, the aspect of 
 the country is effaced by boundary walls, the country has entirely changed. 
 However, if on a fine calm night a belated pedestrian happens to walk 
 along the parish road, which is bordered at certain points by the wet 
 beach, he can hear, reverberated by the echo of the mountain, skirted 
 
372 QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUROPE. 
 
 with a belt of pines, the measured chant, rolling and monotonous, of 
 hundreds of blind QuaU. The cries of these nocturnal call-birds must 
 come from the ' CaUlfere Pastre,' one of the most considerable and best 
 situated of these establishments, belonging to one of the large properties 
 already mentioned as existing in this quarter. Let us say in a few words 
 how the fowling is carried on. The "Caillfere" is located on a large 
 steppe, covered with thyme and rosemary, heath, and the Kermes Oak 
 (Quercm coccifera), which trails its stunted branches over the ground ; one 
 sees grouped here and there, and some distance apart, posts of from four 
 to five metres, carefully trimmed ; to these are fixed the cages, — five or 
 six upon each ; bundles of prickly furze are nailed under the cages to 
 repel marauding cats and other noxious animals. The Quails have called 
 gently during part of the night, but their ardour becomes reanimated 
 towards the hours of daylight. The light accent, ' tri, tri,' of a young 
 female serves to inflame the caged males, excited by those mysterious 
 notes which appeal straight to their hearts. At sunrise the sportsmen 
 prepare for the first battue ; already a number of birds have been meshed 
 in the nets during the night. The beaters now proceed to raise the birds 
 and to drive them with shouts in the direction of the nets ; the booty is 
 now considerable, the aviaries are full of birds. Of the mass of Quail 
 thus captured, a select number of the strongest males are set on one side 
 to be trained as decoys ; the females are doomed to death. When the 
 netting is over, the sportsmen begin to shoot" (Bichesses Orn., p. 425). 
 It should be remarked that the decoy Quail are all males, and are known 
 as " Appelants." The task of depriving these unfortunate birds of their 
 sight is undertaken by a class of experts called " Aveugleurs." Various 
 plans have been practised for netting Quail in the interior of France. 
 Belon tells us that in the sixteenth century the fowlers used small 
 instruments made of bone and leather, called " Courcaillets," with which 
 they became proficient at calling Quail into their nets in the pairing 
 time. The " Solitaire Inventif " devotes a chapter to the means of taking 
 the Quail with the net known as a " Hallier." The " Hallier," sometimes 
 called the " Tramail," is a pattern of long, low net used for taking various 
 birds when running upon the ground. That used for Quail was generally 
 made of pale green silk, so that it could not easily be distinguished from 
 the tender blades of corn in which it frequently was set. The " Hallier " 
 closely resembled the Italian " Paratella," being made of three parallel 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUROPE. 
 
 373 
 
 strips of netting, two large meshed nets enclosing a finer central net, 
 termed the "Toile." This net measured ten or eleven feet long, and 
 varied from eight to ten or twelve inches in depth. It was mounted 
 upon a series of short stakes, fourteen or fifteen inches or even two feet 
 in height, which were tied to the net at a distance of about two feet 
 apart. The " Piquets " or stakes which supported the " Hallier " were 
 sharpened at the lower end to admit of their being easily planted in the 
 ground. The " Hallier " came into use in the month of April, when the 
 love-notes of the " Caille verte " or newly arrived Quail enlivened the 
 fields of sprouting corn. It continued in use until the end of summer, 
 
 Hallier and Decoy Qoail (after Ruses Innocentes). 
 
 when the erotic ardour of the male Quail had cooled down. Only male 
 Quail were taken by this engine, because the supposed cry of the female 
 Quail was the instrument by which the birds were enticed into the nets. 
 The fowler carried on this sport at sunrise, at 9 a.m., at noon, at 3 p.m., 
 and again at sunset. He walked through the fields at these times with 
 a Quail-call in his hand. If a wild Quail uttered its trisyllabic cry, the 
 fowler answered its challenge by reproducing the cry of the hen bird. 
 Should the wild, free bird be a male, and its affections chanced to be 
 
374 Qtr AIL-CATCHING IN EUEOPE. 
 
 disengaged, it was sure to run, or even fly, towards the quarter from 
 which it supposed the fowler's call to emanate. Accordingly, if the 
 fowler found his challenge accepted by the bird he desired to take, he 
 proceeded to peg out his net, fixing the pegs into the ground, so that the 
 folds of the net hung loosely. The fowler then retired ten or fifteen 
 paces from the net, and recommenced to call, lying down upon the ground, 
 so as to be out of view. The moment that the Quail responded to the 
 fowler, the latter answered with a low, slight call. Sometimes the ardour 
 of an unpaired bird would induce it to fly over the net, in which case the 
 bird landed close to the fowler. In such an eventuality the man had to 
 slip quietly back to the other side of the net, whence he commenced to 
 call the Quail afresh. The bird then started afresh in search of the 
 coy mate, whose affection it desired to appropriate, and very soon found 
 its way barred by the " HaUier," in which it became entangled. The 
 inner net of the " HaUier " was usually oval, the meshes of the outer 
 nets being square. The fowler did not rise as soon as a Qu-ail had 
 become meshed in his toils, because he was well aware that there 
 might be several more unpaired male Quail in the same field, which 
 could be taken in the same fashion as the first. Quail do not care to 
 run through the corn or grass if a heavy dew or rain has wetted the 
 herbage. 
 
 Kresz remarks, " one can never rise too early for Quail-catching ; but 
 the birds are more difficult to take when there is dew; this is why 
 fowlers prefer to take them between 5 and 10 in the morning, and from 
 3 in the afternoon until night." The French fowlers have always 
 exhibited a high regard for female decoys, when these could be used 
 in the fields. They give many instructions as to how the female 
 decoy should be treated, and the cages in which " la Chanterelle " could 
 be cribbed. Kresz maintains that the female decoy should be reared from 
 the nest, and accustomed to be handled. He even adds that if the 
 female is placed in the usual circular cage of wood, covered with cloth, 
 and set out in the middle of a field, with a " HaUier " extended around 
 the cage of the " Chanterelle," some males will be caught without any 
 expenditure of trouble. A damp and close time before a storm favours 
 Quail-catching. Nothing is more unpropitious to inland Quail-catching 
 than windy weather. The fowler who aspires to net Quail in the 
 "HaUier" requires to beware of " CaUles manqufees," or spent birds. 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUEOPE. 375 
 
 Some individuals answer the fowler, but do not approach near his toils. 
 These are " Cailles intehs " or rogues. The Frenchmen excelled in taking 
 Quail with the " Tirasse " or drag-net. The " Solitaire Inventif " says that 
 one man should carry the net on his shoulders, in readiness to throw 
 it when required. When the fowlers arrive at their trysting-place, they 
 make their dog hunt down wind. Should the dog point a bevy of Quail, 
 the fowlers extend the net between them, each man taking the cord 
 attached to one of the upper corners. They thus advance to the dog, and 
 cover dog and birds with the voluminous folds of the net. If the birds 
 still skulk in the grass, the fowlers throw their caps on the net to make 
 the birds rise. The same authority tells us that the peasants practise 
 netting Quail with the " Tirasse " without employing a dog. In this case, 
 the men answer any wild Quail that may happen to call, and having 
 marked it down, run up to the spot and endeavour to cover the bird with 
 the net. A single fowler can also take Quail with the "Tirasse" by 
 attachiag one of the ends of the bearing rope to a stake, which should be 
 three or four feet long, and thicker at one end than the other. The stake 
 is fitted with an iron point, so that it can be thrust into the ground 
 to hold the net firm. When the dog finds Quail, the net is first secured 
 by the stake on one side, and then drawn over to the other, thus enclosing 
 the covey as if two men held the net. Yet another plan is that of 
 stretching a net over a spot where the grass forms a high tussock, in the 
 neighbourhood of an unpaired bird. The fowler withdraws a few yards 
 and begins to call the bird up to him. The bird accordingly runs up to 
 the shelter over which the net is spread; the peasant then throws 
 his cap on the net, thus alarming the Quail, which rises upwards and 
 becomes meshed in the net. Quail taken in the fall of the year are 
 termed " Cailles grasses," in consequence of the prime condition which the 
 birds exhibit at the latter season. Kresz says that most of the French 
 poachers (" Braconniers ") take Quail at night in the month of August. 
 " In the plains of Massi and Villeneuve St. Georges," says this writer, " I 
 have often taken 20 and 24 Quail in a night ; and it has happened to me 
 more than once that Quail, in flying, have alighted on the net." The 
 Germans are, or were, scarcely less adroit in netting Quail than their 
 French or Italian neighbours. Brehm tells us how to set the " Wachtelgarn." 
 This engine consists of three nets, the inner net being of greater length 
 than the outer ones, in order that it may be able to belly out. The 
 
376 QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUEOPE. 
 
 " Wachtelgarn '' is a triple net, varying in total length from twenty-four to 
 forty feet. It is suspended between stakes, like the French " Hallier," 
 and is set in much the same way. When a Quail is heard in the fields, 
 the net is set at a distance of about fifty feet from the bird. The fowler, 
 standing or lying behind the net, begins to repeat the call of the female, 
 tirr, tirr, tirr. The love-sick bird listens eagerly to the invitation, and 
 then runs blindly into the net. Another Teutonic device is to place 
 a female Quail in the centre of a circular trap, surrounded by a series of 
 trapdoors. The amorous males enter the traps, which immediately close 
 and detain them as prisoners. Another plan mentioned in the Arten 
 von Vogdn is carried out when the corn is being harvested, and only one 
 corner of the crop is still standing. All the Quail, like the Land Eails, 
 take refuge in the rapidly diminishing cover. The fowler sets six or 
 seven nets (" Steckgarnchen ") obliquely across the field. He then drags 
 a long line, to which small bells are attached, right through the corn. 
 The birds are thus driven out of the cover, and finally land in the nets. 
 Another method of driving Quail was formerly practised in the spring, 
 generally about St. Bartholomew's Day, when the birds were expected to 
 have arrived in Thuringia. The fowler sets two long stake-nets alongside 
 of two convenient hedgerows, adjacent to a crop of growing corn. He 
 took eight or nine male call-birds, kept in the house from the previous 
 summer, and hung them up on two posts on either side of the field. The 
 call-birds chanted their ringing ditty the whole night, thus inducing all 
 the Quail in the vicinity to enter the field. In the morning the fowler 
 and his friends drove the field, and forced the newly arrived Quail to run 
 into the walls of netting, in their attempt to make their escape without 
 rising upon the wing. 
 
 Another German device, which has probably long been obsolete, is 
 for the fowler to pitch two decoys on stakes in the middle of a field of 
 grass or half-grown corn. The fowler set up four Flight-nets ("Flug- 
 garnchen ") in the form of a square, leaving the decoys in the centre. 
 The Flight-nets were placed a little distance apart, so as to allow plenty 
 of room for the wild Quail to enter the enclosure. A " Wachtelsteck- 
 garnchen," such as has already been described, was set in a circle around 
 the centre of the space shut in by the walls of net. The fowler concealed 
 himself inside the low net, covering his person with a square " Tirasz- 
 garne " of green thread, which he could throw over any birds which found 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUROPE. 377 
 
 their way inside the Flight-nets. The use of the "Tiraszgarn" or 
 " Tirasse " is still well known in Eussia. Mr Douglass informs me that 
 the Eussian peasants employ this device somewhat as the Germans used 
 to do. " When the Quail begin to pair, a man takes a big, square net, 
 with a hole big enough to let his head and shoulders through. He 
 imitates the call of the female and they all rush under the net. He then 
 suddenly jumps up, and the birds are caught in the net above them. All 
 depends on good calling." Mr Douglass also says that Quail are caught 
 singly upon their first arrival in Eussia. " A man goes out with a dog, 
 and when the dog points dead, he throws a three-cornered net over the 
 bird." " Quail," he adds, " are also caught with a lantern at night, and a 
 small net. Quail are caught in the beginning of May by enticing them 
 with a Quail-call under nets loosely spread over low bushes." 
 
 Selivanovski describes the manufacture of a Trail-net for Quail ; but it 
 is merely a big drag-net, used in both spring and autumn for taking Quail 
 by night or day. Two men usually bear this net, while a third follows 
 behind holding strings attached to the outside of the net. The last man 
 rearranges the net if it happens to become entangled. August is the 
 chief month in which Quail are caught with this engine in Eussia. I 
 have not received any personal information as to Quail-catching in the 
 south of Eussia. Pennant, whom we may believe derived his infor- 
 mation from his friend Pallas, states that in his time Quail swarmed 
 on the Dnieper and elsewhere in the south of Eussia at the periods 
 of migration. The birds were taken in thousands, and sent in casks to 
 the markets of Moscow and St Petersburg {Arctic Zoology, Vol. ii. p. 320). 
 Pallas himself informs us that " Quail abound in the Crimea in autumn, 
 when they visit the valleys between the mountains, and migrate late in 
 the season to Anatolia : Great numbers are caught by the shepherds 
 with baskets attached to poles, which are placed over the birds while 
 they descend to the ground " {Travels through the Southern Provinces of 
 the Biossian Uwypire, Vol. ii. p. 459). 
 
 The European markets are supplied with immense numbers of Quail 
 taken in Greece. I cannot hear of any Quail-netting in Thessaly or 
 elsewhere in the northern parts of that kingdom. The dealers appear to 
 draw their supply of living Quail from the south of the Morea, and from 
 certain islands upon which the birds rest during their prodigious journeys. 
 Mr A. L. Crowe of Zante has induced Mr D. A. Pantagopulo of Calamata 
 
378 QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUKOPE. 
 
 to favour me with the accompanying report. The Quail which visit 
 Greece have, according to this gentleman, two annual passages, which 
 occur about the 15 th of August and the end of September. The birds 
 generally arrive in huge numbers, representing clouds of birds, generally 
 towards the evening, and alight on the first points of land, such as Corona 
 and le Magne at the point of Cape Matapan. The fowlers are on the 
 lookout, and begin to pursue the birds as soon as they alight. The Quail 
 are then very much exhausted by the great journey which they have 
 accomplished, and allow themselves to be easily captured. The birds do 
 not remain more than twelve hours. The fowlers take the Quail during 
 the day with a net of variable diameter, similar in shape to a butterfly- 
 net. This net is mounted on a handle two or three metres long. The 
 Greek peasants are very adept at catching the Quail which squat under 
 their feet. At night the fowlers employ a similar net, which is, however, 
 furnished with a much shorter handle, measuring about a single metre in 
 length. The fowler also carries a torch of resinous wood, and each man 
 puts the Quail that he catches into a linen bag, or into his bosom. Some 
 men can take as many as a hundred birds in a few hours. It is calculated 
 that 40,000 Quail are taken every year. The birds which are taken 
 alive are sold to the merchants, who place them in large cages, in which 
 they are despatched forthwith to Marseilles. The caged birds are fed on 
 grain. The cages in which the birds are placed measure about two metres 
 long and one metre deep. The height of such a cage is about twenty 
 centimetres. The top of the cage is not of wood, but of packing-cloth, so 
 that the birds cannot injure themselves by striking their heads. The 
 price of the Quail varies from thirty to forty leptas a couple. The birds 
 which are taken dead are preserved in oil by the peasants, who keep them 
 for their home consumption. Mr John Callona of Cerigo (the ancient 
 Cythera) reports that large quantities of Quail are caught on that island 
 in autumn. In Cerigo the fowling-season commences in the beginning of 
 September and terminates about the end of October. The birds are 
 caught by both day and night upon this island. The night fowling 
 requires the assistance of a light, unless there is moonlight. The method 
 in vogue is curious. The fowler prepares beforehand a sort of gridiron 
 with a wooden handle. A fire is kindled upon this gridiron before the 
 fowling begins. The fowler takes the Quail in a hand-net, which is 
 fastened to a hoop formed of the branches of the Lotus Bean tree. This 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN EUROPE. 
 
 379 
 
 hoop is fitted to a round handle. When night falls the fowler takes the 
 gridiron (upon which the fire is lighted) in his left hand and the net in 
 his right hand. Thus accoutred, he runs over the fields or mountains. 
 When a Quail sees the light, the bird becomes dazzled ; the net is thrown 
 over it, and it is taken alive. When the passage of birds is large, each 
 fowler can take a hundred birds in a single night. The merchants buy 
 the birds for from twenty-five to thirty leptas (2id.) a-piece, and the birds 
 are shipped in cages to Marseilles. When there is a great passage of 
 Quail, the merchants reckon that the export amounts to from 20,000 to 
 25,000 birds annually. The modus operandi of capturing Quail in the 
 
 Gre£e Gridiron. 
 
 Greek Quail-net. 
 
 daytime is for the peasant to employ a dog in addition to the net already 
 mentioned. The dog is trained to run before his master, who follows 
 with the net. As soon as the dog scents the Quail he makes a point ; his 
 master then approaches and orders him to advance into the bushes or 
 thorny scrub. 
 
 As soon as the Quail is flushed, the sportsman either turns down the 
 hand-net to cover the bird, or catches it in the air. The number of Quail 
 taken during a night passage is greater than that captured when the 
 migratory host settle on the island during the day. The Island of Thera 
 is famous for the number of tired birds that rest for a few hours upon 
 its shores before resuming their protracted flight to the shores of Northern 
 Africa. QuaU, in particular, visit Thera in large flocks. The migration 
 of Quail strikes Thera between the 20th of August and the end of 
 September. The birdcatcher employs a hand-net, apparently very similar 
 to the implement adopted on Cerigo, having a diameter of one metre. 
 The man takes his dog to the ground which it is likely to afford cover 
 
380 
 
 QtTAIL-CATCHING IN EUROPE. 
 
 to Quail. When the dog points a bird, the fowler covers it with his 
 net. Many of the natives are so adept at this variety of fowling that 
 they can guess exactly where a Quail will alight, and cover it with a net 
 as soon as it reaches the ground. The Quail are not attracted by a light 
 on this island, unless a north-west wind is blowing. I have much 
 pleasure in thanking Mr Theodore Bent for the data which he procured 
 for me about Thera. It is given upon the authority of a former servant 
 of his. This man lives on Anaphi (where the Quail are only shot) ; 
 but he is intimately acquainted with Thera. 
 
 Before we quit the subject of the migrations which the Quail accom- 
 plishes across the Mediterranean region, a few words may be said con- 
 cerning the occurrence of the species in Spain. 
 
 The Quail is a partial resident in both Spain and Italy. But most 
 of the birds which the Spaniards catch in their low nets appear to be 
 
 Thb Tibasse. 
 
 genuine migrants. Colonel Irby says that vast numbers are caught in 
 the spring with small nets by the aid of the Quail-call (" Pitillo "). 
 
QtrAIL-CATCHING IN EUEOPE. 
 
 381 
 
 When I was in Navarre the local sportsmen assured me that it is in the 
 autumn that they take a heavy toll of Quail by means of nets. In cor- 
 roboration of this, they produced a net of the kind that would have been 
 called a " Eagna " ia Italy. It was made of fine green thread, so aS to 
 match the colour of the herbage. They also produced a circular metal 
 Quail-call. This certainly rendered the cry of the Quail with great 
 accuracy. They explained to us that the net was suspended in some 
 suitable place by means of the cord which passed through the brass rings 
 attached at intervals to its upper margins. The birds were called together 
 by a concealed fowler. When the birds had assembled in a small area, 
 the fowler suddenly jumped up, and the startled birds at once flew or ran 
 into the meshes of the net which barred their way of escape. According 
 to Thompson, the Quail which migrate from Europe to Africa in the fall 
 of the year arrive in the neighbourhood of Alexandria about the 20 th of 
 September. There cannot be two opinions about the immense numbers 
 of Quail supplied to Europe from Egypt. I believe that these birds are 
 chiefly taken upon their vernal migration northwards. 
 
 [The German Quail-call which forms our tailpiece is reproduced from 
 Brehm's Vogelfang (p. 99). The central portion of this bird-whistle (c c) 
 consists of a small spherical bag of calf leather, which has been moulded into 
 spiral form upon a conical block of wood while still soft from being soaked in 
 water. The stopper (6) is a wooden plug. The mouth-piece (a) is supplied by 
 the humerus of a goose, which has been fitted up as a whistle. The headpiece 
 is reproduced from the Arten von Vogeln.] 
 
 C. c 
 
 « 
 
 German Qoail-call. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX.— QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 
 
 THE Dean of Cairo informs me that Quail are taken in Egypt in the 
 following way : " the natives put up long strips of netting, parallel 
 to the sea. At daybreak the Quail come in tired and settle on the land. 
 The Arabs then drive them into their nets." He has also forwarded a 
 note from a friend who says, " Quail are caught by nets being placed by 
 the seaside or anywhere else where they are expected to come in, and often 
 the natives pick them up in great numbers, as they are nearly always too 
 tired to fly or even run when they arrive. More are so caught than in 
 nets. The natives sit and watch for their arrival." Canon Tristram 
 mentions that Quail are taken in Palestine in artificial runs formed 
 of brushwood, which terminate in a bag-net. Many devices are practised 
 in different parts of India for snaring and netting Quail. Mr Harold 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 383 
 
 Littledale has sent me the accompanying note to explain how the Quail is 
 captured in the vicinity of Baroda. " The grey Quail come in here about 
 October, and are taken in nooses or under nets near the open-air threshing 
 floors in the fields, or in cool patches of grass near water. The modus 
 operandi of the Wagri is much the same as explained in the case of 
 riorican. The small Eain-quail and the various Bush and Bustard-quail 
 are generally taken under a net spread over a patch of isolated cover to 
 which they run (not altogether without Wagri guidance) after drinking. 
 Call-quail are not used by the natives of this district, but at times a 
 Pardesi (up-country-man from Hindustan) comes round with some, and 
 they are useful for collecting the birds into corners, which become too 
 ' hot ' for them when the sportsmen arrive on the scene. The callbird is 
 placed out at the earliest dawn, and from his cage hurls defiance at all 
 Quail-kind. Every male Quail within hearing responds to the challenge, 
 and rushes to the fray, while his lady friends come to look on and cheer 
 him. Then the sun rises and the light streams over the glistening corn, 
 and a sound is heard of men advancing and beating the ground with 
 staves, and Quail fly up, and the heavens thunder, and more Quail take to 
 flight, and more thunder crashes overhead, and the call-quail in his cage 
 meditates, for he has heard these noises before and not been harmed 
 by them. And there is a rushing forth of lithe black boys amid the 
 corn, and frantic pursuit of ' runners,' and fastening of birds upon game- 
 sticks, and much rejoicing of sportsmen if the powder has been straight 
 and the Quail numerous." Mr Littledale has sent me a dust-coloured net, 
 which the Wagri employ in Quail-catching. It is made of thread, and 
 when rolled up can be carried in a very small compass. He has also 
 obtained for me a set of frames, made of bamboo, each frame being 
 supplied with horsehair nooses. This engine only differs from that used 
 for taking Florican, in its inferior height. Mr J. S. Grove of the 
 1st Bengal Cavalry favours me with the following note : — "I have served 
 in various stations in Bombay, Central Provinces, Punjaub, and north as 
 far as Peshawar, so have seen a good deal of the various methods of 
 trapping used ; but I do not think that they vary so much as you might 
 suppose. There is the common way of snaring Quail by means of a series 
 of low screens or frames covered with netting, which the fowler carries 
 under his arm. He has with him a specially trained bullock or Buffalo. 
 When he sees in front of him a covey of Quail running through the 
 
384 QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 
 
 grass, he gets well in front of them hy making a ddtour, and puts down 
 his frames in the form of a big V, at the apex of which a hole is left with 
 a bag-net. He then gets in rear of the Quail again, and with great skill 
 gradually makes his beast graze towards them, and thus little by little 
 edges on the birds till they strike one of the inner wings of the V, along 
 which they run, finding no exit, until at length they reach the point of 
 the triangle, and running into the network bag, the long string is pulled 
 by the fowler and the birds are secured." Many Anglo-Indian naturalists 
 and sportsmen have referred to the native methods of Quail-catching, but 
 their remarks seldom possess much novelty. Mr George Eeid states that 
 netted Quail are sold in Lucknow for from two Eupees to two Eupees eight 
 annas per hundred, which may convey some idea of the vast quantities which 
 are taken. The best male birds are retained for the sport of Quail-fighting, 
 to which the Mohammedans are fondly attached {Stray Feathers, 1881, 
 p. 61.) Jerdon says: — "Quail are netted in great numbers in some 
 parts of the country, and many are also caught in hair-nooses. The 
 Nepalese have an ingenious way of catching Quail. They put a pair 
 of imitation horns on their heads, and walk slowly about the stubble 
 fields, twirling some blades of grass in their hands to imitate the champing 
 of grass by cattle, and as these birds are not alarmed by cattle, they 
 succeed in driving any Quail they see under a small net, which they then 
 drop and secure the bird" {Birds of India, Vol. ii. p. 588.) The Indian 
 Pioneer Mail of May 29th, 1895, contains the following note from one of 
 its own correspondents regarding the form of Quail-catching practised by 
 the Swatis on the Swat Eiver in Chitral: — "You now and then come 
 across a native catching Quail in a barley-field with a net and a dog. It 
 is a most curious form of sport, evidently requiring great practice and 
 skill. As far as one could judge from a passing, roadside study of this, 
 the man holds a fan-shaped net in front of him, at an angle of about 
 45 degrees, and swings this laterally; meanwhile the dog quarters the 
 ground close in front and drives the Quail back to the fowler. As the 
 birds rise, he seems to drop the net on the top of the barley with a 
 circular sweep, and they are caught." 
 
 We have only referred so far to the Quail of history {Coturnix 
 communis). The bird which replaces the form familiar to us in China and 
 Japan is the Japanese Quail {Coturnix japonica). This Eastern race 
 differs from the European bird chiefly in the male having "the lores, 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 
 
 385 
 
 sides of the head, chin, and throat uniform dull hrick-red, without a trace 
 of the hlack anchor-shaped mark" {Cat. Birds, VoL xxn. p. 239). The 
 female of the Japanese Quail is distinguished from the female of the home 
 hird by the elongate and lanceolate feathers of the throat. Swinhoe 
 wrote of the Japanese Quail that it was common in the vicinity of Hong 
 Kong, but only a winter visitor. " Numbers are captured and brought to 
 market in baskets, the best males being selected first and confined 
 separately in straw baskets, for pugilistic purposes. For the table 
 they sell for at 4s or 5s the dozen, but the warlike individuals fetch Is 
 or 2s apiece" {Ibis, 1861, p. 50). Mr Styan has favoured me with a 
 sketch of the engine which he has seen employed for Quail-catching near 
 Shanghai. A net about thirty feet long by twenty feet broad is hung 
 between two long light bamboos and carried horizontally three feet above 
 the ground by two men. Along the centre of the net, from man to man, 
 hangs a row of straw ropes a few feet apart, the ends of the ropes having 
 balls of straw the size of oranges. These just touch the ground, and. 
 
 QuAiL-NErrrao IK Chiha. 
 
 brushing through the grass, flush the Quail, which on rising strike the net. 
 The men instantly drop it, and fishing out the bird from below with a 
 kind of landing-net, put it alive into a bag carried round the waist. All 
 Quail are thus brought alive to market. This method of Quail netting is 
 practised on the undulating hills, chiefly on terraced fields which are in 
 stubble, or in many cases have been thrown out of cultivation, and are 
 
 2 B 
 
386 QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 
 
 covered with short grass and some dry weeds, of which the birds appear 
 very fond. 
 
 Kum Ayen, a Chinese writer, states that the Drag-net has been used 
 in China for Quail-catching since the reign of King Tang, B.C. 1766. 
 He adds that the ancient pattern of net " should be 50 feet long and 12 
 feet wide, with meshes about an inch square ; two men, one at each end, 
 drag it along over the grass, when the frightened birds are easily 
 captured." 
 
 But the nets just described are not the only ones used in China. 
 " Near Chinkiang on the Yangtze," says Kum Ayen, " some two or three 
 years ago, I chanced upon a couple of men carrying a bamboo frame 
 about 15 feet square, over which was stretched an ordinary fishing net. 
 At the four corners of the frame were hung a number of little bells. 
 My first thought was that they were fishermen, but on enquiry they told 
 me that they were after quail. The novelty of the thing attracted me, 
 and my curiosity made me follow them. Arrived at a field of standing 
 grass, the men faced one another, each at one side of the bamboo frame, 
 with which they gently brushed the grass tops, jingling the bells by the 
 action. The grass being too thick to run through, the little birds had no 
 alternative but upward flight, when the net was immediately dropped 
 and the capture effected" (With Gun and Boat in the Yangtze Valley, 
 p. 182). 
 
 Mr H. T. Wade reports that Quails have of late diminished in the 
 Yangtze Valley, owing to the vigour with which netting is carried out. 
 " Two men with simple drag-net will, in a very short time, account for 
 a profitable bag. The birds are secured in low, flat baskets, capable of 
 holding from 50 to 100, topped by a cloth to prevent the prisoners 
 damaging themselves, and are then sent to the local markets or forwarded 
 to Shanghai for transhipment to the south, where they are bought as 
 much for fighting purposes as for food ; for, be it remembered that the 
 quail is one of the most pugnacious of birds, and plucky to a degree ; 
 and that a good really fighting bird often fetches a long price." 
 
 David explains that the Chinese fanciers adopt a peculiar method 
 of taming their fighting Quail. The plan in question is that of com- 
 pelling the birds to undergo a succession of baths in hot tea. Each bird 
 is dried by being placed in the sleeve of his owner. After a course 
 of these baths, which are followed by a meal, the Quail is sufficiently 
 
QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 
 
 387 
 
 habituated to the hand of its trainer, and is ready to enter the lists 
 against its rivals. These Quail contests are the delight of the Chinese, 
 who often risk large sums in wagers upon their favourites. 
 
 The Japanese Quail is sought after by the native fowlers, like its 
 European representative. Its capture is effected by the means of an 
 engine called the "Kasumi Ami." This is a net of fine but strong 
 thread, and is made in the form of the Italian " Eagna." It is intended 
 to be stretched perpendicularly between upright stakes of bamboo. The 
 Japanese birdcatcher employs five or six such nets at one and the same 
 time, ranging them across the field in which fowling is carried on. The 
 cover preferred consists of reeds or of sugar plants. The birds are lured 
 to the spot by the notes of caged decoys. Each call-bird is hung in its 
 own cage from a bamboo, at a height of three feet, or even less, above the 
 ground. The wild males hear the challenge of their captive rivals and 
 run towards the spot from which their challenge issues, intending to give 
 battle to the intruders. The female Quail follow in the wake of their 
 mates, and fall victims to the same fate, being meshed in the net as soon 
 as the fowler drives them forward. 
 
 The best time for catching Quail in Japan is in the first hours of 
 morn, but sometimes the noon and the evening fowling yield satisfactory 
 results. Professor Ijima writes to me that the Quail commands high 
 
 Japahese Qoail-snabes. 
 
 prices in Japan. Large quantities are caught during autumn, winter, 
 and the early part of spring, but principally in autumn. The birds 
 which are obtained in autumn are frequently fed in confinement until 
 the following summer, and sold when no other kind of game can be 
 
388 QUAIL-CATCHING IN THE EAST. 
 
 purchased in the markets. The use of ground-snares for Quail-catching 
 is well known to the Japanese. 
 
 Mr S. Fukushima writes that the snares in question consist of sets of 
 horsehair nooses. These are suspended in a row beneath an arch of 
 bamboo. The bamboo measures about three feet in length. It is closely 
 shaved, to reduce its bulk and render it an easy matter to bend it into 
 the form of an arch. A line of plaited horsehair is stretched across the 
 arc formed by the bamboo, and serves to support the snares, as shown in 
 the illustration. Four running nooses are attached to each bamboo arch 
 or frame. The Quail-catcher is provided with as many as a hundred 
 of these traps, which are set in natural hollows, and " between bush 
 and bush." 
 
 The employment of decoy Quail is supplemented by the addition of 
 a Quail-call. This consists of two small bamboo pipes, measuring two 
 inches and three-quarters in length. These are notched near the lower 
 extremity, and are bound tightly side by side with thread, the latter 
 being secured by notches cut upon the sides of the pipe. The ends of 
 the call are left open. When the fowler wishes to entice the wild Quail 
 into his net he takes his pipe and places it between his lips. He closes 
 the lower ends of the pipe with the forefinger of the left hand and 
 blows, "Pi-pee, pipee, pi-pee." So at least writes Professor Ijima, who 
 procured the pipe figured here. 
 
 [The headpiece represents a Chinese method of netting Quail. It is repro- 
 duced from a Chinese original by permission of Mr H. T. Wade.] 
 
 c 
 
 r 
 
 ■M^ 
 
 Japanese Quail-call. 
 
CHAPTEE XL.- 
 
 -EED-LEGGED PAETEIDGES AND 
 FEANCOLINS. 
 
 THE EED-LEGGED PAETEIDGES (CaccaMs) are remarkable for 
 the handsome pattern of their plumage. Prjevalsky's Eed-legged 
 Partridge (Caccahis magna) inhabits the mountains of Northern Tibet. 
 The large Black-headed Eed-legged Partridge {Caccahis melanocephala) is 
 a desert bird, common in the ravines near Aden, but restricted in its 
 range to South-west Arabia. The three species which remain to be 
 considered often afford good sport to our countrymen abroad. They are 
 the Common Eed-legged Partridge {Caccahis rufa), the Barbary Partridge 
 {Caccaiis petrosa), and the Greek Partridge {Cacealis saxatilis), with its 
 eastern form or sub-species {Caccabis chiikar). The first named of these 
 is well known, as an introduced species, in many English counties ; but 
 it was a stranger to Britain in the days when fowling flourished among 
 our forefathers. It is necessary, therefore, to cross the English Channel 
 to learn the ruses by which our Gallic neighbours used formerly to net 
 this bird. Most likely some of the devices which wiU be noticed in the 
 
390 EEt)-LEGGED PARTRIbGES AND FfiANCOLlNS. 
 
 chapter on the Common Partridge {Perdioc cinerea) applied to " les perdrix 
 rouges " as well as to the grey species. But one particular French plan 
 for taking the "Eed-leg" is worth glancing at. The fowler, as the 
 " Solitaire Inventif " tells us, must first provide himself with a proper 
 call for reproducing the note of the hen, for this is a device for capturing 
 males only. This bird-call is as large as a hen's egg, and is made of wood 
 in an oval form. It is pierced from end to end. The quill of a Swan 
 or the metacarpal bone of a cat is inserted into one of the openings, and 
 extends to the middle of the call, which has a large opening in the side. 
 A second hollow quill is inserted into the other extremity of the whistle. 
 The fowler arms himself with this bird-call and a pocket net, in addition 
 to which he cuts a pliant switch, which he sharpens at both ends. Thus 
 accoutred, he commences operations either in the first blush of breaking 
 day or a short time before sunset. Occasionally he may try his luck in 
 the middle of the day. When he hears a cock " Eed-leg " calling in a 
 vineyard, he searches for some small run beside which there is enough 
 cover to conceal him lying on the ground. He next inserts into the earth 
 the switch, which measures four or five feet, in bow form. To this he 
 attaches the sides of the pocket net, securing the net in such a way that 
 its upper edge is lightly attached to the switch, which serves to keep it 
 in the desired position. When the net is properly placed the fowler 
 throws himself on the ground, and prepares to call the bird which he 
 wants to catch. When the bird opens his challenge, the sportsman gives 
 two or three calls with his whistle, not loud in volume, but adequate to 
 catch the listening ear of the Partridge. The bird will then rise and fly 
 to within twenty paces of the fowler, alighting on the run or footpath, to 
 listen again for the voice of the imaginary siren. The fowler then 
 answers with a low call, at which the cock Partridge comes hurriedly 
 along the run. Before he has time to think of retreat he finds himself 
 entangled in the green net which bars the way. This plan is, or was, 
 practised only in the spring and summer months for taking such male 
 birds as had failed to find mates. It may be questioned whether it 
 injured the interests of hona fide sportsmen. There is usually a consider- 
 able preponderance of the male sex among game-birds, and the bachelors 
 often disturb the peace of paired couples. 
 
 In Spain the "Eed-leg" is commonly shot to decoys, both in the 
 season of love and during the great heat of August. Colonel Irby 
 
EED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND JRANCOLINS. 
 
 391 
 
 remarks that the Spaniards "like to make a hiding-place (puesto) near 
 the drinking place of these Partridges, placing call-birds on each side of 
 the water, out of the line of fire." Messrs Chapman and Buck found the 
 " Eed-leg " very scarce on the hills of the Sierra de la Jarda, and no 
 wonder, since every farmer keeps his pair of call-birds {reclamos). When 
 I was staying in one of the villages of Navarre a few springs ago, our 
 party were entertained by the vociferous calling of a tame " Eed-leg," 
 which was kept in a cage for sporting purposes This bird would, I 
 imagine, be placed out in the fields for decoy purposes. Its cage was 
 painted green, to match the colour of the grass. The Italians are fond 
 of shooting " Eed-legs." They take them also in horsehair snares. A 
 peculiar method of catching " Eed-legs " was practised on the island of 
 Elba in Savi's time — say between sixty and seventy years ago. Desiring 
 to ascertain whether the use of this trap, called "Nassa," had become 
 obsolete, I put myself into communication with Signore Giuseppe 
 Tomietti, the British Vice-Consul of Elba. This gentleman has been 
 obliging enough to inform me that the " Nassa " is still in use for 
 
 Elba Partbidoe-trap. 
 
 catching Eed-legged Partridges. The trap in question is employed in 
 elevated situations, generally on the side of a hill. The upper end of a 
 field which has been sown with corn is a favourite spot for setting this 
 trap. The " Nassa " is a circular frame of wickerwork, and is set in the 
 
392 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND FRANGOLINS. 
 
 way shown in the illustration. A string is fastened to the edge of the 
 " Nassa " or basket. This string passes over the wooden horse, and 
 is fixed at the other extremity by the peg resting against the second 
 wooden horse. This keeps in its place a small piece of cane, twenty 
 centimetres in length. This piece of cane is filled with corn, and is 
 suspended at a height of two or three centimetres above the earth. The 
 " Eed-legs " are induced to run under the " Nassa " by means of a prepared 
 train of corn. When the birds have eaten all the corn which they find 
 strewn upon the ground, they begin to peck at the grain contained in the 
 cane trough. Naturally, they soon upset the balance of the trap, which 
 is released from its fixed position and falls over the Partridges. A less 
 worthy device for capturing these birds, also practised in Elba, is to take 
 them by means of small fish-hooks. These are baited with peas, and tied 
 to the vines with pieces of silk thread. In the months of August and 
 September the Partridges are wont to resort to the vineyards in order to 
 gratify their passion for the ripe fruit. Many grapes, of course, fall to 
 the ground and the birds glean the harvest. The peas used as bait are 
 previously soaked in water to make them soft. If an entire covey of 
 " Eed-legs " happens to make their way into a vineyard where these 
 hooks have been set, the chances are that the whole of the party will be 
 captured by the treacherous hooks. Tomietti tells me that the shepherds 
 of Elba shoot many broods of Eed-legged Partridges in the close time. 
 The pastoral method is to build a small conical hut, large enough to 
 contain a man, in the vicinity of some broods of these Partridges. The 
 shepherd covers the roof of his hut with corn. The birds soon ascertain 
 the whereabouts of the sheaves and resort thither to feed. The peasant 
 is then able to wreak havoc among them. As many as fifteen and even 
 a score of birds have been killed in this ma.nner at one time. The Eed- 
 legged Partridge has been known to interbreed with both the Greek 
 Partridge and the Barbary Partridge. 
 
 I am indebted to the kindness of Mr G. H. Fernan of Casablanca for 
 an interesting account of the method by which the Barbary Partridge 
 is commonly captured in Morocco. Mr Fernan writes to say that, for 
 taking Partridges and Francolins, " a train of chopped straw is laid from 
 the vicinity of a covey's roosting-place to some open spot where a semicircle 
 of stones has been laid down. A little corn, daily renewed for about a 
 week, is placed near the closed end of the semicircle. After a week has 
 
KED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND FRANCOLINS. 393 
 
 elapsed, the birdcatcher, during the night, fixes a net under the stones, 
 raising the centre and mouth of the net with sticks. He then hides in 
 a convenient bush, and awaits the arrival of dawn and his covey. When 
 the covey enters the enclosure, the netter runs up and pulls down the 
 mouth of the net. He often succeeds in taking the whole covey at once. 
 When no natural cover exists, a hiding-place of brushwood, stones, or 
 earth is made at the time the snare is prepared." 
 
 Mr 0. H. Payton, who resided many years at Mogadore, assures me 
 that the Barbary Partridges are there netted in large numbers, " decoyed 
 into nets [of the kind just described] by means of barley or other grain." 
 The Greek Partridge is mainly confined to the mountainous districts of 
 South- West Europe. Signore Galli regrets that this bird is decreasing 
 on the slopes of the Italian Alps. He ascribes the diminution of its 
 numbers to the action of the peasants in shooting the birds in the spring 
 of the year. Their custom is to visit a spot frequented by these Part- 
 ridges, armed with a gun. The aid of a caged decoy of the same species 
 is invoked. The tame bird responds to the challenge of its free rivals. 
 The wild birds are thus lured within gunshot, when their fate is sealed. 
 
 It was formerly supposed that the range of the western or typical 
 form of the Greek or Eock Partridge (Oaccahis saooatilis) extended to 
 Palestine. Mr Ogilvie-Grant has now ascertained that the eastern form 
 (Gaccabis chukar) is predominant as far to the westward as the Grecian 
 Archipelago and the Ionian Isles. He questions, indeed, whether the 
 Partridge of the Morea should not be referred to the Chukar, the bird 
 which English officers, who have served in India, are so familiar with. 
 Against this view we must set the fact that the late Dr Bree figured 
 {Birds of Hurope, Second Edition, Vol. iv. p. 147) what he calls the 
 typical Greek Partridge, an adult male from the Morea. This bird is 
 described as possessing both the black lores and the white throat which 
 Mr Ogilvie-Grant tells us are the distinguishing characters of the true 
 Caccabis saxatilis. But enough has been said for present purposes. The 
 form of Eed-legged Partridge which is found in the Island of Cephalonia 
 is the object of keen interest to the native gunners. 
 
 Mr John Saunders, the British Vice-Consul of Cephalonia, has favoured 
 me with the information that the islanders pursue the Partridges under 
 cover of a screen, here reproduced from the original sketch sent by Mr 
 Saunders. " This Partridge-cloth or screen is an oblong piece of cloth. 
 
394 
 
 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND FRANOOLINS. 
 
 used principally by the peasants who stalk under this cover, somewhat 
 like a banner, which they carry before them (slightly slanting). As soon 
 as the birds come within range, they are fired at through the slit ; and 
 then the other sportsmen who are under cover come up from behind 
 1 to take their part in the 
 
 ' sport. The best time for 
 
 '^'"'^ stalking is about daylight, 
 and before dusk." Mr 
 Alfred L. Crowe writes 
 to me that on one occa- 
 sion, when shooting "Eed- 
 legs " in the Morea, he 
 witnessed the use of this 
 engine from the opposite 
 side of a ravine. The 
 man had a many-coloured 
 sheet or cloth, attached 
 to a stout bamboo cane, 
 which he carried like a 
 banner. Below was a slit 
 for the barrels of his gun 
 to pass through, and he ap- 
 peared to have two smaller 
 canes, with which he kept 
 making a noise by strik- 
 ing them together. This 
 was done after his dogs 
 got up the covey, and it 
 evidently required great 
 caution and tact to ap- 
 proach them hidden be- 
 pabtbidge Cloth. hind the banner, and 
 
 meanwhile striking the smaller canes. This seemed to paralyse the birds 
 and the slaughter followed." The Chukar is sought after as a game-bird in 
 many parts of India. General Stewart writes that, in the Himalayas, this 
 species is often kept as a pet by the hill people, generally as a cage-bird. 
 He was told that some of the Shikarees attract the attention of these 
 
 /ir<. 
 
' EED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND FRANCOLINS. 395 
 
 birds by exhibiting a piece of coloured (generally brown and yellow) 
 chintz or cotton carpet, spread out on the end of a stick or fashioned 
 like an umbrella. " The sportsman holds this out before him, and the 
 birds inquisitively approach within easy shot. My informant said the 
 birds take the snare for a cat or leopard, and, instead of shunning it as it 
 is their nature to do, come so near as to fall victims to their temerity " 
 {Zoologist, 1886, p. 433). So far as I can judge, this device is of kindred 
 nature to that practised in the Morea. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that the Greek peasants are 
 content to procure Partridges only with the gun. Mr Pantagopulo 
 reports that these men trap Partridges in pitfalls. The fowler makes 
 a hole in the earth in a likely spot and fills it with com. He then 
 covers the hole with a flat stone. This is supported in a slanting position, 
 like the slate often used in a brick-trap, by means of a figure of four. 
 Mr Pantagopulo states that two small pieces of wood serve as the sup- 
 port, and this is borne out by the pen and ink sketch which he has 
 kindly forwarded. The hungry Partridge descends into the pitfall to feed 
 upon the grain, and while thus engaged disturbs the balance of the 
 trap and closes the exit. Canon Tristram notices that this Partridge is 
 very common in the hill country of Palestine. In the early morning its 
 ringing call-note echoes from cliff to cliff. The mountaineers of Lebanon 
 are specially adroit in effecting the capture of this species. Their plan 
 is to construct a long, narrow run of brushwood, leading up to the cage 
 in which the decoy is concealed. This run gradually contracts until it 
 terminates in a bag-net, which is suspended across the path. Whole 
 coveys are taken in this manner. The nestlings are brought up in cap- 
 tivity, either for food or to serve as call-birds {Nat. Sist. Bible, p. ] 64). 
 
 The Francolins {FrancoUnus) occupy such an eminent position among 
 the game-birds of Africa that it is of importance that we should know 
 something of the devices which the native races have employed to efiect 
 their capture. Sir Benjamin Stone, M.P., has kindly written to explain 
 a method of capturing Francolins, which he recently observed in South 
 Africa. He does not identify the species to which his remarks apply ; 
 but as he says that it was plentiful and bore some resemblance to the 
 Grey Partridge of Europe, I am disposed to conjecture that he probably 
 met with the Coqui Francolin {Francolimis cogui). This bird is rather 
 smaller than the Common Partridge, but resembles that species in its 
 
396 
 
 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND FRANCOLINS. 
 
 habits, and is widely distributed. The plan of fowling which Sir J. B. 
 Stone reports is carried on by Zulus. These natives " fix the snares 
 amongst the coarse grass of the veldt in the runs of the Francolins. A 
 slight lattice-obstruction made of stems of strong grass or reeds, extending 
 for a little distance on either side of the run, is erected with the object 
 of forcing the bird to pass through a gateway or opening which is across 
 the run itself. In this gateway are carefully placed the treacherous 
 
 Zulu Snares for Francolins. 
 
 nooses which are to entrap the game. These are cleverly made of finely 
 twisted or plaited grass, and are flexible and strong. The boys dexterously 
 drive the birds into the snares." 
 
 That beautiful little game-bird the Common Francolin (^Francolinus 
 vulgaris), now unhappily extinct in most parts of Southern Europe, is 
 valued in the East as a household pet. Mr J. S. Grove observes that the 
 chief admirers of this bird " are the pious Mohammedans, who translate his 
 guttural cry as ' Bhugwan, tere kudrat,' a verse from the Koran, meaning 
 ' Oh, God ! great is Thy power ! ' For this reason, a Black Partridge is 
 as much a member of a Mohammedan household as a Green Parakeet is a 
 member of a Hindu menage." Mr Greig informed Mr Hume that a 
 common native plan of capturing birds of this species is to employ a 
 decoy which has been caught as a chick and reared by hand. Such a 
 call-bird is placed in a cage which is surrounded by horsehair snares and 
 placed in some haunt of the species. The wild birds visit the decoy and 
 are, of course, taken in the snares. Nets are also employed for the 
 capture of the Black Partridge or Francolin. This bird does not seem to 
 be irascible or intolerant. On the other hand, the Grey Francolin 
 (Franeolinus pondiceriarms) is often kept by natives, to whom its 
 bellicose propensities afford not a little amusement. Mr J. S. Grove 
 notices that the natives teach the young Grey Francolins to fight, " by 
 
EED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND FRANCOLINS. 397 
 
 suspending a tassel of red worsted from the top of the cage, — the birds 
 are invariably kept in separate cages, — at which they peck and spar, and 
 they are also made irascible by being blown upon." Mr Grove adds that 
 the Grey Francolin " is caught either when very young, a mere ball of 
 down, or when fully adult. The cock birds are the only ones of use for 
 fighting, and the means employed to snare them are as follows : the wily 
 fowler seeks the jungles where, amongst scattered wild rose bushes and 
 rank grass adjoining cultivated fields, the Grey Francolin loves to lie. 
 The native has with him, covered with a cloth, one of the small wicker 
 cages of the country, about ten inches square, in which is a tame decoy 
 (cock) bird. In these small cages the birds are invariably kept, and 
 curious to say, seem to thrive, notwithstanding their cramped quarters. 
 The outside of the cage has attached to it a number of nooses. The 
 fowler holding the cage in one hand, slips the cover oS', and blows hard 
 with his mouth on the decoy bird, ruffling up his feathers. The Grey 
 Francolin is a most irascible and pugnacious bird, and he therefore at 
 once falls into a furious rage and begins to pour forth his loud prolonged 
 chuckling note of defiance. The fowler at once puts down the cage and 
 retires a short distance to hide himself. In a minute or two an answer- 
 ing call is heard, and in another moment a wUd cock bird furiously hurls 
 himself upon the cage containing the intruder into his domain, and the 
 decoy being also ' spoiling for a fight,' a desperate battle begins through 
 the bars of the cage, which soon results in the wild bird being caught in 
 one of the nooses. The native then approaches, secures the spoU, puts it 
 into a dark bag, and again retires, whilst the decoy, being firmly convinced 
 that he has defeated and put to flight his late antagonist, again begins to 
 call, and invite a new antagonist. As may be imagined, this is a most 
 destructive mode of fowling, and the takes are very large. The fowler 
 returns to his village, and finds a ready sale for his wares at a few pence 
 a head." Colonel Tickell affirms that there is hardly a village in the 
 wilder parts of Upper or "Western Bengal where the amusement of 
 catching these birds is not in vogue. " For this purpose a tame Grey 
 Francolin is placed in a small cage covered with strong horsehair nooses, 
 and carried out of an evening or early morning to the jungle. On 
 arriving at a likely spot, the fowler blows two or three times upon the 
 bird in the cage, which has the invariable effect of rousing the little 
 captive into a perfect fury." The wild birds answer its challenge, and 
 
398 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES AND PRANCOLINS. 
 
 are taken as already described. Mr Grove remarks that the fresh-caught 
 birds are at first starved for a few hours, and afterwards fed upon insects. 
 They lose their shyness in a few days. They have usually become so 
 tame by the end of a fortnight that they will not fly away when placed 
 opposite their antagonists. Of course the practice of the fowlers vary in 
 different localities. Mr Littledale informs me that, in the neighbourhood 
 of Baroda, the Grey Prancolins which are kept for fighting " become so 
 tame as to run along the road side after their owner, who lets them out 
 to feed on grasshoppers. These birds are dirty feeders, and the adults 
 are generally caught in the outskirts of the villages." Mr Littledale has 
 furnished a specimen of the snare employed to take the Grey Francolin 
 in the vicinity of Baroda. This trap consists of fourteen light bamboo 
 frames, fitted together in such a way that they can either be extended in 
 a long line or folded together, when the frames pack into a very small 
 space. Each frame measures about twenty inches and a half in length, 
 and about five inches and a half in height. Each frame is divided by 
 fine splints of bamboo into five separate compartments, in each of which 
 a black horsehair snare is suspended. The fowler carries as many of 
 these light series of frames as his operations are expected to require. He 
 sets his frames in a likely situation in dense cover, and then proceeds to 
 drive the birds into the long line of snares. 
 
 The Painted Bush-Quails (Microperdix) rank among the smallest game- 
 birds of India. The Painted Bush-Quail {Microperdix erythrorhyncha) 
 inhabits the hills in the south-west of India, and is plentiful on the 
 slopes of the Kilgiris. Davison informed Hume that these birds are very 
 easily snared. The simplest plan is to stretch a piece of string, four or 
 five yards long, tightly above the ground at a height of about six inches, 
 in any place which these birds frequent. The fowler attaches to this 
 string a number of horsehair nooses, placed closely side by side. He then 
 sprinkles a little grain along both sides of the snares. The Painted Bush- 
 Quail readily feed on the corn which they find scattered on the earth, and, 
 in running to and fro to pick up the food, they insert their heads into 
 the fatal nooses. Another plan is to take these birds by means of a 
 decoy of the same species, which is kept in a trap-cage of the pattern so 
 often seen in India. This cage is provided with a series of small trap 
 doors. Each door closes when a wild bird sets foot upon the spring which 
 keeps it open. The native fowler sets his bird in a suitable position and 
 
EED-LEGGED PAETRIDGES AND FEANCOLINS. 399 
 
 then whistles its call-note. The tame bird replies, and its notes soon 
 attract the free birds. Miss M. Cockburn informed Mr Hume that 
 a small bamboo framework, three or four inches in height and of varying 
 length, is sometimes set round the cage of the decoy in a zigzag fashion, 
 at a distance of two or three feet. This little fence is provided with 
 numerous apertures, in each of which a snare is placed. As Bush- Quail 
 prefer to creep through any aperture to flying over an obstacle, many are 
 secured in this fashion. Miss Cockburn notices that when the natives 
 come across a very young brood of these Bush-Quail, they catch two or 
 three of them and put them into a hole in the ground, which is about a 
 foot deep. The native then hides behind some bush. The parent birds 
 soon discover the loss of their chicks, and finding that they cannot 
 extricate them from their unfortunate position, they soon drop into the 
 hole to join them company. The native seizes this moment to creep 
 up softly and throw a cloth over the hole. Mr Charles Hose assures me 
 that several small species of game-birds are captured in Borneo by means 
 of the Springe known as the " Panjok.'' Mr Hose enumerates among the 
 birds snared in this fashion the Crimson-headed Wood Partridge 
 {Raematortyx sanguiniceps), the Ferruginous Wood-Partridge of Borneo 
 {Qaloperdix horneensis), the Eed-Crested Wood-Partridge {Bollulus roulroul), 
 and the Black Wood-Partridge {Melanoperdix nigra). These birds all 
 love dense cover, and are taken by the native hunters by means of 
 Springes set in the runs which they follow through the jungle. The 
 Hemipodes {Tumicidae) are well known in India, especially that widely 
 distributed bird the Bustard Quail (Tumix taigoor). This species, like the 
 Grey Francolin, is extremely pugnacious. Strange to say, it is the female 
 Bustard Quail which chiefly exhibits this trait. The natives catch many 
 of these birds in the neighbourhood of Calcutta. They do so by means 
 of a female decoy, which is confined in a trap-cage. Mr P. W. Munn 
 remarks that the male birds are rarely captured in this way. As many 
 as eighteen birds have been brought to him in succession, all of which 
 were females. Some of the number laid eggs in the basket in which the 
 birds were carried {Ibis, 1894, p. 75). 
 
 Jerdon also comments upon the bellicose disposition of the female 
 Bustard Quail, which is most pronounced about the breeding season. He 
 speaks of the characteristic in question as leading to its frequent capture. 
 "For this purpose a small cage with a decoy bird is used, having a 
 
400 EED-LEGGED PAETKIDGES AND FRA-NCOLINS. 
 
 concealed spring-compartment, made to fall by the snapping of a thread 
 placed between the bars of the cage. It is set on the ground in some 
 thick cover, carefully protected. The decoy-bird begins her loud 
 purring call which can be heard a long way off, and any females within 
 earshot run rapidly to the spot, and commence fighting with the caged 
 bird, striking at the bars. This soon breaks the thread, the spring-cover 
 falls, ringing a small bell at the same time by which the owner who 
 remains concealed near at hand, is warned of a capture ; and he runs up, 
 secures his prey, and sets the cage again in another locality. In this way 
 I have known twelve to twenty birds occasionally captured in a patch of 
 thick, bushy jungle in the Carnatic, where alone I have known this practice 
 carried on " (Birds of India, Vol. ii. p. 596). 
 
 The Black-necked Hemipode of Madagascar (Turnix nigricollis) is 
 commonly caught by the natives by means of snares. Pive or six boys 
 start in company, carrying with them a certain arrangement in the form 
 of a ladder, constructed of the stems of a species of palm. This contains 
 a number of openings, each large enough to admit of the passage of a 
 Hemipode. Snares, made from the leaves of the same plant, are attached 
 to the openings. The fowlers place their trap between two thickets, in 
 such a position that the birds cannot cross from one covert to the other 
 without passing through the snares. When this trap (which seems to 
 resemble in form the framed traps used to catch Francolins in India) has 
 been duly fixed, one of the fowlers commences to imitate the call-note of 
 the male of this Hemipode. His companions circle round the coverts, 
 and slowly approach the spot in which the snares are standing. As soon 
 as the birds show a desire to cross over to the side of the fowler who is 
 calling them, the other lads close in a semicircle round the birds. The 
 birds are taken by surprise and run into the snares. Almost all the birds 
 taken in this manner are females. The natives sell the birds thus taken 
 to the whites, but not before they have plucked the feathers out of their 
 wings, which renders them useless for preserving. A curious superstition 
 about the medicinal virtue of this bird still lingers in Madagascar. The 
 feet of the Black-necked Hemipode are supposed to have a beneficial 
 effect upon " le mal au venire." For this purpose the legs of the bird are 
 cut off, tied to a string, and worn near to the part affected. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is reproduced from the first edition of Olina's 
 work.] 
 
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 CHAPTEE XLL— THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 THE PHEASANTS (Phasianidce) are so frequently decorated with 
 brilliant colours, that the males are sought eagerly after in many 
 parts of the world. The jealous and intolerant disposition of most 
 Pheasants induces them to give combat to any rival that may chance to 
 enter their own domain. The Chinese Bamboo-pheasant (Bambusicola 
 thoracica) is a small bird, hardly equal in size to an English Partridge, 
 which it much resembles in general colouration. The Chinese are 
 enamoured of the powerful cry or song of this bird. It is, therefore, 
 caught in some numbers for the market. The Chinese fowler effects the 
 capture of the Bamboo-pheasant by taking advantage of the well-known 
 pugnacity of this bird and its Formosan ally. Mr Styan writes to inform 
 me that on one occasion, when he was staying among the hUls, a man 
 turned up with a couple of these birds. They were kept iu separate 
 cages. He told Mr Styan that he used these tame individuals to decoy 
 wild birds of the same species into a net. " The birds," writes Mr Styan, 
 " are very pugnacious, and the challenge of a cock is immediately 
 answered by any others in the neighbourhood. He gave me an Ulus- 
 
 2 c 
 
402 THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 tration of this. One bird was taken away out of sight, the other in its 
 cage was completely hid under a pile of branches. The first bird was 
 then released and began to strut about, uttering a loud challenge which 
 was immediately answered. In a very short time the free bird had found 
 the cage, and a fierce fight took place through the bars. Since then I 
 have frequently tried calling the birds myself, and have had the birds 
 answer and approach through the cover, but when fairly near they either 
 caught sight of me or detected a false note which roused their suspicions." 
 
 Swinhoe has given a similar account of this Bamboo-pheasant ; but 
 in his experience the actual capture of the bird seems to have been 
 effected by means of a trap attached to the cage of the call-bird. " The 
 Chinese fowler listens for the challenge, and sets on the disputed hill a 
 trap with a decoy within. The decoy is trained, and sets up a reply. 
 The lord and lady of the manor rush to the spot and run recklessly into 
 the trap and are caught." The Horned Pheasants are a mountainous 
 race, inhabiting the higher ranges of the Himalayas, the hills of Assam, 
 and the wooded slopes of Southern China. They are shy and retiring in 
 their habits, but of bright plumage. The Crimson Horned Pheasant 
 {Tragapan satyra) spends the summer months in thick, reed-like bamboo 
 cover, in which it would be almost hopeless to pursue the bird ; but in 
 the winter months the cover is less dense, and the natives are conse- 
 quently able to effect its capture at the latter season. Captain Beavan 
 informed Mr Hume (Game-lirds of India,Yo\. i. p. 140) that, in Sikkhim 
 at any rate, the usual plan for catching individuals of this beautiful 
 Pheasant is to form a hedge of bushes about three feet high, extending 
 down the sides of a hill, like the sides of a triangle, with the base left 
 open. The sides are made to gradually converge until near the apex, 
 where small gaps are left, in each of which a noose is placed. The birds 
 are then slowly driven by men on foot, walking in line from and parallel 
 to the base of the triangle, and towards its apex ; the startled Pheasants 
 are bent upon making good their retreat from the beaters, but being 
 averse to escape by flight, they continue to run along the ground. On 
 reaching the sides of the fence, they dash into the openings left for their 
 attempted exit, and are detained in the snares set for that purpose. 
 
 Mr Damant assured Hume that the natives of the Naga Hills catch 
 Blyth's Horned Pheasant {Tragopan UytM) by setting a line of snares 
 across some ravine which is known to be a favourite haunt of these birds. 
 
THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 403 
 
 When the operation of setting the snares is finished, a semicircle of 
 beaters proceeds to drive the Pheasants down to the place where the 
 nooses are fixed. The Nagas perform this piece of fowling as quietly as 
 possible, as they must avoid alarming the birds too much, lest they should 
 rise from the ground and fly away. 
 
 David states that De L'Huy's Moonal Pheasant {Lophophorus L'Huysii), 
 
 a native of Eastern Tibet, is actively sought after by Chinese fowlers. 
 
 These men efifect the capture of this magnificent bird by means of snares 
 
 {collets). The resplendent metallic plumage of the common Moonal 
 
 Pheasant {Lophophorus refulgens) is in great request with plumassiers; 
 
 indeed, a large traffic has long been carried on in the skins of the male 
 
 birds. Most of the birds required for the European trade are shot ; but 
 
 Hume states that these grand Pheasants are trapped throughout the 
 
 Himalayas during the winter months. The skins of these birds are worth 
 
 five or six rupees, even to the villagers who effect their capture. 
 
 The plan generally adopted for snaring these Pheasants is to set nooses 
 
 for them. These are made of sinew, gut, or of the fibres of one of the 
 
 hill-nettles. These snares are set in the places to which the Moonal is 
 
 found to be partial, and are arranged in openings between the rocks or 
 
 bushes, sometimes in the intervals of an artificially constructed hedge. 
 
 In certain districts, the local fowlers trap these Pheasants with Deadfalls 
 
 similar to those used for taking CapercaiUie in the north of Europe. The 
 
 Moonal is crushed by the descent of a heavy block of wood. The 
 
 Pheasant upon which the fowlers of Western Asia have most exercised 
 
 their ingenuity is the so-called " common " Pheasant {Phasiamis eolchicus). 
 
 The range of this species, in a purely wild state, extends from Corsica in 
 
 the west to the region of Transcaucasia in the east. Mi' W. H. Stuart 
 
 of Batoum informs me that the peasants of the Caucasus take many of 
 
 these birds in snares or springes, which are set in the runs of the birds. 
 
 The arrangement of trap which Mr Stuart reports as stUl in common use 
 
 was noticed just a hundred years ago by a Eussian traveller. PaUas, whose 
 
 illustration of the snare which he found in operation is reproduced at the 
 
 head of this chapter, remarks that " the places overspread with reeds 
 
 adjacent to the Terek and the Kuban, along the shores of the Caspian Sea, 
 
 and the whole tract of the Caucasus, may be said to be the native country 
 
 of the Pheasant. As it often happens that these birds impress their 
 
 footsteps in the thickets which they frequent, they are caught by gins. 
 
404 THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 The gin is fastened to an elastic rod (a), which is bent at the lower end ; 
 it is likewise tied round a small piece of wood (b) which, strained by the 
 rod and snare, presses a stick placed transversely (cc) upon a bow fixed in 
 the ground, so that it just keeps it in balance. On this transverse piece 
 of wood several other smaller pieces rest (c), placed across the path on 
 which the snare is spread. As soon as the Pheasant steps on one of these 
 sticks, the square piece is pressed down by the weight of the bird. The 
 small piece of wood (b) gives way; the elastic rod (a) springs up, 
 instantly draws the gin around the legs of the bird, and lifts it into the 
 air, so that it cannot possibly disentangle itself." Holmes gives a similar 
 description of the snares set for both Pheasants and Woodcock by the 
 peasants who live on the southern shores of the Caspian. " They fix rows 
 of short sticks in the ground, and interweave them with twigs and grass, 
 so as to form a low wattled fence about a foot high. In this, a small 
 opening is left, across which is bent a pliant stick with a horsehair noose 
 at the extremity ; this stick is held down in a curved position by a strong 
 peg on the opposite side of the opening : the bird, in endeavouring to pass 
 through this, runs its head into the noose, and, in struggling, releases the 
 bent stick, which springing up draws the noose tight and strangles the 
 bird. The ground in some places was literally covered with these 
 diminutive hedges." The snare was totally concealed by the dry leaves 
 and twigs scattered over it {Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian, p. 137). 
 Mr W. H. Stuart assures me that the Pheasants of the Caucasus are often 
 taken alive by means of small pitfalls. These are dug in the runs of the 
 birds. Each pitfall has a depth of from twenty to twenty-eight inches, 
 and the breadth varies from seven to fourteen inches. The pitfall is not 
 left open. It is covered with a pair of trap-doors. These are placed on 
 a level with the surrounding ground, and are so nicely adjusted that, on 
 the slightest pressure from above, they drop downwards and then spring 
 back to their original position. The Pheasant is allured to the pitfall by 
 a train of corn. The late Mr Home of Hereford obtained for me the 
 additional information that it is only in the autumn that Pheasants are 
 captured in these pitfalls. " The birds are trapped in an ingenious way 
 by the Tartars. They dig a hole in the ground, which they cover with 
 two thin boards or lids hinged on to a frame, attached in such a way that 
 they fall inward with the least pressure and instantly spring back again. 
 The trap is set in a place which the birds are known to frequent, and a 
 
THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 405 
 
 slight wattle-work is made on each side of the run to direct the birds on 
 to the trap. A whole covey is sometimes taken in this manner." 
 
 The Pheasant does not enjoy immunity from persecution even among 
 the swamps and tangled thickets of Corsica. The country people take 
 relatively large numbers of Pheasants, although this species is very local 
 in their island. The Italian Consul-General informed Professor Giglioli 
 in 1881, that from 150 to 200 Pheasants were annually trapped in the 
 Canton of Gisoni, He added that these birds were taken in the snare 
 which he calls the " Laccio ad archetto," which I take to mean a springe, 
 similar in principle to the various spring traps which are set with a 
 pliant switch and a horsehair noose in the runs of birds. Di Valli, 
 writing in 1601, devotes Chapter XLVin. to "Modo di pigliar il Fasano 
 con laccioli." He does not suggest a " Laccio ad archetto," but instructs 
 us how to set hair snares like those used for catching thrushes (" lacciuoli 
 di crini di cavaUo fatti k similitudine di quelli, che si pighano li Tordi "). 
 These are to be set in the run through the bushes which the cock bird 
 tramples down when following his lady love. The hen may also be 
 snared by the neck when sitting on the nest, though one blushes to 
 record such a nefarious practice. The snare which Tempesta drew for 
 Di Valli, presumably under the direction of the author, consists of three 
 hair nooses suspended from a horizontal beam or piece of wood. The 
 latter rests upon two upright stakes, which are attached to the horizontal 
 piece of wood by cross-bands of cord. The snare is figured as set between 
 two hushes, at such a height as to catch the unwary Pheasant by the 
 neck. Olina tells us that in his day Pheasants were taken either by 
 being snared in hair nooses fixed in their runs, or by means of the gun 
 or crossbow. 
 
 Savi is at pains to inform us that the Tuscan peasants set snares for 
 Pheasants on the edges of the ponds and fish-stews at which these birds 
 quench their thirst, as well as in stubble-fields and in the tracts which 
 these birds have made through the bushes and underwood. The " Solitaire 
 Inventif" narrates that the French peasants bag Pheasants by setting 
 snares in the footpaths of the birds. Pheasants generally feed upon 
 corn from sunrise until eleven o'clock or midday, and in the evening 
 from sunset until the departure of daylight. The fowler starts at break 
 of day, and forthwith wends his way to the woods. On reaching the 
 coverts he listens to the cries of the game. Having ascertained the 
 
406 THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 exact whereabouts of a bird, he proceeds to set two or three " Collets," or 
 horsehair nooses, one of them level with the ground and the others about 
 the height of the crop of the bird, so that the Pheasant cannot traverse 
 this path without putting its head or foot into a snare. The fowler then 
 enters the cornfield on the outside of the wood, and by clapping his hands 
 together, or by striking two stones, he induces any Pheasants that may 
 have been feeding in the stubble to run back for shelter into the wood. 
 The Pheasants hasten to seek security in the coppices, and, as they 
 endeavour to retrace their footsteps, are taken captive in the snares set 
 for their detention. During the later hours of the day the French 
 poacher sets his snares on the skirts of the wood which flank the fields 
 of standing grain. I have failed so far to find satisfactory evidence that 
 our English yokels have systematically ensnared Pheasants like their 
 Gallic confreres. There can be no doubt that certain individuals have 
 erred occasionally in a similar direction, but I fancy that the Anglo- 
 Saxon is, or was, more ambitious of appropriating his neighbour's 
 Pheasants under shadow of darkness than in the light of full-born day. 
 This end can sometimes be achieved with small risk of discovery by the 
 careful manipulation of a horsehair or wire noose attached to the 
 extremity of a fishing-rod, or to that of a long sapling of stronger 
 proportions and similar length. 
 
 History records that, in the year 1658, the magistrates of the County 
 of Derbyshire were moved with a virtuous determination to suppress the 
 unrighteous pastime of poaching. In accordance with this resolution 
 they ordered the constables of their county to present all game - law 
 offenders at the next quarter-sessions. Accordingly, at the Epiphany 
 sessions that same year, the Belper constable did present " Thomas Luke 
 collyer for snareinge fesants off a tree " {Gox, Three Centuries of Berby- 
 shire Annals, Vol. ii. p. 81). Whether this custom was ever as popular 
 as the equally heinous enormity of suffocating the birds while at roost 
 with the fumes of burning sulphur may well be doubted. Even the 
 latter malpractice seems to have required considerable sleight of hand. 
 But in England, no less than in different parts of the Continent, pro- 
 fessed sportsmen long elected to mark their birds as they perched in 
 trees out of the reach of the dog which was employed to induce them to 
 betake themselves to elevated resting-places. Francesco Monari observed 
 in 1671 that, in Lombardy, the sportsmen of the day were accustomed to 
 
THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 407 
 
 shoot Pheasants over a reddish-coloured dog, its colour being chosen from 
 
 its resemblance to that of a fox. The Pheasant, thus pursued by a rufous 
 
 quadruped, supposed a fox to be upon its track. It therefore adopted the 
 
 most natural opening to escape by taking refuge in a tree. The sportsmen 
 
 then stalked and shot the bird. The galleries of the Louvre contain at 
 
 least one fine representation of this variety of sport, so that the Italian 
 
 custom must have crossed the Alps into France. Whether the custom of 
 
 " marking " perching Pheasants really became popular on our own side 
 
 of the Channel is more than I can safely decide with the materials at 
 
 my disposal. Blome is not backward in describing the " Pearching of 
 
 Pheasants and Shooting of them." He warns "us to be provided with a 
 
 good Spaniel, that will Eange well about, and when he hath Pearched 
 
 the Pheasant, to Bay soundly, which will cause them to keep the Pearch 
 
 the better, then whereabouts hearing he is, make up to him as privately 
 
 as possible, and having espied him, (being at a reasonable distance) make 
 
 your shot ; and for your dogs encouragement, let him bring it to you, 
 
 and make much of him. For your Dog, it may be either a Land or 
 
 Water Spaniel, or one betwixt both provided he is trained up to a gun 
 
 and to bring his Game to you" {The Gentleman's Recreation, Part ii. p. 
 
 134). The alternative method of catching Pheasants which seems to 
 
 have most widely prevailed in Europe is that described by Neckam 
 
 and other mediaeval writers, according to whom two fowlers were usually 
 
 employed in this pastime. One man excited the jealousy of the wUd 
 
 Pheasant by exhibiting a dummy Pheasant painted on a screen or piece 
 
 of canvas, while his fellow took advantage of the temporary distraction 
 
 of the bird to cast a net over it. Gervase Markham is the writer who 
 
 appears to discuss in fullest detail the taking of Pheasants with nets. 
 
 He advises his readers to employ a Pheasant-call (which he forgets to 
 
 describe), and thus to allure the birds to come to close quarters. The 
 
 fowler then spreads his nets over the tops of the lowest shrubs and 
 
 bushes. One end of the net is fastened down to the ground, the other 
 
 is attached to a long line which the fowler holds in his own hand, " by 
 
 which when any thing straineth it, — you may draw the net together." 
 
 A rascally alternative is to set nets across the " little paddes and waies " 
 
 which the Pheasant pootes " have made and padled in the woodes (for 
 
 they will make little tracks almost like sheeps trackes)." When the 
 
 pootes have collected together, the fowler makes a noise by striking the 
 
408 
 
 THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 bushes with an instrument, " which some Fowlers doe call a Driver, being 
 made of good strong white wandes or Ozyers, such as basket-makers doe 
 use, being set fast in a handle and in two or three places twisted about 
 
 and bound with other wandes." The fowler 
 who engages in driving young Pheasants is 
 advised by Markham to wear over his face 
 a hood of some light green stuff, nearly the 
 colour of the leaves, having only loop-holes 
 for the eyes and nostrils. " And also about 
 your head if you wear a wreath of Oaken 
 leaves, or other leaves, it will be very good, 
 and will take up the eyes of the birdes 
 from greater suspitions, as also if you trym 
 and hang your garments with branches and 
 leaves, it will be very available and bring 
 your worke to effect sooner and better." 
 
 The " Solitaire Inventif " devotes Chapter 
 XV. of the second book of the Buses In- 
 nocentes to explaining how Pheasants can 
 be taken in one cover and transferred to 
 another. The method to which this writer 
 gives the first place requires the use of two 
 staked nets or " Halliers." Before fixing 
 these engines the fowler is advised to pick out a spot in the wood to 
 which the wild Pheasants are in the habit of resorting. He is to be 
 guided in the discovery of this by the crowing of the birds in the 
 morning, and by the droppings which are to be detected on the runs 
 which they follow through the underwood. When the right spot has 
 been selected, the fowler is advised to look out for a tree which is easy 
 to climb and commands a good view of the aforesaid runs of the 
 Pheasants. When the fowler has satisfied himself as to the suitability of 
 the spot, his next task is to gather the birds together by feeding them. 
 So he scatters grain along their path, and is careful to leave five or six 
 handfuls in a heap in a place where the tracks of the Pheasants converge 
 upon one another. When it is ascertained that the Pheasants have taken 
 to this artificial feeding, the fowler inaugurates netting operations, which 
 commence at break of day. The fowler erects his stake-nets, each four 
 
 The Driver (after Markham). 
 
THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 409 
 
 or five feet in length, across the little track which leads to the principal 
 feeding-place. This accomplished, he ascends the tree in which he is to 
 keep his solitary watch. He receives the caution that he must be 
 perfectly still, or he may alarm the Pheasants. The birds come running 
 along their customary road suspecting no danger ; indeed, the first bird 
 which finds the corn (which the fowler is careful to throw down) will call 
 his rivals and followers together. As he traverses the familiar track he 
 finds his progress barred by the net, in which he is destined to remain a 
 prisoner. Care must be taken to extricate the first bird caught from the 
 net for fear that he should alarm the rest by his outcry. If the large 
 stake-nets prove too cumbrous for convenient manipulation, smaller pocket- 
 nets may be used instead. These are provided with rings at the corners, 
 through which cords can pass. The fowler must in this case cut some 
 switches, five or six feet long, and no thicker than the fourth finger. The 
 ends of these switches are sharpened, that they may be inserted firmly 
 into the ground. The plan of operation is to fix the two ends of one of 
 these sticks into the soil on each side of a Pheasants' run, bending the 
 rod into the shape of a bow. A pocket-net is then attached to the switch 
 at the two sides and also in the middle. When a series of these pocket- 
 nets are set across the Pheasant-runs, the birds have little chance of 
 making their escape. 
 
 Poachers of different nationalities have unanimously agreed to take 
 advantage of the bellicose disposition of the Common Pheasant. Holmes 
 states that the Persian fowlers use a common fowl as a decoy for any 
 amorous Pheasant which they may happen to come across. " In the 
 breeding season the native sportsman ties a common hen to a tree in the 
 jungle, and, concealing himself among the bushes, pulls occasionally a 
 long string attached to the bird's leg to make it flutter ; the cock 
 Pheasants, if there be any in the neighbourhood, are soon attracted to 
 the spot, and shot by the fowler from his retreat." In the days when 
 north-country bishops openly patronised the sport of cock-fighting, it was 
 not an uncommon practice to turn down a spurred gamecock in the 
 covert of some local squire who prided himself on his well-stocked 
 preserves. The wild Pheasants were by no means loth to accept the 
 challenge of the intruder. No doubt they made a brave defence, but the 
 combat was a sadly unequal one. Mr Scott Skirving tells me that he 
 perfectly remembers the time when to take Pheasants by means of 
 
410 THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 specially prepared peas or beans was an ordinary incident. The poaclier 
 soaked the peas until they were soft, and then bored a hole through each 
 pea with a needle. A single horsehair was then passed through the 
 centre of the pea, and the ends of the hair were cut oif, only about half 
 an inch of hair being left on either side of the pea. The " doctored " 
 peas were strewn in the fields in which the birds were in the habit of 
 feeding overnight. When the Pheasants went to feed at break of day 
 they eagerly swallowed the tempting bait, which became fixed in the 
 gullet, and thus incapacitated the unfortunate birds from making good 
 their retreat. The Persian fowlers kill Pheasants at their roost by 
 knocking the poor birds off the branches on which they are sleeping with 
 long sticks. 
 
 The Eing-necked Pheasant (Phasianus torguatus) is even better known 
 in British coverts than the Common Pheasant so called ; but it was 
 unknown in Europe in the days of old-fashioned fowling. Godlewski states 
 that in Eastern Siberia the Pheasants gather in the cultivated fields on 
 the arrival of winter, and alight in troops on the stacks of corn. The 
 birds are so suspicious that they perfectly understand how to avoid the 
 snares which are set for them. The Chinamen take the birds, neverthe- 
 less, by springes, which are set in the stubble-fields, each trap being 
 baited with a bean and carefully covered up. I have to thank Mr Styan 
 for a model of the springe or snare which he has seen set for Pheasants 
 in the vicinity of Shanghai. The details of the trap are not always the 
 same, though the divergences from the type now described are un- 
 important. The Chinese coolie selects an elastic switch, one end of 
 which he inserts in the ground near a Pheasant run. He attaches to the 
 free end of this rod a line which ends in a running noose. A short piece 
 of wood is tied to the line at a distance of a few inches from the end of 
 the rod. Another switch is sharpened at both ends and inserted into the 
 ground. The long switch is then bent down until the short piece of wood 
 attached to the line can pass under the cross-piece which is fixed in the 
 ground. The snare is spread in the run of the bird, and the trap is 
 ready. As soon as a Pheasant happens to set its foot inside the noose it 
 begins to struggle, and thus tightens the noose. The effort of the bird 
 disturbs the catch, and the long switch is set free. It, of course, springs 
 back, and the bird is held. This device differs very little from that 
 figured by Pallas as used for capturing the European Pheasant, which 
 
THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 411 
 
 again is similar to the "sprint" used in England for catching 
 Woodcock. 
 
 The Japanese have now adopted the European method of shooting the 
 green Versicolor Pheasant {Phasianus versicolor) and the other Pheasants 
 indigenous to their country over dogs ; but they still practise the national 
 custom of taking 
 
 fi/K 
 
 "}i^4 i^!i 
 
 
 Wl 
 
 
 '/;/ ///X^////// 
 
 ' I I' 
 
 these birds by means 
 of nets. The net in 
 general use is the 
 "Muso"net. The size 
 of the net is adapted 
 to the special purpose 
 for which it is re- 
 quired. The fowler 
 takes the eggs of the 
 Pheasant and hatches 
 them artificially. The 
 young birds are reared 
 in captivity. When 
 the fowler desires to 
 catch some wild 
 Pheasants, he chooses 
 some locality in a 
 quiet valley, or on 
 the hillside, to which 
 many Pheasants re- 
 sort. Having arranged 
 his net in a suitable 
 spot, he takes a tame 
 cock Pheasant and 
 tethers it in the 
 centre of the fowling 
 floor. He constructs a low fence of reeds or straw as a shelter behind 
 which he can hide, and secures a hen Pheasant close to his retreat. The 
 female Pheasant soon rouses the amorous susceptibilities of the male bird, 
 which is close at hand. The latter then begins to crow, and thus arouses 
 the jealousy of any wild cock Pheasant which may happen to be in the 
 
 Pheasant Netting in Japan. 
 
412 
 
 THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 vicinity. Whenever a free bird joins company with the male decoy, and 
 is thus induced to venture within reach of the net, the fowler seizes the 
 opportunity of pulling the cord attached to the net, and thus brings the 
 folds of the net over the coveted prize. 
 
 The Japanese fowlers are expert at catching Pheasants in snares of 
 the kind shown in the accompanying illustration. The birdcatcher sets to 
 
 work to find the runs 
 
 of the Pheasant, along 
 which he constructs 
 small wattled fences 
 leading up to the snare 
 which is set just outside 
 the run. He excavates 
 a small circular hole or 
 well in the earth at the 
 end of the little fence 
 which conducts the 
 bird up to the trap. 
 In this little pit is 
 planted a row of small 
 sticks of uniform height, 
 all connected together, 
 and only a small space 
 apart. Two pliant 
 switches, sharpened at 
 both ends, are bent to 
 form two small hoops, 
 and are pressed into 
 the ground on each 
 side of the pit. A 
 horizontal stick is placed 
 across the pit, by means 
 of a string which carries a small notched piece of wood at its extremity. 
 The upper end of this string is tied to the bamboo which carries the 
 snare. When the trap is set, the bamboo, with the snare firmly fastened 
 to its upper end, is bent over ; the string is kept in a strained position by 
 means of the piece of wood, which catches in a corresponding niche of the 
 
 Japanese Pheasant Snare. 
 
THE PHEASANTS OF EAST AND WEST. 
 
 413 
 
 horizontal piece of wood, which is thus pressed upwards against the two 
 hoops at either side of the well. When a Pheasant runs along the path 
 on which the snare is set, and finds that it is prevented from turning to 
 the right or left by the wattled fence, it seeks to leave the run by the 
 opening which it finds at the termination of the track. As soon as the 
 Pheasant emerges from the run, it treads upon the horizontal piece of 
 wood which lies across the well. The weight of the bird depresses the 
 cane on which it treads, and thus the small piece of wood which keeps 
 the string tight is released. The bamboo naturally springs back and 
 carries upwards the snare, which is thus drawn tight round the foot of 
 the Pheasant. In country districts, the Japanese peasants sometimes 
 shoot Pheasants from small huts, attracting the birds within range by 
 means of a decoy-bird which is fastened to a peg in the ground by a 
 string tied to its leg. 
 
 [The headpiece of this chapter is a representation "of the manner in wliicli 
 pheasants are taken by means of gins, in the sedgy thickets, on the banks of the 
 Kuma and Kuban." It is reproduced from the vignette accompanying Pallas's 
 Travels through tlie Southern Provinces of the Russian Empire (Vol. i. p. 279).] 
 
-gs^' 
 
 CHAPTEE XLII.— AEGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-EOWL. 
 
 OTJE domesticated game breed of poultry appears to have been derived 
 directly from the common Jungle Cock (Gallus ferrugineus), which is 
 well known to Anglo-Indian sportsmen. The range of this bird, in a 
 perfectly wild state, extends from the north-east and central districts of 
 India to the Malay Peninsula, Cochin China, and Hainan ; it is also 
 indigenous to Sumatra, Java, Celebes, and the Philippines. It seems to 
 be sought after everywhere by native fowlers. Colonel Bingham has 
 most kindly taken the trouble to bring to England for the use of this 
 work the snares which are employed to effect the capture of this Jungle 
 Cock in Burma. He writes to me that " Burmans, Talaings, Karems, and 
 Taungthoos in Burma and Tenasserim, and the kindred Shan and Khumu 
 tribes in Siam, use snares for the capture of Pheasants, Jungle-fowl, 
 Pittas, and other ground-thrushes ; and even for squirrels and lizards, all 
 of which are looked upon indiscriminately as articles of food. The snares 
 used are, so far as I have seen, all of one pattern, differing only in being 
 larger and of stronger make for Pheasants and Jungle-fowl, and slighter and 
 more delicate for the smaller birds. The snare is made up of three parts : 
 (1). the bamboo peg, which is used to insert the snare in the ground ; 
 (2). the spring, which is also made of bamboo ; this is tied firmly to one 
 side of the ground peg; (3). the noose, which is made of strong cord. 
 The cord in question is made out of the fibrous bark of the Shaw tree 
 (Stercula villosa), which is universally used by the jungle tribes of Burma, 
 
ARGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 415 
 
 for making cordage, from ropes that will hold an elephant to the finest 
 twine. The cord which is used for snaring game is about the thickness 
 of whip-cord, and has a plaited ring of fine bamboo work tied on to the 
 end of it, through which 
 the other end of the cord 
 is run to form the noose." 
 The two sets of snares 
 which Colonel Bingham 
 has sent to me appear to 
 be identical in every 
 particular, except that in 
 one case the ground pegs 
 are made from a darker 
 wood than that used for 
 the other set. The ground 
 pegs all measure about 
 four inches in length, and 
 are furnished with the 
 same double notches, cut 
 deeply into the wood for 
 the purpose of securiag 
 the wood firmly. The 
 slender splint of bamboo 
 which gives elasticity to 
 the snare measures about 
 eight and a half inches. 
 The diameter of the snare, 
 when set, appears to be 
 about four inches. Colonel 
 Bingham remarks that 
 both the Jungle Cock and 
 the Vermicellated Kalij 
 Pheasant {Gennceus lineatits) are taken in the same two ways. One plan 
 is to tie from eight to sixteen of the snares on a string at regular intervals, 
 so as to form a chain, and to fix this in semicircular form outside a gap 
 left in a low fence from six to ten inches in height, carried a couple of 
 hundred yards or so across the jungle. It is successful owing to the 
 
 Burmese Pheasant Snare. 
 
416 ARGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 curious disinclination that ground-birds have to fly over any obstacle like 
 a fence. A Pheasant, Jungle-fowl, or Pitta will run for hundreds of yards 
 along a fence a few inches high, looking for a gap, rather than fly or hop 
 over it. Jungle-fowl, pheasants, and Pittas drink as a rule twice in the 
 day, viz., in the morning, about 6 a.m., and again from 4 to 5 p.m. They 
 do not use exactly the same runs, but come down from the jungle to the 
 water within a few yards of the same spot day after day. The natives 
 note these spots and construct their fences across the jungle more or less 
 parallel to the water, leaving suitable gaps studded with the snares. 
 
 The second method is applicable only to the snaring of Pheasants 
 and Jungle-fowl, the males of which are eminently pugnacious, especially 
 in the breeding season. The hunter selects a decoy Pheasant or Jungle 
 Cock, and from twenty to fifty snares. With these accessories he proceeds 
 to the jungle, either in the morning or in the afternoon, for all game-birds 
 in Burma feed but little in the heat of the day, preferring to roost in 
 clumps of bamboos or in shady trees from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. The 
 fowler selects a suitable spot for fowling, generally on the top of a little 
 rising ground, and tethers the decoy Pheasant or Cock to a peg driven 
 firmly into the ground by means of a string which is tied to one of the 
 legs of the bird. The ground around the captive is thickly set with 
 snares for a diameter of from three to five yards. When the fowler has 
 completed his arrangements, he withdraws to a distance of one or two 
 hundred yards, and either climbs a tree, or lies in ambush on the ground. 
 A good decoy, if a Cock, will crow, and if a Pheasant will drum, every 
 few minutes. The wild birds accept the challenge and rush to give 
 battle, but are inevitably caught in one or more of the nooses before 
 they can approach the decoy. The pegs of the snares, being dragged out 
 of the ground, catch in the surrounding undergrowth, and the struggling 
 birds are at the mercy of the hunter, who can come up and despatch them 
 leisurely. Colonel Bingham has only once seen a hen caught in this way. 
 She had probably strayed from her party, and, being attracted by the 
 crowing of the Cock, got herself caught. More than one Pheasant is 
 very seldom taken in a morning. Colonel Bingham has seen three Jungle 
 Cocks snared in a couple of hours. In the case of the Pheasant, the decoy 
 is invariably a tamed bird which had been itself caught at some earlier 
 period. The decoy Jungle Cock is generally a half-bred bird, or one 
 which was hatched in captivity from an egg taken in the jungle. 
 
AEGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 4l7 
 
 In Sumatra, the natives employ as a decoy a Jungle Cock that has 
 become domesticated, generally a bird bred between a wild Jungle Cock 
 and a tame hen. Professor Veth remarks {Sumatra Exped., p. 420) that 
 in some parts of that island the Jungle-fowl are taken by means of snares. 
 These bear considerable affinity to those which Colonel Bingham has 
 brought for me from Burmah. The snares are ranged in a circle round 
 the open spot in which the fowl take their pleasure. The decoy is placed 
 in the centre, secured to a peg fastened in the ground by a string. The 
 fowler watches the movements of the wild birds from behind a screen of 
 leaves and shrubs, which is called " Mamika." Another device practised 
 in Sumatra is to set springes at intervals in the runs of the wild cocks. 
 These traps are similar to the engine which Veth ascertained to be 
 commonly employed in Sumatra for capturing the Argus Pheasant 
 {Argusianus gigantevs). The snare intended for the latter species is set in 
 one of the little paths which these birds follow, when they desire to visit 
 the spots which they use as playgrounds and for fighting their rivals. 
 The fowler who aspires to capture the Argus, first decides the run which 
 the Pheasant is most likely to pass along. He next arranges a number 
 of pieces of wood or cane on each side of the run, so that the Pheasant 
 may be deterred from any attempt to leave the run. He then plants in 
 the earth a strong and elastic bamboo, which is fixed at a suitable distance 
 from the track of the Argus. The string which is to serve for the snare 
 is tied to the fine end of the long bamboo. The cord in question is kept 
 in the required position by means of a small wooden peg, which presses 
 against an arched piece of cane, the ends of which are planted in the 
 ground. The loop of the snare is supported by an oblong ratan ring, 
 called " Lapi." This ring rests in turn on the small wooden catch, and 
 on the peg which is driven into the ground on the opposite side to the 
 long cane. Two wooden crosses or laths are placed on each side of the 
 trap, so that the Argus is compelled to raise one of its feet in order 
 to cross the obstacle. The bird is thus obliged to tread on the ratan ring, 
 when its weight releases the catch. The long bamboo springs backwards, 
 and carries with it the snare in which the Pheasant is held captive. The 
 late Mr W. Davison stated (Stray Feathers, 1878, p. 428) that the 
 Argus is comparatively common in the evergreen forests of Tenasserim, 
 where he saw these birds almost daily. He found that each male Argus 
 chooses some open level spot, sometimes in a dark gloomy ravine shut in 
 
 2 D 
 
418 ARGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 by cane breaks and rank vegetation, sometimes on the top of a hill where 
 the jungle is comparatively open. From the ground so selected the bird 
 removes every dead leaf or twig. These cleared spaces are used as dancing- 
 grounds, but the bird spends all the day in them, except when feeding 
 or drinking. The Argus never rises on the wing, even when pursued by 
 a dog, if it can possibly help it. It much prefers to outstrip its enemy 
 by the fleetness of its running powers. 
 
 When a fowler has ascertained the precise whereabouts of the play- 
 ground of a male Argus, the task of trapping it is chiefly a work of 
 patience. The easiest way to secure the bird is to plant a low fence of 
 cut scrub around the spot, leaving four openings or gaps of just sufficient 
 breadth to enable the bird to pass through. The fowler makes use of 
 each of these openings to set in it a snare attached to a pliant sapling. 
 The latter is bent down and kept in place by a suitable catch. So far as 
 I can judge, the snare used in Tenasserim is similar to that of Sumatra, 
 although employed in a different manner. Mr Davison mentions another 
 device by which the Argus is obtained. " This is to erect two small 
 posts about four feet high and three feet apart, in the bird's clearing, 
 across the top of which a bar is firmly fixed ; over this bar, a string is 
 run, by one end of which a heavy block of wood is suspended, just under 
 the bar, while the other end is fastened to a peg lightly driven into the 
 ground, immediately beneath the block. The bird commences as usual 
 to clear away the obstruction, and soon manages to pull up the peg. The 
 heavy block, being thus released, falls and crushes the bird." A singular 
 device for compassing the destruction of the Argus Pheasant is adopted 
 in Borneo as well as in Tenasserim. It is based upon the intolerance 
 which the Argus displays towards anything which interferes with free 
 progress over its favourite playground. Mr Charles Hose, F.Z.S., has 
 most kindly sent me an example of the trap referred to. It is called 
 " Similu " by the natives of Borneo. It consists of two sharp knives 
 made of bamboo. These measure about seven inches in length, and are 
 set in the ground with their blades crossed. The two upper extremities 
 are bound together with cane by means of notches, which serve to make 
 the attachment secure. These knives are flat and smooth on their upper 
 surface, but the lower edges of both the blades are sharpened, so that the 
 cutting power is keen. When the Argus finds the knives fixed on the 
 ground which he regards as his own territory, he seeks to remove the 
 
ABGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 419 
 
 offending object by twisting his neck round one of the blades from 
 
 beneath. In the effort to grub up the blades the bird unwarily cuts 
 
 his own throat. Davison appears 
 
 to describe a very similar kind of 
 
 cane-knife {Stray Feathers, 1878, 
 
 p. 428). This is a bit of bamboo, 
 
 about eighteen or twenty inches 
 
 long and a quarter of an inch 
 
 wide, shaved down until it is the 
 
 thickness of writing-paper, the 
 
 edges being as sharp as a razor. 
 
 This narrow, pliant piece of wood 
 
 ends in a stout sort of handle, six 
 
 or eight inches long, which is firmly pheasant-kiuves used m bobneo. 
 
 driven into the ground in the middle of the cleared space. The bird 
 
 scratches and pecks at it ; but finding all its efforts to remove the knife 
 
 in vain, it twists the narrow pliant portion several times round its neck, 
 
 and taking hold of the bamboo near the ground with its bill, it gives a 
 
 sudden spring backwards to try to wrench it up ; the consequence is that 
 
 its head is nearly severed from its body by the razor-Hke edges of the 
 
 bamboo. 
 
 Another Eyed species of Pheasant is the pretty little Peacock Pheasant 
 {Polyplectron chinquis). Although this bird has bred very freely in 
 the Zoological Gardens, it is indigenous to the Indo-Chinese countries, 
 ranging from N.E. India to Sikkhim, and eastwards to the Laos Moun- 
 tains. Mr Inglis wrote to Hume from North -East Cachar : " The 
 Kookies snare numbers of the Polyplectron on their jhooms or cultivated 
 clearings inside the forests. The snare consists generally of a sapling or 
 branch of a tree, bent towards the ground ; one end of a piece of string 
 is fastened to the sapling, and on the other end is a noose. The noose is 
 spread round a small hole in the earth. The trap itself is a simple 
 contrivance of a few split pieces of bamboo ; the bait is a small red berry 
 of which the bird is very fond. The berry is firmly attached to the trap, 
 and the bird in pecking at the berry releases the catch ; the sapling flies 
 up, and the bird is noosed by the neck or feet, or sometimes by both " 
 {Game-Birds of Irviia, Vol. L p. 107). It is chiefly male birds which are 
 captured by this method. 
 
420 ARGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 In many parts of India the Peacock (Favo cristatus) enjoys immunity 
 from persecution on account of its semi-sacred character. But there are 
 certain districts in which the bird is sought after by the fowler. Mr 
 Littledale writes to inform me that the Wagri of Baroda are in the habit 
 of snaring Peafowl by the leg in the " sheda,'' or grassy, unploughed edge 
 of a tilled field. The feathers of the Peacock are used in wedding 
 processions, and have also a commercial value. So, though the birds are 
 considered to belong to the goddess Sarasvati, the Wagris and other low- 
 caste Hindoos will not waste such good meat as a " Guzerat turkey " 
 affords, if they can quietly transfer the bird to the cooking kettle. Mr 
 Littledale has kindly procured for me a set of the snares used by the 
 Wagil for catching Peafowl. This bundle of snares consists of fifteen 
 large running nooses, strongly plaited, and having a diameter of about five 
 inches. Each noose is mounted on a splint of bamboo, by which it is 
 firmly attached to a wooden peg. The pegs are from four- to five inches 
 long, and have a notch cut at the upper end to secure the noose. The 
 lower end of the peg is sharpened to a point in order that it may be 
 easily inserted into the ground. The fifteen nooses are mounted on their 
 respective pegs, which are connected together by a long cord. Each snare 
 is set at a distance of about ten inches from the next. Mr Littledale 
 reports that the Wagri of Baroda set these snares for Peafowl in long 
 grass at the edge of cultivated fields. The snares are set in a line, each 
 noose slightly overlapping the next to it. Mr J. S. Grove, of the 1st 
 Bengal Infantry, tells me that, in the Madras Presidency, the native 
 fowler employs a decoy Peacock to entice its wild brethren, though the 
 fowler is himself an adept at reproducing the cry of the bird. Grain is 
 strewn on the ground, and numerous horsehair snares are pegged out all 
 round the decoy. 
 
 The Peacock is too large a bird to be conveniently stowed away in a 
 bag, so the native deprives any bird that he catches of all desire to 
 escape by putting a few stitches in the eyelids. The bird then becomes 
 perfectly quiet, and is exposed in this helpless plight in the bazaar. 
 Jungle-fowl are taken in the same way, and are also blinded. The 
 Guinea-fowl {Numidince), which form such an important section of the 
 African game-birds, are taken by snares. Mr Thomas Ayres writes to 
 me that, along the Crocodile Eiver, the natives make long stretches of 
 low fences, about eighteen inches high, composed of prickly mimosa 
 
ARGTTS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 421 
 
 J~^^ 
 
 branches, providing spaces at intervals for the Guinea-fowl to pass 
 through. At these openings are placed one or more snares made of 
 stout string, manufactured by the natives from the bark of a wild fig 
 
 tree. Many birds are taken in 
 this way. The lines of fences 
 are placed at about right angles 
 to the banks of the river, along 
 which the birds roam in search 
 of food. Very similar to the 
 device just described is the 
 &^ ^^«i^ J^ measure adopted by the natives 
 
 r -af n ^*a«c^, ^^s^\ a of Madagascar, when they desire 
 
 to obtain specimens of the Mitred 
 
 Guinea-fowl (Nwmida coronata). 
 
 Pollen says that the island-hunters 
 
 cut a certain number of branches bearing 
 
 leaves, and lay them in piles in a straight 
 
 line, in such a way that small openings 
 
 are left between the piles at regular intervals. They 
 
 next fix a pair of pegs in each of these gaps, and 
 
 suspend a noose between them. Kice is then strewed 
 
 on each side of the openings. The branches form a 
 
 rough hedge, varying from two to three feet in height. 
 
 The fence extends for about twenty metres. For this 
 
 distance the birds can find no means of crossing the 
 
 barrier, except by passing through one or other of the 
 
 apertures set with snares. The natives catch numbers 
 
 of these birds, which sell for two francs each. 
 
 The Wild Turkeys (Meleagrince) of the New World are 
 too delicate in flavour to escape the attentions of sportsmen. I imagine 
 that nowadays these birds are almost entirely obtained with the gun. It 
 was not always so. Both Alexander Wilson and his contemporary, 
 Audubon, describe the old-fashioned plan of taking Wild Turkeys {Meleagris 
 americana) in " Pens," but the latter gives the fullest particulars. He 
 says that the birds were kept under observation prior to fowling opera- 
 tions being adopted. The " Pens " were then set in the woods in the 
 vicinity of the favourite roost of these birds. The " Pen " was constructed 
 
 IifDiAN Peacock 
 Shabe. 
 
422 ARGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 in the following manner: — "Young trees of four or five inches in 
 diameter are cut down, and divided iato pieces of the length of twelve 
 or fourteen feet. Two of these are laid on the ground parallel to each 
 other, at a distance of ten or twelve feet. Two other pieces are laid 
 across the ends of these at right angles to them ; and in this manner 
 successive layers are added, until the fabric is raised to the height of 
 about four feet. It is then covered with similar pieces of wood, placed 
 three or four inches apart, and loaded with one or two heavy logs to 
 make the whole firm. This done, a trench, about eighteen inches in 
 depth and width is cut under one side of the cage, into which it opens 
 slantingly and rather abruptly. It is continued on its outside to some 
 distance, so as gradually to attain the level of the surrounding ground. 
 Over the part of the trench within the pen, and close to the wall, some 
 sticks are placed, so as to form a kind of bridge, about a foot in breadth. - 
 The trap being now finished, the owner places a quantity of Indian corn 
 in its centre, as weU as in the trench, and, as he walks off, drops here 
 and there a few grains in the woods, sometimes to the distance of a mile. 
 This is repeated at every visit to the trap after the Turkeys have found 
 it. Sometimes two trenches are cut, in which case the trenches enter 
 on opposite sides of the trap and are both strewn with corn. No sooner 
 has a Turkey discovered the train of corn, than it communicates the 
 circumstance to the flock by a ' chuck,' when all of them come up, and 
 searching for the grains scattered about, at length come upon the trench 
 which they follow, squeezing themselves one after another through the 
 passage under the bridge. In this manner the whole flock sometimes 
 enters, but more commonly six or seven only, as they are alarmed by the 
 least noise, even the cracking of a tree in frosty weather. Those within, 
 having gorged themselves, raise their heads, and try to force their way 
 through the top or sides of the pen, passing and repassing on the bridge, 
 but never for a moment looking down or attempting to escape through 
 the passage by which they entered. Thus they remain until the owner 
 of the trap arriving, closes the trench and secures his captives. I have 
 heard of eighteen Turkeys having been caught in this manner at a single 
 visit to the trap. I have had many of these pens myself, but never 
 found more than seven in them at one time. One winter I kept account 
 of the produce of a pen which I visited daily, and found that seventy- 
 siK had been caught in it in about two months " (Om. Biogr., Vol. L p. 13). 
 
ARGUS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 423 
 
 Wilson gives a similar explanation of the "Pen" for Turkeys, from 
 which it is certain that the method which he was acquainted with was 
 the very same as that which Audubon practised. Wilson adds that the 
 Indians used the tails of the Wild Turkeys as fans : " the women weave 
 their feathers with much art on a loose web, made of the rind of the 
 birch-tree, arranging them so as to keep the down on the inside and 
 exhibit the brilliant surface to the eye." Audubon was also in the habit 
 of shooting the Turkey cocks in the spring of the year, by " calling " 
 them with a bird-whistle made of the humerus of a Turkey. The art 
 consisted in drawing the air through the pipe in such a way as to 
 imitate the voice of the hen Turkey; on hearing this, the male bird 
 approached within gunshot, when his fate was sealed. I believe that 
 this method of " calling " Turkeys is still in vogue. 
 
 Wilson remarks that the American sportsman of his day often dis- 
 covered the roost of Wild Turkeys by imitating the cry of the Barred 
 Owl, to which the Turkeys would reply with a gobble. The birds could 
 thus be approached about daylight, and easily shot. Another popular 
 game-bird in the United States is the Californian Quail {Lophortyx 
 calif ornicus), the beauty of which renders it a favourite with most people, 
 independently of its admirable sporting qualities. Dr Hasell wrote to 
 me from British Columbia in January 1895, to report that, " till the 
 severe weather of two winters ago, the lads on the farms round Victoria 
 were in the habit of catching up the Californian Quail in large quantities, 
 in a large cage-trap made of laths, baited with oats or wheat and set in 
 the snow. I am sorry to say that a great number of these birds, which 
 do not stand cold well, perished in that winter. They were originally 
 introduced from California some ten years ago, and had multiplied 
 exceedingly." In answer to my further inquiries, Dr Hasell informed 
 me that the trap referred to was built on the principle of the old Brick- 
 trap. " The lid like that of a cage-trap is hinged and weighted, and falls 
 when a sufficient number of Quail tread on the perch which is placed 
 above the oats used as bait. The sides and top are made of common 
 laths or split cedar stakes," 
 
 In the Eastern States of America the popular game-bird is the 
 Virginian Colin or Quail {Ortyx virginianus), which the settlers of earlier 
 days dignified by the name of " Partridges." The popular title of the 
 species is plain " Bob White," a soubriquet suggested by the call-note of 
 
424 AEGtrS PHEASANT AND JUNGLE-FOWL. 
 
 the male. Alexander Wilson assures us that in his time many of these 
 birds were trapped in hard weather. " Traps are placed on almost every 
 plantation, in such places as they are known to frequent. These are 
 formed of laths or thinly split sticks, somewhat in the shape of an obtuse 
 cone, laced together with cord, having a small hole at the top, with a 
 sliding lid, to take the bird out by. This is supported by the common 
 ' figure of four ' trigger, and grain is scattered below and leading to the 
 place. By this contrivance, ten or fifteen have sometimes been taken at 
 a time" (Am. Orn., Yol. IL p. 226). Audubon gives a pleasant picture 
 of the pastime of taking this species in Tunnel-nets, a form of amusement 
 which we may reasonably conjecture had been introduced into the States 
 by French colonists. In Audubon's experience it was a common thing 
 for a number of sportsmen to gather together, all mounted, and drive 
 Virginian Quail into the Tunnel-nets. "The success of driving," says 
 Audubon, " depends much on the state of the weather. Drizzly rain or 
 melting snow are the best, for in such weather, Partridges will run to a 
 great distance rather than fly ; whereas, if the weather be dry and clear, 
 they generally take to wing the moment they discover an intruder, or 
 squat so that they can not be driven without very great care. Again, 
 when the flocks are found in the woods, they run off so briskly and so 
 far, that it is difficult for the net-bearer to place his machine in time. 
 The net is cylindrical, thirty or forty feet in length by about two in 
 diameter, excepting at the mouth or entrance, where it is rather larger 
 and at the extremity where it assumes the form of a bag. It is kept 
 open by means of small wooden hoops at a distance of two or three feet 
 from each other. The mouth is furnished with a semicircular hoop, 
 sharpened at botTi ends, which are driven into the ground, thus affording 
 an easy entrance to the birds. Two pieces of netting called ' wings,' of 
 the same length as the cylindrical cone, are placed one on each side of 
 the mouth, so as to form an obtuse angle with each other, and are 
 supported by sticks thrust into the ground, the ' wings ' having the 
 appearance of two low fences leading to a gate. The whole is made of 
 light and strong material" (Orn. Biogr., Vol. i. p. 391). 
 
 [The headpiece is based upon a lithographed drawing of a trap for the 
 Argus Pheasant, for which I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Yeth.J 
 

 CHAPTEE XLIIL— BAILS AND GALLINULES. 
 
 THE Eails (Sallidae) are widely distributed. Some members of the 
 family are found ia almost every part of the world, even on remote 
 islands in the Pacific. These birds attract little notice by reason of their 
 skulking habits. The best known of the family is the Land Eail (Crex 
 prateTiMs), which country folk dub the " Corn Crake " or " Dakerhen." 
 The peasants of Normandy call it the " Eale des genets." In Alsace it is 
 known as " Eoi des Cailles," which changes into " Wachtelkonig " when 
 we enter Germany. If we cross the Alps into Italy, this common bird 
 again meets us as " Ee di Quaglie." Gesner was informed that the bird 
 known as a " Eay " or " Eayl " in England was snared in our cornfields — 
 "inter segetes capi" — (Be Avibm, Lib. m. p. 498). He alludes to this 
 species likewise, when referring to a certain bird endowed with a 
 vociferous call ( " obstrepera voce mirabili "). He mentions this bird as 
 the " Trochilus terrestris," which the Teutonic fowlers lured to destruction 
 by drawing a knife across a dry piece of wood. The call-note of this Eail 
 can easily be imitated by passing the edge of a thumb-nail or piece of 
 wood briskly along the line of the points of a comb. But the instrument 
 generally preferred in the north of England for decoying Land Eail 
 withiu shot on their arrival in spring consists of a kind of rattle which is 
 
426 RAILS AND GALLINULES. 
 
 formed by three pieces of wood. The longest of these measures thirteen 
 inches in the specimen before me. The lower end of it has been smoothed 
 and rounded, to serve as a handle. The upper end is cut out for a depth 
 of two inches to admit of the insertion of a wooden cog-wheel, about two 
 inches in diameter. This is fixed in the handle by a screw upon which 
 the wheel revolves. A flat piece of wood, seven inches in length, has 
 been firmly screwed to the upper surface of the handle, in such a way that 
 the free end overlaps the wheel for about half an inch. When the 
 fowler wishes to reproduce the cry of the Land Eail, he draws the under- 
 surface of this appliance across his thigh. The sound thus produced by 
 an expert fowler is so excellent a reproduction of the call of the Corn 
 Crake, that success is certain if any male birds are in the neighbourhood. 
 
 Old English Coenoraee-Call. 
 
 Mr W. Mackenzie, the owner of the instrument just described, assures me 
 that he killed numbers of these birds by employing this wooden comb or 
 rattle to lure the birds within shot. The rapidity with which the Corn 
 Crake runs through the grass has suggested the French proverb, " II court 
 comme un r^le." The sportsmen of that country sometimes indulge in 
 the amusement of setting low staked nets called " Halliers " across the 
 fields and along the banks of ponds, in order to intercept the passage of 
 these birds as they worm their way through the dense undergrowth. 
 Italians both shoot Land Eails and take them in snares. 
 
 The Euddy Crake {Grex erythrothorax) appears to be as familiar a 
 visitor to the Japanese Islands as is the Land Eail to most parts of 
 Europe. Professor Ijima reports that this small Crake abounds in the 
 rice fields of Japan during the summer months. The birds mate, he says, 
 during June and July. " It is during this period that they are caught by 
 means of snares and afford much amusement to birdcatchers." The snare 
 to which allusion has just been made consists of a series of five running 
 nooses made of a few strands of dark horsehair. These nooses are 
 
KAILS AND GAILINULES. 427 
 
 suspended in a row from a cord of horsehair, which is stretched tightly 
 heneath a bent piece of bamboo, as shown in the figure. The nooses are 
 
 Japanese Snare fob Ruddy Crake. 
 
 kept in their proper places by two parallel lines of thread, which are 
 fastened to the bamboo. The bamboo measures about twenty inches. 
 The lower end of this rod has been sharpened, in order to admit of its 
 being easily inserted into the ground. The fowler uses this snare in 
 conjunction with a bamboo pipe. This is a little cylinder of wood, only 
 
 two and a quarter inches in length. 
 
 ) 
 
 It is quite smooth, and a hole 
 about the size of a pea has been 
 bored in one side. When the 
 Diagram OF etody Crake oaij,. fowler wishes to use this engine, 
 
 he closes one end of it with his thumb, and the other end with the 
 middle finger. He then blows softly into the middle of the call : " Pot- 
 pot-pot-pot-popopopopopo," calling slowly at first, but gradually increasing 
 his pace. The Eail always responds to this challenge from the fowler. 
 It is therefore easy to ascertain the presence of a Euddy Crake in any 
 particular rice field or patch of rushes. The fowler then proceeds to set 
 about a dozen of his frames of snares in the tracks through the grass 
 which he expects the Crake to traverse. He conceals himself and begins 
 to call in earnest. The Euddy Crake soon approaches the fowler and 
 runs round him in hot pursuit of its imaginary rival. If it disappears 
 from view for a moment into fresh cover, it is only to emerge again a 
 moment later to renew the search. These actions are repeated until the 
 Crake unwittingly inserts its head into one of the numerous nooses 
 intended to effect its capture. Professor Ijima informs me that so far as 
 his own personal experience is concerned, only male Crakes are caught in 
 
428 RAILS AI?D GALLINULES. 
 
 the manner here described. He has been assured by experienced bird- 
 catchers that female Crakes sometimes fall victims to the strategy which 
 proves fatal to so many of their mates. 
 
 The Spotted Crake (Porzaim maruetta) is seldom captured in this 
 country except by the accidental good fortune of a well-trained dog. It 
 is often taken with snares in the marshes of Tuscany. The same fate 
 awaits the Water Eail (Ballus aquaticm), in spite of its retiring disposi- 
 tion. Mr Hume observes that the Indian form of this bird is captured 
 in the vicinity of Calcutta by means of snares. These gins are made 
 of horsehair, and are set upon the narrow banks which divide the rice- 
 fields. 
 
 A near ally of our European Spotted Crake is to be found in the 
 Carolina Crake {Porzana Carolina) of the United States. This bird, 
 colloquially known to sportsmen as the " Sora Eail," is so abundant in 
 the reedy swamps of the Atlantic States, that tens of thousands are 
 killed every fall during the southern migration. Wilson informs us 
 that prodigious quantities of this Eail used to be killed in Virginia in the 
 following way. The fowlers provided a light canoe and selected a dark 
 night for the sport. When evening came, a kind of iron grate filled with 
 fire was fixed on a stout pole like a mast in the centre of the little craft. 
 " The person who manages the canoe is provided with a light paddle, ten 
 or twelve feet in length, and about an hour before high water, proceeds 
 through the reeds, which lie broken and floating on the surface. The 
 whole space, for a considerable way round the canoe, is completely 
 enlightened ; the birds stare with astonishment, and as they appear, are 
 knocked on the head with the paddle, and thrown into the canoe. In 
 this manner, from twenty to eighty dozen have been killed by three 
 negroes in the short space of three hours" (Am. Orn., Vol. II. p. 239). 
 Audubon states that numbers of the larger Clapper Eail {Ballus crepitans) 
 were destroyed in the Southern States " by torch-light, which so dazzled 
 their eyes as to enable persons fond of the sport to knock them down 
 with poles or paddles during high tides " {Orn. Biogr., Vol. iii. p. 3 7). 
 
 A somewhat similar use of fire in night-fowling is practised by the 
 fishermen who inhabit the southern shores of the Caspian. Holmes tells 
 us that these men capture numbers of the Common Coot {Fulica atra) 
 with the assistance of an artificial light. This mode of fowling requires 
 a long net mounted between two stout canes, a canoe (large enough to 
 
RAILS AND GALLINULES. 429 
 
 hold two men and a boy), and an artificial fire. The fuel is lighted upon 
 a small hearth of clay fixed in the bow of the boat. It consists of some 
 tow or cotton dipped in naphtha. A screen, arranged behind the fire, 
 throws the light upon the water in front of the canoe. The boy sits in 
 the middle of the boat, and occupies himself in beating a small circular 
 plate of bell-metal with a stick. The fowlers steer their craft towards a 
 flock of Coots or Wild Ducks, well knowing that the sudden glare of the 
 reflected light is sure to dazzle the birds and increase the scare caused 
 by the beating of the metal plate. When the right moment arrives, the 
 fowler, who stands behind the screen, claps his net over his intended 
 victims. He gives the net a sudden turn in the water and lifts the birds 
 out. As soon as the fowler holds the cane supports of the net in a 
 perpendicular position the birds fall into the bag of the net. The unlucky 
 Coots are rendered helpless by their wings and legs being twisted together. 
 In this condition the birds are thrown into the bottom of the boat, which 
 is then steered towards another party of wildfowl. Mr J. H. Gurney has 
 placed on record the curious means adopted for capturing Coots on Lake 
 Menzaleh. The engine employed by the Egyptian fowlers is a cast-net, 
 thrown by a single man and with consummate skill. As soon as night 
 sets in, four or five " Coot-catchers " sally forth in a flat-bottomed boat 
 provided with a fireplace of baked mud, and a couple of punting poles, 
 for the greater part of this immense lake is very shallow. Soon the 
 distant " muttering " of the quarry is heard. The punt is propelled in 
 silence until the moment comes for one of the fowlers to go in pursuit of 
 the birds. " Then one, more hardy than the rest, slips aside his pelisse 
 of sheep-skin, stands erect for a moment naked, save for a thin waist- 
 band, and a tight-fitting black skullcap, winds a long casting-net round 
 his right arm, and jumps into the water ; and now the use of the skull- 
 cap is seen, for as he is immersed to his nostrils it is the only part which 
 shows, and of course it resembles a Coot exactly. ... As soon as he has 
 disappeared in the darkness, we lie down again and wait the result ; nor 
 have we long to wait. On a sudden the rush of many wings is heard. 
 He has made his cast ; there is no longer any need for silence. His 
 comrades in the boat make up the fire, and after throwing out a bundle 
 of blazing reeds to show they have moved, pull rapidly towards the place 
 the sound came from. We strain our eyes in peering through the dark- 
 ness until in a few minutes we perceive him returning dripping wet, with 
 
430 RAILS AND GALLINULES. 
 
 the Coots alive in the net, having been absent little more than a quarter 
 of an hour, long enough all the same to freeze him to the very bones. 
 They wrap the poor wretch in a ' burnous,' and then he stands over the 
 fire and literally steams. All night these sturdy fellows follow the 
 working of the Coots with dogged perseverance if they go on feeding ; 
 but if the night is calm Coots do not feed after twelve. On a still night 
 they sleep best, and then as many as 1 5 are sometimes taken " (Eambles 
 of a Naturalist, p. 94.) Here it may be remarked that the Italians are 
 famous for the ardour with which they pursue the Coot upon the great 
 lakes of their country. 
 
 Tanara describes the netting of Coots which was practised in his day. 
 It may still be extant, for all that I know to the contrary. The locality 
 in which he witnessed this pastime was the Valli di Comacchio, in the 
 north of Italy. The lagoon was divided into sections (" Pezze ") by banks 
 of reeds. The plan which the local fowlers employed was to stretch great 
 Flight-nets over the beds of reeds, in order to intercept the flight of the 
 Coots. Each net measured forty braccia in length and twelve iraccia in 
 depth. The men engaged in catching Coots commenced to drive the birds 
 at daybreak, the nets having previously been set in the required position. 
 The fowlers pushed their punts rapidly in the wake of the birds, which 
 they alarmed by drumming loudly on the floors of their boats. The 
 Coots were handicapped by their short wings and heavy bodies. As they 
 flew in consternation from one part of the lagoon to another, they became 
 entangled in the folds of the outstretched nets. 
 
 Count Ettore Arrigone Degli Oddi has kindly sent to me a series of 
 photographs of wild-fowling on the Laguna di Venezia, where capital 
 sport is to be had in shooting " Foleghe " {Anglice, Coots) in winter. 
 Decoy ducks and artificial dummies are extensively employed. Savi 
 tells us that a great number of Coots are killed annually in Tuscany, in 
 spite of the fact that their edible qualities are held in poor estimation. 
 A very murderous method is that practised on the Lake Maciuccoli, 
 under the title of the " Tela." At Montepulciano it is known as " la 
 Cacciarella." Savi describes the Lago di MaciucoUi (partly situated in 
 the territory of Tuscany, partly in that of Lucca) as consisting of a 
 vast extent of inimdated land, bounded on the side nearest to the sea by 
 banks clothed with fir woods, or with strips of oak, limes, and holm-oak. 
 The hills, which slope down to the other side of the lake, are rounded in 
 
EAILS AND GALLINULES. 431 
 
 outline. They are almost completely covered with vines, olives, and 
 groves of chesnut, so that the scenery is picturesque. On the autumn 
 and winter mornings during which the chase of the Coots is carried on, 
 the fowlers assemble early for this purpose from the surounding villages. 
 As the day wears on, numbers of boats, each large enough to hold two 
 persons, are to be seen thronging together in the centre of the water. 
 The fowling commences about 8 A.M. The boats are piloted by the most 
 experienced men, and advance in semicircular line to surround the Coots. 
 When the multitude of Coots is fairly enclosed, the boats get into line, 
 and prepare for the fusilade which will soon ensue. A dull undulating 
 noise seems to glide over the surface of the lake. The birds are seen 
 rising in a long line, or circling high around. When the birds attempt 
 to pass over the ring of boats, to gain the open water outside, the 
 gunners rake their ranks, and the water is blackened by the bodies of 
 the stricken host of dead and crippled birds. Another Tuscan method 
 of Coot-shooting is that known as the " Zampogna." This is employed 
 on moonlight nights in the middle of July and August. Two fowlers 
 crouch down in a little boat in some moonlit spot, at a little distance 
 from reeds or rushes. One of them then imitates the call-note of the 
 Coot with a kind of little reed pipe, called the " Zampogna." When a 
 wild Coot hears the call of its imaginary mate it wheels past the boat, 
 and affords the gunner an easy shot. More than a hundred birds have 
 been killed in this way in a single night. In the south of Prance 
 immense quantities of this species, locally entitled the " Macreuse," are 
 shot by similar tactics to those pursued by the boatmen of the Tuscan 
 lakes. Such a battue in Provence often terminates the lives of a 
 thousand Coots, but this number falls considerably short of the slaughter 
 of Coots effected in one of the " drives " of these birds at Slapton Ley in 
 Devonshire. The peasants of Southern Prance are also clever at catching 
 Coots in submerged nets, into which the birds unwittingly dive. 
 
 The American Coot {Fulica americana), which only differs from our 
 home bird in having white under-tail coverts, used in Audubon's time to 
 be captured in Tunnel-nets. These engines were set across the bays of the 
 lakes in the neighbourhood of New Orleans for catching Ducks. Great 
 dexterity was needed to prevent the Coots from scrambling out of the 
 nets. The negroes and lower classes in New Orleans used these birds to 
 make " gombo," and prepared them for table by skinning them. 
 
432 RAILS AiND GALLINULES. 
 
 There must be quite a trade in Purple Waterhens {Porphyrio)* to 
 judge from the numbers offered for sale in this country. It has been 
 stated that the Purple Waterhen {Porphyria veterum) is taken in large 
 numbers in the neighbourhood of Catania, " with nets which are similar 
 to the bow nets used by fishermen " (Pree, Birds of Europe, Vol. V. p. 46). 
 Desiring to test this statement, I wrote to Mr A. W. Elford, the Vice- 
 Consul of Catania, who replied in the following words : — " The large 
 Purple Qallinelli, — or rather they are called here ' Faggiani d'acqua,' i.e. 
 water-pheasants, — are very abundant during the winter months in the 
 vicinity of Catania, i.e. at the Lentini Lake and the Pantano of Catania, 
 which is really a marshy lake. The bird is not taken in nets, but is 
 such a foolish fowl that when it sees a punt come along side, it sticks 
 its head in the water, and remains with its tail out, and the boatman 
 or sportsman hauls it into the boat. Sportsmen who go after snipe often 
 capture the bird. I remember that I once got three without firing a 
 shot. My setter pointed in the long weeds or marsh grass, and on 
 parting the same I found the ' Faggiano ' in hiding." 
 
 It may be remarked, incidentally, that the Common Coot is often 
 taken by hand by the Wagri fowlers. Mr Littledale reports, " They run 
 down the Coots in the reeds. The Coot generally dives and is at once 
 nabbed as it rises. Its wings and legs are then broken and in this state 
 it is kept for days until its turn for the pot comes. I saw a man and 
 his two daughters at their dinner on an island on the Null the other day. 
 They were eating a roast Coot, on coarse bread ; and two other Coots 
 with wings and legs smashed, were lying in a furrow near them." 
 
 Dr Percy Eendall, F.Z.S., recently wrote to me from Fort Johnston, 
 Nyassaland, that he had obtained specimens of Allen's Purple Gallinule 
 {Porphyria alleni) and the Green-backed Purple Gallinule {Porphyria 
 smaragdanotus). He was assured that these birds had been taken alive in 
 nooses of thin twine. The latter species was living in his aviary when he 
 
 * The species of Porphyrio indigenous to the Pelew Isles is caught by means of 
 snares. These are made of the fibre of the cocoa-nut or of Hibiscus. An arched 
 piece of wood is selected and bored through to receive the ends of the snares, which 
 are thus fastened on the upper surface. Three running nooses hang in a row inside 
 the bow. The Waterhen runs through the undergrowth and unwarily inserts its 
 neck into one of the nooses. Kubary's figure of this device shows that it bears a near 
 resemblance to the snare used for taking Quail in Japan (see p. 387). 
 
EAILS AND GALLINULES. 433 
 
 wrote, feeding chiefly on fish. Before taking leave of the Eail family, I 
 ought to point out that the large Weka Eail (Ocydromns australis) is easily 
 captured hy the Maoris and colonists. Mr W. W. Smith writes to remind 
 me that this typical native of New Zealand is highly inquisitive, and is 
 easily attracted withiu reach of a snare by any coloured article. BuUer 
 remarks that a red piece of cloth would always serve to excite a Weka 
 which he kept in confinement. It is, in fact, sometimes captured with a 
 noose attached to the end of a rod, while its attention is diverted by the 
 waving of a scarlet rag. 
 
 Mr W. "W. Smith has drawn my attention to an interesting note upon 
 this subject, contained in an inaugural address delivered to the Southland 
 Institute by the late Mr I. T. Thomson, F.E.G.S. : "Oturumika, 2nd 
 February, 1857. Woodhens {Ocydromus australis) in great abundance. 
 The Maoris kill the birds at night, in this manner, — they kindle a fire in 
 the forest, which attracts them, then, taking advantage of their pugnacious 
 propensities, they place a red rag tied to the end of a stick before the 
 bird ; this it attacks, when the Maori, unobserved, strikes it down with a 
 stick" {Trans. N. Z. Inst, Vol. xiil. p. 460). The Black Woodhen 
 (Ocydromus fuscus) is not found iu the bush, for it frequents the sea- 
 shore and feeds among the kelp and seaweed. Its capture is no less 
 readily effected than that of the species last named. " Like its congeners," 
 writes BuUer, " it may be easily snared by dangling a small bird or a 
 mouse at the end of a stick, about a yard long, and then, by means of 
 another stick, somewhat longer, slipping a noose of green flax over the 
 bird's head as it attempts to seize the bait, the operator partially 
 concealing himself by lying in the fern or grass " {Birds of Ne,w Zealand, 
 Vol. n. p. 113). 
 
 [The headpiece represents a curious method of catching Coots by firelight. 
 It is based upon the description furnished in Holmes' Sketches on the Shores of 
 
 2 E 
 
'"laii 
 
 
 - ' 4' / 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV.— BUSTAEDS AND FLOEICAK 
 
 THE past history of the Great Bustard {Otis tarda) is full of pleasurable 
 interest. That the young birds were taken alive, to be fattened for 
 the table, is well known. I have failed to find any evidence that nets 
 were employed for Bustard-catching, at least within the historic period. 
 There is, of course, the tradition related by Oppian and other classical 
 authors, that a horse was sometimes used to decoy a flock of Bustards 
 into a net which had been stretched on the bank of a river or upon the 
 edge of a marsh. Yet it does not appear that any such device was 
 practised in England when Bustards were plentiful. But were these birds 
 ever plentiful in our island ? Gesner was assured that British Bustards 
 were exceedingly numerous (" Trappos permultos in Anglia esse audio "). 
 His information carries us back into the middle of the sixteenth century, 
 and refers, perhaps, to Cambridgeshire. At all events it suggests such a 
 county, in which level grass meadows stretched away for miles between 
 vast areas of undrained marshes and ague-breeding swamps. Here the 
 Bustards held their ground for many a long day. No doubt the fowlers 
 often tried to stalk these birds, which were even then considered shy and 
 wild, but easy to secure if slightly wounded. The cross-bow sealed the 
 fate of some unlucky individuals, witness the following entry in the 
 
BUSTAEDS AND IXOEICAlir. 435 
 
 Household Book of the L'Estrange family in 1527 : " Wedynesday. Itm. 
 vij. malards, a bustard, and j. hernsewe kyUed wt ye crossbowe." Gesner 
 observes that our Bustards were kUled with Hawks or caught by dogs. 
 These birds were possibly caught by dogs when they had newly arrived 
 from the Continent, or were impeded from flight in some other way. I have 
 no doubt that our old English race of Bustards received additions to its 
 numbers from the great plains of Germany. But it seems most likely that 
 the bow was the principal weapon for killing our home-dwelling Bustards 
 until guns became common. Incidentally, it may be remarked that even 
 in Gesner's day the feathers of the British Bustard were in request for 
 dressing flies (" Ti'apporum pennae a piscatoribus requiruntur, ut reprse- 
 sentas ex eis muscas pro inescandis piscibus, hamis suis annectant "). The 
 Cossacks of the Don were found by Pallas to shoot the Bustards of their 
 native steppes. The engine by means of which they outwitted the Bustards 
 was " a small car, covered with reeds, and imperceptibly pushed forwards, 
 so as to shoot the birds with a gun" {Travels in Russia, Vol. i. p. 465). 
 It would appear that a similar piece of strategy was formerly adopted to 
 enable the fenland sportsmen to add these magnificent birds to their 
 larders. I refer to a statement published in the Field of October 5, 1878, 
 under the signature of " Greville F." 
 
 " In my recent visit," he says, " to the fens of Cambridgeshire, I met 
 with some old warreners who recollected when the Bustard was common. 
 They represented it as an extremely sagacious bird, and that therefore 
 extraordinary pains were resorted to for that purpose. At Icklingham is 
 still preserved one of the Bustard-fowler's ' Cribs.' This ' Crib ' is a sort 
 of rude cabin about three feet high, covered with furze and bramble. It 
 moved upon four wheels ; in its centre a windlass was fixed ; and at 
 difierent parts of the fen posts were firmly planted, attached to which 
 were ropes having their connection with the windlass. The fowler, seated 
 in the ' Crib,' when he saw the Bustard alight and sufficiently engaged, 
 would gradually wind the ' Crib ' towards the direction of the bird, and 
 when within shot, let fly. The ' Crib ' is now a relic of the past orni- 
 thological history of the district, and deservedly thought much of." Mr 
 Abel Chapman has drawn a striking picture of the discomforts of the 
 Spanish sportsmen who shoot Bustards from bullock-carts such as are 
 engaged in clearing the crops from the stubble. He tells us, too, that 
 the Spanish peasants shoot these magnificent birds at their drinking- 
 
436 BUSTARDS AND FLOEIOAN. 
 
 places at break of dawn. Yet another Andalusian custom is to go in 
 search of Bustards under cover of night. " When quite dark, the tinkling 
 of the ' Cencerro ' will be heard, and a ray of light will surround the 
 devoted Bustards, charming or frightening them, — which ever it may 
 be, — into still life. As the familiar sound of the cattle-bell becomes 
 louder and nearer, the ray of light brighter and brighter, and the 
 surrounding darkness more intense, the Bustards are too charmed or 
 too dazed to fly. Then comes the report, and a heavy charge shot works 
 havoc among them" (Wild Spain, p. 36). An old English writer, John 
 Denton of Cardew, has left in his MS. a note which bears upon the 
 Bustard's weightiness of flight : " As Bustards wch are very scarce, & only 
 to be seen on Salisbury plane. They are a pretty large Bird, & run as 
 fast as a hare along ye ground, for a considerable time before they can 
 take flight, & are very diSicult to be taken ; as they will seldom come 
 wth in a gun shot. A Bustard eats well, and has a fine flavour" 
 (1610). It was this apparent slowness in the Bustard's rising from the 
 ground which enabled the Kalmucks of Siberia to kiU these birds by 
 means of their bows and arrows : " When they see them feeding, they 
 ride in upon them at full speed, and as the Bustard is a heavy bird and 
 mounts slowly, they have opportunity of shooting them with broad-headed 
 arrows " {Bell's Travels, Vol. ii. p. 41). Landau remarks that a number 
 of Bustards were caught in Hesse in the winter of 1803-4, the frost 
 having frozen the feathers of these birds. 
 
 Even at the present time the Eussian peasants occasionally capture 
 flocks of Bustards when the birds have been drenched with rain, which 
 has subsequently frozen upon their feathers. Mr Norman Douglass has 
 drawn my attention to a paragraph published in a St Petersburg paper 
 of I7th January 1896. It is headed, "Eine ganze heerde Trappen 
 gefangen." The writer of this notice remarks that the Bustard is well 
 known to be a shy bird, and one which only affords sport when the 
 fowler approaches disguised (Maskirt). It happens, nevertheless, that 
 when severe frost suddenly follows a heavy downpour which has 
 saturated the feathers of the Bustards, their plumes become so rigid that 
 the Bustards cannot make their escape effectually, either by running or 
 by flight. Under precisely such conditions as those described, the 
 peasants of Dorfes Budajewa had just captured a large flock of Bustards. 
 The entire party of birds, numbering no fewer than sixty-three indi- 
 
BUSTARDS AND FLOKICAJST. 437 
 
 viduals, was secured and taken to the market at Kiew. Mr Douglass 
 had previously sent me the following note : — " Bustards are caught in 
 the southern governments of Eussia in November and December, after 
 the rain which chills them or moistens their feathers, so that they 
 cannot rise to fly. Peasants often catch large quantities. They can be 
 driven along like gees& They are never trapped, as they have no fixed 
 places of resort." 
 
 We alluded above to the Bustard having been killed by European 
 falconers in mediaeval days. This Bustard (or one of its near allies) is 
 hunted with hawks in South-West Siberia. Mr Jules Biesickierski writes 
 to me that he was invited, in September 1869, to take part in such an 
 expedition as a guest of the Kirgizes of the neighbourhood of TJstkamie- 
 nogorsk. This is what he saw : " Two Kirgizes, each holding a trained 
 Goshawk, ride out on to the steppes to look for Bustards. When they 
 see a party of these birds in the distance, the falconers separate and 
 endeavour to approach the flock from two diametrically opposite sides. 
 As soon as the riders observe symptoms of fear and preparation for 
 flight amongst the birds, they start at full gallop towards them, 
 manoeuvring in such a way as to cut off one bird from the rest. When 
 this end is accomplished, they cast both their hawks at the quarry 
 simultaneously. As the Bustard is heavy and slow on the wing, the 
 hawks soon rapidly overtake it, and each attacking it in turn, soon bring 
 the great bird to the ground, when the riders despatch the prize with 
 their whips." 
 
 Canon Tristram gives a vivid picture of the chase of the Houbara 
 Bustard (Soubara undulata) in his Great Sahara. In that case, two 
 trained falcons are thrown off at the quarry and give chase together, 
 hanging over their victim, and swooping down every time that the bird 
 tries to rise on the wing. " The poor bird runs along, aiding its speed 
 by a perpetual fanning of its wings, its head stretched forward like a 
 corncrake's, and its conspicuous black and white ruff' folded close over its 
 head." At last, its strength begins to give way, and the fatal stroke of 
 the falcon ends an unequal contest. Bustard-hawking is a favourite 
 field sport in Persia and other parts of the East. 
 
 But we are at present more concerned with the means of effecting 
 the capture of Bustards without the assistance of falconers. Mr Hume 
 states that the fowlers of the Punjab are adepts at snaring the Great 
 
43 S BUSTARDS AND FLOEICAN. 
 
 Indian Bustard (Hupodotis edwardsi). When the native fowler happens 
 to descry a small party of birds of this species in the middle of the 
 plain he starts in pursuit, a blanket folded over his head and shoulders 
 (unless he makes use of a trained bullock driven before him), and with a 
 large supply of pegs and gut-nooses tied to his girdle. Having satisfied 
 himself as to the direction which the big birds will take, if slightly 
 pressed, he saunters slowly backwards and forwards, pretending to being 
 engaged in cutting grass, while in reality he is pegging out rows of nooses. 
 He then approaches the birds from the opposite side, walking at right 
 angles to the line which he wishes them to take, ever edging nearer and 
 pressing the game towards the nooses. " Sometimes he lets them walk 
 right on to the nooses ; generally, when close to them, he drops his 
 blanket, throws up his arm, and rushes at them. They always in these 
 cases run a few paces before they rise, and though occasionally all escape, 
 generally one, and sometimes three or four are caught by one or other 
 leg. The chief skill consists in walking them exactly across the lines of 
 nooses, which are never, according to my experience, more than fifty 
 yards long, and usually much less " (Game-Birds of India, Vol. i. p. 1 0). 
 Mr J. S. Grove, of the 1st Bengal Cavalry, writes to remind me that 
 almost all game-birds will sooner " run round an obstacle for any distance 
 than jump it. In Madras, Florican (Sypheotis) are thus caught. Their 
 presence being ascertained in a field, the fowlers place a number of 
 springes or horsehair nooses at the foot of the little bank or 'bund' 
 which surrounds most Indian fields to keep in the water when the 
 ground is irrigated for growing rice, &c. Such fields are favourite 
 resorts of game, because of their moisture. The birds are driven very 
 carefully towards the bank, and many are caught in the snares while 
 scrambling hurriedly up the obstacle." 
 
 Mr Littledale of Baroda has favoured me with a detailed account of 
 how the fowlers of that district capture Florican (Sypheotides auritus). 
 " The Florican," he says, " are seasonal visitants to some extent and 
 chiefly appear during the monsoon months, from the end of June to the 
 end of September, when they breed in the long grass. Most are taken 
 during July and August, before the grass has grown to its full height, 
 and of those taken in the latter month especially, quite eight out of ten 
 are males. This is due to the very conspicuous black plumage of the 
 male. The female is only visible (even to the sharp eyes of a Wagri) 
 
BUSTAEDS AND FLORICAN. 439 
 
 before the grass is tall enough to hide her, and she does not seem to be 
 so fond of springing up in the air (' dancing/ the natives call it) as the 
 male appears to be. This habit of ' Nautching ' lets the wily Wagri note 
 the exact position of the bird, and make his arrangements for its capture. 
 He first creeps to within twenty or thirty yards of it, selects a suitable 
 position and unfolds his long series of nooses set in long frames. The 
 snare I send consists of twenty-eight pieces, of frame-work, each sixteen 
 inches in length, and there are three nooses in each section, i.e. eighty- 
 four nooses stretched along thirty-seven feet, four inches, or allowing for 
 zigzagging a little, say thirty-two feet of noosed cover. Noting the exact 
 position of his snare, and keeping well out of sight, the lithe hunter steals 
 round till he gets the bird between him and the snare. Showing himself 
 a very little from time to time, he works it gradually towards the nooses, 
 and as it is a runner and diver through grass and scrub, like the other 
 bustards, it soon runs its head into one of the eighty-four nooses and is 
 taken. The Wagri runs up, releases it from the snare, and ties its 
 primary feathers tightly round its long tarsi, in which state the poor 
 thing is kept alive, often for days, while it is being taken round for sale. 
 I have occasionally received presents of birds thus tied, and on liberating 
 them have found the legs much lacerated by the way in which the feathers 
 have been twisted round them. During the cold weather, when the grass 
 is a withered brown, and the Florican are all grass-colour, the birds are 
 invisible even to "Wagris. I have seen half a dozen beaters searching for 
 more than five minutes in a patch of grass before they could discover a 
 wounded Florican that all the time was sitting bolt upright and motion- 
 less in their very midst. Very few are shot at this season, as the grass 
 is long, and the birds are inveterate runners and squatters, and trust to 
 their invisibility rather than to their wings for safety. It is well for 
 them that they do so, as they offer easy shots. I have put up a few from 
 time to time in long grass near water while beating for Quail tu the cold 
 weather." 
 
 The Australian Bustard {Hupodotis australis) is much sought after on 
 account of the delicacy of its flesh. It is a bird of fine presence, and 
 stalks over its native plains with a dignified carriage. Mr Tom Carter 
 informs me that in Western Australia the blacks obtain the Great Bustard, 
 or " Turkey " as it is commonly called, by marking down a nesting bird, and 
 crawling up at night to catch the bird while covering her eggs. Mr J. M. 
 
440 BUSTARDS AND PLORICAN. 
 
 Davis remarks that the patience shown by the blacks is very great. A 
 native will spend hours in catching a Bustard. " The usual plan is for 
 the man to put boughs round him until he looks like a mass of leaves. 
 He then makes a running noose out of a piece of cord, fastens it on the 
 end of his spear, and sallies forth in search of game. The "Turkey" is only 
 found in open country, and is a most wary bird ; but the black is equal 
 to the occasion, and particularly when on his success depends his dinner. 
 When the bird puts down his head to feed, his enemy moves towards 
 him, and as the bird raises his head the black stops quite still ; the bird 
 sees what is apparently a bush, is satisfied, and again lowers his head to 
 feed, when the black again moves closer ; and so on, till the noose is 
 thrown round the neck of the unsuspecting bird and he is secured " {The 
 Aborigines of Australia, Appendix, p. 314). Smyth contributes a note 
 that, in the western district of Victoria, the natives catch the Bustard 
 by attaching such a noose as that just referred to the end of a long, 
 flexible rod ; but with this difference, that the skin of a small bird or the 
 body of a butterfly is fixed upon the end of the rod. " When the hunter 
 sees a ' Turkey,' he slowly approaches the bird, holding in front a bush to 
 hide his person, and swinging aloft the decoy with a peculiar motion, 
 characteristic of the bird or insect. The ' Turkey's ' attention is at once 
 arrested and wholly taken up with the movements of the decoy. He 
 stares at it stupidly, turns round and stares again, but though it 
 approaches, he does not move far. He continues to stare, until the 
 black gets near enough to slip the noose over his head and secure him " 
 {Aborigines of Victoria, Vol. i. p. 192). 
 
 The Little Bustard {Otis tetrax) is frequently exposed for sale in the 
 markets of Southern Europe — indeed, I have purchased fresh specimens 
 in the Halles Centralles at Paris ; but its fate is generally sealed by 
 powder and shot. Mr 0. Salvin states that the Arabs of the Eastern 
 Atlas are often skilful in catching birds : " Larks {Alauda), Owls {Athene 
 and Scops), Eollers {Goracias), and now and then a Little Bustard {Otis 
 tetrax) were brought to us. I am not aware that they employ other 
 means than the burnoose in effecting their object. This they hold 
 extended with both hands, when, after having kicked their shoes off 
 that they may tread more quietly, they endeavour to envelop bird, nest, 
 and eggs in the universal garment" {Ibis, 1859, p. 191). 
 
 An interesting note upon the capture of the Little Bustard in Russia 
 
BUSTARDS AND FLORICAN. 
 
 441 
 
 is recorded by Mr N. Arcibascheff : " During the pairing-season the male 
 chooses a small hillock where he comes daily and jumping about, utters a 
 harsh cry like tree, tree, which, though not loud, may be heard some 
 distance. The Eussian peasants know this habit of the bird, and easily 
 ascertaining which hillock the bird frequents, place snares on it, into 
 which the bird rushes, and seldom escapes being caught " {B^dl. Soc. Imp. 
 de Moscow, 1859, No. iii. p. 70). 
 
 Friderich incidentally confirms the experience of the Eussian natur- 
 alist, for he states that the males of the Little Bustard pair in the month 
 of April. The cock birds call at frequent intervals and repair to their 
 favourite pairing-grounds, on which they remain until they have obtained 
 their respective partners. They indulge in many battles with their rivals. 
 In the south of Germany, adds Friderich, these birds are captured by 
 means of horsehair snares (" Fuszschlingen "), which the fowlers set upon 
 their feeding and pairing grounds. French fowlers entice the males 
 within shot by means of stuffed female decoys, reproducing at the same 
 time the cry of the supposed hens. In Sardinia, where the Little Bustard 
 is plentiful, it is customary to drive the old hens and their broods into 
 Tunnel-nets, such as are used for taking Partridges (" im Eebhiihnertreib- 
 zeug "). 
 
 [The tailpiece has been drawn to illustrate the method of driving Florican 
 into frames of snares described by Mr Littledale. ] 
 
CHAPTEE XLV.— CEANES. 
 
 THE beauty of the Crane family (Gruidce) renders the capture of 
 these graceful birds an object of desire to the fowler in many 
 lands. Our English ancestors were great admirers of the Crane (Gnis 
 cinerea). It is painful to be compelled to add that their appreciation 
 assigned the Crane to the tender offices of " the boyes of the kychen." 
 It must be borne in mind that the Crane was not always a rare visitor 
 to Great Britain. It is true that the name of " Crane " anciently applied 
 to the Heron in the north-west of England and perhaps in some other 
 parts of the country. But there is evidence to prove that, though the 
 Crane was always confined to the eastern parts of England, it was well 
 known in the fenny country of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. Our 
 first English ornithologist, William Turner, a naturalist of European 
 reputation, stated in 1544 that the Crane undoubtedly bred in England. 
 He had himself repeatedly seen the nestlings of this species, presumably 
 in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, where he resided for fifteen years. 
 
 It is not unreasonable to conjecture that the small number of Cranes 
 which resided in our fens all the year through, were joined by flocks of 
 their own kind in the autumn months. The latter had then deserted 
 their summer haunts among the bogs of Lapland, and were making their 
 
CRANES. 443 
 
 way south to more temperate winter quarters. This hypothesis would 
 fit in with the statement of Eay, that Cranes frequented the swamps of 
 Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire in the middle of the seventeenth century. 
 He had failed to obtain any proof that these birds bred in either of 
 those counties. He apparently regarded the Crane as mainly, if not 
 entirely, a visitor from abroad, since he wrote, " They often come to us 
 in ^England" {Ornithology, p. 274). Be this as it may (and personally I 
 believe that the Crane ceased to breed in England towards the close of 
 the sixteenth century), we have plenty of evidence to show that the old 
 race of Cranes were held in high esteem. Lincolnshire is the county in 
 which they seem to have been represented most numerously. This we 
 should expect from its vast marshes, and from the fact that it lies in the 
 line of migration of so many birds that annually cross the North Sea. 
 The Kegisters of the City of Lincoln include notices of various presents 
 which the Mayor and the citizens offered to persons of rank or influence. 
 In 1537 it was decided, on the 29th of January, that the Mayor should 
 present the Duke of Norfolk with a gift of two Cranes, two Swans, and 
 two Pikes. In 1548 the Duchess of Suffolk and her son were presented 
 with two Cranes and four Swans. On the 9th of June 1552 the Mayor 
 of Lincoln and his brethren debated what present should be given to the 
 Duke of Northumberland when he visited their city. It was agreed that 
 the present should include four Cranes and six Cygnets, besides some 
 lesser fowl. A Secret Council met on the 20th July 1554 to decide 
 that a present of two Cranes and four Cygnets should be oifered to the 
 Queen's Attorney. I imagine that Cranes became difficult to procure 
 after the middle of the sixteenth century. "When the good folk of 
 Lincoln determined to make a present to the Earl of Eutland in 1561, 
 they prudently left undecided the species of birds which were to be 
 procured. They preferred to order that a delegate should be despatched 
 to Boston to lay out their money to the best advantage. Their hospitality 
 was not always equal to providing Cranes. They had at last to fall back 
 on farmyard fowl. In 1568, for example, they agreed to present the 
 Eecorder with two fat Swans, or one fat Swan and a fat Turkey-cock ! 
 But Cranes were sometimes obtained in Norfolk after they had become 
 scarce in the markets of Lincolnshire. 
 
 John Eeppes of Walpole, in Marshland, had occasion to write to a 
 member of the Gawdy family on the 27th of November 1563. He 
 
444 CEANES. 
 
 reported that he forwarded a Crane with two Mallards, which was all the 
 fowl that he had been able to obtain. He had spoken for Knot, which 
 would cost five shillings the dozen. These birds were commonly taken 
 at Terrington, where a storm had caused such a heavy loss of sheep that 
 " fowlers have no leisure to lay their net for fowl." It is natural to 
 suppose that the Crane was usually obtained with the cross-bow. This 
 conjecture is supported by the fact that, of the five Cranes which we 
 know to have been supplied to the table of the L'Estranges of Hunstanton 
 between 1519 and 1533, one at least is recorded to have been killed 
 with the bow, though another was slain with a gun. Yet there is reason 
 to think that the Crane was sometimes taken by other means. Lydgate 
 wrote in a poem of 1444 : 
 
 " Bosard with botirflyes makith beytis for a Crane." 
 
 (Political Poems, Vol. ii. p. 215.) 
 
 In other words, the Crane can be caught with the bait of an insect, 
 though whether the moth or beetle is intended to be impaled on a hook 
 or fastened to a snare is left undecided. 
 
 James Smith of Drumburgh, who speaks the vernacular tongue 
 of Cumberland with great purity, informs me that the common Ghost 
 Moth is termed the " Buzzard " or " Beetle " in his neighbourhood. 
 Murray says that the name of " Buzzard " is applied to various insects 
 that fly by night, such as large moths and cockchafers (English Dictionary, 
 Vol. I. p, 1227). He also quotes the Lancashire Glossary, " He's olez 
 after buzzerts and things." The Crane of ancient history was taken by 
 the Greeks, probably in Asia Minor, by means of a limed gourd. The 
 interior of the trap was smeared with birdlime and baited with a live 
 insect. The Crane endeavoured to secure the beetle placed within, and 
 was blinded by its sticky nightcap. So at least tradition asserts. Whether 
 the idea was only theoretical I am unable to say, but it obtained wide 
 credence. 
 
 Another ruse of Greek origin was that of baiting a snare with a 
 bean placed on some straw at the top of a reed. The Crane endea- 
 voured to appropriate the morsel of food, and unwittingly thrust its 
 head into the noose, which, by the way, was weighted with a stone, 
 so that the bird might not fly away. Bechstein alludes to the employ- 
 
CKANES. 445 
 
 ment of snares for catching this captions fowl. He af&rms that the 
 wary " Krannich " can be captured alive by means of ground - snares. 
 These are made of strong horsehair, and are set in a circle, in the 
 centre of which the fowler strews some corn. The snares are attached 
 to a peg which is buried in the centre of the circle. When the 
 wild Crane spies the tempting grain, it hastens to partake of the 
 food and incautiously steps into one of the series of snares. Mr 
 Charles Tickell remarks that, in some parts of the Punjab, the boys 
 who herd cattle often kill these birds by means of a kiud of sling. 
 This consists of a string having a stone fastened at each end like 
 a chain - shot. This weapon is thrown over a ilock of Cranes as 
 these birds rise from the ground. Mr Gr. Vidal informed Mr Hume 
 that he found that the Demoiselle Crane (Anthropoides virgo) can be 
 stalked behind a country cart or a " led " horse, when the bird is 
 feeding with other individuals of the same species in the vicinity of 
 growing crops or stacks of grain. 
 
 Mr W. N. Chill, writing from near Delhi, assured Hume that 
 this Crane is sometimes netted by a caste of fowlers known as "Kal- 
 buts," who lay Clap - nets in places frequented by these birds. The 
 nets are covered over with grass, and corn is cast upon the surface 
 of the ground between the nets. When the ambushed fowler observes 
 any Crane alighting to feed within reach of his toils, he pulls his strings, 
 and the nets enclose the prize. 
 
 There is also a caste of fowlers called " Bawavyas," who are skilful 
 trappers. These men contrive to trap both the Demoiselle Crane, 
 the Common Crane, and the White Crane {Grm levxogeranus), by 
 means of slip - nooses which they manufacture out of the tendons 
 obtained from the tarsi of large birds. When one of these fowlers 
 discovers a flock of Cranes in a convenient position, he proceeds to 
 set his nooses for their capture. These snares are fastened to a 
 series of pegs, so that the fowler has only to peg the nooses out 
 in the ground in the order he desires. Having fixed the nooses to 
 his satisfaction, he and his companions proceed to try to outflank 
 the birds, for which purpose they employ a buffalo as a screen. The 
 fowlers approach nearer and nearer to their game. Suddenly, when 
 the Cranes are only a short distance off, the fowlers quicken the pace 
 of the buffalo, thus compelling the Cranes to walk faster away. In 
 
446 
 
 CEANBS. 
 
 the confusion which follows, some of the Cranes generally entangle 
 their feet in the nooses, and so are taken. When these birds are 
 caught by natives, they secure them by stitching the edges of the eye- 
 lids lightly together. Thus temporarily deprived of its vision, the Crane 
 becomes a helpless and unresisting prisoner. 
 
 [The headpiece is reproduced from Tuano's work II Falconiere.\ 
 
'a intra fivrti&a ' 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI.— NETTING AND SNAEING WOODCOCK 
 
 THE EUROPEAN WOODCOCK {Scolopax rustieula) is a favourite 
 in all parts of its range, by reason of its delicate flesh and prime 
 sporting qualities. Long before the modern gun was invented, the 
 Woodcock figured largely among the various species served up to the 
 tables of the opulent. Accordingly, the destruction of this bird was 
 eagerly sought after. Tempesta, prior to the year 1639, executed a 
 woodcut intended to depict the two methods of catching Woodcock, 
 then most widely in vogue. The foreground shows a series of snares 
 or springes set to catch Woodcock. The background displays the engine 
 which our forefathers termed a " Cockshott net," as manipulated by the 
 attendant fowlers. This latter device once enjoyed a high popularity 
 in England as well as on the Continent. Indeed, the practice of netting 
 Woodcock was so general as to suggest the employment of the term 
 phrase " cock-shut time " as a synonym for twilight. Shakespeare uses 
 it in this sense. Thus, King Richard m. asks : — 
 
 " Saw'st thou the melancholy Lord Northumberland 1 " 
 
448 NETTING AND SNAKING WOODCOCK. 
 
 Eatcliffe responds, 
 
 " Thomas the Earl of Surrey and himself, 
 Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop, 
 Went through the army, cheering up the soldiers." — (Act v. Sc. in.) 
 
 The late Mr Dyce accounted for the metaphor by suggesting that " the 
 net in which cocks, ie., woodcocks, were caught or shut in during the 
 twilight was termed a cock-shut, it being a large net, which, suspended 
 between two poles, and stretched across a glade or riding, was easily drawn 
 together" (Glossary, p. 87). Murray (English Dictionary, Vol. Ii. p. 577) 
 shows that Dyce was probably mistaken, inasmuch as the term " cock- 
 shut " did not refer to the net used to take these birds, but to the passage 
 in which the net should be set. He says that a Cockshoot or Cockshut 
 is " a broad way or glade in a wood, through which "Woodcocks might 
 dart or ' shoot,' so as to be caught by nets stretched across the opening." 
 He cites the following examples of its use: — " 1530. Palgr 206 Cocke- 
 sshote to take wodcockes with, uolee. 1601. No Whipping nor Tripping 
 etc., A silly honest creature may do well To watch a cocke-shoote or a 
 limed bush. 1651. Ogilby Aesop — When loud winds make cock-shoots, 
 thro' the wood. Bending down mighty okes, I firm have stood. 1661. 
 Lovell, Hist Anim. & Min. 180. They are taken by nets in Cock Shoots. 
 1691. Blount, Law Diet. Gallivolatium, a Cockshoot or Cockglade." 
 The Eev. M. A. Mathew has drawn attention to an interesting reference 
 to the Woodcock, contained in The Description of Penbrokshire, by George 
 Owen of Henllys, Lord of Kemes, published in 1603. Owen claims that 
 " the Woodcocke, although he be not our countryeman borne, yet wee 
 must needes thinke him to be of some aflEinitie to manie of our countrie 
 people, by reason of the love and kindnesse he sheweth in resortinge 
 hither, first of all before other partes of Wales, or England, and in more 
 aboundance than ellswhere, and stayeing longer wth vs than in anie 
 other place." He adds : " Yf anie Easterly winde be alofte, wee shalbe 
 sure to have him a fortnight, & sometimes 3 weeke before Michaelmas, and 
 for plentie yt is allmost incredible, for when the chiefs time of haunte ys, 
 wee haue more plentie of that kinde of foule onely, then of all other 
 sortes layed together, the chiefest plentyeys betweene Michaelmas and 
 Christmas, and in these three monethes he visiteth most houses, their 
 chiefe takinge is in cockeroades in woodds, wth nettes erected vp 
 
NETTING AND SNAKING WOODCOCK. 449 
 
 betweene two trees, where in cocke shoote tyme (as yt is tearmed) weh 
 is the twylight, (a litle after the breakinge of the daye, and before the 
 closings of the night) they are taken, sometymes ij. iij. or iiij. at a fall. I 
 haue my selfe oftentimes taken vj at one fall, and in one roade, at an 
 eveninge taken xviij, and yt ys no strange thinge to take a hundred or 
 sixe score in one woodd in xxiiij" houres if the haunt be good, and 
 much more hath beene taken, thoughe not vsually." The best English 
 treatise on netting Woodcock is contained in Eichard Blome's work, The 
 Gentleman's Becreation, Part ii., Ch. xxi. This writer deals first with 
 the constructions of " Cock-shoots," or, as he prefers to call them, " Cock- 
 Eoads." These, he says, " are easily made, and being once done cost 
 nothing the preserving, yeilding a considerable Profit as well as Pleasure, 
 when in an Evening either by ones self, or his Servant (if he be trusty, 
 and that you live near no great Markets) you may perhaps take Three or 
 Four Brace, and as many in the Morning of excellent Woodcocks ; and 
 one so taken is worth two that are shot." Instructions follow, by which 
 the tyro is enabled to find the " Through-fare " which the birds frequent 
 in the woods. A walk of thirty-six or forty feet must be cleared of 
 underwood. The Cock-net is then fixed in a suitable position by means 
 of cords, to which pulleys are attached, to obviate the necessity of the 
 fowler climbing up and down a tree to arrange the toils. Another plan 
 is, " To take Woodcocks by Nets in high Woods by driving them into 
 Nets. Your Net must be like your Eabet Hayes, but not so strong, and 
 about Twenty fathom long ; and of these you should have Two or Three. 
 Being provided with Nets, and having the assistance of five or six to go 
 into the Wood with you (which should be at the least Seven or Eight 
 years growth, for the elder the better) then go into some part thereof, 
 about the middle if it be not to large, and Pitch your iVefe along as you 
 do for Eabets (but one joyning to the other) slopewise, hanging over 
 that way which you desire to drive the Cocks. You may make room for 
 the Mts, if there be no Paths, by splashing away the Shrub- Wood. Your 
 Ifets being thus fixed, let your company go to the end of the Wood at 
 about Ten Mod asunder ; and having Sticks in their Hands, make a noise, 
 as also use your Voyces as if you were driving Cattle along, and so go 
 forward & forward tiU you come to the place where your iVefe are set, 
 and you wiU not fayl to catch those that are in that part of the wood. 
 Then when that part of the Wood is thus drove, turn your Nets slopewise 
 
 2 F 
 
450 NETTING AND SNARING WOODCOCK. 
 
 to the other side, and go to the other end, observing the aforesaid 
 Directions. This way you may use to take them at any time of the 
 Day, with great ease and pleasure " (p. 150). 
 
 The system of netting " la Beccasse," formerly adopted in many 
 parts of France, has been fully described by the " Solitaire Inventif " and 
 other writers of the same nationality. The engine employed was the 
 " Pantike," a similar net to the English " Cockshot net." Sometimes a 
 triple net was used, called " la Pantifere contre-maillfee." This consisted 
 of an inner net, called " la Nappe " or " Toile," suspended between two 
 outer nets of larger mesh. The " Pantifere " used for catching Woodcock 
 was ordinarily a single net, measuring from twenty-four to thirty feet in 
 depth. The length varied ; but a net of a hundred feet was commonly 
 employed. The " G-lades " or " Cock-shoots " by which the birds were 
 accustomed to enter the forests in which they passed the hours of daylight 
 were termed " des clairiferes " or " Pass^es " of the Beccasses. BuUiard 
 remarks that Woodcock-catching usually yielded poor results in the spring 
 of the year, when the birds were engaged in pairing and toying with their 
 mates. In consequence of this, he says, the birds discard the dells or 
 " Vallons," which they delight to cross in the fall of the year, and resort 
 instead to cover in the immediate vicinity of tall trees. He declares that 
 the most favourable position in which to set a net to catch Woodcock is a 
 narrow passage in a tall wood, watered by a small brook or bordering on some 
 soft marshy ground. Calm and dull weather, with a light morning shower, 
 are favourable to good sport. The "Solitaire Inventif" speaks of the 
 Woodcock as a passing spring and autumn visitor to Central France. He 
 tells us how these birds feed in close cover during the day, searching for 
 earthworms under dead leaves. When the gloaming arrives, the birds 
 leave the centre of the woods, and go in search of streams and springs of 
 water. If they wish to enter a great wood, or to cross from the other 
 side, they always fly low, until they come to an opening which they can 
 pass through. He accounts for this trait by supposing that the Wood- 
 cock does not ordinarily care to fly high, and dislikes to dart between the 
 branches of trees. The second and third chapters of the third book 
 of the B2cses Innocentes explain how to make the " Clairiferes " or 
 "Passdes" in which the nets are to be set, and how to fix the nets in 
 position. As regards the making of the " Cock-shoot," the French idea 
 was to lop off any branches of the trees, in the selected locality for fowling. 
 
NETTING AND SNARING WOODCOCK. 451 
 
 that might interfere with the manipulation of the net. The net was 
 extended on a strong cord, which Selincourt (Ze Par/ait Chasseur, p. 198) 
 tells us was called " le Maitre." Sometimes the pulleys of the net were 
 attached to strong poles, sometimes to the branches of trees. Often a 
 small hut was built close to the fowling-station, from which the sportsman 
 could direct the arrangement of his net, and haul it down when a 
 Woodcock struck against the meshes. The " Solitaire Inventif " speaks of 
 the capture of a dozen Woodcock in a single day, or rather night, as 
 constituting a good haul. Selincourt says that in Picardy some of the 
 Cock-shoots of Picardy yielded from seven to eight hundred Woodcocks 
 annually. Neither Di Valli nor Olina mention the use of nets for catching 
 Woodcock in Italy. Savi declares that, in Tuscany, the amusement of 
 taking the " Beccaccia " in the fine-meshed net or " Eagna," set across the 
 entrances to the woods, was rarely practised in Tuscany when he wrote 
 (some sixty years ago). Nevertheless, our countryman John Evelyn found 
 the use of " Cock-shott " nets in full swing in the neighbourhood of Eome 
 in the year 1645. In the spring of that year, as many people will 
 doubtless remember, Evelyn paid a visit to the Villa Borghesi, of which 
 he noted in his diary : — " Here they had hung large netts to catch 
 Woodcocks." The late Mr Walter Campbell, who wrote in 1848, speaks 
 thus of the Woodcock catching which he had witnessed in Itedy. " A 
 
 net was hoisted up and suspended between two trees, in a narrow 
 
 ride in one of the large woods near Ostia. Just as the sun was setting, 
 one man remained concealed at the foot of one of the trees, holding a 
 line in his hand by which he could hoist or lower the net at pleasure ; 
 two other men with dogs then went to a distance, and beat the wood very 
 quietly. This set all the Woodcocks in motion, and as it was flitting 
 time, when once on the wing, they flew about, dashing up one opening 
 and darting down another. If they chanced to enter the ride, where we 
 were posted, they were sure to be taken, for they never seemed to see the 
 net, but went headlong into it." " The man," he adds, " who held the 
 line, always allowed them to scream and struggle for a while before 
 lowering the net to wring the birds' necks. I asked him his reason for 
 so doing, and he told me that these cries alarmed the other birds, and 
 prevented their alighting to feed, and that, as they flew about to see 
 where the danger was, they were pretty sure to pass into the ride where 
 he was waiting for them. I can only say that the plan was very 
 
452 NETTING AND SNARING WOODCOCK. 
 
 successful, for I saw nine taken in the hour that I remained to watch the 
 process" {Life in NormaTbdy, Vol. i. p. 74). 
 
 German sportsmen of former days were as eager to net the 
 " Waldschnepfe '' as their French or English rivals. The practice has 
 fallen into disuse in most parts of the Empire {Hoffmann, Die 
 Waldschnepfe, p. 131). It is still in vogue upon Heligoland {Die 
 Vogelwarte Helgoland, -p. 499). The nets employed by the birdcatchers 
 of that island are about twenty-four feet in depth, thus corresponding in 
 size to the French Pantifere. The mesh of both the German and French 
 nets measured some two inches and a half. The length of the Heligoland 
 nets (to which, I suppose, the title of " Steckgarnen " must apply) varies 
 from thirty-six to seventy-two feet, according to circumstances. They are 
 set in gaps between bushes or houses. The cord which bears the net is 
 supported between two poles, and runs through pulley-blocks fixed on the 
 top of the poles. " Long before daylight," says Gaetke, " the fowler takes 
 his stand beside one of the posts, grasping one of the cords which pull the 
 net in his hand ; he must be very careful to lower this, the moment that 
 a "Woodcock flies into the net ; to ensure the net dropping as rapidly as 
 possible, flint stones as large as two fists are attached to the upper 
 corners of the net close to the drag-line, and if a good lookout is observed, 
 and the cord runs easily through the block, it seldom happens that a 
 "Woodcock escapes after striking the net. These nets consist of strong 
 grey thread, and though they may be seen from a considerable distance 
 on a clear day. Woodcock that happen to be flying towards them enter 
 them without suspicion even during the forenoon." "When Gaetke wrote 
 his book in 1890, ten or twelve of these " Cock-nets " were worked on the 
 island. A tax of five marks was exacted upon each of these engines. 
 Similar nets are used in some parts of Holland to obtain Woodcock for 
 the London markets. Mr Blaauw reports to me that the Dutchmen take 
 Woodcock " in large square nets, which are fastened to poles in such a way 
 that they fall down with the bird when it flies against them. Sometimes 
 the nets are constructed in such a way that the bird gets entangled and 
 remains hanging in it, whilst the net remains standing." Enough has now 
 been said to elucidate the subject of " Cock-nets." They do not appear to 
 have been naturalised in Scotland at any time. Yet the Baron of the 
 English Marches indulged in the sport of taking Woodcock with nets, if 
 we may draw an inference from the following entries in his household 
 
NETTING AND SNAEING WOODCOCK. 453 
 
 accounts for the year 1624 : "To Eob Stapleton for hempe yarn in march 
 for making a drawing nett, Vs, and for Ilj hankes of yarn for the cock 
 net, Us." 
 
 The peasants of Tuscany, especially in the hills, used in by-gone days 
 to surprise the Woodcock at night by suddenly turning the glare of a 
 lantern upon the bird when discovered feeding in some damp situation. 
 Before the unfortunate bird had recovered from its fright, it was shot with 
 the gun or crossbow. A similar fate was meted out to any American 
 Woodcock (Philophela minor) that chanced to alight within the borders of 
 the cotton plantations of Lower Louisiana. The practice was that men 
 should go in search of this species at night, carrying lighted torches. 
 The birds were stupefied by the unaccustomed blaze of light, and eontiuued 
 to crouch on the earth until felled with a pole or stake {Am. Orn., Vol. ill. 
 p. 475). There is more humour in the quaint legend about snaring 
 Woodcock told by Belon (Des Oyseaux, p. 274). The " Pantiere," or 
 " Penti^re " as he spells the term, was of course familiar to him ; but he 
 also speaks of the sport called " la PoUastrerie." This curious amusement 
 is said to have been carried out by a sportsman who dressed in earth- 
 coloured clothes, and wore an immense hat of the same sombre hue. Two 
 small sticks, decked with red cloth, were carried in the hands, and 
 likewise a long rod, which terminated in a horsehair noose. When the 
 sportsman found a Woodcock, it appears to have been his endeavour to 
 follow the bird gently on a pair of stilts. If he succeeded in engaging 
 its attention, he played the red-tipped sticks together. While the 
 unsophisticated bird gazed at the unwonted actions of her pursuer, the 
 latter adroitly slipped the running noose over the head of the gibier. 
 
 Allusion has already been made to the snares for Woodcock figured 
 by Tempesta. The springes shown in his engraving differ from any others 
 that I have seen, in the presence of the strong stake which appears in the 
 centre of the trap. There can be little doubt that the Italian fowlers 
 usually captured " le Beccacce " by means of the " Lacci a scatto," or 
 " Barcocchio " as it was called at Pisa (Ornitologia Toscana, Vol. Ii. p. 307). 
 This was a spring-trap resembling the English " Sprint." 
 
 When Pennant passed through the English Lakes in 1772, he found 
 that the dalesmen in the vicinity of Windermere carried on an extensive 
 trade in Woodcock. The birds were sent to the London market by the 
 Kendal coach, just as the Devonshire folk used to forward as many as 
 
454 
 
 NETTING AND SNARING WOODCOCK. 
 
 thirty dozen Woodcock a week, all netted in " Cock-shoots," by the Exeter 
 stage-coach. The Westmorland birds were obtained by springes, " Laid 
 between tufts of heather, with avenues of small stones on each side to 
 direct these foolish birds into the snares, for they will not hop over the 
 pebbles" {Tour in Scotland, Vol. il. p. 144). Some few years ago I 
 received a very excellent account of the working of the " Sprint " from 
 Eichard Holmes, of Eusland. As a boy, he set scores of these engines. 
 He told me that, in setting " Sprints " for Woodcock, it was his practice 
 to form a " Walk " of rough stones (9), which made a barrier a few inches 
 in height. The snare was set in a gap in this mimic wall. Woodcock 
 dislike to jump over an obstacle, preferring to run alongside of the 
 barrier until an opening presents itself. Mr C. F. Archibald has kindly 
 given me the following note concerning the " Sprint," as used in Furness. 
 
 The Sprint foe Woodcock. 
 
 The component parts of the " Sprint " are the " Flirter " or " Striker " 
 ^1), the "Paillie" (3), the "Tome" or running noose (5), the "Bender" 
 (4), the "Briggie" (6), and the "Sticker" (7). The "Flirter" or 
 " Striker " is an elastic wand, about four feet long. The wood usually 
 preferred for the " Flirter " is hazel. To the thin end of the " Flirter " 
 is attached a small piece of wood called the " Paillie," secured by a few 
 inches of string (2). To the " Paillie " is attached the " Tome " or noose, 
 which consists of about twenty-six strands of black horsehair, twisted 
 together. The " Bender " is a stout piece of hazel, bent into the form of 
 
NETTING AND SNAKING WOODCOCK. 455 
 
 an arch. The " Briggie " or " Bridge " is a thin slip of hazel, doubled into 
 the form of a loop, with a nick cut in the part which projects. The 
 " Sticker " is a small stake about six inches long. In setting the 
 " Sprint," the thick end of the '' Flirter " is driven into the ground in a 
 slanting direction. The " Bender " is fixed in such a position that when 
 a Woodcock steps upon the " Briggie " the " PaiUie " is released. The 
 " Flirter " then springs back, drawing the noose tightly round the legs of 
 the bird, which is held fast against the " Bender." This last is some- 
 times pulled out of the ground. In this eventuality the captive is sus- 
 pended in the air. Mr "Wyckeham-Martin teUs me that when rambling 
 over the hills near Eydal, he has often come across the rows of stones 
 between which " Sprints " were formerly set. These engines were 
 generally set in damp situations, such as the Woodcock would be likely 
 to visit when searching for worms and insects. Similar engines have 
 been noticed by St John, Bewick, and many other writers, differing in 
 detail, but based upon the same general principle. The French used to 
 be adroit in adapting such engines to snaring Woodcock. The " Solitaire 
 Inventif " figures a springe of the kind just described, under the title of 
 " Eejet." He tells us that the peasants set these traps in the neighbour- 
 hood of water. When the Woodcock sought to drink, the bird found 
 its way blocked by the low hedge in which the trap was fixed. It 
 searched for an opening, and was taken by the feet in the noose. 
 Bulliard shows an intimate acquaintance with Woodcock traps, to which 
 he applies the titles of " Eejet " and " Corde a pied." He says that 
 the Paris market owed the chief part of its supply of Woodcock to this 
 invention. He adds that shepherds guess where to trap the " Beccasse " 
 by the " Miroirs " or droppings which are found in the haunts of Wood- 
 cock. The long rod, called the " Flirter " or " Striker " in England, is 
 termed the " Eessort " in France. The " Briggie," upon which the noose 
 of the " Sprint " rests, is replaced in the "Eejet" by the " Marchette." 
 This is a single straight rod which catches the "Piquet" (or, as we 
 should say, the " Striker ") by means of a notch, at the end of which it 
 terminates. An elastic spring of some description is nearly always 
 employed for trapping Woodcock. The " Solitaire Inventif " indulges 
 in a disquisition upon a system of snariag Woodcock by means of simple 
 running nooses (" Collets "). These last are suspended in gaps which 
 have been left in low barriers, built of broom or other plants. The 
 
456 
 
 NETTING AND SNARING WOODCOCK. 
 
 snare is allowed to rest open on the ground, supported by a few dead 
 leaves. When the bird attempts to cross the narrow opening in the 
 barrier it thrusts its feet into the snare. The Germans trap the Wood- 
 cock in the same way ; at least they used to do so before the present 
 era of cheap guns. 
 
 [The headpiece is reproduced from a print in the British Museum.] 
 
CHAPTEE XLVII.— PLOVEE AND SNIPE. 
 
 BIEDS of the Snipe genus (Gallinago) are welcomed as an addition to 
 the cuisine all the world over. In the absence of the gun, a horse- 
 hair noose generally proves the means of their destruction. In Poland, 
 for example, the Great Snipe (Gallinago major), the Common Snipe 
 {Gallinago coelestis), and even the little Jack Snipe {Gallinago gallinula) 
 are all obtained in snares of twisted horsehair. The nooses are fastened 
 
 .1^.*!? 
 
 -.i-Av..!'' 'iw*/- 
 
 &..._., — i^l 
 
 ?-?*\^...-A,Jl'- •■■-f*^-^ -''^^ 
 
 Polish Snipe Snakes. 
 
 to long strings, which are stretched between two pegs forced into the 
 ground. Biesickierski informs me that the Polish fowlers use the 
 following method of attracting Snipe to any particular part of a meadow 
 frequented by these birds. A flooring board of some length is laid flat 
 on the ground, pressed down by stones, and left thus for a week or longer, 
 untouched. After the expiration of this period, the board is removed. 
 
458 PLOVER AND SNIPE. 
 
 leaving the ground smooth, and the grass yellow through want of light, 
 and the whole spot covered with various kinds of worms. The Snipe, 
 finding much nourishment there, assemble in great numbers, and become 
 entangled in the snares prepared for them. Mr Blaauw assures me that 
 the Dutch fowlers attract Snipe to damp places by spreading pigs' 
 manure in the desired spot. The birds find large quantities of worms in 
 such offal, and are thus easily tempted to feed thereabouts. Their 
 capture under such circumstances is effected " by means of large double 
 nets, which are pulled by a long rope. They are placed near, or half in, 
 the water." The Germans have long been accustomed to trap Snipe by 
 means of slip-nooses, called " Laufdohnen." These are varied according 
 to the whim of the individual fowler. Sometimes two stakes are driven 
 into the earth close together, each of which is supplied with a running 
 noose, set at such a height as to secure any bird that tries to pass through 
 the opening. The Tuscan peasants make small trenches in wet ground 
 to attract Snipe. In the centre of such an artificial trench they set two 
 clods of earth, side by side, and suspend a noose between them. 
 Alternatively, they make a small double fence of sticks in which a snare 
 is fixed. In the north-west of England both Common and Jack Snipe 
 were formerly taken plentifully in " Sprints," like the Woodcock. South 
 of Furness, the Lancashire men snare Snipe by means of the engines 
 known locally as " Panties." " They are formed," says Mr Mitchell, " of 
 twisted horsehair, the main line or ' Eudge ' being twelve yards in length, 
 and twenty hairs in thickness, and into this the nooses, of two hairs only, 
 and known locally as ' Guelders,' are woven in pairs, about three inches 
 apart. The 'Eudge' is stretched three inches from the ground, and is 
 fastened to four pegs, called ' Nebs,' fourteen inches long, one at each end, 
 and the other two dividing it into three equal lengths or ' Bows.' Putting 
 ' Guelders ' in order for the first time is called ' Eyeing,' and setting them 
 after they have been used is ' Tilling.' Snipe and Teal are mostly caught 
 during the night, and in preparing the ground, the fowlers shuffle along 
 sideways, with the feet together, trampling a strip of grass about a foot in 
 width, so that in the darkness it has some resemblance to a narrow plash 
 of water" {Birds of Lancashire, p. 222). The French fowlers of Belon's 
 time caught Snipe both with snares and birdlimed twigs. Snipe are 
 sometimes taken by a sort of drag-net carried by a single fowler. This is 
 a French device. The net has a lozenge-shaped mesh and is supported on 
 
PLOVER AND SNIPE. 459 
 
 two light rods which measure ten feet in length. A third rod, four feet 
 long, is attached to the base of the two first poles. This short piece 
 serves the fowler as a handle, by which to carry the engine on his arm 
 The fowler wends his way at dusk to some favourite " snipey " spot, and 
 beats the ground while he carries the net about three feet off the earth. 
 When the birds get up, they strike against the net, which is dropped so 
 quickly over them that they have no time to escape. Lloyd states that 
 the Norwegians take many Great Snipe on their pairing grounds by 
 means of a "Stick-Nat." The engine in question is a net of ten or 
 twelve inches in depth. It varies from thirty to forty feet in length. It 
 is dyed green. This net, which resembles an Italian pattern which I 
 bought at Milan, is pegged out in a zigzag form among the tussocks of 
 the bog which is the scene of the fowler's operations. It is said that as 
 many as sixty Great Snipe have been sometimes taken in one night by 
 this destructive engine. The method of netting Snipe which stUl prevails 
 in the Low Countries is that of setting flight nets, generally termed 
 " Stellnetz," in coves and in the meadows interspersed among the woodlands 
 of the inner downs. "My friend, Mr Van Wickevoort Crommehn, 
 assures me that in his small fowling district by Haarlem, 80 or 100 
 Snipe were taken in the autumn. He also adds that a Snipe might 
 happen to fly against the net without getting entangled, in which case it 
 would get so frightened as to hide under the nearest bush, where it could 
 be found and taken the next morning" {Journal fur Ornithologie, 1869, 
 p. 279, etseq.) 
 
 Mr A. W. Elford of Catania, Sicily, reports a curious method of netting 
 Snipe, which will probably be as new to my readers as it was to me. 
 " Large quantities of Snipe," he writes, " are taken here during the winter 
 in nets. The men who make this sport a profession form a long 
 impedimenta about 15 to 18 inches high (where they know the Snipe 
 feed), and at distances of 12 to 18 feet there are openings with funnel- 
 shaped nets ; and the birds, finding the impedimenta walk along and enter 
 the nets during the night. I have often found Snipe in the nets, and 
 once I found a Quail." It will be seen that the net in question, which is 
 figured from a specimen kindly procured by Mr Elford, contains two 
 funnel-shaped nets in its interior, so that the birds flutter from one 
 compartment into the other. This engine measures twenty-six inches in 
 length, and fifteen inches in its greatest diameter. 
 
460 
 
 PLOVER AND SNIPE. 
 
 The Dutch are adept at catching the Kuff (Machetes pugnax), princi- 
 pally by means of snares, which are placed in the breeding haunts of this 
 
 Sicilian Snipe-nel-s. 
 
 species. The best account of snaring Euffs is probably that of Naumann. 
 " The Euffs," he writes, '' are only too easily caught on their battlefields in 
 the well-known ' Laufschwingen,' and all the more so as anyone can set 
 these snares who has once seen them or heard them described. This 
 contrivance consists of snares, composed of three dark or black horse- 
 hairs, twisted and doubled. They are then — at intervals of three inches 
 —affixed to a thin willow wand, through incisions made with a knife, in 
 such a way that they are all in a row. The wand must be about four 
 feet in length, and the ends of it bent so as to make it resemble a 
 bracket ; the two short ends are then inserted in the ground so that the 
 middle and longest part is almost resting upon it. The grass alongside 
 of the stick is then cut off with a knife. The wand is pushed still 
 further down in the ground, and concealed in what is left of the grass. 
 The snares are now pulled up until they stand in an upright position, 
 in a row, touching each other. Two such sticks, placed on the arena, 
 will make short work of it and catch all the birds in the course of a 
 few days, as the Euffs very easily get their feet caught in the snares. 
 Another plan is to attach the snares to a string fastened at both ends to 
 thin sticks which are driven into the ground. The line is thus stretched 
 out horizontally at such a height that the birds, in running under it, get 
 their heads caught in the snares. This device is not, however, as good 
 
PLOVER AND SNIPE. 461 
 
 as the first-named kind, as the Euffs soon get acquainted with it, and 
 rather avoid the place than run under the string " {Naturgeschichte der 
 Vogel Deutschlands, Vol. vii. p. 549). 
 
 The most varied series of full-dressed Euffs that I have seen had 
 been collected by the Mollen family at Valconswaard. One of the 
 number was nearly pure white. Mr Mollen told me that he spent 
 several days in trying to snare this bird before he succeeded in effecting 
 its capture. In bygone years many Euffs were snared in our own 
 English fens, as well as in the marshes of Jutland. It seems pretty 
 certain, however, that the EngHsh fowlers supplied the home markets 
 chiefly with birds which had been caught alive in the Clap-nets. 
 Pennant describes the usage of netting Euffs in Eastern England. In 
 his day the birds were captured in the spring of the year. The fowler 
 first ascertained the whereabouts of the " Hills " to which the breeding 
 birds resorted. He set his nets on this favourite ground. The engine 
 which Pennant found in use was a single Clap-net, measuring about 
 fourteen yards in length and four in depth. The nets were laid out in 
 the evening. At break of day the fowler returned to his post, measuring 
 his distance from the nets, according to the relative timidity of the birds, 
 which were considered to grow wilder as the season advanced. The 
 fowler caught whatever birds chanced to have congregated within reach 
 of the net at the first pull. The remainder of the morning was spent in 
 netting such birds as happened to join company to the stuffed birds, or 
 " Stales," which were placed about the ground fowling-floor. The 
 number of birds taken was at times considerable. An old fowler 
 informed Pennant that he had once caught forty-four birds at the first 
 pull of his net. 
 
 Montagu, like Pennant, took some trouble to investigate the Euff- 
 catching industry. He found that the capture of this species was by no 
 means confined to the spring of the year. Indeed, he observes that 
 " Few Euffs, comparatively speaking, are taken in the spring, as the old 
 birds frequently pine, and will not readily fatten. The principal time is 
 in September, when the young birds are on the wing ; these are infinitely 
 more delicate for the table, more readily submit to confinement, and are 
 less inclined to fight." But he also tells us that some birds were taken 
 in the spring, a fact which Pennant had already made clear. "The 
 net is what is termed a single clap-net, about seventeen feet long, and 
 
462 PLOVEK AND SNIPE. 
 
 six feet wide, with a pole at each end ; this, by means of uprights fixed 
 in the ground, and each furnished with a pulley, is easily, pulled over the 
 birds within reach, and rarely fails taking all within its grasp ; but in 
 order to give the pull the greatest velocity, the net, if circumstances 
 permit, is so placed as to fold over with the wind." Montagu inter- 
 viewed a noted Euff-feeder named Towns, who lived at Spalding. This 
 worthy boasted that his family had fattened Kuffs for a hundred years, 
 supplying birds to George ii., as well as to many of his subjects. But 
 the Lincolnshire men did not content themselves with fattening Ruffs. 
 The Knot {Tringa canutus) shared the same fate. The birds were 
 induced to alight within reach of the nets by the agency of wooden 
 dummies. As long ago as September 1555, Gr. St Paul sent from 
 Carleton in Lindsey to the Earl of Eutland, a present of " Tooe dozen of 
 fedd knottes with other fowle." 
 
 The employment of nets and snares for capturing Waders is not by 
 any means confined to the Palsearctic region. The Greenlanders catch the 
 Purple Sandpiper {Tringa striata) by means of snares of fine whalebone, 
 secured in the desired position by a peg inserted in the ground. More 
 singular is the system to which the Maoris resort to effect the capture of 
 the Eastern Bar-tailed Godwit {Limosa novce-zealandim). BuUer notices 
 that the Maoris catch large numbers of these birds by spreading flax 
 snares horizontally on manuka sticks twelve or fifteen feet high, arranged 
 in the following way : — " A number of stakes are driven into the ground 
 at equal distances, so as to cover the area of the customary resting-place. 
 A perfect network of flax loops or running nooses, about twelve or fifteen 
 inches in diameter, are then spread or hung in such a way as to form a 
 canopy or roof supported by the stakes. The birds on assembling in the 
 evening fly low and take up their position on the resting-place to wait for 
 the ebb of the tide. At this conjuncture, the natives spring out from 
 their concealment with lighted torches. The birds at once rise vertically 
 in confusion and alarm, and large numbers become entangled and caught 
 in the running loops, sometimes as many as 200 being captured at one 
 time in snares covering a space of twenty by forty yards. These snares 
 are only set on calm and dark nights for the obvious reasons, that if 
 there was any wind, the loops would become disarranged, and that on 
 moonlight nights the birds would see the nets and avoid them " (Birds of 
 New Zealand, Vol. II. p. 43). 
 
PLOVEK AND SNIPE. 463 
 
 The Golden Plover {Oharadrius pluvialis) appears to have been a 
 special favourite bird in the capitals of mediaeval Europe. Belon dilates 
 at considerable length upon the craft of Plover-catching. The chief 
 means of its capture in England, Prance, and Italy was the Clap-net. 
 The French peasants believed the flocks of migrating Plover, which 
 annually visited their country, to be led by certain individuals. Such a 
 leader was called in their patois " le Eoy des Pluviers." According to the 
 same naturalist, it was the custom of the French fowler of the early part 
 of the sixteenth century to lay his toils in a suitable spot for intercepting 
 a flock of Plovers. His companions were detailed off to drive the birds 
 gradually up to the neighbourhood of the nets. The " Solitaire Inventif " 
 seems to have regarded Plover catching as a serious undertaking, to judge 
 from the space at which the subject is treated in the pages of the Hvses 
 Innocentes. He tells us how to study the winds which govern the 
 movements of these birds, and what kinds of bird-whistles are most 
 effective in luring them to the nets. The Clap-nets are pitched on some 
 grassy plain or in a field of young corn. Either a single net or a pair of 
 nets can be used, at the convenience of the fowler. The birds are tamest 
 in October, and again when pairing in the month of March. Master 
 Thomas Snodham (if he be the author of A Jewell for Gentrie) seems to 
 have been pretty well versed in the art of netting Plover. " It is," he 
 says, " the nature of the Plover, especially the gray, which is ever the best 
 and most daintiest, to flye together in shoales or companies, and for the 
 most part they wil after feeding haunt one place. The nets wherewith 
 you shall take them, differ nothing at all from the Day-nets, eyther in 
 shape or manner of laying, onely they must in quantitie be full as bigge 
 againe every way as the Day-nets are ; therefore when you have found 
 the morning or evening haunt of plovers, you shall lay your nets in the 
 selfe same manner as I shewed you for the laying of the Day-nets, and as 
 your nets are larger so your distance from your nets must be bigge and 
 longer, and your selfe must be closer, for if you can endure it, it is best 
 to lie flat on your back, with your hands on your lines betweene your legs ; 
 your stale must be a quicke plover. The hour for the laying of your 
 nets, is a little before day in the morning, and a little before the day be 
 gone in the evening ; for the flight of Plovers is at the spring of day, and 
 at the closing up of the day, when you may onely see and no more. I 
 have scene at one pull a dozen, and some times two dozen taken, they 
 
464 PLOVER AND SNIPE. 
 
 come so close and thicke together. As for the greene Plover, he is easie 
 to be taken, either with Lime twigges or any other ginnes as hath beene 
 formerly shewed unto you." Savi explains that the Tuscan peasants, like 
 those of France, decoy the Golden Plover up to the nets by imitating the 
 plaintive whistle of this Plover with a bird-call made of a sheep's thigh- 
 bone partly filled with wax. The Italian endeavours to conceal his big 
 Clap-nets in the grass or even spreads them in a few inches of water. 
 The fowler and his mate work the nets from a little tent, made of dark- 
 coloured cloth. Stuffed dummies are set in the centre of the nets, or 
 round about it, with their heads turned to the wind. A live " Pifa " or 
 Peewit is attached to a play-rod to be worked as a lure. When the 
 nets are set in water, the presence of two men is indispensable, since the 
 nets cannot otherwise be closed with sufficient rapidity. It is usual to 
 attach to the pull-cord or "Traito" a long handle known as the 
 " Mannicchia." This is grasped by a couple of men, who by pressing 
 their feet hard against a board stretched across two heavy beams, can 
 produce the force needed to pull the nets together in a moment. The 
 Golden Plover do not usually pitch in the nets as soon as they have 
 begun to answer the call of the birdcatcher. It is therefore necessary 
 that they should be gently driven up to the nets by a third man, who is 
 called the " Paratore." This sport is- most fatiguing, but plenty of 
 Italians are glad, nevertheless, to earn a living by Plover-catching. The 
 Peewit ( Vanellus vulgaris), the " Wype " of Old England, is pursued in the 
 same way as the Golden Plover. Di Valli figures a pair of double Clap- 
 nets for catching the " Pauoncella," as he phrases one of its Italian names. 
 Savi calls the bird the " Fifa," because that is the name commonly 
 conferred on the Peewit at Pisa ; but this species has about a score of 
 different names in Italy. Di Valli observes that the season for netting 
 Peewits begins on All Saints' Day and terminates on St Catherine's 
 Festival. Mr Blaauw tells me that quantities of Plover are netted in 
 Holland. " A single net is worked at some distance by a man who sits 
 against a screen made of rushes, not so much for concealment as for 
 shelter against the wind. Round the net stuffed birds are placed, and a 
 live bird is fastened there in such a way, as to enable the man to make it 
 fly up at wish. When plovers are heard in the distance, the man calls 
 them by imitating their cry, and when they come near he makes the live 
 bird fly up. A Vanellus cristatus is generally used for this object, as its 
 
PLOVER AND SNIPE. 465 
 
 wings, being white at the inside, are very conspicuous. The wild birds 
 come near and when they fly over the net, they are caught by its being 
 pulled over them." 
 
 I am not aware that either Green or Golden Plover are now netted 
 in England by means of Clap-nets. An interesting description of how 
 the former birds are netted in Ireland will be found in Sir Ealph Payne- 
 Gallwey's Wildfowler in Irdwnd. An East London birdcatcher assured 
 me that he once netted a few Dotterel on an Essex marsh, when catching 
 Skylarks with a Drag-net. This is not inconsistent with the report which 
 our countryman, Dr Caius, furnished to Gesner, " De Morinello Ave 
 Anglica." Caius said that, as the Dotterel {Charadrivs morinellits) was a 
 tame bird and excellent eating, it was usual to effect its capture. The 
 fowler went out to catch Dotterel at night, provided with a lantern and 
 a net. While the Dotterel was dazed by the rays of light suddenly con- 
 centrated upon it, the fowler covered the bird with his net. Dr Caius 
 added to this reasonable explanation a legend that the Dotterel watched 
 and imitated the movements of the fowler ; but this detail was evidently 
 due to a stroke of fancy, for no dazed bird would perform such unusual 
 gestures {Gesneri Hist. Anim., Vol. i. p. 614). It is seldom that the 
 birdcatchers of our south coast catch any Waders in their nets. I once 
 had a live Little Stint (TriTtga minuta) brought to me, which had been 
 netted near Shoreham. It was a charming diminutive Sandpiper, 
 all its actions being easy and fearless. In Italy the Little Stint is 
 caught quite commonly in Clap - nets in the months of May and 
 September. The Tuscan fowlers catch many other Waders in the 
 large "Eete aperte," which they work in their marshes. Thus the 
 Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa melanura), the Curlew (Mimenius arquata), 
 and the Whimbrel (Mimenivs phcsopm) assist in swelling the harvest of 
 the fowler. 
 
 Professor GiglioU has most obligingly obtained for me a plan of the 
 large " Eete aperte " used at the present time for the capture of gregarious 
 Waders on the lake and marsh of Montepulciano. The manipulation of 
 these nets appears to be identical in almost every respect with the nets 
 used for small birds. The nets for Waders measure about seventeen 
 metres ia length, and are supported on staves measuring two metres 
 each. Signore Giuseppe Paver, to whom these nets belong, explains that 
 there is a space of metres 2.80 between the two nets when these are 
 
 2 G 
 
466 PLOVER AND SNIPE. 
 
 pegged out. It follows that when the nets are pulled, one of them must 
 partly overlap the other. The nets are always set in the face of the 
 wind (" Vi ten da sempre in faccia al vento "). 
 
 In most of the other countries of Europe the capture of shore-hirds 
 is effected principally hy the agency of Flight-nets, set perpendicularly 
 across the route which the birds are expected to take. The use of these 
 nets has extended in our own time to the Dumfriesshire coast ; otherwise, 
 I believe that their manipulation is unknown in Scotland. In England 
 the use of these nets has latterly tended to become obsolete, especially on 
 the Lancashire coast. I have conversed with several of the old Lancashire 
 fowlers. These men spoke of the Oystercatcher {Hmmatopus ostralegus) 
 as one of the species which they took most plentifully on the sandy flats 
 of the county Palatine. 
 
 The nets used on the west coast of England vary in depth from three 
 and a half to six feet. They are suspended upon cords stretched between 
 poles, which are set in the ground about fifteen yards apart. Irving 
 Murray has used such nets on the Scottish side of the Solway Firth for 
 a good many years. He tells me that he finds it necessary to shift the 
 nets from one position to another occasionally. He lives in a cottage on 
 the shore, and his " better half " walks down the sand at daybreak to 
 take the birds out of the nets. It often happens that there is nothing in 
 any of the nets except an odd Dunlin or a few Sea Gulls ; but enough 
 birds are taken in the last three months of the year to remunerate the 
 old couple (the man is a Crimean veteran) for their expenditure upon the 
 netting. 
 
 This system of netting sea-birds is pursued with much more deadly 
 results on the Wash and on the Lincolnshire coast. The flights of birds 
 which constantly visit the east coast of England from the Continent 
 afford the netter opportunities of taking a hundred birds or more in a 
 single stormy night. Mr Blaauw tells me that the use of Flight-nets is 
 very successful on the Dutch coast. Perhaps the best idea of the system 
 adopted on the coast of Holland and North Germany will be obtained by 
 a reference to the paper of Baron Ferd. v. Droste {Journal filr Orni- 
 ihologie, 1869, p. 279). " Late in the autumn of 1868," says this writer, 
 " I learned how to net Birds by means of the ' Stellnetz ' in the Island of 
 Borkum. Though the net is used in the province of Friesland, as well 
 as in the Low Countries generally, yet I never had any opportunity of 
 
PLOVER AND SNIPE. 467 
 
 seeing how it worked, for whenever I asked the owner of the net to try 
 it, he put me off with all kinds of excuses, as the weather being unfavour- 
 able, the moon not just right, or too much work to be done. It was also 
 very difficult this year and cost me a good deal of money to get on the 
 way with a whole waggon full of nets, poles, and ropes. Setting out for 
 the ' Watts ' (i.e. the uninhabited and barren marshes which extend far 
 beyond the dykes, and are daily washed by the sea) we took the way 
 straight across the meadows until Borkum and Ostland were behind us. 
 East of these grassy regions, and a good way on the other side of the 
 plains, covered with the slippery Salicornia herbacea, we halted to stretch 
 our nets. They are made of pack-thread, with large meshes, and are 
 about fifty feet in length and fifteen feet in depth. They are set 
 vertically, one joining the other, so as to form a wall, the longer the 
 better. 
 
 " My eight nets formed a wall 446 feet long. The nets are 
 stretched between two poles, by means of a taut rope at the top, and 
 below by a slackened line, so as to make the net swell or ' Belly ' to some 
 extent, though not excessively. The two end poles are now inserted in 
 the ground, while the other poles, between the different nets, are held in 
 an upright position by means of ropes fastened to the ground. This is 
 done that the poles may be laid down flat, so as to bring the top of 
 the net within the reach of the fowler. These supporting lines are 
 fastened in a very original fashion. A rope is tied round a bunch 
 of seaweed and buried securely in a hole dug in the marshy soil ; only 
 a loop of the rope appearing above ground. The lines sustaining the 
 poles are made fast to these loops, and I have seen sufficient proof 
 that this mode of fastening will resist even the most furious wind and 
 waves." 
 
 Baron Droste tells us that he caught Oystercatchers and Dunlins 
 {Tringa alpina) in his nets every night in October, and Curlews very 
 frequently. Other species of "Waders were seldom taken in his nets ; but 
 he reports that in certain years Golden Plovers, Gray Plovers {Squaiarola 
 helvetica), Godwits, and other shore birds are meshed in large numbers 
 both in spring and early autumn. " It is interesting," he adds, " to 
 notice the different heights at which the different species are caught 
 in the net. The Crows and Sea Gulls were almost without ex- 
 ception hanging near the upper edge ; Oystercatchers, Sandpipers and 
 
468 
 
 PLOVER AND SNIPE. 
 
 Plovers generally in the middle ; Ducks in the lower part ; and the 
 Brent and Curlew quite near the earth. These observations help 
 to inform us at what height the different birds fly over the ' Watt ' at 
 night." 
 
 [The headpiece has been drawn to illustrate the Maori method of snaring 
 Godwits when resting on sandbanks. The tailpiece represents Ruff-netting in 
 England, as carried on early in the present century.] 
 

 
 
 marshes which these birds visit 
 
 CHAPTEE XLVIII. 
 GULLS AND PETEELS. 
 
 IT is a remarkable fact that Sea-birds, 
 in spite of their fishy flavour, are 
 still killed in large numbers for purposes 
 of food. If the taste for cooking sea- 
 birds were confined to people who resided 
 permanently on remote islands, or to 
 sailors who have perhaps little to vary 
 their tinned or salted rations, then one 
 could understand that fresh meat of any 
 kind might be esteemed a dainty. I am 
 not aware that any such mitigating cir- 
 cumstances can be held to account for 
 the fact that the Tuscan fowlers capture 
 large numbers of marsh Terns upon their 
 vernal passage along the coasts of Italy. 
 It is chiefly in the month of May that 
 these slender and graceful birds appear 
 in the marshes of Lucca, Pisa, and other 
 districts of Western Italy. The engine 
 employed for the capture of these birds 
 is the ordinary Clap-net, which is ex- 
 tended on the margins of the ponds and 
 in flocks. The birds are allured into the 
 
470 GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 nets by the employment of captive individuals, which are fastened to the 
 ground. As many as thirty and even forty birds are sometimes taken 
 at a single pull of the net. The species which supplies the bulk of the 
 victims is the Black Tern {Eydrochelidon nigra). The rarer White- 
 winged Black Tern {Eydrochelidon leucoptera), and even the Whiskered 
 Tern {Eydrochelidon hyhridd), are subject to the same miserable fate. 
 Professor Giglioli tells me that he has seen the White-winged Black 
 Tern flying over the Arno at Florence in the month of May, in all 
 the beauty of its newly acquired summer livery. It is melancholy 
 to think that such a lovely creature should be subject to the risk of 
 being netted for the market. Alas ! bags of these poor Terns are, or at 
 any rate were recently, taken to the local poulterers, generally dis- 
 membered by having their wings torn off. The fowler's motive for 
 removing the wings is to lessen the weight upon which duty has to be 
 paid. A tax is levied on all birds carried into Pisa and other cities 
 according to a standard of weight. Four Black Terns are sold as a bunch 
 for two soldi. Many, again, are hawked about the streets in a living 
 state, in order that they may be sold for young girls to use as playthings. 
 The Little Tern {Sterna minuta) is frequently taken in the Maremma, 
 like its congeners. 
 
 Fabricius states that the Greenlanders of his day adopted snares, 
 made of whalebone, as a means of capturing the Arctic Tern {Sterna 
 hirundo) and the Kittiwake {Bissa tridactyla). Their method was to 
 suspend a small fish from a wooden buoy, and to fix several whalebone 
 snares around the bait. When the bird, in its downward flight, attempted 
 to seize the fish it generally became entangled in one of the snares. If 
 the fowlers wished to leave the spot, they fastened the wooden buoy to a 
 lump of seaweed, so that if a bird was caught during their absence it 
 could not effect its escape. This variety of snare was usually set near 
 the great floes of ice, because the Terns and Kittiwakes assembled in such 
 places in great numbers. The Greenlanders did not hesitate to snare 
 larger species, such as the Glaucous Gull {Larus glaucus), but these birds 
 often visit the vicinity of settlements on that ice-bound coast, and are, 
 or were, chiefly captured by the instrumentality of a hook concealed in a 
 lump of blubber, or thrown into the water at the end of a line secured 
 on shore. Even such a rare bird in British waters as the Ivory Gull 
 {Fagophila eburnea) has been taken by the simple expedient of a baited 
 
GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 471 
 
 fish-hook. The Greenlanders sometimes find a substitute for the hook 
 in the shape of a short wooden skewer. This is sharpened at both ends, 
 and concealed in the tempting blubber. When the poor bird gorges the 
 savoury morsel of fat, the piece of wood becomes fixed in its throat and 
 asphyxia follows. I am indebted to Mr W. H. Watel of Algiers for an 
 account of a snare used on the coast of that- country for catching a 
 species of Gull. The bird is in request among the fishermen on account 
 of the use which they make of its white-spotted wing-feathers in dressing 
 a fly for the Bonito {Thynnus pelamys). The snare in question is made 
 of strong thread, and is set in the following way : — " The fowler cuts two 
 alfa twigs about nine inches long, and inserts them in the sand about 
 
 Algerian Gull-snake. 
 
 eight inches apart, at an angle of 45 to 55 degrees, and parallel to one 
 another. He then takes a yard of thread and makes a loop half an inch 
 long, and makes a noose of it sufficiently long to go over the tops of the 
 alfa, allowing for the lower part to be buried in the sand. The other 
 end of the thread should be tied to a stone or a piece of wood, and 
 buried in the sand. A small fish is attached to the snare as a bait, and 
 when the Gull swoops at the food,, he is caught by the simple thread." 
 The courtesy of Mr W. C. Tait of Oporto has supplied me with a curious 
 trap for Sea Gulls, which he was good enough to bring to England for 
 the benefit of this work. It consists (as will be seen from the illustra- 
 
472 
 
 GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 tion) of a pair of short sticks in the form of a cross, at the end of which 
 are hinges, on which there play four longer sticks, which serve to support 
 a string bearing a noose. To the centre of the cross a sardine is secured 
 as bait. When the snare is set upon the seashore the trap is carefully 
 
 Portuguese Gull-snare. 
 
 buried under a light layer of sand, the sardine alone being exposed to 
 view. The Gull pounces on the sardine, and in so doing jerks up the 
 cross to which the fish is attached. This action throws up the ends of 
 the arms bearing the noose, which thus falls over the neck of the bird. 
 Mr Tait remarks that another dodge for catching Sea Gulls is to set a 
 brass wire noose like a rabbit " gin " when a strong wind is blowing. A 
 sardine is placed to windward of the noose. As the Gull approaches 
 against the wind, and tries to lift the sardine off the sand, it is taken by 
 the snare. A third method practised on the coast of Portugal is to stuff 
 a sardine with cork and use it to bait some fish-hooks, which thus float 
 upon the waves and attract the attention of any passing Gull. Gull- 
 catching is not much in favour in Germany. Bechstein tells us that 
 Kittiwakes are occasionally caught in late winter by setting snares or a 
 net on a spot from which the snow has been cleared away. 
 
 A time-honoured method, which lingered into our own day among the 
 islands of Scotland, was that of effecting the capture of the young before 
 they could fly. This fact receives an illustration in the accounts kept at 
 Naworth Castle in the early days of the seventeenth century. The birds 
 
GULLS AND PBTEELS. 473 
 
 supplied to the Howards were no doubt examples of the Brown-headed 
 Gull (Larus ridihindus). They were procured from such considerable 
 distances as to render it evident that they were reckoned by no means 
 contemptible fare. But the young were not always eaten when they were 
 taken from their nesting grounds. In the accounts for the year 1618, 
 an entry stands to show that the sum of sixpence was expended in 
 building a house for the " gulls and hernsues." This house took Andrew 
 Creak two days to make. Six years later, an entry appears in the same 
 accounts, of the expenditure of twopence upon a knife which was required 
 for the purpose of cutting the " gull's meat." The Orkney folk used to 
 kill large numbers of young Gulls on their islands. Dunn tells us that 
 thesfr birds were killed for salting down, and for the sake of the feathers 
 {The Ornithologist's Guide to Orkney and Shetland, p. 68). Audubon 
 similarly informs us that the fishermen of Labrador and Newfoundland 
 used to kill great numbers of the Common American Gull (Larus 
 ddawarensis), and pack them in salt for winter use. The Flight-nets 
 which are set upon many portions of the British shores, and which some 
 of us think should be prohibited by law, are very detrimental to GuUs 
 and Terns. Great numbers of these birds are entangled in the long walls 
 of net which line certain foreshores. The species of Gull which, in my 
 personal experience, most frequently drifts into these stake-nets is the 
 common Brown-headed species. Colonel Fielden records the fact that a 
 no less distinguished visitor than an immature Sabine's Gull {Xema sabinii) 
 was caught in the shore nets at Wells in Norfolk, on the 16 th of October 
 1892 {Zoologist, 1892, p. 423). 
 
 Belon tells us that his countrymen were in the habit of capturing 
 " la petite Movette blanche " by means of a wooden cross, which floated 
 upon the water with a small fish placed in the centre as a bait. The 
 fowler attached four twigs smeared with birdlime across the four ends of 
 the cross, so that when the hapless bird pounced upon the bait, it was held 
 a struggling prisoner. Ducks and even Kites were taken in the same 
 way. The Greenlanders in the time of Fabricius were in the habit of 
 killi ng Buffon's Skua {Stercorarius parasiticus) with their bird-arrows, 
 paddling softly within range when the bird was sleeping on the sea. 
 
 Certain species of the Petrel family (Procellariidae) have long been 
 utilised as food by the inhabitants of remote islands. The Fulmar 
 {Fvimarus glacialis) in particular furnishes the crofters of St KUda with 
 
474 GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 a large portion of their provision for winter. ITumerous examples of this 
 widely distributed Petrel fly to and fro across that portion of the Atlantic 
 swell which separates St Kilda from the opposite coast of Harris all the 
 summer long. I Jjnow few prettier sights than that which is afforded by 
 a fleet of Fulmars following in the wake of some vessel. Every bird in 
 the company seems to rise and fall in the air without the least apparent 
 eifort. Many of these birds have nests upon the crags and rocky escarp- 
 ments of St Kilda. The island fowlers take a number of Fulmar eggs for 
 domestic purposes. It is the young birds which yield the most valuable 
 returns. Martin tells us that the young Fulmar is hatched in the middle 
 of June, and is ready to take wing before the 20th of July (A Voyage to 
 St Kilda, p. 5 6). But this seems to me to be incorrect. I once persuaded 
 old Donald Macquien to go over the rocks, and bring up two or three 
 young birds from the breeding ledges of Connacher. The birds which he 
 brought up to us, as we stood on the edge of the cliff, were not more than 
 a week old. One of them was much less. Yet this happened on the 
 10th of July. Nestlings have been sent to me in other years. Those 
 taken in the first half of August still retained the soft, pale grey down 
 upon their bodies. The nestlings are very fat, and are more in favour 
 for food than adults. 
 
 It has been alleged that the St Kilda folk used to light their houses 
 by burning wicks which had been drawn through the bodies of young 
 Fulmars. I have never been able to obtain any corroborating evidence, 
 and am disposed to regard the statement as a traveller's tale. Of course, 
 the St Kilda men use the oil of the Fulmar for lighting purposes. 
 Kenneth Macaulay was assured that nearly a pint of oil could be 
 obtained from one single Fulmar. The oil was sometimes burnt in the 
 cavity of the sternum of the Solan Goose. But until iron lamps were 
 introduced into the island, prior to 1840 stone lamps were chiefly in 
 vogue. A lamp which I gave to Mr Edward Bidwell is simply a circular 
 stone, one side of which has been hollowed out, thus providing a shallow 
 cavity in which a small wick could burn. In Macaulay's day each of the 
 families which inhabited St Kilda salted their own share of Fulmars. 
 The whole amounted to about twelve barrels. The young birds, then as 
 now, were taken in the month of August, just before they were able to 
 fly. My friend Mr John Mackenzie, the factor of St Kilda, has kindly 
 ascertained for me the precise number of Fulmars and other fowl con- 
 
GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 475 
 
 sumed upon St Kilda every year. The fowlers at the present time make 
 sixteen shares. They assign to each share the following number of birds : 
 80 young Gannets, 120 adult Gannets, 560 Fulmars, 600 Puffins, 120 
 Common Guillemots, and 50 Eazorbills ; making 1530 birds for each 
 share. This reliable estimate gives us a grand total of 24,480 head of 
 Sea-fowl sacrificed to feed the people of St Kilda annually. 
 
 A good many adult Fulmars appear to be killed by the St Kilda 
 fowlers during the breeding season, which, by the way, is the only time 
 at which these birds frequent the ledges of the precipices. The engine 
 by which the adult Fulmars are obtained is the fowling-rod. 
 A rod which I brought back with me from St KUda measures 
 about six feet six inches in length. It differs in no respect 
 from a plain sea-rod, except that its upper extremity bears a 
 slip-noose mounted on a switch. This noose is made of horse- 
 hair, and is plaited together with strong quUls, probably those 
 of the Gannet. When a fowler decides to catch a few Fulmars 
 for the use of his family, he goes to his own portion of the 
 cliff, accompanied by one companion. They have no other 
 apparatus for effecting the descent but a strong hempen rope. 
 When they have arrived at the edge of the cliff, one man sits 
 down upon the edge of the cKff, holding the rope by which 
 his mate is to descend. The man who carries the fowling-rod 
 then clambers over the side of the precipice. He cautiously 
 worms his way along the precipices, intent only upon sur- 
 prising the birds in their rocky fastnesses. Any sudden 
 movement would be likely to alarm the sitting bird. The 
 fowler is obliged to stalk his intended victim, creeping nearer 
 and nearer, until he is able to drop the noose over its neck. 
 One quick jerk and the bird dangles helplessly in the fatal 
 noose. It will be easily understood that no one but a prac- 
 tised cragsman could venture to engage in so perilous an 
 occupation as that of snaring Fulmars on their breeding 
 precipices. The St Kilda men are rightly proud of their 
 prowess in climbing. It must be admitted that they have to 
 face considerable peril in landing upon the outlying stacks, 
 for the swell of the Atlantic supplies an element of real 
 danger. My friend Mr Cherry Kearton is probably a bolder cragsman 
 
 St Kilda 
 fowiino-rod. 
 
476 GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 than any of the natives of St Kilda ; but then he is a splendid athlete, 
 who has trained every part of his body for muscular exercise. Certainly 
 he has scaled crags which the St Kilda men considered too hazardous to 
 be attempted. But the St Kilda men of the present day are a fine set 
 of fellows, and begin to climb the rocks at a very early age. "When 
 Martin visited St Kilda in the summer of 1697, the fowlers only possessed 
 three ropes, each of which measured twenty-four fathoms. These ropes 
 belonged to the community, and could only be used by common consent. 
 In order to protect the ropes from being cut by sharp rocks, the hempen 
 strands were covered with long strips of salted cow-hide. The St Kilda 
 men used formerly to kill a good many Shearwaters [Puffinus anglorum), 
 taking the birds out of the nesting-holes in which many of them pass the 
 day in the breeding season. The demands of egg dealers have led to this 
 species being almost banished from the mainland of St Kilda. One bird 
 was taken in a precipitous spot upon Doon in 1896 ; but the main colony 
 of Shearwaters is to be looked for upon another island, which is exclusively 
 in the hands of Macleod of Macleod. It is, therefore, seldom visited by 
 the crofters. 
 
 Formerly, they used to take the young Shearwaters from their holes just 
 before the birds could fly. The nestlings become enormously fat, and were 
 reckoned to be a dainty dish within the recollection of many people still 
 living in the Hebrides. There is a large colony in the Island of Eigg. I 
 clambered among the burrows of the " Fahag " on various occasions when 
 visiting that island. The people told me that they used to boil some of the 
 birds, and salt others for winter use. The birds were raided until their 
 decreasing numbers and the dangerous nature of the places to which they 
 retreated made it a tiresome task to harry their colonies. The custom of 
 salting Shearwaters was not peculiar to Eigg. The crofters of Mingalay 
 used to pay their rent to the Macneills of Barra in barrels of salted 
 Shearwaters. But it must not be supposed that Englishmen or Irishmen 
 have shown more mercy to the Shearwater than the fowlers of Western 
 Scotland. The species has been long marked out for persecution. 
 Willughby records the fact that the Shearwaters which bred upon the 
 Calf of Man in his day used to be systematically raided. As soon as the 
 birds arrive at their full size, " they who are intrusted by the Lord of the 
 Island draw them out of the Cony-holes, and that they may the more 
 readily know and keep account of the numbers they take, they cut off 
 
GULLS AND PETRELS. 477 
 
 one foot and reserve it. . . . They usually sell them for about nine pence 
 the dozen, a very cheap rate. . . . Notwithstanding they are sold so 
 cheap, yet some years there is thirty pounds made of the young Puffins 
 taken in the Calf of Man" (Ornithology, p. 333). 
 
 P^re Labat gives a long disquisition upon the diversion of hunting 
 some species of Petrel in the mountains of Guadeloupe and Dominique. 
 The birds were raided by negroes, who employed dogs to find the burrows 
 of the Petrels. Each fowler carried a long switch armed with a hook. 
 When the dogs began to scratch at the entrance to a burrow, one of the 
 fowlers would insert his fowling-rod, using it to prod the bird within. 
 Thus rudely aroused from its diurnal slumber, the Shearwater seized the 
 end of the rod, and so was drawn forth from its hiding-place. When the 
 negroes had secured as many birds as they wanted, they lighted a camp 
 fire, before which they roasted the Petrels upon wooden skewers {Voyages 
 aux Isles de I'Amerique, Vol. IL p. 349). The Dusky Shearwater {Puffinvs 
 ohscurus) was formerly caught in large numbers in its breeding-places 
 among the Bermudas. The slender-billed Shearwater (Fvffimis tenuirostris) 
 is, or was, taken among the islands of Bass's Straits in prodigious numbers. 
 Mr R. Elwes records that birds of this species arrive on the islands about 
 the 21st of September, and proceed to clean out their old burrows. The 
 sealers notice the runs of the birds, and dig a great pit in one of the main 
 runs, with small fences leading down to the pit. When the day of doom 
 breaks, the birds are driven at dawn along their accustomed track, which 
 on this occasion terminates in the hollow devised for their destruction. 
 The birds are handicapped by their short legs and long wings. They 
 crowd together in confusion and perish miserably (Ibis, 1859, p. 398). 
 Elwes affirms that as many as 56,000 birds have been killed in one 
 season. 
 
 The Maoris have a strong predilection for the young of difierent 
 kinds of Petrels. BuUer states that large quantities of Forster's 
 Shearwater (Puffinus gavia) are obtained upon Whale Island. As many 
 as four and five hundred birds have been slain in one day, to be potted in 
 their own fat. Another bird which the Maoris favour is the Sooty 
 Shearwater (Puffiniis griseus). There exists several breeding-places of 
 this bird upon the south-east coast of Otago and on Stewart's Island. 
 Large supplies of potted birds are annually drawn from these colonies 
 and forwarded to the northern tribes ; a " Poha titi " or cask of preserved 
 
478 GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 Petrel being esteemed a gift worthy the acceptance of the highest chief 
 {Birds of New Zealand, Vol. n. p. 233). The smaller kinds of Petrels do 
 not appear to be much persecuted in the breeding season, with the single 
 exception of the Fork- tailed Petrel {Thalassvdroma leachi). The miserable 
 custom of filling cabinets with empty egg-shells, many of them purchased 
 from dealers, does far more to exterminate so-called rare birds in Britain 
 than the occasional destruction of a stray waif, the presence of which 
 would never have been recognised but for the incident of its being shot. 
 The St Kilda men have been so demoralised by egg collectors that they 
 offer numbers of eggs of this Petrel to visitors for a shilling apiece. They 
 likewise catch the old birds and keep them without food for many days, 
 on the chance of selling their poor little victims to tourists. The birds 
 are taken from their burrows in the most inaccessible parts of the island 
 of Doon. 
 
 It is a common amusement on sailing vessels to endeavour to capture 
 Wilson's Petrel {Oceanites oceanica) and other little Petrels. The modus 
 operavdi is very simple. It consists of tying a number of long threads to 
 pieces of cork or other floats, which are thrown into the sea in the stern 
 of the craft. The free ends of the thread are tied to the poop. The 
 Petrels fly in the wake of the vessel ; consequently they often come into 
 contact with the threads. When such is the case, the birds become 
 entangled ; but they soon effect their escape unless they are dexterously 
 hauled on board. Mr Meade Waldo records that the White-faced Petrel 
 {Pelagodroma marina) is occasionally captured by the fishermen of the 
 Canary Isles, when attracted by the torches which these men use at night. 
 Sailors often wile away the tedium of ship life by fishing with hook and 
 line for the larger kinds of Petrels. I have amused myself by catching 
 an odd Pulmar on a hook baited with a herring's tail. The Wandering 
 Albatross (Biomedea exulans) is the largest of the species captured in this 
 familiar fashion. I inquired one day of a distressed mariner what 
 purpose a captive Albatross could possibly serve. His reply was that it 
 might be converted into a no less captivating dish than a " Three-decker 
 pie " ! He assured me that upon a certain voyage to Batavia, he and his 
 mates caught no fewer than one hundred and fifty Albatrosses ; a piece of 
 conduct which perhaps accounted for their vessel suffering shipwreck. 
 He vowed that all his victims were disposed of upon utilitarian principles, 
 viz., that they were made into pies. He added that the most approved 
 
GULLS AND PETRELS. 
 
 479 
 
 method of cooking an Albatross is to cut off the pectoral muscles and 
 other tit-bits, after the carcass has been hanging for a few days in the 
 rigging of the ship, exposed to all the winds that blow. When it comes 
 to the cook's turn, that worthy prepares a supply of flour, a quota of 
 potatoes, and a supply of '' slush," i.e., the fat removed from salt beef or salt 
 pork. The cook provides a large saucepan, and lays a solid foundation of 
 potatoes at the bottom of the pot. This is succeeded by a layer of 
 Albatross, which is again followed by a stratum of the flour which has been 
 metamorphosed into paste by the medium of " slush." And so the " Three- 
 decker " is built up in three courses upon a base of potatoes, which at all 
 events are not poisonous. A somewhat similar recipe is followed by the 
 Heligoland housewives, when they aspire to making a Kittiwake-pie. 
 This dainty dish is composed of pearl barley and Kittiwake in equal layers, 
 crowned by a superficies of dough sprinkled with raisins. It is cooked 
 for three hours in a baking oven, and served up at the mid-day meal 
 {Birds of Hel'Mfoland, p. 553). 
 
 [The capture of the Fulmar is illustrated in the headpiece of this chapter 
 from specimens procured at St KUda. Messrs Kearton most kindly lent two of 
 their photographs for the assistance of the artist.] 
 
CHAPTEE XLIX.— AUKS AND DIVERS. 
 
 THE DIVEES {GolywMdce) are eagerly sought after by the inhabitants 
 of arctic regions. Not only is their strong flesh held in some 
 esteem, but their warm and handsome feathers are recognised as a useful 
 addition to the wardrobe of the Indian or the Esquimaux. Formerly 
 the bow was chiefly used for securing " Loons," as the different species 
 of Divers are popularly entitled. Of course the gun is now superseding 
 all the ancient methods of the chase. But until firearms appeared on 
 the scene the bow and arrow, and the bird-arrow or javelin, were the 
 weapons directed against the Great Northern Diver (Colymhus glacialis) 
 and other members of its family. There is evidence to prove that birds 
 which had been wounded on the west side of the Atlantic have travelled 
 across the ocean to be killed on the coast of Ireland and in the Faroes 
 with arrow-heads embedded in their flesh (Newton, Dictionary of Birds, 
 p. 153). Hind tells a good story concerning the fortunes of a Loon- 
 hunter in Labrador. " It is the custom of the Nasquapees to go in pursuit 
 of the Loon in their birch-bark canoes. One man paddles the canoe 
 within shot of the Diver, while his mate shoots at the quarry from 
 behind a bush or branch of a tree placed in the bow. The suc- 
 cess of the fowlers depends largely upon the faithfulness with which 
 the Indians are able to imitate the wild cry of the bird, for it is only by 
 that means that the bird can be induced to allow a close approach. 
 
AUKS AND DIVERS. 481 
 
 Upon the occasion referred to by the explorer, a marriage had been 
 arranged. Seals, loons, and a porcupine had been provided for the 
 nuptial feast. The priest who was to tie the knot had arrived, and all 
 things were ready. The bridegroom donned his best attire. The guests 
 waited eagerly at the chapel door, but the maiden was not to be seen. 
 A search party was sent out to seek the coy damsel, for whose presence 
 all eagerly longed, as the feast was in readiness. The faithless belle 
 was found eating cranberries on the edge of the forest. Her anxious 
 friends inquired the reason of such extraordinary conduct. She replied — 
 " Do you think I am going to marry him ? — he can't call a loon ! I 
 heard him yesterday, and he frightened the bird, — he may find another 
 wife." Happily the Indians proved equal to the occasion. It was 
 decided to eat the feast just as if the wedding had taken place. " The 
 company at once repaired to the lodges, and abused the inconstant 
 maiden over the seals, the loons, and the porcupines'' (The Labrador 
 Peninsula, p. 348). 
 
 Mr Pritchard, of the Lac-Seul Mission, tells me that the Indians of 
 his station sometimes find a Great Northern Diver entangled in their 
 fishing nets. This incident has often been repeated in Europe, with 
 respect to both the Great Northern Diver, the Black-throated Diver 
 {^Golymbus arcticus), and the Eed- throated Diver (GolywMs septentrionalis). 
 Willughby writes that the Icelanders of his day were in the habit of 
 snaring the Great Northern Diver. "They fasten two stakes at the 
 entrance of the Nest, upon which they hang, and so accomodate the 
 Snare, that the Bird going to her Nest may thrust her head into it. Or 
 they cross the Pool where she frequents at its narrowest part with a 
 fishing line, so that one on each side holds it, raking therewith the surface 
 of the water, till the bird fearing some danger towards dives down to the 
 bottom ; then observing the place where she is rising up again by the 
 circles there made in the water, thither they direct and there hold a 
 snare fastnd to the line, that coming up out of the water she may put 
 her head into it, and so be caught by the Neck" {Ornithology, p. 343). 
 Mr Hugh Popham ascertained for me that the Eed-throated Diver is 
 taken with snares in the neighbourhood of the Yenesei Eiver. The 
 method by which the Samoyedes secure this bird in the breeding season 
 is to spread a slip-noose over the nest, with a long line attached. The 
 long Kne is carried into the high grass, where it is pulled by the fowler, 
 
 2 H 
 
482 AUKS AND DIVERS. 
 
 who lies in wait for the bird's return to its nest. Mr Popham observed 
 this use of the snare near Golchika, the last village on the Yenesei, The 
 Grebes {PodicipedidcB) have long been persecuted for the sake of the 
 beautiful downy plumes of their breasts, especially upon the Swiss lakes. 
 Gesner remarks that these birds were hunted on a lake near Zurich on a 
 certain day in August, which was consequently known as " Tuccheltag." 
 The birds were moulting and incapacitated from flying strongly. They 
 were therefore driven into the great nets which were extended for the 
 purpose of intercepting them when endeavouring to escape from their 
 pursuers. Leonard Mascall describes a device for capturing the " Dob- 
 chicke " or Little Grebe {Podiceps fluviatilis) : — " Howe for to take them, 
 the tisher men some doe vse to lay on the water long lines of small 
 threede knit full of little corkes, a handfuU a sunder on the line, and cut 
 foure square like bigge dice, and so limed and fold on aracle (a rackle), 
 as I shall shewe herafter : and where they see them haunt, they will 
 spread the saide line afore them on the water, and then with their boats, 
 driue them to the sayd line, and so many are taken. Thus much for 
 taking the Dobchickes." 
 
 It is to the family of Auks (Alcidce) that the fowlers of remote 
 islands have commonly looked for subsistence. This circumstance is not 
 to be accounted for by the delicate flesh of the sea-fowl ; but by the 
 consideration that these birds assemble together in such myriads, both on 
 land and sea, that it is possible to kUl them in almost unlimited numbers. 
 The sad fact remains that one member of the family, the Great Auk 
 (Alca impennis), proved unequal to resist the demands that were made 
 upon its resources. Had the Gare-fowl been able to fly, no doubt it 
 would have tenanted our seas until this very day. Tradition asserts that 
 the Greenlanders killed the Great Auk with their bird-arrows. But 
 whether the coast of Greenland was ever visited by the Great Auk is 
 unknown to me. It is probable enough that the Great Auks which were 
 killed and eaten in Denmark in prehistoric days may have been killed 
 with the ancient bird-arrow. The extinction of this species within the 
 historic period was mainly effected by the mariners, who clubbed the 
 birds when driven into pounds upon the islands which they frequented. 
 The bird-arrow to which reference has just been made is rapidly becoming 
 obsolete even in Greenland. The gun supersedes almost every weapon 
 of antiquity. I feel all the more grateful to Mr Hagerup and Dr Helms 
 
AUKS AND DIVEES. 483 
 
 for the pains which they have taken to procure for me a Greenland bird- 
 arrow. The arrow proper consists of a piece of iron twelve inches in 
 length, which is barbed at a short distance from its free extremity. The 
 other end of the arrow is fixed in a round wooden staff, measuring four 
 feet six inches in length. Three serrated bone-shafts, each measuring 
 
 3 ^^'^-^ ') 
 
 Greenland Bird-arrow. 
 
 about six inches and a quarter, are inserted into the wooden handle. 
 These shafts are intended to secure a bird which the arrow-head has 
 failed to impale. Long ago, the arrow proper was made of bone, as the 
 lower shafts are in the specimen described ; but when the natives of 
 Greenland discovered that they could obtain iron from the Danish trading 
 settlements, they partly discarded bone in favour of that metal. The 
 lower portion of the handle is attached to a board which measures 
 nineteen inches. This is slightly keeled on the outer surface, but has on 
 the inner side a long groove, into which the handle of the bird-arrow fits. 
 This board assists the Greenlander in aiming his weapon, which is 
 intended to be thrown at Guillemots and other diving birds at a distance 
 of fifty or sixty yards. Sven Nilsson figures some interesting bird-arrows 
 and other early weapons in his book on The Primitive InhaMtants of 
 ScandiTiama. He tells us that the bird-arrow of Greenland is similar to 
 that used in the Kurile Islands. He also identifies the former with the 
 bird-arrows which have been found in some numbers in the bogs of 
 Southern Sweden. These last are unquestionably of great antiquity, since 
 they were apparently employed when the mosses in which they have been 
 found were sheets of open water. But the Greenlanders practised various 
 devices for killing sea-fowl before the introduction of powder and shot. 
 Brunnich's Guillemot (Uria hrunnichi), the Eazorbill (Alca tarda), and 
 the Little Auk (Mergidm cdle) were and are so numerous as to render 
 considerable exertion worth expending upon their capture. Sometimes 
 the Greenlanders assembled in their kayaks to cut off a flock of these 
 birds, when moulting, from the open sea. The birds then retreated to 
 the shelter of the rocks which lined the beach, only to be surprised by 
 women who were lying in wait for them. 
 
484 AUKS AND DIVEES. 
 
 A more ingenious plan is, or was, adopted in the south of Greenland 
 for taking Guillemots. The natives of Fabricius's time employed for this 
 purpose nets which were made of split whalebone, weighted with stones 
 at the lower ends, and buoyed at the upper ends. A line was attached 
 to each net by means of which it was secured to the shore. The birds 
 were not left, however, to dive into the submerged nets by accident. On 
 the contrary, the native hunters assembled in their boats or " Kayaks," 
 and drove the birds up to the spot where the nets were moored, when, of 
 course, the alarmed fowl dived to escape, and became entangled in the 
 nets. The Icelanders are, or were, ardent fowlers, and little wonder, 
 considering the poverty of their storm-swept home. Pre-eminent among 
 the fowlers of that wild land were the men of the Island of Drangey. 
 Baring Gould remarks (Iceland, p. 243) that this island originally 
 belonged to several proprietors. These made their rights over to one 
 man, and the island eventually became the property of the bishopric of 
 Holar, along with all the privileges of fishing and fowling round it. 
 Bishop Guthmundr visited the island and celebrated mass on a rock near 
 the landing-place, called " Gvendar-altari." It is, or was, the custom of 
 those who ascend the crag to stand beside it for a few moments and offer 
 up a prayer before commencing the perilous ascent. Drangey is much 
 visited by fowlers, who descend the cliffs (slung by hair or leathern ropes) 
 and rifle the nests of the sea-birds. But their special accomplishment is 
 to effect the capture of Guillemots and Eazorbills in the way described 
 by Olav Olavsen ia his Iceland, published in 1784. 
 
 The Drangey fowlers make use of half-inch boards, which are con- 
 nected together by cross-pieces fastened by wooden pegs. A hole is 
 made in the centre of each cross-piece. Hard-wood, such as drift-wood, 
 is the best timber for the purpose, as it is necessary that the wood should 
 not sink too deeply in the sea, for then the snares would be spoilt. The 
 largest boards for this purpose are four feet in length and a little more 
 than' one foot in breadth. The smallest are only two feet long and 
 eighteen inches across. A " Nederstader " consists of four of these boards 
 of the same size ; while the fifth, called the " Anchor-board," as it is 
 nearest the anchor, is always somewhat larger, and has three cross-pieces 
 fixed on the under side. Eighty or a hundred small holes are bored 
 through each board at an equal distance from one another. The "Anchor- 
 board," being the largest, has a hundred or one hundred and twenty holes. 
 
ATJKS AND DIVERS. 485 
 
 The holes are just so large that the snares will exactly fit into them. 
 The snares are made of horsehair, tightly plaited together, and of the 
 thickness of a goose quill. The free end of the snare is inserted into the 
 hole of the hoard, and is kept in position by means of an ordinary knot 
 pressed against the under surface of the board to which it is attached. 
 The boards, being set with snares in this fashion, are next roped together 
 by means of a horsehair cord. This passes through the hole in the cross- 
 pieces, and is held in its place, when fixed, by a wedge of wood. The 
 buoy is made of the roots of drift-wood, and is roped to the bird-board. 
 A horsehair cable is attached likewise to each set of boards. Thus what 
 the Drangey fishermen call a " Nederstader " consists of a set of five 
 boards, four horsehair cords, five buoys, a cable, and an anchor. Each 
 boat has five " Nederstader," and some have six. The implements when 
 ready are placed in the boat, and the fowlers start upon their expedition, 
 generally leaving home on the evening of Sunday, to return on Wednes- 
 day. When the party has arrived at the bird-rock, two of the least 
 skilful men are placed by the oars to keep the boat steady, while the 
 leader of the party slowly lowers the anchor and his mates pay out the 
 buoys and line. When the " Anchor-board " has been placed upon the 
 water, the remainder of the boards are lowered on to the sea. A decoy- 
 bird called " Banding," i.e., prisoner, is made fast to the " Anchor-board." 
 Another decoy is fastened to the end board to attract the other birds. 
 The wings of the decoy are placed in the nearest snares to prevent its 
 fluttering. At the beginning of the fowling season the " Nederstader " 
 are placed in deep water, as the birds do not seek the rocks very early in 
 the spring, but prefer resting on the boards to flying a long distance to 
 the bird-rocks. Later on, when the birds are accompanied by their 
 young, the " Nederstader " are set in shallow waters. When this is done, 
 the men row off to fish, or land on some rock to eat and sleep, returning 
 to their snares in about six hours. The boards are then carefully lifted 
 out of the sea, the birds are taken out of the snares, and their necks are 
 broken. The dead birds are thrown together in a heap, and afterwards 
 tied together in bunches of ten birds. As many as forty-five bunches are 
 often tied to one line. When the fowlers reach home the spoil is divided. 
 The men, the boat, and the " Nederstader " receive one-third each. 
 
 Another method of fowling is practised among the skerries of the 
 Westmann Isles. The natives occupy themselves largely with bird- 
 
486 
 
 AUKS AND DIVERS. 
 
 hunting. They drag the young of the Puifin {Fratercula arciica) out of 
 the burrows in which these birds nestle by means of a sort of gaff. This 
 consists of a large cod-hook, which is lashed to the end of a stick. This 
 
 weapon is also used in the Faroes. 
 A more interesting engine is the 
 hand-net which is intended for the 
 capture of the Guillemot. Mr 
 J. Eussell-Jeaffreson furnished a 
 sketch of a Westmann fowler to 
 Travel of June 1896. It is re- 
 produced here, enlarged, by kind 
 permission of Dr Lunn. The 
 islander is shown holding the gaff 
 for hooking Pufi&ns in his left 
 hand. He carries in his right 
 hand the f owling-net. It resembles 
 a landing-net, mounted upon a 
 very long handle. The peculiarity 
 of the Westmann net is that the 
 lower end of the fowling-pole is 
 furnished with a small three- 
 pronged iron fork, intended to 
 assist the fowler in rock-climbing. 
 It is interesting to find that the 
 Westmann net bears a close re- 
 semblance to that used by the 
 fowlers of Faroe. A prodigious 
 number of birds are killed in the 
 summer - time in Faroe. The two species which are killed in vast 
 quantities in Faroe are the Puffin and the Guillemot. Miiller tells us 
 that the total of Puffins taken in a year amounts to 235,000. Of the 
 Guillemots, no fewer than 55,000 surrender their lives in the course of 
 a season. The fowling-net is used alike on ledges, upon the tops of the 
 cUffs, and from boats. The fowler manipulates his weapon with such skill 
 as to mesh his prey under most circumstances. For example, should he 
 desire to net Puffins, he takes his seat upon the edge of a precipice which 
 he has observed to lie in the line of flight which these birds adopt. As 
 
 A WESTMAira FOWLEK. 
 
AUKS AND DIVERS. 487 
 
 the Puffin whirrs past, the fowler gives his pole a twist from below, and 
 catches the bird as it goes away. If he is in need of Guillemots, he 
 betakes himself to the breeding ledges, upon which he nets old and young 
 at the same time. Alternatively, he rows a boat with three or four of 
 his mates to the cliffs where the non-breeding birds assemble. Having 
 arrived at the right place, two of the crew steady the boat in the swell, 
 while the others endeavour to net the birds as they fly backwards and 
 forwards in strange confusion. The net which was used in Faroe in 
 Landt's time was made of hempen or woollen thread, grey in colour. It 
 was suspended between two rods, which were four feet long. These rods 
 gave the net a triangular form, as they were secured at opposite angles to 
 the fowling-staff. The latter consisted of a round fir pole. It was an 
 inch and a half thick at the lower end, but gradually tapered off, so that 
 it only measured an inch in diameter at the extremity. A piece of horn 
 served as a sort of socket to receive the net-bearing rods, which were tied 
 in their place at a distance of eighteen inches apart. 
 
 Apropos of Puffins, which we mentioned just now, it was once the 
 custom among the Norse farmers to train dogs to fetch these birds out of 
 their burrows in inaccessible precipices. This was especially the case in 
 the Nordland districts of Tranen, Varoe, Moskoe and Eust. Many of the 
 Nordland farmers held joint shares in a bird-rock. Each of these men 
 would keep twelve, fourteen, or even sixteen dogs for fowling. The 
 animals in question were small long-bodied dogs, mounted on short legs. 
 At the present time, the common Norse fashion of taking Puffins is to set 
 a net near the shore in close proximity to a breeding station. The Puffins 
 dive iato the meshes of the engine set for their destruction. An alter- 
 native is to set nets over the burrows of the birds. I had occasion to ask 
 Professor Collett whether he recollected the way in which the breeding 
 birds were netted. He replies, "I remember very well how the nets 
 were set in the Puffin colonies at Vardo. They were simply laid upon 
 the earth, covering a long part of the hUl where the holes were most 
 numerous. The breeding birds which left the nests were thus caught in 
 hundreds ; and the birds which were out fishing and went home to their 
 nests, were also easily caught when trying to find a passage through the 
 meshes. Of course the netting in the sea is much more commonly used, 
 but never so cruel, as the birds are then drowned at once." It is sad to 
 reflect that the plan of netting Puffins which Professor Collett deplores 
 
488 AUKS AND DIVEKS. 
 
 was adopted upon Ailsa Craig in our own day (Gray, Birds of the West of 
 Scotland, p. 436). 
 
 The daring and intrepid spirit which inspires the fowlers of Northern 
 Europe to prosecute their dangerous calling among the crags of their 
 lonely fiords and remote skerries has long found a parallel in the 
 enthusiasm displayed by the fowlers of the Hebrides. Martin furnishes 
 an interesting description of the ceremonies with which the Lewis men 
 of his day used to harry the sea-fowl of the Flannan Islands. Their visit 
 to the scene of their fowling operations was an annual one. They started 
 on the expedition with an east wind. " If before or at the Landing the 
 Wind turn Westerly, they hoist up Sail, and steer directly home again." 
 He tells us that, when the fowlers landed, their first thought was of their 
 religious duties : " when they are got up into the Island, all of them uncover 
 their Heads, and make a turn Sun-ways round, thanking God for their 
 Safety." " The biggest of these Islands," he continues " is call'd, IslaTid- 
 More : it has the Euins of a Chappel dedicated to St Mannan, from whom 
 the Island derives its name. When they are come within about 20 paces 
 of the Altar, they all strip themselves of their upper Garments at once ; 
 and their upper Clothes being laid upon a Stone, which stands there on 
 purpose for that use, all the Crew pray three times before they begin 
 Fowling : the first day they say the first Prayer, advancing towards the 
 Chappel upon their Knees ; the second Prayer is said as they go round 
 the Chappel ; the third is said hard by or at the Chappel : and this is 
 their Morning-Service. Their Vespers are perform'd with the like number 
 of Prayers. Another Rule is. That it is absolutely unlawful to kill a 
 Fowl with a Stone, for that they reckon a great Barbarity, and directly 
 contrary to antient Custom." Martin asked one of the fowlers whether 
 he said his prayers at home as often and as fervently as he did when he 
 visited the Flannan Islands. The reply is amusing. "He plainly 
 confess'd to me that he did not : adding further, that these remote Islands 
 were places of inherent Sanctity ; and that there was none ever yet landed 
 in them but found himself more dispos'd to Devotion there, than any where 
 else" {A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, p. 19). It is 
 worthy of remark that certain expressions were forbidden to be used upon 
 the bird-rocks. Thus, " Visk, which in the Language of the Natives 
 signifies Water, they call Burn : a Eock which in their Language is Greg, 
 must here be call'd Cruey, i.e., hard." Other words were substituted in the 
 
AUKS AND DIVEES. 489 
 
 same fashion. It was accounted unlawful to kill a fowl after evening 
 prayers, a prohibition which was extended to killing birds before the 
 fowlers had effected their landing. We are not told how the Lewis men 
 killed the sea-fowl with which they loaded their boat. It is not unlikely 
 that the Guillemots and Eazorbills were felled with poles as they flew past 
 the cliffs. At least this method has been practised on the west coast of 
 Scotland, e.g., at Barra Head and upon AUsa Craig. "Another method 
 followed at Mingulay," wrote Mr Finlayson to Harvie Brown, of capturing 
 the birds is " by means of a heavy pole. The natives sit on the verge of 
 the cliff, and the birds come hovering above and within blow distance. 
 N"o blow on the body appears to disable the birds, but the least knock or 
 blow on the heads or necks finishes them, though no blow, however hard, 
 kills them outright. They are apparently dead when they fall down, but 
 if the necks be not broken, they will soon recover " {A Fauna of the Outer 
 Hebrides, p. 163). Similarly, David Bodan, who was tacksman of Ailsa 
 Craig in 1826, not only undertook to kill eighty dozen Puffins with a 
 pole in one day, but actually accomplished the feat {Birds of the West of 
 Scotland, p. 436). But the chief method of capturing Guillemots and 
 Eazorbills upon Mingulay is identical with the use of the fowling-rod ; a 
 running noose of horsehair being mounted on the extremity of a fishing 
 rod, and dropped round the neck of a bird. As many as 2000 Guillemots 
 are snared in this manner in a single day's fowling upon Pabbay. 
 
 The men of St Kilda pride themselves upon being most dexterous in 
 the use of the fowling rod. Long ago the snare was made of cow's hair, 
 but horsehair is now imported into the island for the convenience of the 
 fowlers. If a St Kilda man wants to snare a Puffin or Eazorbill he 
 makes a noise, turrr, turrr. Upon hearing this the bird looks round in 
 surprise, and the noose drops over its head. The fowlers climb with 
 bare or stockinged feet and make free use of ropes. They carry the 
 birds which they snare by forcing their heads under the waist-belts which 
 they wear. Fulmars are picked off' in the same way. The fowler quietly 
 staUiS his bird as she sits upon a ledge of rock, and seizes the right 
 opportunity to jerk his snare round her neck. 
 
 The Puffins are chiefly snared in another way. Eows of running 
 nooses are tied to long cords, at a distance of about three inches apart. 
 The strands of the horsehair nooses are moistened to stiffen them, and 
 are set upon the rocks and knolls of turf upon which the Puffins like to 
 
490 AUKS AND DIVERS. 
 
 alight. The ends of the strong cord which bears the snares are 
 weighted with heavy stones to keep them in their place. The snares 
 stand out at right angles to the ground. At iirst the PuflSin only bites 
 the snare in front of him, but he soon shuffles forward and puts his feet 
 into it, or else flies up with the snare round his neck. The first Puffin 
 caught in the beginning of the season is partially plucked and then 
 released. There is reason for conjecturing that the Puffins which are 
 plucked become white in the next moult. It is possible to dispense with 
 nooses in some rare instances. My friend Mr Cherry Kearton managed 
 to stalk a Fulmar and capture her with his hands ; but the birds are 
 usually too crafty to be surprised except by noosing. When a St Kilda 
 fowler wants to snare Puffins with the fowling rod, he sits quietly down 
 upon the grass beside the birds, holding the rod in his hand. He 
 gradually sidles nearer and nearer to the birds as they sit with their 
 heads turned towards the sea. At last he thrusts the rod close to some 
 bird which is within reach. The Puffin at first bites at the noose, and then 
 puts its head through it. The Puffin is more in request for the sake of 
 its feathers than for purposes of diet. The snared Puffins are plucked, 
 cleaned, and then broiled upon the fire. The use of a snare attached to 
 the end of a long rod is probably of considerable antiquity. At any rate, 
 it was practised as far north as Shetland and as far south as the Isle of 
 Man. 
 
 Martin expatiates upon the use which the St Kilda fowlers make of 
 the eggs of sea-fowl : — " They preserve their Eggs commonly in their 
 Stone-Pyramids, scattering the burnt Ashes of Turf under and about 
 them, to defend them from the Air, driness being their only preservative, 
 and moistness their Corruption ; they preserve them Six, Seven, or Eight 
 Months as abovesaid : and then they become Appetizing " (A Voyage to St 
 Kilda, p. 66). "We learn from the same author how some sailors once 
 landed on the Island of Soa from a cock-boat, and helped themselves 
 liberally to the eggs of the sea-fowl. The St Kilda people are excessively 
 jealous of anyone taking a bird or egg from their islands. Payment is 
 expected for the merest trifle, even if obtained by the exertions of a 
 visitor himself. One of the crew of the cock-boat above mentioned came 
 to grief for want of such a precaution. "So careful was one of the 
 Seamen as to put them (eggs) into his Breeches, which he put off for 
 this use ; some of the inhabitants of St Kilda happened to be in the Isle 
 
AUKS AND DIVERS. 491 
 
 that day ; a parcel of them were spectators of this diversion, and were 
 offended at it, being done without their consent, therefore they devised 
 an Expedient, which at once robb'd the Seamen of their Eggs and Breeches ; 
 and 'twas thus : They found a few loose Stones in the Superficies of the 
 Eock, some of which they let fall down perpendicularly above the 
 Seamen, the terror of which obliged them quickly to remove, abandoning 
 both Breeches and Eggs for their safety ; and those Tarpawlin Breeches 
 were no small Ornament there, where all wore girded Plaids " {A Voyage 
 to St Kilda, p. 3 8). It would be tedious to dwell at much greater length 
 upon the British methods of taking sea-fowl and their eggs. The 
 "Egging" practised at Filey has been described on many occasions. 
 Let me refer, however, to the fowling which was formerly in vogue upon 
 the red sandstone precipices of St Bees : — " And Ther is fowles ther 
 builds in the St Bees Eock : it is called : these fowles as bigg and swift 
 of wing as duck and mallard : And builds in the Eock they hangs over 
 the see : and They Let downe a broad nett from the Topp of the Eock 
 And frights The fowles of ther nests, and the netts cacth them : They 
 cannot flye when they are half a mile from the sea " {Sandford MS., p. 1 8). 
 The same local writer alludes again, in another portion of his MS., to " a 
 great broad nett cast by two men," which caught the birds " flying of 
 ther [nesting shelves]." This statement refers to a form of fowling 
 practised prior to 1675. Pennant, a century later, alluded to St Bees 
 as " noted for the great resort of Birds." He is silent as to any fowling 
 being carried on at St Bees. We may infer that the system had become 
 obsolete. Sandford's statement is important. It is a misfortune that 
 the original MS. is mutilated. I have failed to discover any additional 
 evidence of a broad flight-net being employed to take sea-birds from 
 their breeding ledges. 
 
 I have not been able to learn many particulars regarding fowling in 
 Ireland. It is well known that the ancient Irish had certain scruples as 
 to taking the lives of birds. Yet fowling was a recognised employment 
 upon some parts of the Irish coast even in recent times. Thompson 
 wrote in 1832, "The birds now snared, or 'Dulled' as it is called at 
 Horn Head, for the sake of their feathers, are Puffins, Eazorbills, 
 Guillemots, and Kittiwakes, — all the other species of Larus are too wary 
 to be thus ' gulled.' In less than two hours, my informant has snared 
 seventeen dozen, or above two hundred birds, and thirty-six dozen were 
 
492 AUKS AND DIVEES. 
 
 known by a gentleman of my acquaintance to be taken within a similar 
 period by two men: many years ago these feathers produced 13d per lb. 
 but now they bring only 6-|d. Birds breeding in caves here are some 
 times caught in nets drawn across their entrances." Thompson learnt 
 also, in 1834, that Eazorbills and other birds were captured on the Arran 
 Islands for the sake of their feathers {Nat. Hist. Ireland, Vol. III. p. 231). 
 I have not received any information about fowling from the coast of the 
 United States. We know from Audubon that the Puffin is occasionally 
 eaten upon the coast of Labrador. The same authority affirms that, when 
 bait is scarce, the Labrador fishermen kill large quantities of Puffins in 
 order to bait their hooks with the flesh of these birds {Orn. Biogr. Vol. III. 
 p. 108). The waters of the North Pacific affi>rd a home to numerous 
 species of Auks. These birds are hunted by the natives of the islands 
 which they frequent in the breeding season. Thus the Aleuts of the 
 Commander Isles catch vast numbers of the Tufted Puffin (Fratercula 
 cirrhata) in the spring of the year. It is easy to understand that the 
 flesh of these birds, though fishy in flavour, must afford an agreeable 
 variation to the menu of those natives who have to subsist upon salted 
 seal-flesh during the winter months. As soon, therefore, as a sufficient 
 number of these Auks are observed to have arrived in the vicinity, the 
 natives look out for a favourable opportunity of securing a supply of the 
 birds, both as fresh victuals and also for purposes of clothing. The Aleuts 
 of the Commander Isles do not capture the Tufted Puffins out at sea, but 
 arrange their raids upon the Puffin-colony in accordance with the habits 
 of the birds. 
 
 This Puffin, locally entitled the " Toporki," shares with some allied 
 species the peculiarity of appearing in great numbers near shore one day, 
 while next day the birds have all disappeared, staying away on the high 
 seas for the next two days, when they again take a "land-day." Dr 
 Stejneger visited the island of Toporkoff, so called on account of its being 
 a favourite haunt of this Puffin, and found it to be a level plateau about 
 30 feet above the sea. A few Puffins crossed the island on the evening 
 of his arrival, but the fowling did not commence until the following day. 
 " The ornithological spectacle at daybreak the following morning was quite 
 different from what it had been the foregoing day. Hundreds and 
 thousands of Lunda cirrhata crossed and recrossed the island, coming from 
 all directions, and disappearing on the opposite side, in order to return 
 
AUKS AND DIVERS. 493 
 
 again and again. A wonderful sight! The black birds, with their 
 conspicuous white face-mask, the long and floating ear-tufts bent like the 
 horns of a ram, and the large green and red-coloured beaks and red legs, 
 looked more like fantastical creatures of the tropics than inhabitants of 
 the less extravagant north." Dr Stejneger informs us that the native 
 device for taking the " Toporki " is based upon the apparent difficulty of 
 the bird to make a sudden turn in its straight flight. A piece of wide- 
 meshed net- work, stretched on a hoop about four feet in diameter, and 
 fixed to a light pole of ten or twelve feet in length, is the engine by which 
 the capture of this Puffin is eifected. The Aleut takes the bird in full 
 flight, by suddenly throwing the net in the way of the bird, which flies 
 directly into it, and thus falls to the ground and is captured. 
 
 " When I turned out," writes Dr Stejneger, " the Aleuts were already 
 in their places waiting for the rush of the birds, which had not yet begun. 
 They were scattered pretty evenly around the island, seated on the edge 
 of the bluff. Their immoveable figures were clearly visible against the 
 gray western sky, and now with the dawning day we discern the net at 
 their side, but, what is more surprising, each one is surrounded by a small 
 flock of ' Toporki.' These stretch their necks and point with their bills 
 up in the air in quite an unaccountable manner, remaining so long in 
 that rather unnatural position, that we become suspicious. A closer 
 inspection reveals that these are only decoys, empty skins, held in position 
 by a stick protruding between the jaws and with the other end thrust 
 into the ground. Before long the sea and the horizon become lively with 
 birds, and soon the sky above us literally swarmed with these red-and- 
 green-beaked, white-masked, yellow-horned masses. It was ' land-day ' 
 indeed ! I only wondered that they did not suffer collision with each 
 other during their airy sailing, for they were as thick as May-flies round 
 an electric light, and flew both straight and rapidly. When a ' Toporok ' 
 crosses overhead of an Aleut, he suddenly raises his net ; the bird, unable 
 to turn aside, runs into it with a clash, falls to the ground, and in a 
 twinkling is added to the heap of other unfortunates with broken necks " 
 (flrn. Explorations in the Commander Isles, p. 57). Turner describes the 
 Tufted Puffin as seen in considerable numbers along the northern shores 
 of the Aliaskan Peninsula, as also at the Pribylov Isles and elsewhere in 
 those seas. The skin of this bird is extremely tough, and as the plumage is 
 nearly uniform in colour, these Puffins are much sought after by the natives. 
 
494 AUKS AND DIVERS. 
 
 Turner states that in his experience the natives utilise the days 
 unfavourable for hunting Sea-otters, in visiting the haunts of the Tufted 
 Puffin and the Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata), in order to catch 
 these birds for the sake of their skins. The Aleuts whom Turner met 
 with do not seem to employ any nets for catching Puffins, preferring to 
 capture the birds in their breeding-hole in the rocks. Puffins are capable 
 of inflicting severe punishment to the hand, and the Aleuts either wear 
 a leathern glove or wrap a sleeve round the hand. The native fowler 
 endeavours to catch the bird by the wing, as the claws are then used by 
 the bird to retard its being dragged out of its crevice in the rock. When 
 the fowler returns home, the preparation of the skins of the birds which 
 he has caught commences. The operator first cuts off the beak at the 
 edge of the feathers, and turns the skin inside out. The skin is then 
 hung up to dry, the wings having been previously cut off. When severe 
 weather keeps the women folk indoors, they proceed with the further 
 preparation of the skins, which are then washed afresh, scraped, and finally 
 chewed to make them pliable. " An Aleut woman will go on a visit to 
 a neighbour, to have a ' Chy peet ' or tea party ; in the intervals of drink 
 and gossip a bird-skin will be drawn from beneath the folds of her 
 garment ; and she will then as complacently chew the skin as one of our 
 country dames will draw out her knitting (and pipe) to wile away the 
 time." The skins are converted into a garment common to both sexes, 
 called the " Parka," which is worn with the feathers inside, the flesh side 
 of the skin being ornamented with stripes of paint of various colours, such 
 as vermilion, green, blue, or black. Before the introduction of civilised 
 clothing, this " Parka " was the only garment worn by the Aleuts. If 
 required for an adult man, it was made of forty-five skins. Stejneger 
 remarks that the yellow feathers of the ear-tufts of the Tufted Puffin are 
 used for decorating the garments of the Aleuts. 
 
 [The illustration is intended to explain the pursuit of Divers by North 
 American Indians.] 
 
CHAPTEK L.— OSTEICHES AND EMEUS. 
 
 THE great majority of flightless birds {Ratitm) inhabit wide areas of 
 desert or open plain. Hence their keenness of vision enables them 
 to distinguish the approach of an enemy at a great distance. They are 
 thus enabled to provide for safety by a timely display of their remark- 
 able coursing powers. But even the endurance of the Ostrich (Struthio 
 camelus) meets with a severe test when pitted against the fleetness of an 
 Arab steed ; provided always that the horse of the Sahara has undergone 
 the requisite training for such a trial of strength. Abstinence from 
 water and a diet of dry dates are the conditions of the preparation 
 imposed by the hunter of North Africa upon his gallant mount. Canon 
 Tristram assures us that it is generally estimated that the capture of an 
 Ostrich must be at the sacrifice of the life of a horse or two. Erom 
 him also we learn that, as soon as a party of Ostriches are descried by 
 the hunters of the wilderness, two or three riders are detached to follow 
 the birds at a gentle gallop. These men endeavour only to keep the 
 birds in sight, without alarming them or driving them at full speed, 
 otherwise they would soon be lost to view. "The rest of the pursuers 
 leisurely proceed in a direction at right angles to the course the 
 Ostriches have taken, knowing by experience their habit of running in a 
 circle. Posted on the best look-out they can find, they await for hours 
 the anticipated route of the game, calculating upon intersecting their 
 path. If fortunate enough to detect them, the relay sets upon the now 
 
496 OSTRICHES AND EMEUS. 
 
 fatigued flock, and frequently succeeds in running down one or more, 
 though some of their horses usually fair exhausted in the pursuit. The 
 bird, when overtaken, offers no resistance beyond kicking out sideways " 
 {The Great Sahara, p. 118). 
 
 Von Heuglin tells us that the Arabs of the desert employ snares to 
 capture the Ostrich by its feet. The engine employed is similar to a 
 device by which the same hunters procure the Gazelle. It consists of a 
 ring of tough wood, which is set inside with smooth spokes or teeth of 
 wood, all radiating towards an opening in the centre. It thus resembles 
 a wheel, from which the centre has been removed. The trapper searches 
 out the places to which Ostriches resort, and arranges a series of these 
 traps in the runs of the birds. The trap is often set over a small hollow 
 into which the Ostrich treads, thus inserting its foot well into the centre 
 of the trap. A running noose is placed upon the surface of the trap, 
 which is drawn round the foot of the bird when it treads upon the snare. 
 The trap is secured to a strong stalk, or to the roots of some firmly 
 rooted bush {Vogel Nord Ost. Africas, Vol. il. p. 929). A similar device 
 is used to catch the Abyssinian rhinoceros, but the idea of this trap is not 
 of purely Ethiopian origin. The ancient Greeks recognised this engine, 
 which they called " Podostrabe," as a natura,l adjunct of the chase of Eed 
 Deer. The natives of India catch antelopes in the Punjab in a similar 
 way at the present day. Hartmann affirms that some Bedouins hunt the 
 Ostrich on dromedaries. This is confirmed by the statement of the late 
 Captain Burton, who records that the natives of Somaliland hunt the 
 Ostrich on camels, and shoot it with poisoned arrows {First Footsteps in 
 Fast Africa, p. 163). So, too, the Bushmen of South Africa destroy the 
 Ostrich with poisoned arrows, or capture the bird with the agency of 
 pitfalls, which were much used for capturing all sorts of big game before 
 the era of cheap guns had commenced to supersede the uses of antiquity. 
 Strabo bears witness that the Strutophagi, or Ostrich-eaters of Arabia, 
 shot Ostriches with the bow. They also adopted the ingenious ruse of 
 stalking the bird under cover of the screen of an Ostrich skin. The 
 fowler used his right arm to bear aloft the head and neck of the dummy. 
 With his left hand he scattered seed, to entice the quarry within range of 
 his weapon. Nor was this piece of strategy contemptible. It required 
 considerable intimacy with the actions of the species whose gestures were 
 simulated. Harting describes the imaginary bird as imitating the real 
 
OSTEICHES AND EMEUS. 497 
 
 bird so nicely that it is difficult to detect the difference between the two 
 at the distance of a hundred yards : " Now it (the dummy) turns its head 
 as if keeping a sharp look out; now it picks at the verdure on the 
 ground, or at any water melon or shrub which may be in its way ; now 
 it shakes its feathers, sometimes trotting and sometimes walking, until at 
 length the wary bushman gets within bowshot of some unlucky bird, and 
 when having discharged his arrow, one of the flock runs off in any direc- 
 tion, the sham bird runs too. The rest of the flock are quite unable to 
 understand why their comrade should run suddenly away, and then he 
 down, and they allow the enemy to follow them up, until they share the 
 same fate. The great difficulty on these occasions is to get to leeward 
 of the flock, for if once a bird winds him (the fowler), away they all go, 
 and the trouble is taken for nothing" {Ostriches and Ostrich Farming, 
 p. 44). 
 
 An ancient but cruel expedient for killing Ostriches was that of 
 surrounding the nest of the Ostrich with concealed spears. These weapons 
 were set in such a way that the poor bird transfixed its body in returning 
 to its eggs or young. Dr Leared states that the Arabs sometimes course 
 a party of Ostriches against the wind. When the hunters finally overtake 
 the birds, they either shoot at them or endeavour to cripple them by 
 hurling throw-sticks at their legs. The clubs used for this purpose are 
 made of heavy, hard-grained wood, and the Arabs excel in the manipula- 
 tion of such weapons (Morocco and the Moors, p. 44). The Nomad tribes 
 of Patagonia are no less successful in hunting the Eheas or Ostriches of 
 the New World than the lawless sheikhs of the African continent. 
 Beerbohm gives many interesting details of the persecution which is meted 
 out to Darwin's Ehea (Rhea darwinii). He states that this species is 
 hunted by mounted men, who endeavour to overthrow the Ehea by casting 
 the " Bolas " around its legs in such a way as to bring the bird to the 
 ground. The sportsman then dismounts, breaks the neck of his victim, 
 and attaches the body, previously disembowelled, to his saddle.. The 
 " Bolas " which Beerbohm found in use were of two patterns. The first 
 consisted of two round stones or pieces of lead, covered with leather and 
 joined together by a thong of from six to eight feet. The other missile 
 consisted of three balls, united by thongs to a common centre. Mr C. S. 
 Smelt defines the " Bolas " used near Buenos Ayres as consisting of three 
 pieces of lead, heavy wood, or even stone, rudely fashioned into a rounded 
 
 2 I 
 
498 OSTRICHES AND EMEUS. 
 
 shape, cased in raw hide, and attached to thongs of the same material, 
 which are joined together in the centre. This is the engine adopted by 
 those who aspire to catch the Common Ehea {Rhea americana). The 
 young birds of that species are occasionally secured alive by the simple 
 device of running the birds down, and throwing over them a native gar- 
 ment known as the "Poncho" (Ostriches and Ostrich Farming, p. 77). 
 Commander Musters, E.N., mentions the curious fact that the Patagonian 
 Indians frequently circumvent the sagacity of Darwin's Ehea in the 
 winter time by driving a party of these birds into their rivers. Eheas 
 are powerful swimmers, but their legs soon become benumbed by cold. 
 The birds are consequently drifted ashore by the current, and, being 
 exhausted on regaining terra firma, are easily captured. Snowy weather 
 is also unfavourable to these Eheas. Their eyes appear to be affected by 
 the glare of the white snow, and their plumage becomes heavier. But the 
 usual method of catching Eheas is that already indicated, the chase of the 
 mounted hunter who scours the pampas with his " Bolas " coiled ready 
 for use. Captain Musters gives the modus operandi in the language of 
 an eye-witness : " Two men start off, and ride at a gallop round a certain 
 area of country, lighting fires at intervals to mark their track. After the 
 lapse of a few minutes, two others are despatched, and so on, until only a 
 few are left with the Cacique. These spread themselves out in a crescent, 
 closing in and narrowing the circle, on a point where those first started 
 have by this time arrived. The crescent rests on a base-line, formed by 
 the slowly proceeding line of women, children, and baggage- horses. The 
 Ostriches and herds of Guanco run from the advancing party, but are 
 checked by the pointsmen, and when the circle is well closed in, are 
 attacked with the " Bolas," two men frequently chasing the same animal 
 from different sides. The dogs also assist in the chase, but the Indians 
 are so expert with the ' Bolas,' that unless their horses are tired, or they 
 happen to have gambled away their ' Bolas,' the dogs are not much called 
 into use " {At Home with the Patagonians, p. 76). 
 
 It is difficult to read Commander Musters' description of Ehea- 
 hunting, without being reminded of the fate which Bennett's Cassowary 
 (Gasuarius lennetti) experiences at the hands of the natives of New 
 Britain. This fine bird makes its home upon the grassy plains and high 
 table-lands of the northern peninsula of that island. The indigenes take 
 individual birds of this species by several different devices. Their 
 
OSTRICHES AND EMEUS. 499 
 
 favourite plan "is to light fires in a large circle of about a mile in 
 circumference in the long grass on the plains, leaving one opening in the 
 circle, at which are stationed several men armed with spears. The fire is 
 made to burn towards the centre of the circle by men and women on the 
 outside, who beat out with bushes all fire likely to spread in any other 
 direction ; this drives the Cassowary that are within the circle to the 
 opening, where they are speared by the men stationed there for that 
 purpose" (P. Z.S., 1880, p. 493). 
 
 Mr Wilfrid Powell, whose remarks have just been quoted, tells us 
 that this Cassowary, like the Ostrich, is sometimes taken in a running 
 noose. The native who has found a nest of the " Morroop " or Cassowary 
 prepares a running noose which he sets around the nest, taking care to 
 cover the gin with sand, so that it is invisible. The fowler takes the 
 loose end of the rope, which is made of the bark of a tree, and winds it 
 round his own body. He then squats behind a tree in the close vicinity 
 of the nest until the parent bird returns. When the Cassowary is seated 
 on the nest, the savage pulls the rope. The noose then tightens round 
 the legs of the Cassowary. The man then runs with the free end of the 
 rope to a tree and twists the rope around it. The rope thus retains the 
 struggling bird within the noose untU it is tired out and helpless. It is 
 then despatched with the spear. 
 
 A singular and tragic misadventure once overtook a native fowler 
 who had set a noose on the nest of a Cassowary. The unfortunate man 
 fell asleep while waiting for the arrival of the bird. In the meanwhile 
 the bird came to its nest and laid its egg. It then endeavoured to leave 
 the nest, when one of its legs became entangled in the noose. Thus the 
 man, who had the rope wound round his body, was dragged along the 
 ground, and struck against a tree, which stunned or Mlled him. Both 
 the body of the man and the bird were found some days afterwards, still 
 fastened together by the rope, at some considerable distance from the 
 nest. 
 
 The oil extracted from the fat of this bird is considered a valuable 
 specific for rheumatism. The sharp-pointed claws from the toe of the 
 bird are used as points for spears in one part of New Britain. The leg 
 bones are made use of to balance the butt-ends of spears. It is by the 
 spear that the blacks of Victoria usually obtain the Emeu (DromcRus-novcB- 
 TiMlandim), the flesh of which is forbidden to the boys and young men. 
 
500 OSTKICHES AND EMEUS. 
 
 But this species is also obtained iu other ways. Ernest Giles mentions 
 that he found " yards " erected for the capture of Emeus and Wallabies 
 in the interior {Central Australia, pp. 43, 71). The Common Emeu is 
 replaced in Western Australia by the Spotted Emeu {Dromcem irroratus). 
 It is of this bird, I imagine, that my correspondent Mr Tom Carter has 
 had an interesting experience, " In the great drought of 1890-91," 
 writes Mr Carter, " Emeus died in great numbers. I have seen the 
 natives, — who saw some Emeus coming along the beach, looking for a 
 drink of water, — hide behind the sand hummocks just off the beach, in a 
 semicircle. When the birds were opposite, the natives would rush out 
 and if there were a sufficient number to cut off the Emeus from the land, 
 the birds would rush into the sea, in which the blacks soon swam them 
 down. Sometimes the Emeu seems very stupid or inquisitive. A flock 
 Ayill sometimes come right up to a horse or cart, and if one keeps still 
 they come closer. A low whistling seems to help to draw them, and 
 then if one is shot out of the mob, and the position of the sportsman 
 remains immovable, the remaining Emeus will rush a little and then 
 come back to walk round and stare at their wounded companion, thus 
 affording an easy shot. At other times the birds will go off at full speed 
 at a distant view of man or horse. If an Emeu is to be ridden down by 
 a horse, one must get a close start, and bustle the bird as much as 
 possible ; for if it gets what may be termed its second wind, the chase 
 may be given up as hopeless. The usual way of shooting these noble 
 birds by whites is to lie in wait by a pool on a hot day ; but I am glad 
 to say that the law now forbids their slaughter. When I was on the 
 Minitza river some years ago, I noticed a small clay hole of rain water 
 much frequented by Emeus. It was at some distance from the river 
 pools, and other surface water was fast dying out. Accordingly I went 
 out to it with my rifle and gun, accompanied by two natives and a sheep- 
 dog. Arrived at the pool, I sent one native up a thick, scrubby tree, to 
 keep watch while we waited close under it amidst the grass and weeds. 
 In about ten minutes the native in the tree reported that three Emeus 
 were approaching. As the birds halted beside the water, I fired with the 
 rifle and hit one, but it ran away as if nothing had happened (we found 
 it dead two days after). In a short time two more Emeus came up, and I 
 dropped one dead. While we were skinning it, we heard the pumping or 
 booming noise these birds sometimes make, and looking up, we saw three 
 
OSTKICHES AND EMEUS. 501 
 
 more birds watching us. I crawled back to my gun, and getting their 
 necks fairly in a line, I blazed away. The three fell, but on the natives 
 rushing up with a yell, one of the Emeus rose and commenced running 
 in a circle round the pond. The dog and natives pursued it, and it was 
 great sport for a while, as sometimes they would all fall together in the 
 water with a splash, only to struggle out and circle round again. I dare 
 not risk another shot, and at last one of the natives drew a ' Kylie ' from 
 his belt and by a well-directed shot broke the bird's neck. The dog's 
 side was badly ripped by a kick received in the skirmish. Thinking that 
 enough for one morning, I walked back to the station and sent out other 
 natives to assist in eating the spoil." The Maoris have frequently been 
 referred to in this work as ardent fowlers. I can hardly conclude my 
 labours without alluding to their pursuit of the Kiwi {Apteryx). The 
 North Island Kiwi {ApUryx Tmlleri), in particular, is, or was, much sought 
 after as an article of food. The chase of the Kiwi is carried on by means 
 of muzzled dogs, which carry bells to guide their owners as to the course 
 that they take. The Kiwi is nocturnal in its habits, and passes the hours 
 of daylight in its burrow. Sir Walter Buller has described at great 
 length his experiences of hunting Kiwis. In an expedition of a week's 
 duration to a Kiwi preserve, he and his Kiwi-hunters secured forty Kiwis 
 of all ages, and nine eggs. The birds are taken by the hand when run 
 to ground by the dogs, but not without resisting capture with their 
 sharply-armed feet. 
 
 [The headpiece depicts the chase of the Ostrich as pursued in Northern 
 Africa.] 
 
 " What should delight me like the news of friends 
 Whose memories were a solace to me oft, 
 As mountain-baths to wild fowls in their flight ? " 
 
ADDENDA ET COEEIGENDUM. 
 
 Page 18, line 15, "little birds of . . . African origin." Dr Percy 
 Eendall describes to me, orally, a curious native bird-trap which he 
 found to be employed on a marsh adjoining the Upper Shire Eiver 
 for effecting the capture of a small Finch (Crithagra). The species 
 in question is fond of feeding on the ground about the roots of the 
 Bango reeds, which grow like osiers in the swamps. The natives 
 construct wicker traps made by interlacing lean-to twigs, sloping 
 away at the sides to form a sort of oval cage, measuring about 
 eighteen inches in length. This engine is entered by two lateral 
 orifices, left open for that purpose. A train of Mapira or native 
 Millet is strewn upon the ground leading into the trap. The 
 Pinches are thus enticed into the trap, in which they remain ; being 
 unable to discover the narrow passages which they were induced to 
 enter by the food sprinkled outside. Dr Eendall never met with 
 the same pattern of trap in any other part of Africa. 
 
 Page 29, line 9, "The Kingfisher has been known to be taken in the 
 ' Uccellanda ' ; a remark which applies to . . . Hawks of several 
 species." Sacerdote Antonio Tait, of Trento, records that a no less 
 interesting visitor than a Short- toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) was 
 captured in the nets of a " Eoccolo " at Sardagna on September 18th 
 1895 (Avicula, 1897, p. 97). 
 
 Page 131, line 20, "the Beguli are captured with limed twigs." Vallon 
 records {Avicula, 1897, p. 31), that he found a Yellow-browed 
 Warbler (Phylloscopus superciliosus) among a bunch of Pirecrests at 
 a shop in Udine in October 1893, and that this rare Warbler had 
 also been taken with birdlime ; a fate which occurred to a second 
 specimen in September 1896. 
 
 Page 273, line l1,for 1826, read 1626. 
 
 Page 399, line 17, "the Panjok." This engine (a model of which was 
 sent to the author by Mr Charles Hose) is an Eastern form of the 
 "Sprint," figured at page 454. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Accentor, Alpine, snared in Switzerland, 130. 
 
 „ Hedge, 130. 
 
 „ Mountain, 130. 
 Albatross, Wandering, how caught, 478. 
 Alberti, xxiii. 
 Antenndla, 64. 
 Apapane, 139. 
 Appeau A/rouer, 9. 
 Appelcmts, 372. 
 Arbret, 23. 
 Araigne, 127, 169. 
 Archetti, 82. 
 Arten von VOgeln, xvi. 
 Auk, Great, 482. 
 „ Little, 483. 
 
 Bamboo-pheasant, pugnacious disposition, 
 401 ; how trapped, 402. 
 
 Balestre, 56. 
 
 Balongette, 78. 
 
 Bat-fowling, 38. 
 
 Beccaficos, 126. 
 
 Bechstein, xvii. 
 
 Bee-eater, Common, taken with hook in 
 Crete, 150 ; snared in Tuscany, ih. ; 
 netted in Spain, ih. 
 „ Sumatran, snared in Borneo, 150. 
 
 Bell-bird, snared in New Zealand, 140-142. 
 
 Bdl-net, 358. 
 
 Belon, xviii. 
 
 Bird-arrow, 483. 
 
 Bird-call, for Blackbird, 8 ; Coot, 431 ; Corn- 
 crake, 426 ; Doves, 312, 313 ; Goose, 224; 
 Grouse, 329 ; Jay, 10 ; Owl, 8, 9 ; Part- 
 
 ridge, 352 ; Plover, 464 ; Quail, 370, 372. 
 380, 388; Red-legged Partridge, 390; 
 Ruddy Crake, 426 ; Titmouse, 74 ; Wild 
 Turkey, 423. 
 
 Birdlime, in Algeria, xxxi, 24, 33 ; in Borneo, 
 158 ; in China, xxix, xxx ; in Egypt, 
 xxxi; in England, 23, 34, 49, 51, 114, 
 153, 194, 299, 352; in France, 10, 11, 
 23, 35, 106, 473 ; in Germany, 7, 34, 56, 
 111, 130, 154 ; in Greece, xxxi, xxxii, 24 ; 
 in Guatemala, 150 ; in Hawaii, 137 ; in 
 Holland, 79, 176 ; inlndia, xxxii, 82, 131, 
 132, 158, 177, 194; in Italy, xxx, 14, 
 40, 73, 82, 105, 106, 110, 111, 115, 116, 
 131, 148, 173, 174, 175, 303, 308; in 
 Japan, xxxiii, 45, 80, 108, 129, 133, 172, 
 297, 298, 299, 300 ; in Kaffraria, 18 ; in 
 Lombock, xxx ; in Loyalty Isles, xxxiii ; 
 in Moravia, 24 ; in Natal, xxxii ; in 
 Nyassaland, xxxii, 154 ; in Pelew Isles, 
 xxxiii ; in Reunion, 145, 195 ; in Russia, 
 9, 48, 147 ; in Samoa, 312 ; in Scandi- 
 navia, 176. 
 
 Bittern, 214. 
 
 Blome, xvi. 
 
 Blow-pipe, xxvii. 
 
 Bluethroat, trapped in China, 125 ; in 
 Savoy, ib. 
 
 Bobolink, 18. 
 
 Boschetto, 105. 
 
 Brai, 75. 
 
 Brambling, 35. 
 
 Brechoello, 37. 
 
 Brehm, xvii. 
 
 Brescianella, 27-29. 
 
 Budgerigar, speared in West Australia, 159. 
 
 Bulbul, Black eye-browed, caught intoxi- 
 cated, 132. 
 ,, Brown-eared, limed in Japan, 133. 
 ,, Red- vented, limed in India, 132. 
 
504 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Biilliard, xix. 
 
 Bullfinch, Common, in England, 47 ; in 
 Italy, ib. 
 ,, Northern, 46. 
 Bunting, Common, 54. 
 „ Lapland, 54. 
 
 ,, Meadow, taken in Rocoolo, 52. 
 ,, Ortolan, netted in Italy, 52; in 
 
 France, 53. 
 „ Snow, 54. 
 „ Yellow, 54. 
 Bush-Quail, Painted, snared in India, 398 ; 
 
 trapped, ib. ; young taken, 399. 
 Bustard, Australian, caught on eggs, 439; 
 how noosed, 440. 
 ,, Great, in England, 434 ; in Russia, 
 
 436 ; in Spain, 435 ; in Siberia, 436. 
 ,, Houbara, in Sahara, 437. 
 , , Indian, snared in Punjab, 437, 438. 
 ,, Little, snared in Germany, 441 ; 
 in Russia, 440; netted in Sardinia, 
 441. 
 Bustard Quail, 399. 
 Bvtrio, 367. 
 Buzzard, Common, 185. 
 
 o 
 
 Oaccia, all' Aequo,, 32. 
 
 „ all' Abbeveratojo, 32. 
 i, alia Stanga, 369. 
 ,, di Botte, 2S5. 
 
 OailUre, 372. 
 
 Canestra, 37. 
 
 Oanossa, 60. 
 
 Capercaillie, in Lapland, 340; in Norway, 
 341, 342 ; in Siberia, 339, 341, 343. 
 
 Oa/rdet, 39. 
 
 Cassowary, Bennett's, speared and snared in 
 New Britain, 499. 
 
 Chaffinch, in England, 34 ; in France, 35 ; 
 in Germany, 34 ; in Holland, 33 ; in 
 Italy, 27-34. 
 
 Chanterelle, 374. 
 
 Ghasse aux Abreuvoirs, 32. 
 
 Chavari, 304. 
 
 Ohioccolo, 8. 
 
 Ohiusa aUe Quaglie, 367. 
 
 Chough, Cornish, 3. 
 
 Clap-net, in Alaska, 219 ; in China, 276, 325 ; 
 in Egypt, 216, 270 ; in England, 3, 4, 
 15, 20, 21, 65, 274, 461, 463 ; in France, 
 53, 169, 274, 463; in Greece, 22; on 
 Heligoland, 113; in Holland, 33, 225, 
 
 274, 464 ; in India, 276, 445 ; in Italy, 
 15, 23, 37, 52, 66, 303, 464 ; in Russia, 
 47, 50, 303; in Siberia, 224, 225; in 
 Spain, 67 ; wide distribution of, xxxviii. 
 Cockshott net, 447. 
 Collet pendu, 92. 
 Gonti, 362. 
 
 Coot, American, 431. 
 „ Common, Drives of, in England, 431 ; 
 in Italy, 430, 431 ; netted on Caspian, 
 428, 429 ; in Egypt, 429 ; in France, 
 431 ; in Italy, 430 ; shot to call in Italy, 
 431 ; snared in India, 432. 
 Goperto, 368. 
 
 Cormorant, Common, shot in Greenland, 
 209 ; in Italy, 211 ; snared in Green- 
 land, 209. 
 „ Pelagic, netted in Pacific, 210 ; 
 
 taken with hook, ib. 
 „ Red-faced, how snared, 209. 
 
 Corncrake, how called in England, 426. 
 Crake, Carolina, 428. 
 ,, Clapper, 428. 
 
 „ Ruddy, snared in Japan, 426, 427. 
 „ Spotted, 428. 
 Crane, Common, in Asia Minor, 444 ; in 
 England, 442 ; in Germany, 445 ; in 
 India, 445. 
 ,, Demoiselle, stalked in India, 445; 
 
 taken in Clap-nets, ib. ; snared, «&. 
 ,, White, how snared in India, 445. 
 Creeper, Wall, 73. 
 Crib, for Bustard, 435. 
 Crossbill, taken with Clap-nets in England, 
 48 ; limed in Germany, 47 ; netted in 
 Uccellamda in Italy, 47. 
 Crow, Carrion, 3. 
 Crow-net, 4. 
 Gucido, 368. 
 Cuckoo, 148. 
 Curlew, in Borkum, 467 ; in Italy, 465. 
 
 Deadfall, xxxvi, 339-342, 403, 418. 
 
 Decoy, European, earliest evidence of from 
 Friesland and Hesse, 259 ; first estab- 
 lished in England by Sir W. Woodhouse, 
 254 ; subsequent construction of Decoy 
 in St James's Park by Charles ii., 254 ; 
 modern Decoy in France, 258 ; in Ger- 
 many, 260 ; in Holland, 258 ; absence of 
 from Italy, 255. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 505 
 
 Decoy, Japanese, construction of, 261, 262 ; 
 
 working of, 263-266. 
 Decoy-pipe, European, identical with Tunnel- 
 net, used in America, 253 ; in England, 
 251 ; in France, 253 ; in India, 261. 
 De Grandmont, xix. 
 Diavolaccio, 40. 
 Diluvio, 40. 
 
 Diver, Black-throated, 481. 
 „ Great Northern, in America, 480 ; in 
 
 Iceland, 481. 
 „ Red-throated, 481. 
 Bo Guz, 201. 
 Dohnen, 95, 96. 
 Dotterel, 465. 
 
 Dove, Common Turtle, netted, in Italy, 308 ; 
 
 at Malta, 308; in Portugal, 308; 
 
 snared in Greece, 309 ; fattened in 
 
 Italy, 311. 
 
 „ Eastern Turtle, 310. 
 
 , , Green -winged, how decoyed in Borneo, 
 
 312 ; how snared, 313. 
 „ Kook, 301. 
 „ Malacca Turtle, 311. 
 „ Ring, in Britain, 304 ; in France, ib. ; 
 in Germany, 303; in Italy, 302; in 
 Palestine, 302 ; in Russia, 303 ; in 
 Spain, 304. 
 ,, Stock, in Germany, 303; in Italy, 
 306. 
 Drag-net, xxxvii, 70, 357, 368, 377, 386, 
 
 465. 
 Drosselgarte, 101. 
 Drosselherd, 99. 
 
 Duck, Australian Wild, 238, 239, 241, 282. 
 ,, Canvas-back, speared in America, 236. 
 ,, Common Wild, netted in England, 
 251-253; in France, 253, 273, 274; 
 in Germany, 259, 260, 274, 276 ; in 
 Greece, 248; in Holland, 258; in 
 Italy, 272, 273 ; in Siberia, 283-286 ; 
 snared in England, 246-248 ; in France, 
 244-246 ; in Germany, 249 ; in Greece, 
 
 248 ; in India, 244 ; in Scandinavia, 
 
 249 ; in Siberia, 242, 243 ; taken with 
 hooks in England, 295 ; in France, 
 294 ; in Kashmir, 295 ; in Siberia, 295. 
 
 „ Eider, in Finland, 287 ; in Greenland, 
 
 237. 
 „ Ferruginous, 295. 
 „ Long-tailed, 287. 
 .„ Tufted, netted in Italy, 292. 
 „ American Wood, netted, 253 ; trapped, 
 296. 
 Dulled, 491. 
 Dunlin, 467. 
 
 E 
 
 Eagle, Golden, in China, 181 ; in Scotland, 
 182-184. 
 „ Sea, in Greenland, 184; in England, 
 
 182 ; in Scotland, 183. 
 „ Spotted, in China, 181. 
 Ecladouere, 39. 
 Emeu, Common, 499. 
 ,, Spotted, 500. 
 Endici, 66. 
 EnUnherd, 274, 275. 
 
 P 
 
 Falcon, Barbary, 191. 
 ,, Iceland, 191. 
 ,, Peregrine, 189. 
 ,, Saker, 193. 
 
 FaXlstock, 341. 
 
 Fieldfare, snared in Germany, 98 ; in Poland, 
 94. 
 
 Finch, Serin, 50. 
 ,, Snow, 52. 
 
 Firecrest, first described by Olina, 131. 
 
 Fistierella, 8. 
 
 Flaka, 341. 
 
 Flamingo, in Egypt, taken with Clap-nets, 
 216 ; with Cast-net, 217 ; surprised at 
 night, 217. 
 
 Flight-nets, in Australia, 235, 236, 281, 282 ; 
 on Caspian, 283 ; in China, 281 ; in 
 England, 287-289 ; in Germany, 15, 53, 
 358, 466 ; in Greece, 289 ; in Holland, 
 16 ; in India, 282, 283 ; in Italy, 362, 
 365, 366, 430 ; in Japan, 278-281 ; in 
 Russia, 286; in Siberia, 283-286; in 
 Sweden, 286, 287. 
 
 ITlorican, how snared, 438, 439. 
 
 Fluggarncken, 376. 
 
 Fowling-rod, 475. 
 
 Franoolin, Common, 396, 397. 
 „ Coqui, 395. 
 
 „ Grey, 396-398. 
 
 Fraschetta, 8. 
 
 Friderich, xviii. 
 
 Frigate-bird, caught with lasso, 205, 206. 
 
 Friignolo, 38. 
 
 Fulmar, snared at St Kilda, 474, 475. 
 
 G 
 
 Oabbia scaricatoia, 121. 
 Gadwall, 254, 276. 
 
506 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Oaggia, 115. 
 
 Gallinnle, Allen's, Purple, 432. 
 ,, European Purple, 432. 
 „ Green- backed, Purple, 432. 
 Gannet, 206-208. 
 Garganey, 276. 
 Gesner, xx. 
 Glan4e, 245. 
 Oloclcengam, 358. 
 Godwit, Black-tailed, 465. 
 
 „ New Zealand, 462. 
 Goldcrest, 130. 
 Goldeneye, 293. 
 
 Goldfinch, in Algiers, 24 ; in Britain, 20-23 ; 
 in France, 22, 23 ; in Germany, 24 ; in 
 Greece, 22-24 ; in Italy, 19, 23 ; in 
 Spain, 22. 
 Goose, Bean, how trapped in Ireland, 225. 
 ,, Bernacle, netted in Scotland, 221. 
 „ Brent, how netted in British Colum- 
 bia, 221. 
 ,, Canada, how shot in Hudson's Bay, 
 
 219. 
 ,, Emperor, how enticed, 219. 
 „ Grey Lag, 222. 
 , , Lesser White-fronted, how hooked in 
 
 China, 229 ; caught in Lapland, 222. 
 ,, Maned, 282. 
 „ Snow, 218. 
 
 , , Swan, how trapped in Asia, 226. 
 , , White-cheeked, netted in Alaska,220. 
 Goshawk, 197. 
 Cfratiglie, 118. 
 Grebe, Little, 482. 
 Greenfinch, Common, 49. 
 
 ,, Chinese, xxxviii. 
 
 Grosbeak, Pine, netted in Italy, 48 ; snared 
 
 in Scandinavia, 47. 
 Grouse, Black, netted in snow, 339 ; poached 
 in Scotland, 335, 337 ; snared in Nor- 
 way, 335, 338, 339; trapped in Siberia, 
 336, 337. 
 „ Canada, 347. 
 ,, Franklin's, 347. 
 „ Hazel, 344. 
 „ Red, 328-330; hybridising with 
 
 Black Grouse, 348. 
 „ Ruffed, 345. 
 ,, Sharp-winged, 348. 
 , , Willow, netted and snared in Alaska, 
 332 ; snared in Norway, 331 ; in 
 Siberia, 332. 
 Gniccia, 116. 
 Chidder, 43. 
 
 Guillemot, Brunnich's, 483. 
 ,, Common, 486. 
 
 Guinea-fowl, Mitred, 421. 
 Gull, Brown-headed, 473. 
 
 ,, Common American, 473. 
 
 „ Glaucous, 470. 
 
 ,, Ivory, 470. 
 
 „ Sabine's, 473, 479. 
 
 Hcdlier, 372-374. 
 Hoengedoner, 93. 
 Harrier, Gould's, 195. 
 
 ,, Madagascar, 195. 
 Hawfinch, 48. 
 Heherhutte, 7. 
 
 Hemipode, Black-necked, 400. 
 Heron, Common, in England, 212 ; in India, 
 214 ; in Japan, 213. 
 Night, 214. 
 „ Purple, 214. 
 Hobby, 197. 
 Hochyam, 358. 
 Honey Buzzard, 182. 
 Hoopoe, 154. 
 Hornbill, Crowned, 153. 
 ,, Great, 153. 
 
 ,, South African Ground, 153. 
 ,, Trumpeter, limed in Nyassaland, 
 154. 
 Humming-bird, Nootka, how captured, 155. 
 , , Ruby-throated, how caught, 
 
 155 ; how intoxicated, 156. 
 
 liwi, 136. 
 
 Jackdaw, 3. 
 
 Japan, Fowling in, viii-x, xxxiii, xxxviii, 43- 
 45, 51, 80, 108, 129, 133, 172, 201-202, 
 213, 226, 261-269, 278-280, 295, 297-299, 
 310, 387, 388, 411-413, 426-428. 
 
 Japanese Hawk-net, 201, 202. 
 
 Jay, Common, how limed in England, 6 ; in 
 France, 9, 10 ; in Germany, 7 ; in Italy, 
 8 ; in Russia, 9. 
 „ Siberian, 7. 
 
 Jungle-cook, snared in Burma, 414 ; in 
 Sumatra, 417. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 507 
 
 Kascher, 266. 
 Kea, 163. 
 
 Kingfisher, Common, limed in England, 153 ; 
 netted m China, 152 ; in Italy, 152. 
 „ White-breasted, netted in India, 151. 
 Kistm, 224. 
 Kite, Indian, caught with thread, 187. 
 
 „ Red, 186. 
 Kittiwake, 470, 479. 
 Kiwi, North-Island, 501. 
 Klebegam, 129. 
 Kletten-stange, 47. 
 Kloben, 75. 
 
 Knot, fattened in England, 462. 
 Krahenhiiiie, 165. 
 Krammetsvogelherd, 99. 
 
 Lam, 34]. 
 
 Lanciatoia, 59. 
 
 Largo, 30. 
 
 Lark, Calandra, 55, 56. 
 „ Sky, at Bologna, 60; on Campagna, 
 59 ; at Dunstable, 65 ; in England, 55, 
 60, 65; in Germany, 56, 62-64; in 
 Lancashire, 69 ; in Lombardy, 66 ; at 
 Pisa, 67 ; in Spain, 56 ; in Syria, 56. 
 ,, Wood, 55. 
 
 Lark-mirroT, 67-69. 
 
 Laufdoh/nen, 458. 
 
 Leimruthen, 7. 
 
 Lerchenstreichen, 62-64. 
 
 Lindermayer, xx. 
 
 Linnet, 50. 
 
 Low-belling, 60-62. 
 
 M 
 
 Magpie, 5. 
 
 Maitre, 451. 
 
 Mamiha, 417. 
 
 Mamo, 136. 
 
 Markham, Gervase, xv. 
 
 Martin, Crag, netted in Sicily, 134. 
 
 ,, House, snared in Tuscany, 133. 
 
 ,, Pallas's House, caught with thread 
 in Siberia, 133. 
 Masoall, Leonard, xiv. 
 Meisen-hutU, 74-76. 
 
 Merlai, 89. 
 
 Merlin, 197. 
 
 Mesangette, 78. 
 
 Moonal Pheasant, 403. 
 
 Muso-net, xxxviii, 44, 213, 226, 310, 411. 
 
 N 
 
 N achtigalln&tz, 123. 
 Na/ruko, 44. 
 Nasses, 53. 
 Nederstader, 484. 
 
 A'ight-fowling, in America, 236, 321, 322, 
 428, 453 ; in Australia, 439 ; in Egypt, 
 216, 429 ; in France, 40, 294, 304 ; in 
 Germany, 40, 62-64; in Great Britain, 
 38, 39, 60-62, 207, 209, 406 ; in India, 
 282, 326 ; in Italy, 38, 40, 59, 60, 453 ; 
 in Japan, 44, 45 ; in New Zealand, xxx*, 
 143, 144, 163 ; in Persia, 410, 428 ; in 
 Reunion, 208 ; in Siberia, 285 ; in Spain, 
 60, 435 ; in Syria, 39. 
 Nightingale, Common, trapped in England, 
 121, 123 ; in France, 123 ; in Germany, 
 123 ; in Holland, 124 ; in Italy, 120 ; 
 netted at Malta, 118 ; trapped in 
 Tunis, 118-120. 
 , , Northern, trapped in Russia, 122 ; 
 snared, 123. 
 Nutcracker, netted in Italy, 5 ; snared, ib. 
 Nuthatch, 73. 
 
 o 
 
 Olina, xxii. 
 
 Oriole, Baltimore, 18, 
 
 ,, Golden, how decoyed, 17 ; netted, 18. 
 Ortolan, netted in Italy, 52 ; in Prance, 53 ; 
 
 how fattened, 52. 
 Orrbanne, 339. 
 
 Ostrich, how hunted, 495 ; how trapped, 
 496 ; how stalked, ib, ; speared, 487 ; 
 how clubbed, ib. 
 Ouzel, Dusky, limed and netted in Japan, 108. 
 „ Ring, 96. 
 ,, Water, 131. 
 Owl, Eagle, used as decoy for hawks in 
 France, 168-171 ; in Germany, 165-167 ; 
 in Italy, 165. 
 ,, Feather- toed Scops, used as decoy in 
 
 Japan, 172. 
 ,, Little, used as decoy in Holland, 176 ; 
 
508 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 in Italy, 174-176 ; how captured in Ger- 
 many, 176 ; in Holland, ib. ; in Italy, 
 175 ; its names, 174, 176. 
 Owl, Long-eared, 171. 
 
 Mottled Wood, how snared in India, 
 177. 
 
 Scops, limed in Italy, 173 ; shot on 
 Malta, 168 ; used as decoy in Savoy, 173. 
 Short- toed, its liver used as love philtre 
 in Alaska, 179. 
 
 Tengmalm's, used as decoy in Scandi- 
 navia, 176. 
 Ural, used as decoy for Jays in Japan, 
 172. 
 Owlet, Button's, used medicinally, 178. 
 
 ,, Spotted, used as decoy in India, 177. 
 Oysteroatcher, 466. 
 
 Palette, 39. 
 
 PcUombiire, 305. 
 
 Panioni, 77. 
 
 Panjok, 399 (see also Addenda). 
 
 Pantiera, 127. 
 
 Pantiire, 450. 
 
 Panties, 458. 
 
 Paradise, Red Bird of, how snared, 12. 
 
 Parake^, Blue-crowned Hanging, limed in 
 Borneo, 158. 
 ,, Ring necked, limed in India, 158. 
 „ Yellow-fronted, snared in New Zea- 
 land, 163. 
 ,, Uvaean, trapped in Loyalty Isles, 
 159. 
 
 Parate, 362. 
 
 Pa/ratdla, 367. 
 
 Paratore, 464. 
 
 Paretaio, 25, 37. 
 
 Parrot, Grey, 157. 
 
 „ Kaka, how snared, 160; caught by 
 hand, 161, 162 ; taken by night, 163. 
 ,, Owl, snared in burrow, 163. 
 
 Partridge, Barbary, netted in Morocco, 392. 
 ,, Grey, limed in England, 352 ; 
 netted with Bell-net in Germany, 358, 
 359 ; in Russia, 359 ; netted with 
 Drag-net in England, 357 ; in France, 
 ib. ; in Italy, ib. ; in Germany, ib. ; 
 with ground-net in England, 355 ; 
 with Hallier in France, 360; with 
 Hoch-garn in Germany, 358 ; in 
 Sweden, ib, ; with Schneehaube in 
 Germany, 360; with Tunnel-net in 
 France, 355, 356 ; in Germany, 355 ; 
 
 in Italy, ib. ; in Sweden, 356 ; sn 
 in France, 350, 351 ; in Poland, 
 trapped in France, 350, 352 ; in 
 many, 360. 
 Partridge, Red-legged, netted in Frs 
 390; shot in Spain to decoys, 
 trapped in Elba, 391, 392. 
 „ Rock, shot in Greece, 394 ; tra] 
 in Greece, 395 ; shot in Italy, 
 netted in Palestine, 395. 
 Passi, 102. 
 
 Peacock, snared in India, 420. 
 Peewit, netted in Holland, 464 ; in Italj 
 Pelican, Dalmatian, 204. 
 
 ,, White, 204. 
 Pen, for Pochard, 289. 
 
 ,, for Wild Turkey, 421. 
 Penere, 89. 
 
 Petrel, Fork-tailed, 478. 
 ,, White-faced, 478. 
 „ Wilson's, 478. 
 Pheasant, Argus, snared in Sumatra 
 Tenasserim, 417, 418 ; trapped \ 
 Deadfall in Tenasserim, 418 ; ■v 
 Pheasant-knife in Borneo and Te 
 serim, 418, 419. 
 „ Blyth's Homed, 402. 
 ,, Common, trapped in Cauca 
 404 ; snared in Corsica, 405 ; ne 
 in England, 407 ; in France, 4 
 snared in England, 406 ; in Fra: 
 405 ; in Italy, ib. ; trapped with 
 pared peas, 410 ; snared in Pel 
 403-404 ; shot when ' ' treed " by 
 in France and Italy, 407. 
 ,, Crimson Homed, snared in I 
 
 khim, 402. 
 ,, Peacock, trapped in Cachar, 4 
 , , Ring-necked, snared in China, '. 
 
 taken in Box-traps, xxxvii. 
 „ Vermicellated Kalij, snared 
 
 Burma, 415. 
 ,, Versicolor, netted in Japan, 4 
 snared, 412. 
 Pigeon, New Zealand, snared in trees, '. 
 319 ; snared at water, 319 ; spea 
 318-319. 
 ,, Passenger, felled at roost, 321, i 
 
 netted, 322. 
 ,, Tooth-billed, 312. 
 PinsorUe, 40. 
 Pipie, 9-12. 
 
 Plover, Golden, netted in England, 463 
 France, ib. ; in Italy, 464. 
 „ Grey, 463. 
 Pochard, 288. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 509 
 
 Pocha/rd-nets, 288. 
 
 Prairie Hen, how killed by Indians, 346 
 
 netted, ib. 
 Ptarmigan, Common, captured in snow, 333, 
 „ Bock, snared in Iceland, 333- 
 
 334. 
 PuiBn, Common, netted in Faroes, 486, 487 
 snared in Hebrides, 489 ; in Ireland, 
 491 ; netted in Norway, 487 ; caught 
 with dogs, ih. 
 ,, Horned, hunted in Pacific, 494. 
 ,, Tufted, netted in Commander Isles, 
 493 ; hunted in Alaska, 494. 
 Puma, 338. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quagliercya, 369. 
 
 Quaiara, 369. 
 
 Quail, Califomian, 423. 
 ,, Common, netted at Antium, 365 ; at 
 Capri, 361-363; in Chitral, 384; on 
 Cythera, 378 ; in Egypt, 382 ; in France, 
 371-375 ; in Germany, 375, 376 ; in 
 Greece, 378-380 ; in India, 383, 384 ; in 
 Italy, 361-370; in Lipari Isles, 370 ; at 
 Marseilles, 371 ; near Haples, 363 ; at 
 Nettuno, 366 ; in Padua, 369 ; in Pales- 
 tine, 382; in Russia, 377 ; in Sicily, 364 ; 
 in Spain, 380 ; on Thera, 379 ; in Tus- 
 cany, 367-370. 
 ,, Japanese, netted in China, 385-386 ; 
 in Japan, 387 ; snared in Japan, 388 ; 
 trained for fighting in China, 387. 
 ,, Virginian, 423. 
 
 Quezal, how limed, 150. 
 
 R 
 
 Ragrm, 102, 198, 199. 
 Rail, Clapper, 428. 
 „ Land, how decoyed, 426. 
 ,, Water, snared in India and Italy, 428. 
 „ Weka, 433. 
 Raven, in Deadfall, 2 ; snared in Greenland, 
 
 1 ; in Savoy, 2. 
 Razorbill, in Greenland, 483 ; in Hebrides, 
 
 489 
 Rehhuhnersteige, 360. 
 Redbreast, 115. 
 Redpoll, Lesser, 51. 
 ,, Mealy, 52. 
 Redstart, Black, 114. 
 
 Redstart, Common, 114. 
 
 Redwing, 95. 
 
 Rete aperte, 33, 465. 
 
 Rete ad imbuto, 369. 
 
 Rete a sacco, 40. 
 
 Reusak-hiel, 331. 
 
 Rets-saillans, 169. 
 
 Revirbh-e, 294. 
 
 Rhea, Common, captured with bolas, 497, 
 498 ; in snow, 498. 
 
 Richiami, 362. 
 
 Ridie, 70. 
 
 Ritrosa, 82. 
 
 Roccolo, 103-105. 
 
 Rock-fowling, in Alaska, 494 ; at Bass Rock, 
 207 ; in Cumberland, 491 ; in Faroes, 
 xl, 486, 487; in Hebrides, 488, 489; 
 in Iceland, 484-486 ; in Ireland, 491 ; in 
 Norway, 487 ; in Reunion, 208 ; at St 
 Kilda, 206-207, 474-476, 489-491. 
 
 Roderick-trap, 42. 
 
 Roller, 149. 
 
 Rook, early proscribed in Scotland, 3 ; limed 
 in Italy, 2 ; netted in England, 4. 
 
 Ruff, netted and snared in England, 461, 462 ; 
 snared in Germany and Holland, 460. 
 
 S 
 
 Sand-Grouse, Black-bellied, netted at night 
 in India, 326 ; netted at water, ib. ; 
 snared at water, ib. 
 ,, Indian, netted at night in India, 
 
 326 ; snared near Aden, 327. 
 ,, Painted, netted in India with 
 
 screen and hand-net, 326. 
 „ Pallas's, netted in China, 325, 326. 
 ,, Pin-tailed, netted in France, 325 ; 
 snared in India, 326. 
 Sandpiper, Purple, snared in Greenland, 
 
 462. 
 Sca/rcatora, 121. 
 Scaup, Common, 293. 
 
 New Zealand, 239. 
 Schia/ppa/ri, 362. 
 Schneehaube, 360. 
 Scoter, Common, 292. 
 
 ,, Surf, netted in France, 294. 
 Shag, Common, caught in Hebrides, 208. 
 ,, Australian, caught at roost, 210; pur- 
 suit of nestlings, ib. ; felled with boom- 
 erang, 211. 
 Shahin, limed in India, 194. 
 Shearwater, Common, 476. 
 
510 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Shearwater, Dusky, 477. 
 
 , , Forster's, raided by Maoris, 477. 
 
 ,, Slender-billed, 477. 
 
 Sooty, 477. 
 Sbell-Ibis, snared in India, 215. 
 Shikra, how caught in India, 199, 200. 
 Shoveller, Common, 257, 276. 
 „ New Zealand, 239. 
 
 Shrike, Bull-headed, limed in Japan, 80, 81. 
 , , Chinese Red-tailed, trained to hawk, 80. 
 ,, Great Grey, curious names, 83, 84; 
 netted in England, 84 ; caught at Pip6e 
 in France, 83 ; trained for hawking small 
 birds, ib. ; used as decoy in Holland, 
 ih. ; netted in Savoy, 84. 
 ,, Lesser Grey, snared in Italy, 81. 
 ,, Pallid, limed in India, 82. 
 ,, Red-backed, snared in Italy, 81. 
 Shrike, Woodchat, snared in Africa, 82 ; in 
 
 Italy, ib. 
 Simblin, 69. 
 Similu, 418. 
 Siskin, limed in China, xxx ; netted in 
 
 Italy, 50 ; in Japan, 51 ; in Russia, 50. 
 Skua, Buflfon's, 473. 
 Smew, 289. 
 
 Snipe, Common, taken with Drag-net in 
 France, 458 ; snared in Furness, 458 ; 
 in Germany, ib. ; in Italy, ib. ; in Lan- 
 cashire, ib. ; in Poland, 457 ; netted in 
 Holland, 458 ; in Italy, 65 ; taken with 
 Flight-nets in Low Countries, 459 ; 
 taken with Tunnel-nets in Sicily, ih. 
 , , Great, netted in Norway, 459 ; snared 
 
 in Poland, 457. 
 ,, Jack, 457. 
 Sparrow, House, in England, 38, 39, 42 ; in 
 France, 40, 41. 
 ,, Italian, caught with Clap-nets, 37 ; 
 with Little Owl, ib. ; at night, 38, 40 ; 
 with wicker trap, 37. 
 ,, Tree, how limed in Japan, ix, x, 
 45 ; netted with Muso-ami, 44 ; with 
 Kasumu-ami, 44, 45. 
 Sparrow-net, English, 39. 
 Sparrowhawk, Besra, netted in India, 201. 
 „ Common, limed in England, 
 
 196 ; netted, 197 ; taken in Levant, 198. 
 Spoonbill, caught with hand-net in Holland, 
 
 215. 
 Springe, 246. 
 Sprint, 454, 455. 
 Stadoner, 93. 
 
 Staaren-fange im Schilt, 15. 
 Stales, 66. 
 Starling, Black, 16. 
 
 Starling, Common, reared in Fiaminghi, 13 j 
 taken with limed thread, 14 ; with 
 Flight-nets in Germany and Holland, 
 15, 16; with Clap-net, 15; caught in 
 marshes of Morocco, 16 ; snared in 
 Sahara, 16 ; trapped in snow, 15 ; 
 in wicker baskets, ib. 
 ,, Rose-coloured, 16. 
 Stellnetz, 466, 467.- 
 Stint, Little, 465. 
 Stopiec, 339. 
 
 Stork, White, caught in Egypt, 215. 
 Strascino, 368. 
 Swallow, 133. 
 
 Swan, Black, captured when in moult, 232. 
 „ Black-necked, 232. 
 „ Bewick's, 232. 
 , , hunted in Greenland, 232 ; in Iceland, 
 
 230; snared in Siberia, 231. 
 ,, Mute, 230. 
 Swift, Alpine, 155. 
 ,, Common, 155. 
 
 Tanara, xxiii. 
 
 Teal, Blue-winged, trapped in Southern 
 States, 295. 
 ,, Common, 276. 
 Tenderie, 92. 
 Tendues d'hiver, 41. 
 Tern, Arctic, 470. 
 
 ,, Black, netted in Italy, 470. 
 ,, Lesser, 470. 
 „ Whiskered, 470. 
 ,, White-winged, Black, 470. 
 Thrush, Blue, in Italy, 109, 110. 
 
 ,, Missel, snared in France, 91 ; in 
 
 Poland, 94. 
 „ Rock, 110. 
 
 ,, Song, snared in Ardennes, 92 ; in 
 Denmark, ib. ; in France, 91 ; in Ger- 
 many, 95-97 ; in Lorraine, 91 ; in 
 Maremma, 89 ; in Navarre, 90 ; in 
 Norway, 93 ; in Sardinia, 90 ; netted 
 in Calabria, 102 ; on Heligoland, 101 ; 
 in Lombardy, 102; in Switzerland, 
 103 ; limed and shot at Marseilles, 
 106, 107 ; limed in Tuscany, 105. 
 Titmouse, Azure, trapped in Russia, 78. 
 
 ,, Bearded, limed and netted in 
 
 Holland, 78, 79. 
 ,, Blue, snared in Cumberland, 78; 
 limed in Germany, 74. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 511 
 
 Titmouse, Crested, 74. 
 
 „ Coal, 74. 
 
 „ Great, trapped in Germany, 74-76 ; 
 limed in Italy, 77. 
 
 ,, Marsh, 74. 
 ToiU, 373, 450. 
 Tramaglio, 367. 
 Trammel-net, 69, 70. 
 Traineau, 70. 
 Tranhheerd, 32. 
 Trappola, 119. 
 Tribuchet, 42. 
 Tropic Bird, 208. 
 Tui, 142. 
 Turkey, Wild, 421-423. 
 
 V 
 
 Ventaglio, 363. 
 
 Volant, 92. 
 
 Vulture, Bearded, 180. 
 
 W 
 
 Wachtelgam, 376. 
 
 Wachtdsteckgamchen, 376. 
 
 Wande, 62. 
 
 Wheatear, Black-throated, trapped in Tunis, 
 
 113. 
 „ Common, limed in Germany, 111 ; 
 
 netted ou Heligoland, 113 ; limed with 
 
 Owl in Italy, 111 ; snared in Sussex, 
 
 112. 
 
 Whinchat, 114. 
 White-eye, in Reunion, 144. 
 
 ,, New Zealand, 144. 
 Whitethroat, 127. 
 Wichtelpfeise, 7. 
 Widow-bird, Long-tailed, 18. 
 Wigeon, snared in Cumberland, 248 ; breed- 
 ing in Fens, 252 ; netted in Holland, 274. 
 Wile, 247. 
 Woodcock, American, 453. 
 
 „ netted in England, 448-452 ; in 
 
 France, 450 ; in Germany, 452 ; in Hol- 
 land, ib. ; in Italy, 451 ; snared in Eng- 
 land, 453-455 ; in France, 453, 455, 456 ; 
 in Germany, 456. 
 Wood-Hen, Black, snared by Maoris, 433. 
 Wood-Partridge, Black, 399. 
 
 ,, Crimson-headed, 399. 
 
 ,, Ferruginous, 399. 
 
 ,, Red-crested, 399. 
 
 Woodpecker, Black, snared, 147. 
 ,, Greater Spotted, 146. 
 
 ,, Green, 146. 
 
 Grey, 147. 
 ,, Ivory-billed, 148. 
 
 „ Lesser Spotted, 146. 
 
 , , Red-headed, killed in America, 
 
 148. 
 Wryneck, 148. 
 
 Zambdlona, 66. 
 Zimbelli, 66. 
 Zugnetz, 113.