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about a month; they frequently die under the operation: and hence the value of a stopped bird, as the birdcatchers style it, rises greatly.When the bird has thus prematurely moulted, he is in song, whilst the wild birds are out of song, and his note is louder and more piercing; but it is not only in his note he receives an alteration, the plumage is equally improved. When the

disposes his call-birds at proper intervals. There is a most malicious joy in these call-birds to bring the wild ones into the same captivity, which may likewise be observed with regard to decoy ducks. Their sight and hearing infinitely excels that of the bird-catcher. The moment they see a hawk, they communicate the alarm to each other by a

able, that the bird-catchers take up raise a greater heat, being perhaps their nets at noon. It well deserves examined about once a week to have the attention of the naturalist whence fresh water: the birds eat but little these periodical flights of certain during their confinement, from the birds arise. As the ground, how-putrid state of the air, which lasts ever, is ploughed during the months of October and March, for sowing the winter and spring corn, it should seem that they are thus supplied with a profusion both of seeds and insects, which they cannot so easily procure at any other season. It has been observed, too, that during their sitting, they fly always against the wind: hence there is a great contention among the bird-catchers who shall gain that point; if, for exam-bird-catcher has laid his nets, he ple, it is westerly, the bird-catcher who lays his nets most to the east is sure almost of catching every thing, provided his call-birds are good: a gentle wind to the south-west generally produces the best sport. The bird-catcher generally carries with him five or six linnets (of which more are caught than any other singing bird), two goldfinches, two greenfinches, one woodlark, one red-plaintive note; nor will they then poll, a yellow-hammer, titlark, and aberdavine (or barley-bird), and perhaps a bullfinch; these are placed at small distances from the nets, in little cages. He has, besides, what are called slur-birds, which are placed within the nets, are raised upon the slur, and gently let down at the time the wild bird approaches them. The slur is a moveable perch to which the bird is tied, and which the bird-catcher can raise at pleasure by means of a long string fast-catchers call short jerks, which, ened to it. The slur-birds generally when the birds are good, may be consist of the linnet, goldfinch, and heard at a great distance. The greenfinch, which are secured to the ascendancy by this call is so great, slur by what is called a brace, which that the wildest bird is stopped in secures the bird without injuring its flight, and lights boldly within the plumage. As it has been found twenty yards, perhaps, of three or that there is a superiority in birds four bird-catchers, on a spot which that are in song, the bird-catchers otherwise it would not have taken contrive that their call-birds should the least notice of. Nay, it fremoult before the usual time. In quently happens, that if only half a June or July, therefore, they put flock are caught, the remainder will them into a box made quite close, immediately afterwards light in the under two or three folds of blankets, nets, and share the same fate; and and leave their dung in the cage to should only one bird escape, that

jerk or call, though the wild birds are near. But at any other time, the instant that the wild birds are perceived, notice is given by one to the rest of the call-birds, as by the first hound that hits on the scent to the rest of the pack: after which follows the same sort of tumultuous joy. The call-birds, while the bird is at a distance, do not sing as a bird does in a chamber; they invite the wild ones by what the bird

bird will suffer itself to be pulled at (see LARKS) is in the night, with These are

till it is caught: such a fascinating power have these call-birds.

Various methods are used to catch different kinds of birds. The BULLFINCH, though not properly a singing bird or a bird of flight, as it does not often move farther than from hedge to hedge, yet, as it sells well on account of its learning to whistle tunes, and sometimes flies over where the nets are laid, the birdcatchers have often a call-bird to ensnare it, though most of them can imitate the call with their mouths. It is remarkable that the female bullfinch answers the purpose of a call-bird as well as the male, which is not experienced in any other species taken by the London birdcatchers.

nets called trammels. usually made of thirty-six yards in length, and about six yards over, with six ribs of packthread, which at the ends are put upon two poles about sixteen feet long, and made lesser at each end. These are to be drawn over the ground by two men, and every five or six steps the net is made to touch the ground, otherwise it will pass over the birds without touching them. When they are felt to fly up against the net, it is clapped down, and then all are safe that are under it. The darkest nights are best for this sport; and the net will not only take larks, but all other birds that roost on the ground. In the depth of winter great numbers of larks are taken by nooses of horse-hair. The method is this: take one hundred or three hundred yards of packthread; fasten at every six inches a noose made of double horse-hair; at every twenty yards the line is to be pegged down to the ground, and so left ready to take them. The time to use this is when the ground is covered with snow, and the larks are to be allured to it by some white oats scattered all the way among the nooses. They must be taken away as soon as three or four are hung, otherwise the rest will be frightened; but though some are scared away just where the sportsman comes, others will be feeding at the farther end of the line, and the sport may be thus continued for a long time. Those caught in the day are taken in clapnets of fifteen yards long and two and a half broad; and are enticed within their reach by bits of lookingglass, fixed in a piece of wood, and placed in the middle of the nets, which are put in a quick whirling

The NIGHTINGALE is not a bird of flight, in the sense in which birdcatchers use this term. Like the ROBIN, WREN, and many other singing birds, it only moves from hedge to hedge, and does not take the periodical flights in October and March. Those who take these birds make use of small trap-nets, and are considered as inferior in dignity to other bird-catchers, who will not rank with them. The arrival of the nightingale is expected, by the trappers, in the neighbourhood of London, the first week in April: at the beginning, none but cocks are taken; but in a few days the hens make their appearance, generally by themselves, though sometimes with a few males. The latter are distinguished from the females not only by their superior size, but by a great swelling of the vent which commences on the first arrival of the hens. They are caught in a net-trap, the bottom of which is surrounded with an iron ring; the net itself is rather larger than a cabbage-net. When the trap-motion by the string the larker compers see or hear them, they strew mands; he also makes use of a decoy some fresh mould under the place, lark. These nets are used only till and bait the trap with a meal-worm. the 14th of November; for the larks Ten or a dozen have been thus will not dare to frolic in the air, excaught in a day. cept in fine sunny weather, and of The common way of taking LARKS Course cannot be inveigled into the

snare. When the weather grows | as it is not liable to be cut by the gloomy, the larker changes his en- sharpness of the rocks; the former is gine, and makes use of a trammel- apt to untwist. They trust themselves net, twenty-seven or twenty-eight feet long and five broad, which is put on two poles, eighteen feet long, and carried by men under each arm, who pass over the fields and quarter the ground as a setting dog: when they hear or feel a lark hit the net, they drop it down, and so the birds are taken. Linnæus observes that the male chaffinches fly by themselves, and in the flight precede the females; but this is not peculiar to them. When the titlarks are caught in the beginning of the season, it frequently happens that forty are taken, and not one female among them; and probably the same would be observed as to other birds (as has been done with relation to the wheatear), if they were attended to. Experienced bird-catchers tell us, that such birds as breed twice a year generally have in their first brood a majority of males, and in their second of females, which may in part account for the above observation.

Great numbers of the inhabitants of the Orkneys feed, during the season, on the eggs of the birds of the cliffs. The method of taking them is so very hazardous, as to prove the extremity to which the poor people are driven for want of food. Shapinsha, Sanda, Ilay, Foula, and Noss Head are the most celebrated rocks; and the neighbouring natives the most expert climbers and adventurers after the game of the precipice. The height of some are above fifty fathoms; their fronts roughened with shelves or ledges sufficient only for the birds to lay their eggs upon. To these the dauntless fowlers ascend, pass intrepidly from one to the other, collect the eggs and birds, and descend with the same indifference. In most places the attempt is made from above: they are lowered from the slope contiguous to the brink by a rope, sometimes made of straw, sometimes of the bristles of the hog: they prefer the last even to ropes of hemp,

to a single assistant, who lets his companion down, and holds the rope, depending on his strength alone; which often fails, and the adventurer is sure to be dashed to pieces or drowned in the sea. The rope is often shifted from place to place, with the depending weight of the fowler and his booty. The person above receives signals for the purpose, his associate being out of sight; who, during the operation, by help of a staff, springs from the face of the rocks, to avoid injury from the projecting parts. But the most singular species of birdcatching is on the holm of Noss, a vast rock severed from the Isle of Noss by some convulsion, and only about sixteen fathoms distant. It is of the same stupendous height as the opposite precipice, with a raging sea between; so that the intervening chasm is of matchless horror.

Some adventurous climber reaches the rock in a boat, gains the height, and fastens several stakes on the small portion of earth, which is to be found on the top; correspondent stakes are placed on the edge of the correspondent cliffs. A rope is fixed to the stakes on both sides, along which a machine, called a craddle, is contrived to slide; and by the help of a small parallel cord, fastened in like manner, the adventurer wafts himself over and returns with his booty.

The manner of bird-catching in the Ferro islands is exceedingly hazardous. The cliffs which contain the objects of their search are often two hundred fathoms in height, and are attempted both from above and below. In the first case, the fowlers provide themselves with a rope eighty or one hundred fathoms in length. The fowler fastens one end about his waist and between his legs, recommends himself to the protection of the Almighty, and is lowered down by six others, who

place a piece of timber on the margin of the rock, to preserve the rope from wearing against the sharp edge. They have besides, a small rope fastened to the body of the adventurer, by which he gives signals that they may lower or raise him, or shift him from place to place. The last operation is attended with great danger, by the loosening of the stones, which often fall on his head, and would infallibly destroy him, were it not protected by a strong thick cap; but even that is found unequal to save him against the weight of the larger fragments of rock. The dexterity of the fowlers is amazing; they will place their feet against the front of the precipice, and dart themselves some fathoms from it, with a cool eye survey the places where the birds nestle, and again shoot into their haunts. In some places the birds BIRDLIME is prepared in diflodge in deep recesses. The fowler ferent ways. The best birdlime is will alight, disengage himself from made of the middle bark of the holly, the rope, fix it to a stone, and at his boiled seven or eight hours in water, leisure collect his booty, fasten it to till it is soft and tender: then laid in his girdle, and resume his seat. At heaps in pits in the ground and cotimes he will again spring from the vered with stones, the water being rock, and with a fowling net placed previously drained from it; and in at the end of a staff, catch the old this state left for two or three weeks birds that are flying to and from to ferment, till it is reduced to a their retreats. When he has finish- kind of mucilage. This being taken ed his dreadful employ, he gives a from the pit is pounded in a mortar signal to his friends, who pull him to a paste, washed in river water, up, and share his hard-earned profit. and kneaded, till it is freed from The feathers are preserved for ex- extraneous matters. In this state portation: the flesh is partly eaten it is left four or five days in earthen fresh, but the greater part is dried vessels to ferment and purify itself, for winter's provision. The fowling when it is fit for use. It reddens from below has also its share of tincture of litmus. Exposed to a danger. The party goes on the ex- gentle heat it liquefies slightly, pedition in a boat; and when it has swells in bubbles, becomes grumous, attained the base of the precipice, emits a smell resembling that of one of the most daring having fas-animal oils, grows brown, but recotened a rope about his waist, and vers its properties on cooling, if not furnished himself with a long pole, heated too much. With a greater with an iron hook at one end, either heat it burns, giving out a brisk climbs or is thrust up by his compa- flame and much smoke. The resinions, who place a pole under his duum contains sulphate of pot-ash, breech, to the next footing spot he carbonate of lime, and alumina, with can reach. He, by means of a rope, a small portion of iron. brings up one of the boat's crew; the rest are drawn up in the same manner, and each is furnished with

| his rope and fowling staff. They then continue their progress upwards in the same manner, till they arrive at the region of the birds, and wander about the face of the cliff in search of them. They then act in pairs; one fastens himself to the end of his associate's rope, and in places where birds have nestled beneath his footing, he permits himself to be lowered down, depending for his security on the strength of his companion, who has to haul him up again; but it sometimes happens that the person above is overpowered by the weight, and both perish. They fling the fowls into the boat which attends their motions. They often pass seven or eight days in this tremendous employ, and lodge in the crannies which they find in the face of the precipice.

The misleto affords a juice superior to that of the holly; and if a young shoot of the common alder be

cut through, a stringy juice will draw out in threads, and follow the knife like birdlime, or the juice of the holly.

When birdlime is to be put in wet places, the common birdlime is apt to have its force soon taken away. It is necessary, therefore, to have recourse to a particular sort, which, from its property of bearing water unhurt, is called WATER BIRDLIME, and is prepared thus: - Take a pound of strong birdlime; wash it in spring water till the hardness is all removed; then beat it well that the water may be separated, so as not a drop remains; then dry it well and put it into an earthen pot; add to it as much grease as will make it run, with two spoonfuls of strong vinegar, one spoonful of oil, and a small quantity of Venice turpentine. Let the whole boil for some minutes over a moderate fire, stirring it all the time. Then take it off; and where there is occasion to use it, warm it, and cover the sticks well with it. This is the best sort of birdlime for snipes, and other birds that frequent wet places. The most successful method of using birdlime is this:-cut down the branches of any bushy tree whose twigs are thick, straight, and smooth; the willow and the birch tree afford the best of this kind. Let all the superfluous shoots be trimmed off, and the twigs all made neat and clean; they must all be well covered with the birdlime within four inches of the bottom. No part of the bark, where the lime should come, must be left bare; but it is a nice matter to lay it on properly; for if it be too thick it will give the birds a distaste, and they will not come near it; and if there be too little of it, it will not hold them when they are there. When the bush is thus prepared, it must be set up in some dead hedge, or among bushes near the outskirts of a town, or the like, if in the spring; for these places are the resort of the small birds at that time. If it be used in summer, the bush must be

placed in the midst of a quick-set hedge, or in white-thorn trees near fields of corn; and in the winter, the proper places are about stacks of corn, hovels, barns, and the like. When the lime-bush is thus planted, the fowler must stand as near it as he can without being discovered; and with the mouth, or otherwise, make such notes as the birds do when they attack or call one to another. The time of day for this sport is from sunrise to ten o'clock, and from one to sunset. Another very good method of bringing the birds together is by a stale; a bat makes a very good stale, but it must be fastened so as to be in sight at a distance. An owl is a still better stale; for this bird never goes abroad, but it is followed by all the small birds. They will gather together in great numbers about it, and having no convenient place to sit on but the lime-bush, many will be taken. If a living owl or bat is not to be had, the skin stuffed will serve the purpose, and will last twenty years. Some have used the image of an owl carved in wood, and painted in the natural colours; and it has been found to succeed very well.

BIRDS, METHODS OF PRESERVING. Various methods have been attempted for preserving birds from putrefaction, so as to retain their natural form and position, as well as the beauty of their colours and plumage. A good antiseptic for animal substances has been much inquired after; as, for want of it, many curious animals, and birds particularly, from foreign parts, entirely miscarry, and others of the finest plumage are devoured by insects. The following improved methods by Dr. Lettsom seem to be the least troublesome and the most complete:

After opening the bird by a longitudinal incision from the breast to the vent, dissecting the fleshy parts from the bones, and removing the entrails, eyes, tongue, and brains (which in large birds may be extracted through the eye-holes with

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