3S 



H A R U W I C K E' S S C 1 E N C E - G S S I P. 



still used for eel-snaring ia tlie eastern counties. In 

 the chapter on "Hunting," we' get, inciden- 

 tally, a few glimpses of the natural history of the 

 periods described. We are introduced to animals 





' ^ 



^mifm^'^rnfHf 



rig. .30. Mode of Catchin,2r Woodcocks, from a Uth 

 century MS. 



In fis:s. 39 and 40 we have two of the methods of 

 snaring birds in use during the Middle Ages. Pig. 

 40 shows a man hidden in an improvised bower of 

 leaves, attracting the birds by imitating their notes 

 on a pipe. The other plan is more ingenious. The 

 bird-fowler was covered with clothes of the colour 

 of dead leaves. lYhen he saw a bird he knelt down 

 noiselessly and kept perfectly still. When the bird 

 was not looking towards him he cautiously ap- 

 proached it on his knees, holding in his hands two 

 little sticks covered with red cloth, which he gently 

 waved, so as to divert the bird's attention from him- 

 self. In this way he gradually got near enough to 

 pass a noose, which he kept ready at the end of a 

 stick, round the bird's neck, so as to capture it. 

 This was tlie usual plan adopted of taking woodcocks 

 alive, as is shown in fig. 39, a copy of a fourteenth 

 century MS. 



The brutal pastime of bull-baiting was preceded 

 by horse-baiting, carried on in a similar manner with 

 dogs, as shown in fig. 42, copied from a thirteenth 

 century manuscript. Old horses were those gene- 

 rally utilized for this kind of sport. The sports most 

 popular with all classes were those which entailed 

 torture and suffering on the poor animals which 





Fig-. 40. Manner of Catching Birds by Piping, from a 14th century MS. 



since rendered locally extinct, or exceedingly i'are 

 For instance, in fig. 3S we are introduced to a bear- 

 trap, showing how bears were caught aud killed with 

 a dart. The profuse hfemorrhage which ensues, shows 

 how efi^ectively the machine has done its work. The 

 illustration is a fac-similcof a miniature in the MS. 

 of Phoebus, in the fifteenth century. The part de- 

 voted to bird-fowling is very interesting, as the 

 illustrations prove. Tricks were resorted to that 

 seem to us more of the nature of that infantile 

 fowling operation which consisted in putting a pinch 

 of salt on the tail of the bird, than anything else ! 



furnished it. Thank Heaven, we are growing out 

 of this degrading practice, and we know of nothing 

 more likely to entirely suppress it than the cultivation 

 of a love and sympathy for animals ! In propor- 

 tion as natural history has increased in popularity, 

 brutal sports, of the kind referred to, have declined 

 in favour. 



Pig. 37 introduces us to a busy scene, first sketched 

 in Munster's " Cosmographie Uuiverselle." A 

 whale has been towed ashore, and the blubber is 

 being removed, the work going briskly on to the 

 sound of bagpipes. The naturalist will observe 



