138 Mr. C. A. Wright's List of the Birds 



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 occupations and duties afford him an 

 abundance of idle time, pursues it with great assiduity. The 

 manner in which the Doves are taken is as follows : — A spot is 

 chosen, generally on the summit of a hill over which it is ascer- 

 tained 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 depres- 

 sion, in order that they may be perfectly free of the nets when 

 they are pulled over them. They are fastened by the leg to a 

 piece of wood, moving on a hinge, so that by pulling a string 

 the bird can be raised gently 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 distant decoys are first raised 

 and let down, and afterwards the others. Twenty or thirty 

 Doves, and upwards, are frequently caught in this way at one 

 haul. Great care and attention are requisite in keeping the 

 decoy-birds from one year to another, as the success of the 

 deception depends very much on the plumage being as perfect 

 as possible. Instances of Columba turtur breeding in captivity, 

 and also of its crossing with C. risoria, are known, but such 

 occurrences are rare. From time to time it has been observed 

 to breed in Gozo in a wild state. As an illustration of the great 

 power of flight of these birds, it may be mentioned that thousands 

 of them may annually be seen passing over the island without 

 alighting. In September they reappear on their way from 

 Europe, but are not generally so plentiful then as in spring. 

 At this time they consist chiefly of birds of the year, which want 

 the collar, so conspicuous a feature in the adult, and are altogether 

 of a duller hue. 



