Occasional Notes. 137 



such as in India, where labour costs nothing, every cultivated 

 piece o£ ground has its bird-watcher, who is often perched on 

 a high platform raised above the ground ten feet or more, 

 from which a large expanse can be observed, and from which 

 the watchman is often able to manipulate, by means of long- 

 strings, various frightening devices in different parts of the 

 ground. The Sparrow-club, in which a very small reward 

 is paid for every dozen Sparrows, is a very old English 

 institution, and used in some cas^s to be supported from 

 Parish funds ! One penny or twopence a dozen was usually 

 paid, and sometimes even more : most of tlie birds were taken 

 with long purse-shaped nets, which, fastened on the ends of 

 two long poles, were carried and })laced at night close to 

 the ivy-covered walls of buildings or on haystacks, where 

 Sparrows roost in large numbers, and then, as the frightened 

 birds flew out, were clapped together. This kind of bird- 

 catching is known as " Bat-fowling," and is quite a popular 

 amusement, the professionals often taking many other species 

 of birds besides Sparrows, for v^hich they find a ready sale 

 to the bird-dealers. In the neighbourhood of London and 

 other large towns live Sparrows are always saleable at 

 fourpence per dozen for shooting from traps, a sport much 

 indulged in by the less aristocratic gun-clubs. 



Poisoned grain will destroy thousands of birds — arsenic 

 and strychnine are usually used, — but it is a dangerous 

 practice, especially near homesteads, where fowls may pick 

 up the grain, or pigs, cats, and dogs eat the poisoned birds' 

 bodies. As, in this country, most of the small birds roost in 

 reeds or grass, the Bat-fowling method is probably not of 

 much use and poisoned grain a danger, as fowls and pigs are 

 usually allowed to run about freely. 



Small Kaffir boys or girls' with clappers or wooden clack- 

 windmills on high posts (which, it may be said, are quite 

 easily made) seem to be the only remedies which at present 

 occur as beine useful deterrents. 



(13) Habits of Gtps eolbii ((Jommon Vulture). — The 

 economy of Gyps^ koibii (Kolbe's Vulture) seems to be 



