RECAPTURING MARKED BIRDS. 237 



ii. The fall. A frame eight feet each way is covered 

 loosely with small-meshed net. The frame is supported 

 by a thin pole at an angle of forty-five degrees with the 

 ground and food is put under it for some days. The 

 frame is made to fall by pulling the supporting pole 

 away by means of a long string. This is useful for the 

 same birds as No. 1, and works best in sharp weather. 



iii. Catching birds at roost. This can easily be done 

 by hand with birds roosting in thatches, ricks and holes 

 in trees. It may also be done with the help of a " bat 

 fowling net " with birds which roost in bushes and 

 hedges. This is simply a piece of small-meshed net 

 about six feet square put on two poles. One person 

 holds the poles up above his head and another goes along 

 the other side of the hedge and beats it. When birds 

 fly out into the net the two poles are brought together 

 so as to make the net into a bag. 



iv. Wire cage-trap. This I have found to be the 

 simplest method of taking birds in winter and spring. 

 The cage is made of one-inch meshed wire-netting and 

 is six feet long, four feet broad and four feet high. At the 

 centre at one end and on the ground is the only entrance , 

 which is funnel-shaped and two and a half inches wide 

 at the orifice, which is flush with the netting. The 

 funnel made of the same netting runs inside the trap 

 and is six to eight inches long. Food must be put inside 

 the cage and a little constantly sprinkled at the entrance. 

 The great advantage of this trap is that it is self -working 

 and need only be visited every hour or so ; when not being 

 worked the entrance can be plugged. I find a butterfly- 

 net the best thing for taking the birds out of the trap, 

 and this is put through a join in the net at the top of 

 the cage. Birds do not damage themselves in the cage, 

 nor do they seem very scared, for I have taken the same 

 Blue Tit four and five times in one day and the same one 

 on many days during the month. 



V. Taking birds at nesting-time. Most traps will not 

 work at this time owing to the abundance of insect-food, 



