Bird-Capture 
Both the Poems and the Plays show him 
to have been well-versed in all the arts 
then in vogue for the capture of birds 
dead or alive—the use of bird-lime for the 
smaller kinds, the fixing of springes and 
gins, the spreading of nets, the employ- 
ment of decoys in the shape of caged birds 
or of painted. fruit and flowers, as well 
as the ordinary weapons for shooting— 
birding-pieces, bows and arrows, and cross- 
bows and bolts. More especially does he 
appear to have mastered the whole craft 
of falconry, then so much in vogue; for 
his writings are full of the vocabulary of 
its technical terms. The frequency and 
detail of the poet’s allusions to the various 
methods of bird-capture suggest the 
experience of one who speaks from 
personal practice. He is fond of intro- 
ducing these allusions in illustration of the 
plots and wiles of man with regard to his 
fellow-men. So many of these methods 
of capture have gone out of fashion that 
B 9 
