THE WILD-FOWLER. 



CHAPTER T. 



FOWLING, 



" Aucupium felix festinaqufe copia prseda." 



BaRG^US, DE AuCUPIO ; ANNO 1566. 



In Greek this sport is termed bpviQoQnpa ; in Latin, aucupium, from 

 avis, a bird ; and capio, I take. It signifies tlie art of decoying-, 

 capturing-, or killing' birds fero} naturce, by means of decoy-ducks, 

 dog's, g'uns, rapacious birds, nets, snares, bird-lime, or other artifice ; 

 and it may be used either upon land or water.* 



The Saxon dialogue upon the Ai't of Fowhng is thus expressed : — 



Q. — How do you catch bii'ds ? 



A. — I catch them many ways : sometimes with nets, sometimes 

 with nooses, sometimes with bird-Hme, sometimes by whistling, some- 

 times with hawks, sometimes with gins.f 



* Markham thus defines the art : " Fowling is an art of discerning and under- 

 standing liow to take all manner of fowle ; and it is to bee applied or used two 

 several! waies — that is to say, either by enchantment or enticement, by winning or 

 wooing the fowle unto you with pipe, wliistle, or call, which either beguileth them 

 with their own voyce, or amazeth them with the strangenesse of the sound ; or else 

 by engine, which unawares surpriseth and entangleth them." — Himger's Prevention, 

 or the Art of Fowling ; hy Gervase Markham : a.d. 1655. 



Blome gives the following definition : " Fowling is an art for the taking all 

 manner of fowl, either by enticement or enchantment ; as calls, intoxicating baits, or 

 the like ; or else by guns, nets, engines, traps, setting dogs, &c." — Tlie Gentleman^s 

 Recreations ; hy Richajrcl Blome : a.d. 1686. 



UdaU, in his " Flowers of Latine Speaking," says : "Auceps, properly a fowler, and 

 aucupium is foulynge, and, by a metaphore, it is for aU maner of wayes, to geat any 

 thynge by wiles, traynes, or crafte." 



Vide also " Barg^us, de Aucupio :" a Latin poem on Fowling, published at 

 Florence in the year ] 566. 



t " Quo modo decipii aves ? Multis modis decipio aves, aUquando retibus, aliquando 

 laqueis, aliquando glutino, aliquando sibilo, aliquando accipitre, ahquando decipula." 

 —Cott. M.S., Tih. A 3 ; Pint. p. 60. See also Turner's Hist. Anglo-Sax., vol. iii. 



