METHOD OF CAPTURING WILD-GEESE IN INDIA. 391 



quietly seizes tlie birds one at a time by their leg's^ draws them under 

 water, and dislocates their necks : he then tucks their heads beneath 

 his g-irdle, from which they remain securely suspended ; until he has 

 captured two or three, or as many as are within reach, when he walks 

 or swims towards the shore, and emerges from the water with his 

 captives. The cut at the head of this page will g-ive the reader 

 a notion of this singular mode of fowling. 



In a work of extreme curiosity,* which I discovered in my re- 

 searches in the library of the British Museum, and have already 

 referred to more than once in these pages, this remarkable method 

 of capturing- wild-geese is very clearly depicted in a beautifully exe- 

 cuted engraving : beneath which is the following- inscription : 



" Anserum agreste genus stagnante in aqua capit Indus. 

 Ipse cucurbita liabet tectum caput iUecebris 

 AUicit : esuriens anser visse involat escse. 

 Indus pascentem facile capit arte volucrem." 



None of the aquatic fowlers, emerging- from the water, are repre- 

 sented by the original engraving- as having- captured more than three 



* Veuationes Ferarum, Avium, &c., depictae a Joanne Stradano : editac a 

 Pliilippo Gallfeo : Carmine illustratsB a C. Kiliano Dufflseo. No date. 



