172 ' THE RYSSJA. 



outer end 14 inches. The arms are 16 inches in height, 

 and each of them 62 feet in length. The " Uyssja " itself, 

 as well as the arms, are constructed of slight materials ; 

 and, as the hoops fall into each other in the manner 

 of a telescope, it is very portahle. 



" With his ' Pvyssja' in a bag, and his Lykta* suspended 

 to the saddle-bow," says the Count Corfitz Beckfriis — and 

 there is no greater adept in the art of netting Partridges 

 than himself — " the fowler takes the field on horseback. 

 On the joointer finding the Partridges, he is called to ' heel,' 

 when the man, after retiring a little distance, dismounts, 

 takes off the saddle, and fastens the dog to it. Under cover 

 of the horse, whose nose is so tied down as to make him 

 appear in the act of grazing, the fowler then proceeds 

 towards the covey in a zigzag direction, cruising, as it 

 were, and in the while keeping his body bent, that the 

 birds may not be aware of his presence. When arrived 

 within about a hundred paces of where he supposes them 

 to be lying, he halts until one or other of them gets on 

 its legs, and thus makes known to him their exact where- 

 abouts. This ascertained, he shows himself, on which 

 they all immediately squat again. 



"Leaving his horse, the fowler now sets the 'Uyssja' 

 in the form of an open triangle, at the point towards 

 Avhich he deems it desirable to drive the birds. The net 

 should face a furrow or ditch, if possible, as it is difficult 

 to make birds cross rising ground ; and, if they be very 

 wild, it should be hidden with brushwood. The man 

 then returns to the horse, and, crouching behind the 

 animal as before, again advances towards the covey 

 — now between himself and the ' Ryssja' — and, when the 



* A sort of bag, formed of canvas (the lower portion distended by two 

 circular hoops at from ten to twelve inches apart, and counected together 

 by upright splints), in which to deposit such of the captured birds as are 

 intended to be kept alive. 



