SHEPHERDS AND WHEATEARS 139 



make a wide circuit, and when they see a few birds 

 walk quietly towards them, making them move on 

 towards the pond. Once they are near it and spy 

 one of their kind (the decoy wheatear tied to a peg) 

 they fly to it and are taken in the nets. The number 

 of birds taken in this slow laborious way is not enough 

 to meet the demand that still exists. " We could," 

 said one of the largest men in the trade at Brighton 

 to me last summer, " sell four times as many wheat- 

 ears as we can get at six shilling a dozen." 



It is curious to have to add that the industrious 

 bird-catcher cannot now get even this insufficient 

 supply of birds without exposing himself to the risk 

 of prosecutions and fines. 



In the East Sussex bird-protection order, which was 

 made law in June 1897, the wheatear is a scheduled 

 bird, and is therefore fully protected during the close 

 time, which, in that county, extends to September 1. 

 The wheatears are in season and are taken in July 

 and August. The poulterers and game-dealers in the 

 coast towns, and some of the farmers, are in league 

 with the bird-catcher, and are perhaps more deserving 

 of punishment than the man from the slums who does 

 the dirty work. A certain number of farmers, who do 

 not mind what they do if they are paid, allow bird- 

 catchers to have a " pitch " on their land, and are not 

 ashamed to take some small sum, usually ten to twenty 

 shillings a year, for the privilege. The bird-catcher 

 spreads his nets as far from the road as he can, and 



