BIRDLIME. 



99 



When the " peggers " hear a chaffinch which is worth taking, 

 they feel as sure of him as if he were in their cage. They take 

 the peg, and stick it into the nearest tree-trunk. Round the 

 decoy they place half-a-dozen twigs which have been smeared 

 with birdlime, and arrange them so that no bird flying at the 

 decoy can avoid touching one of them. 



The next point is, to order the call-bird to sing. His song 

 is taken as a personal insult by the chaffinch, which is always 

 madly jealous at this time of year. Seeing the stuffed bird, 

 he takes it for a rival, dashes at it, and touches one of the 



ANT-BEAU. DliOSEUA. SPIDER'S WEB. PEGGING CHAFFINCHES. TIGEK AND LIMED LEAVES. 



twigs. It is all over with him, for the more he struggles and 

 flutters, the tighter is he bound by the tenacious cords of the 

 birdlime, and is easily picked up by the " pegger." 



EVEN the fierce and powerful tiger is taken with this simple, 

 but terrible means of destruction. It is always known by what 

 path a tiger will pass, and upon this path the native hunter 

 lays a number of leaves smeared with birdlime. The tiger 

 treads on one of them, and. cat-like, shakes his paw to rid him- 

 self of it. Finding that it will not come off, he rubs his paw 

 on his head, transferring the leaf and lime to his face. 



By this time he is in the middle of the leaves, and .vorks 

 himself into a paroxysm of rage and terror, finishing by 

 blinding himself with the leaves that he has rubbed upon his 



H2 



