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is nearly the same : and the two last- 

 mentioned kinds afford the only amuse- 

 ment worth noticing as a diversion. It is 

 the custom to shoot at every bird that flies, 

 and eat them all. There is not so great a 

 number of birds in America as in England : 

 a hedgeful of sparrows there would make 

 a most excellent day's sport. There are 

 many woodpeckers of different sorts. 



Their doves are about the size of turtle- 

 doves, and are good eating. They are 

 taken, in large quantities, in nets or boxes. 

 The contrivance is, to catch four, put out 

 the eyes of two, and tie them to a stake with 

 a piece of string to the leg : the other two 

 they then also tie by the leg, with a string 

 sufficiently long to allow them to fly to some 

 distance ; and when the bird-catcher sees a 

 flight of these doves, as they fly in very 

 great numbers, he lets these two doves fly 

 to meet them, having previously blackened 

 a sufficient space of ground for the execu- 

 tion of their project, by grubbing up the 

 earth, and strewing it with some sort of 



