36 OUR DOMESTIC FOWLS. 



walk, and liurrying through the cover by a 

 circuitous route, so as to intercept them ; but 

 this requires a certain tact. The shghtest stir, 

 and often the keenness of the bird's sight, for 

 they come slowly and look well around, as they 

 strut, and flap their wings and challenge, are 

 enough to discover the sportsman, when the 

 crowing ceases, and they are off at a hopeless 

 rate." He adds, •' these birds are the abori- 

 ginal cock and hen, but neither their cry nor 

 their plumage is that of the domestic fowl." 



The capture of these birds, and also of other 

 animals, is carried on by natives of a low caste, 

 who gain a livelihood by this despised occu- 

 pation. Johnson, in his " Sketches of Field 

 Sports, as followed by the natives of India," 

 informs us that "two or three of these men 

 go for that purpose together, and proceed in 

 this manner. — A line of thirty or forty yards 

 long is fastened to the ground with wooden 

 pegs at each extremity, and is then elevated 

 by props to the height of about eighteen 

 inches. To this line nooses of horse hair are 

 fastened at distances of about two feet from 

 each other, and when the birds attempt to 

 pass under the line, they are caught in the 

 nooses bv their uecks. Sometimes a similar 



