BIRD-CATCHING. 



537 



BIRD-CATCHING ; the art of taking birds or wild fowl. 

 Birds, of all kinds, were formerly very generally; 

 and are still in some districts, caught by intoxication. 

 The substance usually employed is a mixture of the 

 lees of wine and hemlock juice, employed as a men- 

 struum for a certain portion of wheat which is to be 

 steeped in it, and afterwards thrown over the spot 

 where the birds in question are known to resort: 

 having eaten of this mixture, they will soon become 

 inebriated, and drop down without sense. 



Pheasants are often taken by night in a way not 

 dissimilar : the flame of sulphur being held under the 

 trees on which they are observed to perch, in conse- 

 quence of which they fall down in the same manner, 

 from suffocation. 



Birds are also taken by a lamp or lantern, hand- 

 bell and net ; which method is employed in open 

 champaign countries, and in stubble-fields, espe- 

 pecially wheat stubble-fields, from the middle of 

 October to the end of March. The method is as 

 follows: At night, when the air is mild, and the 

 moon does not shine, take a low bell, which must 

 be of a deep and hollow sound, and of such a size that 

 a man may carry it conveniently with one hand ; its 

 sound being that of a sheep's bell while it feeds : you 

 must also have a box, much like a large lantern, 

 about a foot and a half square, big enough for two 

 or three great lights to be set in it ; let the box be 

 lined with tin, with one side open to cast forth the 

 light : fix this box to your breast to carry before you, 

 and the light will extend a great distance, whereby 

 you may see any thing that is on the ground, and con- 

 sequently the birds that roost there. Have two men 

 with you, one on each side ; but a little behind you, 

 that they may not be w'thin the reflection of the light 

 that the lantern or box casts forth ; and each of them 

 must be provided with a hand-net of about three or 

 four feet square, fixed to a long stick, and carried in 

 their hands ; so that when either of them sees any bird 

 . on his side, he may lay his net over them, and take 

 them up, with as little noise and bustle as possible. 

 It is to be observed, that the sound of the low bell 

 makes the birds Ife close and not dare to stir, while 

 you put your nets over them, at the same time that 

 the light is so terrible to them as to overpower them 

 equally. If you practise, this sport by yourself, carry 

 the low bell in one hand, as before directed, and in 

 the other a hand-net, about two feet broad and three 

 feet long, with a handle to it, to be laid on them as 

 you spy them out. Some like this way better than 

 the former. If you have a companion, you may also 

 have a fowling-piece, so that if you espy a hare you 

 may be prepared the better to shoot her : for it is haz- 

 ardous to take her with a net. There are some, who 

 instead of fixing the light to their breast as aforesaid, 

 tie the low-bell to their girdle, by a string which hangs 

 to their knees, and the motions of which cause the bell 

 to strike ; they carry the light in their hand, extend- 

 ing the arm before them ; but the lantern, or box, 

 must not be so large as that which is fixed to the 

 breast. 



Birds are also taken by night in open countries, 

 with a long trammel-net, much like the net used for 

 the low-bell, both in shape, size, and mesh. This 

 net is to be spread upon the ground ; the lower end 

 being plumbed should lie close, while the upper end 

 being kept suspended at the two corners, it is trailed 

 along the ground at about a yard in height. Then 

 ;it each end of the net must be carried several blazing 

 lights of fire, such as have been described before ; by 

 which the attendants, with long poles, must raise up 

 the birds as they proceed, and, as they ascend under 

 the nets, take them. 



Birds, and especially of the smaller kinds, are also 

 tflken by bird-lime. In using bird-lime, take your 

 i. 



rods, and warm them gently over the fire ; next take 

 your lime and wind it about the top of your rods, 

 then draw your rods asunder from one another, and 

 close them again, continually plying and working 

 them together, till by smearing one upon another, 

 you have equally bestowed on each rod a sufficient 

 quantity of lime. If you lime any strings, do it when 

 the lime is very hot and thin, besmearing the strings 

 on all sides, by folding them together, and unfolding 

 them again. Straws must likewise be limed when the 

 lime is very hot, taking as many as you can well 

 grasp in your hand, and tossing and working them be- 

 fore the fire, till they are all besmeared, every straw 

 having its due proportion of lime ; having so done, 

 put them up in cases of leather for use. With the 

 twigs thus limed, you may catch snipes and field- 

 fares ; but the smaller birds which frequent hedges 

 and ditches, may be taken with much greater ease. 

 For this last purpose, cut down the main branch or 

 bow of any bushy tree, whose branch and twigs are 

 long, thick, smooth, and straight, without either 

 pricks or knots, of which the willow or birch tree are 

 the best ; when you have picked it and trimmed it 

 from all superfluities, and made the twigs neat and 

 clean, take the best bird-lime, well mixed and 

 wrought together with goose or capon's grease, and 

 having warmed it, lime every twig therewith within 

 four fingers of the bottom. The body whence the 

 branches have their rise, must be untouched with lime. 

 Some delicacy is necessary in smearing the twigs ; for 

 if daubed too much, it will give distaste to the birds. 

 Yet let none want its proportion, or have any part 

 left bare which ought to be touched : for as too much 

 will deter them from coming, so too little will not 

 hold them when they are come. Having so done, 

 place your bush in some quickset or dead hedge near 

 the town's end, back-yards, old houses, or the like ; 

 for these are the resort of small birds in the spring- 

 time : in the summer and harvest, in groves, bushes, 

 or white-thorn trees, quickset hedges near corn fields, 

 fruit trees, flax and hemp lands : and in the winter 

 about houses, hovels, barns, stacks, or those places 

 where ricks of corn, or scattered chaff, &c. attract 

 them. 



As near as you can to any of those haunts plant 

 your lime bush, and place yourself also at a con- 

 venient distance undiscovered, imitating with your 

 mouth several notes of birds, which you must learn 

 by frequent practice, walking the fields for that pur- 

 pose very often, observing the variety of different 

 birds' sounds, especially those they call one another 

 by. Some have been so expert herein, that they 

 could imitate the notes of twenty sorts of birds at 

 least, by which they have caught ten birds to an- 

 other's one who was ignorant in this art. If you can- 

 not attain it by your industry, you must buy a bird- 

 call, of which there are several sorts, and easy to be 

 made, of wood, horn, or cane. Having learned first 

 how to use this call, you should sit and call the birds to 

 you, and as many of them light on your bush, step 

 not out to them till you see them sufficiently en- 

 tangled ; neither is it requisite to run for every single 

 bird, but let them alone till more come, for the flut- 

 tering is as good as a decoy to entice them. This 

 exercise you may use from sun-rising till ten o'clock 

 in the morning, and from one till almost sunset. You 

 may also take small birds with lime twigs only, and 

 without the bush. 



There is another way of taking birds with lime 

 twigs, by placing near them a decoy or two made of 

 living bats, placing them aloft that they may be visi- 

 ble to the birds thereabouts, which will no sooner 

 perceive them than every bird will come and gaze, 

 wondering at the strangeness of the sight, and having 

 no other convenient lighting place than where the 

 3y_z 



