THE COMMON LINNET 177 



side of the body behind the wings, and the two loose ends are 

 attached to a swivel, which by means of another string is made fast 

 to the playstick near its end, and the bird is thus at liberty to use 

 the wings and legs. The end of the playstick rests on the ground, 

 the other end working in the slot, and the playline attached to 

 the playstick near the bird is passed through the upper hole in 

 the peg and extends to where the bird-catcher stands. 



Cage-birds are placed at the corners the less conspicuous the 

 cage is the better (n), and the " call " or best birds at the middle of 

 the sides (o). A little food and water is placed by the play bird 

 (?) and some scattered in the clear space (/). All is now ready for 

 capture. The cage-birds tune, and directly the wild birds appear 

 the play-line (k) is smartly pulled, jerking the play bird upwards 

 to appear natural. The wild birds alight around the play- 

 bird and commence feeding, when the bird-catcher smartly jerks 

 the pull line, which causes the forked line to fly inwards, and acting 

 on the hinged pegs and top and bottom lines as by a lever, the staves 

 rise from the outside, become upright and fall over, enclosing all 

 within the open space in the nets. As the nets are wider than 

 the staves they bag and thus prevent the birds fluttering along 

 the ground, until they get out by getting entangled or rolled up 

 in the meshes. The great objection to this ground clap net is 

 that of the play-bird, as the constant pulling up and down and 

 worry of the falling nets very soon kills it, hence the poorest noted 

 birds are always used for this purpose, while the humane bird- 

 catcher uses a stuffed bird or dispenses with the play-bird alto- 

 gether, placing a cage-bird or two in the open space. Linnets 

 and similar birds appear to be easiest captured from September 

 to December inclusive, or even later in severe weather. 



The ground clap net may be used for catching larger birds, such 

 as starlings, but these being wary the pull line will require to be 

 much longer, as the nets may require to be placed in one field and 

 the bird-catcher needs to retire behind a hedge in the next field, 

 the pull line being drawn through the hedge. In winter- time almost 

 every kind of seed-eating bird may be caught by the ground clap 

 net, the nets being laid and the space between them baited with 

 screenings from the winnowing machine or even hayloft sweepings 

 for the finches and linnets, or broken up dry bread, not sopped, 

 for sparrows and starlings, and when the birds take the bait freely 

 see that the apparatus is in working order, and with the pull-string 

 in a secluded place await the coming of the birds and promptly 

 act when prospect of a good capture. In this way both starlings 

 and sparrows may be secured in quantity either for trap-shooting 

 practice or, better, for starling and sparrow pies. The evil of the 

 ground clap net is that of capturing friends, such as the hedge- 

 sparrow, as well as foes, such as greenfinches, and not liberating 

 the former, but indiscriminately destroying all the captured 



B,N. N 



