NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 57 



has time to settle ; if he touches the net with his feet he is 

 off instantly. 



The next process in bird-catching is to put out the " brace 

 bird." A brace bird is taken from a cage ; this bird always 

 wears his brace with a swivel attached, whether at work or not. 

 The brace consists of a piece of string made into a kind of double 

 halter. It is put over the bird's head, and the wings and legs 

 are passed through ; in fact when I saw Mr. Davy brace a bird 

 I was strongly reminded of a nurse dressing a baby. When the 

 brace is on the bird, the feathers fall over it and it cannot be seen. 

 The brace bird is then put on his "flur stick," this is a straight 

 stick, which by means of a hinge on its lower end is made to rise 

 and fall at the will of the bird-catcher by means of a string. 

 Then when any bird is seen coming the flur stick is gently 

 pulled up, the brace bird, all the while standing on the stick, is 

 made to hover with his wings and show himself ; this, of course, 

 is to attract the wild birds to the place. The bird-catcluT 

 then arranges his call birds. These birds when put out begin 

 to sing, especially if they hear another bird of the same 

 kind in the distance. The wild ones being attracted by the 

 decoys are shown by the brace birds the place where they are 

 wanted to go. No bait is used for the birds, they simply come 

 to the decoy and imagine from the call that they the decoys 

 are feeding there. 



The brace bird that Mr. Davy puts on the flur stick lias been 

 at work for three years almost daily. He has been the means 

 of catching thousands of other birds, especially sparrows, or- 

 dinarily called " Jims." Mr. Davy says the call birds get very 

 artful ; sometimes they will give a note of warning to the wild 

 birds; thus a linnet will sometimes set to "hipping," that is, re- 

 peating the words, " hip, hip," several times. This note of the 

 call bird causes the linnets coming in a flight instantly to dash 

 away in all directions. The goldfinch will 'oftentimes set to 

 "gidding," that is, saying, "gid," "gid," "gid," several times in 

 succession. This has the same effect as the " hipping " of the 

 linnet. The birds are off in a moment. 



JACKDAWS, p. 66. Jackdaws are very 'cute, cunning birds ; 

 they are fond of old castles and dilapidated ruins. At Whist- 

 ley, near Weybridge, the people go in May, when the birds are 

 about a fortnight old, to the ruins of a very old castle. Men 

 carry long ladders, and with blunt iron hooks take out the young 

 jackdaws, and if there are no buyers they throw them to the 

 ground. Mr. Davy has taken hampers down to Whistley and 

 brought up all the birds caught, as many as ten dozen of young 

 jackdaws. They cost on the spot 2s. per dozen. The reasoii 

 VOL. u. I 



