THE FOWLER'S ROD JOINTED 



149 



of a tree, under which, or at some convenient distance from it, 



he contrived to conceal himself. When a bird, attracted by 



the singing of its companion, perched on the branches, he 



quietly inserted his rod amongst the boughs until it reached 



his prey, which stuck to the 



lime and was thus drawn to 



the ground. When the tree 



was very high, the rod was 



made in separate joints, like 



our fishing rod, so that he 



could lengthen it out until it 



reached the object of his 



pursuit, whence it is termed 



crcscens or texta. 



If the example given by 

 Rich (from a terra-cotta 

 lamp) be faithfully rendered, 

 the joints in the rod are easily 

 discernible. ^ 



But all question as to the 

 existence of a jointed fowl- 

 ing rod is now settled past 

 peradventure by PI. 24, Fig. 

 686, in the Brit. Mus. Cat. 

 of Gr. and Rom. Lamps, 1914. This shows an animal dressed in 

 a hooded cloak, holding in his right hand a length of fowling 

 rod, and in his left two spare lengths, trying to reach a tree 

 on which sits a bird. Mr. Walters, the editor of the catalogue, 

 kindly informs me that Fig. 686 can no longer be regarded 

 as that of The Fox and the Grapes. Similar lamps shown 

 in S. Loeschcke's recent Lampen aus Vindonissa, e.g. PI. 12, 

 No. 473, confirm the evidence of the Brit. Mus. lamp in every 

 detail. 



Not a few editors, on the other hand, retain vadis in Martial's 



^ A. Rich, Diet, of Rom. and Gk. Antiquities, London, 1874, s.v. ' Arundo.' 

 I have been unable to trace this lamp in either Birch or Passeri. Daremberg 

 and Saglio, op. cit., seem to collect most of the information on the subject, 

 s.v. ' Venatio,' V. p. 694. The above and other methods of aucupium, " bird- 

 catching," prevail to a devastating extent in Italy at the present day. 



THE FOWLER. 



From Brit. Mus. Cat. of Lamps, 

 PI. 24, Fig. 686. 



