270 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



six couples in a morning."* In the western Fens, 

 however, Mr. Newton ascertained that they were both 

 netted and snared. The formation and disposition of the 

 snares is thus described by Mr. Lubbock: " Having 

 found the hill, the Norfolk fowler prepares about a dozen 

 pegs, sharpened at one end and split at the other : into 

 the split he introduces the middle of a loosely-twisted link 

 of long horse-hair, so as to form two nooses, one with 

 each half of the link. The peg is then driven into the 

 ground so as to be perfectly level with the surface, and one 

 noose is placed horizontally, just raised by the herbage 

 perhaps half an inch from the soil, whilst the other is 

 disposed perpendicularly, the lower part resting on the 

 ground. These snares are disposed on the outskirts of 

 the hill rather than the middle, as the ruffs in their 

 flutterings generally spring from the centre towards 

 the circumference of this chosen spot. When a ruff 

 is snared he, after an effort or two at escape, gives up 

 the attempt and crouches quite close to the ground; 

 the other birds also generally forsake the hill until he 

 is removed (but this does not invariably take place). A 

 vigilant look out must be kept upon the place where the 

 snares are set, if the fowler wishes to reap the fruit of 

 his labour. The stoat and the brown rat, both of which 

 are abundant in the marshes, are very quick in dis- 

 covering the captured birds and devouring them : should 

 they feed upon one, it is useless to attempt snaring 

 any more upon that hill, until a trap has given the 

 intruder a coup de grace." 



At the close of the breeding season young and old 

 used to collect together "in large bodies," as evidenced 



* This is nothing compared to the numbers formerly netted 

 in Lincolnshire. Pennant speaks of forty-four birds taken at one 

 haul, and six dozen in one morning ; and states that one fowler 

 would take from forty to fifty dozen in one season. 



