28 SHECARRIE' s METHOD OF 



opposite frame ; at a little distance they unite into 

 one string, which is held by a Shecarrie con- 

 cealed within green bushes, at the distance of 

 thirty or forty yards from the nets ; when he sees 

 a great many birds between the nets, he pulls 

 the string which turns the nets over, often in- 

 closing twenty or thirty birds at a time. 



They also have another method of catching 

 birds at such places. A line is fastened to the 

 ground, to which a great number of horse-hair 

 nooses are fixed, so near, that when they are 

 spread, they almost touch one another. This line 

 for some distance is curved, and the nooses are 

 spread out on the ground ; some grain is then 

 thrown over them ; the Shecarrie holds the line 

 in ambush, as on the former occasion, and when 

 the birds are eating the grain, he gives it a 

 sudden pull, and catches several at a time by 

 the legs. 



They sell their birds in the markets and vil- 

 lages to Mahometans, and a few to the low casts 

 of Hindoos, for the value of a halfpenny or a 

 penny each. These people buy them for food, 

 and the higher casts of Hindoos frequently buy 

 paroquets, solely for the pleasure of letting them 



