24 INTRODUCTION. 



birds does not prevent their living much longer than quadru- 

 peds. The length of life with these is estimated to be six or 

 seven times longer than the time which they take to grow : 

 while birds live fifteen, twenty, and even thirty times longer. 



This length of life is sometimes attributed to the substance 

 of which the bones are composed being much more loose and 

 light, and consequently remaining porous longer than those of 

 quadrupeds. Some swans have lived three hundred years. 



BIRD CATCHING. 



We are furnished with house birds by the bird catchers 

 and bird sellers ; the latter procure foreign birds, and teach 

 them, the former the indigenous ones. A good bird catcher 

 ought to know not only the different modes of taking birds, 

 but also all the calls for attracting the different species and 

 sexes: the call notes vary very much among house birds, 

 according to their passions and wants; thus the common 

 chaffinch, when calling its companions, often repeats tack, 

 iack ; when expressing joy, fink, fink, which it also does when 

 angry, though louder and more quickly; whilst its cry of 

 sorrow is treef^ treef. 



The science of bird catching consists in studying these 

 different languages well, and it will ensure success. 



As each species of bird requires a different mode, I shall 

 mention the various methods in the course of the work, and 

 shall here only speak of bird catching in general. The first 

 thing to know is the proper time to take birds. For birds of 

 passage, impelled by cold and want of food to change their 

 climate, nets should be spread in spring and autumn ; erratic 

 birds, which change their place merely in search of food, may 

 be taken some in whiter, some in spring, and others in 

 autumn ; 'those birds which never quit their native place may 

 be taken at any season, but more easily in winter, when they 

 assemble in small flocks. 



Autumn is the time for taking birds hi nets ; seme, attracted 

 by a call-bird, or by food, come of their own accord into the 

 trap ; others, as the different species of larks, must be driven 

 to the net : but spring is the best season for employing the 

 decoy, or call-birds, concealed in cages, and also for catching 



