CHAPTER LXIII. 



METHODS OF CAPTURING WOODCOCKS WITH GLADE NETS, SNARES, 

 AND OTHER CURIOUS ARTIFICES. 



" At morn and eve lie seeks the limpid streams 

 And springing thence, his stated flight he takes 

 By the dim light, through op'ning glades : there oft 

 The treach'rous net his rapid course cuts short, 

 And his fast flutt'ring pinions beat in vain. 

 But if with steep ascent he top the snare, 

 Or sidelong 'scape it, through the wither'd ferns 



He picks his silent way " 



Fowling : a Poem. Book iv. 



THE art of capturing woodcocks by means of glade nets is a very 

 ancient one. I found an engraving of it in the British Museum, 

 in a curious old work entitled " Venationes Piscationis et Avcvpii. 

 Typis Antonio Tempesta. Claes Janss Visscher excudit." The en- 

 graving alluded to represents fowlers in the act of capturing wood- 

 cocks and partridges with nets, snares, and nooses. The glade nets 

 are hung between trees, and are represented as being raised or 

 lowered by aid of ropes rove through sheaves affixed to the trees. 

 Some of the fowlers shown, are in active performance capturing the 

 birds in the nets ; others are taking either snipes or woodcocks out of 

 nooses and snares : these appear to have been caught by their legs at 

 the water-side. 



It is evident that the glade net was sometimes used for capturing 

 partridges as well as woodcocks : the former are mentioned in the 

 Latin inscription at the foot of the engraving : " Rustica sic Perdix 

 laqueis vel retibus amplis, Falsitur umbrosis nemora intra frondea 

 ramis." 



It appears from this inscription, that the glade nets were hung in 

 shady groves among boughs full of leaves. The object of which 

 seems to have been, that the birds might not see the net until they 

 found themselves entangled in it. 



The proceedings connected with the use of glade nets appear to be 

 very simple. These nets are of lengths and breadths proportioned 

 to the glades in which they are suspended. They are simply square 



