332 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



The method of capturing" woodcocks by means of glade nets is 

 almost universal ; but is now more frequently resorted to on the 

 continent than in this country. Some of the French fowlers are 

 particularly skilful in this art of taking woodcocks (becassesj with 

 the glade net, which they term la puntiere.* 



Daniel, in his " Rural Sports," speaks of great havoc being made 

 among woodcocks by the fowlers of Cornwall and Devon, through 

 the medium of glade nets ; and he states that the Exeter stage 

 coach used to bring as many as thirty dozen in a week to the London 

 markets, where they sometimes fetched the exorbitant price of 10s. to 

 16s. per couple! But since the time when Daniel wrote, the prices 

 have advanced to almost incredible extravagance. In seasons when 

 they are very scarce, the game-dealers of the present day have the 

 conscience to ask one guinea per couple ! a demand which is fre- 

 quently submitted to by the wealthy and luxurious, who desire to vie 

 with their neighbours in gracing their dinner-tables with the most 

 costly delicacies that can be obtained, regardless of price. 



In further assurance of the high market value which has always 

 been put upon these much-coveted birds, a fact is recorded by Daniel 

 of one person having been known to send woodcocks and snipes from 

 the neighbourhood of Torrington in Devonshire to the London 

 markets, to the amount of 1,900 in the course of one season ; and 

 this upwards of twenty years ago ! 



The author of " Sport and its Pleasures" speaks of having 

 frequently bought woodcocks in Newton market at 3s. 6d. per 

 couple or less, whilst at the same time, birds of inferior quality were 

 selling in London at 10s. a couple. Heigho ! for the economy of 

 country life ! 



Besides the system of taking woodcocks in glade nets, numbers 

 are captured with traps and snares, more especially in the western 

 and southern counties : those taken by such means and in glade 

 nets, form the chief supplies of the London and provincial markets. 

 Dealers are always ready to purchase cocks, and give preference 

 to birds caught by the fowler rather than to those shot by the sports- 

 man j therefore, as the author of Stonehenge remarks : " The 

 poacher commands the market." 



The method of taking woodcocks by means of lime twigs was 

 freely resorted to by the ancient fowler, as was also the art of cap- 



* Vide Aviceptologie Frai^aise, par C. Kresz Aine : A.D. 1854. 



