CHAPTER LXXII. 



PERSIAN METHODS OF CAPTURING WILD-FOWL. 



" Fowls by winter forced forsake the floods, 

 And wing their hasty flight to happier lands." 



DRAYTON. 



WILD-FOWL are particularly abundant in some parts of Persia; 

 especially in the extensive tracts of wild and uncultivated swamps 

 which skirt the shores of the Caspian Sea. Thousands of coots and 

 other water-fowl are annually bred in those places ; in addition to 

 which, innumerable flights of migratory fowl visit those parts in the 

 winter season. 



The Persian fowlers have several methods of capturing wild-fowl, 

 some of which are peculiar, and different to those generally employed 

 in European nations. 



In the neighbourhood of the lakes and swamps they use long nets 

 made of very fine thread, which are suspended in the air at an eleva- 

 tion of several feet above the surface of the water, by aid of long poles 

 thrust into the mud, and standing in perpendicular positions about the 

 lake. The nets are not placed in line, but in various directions, so as to 

 form a sort of labyrinth, and intercept the flight of the birds in every 

 direction. A number of live decoy-ducks are stationed about the 

 water, below the nets ; and secured by their legs to stakes or a sunken 

 weight. Wild-fowl flying over these at night, are attracted by the 

 callings and quackings of the decoy ducks, and induced to alight on 

 the water in the hopes of joining their companions ; when, on swoop- 

 ing in their flight, they are caught by the neck in the meshes of the 

 net ;* or, on striking suddenly against it, they fall fluttering into the 

 purse, or lower folds of the net, from which they cannot escape. 



* Holmes's " Sketches on the Shores of the Caspian." See also "Travels in 

 Persia." 



