SNARES, ANCIENT AND MODERN. 145 



The long projecting bill passing easily through 

 the interstices of the yielding net, the head 

 follows of course, and every succeeding struggle 

 tends only to entangle them the more ; and so 

 unsuspicious of danger are they, or unobservant 

 of the fate of their fellows, that they will often 

 blindly fly against a net from which several of 

 their comrades are already vainly endeavouring 

 to extricate themselves. This kind of poaching 

 is very successful when conducted by experienced 

 hands, who contrive to arrange their nets so as 

 to answer a double purpose, at the gateways on 

 the borders of large woods, where many hares 

 which, like woodcocks, wander in search of food 

 during the night are captured in the lower 

 meshes. 



But the most ancient mode of taking the 

 woodcock was by means of the springe, although 

 the use of this invention in its original simplicity 

 may now be said to be almost obsolete. Nooses 

 of platted horse-hair have superseded the single 

 slip-knot of cord, and instead of the prize being 

 suspended aloft from the extremity of a tall 

 rod, its strangulation is effected by a more 

 secret and quiet process. When its breast has 

 touched the horizontal stick, which may be 

 termed the trigger of the springe, the latter is 

 released from its curved position, and the bird 



H 



