226 The A mateur Poacher. 



a small tunnel, with a wire in the middle, which, when 

 the mole passed through, set free a bent stick. This 

 stick pulled the wire and hung the mole. Such 

 mole-catchers' bows or springes used to be seen in 

 every meadow, but are now superseded by the iron 

 trap. 



Springes with horsehair nooses on the ground were 

 also set for woodcocks and for wild ducks. It is said 

 that a springe of somewhat similar construction was 

 used for pheasants. Horsehair nooses are still applied 

 for capturing woodpeckers and the owls that spend the 

 day in hollow trees, being set round the hole by which 

 they leave the tree. A more delicate horsehair noose 

 is sometimes set for finches and small birds. I tried 

 it for bullfinches, but did not succeed from lack of 

 the dexterity required. The modes of using bird- lime 

 were numerous, and many of them are in use for 

 taking song-birds. 



But the enclosure of open lands, the strict definition 

 of footpaths, closer cultivation, and the increased value 

 of game have so checked the poacher's operations with 

 nets that in many districts the net may be said to be 

 extinct. It is no longer necessary to bush the stubbles 

 immediately after reaping. Brambles are said to have 

 been the best for hindering the net, which frequently 

 swept away an entire covey, old birds and young to- 



