34 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



very largely at Alsace, in nets;" adding that these birds, 

 like all the swallow tribe, are excellent for the table when 

 young and fat. 



The Spaniards who eat all sorts of "little game," in 

 season and out of season, with no regard for plumage or 

 habits capture bee-eaters and rollers at night, by going 

 round and pouring water into holes in banks and trees where 

 they roost, at the same time holding a net over the entrances, 

 into which the affrighted birds speedily dash. When out on 

 these expeditions, both Little and Scops owl are frequently 

 captured in the same way, or even with the hand, owls and 

 rollers alike appearing strung up above the stalls of the 

 next day's market-place. 



Birds in Spain are taken when roosting on the ground by 

 parties of two, the one carrying the bag and also a bell, 

 which he tinkles monotonously, whilst the other carries a 

 light ; the idea being that the bird supposes it is only some 

 vagrant bell-wether, and remains till the captor with the 

 light puts his hand upon it. My belief in the usefulness of 

 the bell is limited ; that of the light is an established fact. 

 Yet the bell is used in this manner in many countries. In 

 Somersetshire and Andalusia we have noted its use. The 

 Lincolnshire fenmen employ a bell when netting plovers ; 

 and the lark, another very edible and marketable bird, is 

 betrayed by its sound in Prance. The method is disgusting 

 in its unvarnished brutality. A dark night being chosen, 

 two men are required. One has a bell which he constantly 

 jingles in one hand, and a lantern in the other, with which 

 he throws a light along the furrows of the newly turned 

 corn-lands where the quarry roosts. The other, who goes 

 ahead, has a stick, at the end of which is a short strap of 

 heavy leather, and a sack. When a bird is seen cowering 

 under the light it is approached cautiously, and a single 

 stroke from the leather " flap " extinguishes its life without 

 spoiling it for to-morrow's market. The professional manner 

 of catching larks is by means of a trammel net. This is 



