FINCHES. 35 



about thirty-six yards long and eight wide. At each end. 

 of the net there is a pole, and the lower edge is weighted 

 so as to drag along the ground. Men holding the poles and 

 raising the front of the net tramp forward. If they are 

 lucky all the birds at roost on the ground covered will be 

 taken, the net being lowered to the ground whenever 

 captives are felt or heard to rise against the meshes. Moon- 

 light is fatal to the sport, and wet nights equally so, for 

 then the net is too heavy to drag. It is an improvement 

 if the men holding the end poles each lead a horse by the 

 bridle, as his footsteps to which the birds are accustomed 

 drown theirs; or the men sometimes ride the horses, as 

 we have seen represented in old prints. In the winter, when 

 the snow lightly covers the ground, larks may be taken in 

 considerable numbers by horsehair nooses. This is accom- 

 plished by driving pieces of wood into the ground so that 

 some three inches are above the surface, and they should 

 be about three yards apart ; then, after the fashion of a 

 laundress's clothes-line, stretch twine from stump to stump ; 

 now make nooses in lengths of horsehair, and suspend them 

 from each line, so that the running loops dangle freely, 

 about two inches from the surface of the ground; scatter 

 black oats about the noose, and larks, in seeking to pick it 

 up, will find themselves held captive by the horsehairs. 

 Clever though these designs are, gourmands might sigh in 

 vain for larks on toast, were it not for the clap-net that 

 deadly device in skilful hands. Two nets, twelve yards 

 long (and, when open, covering the ground twenty feet 

 wide), are neatly laid down upon the ground. It is impos- 

 sible, without a diagram, to explain the rough, but very 

 effective, machinery by which a pull of the rope held by the 

 birdcatcher will make those harmless-looking nets spring 

 into the air, and catch the birds, either on the wing, or on 

 the ground. The nets act so quickly, that the eye can 

 scarcely follow their spring. Anything on the wing crossing 

 them four feet high will be shut in instantly. It is better 



