72 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



settling on the border trees, and as soon as the coast was 

 pretty clear of them, Karl rushed out, picked up the caught 

 birds, and thrust them quickly into the large empty cage. 

 There was a ' row ' then, every one of the new-comers 

 shouting most lustily, not only all the time they were held, 

 but when caged ; every time we as much as winked at them, 

 they broke forth in the most unmusical and noisy of concerts. 



" Of course, those that had gone away no sooner heard 

 this shocking shindy, than they all flocked back to the 

 rescue, and in less than a quarter of an hour's time over 

 two dozen of them were also prisoners." 



English bird dealers find that to take this bird no plan 

 is more effectual than sham eggs as bait to a gin. They 

 should be turned out of wood, birch answers very well, 

 coloured and varnished to represent the natural ones. 

 Thrushes are perhaps as good as any for the purpose, as 

 they show well and are easy of imitation. Four or five 

 of these eggs should be put in a shatn or real nest, placed on 

 a stage against a tree a few feet from the ground, leaving 

 just room for the gin, which must have a little branch or two 

 on either side of it, so as to bar access to the nest, save over 

 the trap. The peculiar advantage of this plan is that, strange 

 to say, it can be employed with success all through the winter 

 when natural eggs are not attainable ; and the false eggs can 

 be carried in the pocket without fear of breaking them. 



Then there is the magpie, of which old legends say, we 

 read, that it still lies under Noah's curse, because when the 

 other birds came of their own accord into the Ark, it alone 

 gave trouble, and had to be caught. " What a delightful 

 idea the whole of Noah's Ark waiting to start, till Japhet 

 caught the magpie ! " It is everywhere a "fowl of mystery." 

 On the far side of the North Sea it swarms, and perhaps does 

 something towards keeping down the stock of game, for the 

 " pyet " is desperately fond of eggs, and they often lead him 

 into the gamekeeper's trap. On the shore of a shallow pond 

 or lagoon which they frequent a small " pier " of stones and 



