192 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



light wooden discs, which he hurls at the birds as they pass 

 him, with the result that they swoop down and come within 

 the drop of the nets. Waiting in " the chill of the pearly 

 dawn " is no doubt cold enough in these mountain solitudes ; 

 but as the sun comes over the ranges in the east, a traveller 

 tells us, " we begin to hear the cries of the flagboys in the 

 distance announcing that the first of the birds were in sight, 

 and the fears entertained of. a possibly blank day are dis- 

 pelled. In a couple of minutes a shrill whistle from the 

 chief was the signal for every one to rush into hiding. A 

 few seconds of breathless suspense, and the silence was 

 broken by a rushing sound overhead and a simultaneous 

 collapse of four nets with seventeen blue rocks fluttering on 

 the ground underneath them. It was not, perhaps, sport, 

 but it certainly was most exciting. The net men rushed out 

 and retrieved them. Bach bird as it was gathered was 

 plucked of the feathers of one wing, and put into the front 

 pocket of a sort of apron the net men wore, and eventually 

 transferred to a receptacle formed of boughs built round the 

 trunk of a tree. As soon as the last bird was gathered, the 

 nets were smartly hoisted again, as the shouts of the flagboys 

 were already heard. In a few minutes, another whistle and 

 another rushing of wings ; but, instead of the rattle of falling 

 nets, there ensues a perfect hurricane of the most awful 

 oaths from the nest in the beech tree, proclaiming to the 

 initiated that the pigeons had passed over the nets and gone 

 on their way untouched." Twenty to thirty dozen birds are 

 sometimes taken in the early twilight by this curious and 

 unique arrangement. 



The beautiful fruit pigeon of Bengal, brilliant in yellow 

 and claret colour, is taken in nets hung between fig trees to 

 ensnare flying foxes. These nets, or something very like 

 them, are mentioned in the oldest Sanskrit writings, and are 

 suggested on Assyrian bas-reliefs and Egyptian frescoes. 

 The American passenger pigeon, a genuine farm pest, is 

 thus caught in Maine, U.S. A piece of ground, about thirty 



