14 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



the foliage of some low bushes, was a store cage, in which 

 were placed the captives. The dimensions of this cage were, 

 roughly, 2 ft. x i ft. X 9 ins. Bars were confined to the front, 

 the rest of the cage was composed of wood, with the excep- 

 tion of the roof, which consisted of a sheet of sacking, which 

 prevented injury to the heads of restive captives. Access to 

 the interior of the cage was gained by means of the leg of 

 a stocking fixed to the side. "With this simple device 

 additional captives could be added to those already confined 

 without risk of escapes. When not in use, the mouth of the 

 stocking was secured with a knot. 



At the end of the day the decoy cages, with their call- 

 birds, were stored away in a neat package by passing a stick 

 through a socket on the roof of each cage, and enveloping 

 the whole in a wrapper of American waterproof cloth, 

 through which holes for ventilation had been pierced. 



At least two flocks of, roughly, twenty to thirty birds were 

 hovering in the vicinity, answering the sibilant cry of the 

 call-birds. The operators of the decoy were two miners on 

 half-time employment ; they were busily engaged in imitating 

 the call-note of the Siskins, which they did to perfection, 

 inciting the call-birds to respond, and thus enticing to the 

 lures fresh comers. 



I was able to obtain some information from the owners. 

 Never in their experience had they known Siskins so 

 numerous as during the present autumn. On one day they 

 had taken ninety-five, and in one week over three hundred 

 birds. The method employed to free a captive from the 

 adhesive lime is as follows : vaseline or butter is used as 

 a solvent, and is applied wherever the feathers have become 

 matted, the bird is then placed in a store cage, on the floor 

 of which is placed powdered coal-shale ash, which absorbs all 

 remaining traces of grease or limxe. Nowadays bird-lime is 

 rarely made from holly-tree bark, it is mainly obtained by 

 boiling linseed oil, and the manufacture is carried out in 

 Edinburgh. 



The prices for Siskins realised in the Edinburgh market 

 are, as a rule, 2s. 6d. for cock birds, and is. for hens. 



In the store cage was a fine hen Northern Bullfinch, to 



