Vol. Ill, No. 6-] Methods of catching wild foivl, etc. 437 



[N.S.] 



thread being fastened to some of the small feathers under the winf^s 

 to prevent it slipping down over the ends of the flight-feathers. In 

 this state the decoy-heron will stand qnite still within the boun- 

 daries of the net, while the wild heron, angry at the intrusion, 

 will settle and attempt to drive it away. 



Instead of filling the ears with cotton wool, a long peg may be 

 driven into the ground at an angle of about 15^, and the decoy-heron 

 carefully perched on this. It will, in this position, sit quite still, 

 the eyes of course being seeled as before. 



Fish not less than five or six inches long can be gutted and 

 dried in the sun for five or six days, and kept as food for the decoy : 

 before use, these di'ied fish sliould be soaked in water. Bird-catchers 

 usually feed their decoy-herons in this way. (Fish keep fresh 

 longer if not placed in water). 



/ 



Heron-catching tn Kashmih. 



Take thirty to forty black horse-hairs, knot them togethei* at 

 one end, wet them, roll them between the palms to twist them well, 

 and then knot the other ends together. Cut off the ends outside 

 the knots. The length of this horse-hair rope should now be 

 14| incl»es. Take a straight stick of hard wood, of the thickness of 

 a penholder, and eleven inches long; sharpen one end, and make 

 a slit about two inches long in the other end. Now double the 

 horse-hair rope to find the centre, and insert the centres (Fig. IV) 



Fiir. IV. 



in the split, to about one inch from the end of the stick. Above 



tlie horse-hair rope, tightly bind the stick with kachcha sut (raw 

 thread), four times. Now take one end of the rope, and cross it 

 over this binding and through the slit, bringing it out at h on the 

 opposite side, and pull rather tight. Treat the other end of the 



rope in the same way. Both ends 



ing and stand out at right ano^les to the stick. Just above the 

 rope make two clove-hitches (that is, foui- half-hitchesT over the 

 top of the stick, with Jcachcha sfit, to keep the rope in its place. 

 Next make four half -hitches {d) just below, and cat ofF the spnre 



loop 



thread. 



knot on 



round and over the rope close to the stick, over the opposite side 



Bring the knot 



