ORDER PASSERES. 521 



Certain to catch an abundance of them, provided they act with 

 dexterity. Four persons are necessary to conduct this sport ; 

 one carries a lighted torch, two others hold the net, and a 

 fourth, called in French the traqueuTy incloses the bushes. 

 He, who carries the torch, remains about twenty paces from 

 the end of the hedge; when the net is spread, the traqueur 

 commences at the extremity of the hedge opposite to the net, 

 and the other two hold the net at a proportionate height. The 

 most profound silence must be observed, and the torch must 

 not be lit until they begin to beat the hedge. According to 

 the positions, now described, of the fowlers, it is easy to per- 

 ceive that the net is between the torch-bearer and the traqueur, 

 and the birds between this last and the net. The birds, 

 awakened by the noise, take wing, and direct their flight 

 towards the torch, and consequently precipitate themselves 

 into the net. It should not be lowered to take out the birds 

 until the traqueur comes up. The net should always be 

 placed as nearly as possible on the side on which the wind 

 blows upon the hedges and bushes; for it is observed, that 

 birds never sleep but with their heads with the wind. Autumn 

 and Spring, when the thrushes and blackbirds are on their 

 passage, are the proper periods for catching them in great 

 quantities, because they then repose in large flocks, in the 

 hedges sheltered from the wind. 



Fowlers in France also make use of moveable huts (huttes 

 ambulantes), which are very convenient for killing numbers of 

 thrushes during the vintage time. These birds never repose in 

 the vineyards, but retire into the neighbouring woods and 

 thickets ; and generally rest once or twice on the most exposed 

 trees. The hunters have each a hut, which they place near the 

 tree which they judge most advantageous, and there each 

 awaits his game, which he kills easily. It is remarked that the 

 riper the grapes are, the more frequently the birds repose 

 themselves : they appear, as it were, intoxicated ; and every 

 kind of snare succeeds in taking them at this time. 



