ORDER PASSERES. 203 



destroyers. Four thousand dozen of them are annually taken 

 in the neighbourhood of Dunstable, the greater part of which 

 are sent to London. But they are far more plentiful in 

 Germany than in this country. They are there subject to an 

 excise, which Keysler affirms produces six thousand dollars 

 yearly to Leipsic. It is also said that their flavour in this 

 neighbourhood is superior to what it is elsewhere. The duty 

 at Leipsic is about two and a-half sterling for every sixty 

 birds ; and it is sometimes known to produce twelve thou- 

 sand crowns. The fields are literally covered with them from 

 Michaelmas to the beginning of November. 



The most convenient season for hunting larks, is from the 

 month of September to the end of winter, particularly after 

 the white frosts and snow. 



There are a variety of modes of taking or destroying this 

 bird. The least advantageous is that of the gun. The game 

 scarcely compensates for the loss of time and trouble, 

 powder and shot. There is a method, however, sometimes 

 used, which renders the shooting of larks more productive to 

 the fowler, and which, as it is curious, we may as well 

 describe. 



A piece of wood is taken, nine or ten inches in length, 

 flat, and about two inches wide on the under side. On 

 the upper, it rather shelves a little on both sides, is 

 not exactly rounded, but divided into several narrow 

 planes, and the extremities of it are cut into slopes, or 

 very much inclined planes. Each of these planes is encrusted 

 with little bits of looking-glass, cemented in certain notches 

 with a kind of stucco, composed of three-parts of black 

 pitch, and four of red cement — the whole melted together. 

 A hole, about an inch deep, is made underneath this mirror, 

 about the centre, into which an iron spit is passed, somewhat 

 thicker than the little finger. This spit is hefted inta a 

 bobbin : a stake, about a foot long, sunk in the earth, and 



