BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 101 



tlien they begin to pair, and are apt to pine and 

 die when taken from their mates. They may be 

 caught with cage-traps and limed twigs. To Im'e 

 them to the twigs, stick meal-worms to them ; 

 but the cage must be baited with a little mould 

 from an ant-hill, upon which strew ant-eggs and 

 a few meal-worms. Be sure to turn up the earth 

 the breadth of a foot or so round the cage, and the 

 fresh mould will attract the birds to the spot ; — 

 but some consider the nightingale's trap the best 

 method of catching them : It is made of a circular, 

 hollowed piece of wood, about a foot in diameter, 

 with a circular wire the size of the trap, to 

 which is attached a green silk net ; there is also 

 a watch-spring, a string to hold up the trap, and 

 a little cork : it must be baited with meal-worms, 

 which, when the bird seizes, the net falls down 

 and secures him. The earth round this must 

 like^vise be turned up, and the trap placed as near 

 their haunts as possible, particularly about the 

 spots where they are seen to feed. 



Branchers, 



Young birds are called branchers from the time 

 of their leaving the nest until their departure in 



