ON BIRD-NETS. 361 



hally-Moor fen (flooded during the last three years), Glassmore fen, Peter- 

 borough Wash, Stanground Wash, Guyhirn Wash, Crowland Wash, Fosdyke 

 Cowbit Wash [pronounced ' cubbet '], and at this place, Whittlesea Wash, 

 which is not near the mere, but about half a mile from Whittlesea. We get 

 a few Stints, RufFs and Reeves, Curlews, and Sea- Gulls. 



"I wear high water-boots, oil-cloth coat, and woollen shirt. We 

 always set to pull over against the wind. The decoy-birds sit on hills one 

 foot across and two inches above the water at the head of the net. When 

 we see any Plover a quarter of a mile ofi', or perhaps more, if the sun shines 

 on the decoy-bird, we pull the string which is fastened to his leg, and the 

 bird opens its wings. The Plovers then come direct to the net, and fly very 

 low over it. When they are all passed and clear, the string is pulled again, 

 and, the decoy opening its wings, the Plovers think some of the party behind 

 have begun to settle. Then they turn back, meeting the wind, which they 

 always do, and try to drop near the decoy-bird ; but finding the water too 



remarks (p. 408) concerning Vanellus cristatus : — '' Of all our field- and heath-birds the Lapwing is 

 one of the most useful in destroying destructive insects^ such as Zabrus gibbus &c/^ 



Well did Edward, the cobbler of Banff, deserve the Eoyal bounty ! Though different in idea 

 from his brother craftsman of the blue JFranconian mountains, in that Nuremberg where '' Hans 

 Sachs, the cobbler poet, laureate of the gentle craft. Wisest of the Twelve Wise Masters, in huge 

 folios sang and laughed,^-' yet Her Majesty saw in him, and rewarded, ''the nobility of labour, the 

 long pedigree of toil/' 



Turning, however, from Nuremberg to Whittlesea Wash, though the Lapwing has increased, 

 many other birds have decreased, particularly wild Geese. Twenty-five years ago or so, Pridmore 

 says, '' our fens were covered with them — so much so, that boys were hired to keep them off the 

 young wheat, as they would eat almost the whole off. Glassmore Fen and Thorney Fen were won- 

 derful places for them. They would come into our Wash \i. e. Whittlesea Wash], and sit on the 

 water. Fifteen or twenty have been killed at one discharge by two men with guns, which is called 

 ' double shooting / many were also knocked over in the daytime, with stalking-horses. Very few 

 come in our part now.^^ 



These things are ended in England ; they are as old as the time of the Greek slave, common 

 in his day ; and who does not remember, in the fable of ^sop, " The husbandman pitched a net in 

 his fields to take the Cranes and Geese which came to feed upon the new-sown corn,^^ &c. ? 



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