364 ON BIRD-NETS. 



the 9th of March ; after that time their ' quit que-twit ' is to be heard 

 on every side as long as the nesting-season lasts/' 



Pridmore's description of how to work the call is as follows : — 



'' Place the string in your left hand and your thumb tight at the end of 

 the w^ood and your hand firm against your left side. Take hold of the 

 pipe with the right hand, with the thumb just below the bottom of the hole 

 of the pipe, with the first finger underneath ; then jerk it up and down 

 sharp ; and by practice you will make a sound very like a cricket. This is 

 the low note. When the Quails are very near, it should be struck as low as 

 possible." 



He adds : — '^ I have seldom caught more than from twelve to fifteen in 

 a day, as you must go from field to field ; for they are scattered about, and 

 do not keep together.'' 



The woodcut is taken from the call for the low note, presented to me by 

 Pridmore ; and he never knew it fail. I preserve it as a relic of past 

 days. 



Willughby says (in his ' Ornithology,' 1678), as to the mode then in 

 use in Italy : — 



The net "is called ' Butrio' or 'Cuculo' " They pitch it "just before 

 the tunnel of the net, with two poles, with five cages hanging upon each, 

 having live Quails in them, which serve to call and entice the wild ones. 

 Before the net they cast millet or panic seed. To drive them forward a man 

 walks on each side of the net, with a jingling instrument Q Sonagliera ') in 

 his hand, first one, then the other, sounding from hand to hand." 



This is done before day, and, if the moon shines, at any time at night. 



