230 HOW TO MAKE A SPRINGE. 
A, by pulling on 8, presses it against the forked stick Cc, 
which in turn is pressed against the upright stick D, and 
this keeps it all in place. But on a bird stepping on the 
forked stick c, the weight of the bird loosens its hold, and 
the long stick A flies up, catching the victim in the snare, 
which is laid flat on the forked stick C. 
Then, as Shakespeare hath it,— 
“Tf the springe hold, the cock’s mine.” 
Winters Tale, Act iv. Sc. 2. 
Mr. A. E. Knox, in his “ Game-Birds and Wild-Fowl,” has 
described a very similar trap, and his description is so 
animated, while at the same time so instructive, that we 
are tempted to overlook the similarity and quote his 
words :— 
“We soon found many tracks of the woodcock on the 
black mud ; and on one spot these, as well as the borings 
of his beak, were very numerous. Here my companion 
halted, and pulling out his knife, cut down a tall willow 
rod, which he stuck firmly into the ground in nearly an 
upright position, or perhaps rather inclining backwards. 
“On the opposite side of the run he fixed a peg, so as to 
project only a few inches above the surface; to this he 
fastened a slight stick about a foot long, attached loosely 
with a tough string, much as the swingel of a flail is to its 
handstaff: another branch of a willow was bent into an 
arch, and both ends driven into the soft ground to a con- 
