6s 



CHAPTER IV 



OLD-WORLD FOWLING 



The subject of fowling is closely related to the life 

 history of birds, because no one is likely to succeed in 

 trapping or snaring birds until he has first made him- 

 self fully acquainted with the habits and haunts of his 

 intended prey. The various devices for capturing 

 birds which are practised in different parts of the world 

 have long engaged my attention. I hope to speak of 

 them more fully at some future date. 



The pheasants of the Caucasus are chieily captured 

 by the old-fashioned method of setting snares in their 

 runs (a destructive if simple engine), or in specially 

 prepared pitfalls. Di Valh, who wrote in 1601, was 

 wicked enough to suggest that hen pheasants could 

 easily be snared upon their nests. Olina, who followed 

 Di Valli twenty years later and appropriated most of 

 his text, advises that pheasants should be snared in 

 the spring-time, when the birds seek their mates for 

 pairing purposes (if we may speak of a polygamous 



