THE FOWLER’S ROD JOINTED 149 
of a tree, under which, or at some convenient distance from it, 
he contrived to conceal himself. When a bird, attracted by 
the singing of its companion, perched on the branches, he 
quietly inserted his rod amongst the boughs until it reached 
his prey, which stuck to the 
lime and was thus drawn to 
the ground. When the tree 
was very high, the rod was 
made in separate joints, like 
our fishing rod, so that he 
could lengthen it out until it 
reached the object of his 
pursuit, whence it is termed 
crescens or texta. 
If the example given by 
Rich (from a_ terra-cotta 
lamp) be faithfully rendered, 
the joints in the rod are easily 
discernible.! 
But all question as to the 
existence of a jointed fowl- 
ing rod is now settled past THE FOWLER. 
eradventure by Pl. 24, Fig. From Brit. Mus, Cat. of Lamps, 
O86, in the Bil Mus. Co ae alba 
of Gr. and Rom. Lamps, 1914. This shows an animal dressed in 
a hooded cloak, holding in his right hand a length of fowling 
rod, and in his left two spare lengths, trying to reach a tree 
on which sits a bird. Mr. Walters, the editor of the catalogue, 
kindly informs me that Fig. 686 can no longer be regarded 
as that of The Fox and the Grapes. Similar lamps shown 
in S. Loeschcke’s recent Lampen aus Vindonissa, e.g. Pl. 12, 
No. 473, confirm the evidence of the Brit. Mus. lamp in every 
detail. 
Not a few editors, on the other hand, retain vadis in Martial’s 
1 A. Rich, Dict. of Rom. and Gk. Antiquities, London, 1874, s.v. ‘ Arundo.’ 
I have been unable to trace this lamp in either Birch or Passeri. Daremberg 
and Saglio, op. cit., seem to collect most of the information on the subject, 
s.v. ‘Venatio,’ V. p. 694. The above and other methods of aucupium, “ bird- 
catching,” prevail to a devastating extent in Italy at the present day. 
