52 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



upper end of the net should stand extended on the long cord, the further 

 end thereof being staked fast to the earth by a strong cord about five yards 

 distant from the net, which cord place in an even line with the lower edge 

 of the net ; the other end of the cord must be at least twenty-five yards, to 

 reach unto some natural or artificial shelter, by the help of which you may 

 lye concealed from the fowl, otherwise you can expect no good success. 



" Your net must be in that exact order that it may give way to play on 

 the fowl upon the least pull of your cord, which do smartly, lest the fowl 

 be too quick for you. 



" This device may be used for Pigeons, Crows, or the like, in corn-fields 

 newly sown ; as also in stubble-fields, provided the stubble conceal the net 

 from the fowl. It may also be used for small birds, at barn-doors; but 

 then lay for them some train of corn or chaff to entice them to the net 

 lying concealed. 



" This Crow-net may also be spread to great pleasure and profit in the 

 mornings and evenings, where you know their haunts are ; at which times 

 in hard weather Fowl use to fly in great flocks to and from the land, with 

 and against the wind ; and then they fly close to the ground in open 

 countries and low lands, which generally are not full of inclosures; and 

 when they are within reach of yeur net, let go, and it riseth over them, and 

 brings them back to the ground with a notable blow." 



The author of ' The Sportsman's Dictionary, or the Country 

 Gentleman's Companion,' 2nd ed., 8vo, London, 1744, after giving 

 a description of the Croiv-net, evidently borrowed without acknow- 

 ledgment from one or other of the writers above quoted, adds : — ■ 



" The Crow-net may also be spread to great advantage and pleasure in 

 the mornings and evenings, where you know their haunts are, at which 

 time in hard weather fowl are wont to fly in great flocks, to and from the 

 land, with and against the wind, and then they fly close to the ground in 

 open countries and low lands, and when they are within reach of your net, 

 let go and it will rise over them, and bring them back to the ground with 

 a smart blow." 



This net, in point of fact, much resembles the modern plover- 

 nety which has been minutely described and figured by Sir R. 

 Payne Gallwey in his ' Fowler in Ireland' (1882, p. 185). 



Indeed, an Irish plover-catcher, still living, has declared that 

 with this form of net he can catch Rooks when flying low against 

 the wind. 



In these more enlightened days, however, the persecution of 

 Choughs, Crows, and Rooks is not only not enforced by statute, 

 but Rooks at all events have come to be regarded with some 



