6§z APPENDIX. 



in the nets, are raifed upon the Jlur* 9 and gently 

 let down at the time the wild bird approaches 

 them. Thefe generally confift of the linnet, the 

 goldfinch, and the greenfinch, which are fecured to 

 the flur by what is called a hrace\\ a contrivance 

 that fecures the birds without doing any injury 

 to their plumage. 



It having been found that there is a fuperiority 

 between bird and bird, from the one being more in 

 fong than the other ; the bird-catchers contrive 

 that their call birds mould moult before the ufual 

 time. They, therefore, in June or July, put them 

 into a clofe box, under two or three folds of 

 blankets, and leave their dung; in the cao;e to raife 

 a greater heat ; in which ftate they continue, be- 

 ing perhaps examined but once a week to have 

 freih water. As for food, the air is- fo putrid, that 

 they eat little during the whole ftate of confine- 

 ment, which lafts about a month. The birds fre- 

 quently die under the operation J; and hence the 

 value of a flopped bird rifes greatly. 



When 



* A moveable perch to which the bird is tied, and which 

 the bird-catcher can raife at pleafure, by means of a long 

 firing fattened to it. 



f A fort of bandage, formed of a {lender filken fixing that is 

 fattened round the bird's body, and under the wings, in fo 

 artful a manner as to hinder the bird from being hurt, let 

 flutter ever fo much in the raifmg. 



t We have been lately informed by an experienced bird- 

 catcher, 



