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OF THE 



SMALL BIRDS OF FLIGHT. 



N the fuburbs of London (and particularly Shore- 

 ditch) are feveral weavers and other tradefmen, 

 who, during the months of October and March, get 

 their livelihood by an ingenious, and we may fay, 

 a fcientific method of bird-catching, which is totally 

 unknown in other parts of Great -Britain. 



The reafon of this trade being confined to fo fmall 

 a compafs, arifes from there being no confiderable 

 fale for finging birds except in the metropolis : as the 

 apparatus for this purpofe is alfo heavy, and at the 

 fame time muft be carried on a man's back, it pre- 

 vents the bird-catchers going to above three or four 

 miles diftance. 



This method of bird-catching muft have been long 

 practifed, as it is brought to a moft fyftematical per- 

 fection, and is attended with a very confiderable ex- 

 pence. 



The nets are a moft ingenious piece of mechanifm, 

 are generally twelve yards and a half long, and two 

 yards and a half wide ; and no one on bare infpection 

 would imagine that a bird (who is fo very quick in 

 all its motions) could be catched by the nets flapping 



oyer* 



