s3 2 OF THE SMALL BIRDS OF FLIGHT. 



are raifed upon thenar*, and gently let down at the- 

 time the wild bird approaches them : thefe generally 

 confift of the linnet, the goldfinch, and the greenfinch ;■ 

 thefe birds are fecured to the fiur by what is called a 

 brace f ; a contrivance that fecures the birds without 

 doing any injury to their plumage. 



It having been found that there is a fuperiority and 

 afcendency between bird and bird, from the one be T 

 ing more in. fong than the other; the bird-catchers 

 contrive that their call-birds mould moult before 

 the ufual time. They, therefore, mjune or July r 

 put them into a clofe box, under two or three folds 

 of blankets, and leave their dung in the cage to 

 raife a greater heat ; in which ftate they continue, 

 being perhaps examined but once a week to have 

 frefh water : as for food, the air is fo putrid, that 

 they eat little during the whole ftate of confinement,, 

 which lafts about a month. The birds frequently 

 die under the operation $ ; and hence the value of a 

 jhpped-bird rifes greatly. 



When the bird hath thus prematurely moulted, he 

 is infong, whilft the wild birds are out of fong, and his 

 note is louder and more piercing than that of a wild 1 



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

 bird-catcher can raife atpleafure, by means of a long firing fatten- 

 ed to it. 



f A fort of bandage, formed of a flender filken firing 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 it flutter ever fo 

 much in the raifing. 



J We have been lately informed by an experienced bird-catcher, 

 that he purfues a cooler regimen in flopping his birds, and that he 

 therefore feldom lofes one : but we fufped that there is not the 

 jjme certainty of making them moult. 



one j 



