Book I. O^^IT HO LO QT. fi 



ortreeclofeto them, &c. provided that where-ever you pitch it down, you may- 

 very near it have fome clofe Covert to lie concealed in, and there chirp like a Spar- 

 row, or call with a note like the Linnet or Bull-finch [ as the Cocks ufe to do when 

 they mils the Hens, or the Hens the Cocks ~] altering your note according to your 

 fancy, but continually calling in one note or other. This Art and Ability is gotten by 

 diligent obferving the Birds notes abroad, and by pra&ice. But if you cannot frame 

 your mouth to thefe founds, get you a Bird-call } and having learnt how to ufe it Ar- 

 tificially, you (hall fit in your Covert, and call the Birds to you : And when 'you fee 

 any of them light upon your Buihlet them alone, and move not till you fee them fafe- 

 ly entangled, which their own skipping up and down, and ftrugling when they find 

 themfelves fnared, will do better than any affright from you whatfoever : Neither 

 fhallyouftirfora (ingle Bird or two, but ftay till many be entangled: For the firft 

 that are taken will with their ft riving and fluttering in the bulb be as good as Stales, 

 and make a world of others repair to them, which you may then take: And this ex- 

 ercife you may continue from before Sun-rife till ten of of the Clock in the Fore- 

 noon , and from one in the Afternoon till almoft Sun-fet in the Evening. 



If you want a Call you may make ufe of a Stale , as of a Bat or two, placed next 

 to your Lime-buthin fiich apparent manner that no bird thereabouts but may behold 

 them$ which will no fooner be perceived, but every bird will come to gaze and won- 

 der at them : Then having no other convenient lighting place but the Lime-bufh, they 

 will flock as thick into the fame as may be, and fo you may take them at pleafure. So 

 the Owl may in like manner be employed, which by reafon (he is more melancholy 

 and lefs ftirring than the Bat, and alio of greater bulk, and fooner perceived, is a 

 better Stale than the Bat. For want of a live Owl or Bat the skin of either ftuft, or 

 an artificial Owl made of wood and painted may ferve the turn. 



Others take thefe fmall birds with Lime-twigs only, byrifing early in the Morning 

 before break of day, and going to the haunts, and there watching when the Birds go 

 forth to feek their food ( which is ever at the fpring oT the day ) and then finding that 

 they have forfaken the hedges, they place their Lime-twigs all along thofe hedges, 

 fome upright, fome flope-wife, and fome acrofs 5 and withal' fo thick, that the Birds 

 can come no way into the hedge, but of force they muft be entangled. This done 

 they go into the Corn-fields, Meadows, or Grounds adjoyning, where the Birds 

 feed, and there beating them up and fearing them, make them retire to the hedges in 

 4 great flocks, where they are prefently entangled among the Lime-twigs, and ta- 

 ken in abundance. But this manner of taking is only for the Spring and Fall of 

 the Leaf } and only for one certain time of the day, viz,, an hour before and after 

 Sun-rife. ' / ". 



§. II. 



Aft excellent way of taking fmall Birds with Birdlime 3 out of the Epitome of Husbandry. 



THisisbeftdone in a Snow. When you fee the Birds flock together about your 

 houfe or fields } chufe out one hundred large Wheat-ears } cut the ftraw about 

 a foot long befides the ears •> From the bottom of the Ears to the middle lime the 

 ftraw for about fix or feven Inches 5 let your Lime be warm, that fo it may run thin 

 upon the ftraw, and be lefs difcernable to the Birds. Go then to the place, and 

 carry a little bag of Chaff and threfhed Ears, and fcatter thefe fourteen or fifteen 

 yards wide. Then take the limed Ears, and ftick them up and down in the Snow, 

 with the Ears leaning, or with the end touching the ground. Then retire from the 

 place, and drive the Birds from any other haunt, and you will fee prefently great 

 flocks repair thither, and begin to peck the Ears of Corn, and fly away with them, 

 which as ibon as any of them (hall dp, the ftraw that is limed laps under his Wing, and 

 down he falls, not perceiving himfelf to be entangled J For I have feen many eat their 

 Ears when they have been fall limed under the Wing* In the field you will take moll: 

 Larks. For Sparrows ftick your Ears upon the houfe-tops, though you never get the 

 Birds. Every dozen of Sparrows you take in Winter (hall fave you a quarter of Wheat 

 before Harveft. 



Take away all your limed Ears, and in the Afternoon bait the place with a bag or 

 ■ two more of Ears and Chaff, and let them reft till Morning, that the birds may feed 

 boldly, and not be affrighted 5 then take fome frelfiEars, and ftick them up as you did 

 before. 



G $. HL 



