Book II. O^^lT HO LOqT. 87 



which refpe&edthe floor was a nick cut in, upon which was hung a Net made of fine 

 green thread. In the middle of the floor flood a Stake a Cubit high, to the top of 

 which a Cord was bound, which reached as fas as the Fowler, who lay behind the 

 buthet. To this fame Line, lying loofe, were many little Birds iaftned, which picked 

 up grains of Corn on the floor. Now, when the Fowler faw a Hawk coming afar 

 off from the Sea-coaft, (baking the Line, he made thefe birds to flicker up and down. 

 Which the Sparrow-hawks ( as they are notably fharp-fighted ) efpying at leaft half a 

 League off, came flying full (peed, and rufh'd upon the Nets with that force, toftrike 

 at the birds, that being entangled therein they were taken. The Hawks being al- 

 lured into the Nets, and caught by this Artifice, the Fowler thruft their whole wings 

 up to the fhoulders into certain linnen clothes, fbwnupforthatpurpofe, which our 

 Falconers call,raayling or trujfing of Hawks. Thus may Id or truft up he left them up- 

 on the ground, fb unable to help themfelves, that they could not ftir, nor ftruggle, 

 much lefs difengage or deliver themfelves. No man could eafily imagine, whence 

 fuch a multitude of Sparrow-hawks fhould come. For in two hours time that we were 

 fpe&ators of that fport, we faw more than thirty taken by this deceit, whence one 

 may conje&ure, that one Fowler in the (pace of one day might take more than an 

 hundred. Thefe Hawks do not ufually fray fb long in one place as Falcons, but are 

 often changing place, whence it is more difficult to take them with a Net. For they 

 will not readily give a Fowler time to fpread a Net over them 5 unlefs they be de- 

 ceived in that manner Bellonius hath fet down. 



Chap. XL 

 Of Butcher -Birds or Shrikes called in Lathe Lanii or Colluriones. 



*He new name of Lanius or Butcher was by Gefier impofed on this bird, be- 

 caufe he thought it agreed to no defcriptiori of the Ancients 5 and becaufe it 

 is wont to prey on other Birds. Bellonius would have it to be the Collnrio of 

 Ji'iftotle. Of the European Rapacious birds it is the leaft 3 having a (freight Bill,only 

 a little hooked at the point 3 a Tail like that of a Mag-pie, vi<%, With the outmoft 

 feathers (horteft, the reft in order longer to the middlemoft; whence the French do, 

 not without reafon, call it theGreyPie, Turner fufpedts it to be the Tyrannus of Art- 

 ftotle. In Englifh it is called a Shrike. 



§. 1. 



The greater Butcher-bird or Mattagefs. Lanius cinereus major. 



THis Bird in the North of England is called Wier angle, aname^ it feems, common Thenametf 

 to us with the Germans, who ( as Gefner witnefieth ) about Strasburgh,Franckr 

 fort, and elfewhere call it Werkgngcl, or Warkangel, perchance ( faith he ) as it were 

 Wurchangel, which literally rendred fignifies a fuffocating Angel. In other parts of 

 Germany it is called Neghen-doer, that is, Nine-killer, \_ EnneaUonos ~] becaufe it kills 

 nine birds before it ceafes,or every day nine. Our Falconers call it the Mattagefs,z name 

 borrowed from the Savoyards, which is by Aldrovandus interpreted a murthering 

 Pie. 



It is for bignefs equal to the common Blackbird, or the Song-Thmfi. It weighs three * s Jjjfj?' and 

 ounces. Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is more than ten mea ur " 5 

 inches : Its Breadth fourteen inches. Its Bill from the tip to the Angles of the mouth Bill, 

 is above an inch long, black, hooked at the end, and furnifhed with an Angle or 

 Tooth on each fide, like that of the Kejirel, Sparrow-hawk-, and lefler birds of this 

 kind. [ Aldrovandus affirmeth, that his greater Italian Lanius, which they common- 

 ly call Regejiola, wants thefe angular Appendices of the Bill, wherein it differs from 

 ours. ] The Tongue is (lit or forked at the end, and rough, [ In that defcribed by ToBgu?'. 

 Aldrovandus, the tip of the Tongue is multifidous or jagged, ending inmanyfharp 

 Fibres, as it were hairs, which perchance ( faith he ) is fo framed by Nature for 

 the (hiking of Infefts.] In the Palate is a fiflure or cleft, and about the cleft a hollow 

 Cavity equal*o the Tongue. The Nofthrils are round, above which grow ftirl black 

 hairs or briftles. From the corner of the Mouth on each fide through the Eyes to 



the 



