28 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



small birds assemble in flocks, and which may be nsed in various ways. 

 Put the bird-lime into an earthen dish, with the addition of one ounce of 

 fresh lard to every quarter-pound of bird-lime, and melt the whole gently 

 over the fire. Take a quantity of wheat ears, with a foot of the straw 

 attached to them, and, having warmed the lime, that it may spread the 

 thinner, lime about six inches of the straw from the bottom of the ears. 

 Scatter a little chaff and thrashed ears over a compass of twenty yards ; 

 stick the limed straws into the ground, with the ears inclining down- 

 wards, or even touching the surface ; traverse the adjoining places 

 in order to disturb the birds, and make them fly towards the snare, and, 

 by peeking at the ears of corn, they will become so entangled with the 

 limed straw as to be easily taken by the hand. The lime may also be 

 applied to cords, rods, and twigs, especially when it is intended to 

 entangle the larger birds, such as snipes and fieldfares, and for this 

 purpose the following mode may be adopted : Take the main branch of 

 any bushy tree, with long, straight, and smooth twigs, such as the 

 willow or birch, clear the twigs from every notch and prickle, lime the 

 branches to within four fingers of the bottom, leaving the main bough 

 from which the others rise uatouched by the composition, and then place 

 the bush where the birds resort. For small birds two to three hundred 

 single twigs, about the thickness of a rush and three inches in length, 

 may be stuck in sheaves of flag and corn. In hot and dry weather the 

 twigs may be placed around the rivulets, ditches, and pools to which the 

 birds come for drink, covering the waters at the same time with brush- 

 wood, so that they can have no access to quench their thirst, except at 

 the spot where the twigs are fixed. For this purpose the rods or twigs 

 should be about a foot in length, limed to within two inches of the 

 thickest end, which is stuck into the bank in such a manner that they 

 may lie within two fingers' breadth of the ground, and as the birds do 

 not alight at once upon the place where they are to drink, but gradually 

 descend from the higher trees to the lower, thence to the bushes, and 

 lastly to the bank, it is useful to fix a few branches about a fathom from 

 the water in a sloping direction, with a few lime twigs fastened upon 

 them on which the birds will as frequently be caught as on those which 

 are placed nearer to the water. The best time for this sport is from ten 

 to eleven in the forenoon, from two to three in the afternoon, and about an 

 hour before sunset, when the birds come to the watering places in flocks 

 before they retire to roost. 



Tlie application of bird-lirae is of ancient origin, and is 

 practised in many countries. Pennant gives an account of how 

 to take small birds by liming twigs around a stuffed or tetliered 



