DECOYINa AND TEAPPING ANIMALS. 29 



live owl. I have heard, of this plan being adopted, but have not 

 tried it niyseK. From the cnrious manner in which small birds 

 usually mob an owl, I should fancy it would succeed. 

 According to Folkard's " Wildfowler :" 



There was also a method much in vogue previously to the invention 

 and discovery of decoys, of taking wild fowl with lime strings made of 

 packthread or string, knotted in various ways and besmeared with bird- 

 lime ; these were set in rows about fens, moors, and other feeding haunts 

 of the birds, an hour or two before morning or evening twilight. This 

 plan was to procure a number of small stakes, about 2ft. in length, 

 sharpened to a point at the nether end, and forked at the upper. These 

 were pricked out in rows about a yard or two apart, some being placed 

 in a slanting direction, and each stake siding one with another, within 

 convenient distances of 4yds. or 5yds., so as to bear up the strings, 

 which were laid upon the crutches, and placed loosely about 18in. above 

 the ground. The lime strings were thus drawn from stake to stake in 

 various directions, and lightly placed between the forks at the top of the 

 stakes, some rows being higher than others ; and in this manner the 

 whole space occupied by the stakes was covered with lime strings, as if 

 carefully laid in wave-like coils, or placed in different directions, the ends 

 being secured to the stakes with slip-knots, so that upon a light strain 

 the whole of any string which might be touched by the bird became 

 instantly loose, and, sticking to the feathers, the more it struggled to 

 free itself, so much the more the string twisted about it, and thus the 

 bird was quickly entangled, and became an easy prey. In this manner 

 numbers of wild fowl of the largest species were taken at night at the 

 moment of sweeping over the ground at very slow flight, just before 

 alighting; and it would appear that this method of fowling was par- 

 ticularly successful in taking plovers, which generally alight on the 

 ground thickly congregated together. 



A similar method was employed for taking wild fowl with lime strings 

 placed over the surface of rivers and ponds frequented by those birds, 

 and apparently with remarkable success. For this purpose it was neces- 

 sary to procure a waterproof bird-lime wherewith to dress the strings, 

 which were knotted in a similar manner to those employed for taking 

 birds on land. The strings so prepared were in serpentine coils from 

 stake to stake, the stakes being forked at the top, and of similar form 

 to those last described, but of sufficient length to reach the bottom of 

 the water and obtain a firm fixing in the mud. Some of the stakes were 

 placed on the banks of the water or in any manner so that the lime 



