44 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



by anyone possessing a little mechamcal ability, and is to be 

 bongbt cheaply at most of tlie bird sbops. A.s I liave been asked, 

 liowever, by many correspondents in tbe country, wbere sucb 

 tilings are to be procured, they are informed that in tlie classic 

 retreat of the Seven Dials — that is to say, in the street running 

 tbrougb. from Charing Cross to Bloomsbury — are to be found 

 many bird fanciers' shops where the nightingale trap can be 

 procured for something under a couple of shillings. 



In setting all of these traps be sure to touch them with the 

 hands as little as possible, especially if setting a baited trap. 

 Gloves are recommended to be worn, scented with musk when 

 baiting for stoats, weasels, &c., and with vervain or valerian 

 if baiting for cats. 



I will proceed now to the consideration of decoys. Decoys are 

 of two classes, fixed and mechanical, or those easily removable 

 and natural. Of the former the most important is what is called 

 a decoy for wild fowl, viz., a large tract of land and water speci- 

 ally fitted up with nets of the sorts most suitable for taking 

 ducks and similar birds, and near which it is unlawful to fire a 

 gun. For a thoroughly exhaustive and interesting article on 

 decoy ponds, see Folkard's " Wild Fowler," pp. 44 — 94. 



Some singular and highly original methods of catching birds 

 are described by ancient and modern authors. Pennant, in 

 his " Arctic Zoology," vol. ii, page 550, describes a quaint but 

 doubtful method of decoying wild geese in Siberia; he also, 

 at page 311, records how immense numbers of willow grouse 

 are taken by a curious mode of netting. 



Folkard also mentions an ingenious way of capturing wild 

 fowl in their own element by the aid of calabashes. This, 

 however, I think, " must be seen to be believed," though I am 

 bound to confess that it is partly corroborated by other writers. 



Of the lasso or the "bolas," used in South America for 

 capturing certain animals and birds, no description need be 

 given, as this method of trapping is only to be performed by a 

 person trained from childhood to ride and throw the lasso. The 

 same remark applies to the use of the blowpipe (see Bates's 

 "Amazons"), and the Australian " boomerang " and " throwstick." 

 Regarding the use of the blowpipe, I see that an American 

 author on Taxidermy, who has written a very good book on the 



