DECOYING- AND TRAPPING ANIMALS. 19 



the bottom I make a small knot to prevent its unrolling ; then, 

 piisliing tlie knotted end tlirongli tlie eye of tlie loop, I tlins 

 form a loose noose. I tlien attacli a piece of wire to tlie 

 free end by a twisted loop (see Fig. 1). Witli about balf 

 a dozen of these springes coiled in an oval tin box I am ready to 

 snare any small bird whose hannt I may discover. Birds 

 which are nesting can easily be canght by placing one noose in 

 the nest and others round the edge or mouth, making fast the 

 end wires to any contiguous branch or twigs. Moorhens or 

 water-rails, which swim or run through the constantly fre- 

 quented tracks which they have made in dense undergrowth 

 or rushes m bogs, may be captured by attaching these nooses 

 to a string stretched across — indeed, a writer in the Field, of 

 July 8, 1876, says, speaking of Turkestan : 



Ducks are caught by rather a clever arrangement with horsehair 

 nooses attached to a string, which is stretched over the ditches and 

 canals used for irrigation, and so close to the water that the ducks are 

 compelled when swimming under the string to stretch cut their necks, 

 when they are easily caught in the hanging nooses. 



Also a useful plan for catching plovers or snipes, which 

 haunt the edges of streams having a narrow margin between 

 the bank and the water, is described by him as used for 

 catching quails : 



One method is simplicity itself : a hair noose is fastened to a lump of 

 clay well worked together ; a number of these appliances are scattered 

 about the lucerne fields, which the quails are fond of frequenting ; the 

 bird caught in the noose is prevented from flying away owing to the 

 weight of the lump of clay and its getting easily entangled in the grass. 



"Wheatears and ortolans are caught by suspending a hair 

 noose between two turves placed on end and touching each 

 other in the form of the roof of a house; to this shelter the 

 birds constantly run on the approach of danger, or even, 

 apparently, through timidity, on the gathering of storm clouds. 



With this springe, also, thrushes and similar birds are described 

 as being snared by Mr. Gould (in his "Birds of Great Britain"), 

 who, giving Mr. Box as his authority, says : 



The thrush is a great source of amusement to the middle, and of 

 profit to the lower, classes during its autumnal migration. Many families 

 of Liege, Luxemburg, Luneburg, Namur, parts of Hainault, and Brabant 



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