BIED FOWLING. 



Devices for snaring various species of Wildfowl have probably 

 employed the ingenuity of the native Lakelanders since pre- 

 historic times. I have not, however, met with an earlier refer- 

 ence to the subject than that supplied by one of the Pipe-Rolls 

 of King John. In this we find notified a payment to William 

 the Fowler (' Willo aucupi '), due as his wages, and for the keep 

 of his dogs. Mr. William Timperon, a living example of the 

 fine type of yeomen for which Cumberland is so justly celebrated, 

 and now on the verge of completing his seventy- eighth year, 

 tells me that he perfectly remembers the time when it was con- 

 sidered quite a correct proceeding to net the Partridges which 

 the dogs had found in the stubble fields. Any that escaped the 

 net might be shot, but there were few men who shot flying birds 

 in his youth. It seems not unlikely that ' Will the Fowler ' 

 was retained to render such service as that just indicated. The 

 poorer folk could not perhaps always afford nets, and were wont 

 to employ their winter evenings in making horsehair nooses. 

 The manipulation of these varied. The country lads were in the 

 habit of catching small birds with the 'Guelder.' The 'Guelder' 

 simply consists of a few cross-strings run across a hoop or a bent 

 stick, such as that shown in the accompanying woodcut. The 

 cross- strings served to secure numerous nooses of horsehair. 

 When a fall of snow induced the Linnets, Larks, Snow Buntings, 

 and other small birds to gather in the farmyards in search of 

 food and shelter, the moment for employing the ' Guelder ' had 

 arrived. Accordingly, a space was swept clear of snow, and a 

 few handfuls of grain were thrown down. The ' Guelder ' was 

 placed on the ground above the grain, and the birds noosed 

 themselves in their endeavours to reach the corn below. The 

 practice of eating the small birds thus secured was general two 



