lxxxiv 



PROLEGOMENA 



hundred years ago, and until recently it still prevailed in the 

 neighbourhood of Allonby. Small birds were also taken with 

 the riddle, with trap-cages, with bat-fowling nets, and with bird- 

 lime. Clap-nets, on the other hand, are a comparatively recent 

 innovation. The method generally employed for using bird- 

 lime has hitherto been to place the prepared twigs (tied around 

 the base with dry twigs) on the tops of the hedges, at various 

 distances from the caged call-birds. Some Whitehaven bird- 

 catchers employ dummy Linnets to attract the wild birds. 



THE ' GUELDER. 



These roughly-stuffed dummies answer much the same purpose 

 as the ' stale ' or stuffed Chaffinch used by the Club Eow bird- 

 catchers when pursuing their favourite pastime of ' pegging ' for 

 Chaffinches. The difference is, that while the stuffed Chaffinch 

 is an object of animosity to the wild bird, the stuffed Linnets 

 only encourage the live birds to join their company on the lime 

 twigs. The shy habits of Wildfowl necessitate the use of 

 greater craft in their capture than is required for the destruction 

 of unsuspicious dickey birds. Our country histories are 

 uniformly silent upon the fascinating subject of duck decoys. 

 Whether this method of fowling was ever extensively employed 

 on the numerous sheets of inland water which supply the 

 natural title of this work, is more than I can say. Eecent 



