BIRD FOWLING 



lxxxvii 



Archibald. Mr. C. F. Archibald has favoured me with a com- 

 pletely equipped sample of the ' sprint ' made by Richard 

 Holme, together with a minute description of the working of 

 the trap. He says also that the ' sprints ' are (or were) set on 

 moonlight nights, on such spots as the birds are known to feed. 

 In setting 'sprints ' for Woodcock, a 'walk' is formed of rough 

 stones, making a barrier a few inches high, and the snare is 

 arranged in a gap. Woodcock object to walking over the stones, 

 and follow them alongside until they find an opening : they are 

 therefore easily conducted to the desired spot. Richard Holme 



THE ' SPRINT.' 



used to set scores of sprints when a boy ; the prices he obtained 

 in Ulverston were threepence for a ' Nanny ' Snipe, and three 

 halfpence for a ' Jack.' He has himself taken an old Black 

 Cock out of a ' sprint,' and has known a Foumart to be captured 

 in the same manner. This last was caught by the hind leg, 

 and so strung up, that it could just reach the ground. It had 

 scratched up a heap of earth like a mole-hill in its struggles to 

 escape.' Richard Holme has known the Wood Pigeon to be 

 taken in considerable numbers in ' sprints,' but Woodcock and 

 Snipe are the birds for which the 'sprint' is most commonly set. 

 Residents at Kendal and other towns near Morecambe Bay 

 tell me that they occasionally see considerable numbers of 

 Common Scoters, and a few Scaups also, hawked for sale 

 through their scats. These are the birds taken upon the cockle- 

 beds in nets suspended on small stakes, hung some fifteen inches 



