CHAPTER II. 



Bird Catching. 



Bird-catchers, who make a trade of this calling, adopt a 

 variety of methods for ensnaring birds, and among others, and 

 by no means the least successful, is that of imitating their 

 ''call" notes, and the notes they utter expressive of joy and 

 anger. By adopting this artifice, the bird-catchers succeed in 

 alluring the birds to the spot where snares and other methods 

 are provided for their capture. In some of the outlying dis- 

 tricts in England and other parts of the United Kingdom, bird- 

 catchers select a remote place that is densely wooded, and 

 where large numbers of different species of birds are known 

 to congregate ; and here, in some well-chosen spot, they erect 

 a temporary hut, and cover it with newly-cut boughs of trees 

 and thorns. After leaving it for a few days, until the birds 

 get accustomed to it, they return, and, having carefully and 

 securely fixed some horsehair nooses, and a liberal distribu- 

 tion of well -limed twigs, commence their operations. They 

 carry with them a stuffed owl or hawk, and sometimes a 

 living bird, in which case it is securely fixed to some branch 

 of a tree in close proximity to the hut. The fowler then 

 begins to imitate, inside the hut, the cries of some bird in 

 distress, and almost instantly and simultaneously a bevy of 

 birds, of various species, will rush to the rescue, and, alighting 

 on the top of the hut, a great many of them become 

 ensnared, and the device proves a success. 



The Clap-net. — Professional bird-catchers employ a clap- 

 net for taking Larks, Linnets, Finches, and other varieties of wild 



