NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 
365 
has time to settle ; if he touches the net Vv^ith his feet he is 
off instantly. 
The next process in bird-catching is to put out the brace 
bird." A brace bird is taken from a cage ; this bird always 
wears his brace with a swivel attached, whether at work or not. 
The brace consists of a piece of string made into a kind of double 
halter. It is put over the bird's head, and the wings and legs 
are passed through ; in fact when I saw Mr. Davy brace a bird 
I was strongly reminded of a nurse dressing a baby. When the 
brace is on the bird, the feathers fall over it and it cannot be seen. 
The brace bird is then put on his "Ilur stick," this is a straight 
stick, which by means of a hinge on its lower end is ma de to rise 
and fall at the will of the bird-catcher by means of a string. 
Then when any bird is seen coming the flur stick is gently 
pulled up, the brace bird, all the while standing on the stick, is 
made to hover with his wings and show himself ; this, of course, 
is to attract the wild birds to the place. The bird-catcher 
then arranges his call birds. These birds when put out begin 
to sing, especially if they hear another bird of the same 
kind in the distance. The wild ones being attracted by the 
decoys are shown by the brace birds the place where they are 
wanted to go. No bait is used for the birds, they simply come 
to the decoy and imagine from the call that they — the decoys — 
are feeding there. 
The brace bird that Mr. Davy puts on the flur stick has been 
at work for three years almost daily. He has been the means 
of catching thousands of other birds, especially sparrows, or- 
dinarily called " Jims." Mr. Davy says the call birds get very 
artful ; sometimes they will give a note of warning to the wild 
birds ; thus a linnet will sometimes set to " hipping," that is, re- 
peating the words, "hip, hip," several times. This note of the 
call bird causes the linnets coming in a flight instantly to dash 
away in all directions. The goldfinch will oftentimes set to 
"gidding," that is, saying, "gid," "gid," " gid," several times in 
supcession. This has the same effect as the " hipping " of the 
linnet. The birds are off in a moment. 
Jackdaws, p. 66. — Jackdaws are very 'cute, cunning birds; 
they are fond of old castles and dilapidated ruins. At Whist- 
ley, near Weybridge, the people go in May, when the birds are 
about a fortnight old, to the ruins of a very old castle. Men 
carry long ladders, and with blunt iron hooks take out the young 
jackdaws, and if there are no buyers they throw them to the 
ground. Mr. Davy has taken hampers down to Whistley and 
brought up all the birds caught, as many as ten dozen of young 
jackdaws. They cost on the spot 2s. per dozen. The reason 
