FO W 
which, upon being drawn, makes the glass 
turn round like the sails of a windmill ; dur- 
ing the time that the sun shines, it is put in 
motion, its brilliancy attracts the larks, 
whose feet get entangled in the meshes of 
the nets. The clap net is also made use of 
during the night ; this is a large slender 
net, which is supported a! each end by two 
men upon long poles ; they walk about the 
ground until they hear the larks, when they 
let it fall, and take by this means vast quan- 
tities. 
Water-fowl may be taken in great num- 
bers, by nets properly managed. The net 
for this purpose should be always made of 
the smallest and strongest packthread that 
can be got. The meshes may be large, but 
the nets should be lined on both sides with 
other smaller nets, every mesh of which is 
to be about an inch and a half square, each 
way, that as the fowls strike either through 
them or against them, the smaller may pass 
through the great meshes, and so streighten 
and entangle the fowl. 
These nets are to be pitched for every 
evening-flight of fowl, about an hour before 
sunset, staking them on each side of the ri- 
ver, about half a foot within the water, the 
lower side of the net being so plummed, 
that it may sink so far, and no farther ; 
place the upper side of the net slantwise, 
shoaling against the water, but not touch- 
ing it by nearly two feet ; and let the strings 
whic'li support this upper side of the net, be 
fastened to small yielding sticks set in the 
bank ; these, as the fowl strikes, will give 
the net liberty to play, and to entangle 
them. Several of these nets should be 
placed at once over different parts of the 
river, at about twelve-score fathom dis- 
tance one from another ; and if any fowl 
come that way, the sportsman will have 
a share of them. It is a good method, when 
the nets are set, to go to places sufficiently 
distant from them with a gun, to frighten 
them toward the places where the nets are ; 
and wherever any of the fowl are started 
from, it may not "be amiss to plant some 
nets also there, to take them as they return. 
The nets are to be left thus placed all 
night, and in the morning, the sportsman is 
to go and see what is caught; he should vi- 
sit the river first, and take up what are 
caught, there ; and, frightening the rest 
away to the other places where his nets are, 
he is next to visit them, and take what are 
there secured. 
The Ceylonese have great plenty of wa- 
ter-fowl wild on their island, and have a 
FOW 
very remarkable way of catching them, 
which is this : the fowler enters a lake or 
other water, which has a good bottom, and 
is not very deep ; he puts an earthem pot 
upon his head, in which there are bored 
holes, through which he can see ; he keeps 
himself so bent down in the water, that 
only the pot is above the surface ; in tills 
manner he enters the place where the wild- 
fowl are in clusters, and they think it is only 
some floating block. He then takes some 
one by the legs, and gently draws it under 
water, and wrings its neck till he has killed 
it ; then putting it into his bag, which is 
fastened about iiis middle, he takes hold ot 
another in the same manner, and so on, till 
he has got as many as lie can carry off, and 
then he goes back in the same manner in 
which he came, not disturbing the rest of 
the birds, who never miss their companions, 
as they seem to dive down for their di- 
version, when the fowler pulls them under. 
In places where this has been practised so 
long, or so carelessly, that the birds are shy, 
the fowler uses a gun ; but this he does in 
the following manner : he makes a screen 
of about five feet high, and three feet wide, 
which he carries in one hand straight be- 
tween himself and his game, and in the 
other hand his gun. The birds are not 
alarmed at what appears only a bush ; for 
this screen is always covered with branches 
of trees, fresh cut down, and full of leaves, 
so that the sportsman behind advances as 
near as he pleases, and then putting the 
gun through some crevice of the screen, he 
fires. See Decoy. 
Fowling, was formerly used for the 
pursuing and taking birds with hawks, 
more properly called falconry. 
Fowling piece, a light gun for shooting 
birds. That piece is always reckoned best 
which has the longest barrel, from to 6 
feet, with a moderate bore ; though every 
fowler should have them of different sizes, 
suitable to the game he designs to kill. The 
barrel should be well polished and smooth 
within, and the bore of an equal bigness 
from one eud to the other ; which may be 
proved by putting in a piece of pasteboard, 
cut of the exact roundness of the lop; for 
if this goes down without s.tops or slipping, 
you may conclude the bore good. The 
bridge-pan must be somewhat above the 
touch-hole, and ought to hpe a notch to iet 
down a little powder ; this will prevent the 
piece from recoiling, which it would other- 
wise be apt to do. As to the locks, choose 
such as are well filed with true work, whose 
