288 
NETTING BIRDS. 
and the birds fancying their enemy upon them, 
recede from the pieces of bark, and lowering 
their flight, become entangled in the net. Early 
in the morning, late in the evening, and occasionally 
in the night, this work is conducted, with the 
greatest success, though many are caught sometimes 
in the day. 
As many as fifty birds are taken in a single haul. 
I have myself, with the aid of a native, caught 
thirty-three, and many more would have been got, 
but that the net. was old, and the birds broke through 
it before they could be all killed. On other occa- 
sions, I have been out with the natives, where a 
party of five or six have procured from twenty to 
thirty ducks, on an average, daily, for many days 
successively. In these occupations the natives make 
use of a peculiar shrill whistle to frighten down the 
birds ; it is produced by pulling out the under lip 
with the fore-finger and thumb, and pressing it 
together, whilst the tongue is placed against the 
groove, or hollow thus formed, and the breath 
strongly forced through. Whistling is also prac- 
tised in a variety of other ways, and has peculiar 
sounds well known to the natives, which indicate 
the object of the call. It is used to call attention, 
to point out that game is near, to make each other 
aware of their respective positions in a wooded 
country, or to put another on his guard that an 
enemy is near, &c., &c. 
Such is an outline of some of the kinds of food 
