BIRD-TRAPS. 
over them. When you remove it, in order to get at the spoil, 
great care should he taken, or away to their homes in the trees 
will fly your little friends. A small net is the best thing to 
use, so that when you lift the sieve at one end, the buds may 
fly into it. 
The little machine known as the “ springle ” has been the 
means of arresting the liberty of many a good songster. It is 
a much more dignified contrivance than either the bricks or the 
sieve, and requires some little amount of tact and ingenuity in 
its construction. The following directions, culled from the 
“ Boy’s Own Book,” will, however, if faithfully attended to, 
make the job an easy one. 
“ At the smaller end of a hazel switch, four feet long, which 
is called the spring, tie a piece of string, about fifteen inches in 
length ; nearly at the other end of this string, the catch, which 
is a little bit of wood, half an inch long, about half as broad, 
and one quarter as thick, is fastened ; a little bit of the wood 
must be shaved off on the flat side of one end of ifr to adapt it for 
a notch in another part of the springle ; a loose slip-knot, made 
of a couple of long, stout horsehairs, 
is then to be fastened to the end of the 
string below the catch, and thus one 
part of your springle is complete. 
“ Next procure a smaller switch, 
about a foot and a half in length, 
bend back the smaller end, and fasten 
it within an inch or so of the thicker 
end, in which a notch must be cut to 
receive the thin end of the catch, this 
is the spread ; a stump and a bender, which is another pliant 
bit of switch, each a foot and a half in length, will com- 
plete the springle. It is set in the following manner : — • 
Thrust the stump Ho. 1 into the ground; place the bow 
of what is called the spreader over it, as Ho. 2 ; then about 
the length of the spreader from the stump push the two ends 
of the bender securely into the ground, as Ho. 3 ; next, plant 
the thick end of the long switch or spring at a convenient dis- 
tance from the bender ; bend it down until you can put one end 
of the catch upward, on the inside of the bender ; then lift the 
spreader an inch from the ground, place the smaller end of the 
catch in the notch, and thus the spreader will be supported, and 
the springer retained from springing up. How lay the hair 
slip-knot round the spreader and stump, and scatter such grain 
H 2 99 
