BIRD-CATCHING. 
483 
a pipe, and read and write,—like Andreas Naumann, the 
father of German Ornithology. It was in one of these 
that he wrote his ‘ Bird-catcher,’ surrounded by the 
gnarled forest, as also by its spring music. The hoar 
frost lies on the ground, while inside it is warm and 
comfortable, quiet and solitary; outside we have the 
life and sounds of the forest ringing round us all fresh 
and bright; through the narrow cracks in the window- 
shutters we can watch the inner forest life right closely; 
one lives amongst one’s pets without frightening them. 
And when the wandering flocks halt on their journey, 
and descending, full of curiosity, perch on the twigs pre¬ 
pared among the bushes for their destruction, what hopes 
and fears, what counting of the prisoners, already captured 
in imagination, takes place within the narrow walls! 
The occupant of the hut is a very child in his happiness, 
—a king in his little domain, which, at that moment, he 
would not exchange for any other spot in the universe. 
There the hours pass like minutes : there is ever-changing 
occupation, fresh amusement. Even though the Thrush 
family, only, are the objects of pursuit, all other visitors to 
the coppice are equally interesting. Here, in the “ soft 
shaded, melodious spot, where the bright red berries 
hang,” every inhabitant of the forest is to be seen, from 
the Falcon to the Goldcrest. During the intervals between 
the captures there is so much to hear and see that the 
true bird-catcher must perforce become a close observer 
of Nature and her ways. 
We must not be surprised to find that the practical 
fowler will often put to shame the educated theorist, as 
far as actual knowledge goes. The fowler’s hut, and its 
accompaniments, is the school where the former has 
acquired his craft; it is there where he has so often 
