62 
BIRD-TRAPS. 
Procure a square frame covered on one side with wire 
netting, as shown in the woodcut. 
Tie each end of a pliant stick to two corners of the 
frame, to form a hoop. Cut a. straight stick, forked at 
one end, and a shorter pliant stick. 
Lift the front of the trap ; place the forked stick 
in an upright position against the outside of the front, 
and also outside the hoop. Insert one end of pliant 
twig between fork and front, and after raising hoop 
about two inches, insert the other end of the twig, 
so as to rest against the hoop, and press outwards. This 
will hold the hoop up. A bird, on approaching the trap, 
hops on the hoop to get at the grain within it, when the 
hoop will go down with the weight and let go the twig, 
which being pliant flies out, and the fork (being only 
outside the front) of course falls, and so does the trap. 
The “ bird bolts ” mentioned by Shakespeare in Twelfth 
Night (Act i. Sc. 5), Loves Labour's Lost (Act iv. Sc. 3), 
and Much Ado about Nothing (Act i. Sc. 1), were the 
