THE STALE. 
245 
alighted near it either the net was pulled over them, or 
they were caught in the snares. 
Beaumont and Fletcher speak of “stales to catch kites” 
{Hum. Lieut, iii. 2). Sometimes a live bird was pegged 
down instead of a stuffed one, and was doubtless much 
more effective, since “ one bird caught, served as a stale to 
bring in more.”* 
Shakespeare has employed the word “ stale ” in this 
its primary sense, in his Comedy of Errors (Act ii. Sc. 1), 
in The Tempest (Act iv. Sc. 1), and in the Taming of 
the Shrew (Act iii. Sc. 1). But commentators do not 
seem to be agreed on its meaning. In Act i. Sc. 1, of the 
last-mentioned play, where it occurs again, it certainly 
admits of a different interpretation. 
Instructions for making a “ stale ” will be found in 
“The Experienced Fowler” (London, 1704). At page 18 
of this curious little volume, the author says :—“You may 
shoot a lark or some other bird, take out the entrails, stuff 
him with tow, and dry him in an oven, his wings set in a 
flying posture ; and so you may be furnished at all times.” 
This device was chiefly resorted to for taking the ruff 
and reeve, and other fen birds, which fetched good prices 
for the table. Now-a-days, the bird-catchers who take 
linnets, goldfinches, and other small songsters, almost 
invariably peg down live decoy birds with a foot or so 
of string to the legs, in the centre of a pair of clap-nets. 
But to return to wild-fowl. Puck compares the fright- 
* Sidney, “Arcadia,” ii. p. 169. 
