NOVEL MODE OF CATCHING WOODCOCKS. 37

I have practised a method of catching woodcocks andhares at Patria, which I have never heard of elsewhere. Anet like a huge angler’s “ landing net,” attached to a hoopof an oval shape, with a handle six feet long, is the instru-ment of caption. The bearer is provided with a largereflecting lanthorn attached in front of the person by astrap round the waist. To his knees are hung bells such asthe sheep and cattle of the district have to their necks. Theoperation is performed at night, the darker and morestormy the better. Close behind the lanthorn bearer anyother person may walk, and he generally carries a gun,with which he may kill a hare that may escape the fall ofthe net. This net being carried upright by the bearer, hewalks slowly along near the hedges, round the meadows,taking care by a particular jerk of the knees to cause hisbells to tingle in the proper manner. The woodcocks, insearch of earth worms, and seeking the partial shelter of thehedge, are not disturbed by the bells, to which they areaccustomed, and of which the sound drowns the noise ofthe footsteps of the bearer. The light of the lamp glaringin the poor bird’s eyes, prevents him seeing the man behind,and thus they sit staring at the light, when on them fallsthe net and they are taken alive. The hares are caught inthe same way. Two that I caught with my man oneevening when we were just upon them, sat up and rubbedtheir eyes with their fore-paws very quickly, as if impatientof the light. I took them both, and gave them alive to afriend who had a spacious aviary, with grass, and shrubs,and trees enclosed, in which those hares lived happily forseveral years. I never went but twice on these kidnappingexpeditions, with which my ideas of sporting do not accord.But the poor Pantanari, who have to maintain their fami-lies, felt no such scruples. Many of them set numerousspringes for the snipes, and catch an immense number. It