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they continue, being perhaps examined but once a week to havefresh wuter. /is for food, Die air is so putrid, that they eat littleduring the whole state of confinement, which lasts about a month.The birds frequently die,under the operation; ami hence the value ofa stopped bird (as the bird-catchers stile it,) rises greatly. Whenthe bird hath thus prematurely moulted, it is in song whilst the wildbirds are out of song, and. its note is louder and more piercingthan that of a wild one; but it is not only in this note it receivesan alteration, the plumage is equally improved. The black andyellow in the wings of flic gold-liuch, for example, become deeperand more vivid, and acquire a most beautiful gloss, which is ndtto be seen in the wild bird. The bill, which in the latter is like-wise black at the end, in the stopped bird becomes while andmore taper, as do its legs: in short, there is as much difference be-tween a wild and a stopped bird, as there is between a horsewhich is kept in body-clothes and one at grass. tV lien the bird-catcher has laid his nets, he disposes of his call-birds at proper in-tervals. There is a most malicious joy in these call-birds, tobring the wild ones into the same state of captivity; which maylikewise be observed with regard to the decoy ducks. See Decoy.Th “ir sight and hearing iniinilelv excels that of the bird-catcher.The moment they seen hawk, they communicate the alarm to eachother by a plaintive note; nor will they thcH jerk or call thoughthe wild birds are near. But at any oilier time, the instant thattiie wild birds are perceived, notice'is given by one of the red ofthe call-birds, (as by the first hound that hits on the scent to therest of the pack ;) after which, follows the same sort of tumultuousjoy. The call-birds, while the bird is at a distance, do not sing asa bird docs in a chamber; they invite the wild ones by what thebird-catchers call short jerks, which, when the hire's are good, maybe heard at a great distance. The ascendancy by this call is sogreat, that the wildest bird is stopped in its course of flight; and,if not a sharper, (for so the bird-catchers stile a bird acquaintedwith the nets,) lights boldly within twenty yards perhaps of threeor four bird-catchers, on a spot which otherwise it would not havetaken, the least notice of. Nay, it frequently happens, that if halfa flock only are caught, the remaining half will immediately after-wards light" in the nets, and share the same fate ; and should onlyone bird escape, that bird will suffer itself to be pulled at till it iscaught; such a fascinating power have the call-birds. Here it isworth mentioning, that ‘lie bird-catchers frequently lay considera-ble wagers whose call-bird can jerk the longest, as that determinesthe superiority. They place them opposite to each other, by annch of candle; and the bird who jerks the oftenesf, before thecandle is burnt out, wins the wager. There have been instancesof a bird giving 170 jerks in a quarter of an hour; and of a linnet,

/ in such a trial, preserving in its emulation till it swooned from theperch : thus, as Pliny says of the nightingale, “ victa morte Unit sicpevitam, spirit u prims deficiente qumn cantu.” Birds when near eachother, and in sight, seldom jerk or sing. They either fight or use shortand wheedling calls ; their jerking therefore, face to face, is most ex-traordinary instance of contention for superiority in song. Variousmethods are used by the bird-catchers, to catch different kinds ofbirds. The common way of taking larks, of which so many areused at our tables is in the night with nets called trammels. Theseare usually made of 3(5 yards in length, and about six yards over,with six ribs of pack-thread, which at the ends are put upon twopoles of about lb feet long, and made less at each end. Theseare to be drawn over the ground by two men, and every five orsix steps the net is made to touch the ground, otherwise it willpass over the birds without, touching them, and they will escape,vt lien they are felt to fly up again, the net is clapped down, andthen all are safe that are under it) The darkest nights are most properfor this sport; and the net will not only take larks, but all otherbirds that roost on the ground ; among which are woodcocks,snipes, partridges, quails, field-fores, and several others. In thedepth of w inter, people sometimes take great numbers of larks by-nooses of horse-hair. The method is this: 'Fake from 100 to 300 yardsof pack-thread ; fasten at every six inches a iioosc made of double'horse-hair : at every tw enty yards the line is'to tie pegged downto the ground, and so left ready to take them. The time to usethis is when the ground is covered with snow, and the larks are tolie allured to it bv some white oats scattered all the wav among thenooses. They must be taken awav as soon as three or four arehung, otherwise the rest will be fl ighted ; but though (he othersme scared away just where the sportsman comes, they will be feed-

ing at the other end of the lines and the sport may he thus con-tinued for a long time. Those caught in the day are taken in clap-nets of 15 yards long, and 21 broad; and are enticed within theirreach by bits of looking-glass, fixed in a piece of wood, and placedin the middle of the nets, which are put in a quick w hirling motionbv a'.string the l.irker commands; he also makes use of a decoylark. These nets are used only till the 14th November; for thelarks will not attempt to frolic in the air, except in tine sunny wea-ther; and of course cannot be inveigled into the net. When theweather grows gloomy, the larker changes his engine, and makesuse of a trammel net, 27 or 2S feet long, and Jive broad ; whichis put on tw o poles, 18 feet long, and carried by men under eacharm, who pass over the fields and quarter the ground as a settingdog; when they hear or feel a lark hit the net, they drop it down,and so the birds are taken. Tinmens observes that the male chaf-finches fly by themselves, and in the flight precede the females ;Init this is peculiar to the chaffineh.es. When the tit-larks arecaught in the beginning of the season, it frequently happens, that40 are taken and not one female among them : and probable thesame would he observed with regard to other birds (as has beendone with relation to the weather,) if they were attended to. 1. \ -pericnced bird-catchers tell us, that such birds, as breed twirc ayear, generally have in their tirst brood a majority of males, andin their second, of females, which may in part account for tireabove observation.

In some remote parts of Russia there is practised a singular in-vention for taking great quantities of gelinottes or grous. Theychoose the most open places in the birch woods; and there theyplant long forks in the earth opposite the larger trees. (See Plate1\ .) On these forks is laid a horizontal slick, gallows-wise, towhich are tied small bundles of ears of-corn. At a small distancefrom this part of the contrivance, is a kind of large funnel orinverted cone, made with long birch-twigs, thin and flexible, thelower extremities of which are stuck in the earth, very near toone another; but by spreading towards the top, it forms an open-ing of above a yard in diameter. In this opening is placed a wheelmade of two circles that intersect each other, and are surroundedwith straws and ears of corn. This wheel turns on an axis, and isfastened to the sides of the funnel in such a manner, that there isroom enough between the sticks of the cone and the circles toadmit of the wheel’s turning freely about. The birds first perchon the transverse stick near the tree ; and when they have a mind tcvfall upon the corn tied to the wheel, they must necessarily standupon one of the projecting parts of the circles of which it is com-posed. At that instant the wheel turns, and the gelinotte falls,headforemost, to the bottom of the trap, which is there so con-tracted that he cannot get out. They sometimes find the machinehalf full of gelinottes.

Great numbers of the inhabitants of the Orkney Isles feed, duringthe season, on the eggs of the birds of the cliffs. The method oftaking them is so very hazardous, as to satisfy one of the extre-mities to which the poor people are driven, lor want of food. Co-pinsha, Hunda, Hoy, Foula, and Noss head are the most cele-brated rocks ; and the neighbouring natives the most expert clim-bers and adventurers after the game of the precipice. The heightof some is above. 50 fathoms; their fronts roughened with shelvesor ledges sufficient only for the birds to lay their eggs upon. Tothese the dauntless fowlers ascend, pass intrepidly from the oneto the oilier, collect the eggs and birds, amt descend with the sameindifference. In most places tiiC attempt is made from above :they are lowered from the slope contiguous to the brink, by arope, sometimes made of straw, sometimes of the bristles of thehog: they prefer the last even to ropes of hemp, as it is not liableto be cut by the sharpness of the rocks ; the former is apt to un-twist. They trust themselves to a single assistant who lets hiscompanion down, and holds the tope, depending on his strengthalone; which often fails, and the adventurer is sure to be dashedto pieces, or drowned in Die subjacent sea. The rope is oftenshifted from place to place, with the impending weight of thefowler and his booty. The person above receives signals for thepurpose, his associate, being far out of sight, during the ope-ration, springs by help of a stall", from the face of the rocks, toavoid injury from thiv projecting parts. But the most singularspecies of bird-catching is on the holm of Noss, a vast rock se-vered from tiie isle of Noss by some miknown convulsion, andonly about 16 fathoms distant. It is of the same stupendous height

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