determinate a road by which they almost invariably pass, that at a distance of from four to five hundred paces from this track they are seldom to be met with. In mountainous countries migratory birds take their course chiefly over valleys; therefore the decoy-bushes must be placed on elevations which adjoin valleys. On the summit of these bushes the limed sticks are stuck in, somewhat obliquely, and under them upon the ground the various call-birds in their cages are placed, being covered with branches of fir that the callbirds may not be seen by those migrating, nor the latter by the former: for, if so, the former would not perch, nor would the latter call them. Such birds are used for call-birds as have been caught adults, in preference to those which are reared from the nest; the latter being so denaturalized as either not to know the call, or not to call so earnestly for a mate as the others, or they may possibly have acquired strange and scaring notes.

One of the best places of capture is the place whither they resort to drink. Birds of all kinds are there caught, and there may be selected precisely any species that is wished. Nothing is more agreeable than to watch, upon sultry summer days, the capture in a dark place where a brook flows. A small clap-net is cast, three, four, five, or six feet long, according to the size of the place, and from three to four feet broad, over a small ditch, into which water is turned by means of a channel. In this ditch, sticks, an inch thick, are placed; parallel with the water, and over it arched pieces are placed, to prevent the fowling-net from getting wet when cast. All neighbouring water is covered with twigs. In a well-selected place the whole day long you are surrounded by a variety of different species in multitudes. Early in the morning, and in the evening after sunset, the best captures are made, and this commences from the 24th of July, and continues until far on in October. When the drinking

places are so situated as to lie between a large wood and a copse which consists of oak, beech, ash, hazel, &c., and to which other hedges and gardens adjoin, the capture may combine both forest and field birds; otherwise two drinking resorts must be selected.

Of the other modes of capture the GIN is one of the easiest, and also one of the most interesting: I will, therefore, particularly describe it here, giving at the same time a representation to convey the idea of it the more distinctly.

In woods and bushes many kinds of large and small berryeating birds, such as Thrushes, Redbreasts, &c., are caught in autumn, especially for about a fortnight before and a fortnight after Michaelmas, in springes of thread, yarn, or horsehair, which are placed in many ways, in straight or serpentine passages; and this mode of capture and passage is called a gin.

For this purpose nooses and springes are specially made use of.

1. NOOSES.-It will suffice to indicate here the most desirable nooses, of which there are a great many kinds used in different parts of Germany.

A. Rind Nooses (fig. 1, p. 35).—These are made of limetree rind, stripped off in July. The noose consists of a threefold plaited band, five inches long, into which three loops, made of from four to six horse hairs plaited together, are so inserted that the knot of the loop is fastened in the rind band, and the remainder hangs loosely out. At one end of the rind band there is an eye (an open loop), an inch long; but at the other end there remains, plaited or unplaited, strips of rind for the purpose of fastening. For setting the noose, a little stem is selected of about the thickness of the little finger, from which a small branch grows straight out ; a hole is bored in a thick or thin tree, the noose with the eye is hung to the twig; the opposite end is then fixed to the tree,

and the three horse-hair nooses which hang attached to the rind band are then opened. The baiting food, consisting of service berries, is hung up in slits cut in the little stick, and placed conspicuously.

B. Twig Nooses (fig. 2, p. 35).—For these tough rods of willow are used, and holes or slits are made in the tree, into which the two ends are inserted, at a distance of about four inches apart, and forming a bow or semi-oval, which extends about six inches from the tree. Into the upper side of this are inserted from two to three hanging nooses of horse-hair; and in slits of the lower part service berries are hung.

c. Hanging Gin (fig. 3, p. 35).—The best consists of a rod of willow bent into a triangle, which is six inches wide at the bottom, but almost three times as high, and has the service berries fixed at the bottom, and one noose at each side. They are useful to fix to trees, to shrubs, and in hedges, and are hung by the upper acute angle to a twig.

But whoever has used a noose-perch, as such gins are usually called, will have found that the service berries are frequently carried off; this is done sometimes by mice, and sometimes by the birds themselves. The latter, if not urged by extreme hunger, will make every possible endeavour to get at the berries without perching upon the gin. Most of them will snap them away flying: carry off a couple or so, and then perch on the ground to eat them. This the Songthrush does very expertly. The Redwing Thrush perches frequently at the side, or climbs on the outside of the gin. Others will also often fly upright through, passing over the noose, and sometimes bending downwards, whereby it passes beneath it; and thus the gin is deprived of its berries. To avoid this inconvenience the following gin is useful :—

This may be called the Entire Twig Gin (fig. 4, p. 35).—You take a stick of tough willow, of about the thickness of a little finger; cracking it eight inches from the thick end, bend it

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over the knee or in the hands into a long oval; cut the thin end into a wedge, and at two inches from the thick end make a slit, sticking the opposite end into the slit, so that it passes slightly through it: the bow is thus made oval. The upper bowed part is pierced through with a sharp-pointed knife, and the nooses are passed through these with the berries hanging at the bottom. Bencath, near the berries, towards the side, two other nooses are inserted, and so fixed that the berries lie between them, but rather sideways; and it will be found that more birds are captured in the lower nooses than in the upper ones. The breadth and heighth of these gins is similar to the preceding.

In fixing all these kinds of gins particular care must be taken that the hair noose stands straight, which may be effected by dipping them frequently in boiling water whilst making them; further, that they exactly fit each other, and have no vacant space through which the birds can pass with their heads.

These gins can be used for several years if taken care of after the close of the season, and the nooses folded round in a large circle, or hung up lengthways extended.

2. OF SPRINGES.-With these birds are caught by the leg, and not by the head, as in the noose. There are two kinds which are preferred :—

Genuine Springes (fig. 5, p. 35).—A hazel or willow rod is taken, a half oval notch cut in the thick end, and a hole bored through, and to the thinner end a horse hair or thread is attached, and passed through the hole so that the notch is in front; a peg of wood of about half an inch, or a bit of felt, is fixed to it that it cannot escape. In setting it the thread or hair is passed through the hole for about eighteen inches, and into the hole is put a peg, which holds a knot tied in the thread, spread it over the nooses, and fix them firmly in a slit on account of the wind. This springe is hung by a little