When I think of the picture that car and its owners made as they slowly trundled ix, out of Brighton Railway Station, to the great delight of a crowd of jeering cabmen, I can thoroughly apj^reciate the humour of the small boy who, in similar circumstances, walked solemnly in front of a motor 'bus and whistled "The Dead March in Haul!'^

On the occasion of our second visit, we started s2

out early in the morning for the Downs with the prospect of a capital day for our })ur})ose before us.

The first man we fell in with was catching Starlings on a piece of bare pasture land, and explained that such a pitch was the most favourable for his kind of sport. The presence of grazing Horses, Cows, or Sheep, although these were liable to walk on to his nets, he considered a great

CLAP-NETS AND DUMMY bTARLINGS.

advantage, as Starlings when feeding are partial to the neighbourhood of live stock.

The nets used for catching Starlings, Larks, and Linnets are larger than those employed for securing Goldfinches or Bullfinches, and measure as nnicli as sixty-six feet in length by six feet three inches in width. Attached to each end of the nets is a green-painted stave, which is secured on its inner end to a peg firmly driven into the ground. The fastening between the })eg and the stave is such;is to form an easy liiuge. The pull-line is so disposed lliat it acts u)o\ the outer ends of the stave-})oles directly

it is jerked, and folds the nets over the intervening space shown in our iUustration. It is generally a few yards longer than those used for drawing the nets set to catch smaller birds, which are from thirty to forty yards in length. If the man engaged in catching- Starlings can work his nets from behind a hedge, the concealment he enjoys acts considerably to his advantage. Half a dozen stuffed Starlings are stuck up all close together, as if busily engaged upon a rare find of grubs in the clear piece of ground between the nets, and a live one called a " Jackey-bird" is secured to what is known amongst the bird-catching fraternity as a " flur " or " playstick," which can be moved up and down by means of a string which the fowler holds in his left hand. As soon as a flock of Starlings is seen approaching, the "Jackey-bird" is set in motion, and upon espying this, and the little crowd of dummies who are apparently enjoying good things on terra firma, the individuals in the air swoop down to participate in the feast, and are promptly covered by the fcnvler's nets. The young fellow to whom the j^^ii' of nets figuring in our illustration belonged, told us that he had once caught twenty-seven dozen Starlings in a single day at a place called "Happy Valley." One morning in August he secured no less than forty-eight birds at a haul, and assured us that they "kicked up" a deafening row by way of protest.

Upon leaving this man we walked over to a favourite piece of ground, where we counted no less than seven sets of nets, spread in such close proximity to each other that it appeared difficult to understand how they could be worked without interfering with each other's sport.

Bird-catchers generally work in pairs, and whilst one man attends to the nets the other heats the adjoining ground in order to send the hirds towards his companion, who imitates their call to perfection with a little tin instrument made in the form of a tlattish drum with a hole through the centre. This is placed be- BIRD-CALL. tween the caller's lips, and the desired notes reproduced by forcing the breath quickly tln'ough it. Mr. Swaysland astonished me Ijy his skill in fetching flocks of Larks in full flight from considerable altitudes to the ground with it, and quickly taught me how to use it with effect. We next visited a man who had his nets spread along a steepish hillside. He had seven call-birds, consisting of two Linnets, a Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chafiinch, Siskin, and Redpoll, CALL-BIRD CAGE. each in a small green cage, disposed as represented in our illustration on ])age 270. He had also four ''.hickey-l)irds," attached to playsticks situated between the

BIRD-CATCHER WITH CLAP-NETS ON BRIGHTON DOWNS.

nets. These consisted of a Goldiincli, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Linnet, and were tetliered to their movable perches by means of a light brace passed round the body before and ])eliind the wings, and having a swivel which prevented the little captives from twisting the string between them and their playsticks and thus becoming entangled. The small picture shows a Goldfinch on the raised j^lay-stick to which it was attached.

Food and water are placed

PLAYSTICK AND LURE BIRD.

within reach of the " Jackey " or "play-birds," so that by addressing themselves to the meal provided they may induce others to alight and join them in the feast. Often the little prisoners observe flocks of their own species passing overhead, and begin to attract them before the f(nvler himself has become aware of their presence. We saw lots of birds, however, that would not be lured either l)y the blandislnnents of the decoys or their well-imitated call-notes from the body of the little tin drum in the mouth of the nets-man. They had seen too numy of their friends taken by the deception, and were wise in their generation. When birds are licard or seen approaching the

nets the playsticks are instantly elevated by a pull on the string- commanding their movements, and the "flur" or " Jackey " birds perch upon them and survey their surroundings. As soon as the strange birds have been lured within the nets the playsticks are released, and the decoy birds flutter to the ground, the nets being suddenly pulled over the unwary visitors. So quickly can this be accomplished by an experienced hand that we witnessed one man drop his playsticks and bring his nets over a Linnet before it had actually alighted upon the ground. The best call-birds are not used on the playsticks, but are kept constantly in the cages, and are so valuable to the bird-catchers that at the commencement of the season Goldfinches often change hands at a pound apiece and Linnets at from ten to fifteen shillings each. Birds caught young and tamed in a cage are considered far superior to those reared from the nest for calling purposes, as their notes are more perfect and consequently more seductive.

The man in our picture on page 279 had caught two dozen Greenfinches before eleven o'clock on the morning we visited him, and told us that the best day's sport he ever remembered having had supplied him with eleven dozen birds, consisting of Larks, Linnets, Redpolls, Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Titlarks, and Starlings. He seemed surprised that anybody should take sufiicient interest in bird-catching to photograph it in operation; and when I jocularly told him that we had come to Brighton to '' immortahse " him, he looked alarmed, and said he hoped our picture wouldn't turn up against him at Lewes Assizes.

In order to show how newlv-cauo-ht birds are

caged, my hrother took a pliotog-rapli of a receiver belonging to two young fellows, who had their nets spread alongside a plot of mangold wurzel.

it.The top of the cage has two circular holes in These have each the leg of an old cotton stocking tacked neatly round them, and once the captured bird has l)een thrust down the ingenious funnel

I L.

BIRD-CATCHER'S RECEIVER,

thus formed its chances of escape are very small indeed. Bird-catchers carry two tin bottles out with them containing tea or such other beverage, as—one fortune will afford, and the other water for their birds, about whose welfare they arc, as a rul(^, most solicitous. The labour of carrying the nets, call-l)lrds, and other paraphernalia about the country is divided between the two men in ])artnershi}), and the picture opposite illustrates how the plant is conveyed from place to place. 'I'he handkercliiei' iii the hand of the mail on the left contains the bodies of such

BIRD-CATCHERS AND THEIR PLANT.

birds as have been slain for the table during- the morning. Hen Linnets, Grreenhnches, Larks, and Chaflfinches are mostly killed when caught.

One of the grandest sights, from an ornithological point of view, to be seen on the South Coast of England in winter-time, is undoubtedly the immense flights of Larks, Fieldfares, and Redwings. These great avian movements generally occur when snow is on the ground and a sharp visitation of frost is holding sway, but are not seen every year. The birds all trend westwards in their flight, and present an almost unbroken stream, which appears to l^e composed literally of millions of individuals.

During the few days of sharp wintry weather which we experienced in January, 1897, there w^as an exceptionally large flight, and whilst it was in progress the Brighton bird-catchers secured no less than a thousand dozen Larks alone before twelve o'clock one morning. Although this appears to be a heavy bag of sweet singers, it is in reality but an insignificant tithe upon the prodigious whole. The vast flocks which visit the Downs in winter are believed by the bird-catchers to come from the Continent. Whether this be so or not it is pretty certain that there is never any lack of Larks in England, and often more than suflicient for the farmers of arable land, whose early corn they damage when it is si looting.

Li Scotland, on the other hand, the bird is said to have decreased in numbers during the last decade or two, owing to the introduction of railways.

Flight-netting is managed with one net only, measuring twenty-five yards in length by seven feet in (le])tl). It is worked on the same i)rinci})le as the ordinar' (•la})-nets already descrilxxl, but is always ])ulhj(l over so as to meet the l)ii'(ls in their iliglit

HOW BULLFINCHES ARE CAUGHT.

285

and strike down all those which happen to be travelling low enough to come in contact with it. Of course, success depends to a considerable extent upon the judgment and skill of the man, who makes the net describe its half-circle by a sudden pull upon the hauling-line. An experienced hand has been known to kill seventy or eighty dozen Larks in a single day.

As some indication of the abundance of bird-life on the Downs in the late autumn, a good day's sport with the clap-nets round Brighton yields eight or ten dozen Linnets, ten or twelve dozen Greenfinches, two or three dozen Redpolls, seven or eight Goldfinches, and probably a Siskin or two, and a few Cirl-Buntings or Bramble-Finches.

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