The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1892-07-20
BIRD TRAINING.
A Regular Avocation Among the
German5.
The Little Feathered Creatures Taught
to Perform Many Dificuit and
Amusing Tricks-An Odd
Occupation.

The Holland bird-catching in autumn
is a regular business, and huts are built
among the sandhills, or in the meadows
Joining them, in which the men can sit
in comfort says the st. Louis Mechanic.
A small window on one side looks on
to the "vinlsie baan, the level space be-
tween lc.; banks under which the nets
lie, where linnets and siskins are
tethered to long twigs. The ground is
strewed with grain, and at a little dis
tance the best call-birds are placed in
their cages. Goldfnches are most
priced, for they constantly utter their
ripping song, but redpole or we'll
trained chathnch is almost equally good.
Holland lies on two of the main
routes by which birds travel from the
north, for those that come down the
Baltic cross the land at Denmark,
while along the German ocean travel
thousands from Norway and Sweden.
The mainstay OF the bird-catchers are
the hen chatfinches, which leave their
mates in Scandinavia and come in thou
sands TO southern Europe. Two hum
dred in day is not at all an unusual num-
Der to be taken at one ''vinlSie baan."
These are all killed for the table, and
rows of them, with their heads fastened
in a split hazel stick, like partridges in
a game carrier. are seen in every poul-
terer's shop. The rarer birds-bramb-
lings, cross-bills and redpoles - are
saved and sold for cagc-birds, for the
Dutch are particularly fond of aviaries,
and clever at tanning all kinds of crea-
lures.
The writer has often spent an after
noon in the hut watching for the pass
ing of floclSs of chatfinches. The tame
birds begin to call when they see the
wild ones passing, the men whistle and
pull the strings to which the birds are
attached, and as they Gutter from the
ground the flock wheel, settle in the
trees close by, and then fly down TO the
grain. Hardly have they pitched before
the nets close over them, and the man
runs out to disentangle his captives-
The tame birds are so used to the nets
that they do not hutter or ruffie a
feather, but jump back to their twigs,
eat some more hempseed, and sing
afresh, without regarding the death OF
their wild relatives.
Redpolcs, linncts and siskins are
easily tanned, especially the first In a
few days they become perfectly con-
tented with a cage life. In fact, knew
of one which voluntarily surrendered
its liberty. The winter was severe
one, and the little fellow came in
through the open window of house at
The Hague to share their food with the
birls in large aviary. Their mistress
fed him regularly, and, though he had
often an opportunity Of escaping, he
never availed himself of it, but lived
for years the merriest occupant OF the
cage.
These birds can be taught to sit mo-
tionless on the back of chair, to "lie
dead" in basin Of water, to draw up
their food in an ivory bucket, in few
days; but the trainer must be prepared
TO give them long lessons. Birds minds
differ entirely from those of animals;
they do not learn gradually, and II they
are to be trained they must be so most
thoroughly. An hour a day for a week
will not have onc-quarter the effect that
four hours Of continuous care will
achieve. It is this fact that causes SC
many disappointments in training
hawks, for men certainly become tired
and impatient at the moment when
their labor has begun to produce some
effect. The hawk is put back on his
block, and in day has forgotten the
half-learned lesson. In Holland hawks
are still caught when on their autumn
migration, for the line Of fight passes
as it has done from time immemorial
over the great heath of Valkens
ward, in North Brabant.