The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1893-10-13
BIRD CATCHING.
How the Trick Is Done in England
by Professionals
A Description OF the Methods E"pi"Se"
I'm snaring the Chafiinch In the
suburbs of London Before
the Break of Day.

A bench was handy, and on these
the materials for snaring were lald out
and made ready, says a London corre-
snondent of the st. Louis GIobe-Delno-
crat They were few and SIMPLE
Each man had a stuffed male chafilnch
in full plumage mounted on short
length of stick, in one end OF Whlch
was a sharp spike. Besides this the
only tools of the craft were nan
dozen pieces of whalebone of about
the thickness of an umbrella rlo ana
nine inches long, and these, like the
stuffed birds mounting, were provideu
at one end with a spike. a little
stone Jar containing bird lime com
pleted the outfit.
These preliminaries completed, we
made a start for the forest, which was
close at hand, Bob the Butcher NWho
had won the toss for first try keeping
we'll in advance of the rest OF tne
marty. II could not, however, be sald
that chaffinches were plentiful, thouSh
all round about us there was an abun-
dance of bird music of almost every
other kind. 1t was not the fault OF the
valiant peggers. Their cages ali the
time enveloped in the handkerchlets'
they seemed to know exactly what
was required of them, and fired on
their challenge loud and ringing at
the rate of at least three within the
minute. But presently Bob the Butcher
who was some twenty yards ahead,
held up his hand in token that he had
at last found something ON that the
sailor boy was placed for the time be
ing under a furze bush, and we all hur-
ried up to see the fun.
A cr.ueI sport is chaffinch pegging.
Not that any actual pain is inflicted on
the poor birds in the act of capture,
though no doubt they are most tern
blv frightened. The villainy of the
business lies in the unfortunate finch
being made the victim of his jealous
regard for the welfare of his nest mate
the wife of his bosom. So nice are
his ideas of dom estic felicity that
though his house is no larger than the
hollow of ones hand, he insists on
having a tree all to himself for accom-
modation No other pair of chatfinches
NAV build there, nor must any male of
the tribe come lCating round. Sure as
he does fight ensues and the inter
loper is driven away. 1t Is on the
chaffinch's known objection to visitors
of his own species that the rascally
bird catcher founds his hopes of sue
cess, as was speedily made manifest by
Bob the Butchers maneuvering at the
trunk of the poplar tree, among the
boughs of which wild finch was all
the time angrily responding to the
hidden Gagged birds challenge.
III rducing his slips of whalebone
the butcher smeared them plentifully
with the bird lime, and by means of
the spiked ends stuck them here and
there in the tree trunk, and immedi-
ately beneath he fixed the stuffed bird
1t was not till then that he placed the
decoy finch-its cage still tied up in
the handlerchief-at the foot of the
tree, and covered il over with hand
full or two of grass. This was the
pitch" and on the instant a watch
was produced and the exact time
noted, and we all withdrew to the
screening of hedge close at hand,
peeping through the openings of which
we could see what was taking place in
the poplar tree. The hidden bird con
tiuuing his challenge" the wild bird
always answering. and each succeed
ing time more ticrcely-waS presently
seen eagerly fluttering this way in
search of the intruder. At last, green
eyed-and on that account purbliud
probably-it caught sight of the harm
less dummy down below, and. with Il
shrek of rage, was down on it, swift
seemingly as a stone from sling.
But the treacherous lined twigS inter
cepted the savage pouncC, and the
next moment, with its outStrctchcd
wings held bV the detached Smcartd
sticks, it fell helpless To the ground.