Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1905-01-05
USE OF LIVE DECoYs
rHE METHODS or TRApPERs WITH
ANIMATED LURES.
Al ki.As ~ Anfmals TrsineA 80 Aelp
In b Capture Of Their Own -
siss-OAd scheme by which Crows
and Jays Are n~areA.

IA Ahmoo ~ Animals Irotue0 xo kfekp
In the C~pssrs 81 Their own spe-
stss-OAd scheme by which Crows
aad Iays Are Scared.
One Of the curious ways In which
man has utilized the animals about him
Ia as living decoys u assist him In the
capture Of wild animals. This is lone
In a number Of ways and with animals
Of all kinds, from butterflies and fishes
10 elephants. 1t IL something quite diff
ferent from teaching animals 10 cap
lure their prey for the benefit Dot OF
themselves, but Of their masters. as
TO trained cheetahs. falcons. cormo-
lures. since what | now have In view
b the attraction Of game within the
hunters reach, not its chase.
European bird catchers have i'm
memorially practiced hanging live song
birds In cages beneath or among their
snares or tying them to percbes in or
DER to attract strangers by their voices.
The Japanese know how to do this to
perfection.
In catching larks and other cage
birds in England the principal reliance
- placed upon Dat nets so arranged
that when q Y shaped cord Is pulled
they VIII fan down together, combining
anything between them. Several stuff
ID birds are usually planted In the
space between the nets az II feeding.
while a live one, known as q Jockey"
u fastened to a hinged perch that IL
made to sway up and down by pulling
q cord whenever any larks come near.
The Jockeys are trained to sit con-
tsntedly ON these perches and sing,
and they seem to understand what Ia
expected Of them. The beat call birds
at the beginning Of the eason r
worth from IS to s. apiece, and a
bultnnch 10 on record which was the
can Of engaging $50 csptives in four
reasons.
BY q similar method the Maoris Of
New Zealand obtain their kaka par
rots. This large, handsome and intel
hgent parrot was at n time a pet In
many households.
The commonest method Of catching
kakas was by means of a trained decoy
kaka. which called wild parrots to
perches skillfully arranged around the
concealed trspper. who bad only to
pull a string In order to capture his
bird. These perches were often elal'-
orately ornamented. and the birds
extreme fastidiousness"
in choosing some and avoiding others.
In OgiIby's quaint America" publish
Cd In 1872, how natives of Cuba oriei-
nally captured a like sort of bird:
THE parrots which breed here used
to be taken by the natives after a
strange A boy holding a bum
die Of herbs about his head climbs up
to the top Of a tree, holding a parrot
his head, which by gripping he
forces TO make a noise and thereby
draws others to come flying about
him, upon which. being expert in this
art, he throws a string with a moose
pulls them to him."
A part Of the pleasure OF falconry I'm
India. where this sport IL 90 cIeverly
enjoyed and practiced by the mobiles, 10
the catching Of the hawks, which are
used only for a single season and then
set free. Some, such ~ the faggar,
are taken by smearing a long twig
with birdtime and arching 1t over an
unhappy sparrow tied to a peg. but
the cherrug must be caught more skill
fully.
The one thing the high spirited cher
rug cannot endure 10 to zee a laggar
In peaceful possession of some food or
enjoyment that he has not. aud the in-
variable result Of the discovery IL for
the cherrug to pounce upon it and rob
the poor laggar, II possible. 1t Is
through this jealousy that the hawk
cstchers obtain their priced c~herrugs.
They fasten to the feet Of a laggar a
bundle of very strong horsehair nooses
garnished with feathers, then paste
bits Of parchment over his eyes and
turn bin loose. ~whereupon. being blind,
he rings" or circles, straight up. This
has been done because u cherrug had
been perceived as a mere dot In the
sky. and when that Jealous and covet-
cherrug sees this lagzar, apparent
~ carrying a rich prize, coming
straight up he thanks his stars for his
luck and swoops upon the intruder in
to his airy domain. The result Is that
two surprised and indignant hawks
come tumbhng to the ground, scream
ing and scratching.
Yarrell tells us that the European
shrike got Its familiar specific name,
excubitor (sentineD. from Its use by
the continental falconers during the
autumn and winter when trapping fal-
cons. The shrfke is fastened to the
ground and, screaming aloud. gives no
tice to the falconer (who 10 concealed
Of the approach Of a hawk"
A curious variation Of this, where an
unwilling bird becomes both lure and
trap. was described by Alexander VII
SON In his great american Ornithol-
oGy."
Wilson says that crows have been
employed to catch crows by the the fol-
stratagem: A live crow 10
by the wings down to the