is acquired by practice and exercise by diligently observing the true colour of the Partridge how it differeth from the ground and also the manner of their lying This is the easier done because when you have once as you think apprehended them with your eye you may walk nearer and nearer till you are absolutely sure you see them provided you be ever moving and stand not still or gaze at them for that they will not abide else they are soslothful and unwilling to take wing that till you be ready to set your foot upon them they will not stir Others find them by the haunts and places where they last coucht which they know partly by their dung there left which if new will be soft and the white part of it colour their fingers and partly by their padlings or treadings which if new will be soft and dirty and the earth new broken of a darker colour than the mould about it and being very new indeed the place where they sate will be warm and the ground smooth and flat with some small feathers or down scattered upon it If you find such a haunt you may be confident the birds are not far off Therefore look carefully about you especially down the Lands walking leisurely and in a short time you will espy them which as soon as you do you shall presently wind off from them and by no means look towards them and so fetch a large circumference round about them keeping an ordinary round march making your compass less and less till you have discovered the whole Covey Others find them by going early in the Morning or at the close of the Even which are called Juking times into their haunts and there listning for the calling of the Cock-Partridge which will be very loud and earnest to which after some few calls the Hen will make answer which as soon as they hear they listen till they meet which they shall very well perceive by their chattering and rejoycing one with another Then they take their range about them drawing nearer and nearer as before till they discover the whole Covey But the best safest easiest and most pleasant way of finding them is by the Partridge-call Having learnt the true and natural notes of the Partridge and being able to tune every note in its proper key and knowing the due times and seasons for every note so as fitly to accommodate them go forth either Morning or Evening to their haunts and having conveyed your self into some close place so as to see and not be seen listen a while if you can hear the Partridge call If you do answer them again in the same note and ever as they change or double or treble their note so shall you likewise plying still your Call till you find them draw near to you For this calling is so natural and delightful to them that they will pursue it as far as they can hear it Having drawn them within your view cast your self flat upon your back and lie without moving as if you were dead and you shall then see them running and pecking about you without any fear so as you may take a full view of them and if you please count their number §. II. How to take Partridge with Nets THese Nets may be made in all points like the Phesant-nets only the Mash somewhat smaller but they would be much better were they something longer and broader Having found the Covey draw forth your Nets and taking a large Circumference about them walk a good round pace with a careless eye rather from than toward the Partridge till you have fitted your Nets and then draw in your Circumference less and less till you come within the length of your Net where as you walk about for no stop or stay must be made prick down a stick of about three foot long and to it fasten one end of the Line of your Net Then letting the Net slip out of your hand spread it as you go and so carry it and lay it all over the Partridges If they lie stragling that one Net will not cover them draw out another and do in like manner and alike with a third if needs be Then rush in upon them and with an affrighting voice force them to spring up and presently they will be entangled in the Nets §. III. 3. How to take Partridges with Lime TAke of the largest and strongest Wheat-straws or for want thereof Rie-straws and cutting them off between knot and knot the lowest joynts are the strongest and best Lime them well over and coming to the Partridge-haunts after have called a little and find that you are answered prick down your straws round about you in rows as above directed for Lime-twigs not only cross the Land but the Furrows also taking in at least two or three Lands and that not very near but at a pretty distance from you yet so as to discern when any thing toucheth them Then lie close and call again not ceasing till you have drawn them towards you whither they cannot come but they must pass through the limed straws which they shall no sooner touch but they will be entangled and by reason they come flocking together like so many Chickens they will be so besmear and dawb one another that if there be twenty hardly one will escape This way of taking Partridge can only be used in Stubble-fields and that from August to Christmas If you would take them in Woods Pastures or Meadows with Lime you must use the ordinary Lime-rods before described and prick them down and order them in all points like as is directed for your Lime-straws §. IV. How to drive Partridges and Quails and take them in tunnelling Nets FIrst provide you a stalking Horse or an Engine made like a Horse or Oxe such as we have described Sect. 1. Chap. 4. Then go with your Nets to the Partridges haunts and having found the Covey pitch your Net in the secretest and likeliest place so as to drive them down the wind Lay not your Net flat on the ground but set it slopewise and so over-shadow it with boughs shrubs weeds or some other thing that groweth naturally on the ground it standeth on that nothing may perceive it till it be entangled Then having covered your face with some hood of green or dark blew stuff stalk with your Horse or Engine toward the Birds by gentle and slow steps and so raise them and drive them before you for it is their nature to run before a Horse or Beast out of fear lest it tread on them If they chance to run any by-way or contrary to what you would have them then presently cross them with your stalking Horse and they will soon recoil and run into any track that you would have them and at last into your Net The Net they use in Italy for this purpose is called Butrio or Cuculo and made with two wings and a tunnel stretcht with hoops See Figure
a foot distance from each other aslope with their points bending to the wind or cross-wise one to the wind and one against it alternately their tops being a foot from the ground or better This done place a Stale or two more aloof from the Lime-rods and having found a sit place for your self to lie conceal'd in with a small long string fastned to each Stale and running along the ground to you when you see or hear any Fowl coming stir the Stales and make them flutter and upon sight of them the Fowl will presently strike and swoop in among them and so be entangled by the Rods. You must have a well-taught Water-Spaniel to find and fetch such as flutter away and hide themselves Whole-footed Water-fowl may in like manner be taken with rods smeared over with strong Water-lime which no moisture or frost can injure Prick these Rods in the water the limed part being above water and amongst them stake down here and there a Stale all over any Fen or wadeable River and also upon the dry banks and borders surrounding such Waters so thick that a Fowl may not creep between them fixing also a Stale or two there You need not wait continually on your Rods only come first early in the Morning secondly at Noon thirdly late at Night alway attended with your Spaniel and take what you find If any of your Rods be missing employ your Spaniel for finding out the Fowl that carried them away whether fluttered into the River or crept into any holes of the Bank Rushes Sedge or other Covert When your sport begins to decay and the Game leaves the haunt immediately find out a new haunt that is untroubled and do as before directed and after about a months rest the first haunt will become as good as before For Wild-goose or Bernacle set of your greatest Rods upon green Winter corn either Wheat or Rie but especially Wheat on which this sort of Fowl feed most earnestly The brownest Rods and nearest the colour of the earth are best Set your Rods especially about and in the middle of the water-furrows These are very shie Fowl and therefore you must stand at a good distance upon some knob or higher ground and when by fluttering of the Fowl touch'd and sudden rising of the rest you perceive any are taken make in and take them up and if any half limed be flitting away let your Dog fetch them It will not be amiss if when you have placed your Rods you beat the Fowl off from all other haunts which will make them come the sooner to that where your Rods are placed How to take Snipes with Water-Bird-lime Take two or three hundred Birch-twigs and lime forty or fifty of them together very well Then finding out the haunt of Snipes which you shall perceive by their Dung and in very hard weather where the water lies open they will lie very thick Then observing the place where they most feed set two or three hundred of your twigs at a yard distance and sloping some one way some another Retire two or three hundred paces from the place and you shall find that there shall not one Snipe in ten miss your twigs by reason they spread their wings and fetch a round close to the ground before they alight When you see any taken stir not at first for he will feed with the twigs under his wings and as others come over the place he will be a cause to entice them But when you see the coast clear and but few that be not taken go and take up your Birds and fasten one or two that the other flying over may come to the same place If there be any other open places there by put them off those haunts They will lie where it is open and a Spring very much for they can feed in no hard place by reason of their Bills In a Snow you shall have them extraordinary thick upon such a place CHAP. III. How to take Water-fowl with Springes and Snares HAving found the haunts where these fowl do usually feed and noted well the furrows and water-tracks where they commonly stalk and paddle to find worms flote-grass roots and other such like things on which they feed you shall mark where many furrows meet in one and break out as it were in one narrow stream or passage and so descending afterwards divide into other parts and branches this middle part or core being the deepest and as it were feeding the rest then noting how every furrow breaketh and cometh in this Center or little Pit you shall mark which is most padled with the Fowl which found out and noted you shall across all the other passages make as it were a Fence of small short sticks prickt down into the ground at half an Inch distance standing about an handful or somewhat more above water The Fowl such is their nature will not pressover these Fences but stray about till they find the open way wherein they will run up swiftly padling up and down for their victuals This done take a good stiff stick cut flat on one side and prick both ends down into the water or earth on one side the track the bow running parallel to and not crossing the track Then you shall make a bow of small Hazle or Willow in the fashion of a Pear rather narrower the one end running out as it were in a foot-stalk longer or shorter greater or smaller according to the bigness of the Fowl you set for This is to answer the bridge in a Mouse-trap and therefore we will call it the Bridge Then take a good stiff young Plant of Hazel or Elm rushy grown and clean without knot and having made the bottom end sharp at the top you shall fasten a very strong Loop or Swickel of horse-hair This Loop is also to be made greater or lesser of more or fewer horse-hairs according to the bigness of the birds you set for tied very fast together with strong Packthread and made so smooth and yare that it will slip and run at pleasure Hard by this Loop or Swickel shall there also be fastned within an Inch and half of the end of the Plant a little broad thin Tricker such as they use to set up Mouse-traps with These things thus prepared take your Loop of Hazel or Withy made Pear-wise and laying it cross the track hang the bowed end of it on a little Peg or Hook driven down into the ground on one side the track the other end or stalk of it must be put underneath the bout of the first-mentioned bowed stick and near the end of the stalk of it must be a nick cut in Then having thrust down the sharpned end of the Hazel-plant fast into the ground on the bank or side of the track bring the smaller end with the Loop and Tricker to the Bridge Then put one end of the Tricker under the bout of the first mentioned stick and the other end in the
The Fowler stalks with a Bell in his hand which he now and then rings With the same Net they also take Quails pitching just before the tunnel of the Net two Poles with five Cages hanging upon each having live Quails in them which serve to call and entice the wild ones Before the Nets they cast Millet or Panic seed to invite them in The drive them forward a man walks on each side the Net with a jingling Instrument Sonagliera in his hand first one then the other sounding from hand to hand The Net is to be pitcht three or four hours before day and the Birds driven early in the Morning If the Moon shines you may drive at any time of the night CHAP. VI. Several ways of taking Pheasants as §. I. With Nets PHeasants delight most in thick young well-grown Coppice Woods unfrequented and free from the footsteps and tracings of Men and Cattel not in tall high woods of timber-trees Having found their haunts and breeding places you may find their Eye or brood several ways as first by the eye searching up and down the haunts and bushes c. Secondly By coming early in the Morning or late in the Evening and observing the old Cock and Hens calling and the young birds answering them and by that sound guiding your self till you come as near as you can to the place where they meet lying down there so close that you may not be discerned and yet may exactly observe where they lodge and accordingly where and in what manner to pitch your Nets Thirdly Which is the most sure and easie way by an exact and natural Pheasant-call wherewith you must learn to imitate all the Pheasants several notes and tunes applying each to the right time and purpose when and for which she uses it whether it be to cluck the young ones together to brood them to call them to meat when she hath found it to chide them for stragling to call them together to rejoyce and wanton about her for all which she hath a several note The most convenient hours for the use of the Call are before or about Sun-rising and somewhat before Sun-set at which times they straggle abroad to seek their food and then your note is to call them to their food or give them liberty to range But if you will call them after Sun-rise or before Sun-set your notes must be to cluck them together to brood as also to chide them for stragling and put them in fear of danger The notes of rejoycing or playing are rather for finding the old Couples when they are separated Being come to the haunts you shall lodge your self in the most likely place for your purpose as close as possible and then begin to call first in a very low note lest the Pheasants be lodg'd near you and then a sudden loud note may affright them but if nothing reply raise your note by degrees to the highest pitch yet by no means overstraining it or making it speak untunably and if there be a Pheasant in the Wood within hearing of it she will presently answer and that in your own note and key If this call back be but from one single bird and come from far then you shall as secretly as you can creep nearer to it still plying your call and you shall find that the Pheasant that answereth will also come nearer to you The nearer you come the lower observe to make your Call speak as the Pheasant her self will do and her in all points you must imitate as near as you can and in the end you will get a sight of her either on the ground or on the boughs of some low tree as it were prying to find you Then ceasing your Call a while spread your Net as secretly and speedily as may be in the convenientest place between you and the Pheasant upon the lowest shrubs and bushes making one end fast to the ground and holding the other end by a long Line in your hand by which when any thing straineth it you may draw the Net close together or at least into a hollow compass Which done you shall call again and then as soon as you shall perceive the Pheasant to come just under your Net you shall rise and shew your self that by giving him an affright he may offer to mount and so be entangled in your Net If many answer your Call from several quarters of the Wood stir not at all but ply your Call and as they come nearer to you spread your Nets in the most convenient places round about you and when they are come under the Nets boldly discover your self to give the affright and make them mount §. II. Of the driving of Pheasants IT is only Pheasant-Pouts that can be thus taken Having found the eye of Pheasants by any the forementioned means you must then taking the wind with you for they will naturally run down the wind In the little pads and ways which you see they have made for they will make little tracks almost like sheeps tracks and as near as you can to some special haunt of theirs which you shall know by the barrenness of the ground mutings and loose feathers you shall find there place your Nets hollow loose and circular wise their nether part being fastned to the ground and upper lying hollow loose and bending so that when any thing rusheth to it it may fall and entangle it Which done you must go where before you found the haunt and there with your Call if the Eye be scattered call them together then taking your Instrument called a Driver made of good strong white Wands or Osiers set fast in a handle and in two or three places bound with cross Wands of the shape of those Wand-dressers which Cloth-workers use in dressing of Cloth therewith make a gentle noise upon the boughs and bushes which the Pouts hearing will presently run on a heap together from it a little way and then stand still and listen Give then another rack or two at which they will run again as before and thus by racking and striking you may drive them like so many sheep which way you please crossing them and racking as it were in their faces if they chance to go a wrong way till you have brought them all into your Nets In this driving be sure 1. To conceal your self from the sight of the Pheasants For if they perceive you they will instantly scatter and run one from another and hide themselves in holes and bottoms of bushes and not stir from thence upon any occasion as long as any day endureth And therefore it were not amiss to wear over your face a green hood and a Wreath of green leaves about your head and trim your Garments with branches and leaves of trees 2. To take time and leisure and not do any thing rashly For any thing done suddenly or rashly to these fearful Creatures breeds offence and amazement And a scare being taken though but by
reported of the Eagle Answ What is reported of the Eagle in this kind I doubt not but it is false Neither do I think that any bird casts its Bill by age Wherefore that Translation of the fifth verse of Psalm 103. which in the common English metre runs thus Like as the Eagle casts her bill whereby her age reneweth ought to be mended For many of the more ignorant sort have hereby been imposed upon believing these to be the words or sense of the Scripture in this place whereas there is no such thing in the Text mentioned as the Eagles casting her Bill the words being only these Thy youth shall be renewed like the Eagles But that the hook of the Bill may and sometimes doth in Eagles and other birds by extreme old age grow so immoderately as to hinder their feeding I deny not For the Goldsinch we mentioned before is hereof a sufficient instance 4. How many Birds have an angular Appendix as it were a Tooth on each side the upper Chap of their Bills as the Kestrel the Hobby the Butcher-bird c 5. The Commisture of the legs or tines of the lower Mandible in what birds it is round in what angular 6. Whether the Eyes of all Birds of the same Species are always of the same colour Answ The Irides of the Eyes in young and old birds do often differ and sometimes also in the Cocks and Hens But whether in old birds of the same Sex they differ or not remains to be enquired I suppose they do not 7. Whether in Birds that want the Crop that defect be always supplied by the largeness of the Gullet Which as we said in many birds of this kind immediately above the stomach is dilated into a kind of bag or ante-stomach 8. Whereas the single blind gut situate about the middle of the guts is nothing else but the passage deriving the Yolk into the guts contracted it were worthy enquiry whether there be not some external passage terminated in the blind guts commonly know and so called as well in Beasts as in Birds And seeing that in many birds the Appendices are very small and seem to be of no use to the birds when grown up let it be enquired whether they are greater in Embryon-birds and what use they may be of to them 9. Whether the single blind gut forementioned be always reflected toward the tail In what birds the ends of the * Appendices are reflected in what birds the * Appendices are striate Whether below the * Appendices the gut be proportionably larger than above according to the bigness of the * Appendices Whether of the * Appendices the one is usually shorter than the other And if so whether the right or the left 10. Whether some Birds have a double cluster of Eggs as viviparous Animals have two Ovaria usually called and mistaken for Testicles or whether all have only a single one 11. Whether Birds when ready to lay can detain their Eggs if their nests happen not to be ready or be by any accident destroyed Or whether they sometimes fall from them against their wills 12. Whereas some Birds for example Pigeons lay only two Eggs at a time whether of the one of those is always bred a Cock of the other a Hen-bird Answ It doth most commonly so fall out yet sometimes two Males sometimes two Females are excluded together 13. To make trial whether Eggs in England may be hatched by an artificial heat 14. To observe what colours are most frequent in Birds and in what parts as for example the rumps of many birds are of the same colour viz. Larks Thrushes Sparrows c. 15. What Birds wag their tails oft as Water-wagtails Blackbirds Morehens Tringae c. One of the two middle feathers of the tail when it is closed covers the other enquire whether the right or left feather lies oftnest uppermost or either of them indifferently as it happens 16. In what kind of Birds there are more Cocks usually bred as in Ruffs in what more Hens as in Poultry 17. What Birds build upon the ground as all of the Poultry kind Lapwings and in general all such as run and feed themselves so soon as they are hatcht being covered with a thick down What build on trees and in hedges as the greatest part of Birds What in the water as Morehens What Birds sit always on the ground never lighting upon trees What perch upon trees 18. What Birds hide themselves or change places whether in Winter or in Summer 19. What would become of Nightingales Cuckows c. in Winter and of Fieldfares c. in Summer if they were kept in Cages and carefully tended fed and cherished 20. How cometh it to pass that the most vehement cold in Winter-time if they have but food enough doth not congeal or mortifie the tender bodies of small birds 21. Whether the age of Pheasants Hawks c. may be known by the cross bars in their tails 22. How many Birds have white feathers under their tails How many have bristles under their chin at the corners of their mouths or about their nosthrils 23. What Birds either terrestrial or aquatic have two cross lines in their wings 24. How many Birds have the exterior vanes of their flag-feathers broader than the interiour CHAP. VII Of some remarkable Isles Cliffs and Rocks about England where Sea-fowl do yearly build and breed in great numbers MAny Water but especially Sea-fowl do yearly breed and bring forth young in great companies either in high Rocks or Desart and less inhabited Islands in the Sea or on high and steep Cliffs by the Sea-side The more noted and famous places of this kind about England are 1. The Basse Island in the great Bay called Edinburgh-Frith or Forth not far from the shore which Dr. Harvey doth not less truly than elegantly describe in these words There is a little Island the Scots call it Basse standing very high environed with steep and craggy Cliffs one might more truly and properly call it a huge Rock than an Island not much more than a mile in compass In the months of May and June the surface of this Island is almost wholly covered with Nests Eggs and young Birds so that for the multitude of them one can scarce any where freely set ones foot and such a number of Birds there is flying over ones head that like Clouds they cover the Skie and take away the sight of the Sun making such a noise and din with their cries that people talking together near hand can searce hear one another If from thence as from a lofty Tower or high Precipice you look down upon the Sea underneath you shall see it every way covered with an infinite number of Birds of divers sorts swimming up and down intent upon their prey In like manner as Pools of water in some places in the Spring time are seen over-spread with Frogs or the open hills and steep mountains are beheld at
Pack-thread with large mashes at least two Inches from knot to knot For the bigger the mash so the birds cannot creep through the better The Net must not be above two fathoms deep and six long at the most A Net of that size being as great as a man is well able to throw over It must be verged with a strong cord on each side and extended stiff upon a long Pole at each end Then having observed the Morning and Evening-feeding of the Fowl which is seldom in one and the same place be sure to come two hours before those feeding times which are twilight in the Morning and after Sun-set at Night and upon these haunts spread your Nets smooth and flat staking down the two lower ends firm on the ground so that they may only come and go and no more The upper verge of the Net must stand extended on the long Cord the further end whereof must be staked down to the earth two or three fathoms from the Net the Stake standing in a right line with the lower edge of the Net the Fowler holding in his hand the other end which should be at least ten or twelve fathom long at its distance where he shall make some artificial shelter of grass sods earth or such like matter where he may lie out of sight of the Fowl Be sure that the Net lie so tickle that upon the least twitch it will rise from the earth and fly over Strow over the Net short dead fog and other grass to hide it as much as may be from the view of the Fowl It would be of advantage close to your Net to stake down a live Heron or other Fowl you spread for formerly taken for a stale making her now and then flutter her wings When you see a competent number of Fowl within the danger of your Net draw your Cord suddenly and cover them This you may do till the Sun be almost half an hour high but no longer for after that time no more Fowl will come to feed and at Evening from Sun-set till the Stars begin to appear Thus you may take not only the greater Water-fowl but Plover and others §. II. How to take whole-footed Water-fowl with Nets MAke your Nets of the smallest and strongest Pack-thread the Mashes of less compass than the forementioned let them be 2½ or 3 foot deep for length according to the Rivers and Waters they are to be pitched over Let them be lined on both sides with false Nets of strong Packthread every Mash being 1½ foot square that as the Fowl striketh either through or against them the smaller Net may pass through the great Mashes and so entangle them These Nets you shall pitch for the Evening-flight of Fowl before Sun-set and stake them fast down on each side the River the lower side of the Nets about half a foot within the water the upper side shoaling slantwise against the water yet not touching it by a foot and half at least The strings that support this upper side must be fastned to small yielding sticks prickt in the bark which as the Fowl striketh may give liberty to the Net to run and entangle them Yet one end ever made so fast that the Net may by no means be carried away You may thus place divers of these Nets over the River about twelve score one from another If there be any Fens Plashes or Pits at a good distance from the River go to them and shooting off a piece twice or thrice raise the Fowl from thence which will presently pack to the River then plant your Nets of the middle size upon the small Plashes and Pits and the longest of all upon the Fens In like manner if there be any covert of Sedge Reeds Rushes c. in the water pitch Nets about them also In the Morning go first to the River about an hour or two before day and see what your Nets have taken and unlade them Then if you find there be many Fowls upon the River shoot off your Gun in one or two places and that will quickly send them to the Fens Plashes and blank waters wither you may repair about Sun-rising and see what your Nets have taken there CHAP. II §. I. How to take Water-Fowl with limed strings AFter you have found and observed the haunts of the Fowl provide a long line made of small cord knotted here and there and well limed over and a burthen of little sticks sharp at the nether end and with a little fork at the upper If it be for the Evening-flight come to the place an hour before Sun-set if for the Morning at least two hours before day observe the same times in going to prick down Lime-rods and prick them down a little slanting so as they may be within a foot and half of the ground at the uttermost in even rows all over the place of haunt one row distant from another a yard or two and one stick from the next in the same row four or five yards Then lay the limed strings on the forks some rows higher than others like waves Fasten the ends with a slipping loop so that upon any violent strain the limed string may loosen and lap about any thing that toucheth it And so you shall take a great number of Plover of other Fowl that fly in a broad squadron and swoop close by the ground a good distance before they light In like manner you may take whole-footed Water-fowl liming your strings with strong and water-tried Lime placing the strings over the Water as you did over the Land only making your forked sticks so much the longer observing never to lay them in the Moon-shine but either in dark nights or shady places They may be placed either so near the water as almost to touch it or higher not exceeding a foot and half These birds though many times they fly in single files yet when they come down spread themselves so as to alight all as it were together upon the water And so by this Artifice they may be taken many together §. II. How to take Water-fowl with Lime-twigs YOu must provide good store of rods the best are small long streight twigs of Willow cut of even length less for small fowl and greater for greater yet all so light and slender as to be apt to play and wind about any thing The length must be suited to the place where they are to be used Smear above half their upper ends with Birdlime and holding them to the fire make the Bird-lime melt and run upon them that the Rod may not be discerned from the Lime Then at the times before directed go to the haunts And first in the very middle of the place pin down for a stale a live-fowl of the same kind you lay for yet so that she may have liberty of wing to flutter up and down at pleasure Round the Stale every way all the place over prick down your Lime-rods in rows at about
nick made in the stalk or end of the Bridge this will keep the Hazel-plant bent down Then lay the Loop of horse-hair upon the Bridge so conveniently wide as that the Bird may tread in the middle of it upon the Bridge which she shall no sooner do but up will fly the end of the Hazel-plant and the birds foot be caught in the noose or slipping Loop of horse-hair This is somewhat difficult so clearly to express in words as that any man may readily understand and conceive it Markham's description is so imperfect and obscure that I could make nothing of it How to catch Woodcocks in Snares This Bird being wont to walk streight forwards in any furrows or tracks the Fowlers make little pads or walks for them in the places where they haunt of a Palm broad streight and equal and in them set many Snares made of horse-hair such as are designed Figure 2. This bird being sufficiently simple once got into one of these pads runs streight on from end to end without any heed-taking and so is caught by the neck in some of these snares We in England are wont to make great Glades through thick Woods and hang Nets across them And so the Woodcocks shooting through these Glades as their nature is strike against the Nets and are entangled in them CHAP. IV. An approved way to take a Heron out of the Epitome of the Art of Husbandry A Heron being as great a devourer of Fish as any is I will affirm ten times as much as the Otter and shall destroy a Pond more in one Week than an Otter shall do in three Months For I have seen a Heron that hath been shot at a Pond to have seventeen Carps at once in his belly which he will digest in six or seven hours and to fishing again I have seen a Carp taken out of a Herons belly nine Inches and an half long Several Gentlemen that have kept them tame have put fish in a Tub and tried the Heron how many small Roches and Dace he would eat in a day and they have found him to eat above fifty a day one day with another One Heron that haunts a Pond in a year shall destroy one thousand store-carps nay one thousand five hundred in half a year Now the best way to take this great enemy of Fish is this Having found his haunt get three or four small Roches or Daces and having a strong Hook with a Wire to it draw the Wire just withinside the skin of the fish beginning without side of the Gills and running it to the tail and then the fish will lie five or six days alive For if the fish be dead the Heron will not touch him Let not your Hook be too rank Then having a strong Line made of Silk and Wire about two yards and half long if you twist not Wire with your Silk his sharp Bill will bite it in two immediately and tie a round stone of about a pound weight to the Line and lay three or four Hooks and in two or three nights you shall not fail to have him if he comes to your Ponds Lay not your Hooks in the deep water where the Heron cannot wade to them for if you do they may lie long enough before you see any effect of your pains Colour your Line of a dark green for a Heron is a very subtle bird CHAP. V. Of the Fowling-piece and Stalking-horse THe best Fowling-pieces are the long-barrelled of five and a half or six foot of an indifferent bore somewhat under Harquebuse for they hold the best charges and carry the furthest level and such as have Fire-locks The charge must be round hail-shot of bigness according to the Game you shoot at As near as you can shoot with the wind and sideways of or behind the Fowl And if possible under the shelter of some hedge bank or tree c. sometimes if need be creeping on your hands and knees Chuse rather to shoot at a rank or file than a single fowl and then send your Dog for what you have strucken You must have your Dog in such true obedience as not to stir from your heels till you bid him go Where you have no shelter use a Stalking-horse which is any old Jade trained up for that purpose which being stript naked and having nothing but a string about the nether Chap of two or three yards long will gently and as you have occasion to urge him walk on the banks of Brooks and Rivers or Meadows and Moors or up and down in the water which way you please flodding and eating on the grass and weeds that grow therein and so hardy as not to take any affright at the report of your Piece You shall shelter your self and your Piece behind his foreshoulder bending your body down low by his side and keeping his body still full between you and the Fowl Then having chosen your mark take your level from before the forepart of the Horse shooting as it were between the horses neck and the water which is more safe than taking the level under the horses belly and much less to be perceived the shoulder of the horse covering the body of the man and his legs also the mans legs Whiles you are stalking you may leave your Dog with your Bags c. where he may lie close and never stir till you have shot and then upon the least call but not before come to you and fetch forth what you have killed For want of a live-horse you may make an artificial stalking-horse of Canvas either stuft or hollow and stretcht upon splints of wood or strong Wires with his head bending down as if he grazed of due shape stature and bigness painted of the colour of a horse the darker the less apt to be discovered Let it be fixt in the middle to a staff with a pick of Iron to stick it in the ground while you shoot Instead of a horse you may make and use the shape of an Oxe Stag or any other horned beast painted of the usual colour of beasts in that Country and having the natural horn or head N. These Engines are to be employed in those places where the birds are used to see and be acquainted with the beasts they represent N. 2. These Engines are fitter for Water than Land the water hiding their imperfections When you have so much beaten the fowl with the Stalking horse that they begin to find your deceit and will not sit Then you may otherwhiles use your Oxe-engine till the Horse be forgotten and so by change of your Engines make your sport last The shape of a Stag may be useful in such places where Stags commonly feed and are familiar with the Fowl but they are subject to quicker discovery Some stalk with dead Engines as an artificial Tree Shrub or Bush or a dead Hedge But these are not so useful for the stalk as the stand It being unnatural for dead things to move
flocks where they are presently entangled among the Lime-twigs and taken in abundance But this manner of taking is only for the Spring and Fall of the Leaf and only for one certain time of the day viz. an hour before and after Sun-rise §. II. An excellent way of taking small Birds with Birdlime out of the Epitome of Husbandry THis is best done in a Snow When you see the Birds flock together about your house or fields chuse out one hundred large Wheat-ears cut the straw about a foot long besides the ears From the bottom of the Ears to the middle lime the straw for about six or seven Inches let your Lime be warm that so it may run thin upon the straw and be less discernable to the Birds Go then to the place and carry a little bag of Chaff and threshed Ears and scatter these fourteen or fifteen yards wide Then take the limed Ears and stick them up and down in the Snow with the Ears leaning or with the end touching the ground Then retire from the place and drive the Birds from any other haunt and you will see presently great flocks repair thither and begin to peck the Ears of Corn and fly away with them which as soon as any of them shall do the straw that is limed laps under his Wing and down he falls not perceiving himself to be entangled For I have seen many eat their Ears when they have been fast limed under the Wing In the field you will take most Larks For Sparrows stick your Ears upon the house-tops though you never get the Birds Every dozen of Sparrows you take in Winter shall save you a quarter of Wheat before Harvest Take away all your limed Ears and in the Afternoon bait the place with a bag or two more of Ears and Chaff and let them rest till Morning that the birds may feed boldly and not be affrighted then take some fresh Ears and stick them up as you did before §. III. How to take Fieldfares with Birdlime out of the same WHen time is that is about or after Michaelmas shoot a Fieldfare or two and set them in such order that they may seem to sit alive on a tree Then having prepared the Lime-twigs about two or three hundred take a Birchen bough and cut off all the small twigs make little holes and clefts all about the bough and there place your Lime-rods Then set the Fieldfare upon the top bough making him fast that he may seem alive Let this bough be set near where they come in a morning to feed for they keep a constant place till their food is gone that so flying near they may espy the top-bird which as soon as they do they will fall down in whole flocks to him §. IV. How to take Pigeons with Lime-twigs out of the same GEt a couple of Pigeons dead or alive if dead yet order them so as to stand stiff as if they were living and feeding Then at Sun-rising take your twigs what quantity you pelase Let them be very small Wheat-straws are as good or better and place them on the ground which the Pigeons frequent where your two Pigeons are set and you shall find you will quickly be rid of them Two or three dozen is nothing to take in a Morning if there come good flights §. V. How to take Crows Pies Gleads c. with Lime-twigs out of the same STick up Lime-twigs on the Carcass of a dead Horse newly stript or any other Carrion so soon as these birds have found it Let them be very small and not too thick set lest they perceive them and take distaste §. VI. How to take Crows and Rooks when they pull up Corn by the roots out of the same TAke some thick brown Paper and divide a sheet into eight parts and make them up like Sugar-loaves Then lime the inside of the Paper a very little Let them be limed three or four days before you set them Then put some Corn in them and lay fifty or sixty of them up and down the ground as much as you can under some cold of earth and early in the Morning before they come to feed Then stand at a good distance and you will see excellent sport For as soon as Rook Crow or Pigeon comes to pick out any of the Corn it will hang upon his head and he will immediately fly bolt upright so high that he shall seem like a small bird and when he is spent come tumbling down as if he were shot in the Air. §. VII How to take Stares with a limed string out of Olina's Uccelliera TAke a small string of a yard or thereabout long bind it fast to the Tail of a Stare having first carefully limed it all over excepting one Palm next the bird Having found a flock of Starlings come as near to them as possible holding your Stare by the wings as near as you can and let her go to her fellows which as soon as you shew your self to them will presently take wing Your tail-tied Stare endeavouring to secure her self of her liberty thrusting her self into the middle of her fellows will entangle many of them and so not being able to fly they will afford a pleasant spectacle in tumbling down to the ground where you must be ready with a Brush or Besom to strike them down Many other devices there are to take several sorts of birds with Lime-rods c. which I think needless to set down it being not difficult for an ingenious Fowler to invent as good or better when he shall have opportunity of taking those kinds of Birds CHAP. IV. Of taking Birds with Baits THis way is not for taking birds to eat but for destroying noisom and ravenous Fowl as Crows Ravens Kites Buzzards c. For the effecting whereof 1. Observe their haunts 2. Remember the hours or times of day when they are most sharp-set and greedy as early in the Morning so soon as they unpearch themselves and again at Even a little before Sun-set especially at that time of the year when they have young ones for then they will with greediness seize any bait as fast as you cast it out 3. Take a pretty quantity of Nux Vomica and dissolve it in Wine Vinegar or Wine-Lees those of sweet Wine are the best Then take the garbage of any Fowl and all-besmear them over with your Solution of Nux Vomica and cast them forth where such noisom birds haunt and watching the birds in a convenient place you shall see that after swallowing a bit or two any such Fowl will presently grow dizzy reeling and tumbling up and down till at last it fall into a dead swoon Others take pretty big gobbets of raw lean flesh as Beef Mutton c. and making therein secret little holes put in them small pieces of Nux Vomica and close them up again You may also instead of either make use of Carrion and either smear it with your Confection
or stop into the fleshy part of it small pieces of Nux Vomica It is best to let these baits lie loose and not fasten them to the ground as some practise To take granivorous birds of the greater kind as Doves Rooks c. boil good store of Nux Vomica together with Wheat Barley Pease or any other Pulse very well in ordinary running water till the Grain be ready to burst then take it from the fire and cover it till it be throughly cold The Grain thus boiled and steept scatter thick where these Fowl frequent and it will have the like effect upon them as the Garbage or Carrion had upon the carnivorous For small birds boil your Nux Vomica with such seeds as they most delight in viz. Hemp-seed Rape-seed Lin-seed and above all Mustard-seed and they will be in like manner entoxicated Some instead of Nux Vomica take only the Lees of Wine which the sharper they are the better and in them boil and steep or only steep which is as availeable if continued a sufficient while their Grain or Seeds and scatter them as above directed Others take the juyce of Hemlock and steep in it their Grain or Seeds mixing therewith a pretty sprinkling of Henbane and Poppy seeds letting all stand in steep two or three days at least and then drain it and scatter it c. which will have the like effect with the Nux Vomica To recover any Fowl of these baits take a little quantity of Sallet-oyl according to the strength and bigness of the Fowl and drop it down its throat then chafe the head well with Vinegar and the Fowl will presently recover again and be as healthful and able as ever it was CHAP. V. Several ways of taking Partridges §. 4. How to take Partridges and other Birds with a Setting-dog A Setting-dog should be a lusty Land-Spaniel that will range well and yet at such absolute command that when he is in his full career one hem of his Master shall make him stand still gaze about him and look in his Masters face as it were expecting directions from him whether to proceed stand still or retire but the main thing he is to be taught is when he sees and is near his Prey of a sudden to stand still or fall down flat on his belly without making any noise or motion till his Master come to him For taking Partridge with him when you come into the fields where Partridges frequent cast off your Dog and let him range or hunt taking care that he range not too far from you but beat his ground justly and even without casting about and flying now here and now there and skipping many places which the mettle of many even good dogs will make them apt to do If he do so call him in with a hem and threaten him with a stern countenance and when he doth well encourage him When you see him make a sudden stop or stand still be sure he hath set the Fowl therefore presently make in to him and bid him go nearer if he refuses but either lies still or stands shaking of his tail and withal now and then looks back upon you he is near enough Then begin your range or circumference about both the Dog and Partridge not ceasing but walking about with a good round pace looking still before the Dogs nose to see how the Covey lies whether close together in a heap or scattering Then charging the Dog to lie still draw forth your Net and opening of it take you one end of the top-cord and your Companion the other and holding it stretcht run with the Net against the Dog and clap it down over the Birds covering Dog and all with it then make a noise to spring the Partridge that they may rise and be entangled in the Net Some observe to run with their Net against the wind to keep it fully extended One man may make a shift to do all But then he must peg down one end of his Net to the ground and taking the other end spread it over the Birds The Italians as Olina tells us are wont to purge their Dog before they go a Setting with him giving him a morsel made up of half an ounce of Agarick and two drachms of Sal gemmae mingled with honey of Roses covered over with Butter or some other unctuous matter that he may the more readily swallow it And the day following a broth made of a Weathers head boild so as with the flesh of it bread and a little Brimston pounded to make a sup He bids you also observe 1. Not to hunt your Dog especially after he hath been new purged till the Sun hath dried up the dew because else he will be apt to lose the sent and also hurt his feet 2. To begin to set on your Dog under the wind that he may take the sent the better The Net he saith ought to be a little longer than it is broad or deep viz. between seven and eight yards over and between eight and nine deep In this manner may be taken not only Partridges but Pheasants Moor-pouts and Quails §. I. Of the haunts of Partridges and how to find Partridges THe haunts wherein Partridges most delight and most constantly abide are Corn-fields especially during the time the Corn is standing under the Covert whereof they meet and breed After the Corn is cut down they still remain in the Stubbles especially Wheat-Stubbles both because they love to feed on that grain before all others and also for the height of the Stubble which affords them safer covert When the Wheat-stubble is either too scanty or too much soyled and trodden with Men and Cattel they leave it and go to the Barley-stubbles which though inferiour in both respects yet being fresh and not so usually trodden and beaten they take great delight therein In Winter when these stubbles are either plowed up or over-soyled with Cattel manure or the like then they resort to the enclosed grounds or upland-Meadows and lodge in the dead grass or fog under hedges among Mole-hills and under banks or at the roots of trees You may also find haunts of Partridges in small Coppices or Underwoods in Bushy Closes or where there grows Broom Brakes Furze or Ling or any other Covert Provided always that there be some Corn-fields adjoyning else they will rather avoid such places In Harvest-time when they can have no quiet lodging in the Corn-fields you may find them in the day-time in the Fallows adjoyning where they will lie lurking among the great clods and weeds and only early in the Morning and late at Evening fetch their food from the corn-sheaves next adjoyning Now for finding them some will do it by the eye like hare-finders viz. In taking their ranges over the stubble fields or other haunts casting their eyes on each hand they will espy them out though never so close couched which ability partly depends upon the goodness of the eye partly
one bird their fear will not suffer them to argue or dispute the object or stay till everyone have beheld the thing suddenly affrighting them but away they all fly at the very first apprehension in an instant And therefore if you find any staggering or dismay among them presently cease and lie still as though you were dead till the fear be over and they gaze no more about them but gathering themselves together do begin to peep and cluck one to another and rejoyce among themselves and then you may fall to your work again §. III. Of taking Pheasants with the Lime-bush or Lime-rods YOur Rods must be twelve or at least ten Inches long well limed down to the middle and no further Your Lime-bush must contain not above eight twigs at most being the top-branch of some young Willow with a handle about a shaftment long sharpned so as either you may stick it gently into the ground or prick it into any shrub or bush where-through the Peasants usually trace or on any small tree where they use to pearch Place two or three of these bushes there Then make use of your Call and you will quickly have all the Pheasants within hearing about you and it is a chance but some of them will be toucht and if but one be limed she will go near to lime all her fellows for what by her strugling amongst them and they coming to gaze some will be smeared by her and some will light on other bushes And if some one or two escape by mounting and get to the Pearch and there as is the natural quality of them sit prying to see what becomes of their fellows it is ten to one but they will be taken by the Lime-bushes placed on the Pearch Old Pheasants when you call oftentimes will not come on the ground especially in Winter but mount and come flying from Pearch to Pearch till they come to that next you ever prying and peeping to find him out that calleth where they will probably be taken It very requisite to keep an exact account of all your Lime-bushes and Rods and when you have gathered up your Pheasants see what bushes or rods you have missing for if you miss but one of them you may be assured that there are some limed which you have not found And therefore never be without a Spaniel that will lie close at your foot and that will fetch and carry and neither break nor bruise flesh nor feather to hunt out and bring you all the birds that shall so lie hid The Lime-rods may be placed not only upon bushes and shrubs by Pheasants tracks but also upon the ground in open places between thicks in such order as is directed above neither too thick and apparent so as to breed affright nor so thin as to let any escape leaving about the length of a Rod or less between Lime-rod and Lime-rod The Season for using of Lime is from the beginning of November till the beginning of May for during that time the twigs of trees on which Birds pearch are void of leaves and like to Lime-twigs The time for the use of Nets is from the beginning of May till the latter end of October during which time the trees are covered with leaves The Pheasant-net would be made of the best twined double Housewives thread died green or blue the Mash almost an Inch between knot and knot It would be in length at least three fathoms in breadth seven foot or better verged on each side with a strong small Cord and as it were surfled thereon the Net being placed not streight but thick and large that at any time when it is extended it may lie compass-wise and hollow The two ends likewise should be verged with small Cord yet that more for strength than any particular use The great Nets which some use are cumbersom and hardly manageable and therefore if occasion be it is better take and use a couple of ordinary size CHAP. VII §. I. How to make the best Birdlime according to G. Markham TAke at Midsummer of the Bark of Holly so much as to fill a reasonable big Vessel and boil it in running water till the grey and white bark rise from the green which will take up a whole day or better Then take it from the fire and after the water is very well drained separate from it the barks Take all the green and lay it on the ground in a close place and on a moist floor as in some low Vault or Cellar and cover it allover a good thickness with Docks Hemlock Thistles and the like green weeds or else make it up in a heap with Fern S S S that is first a layer or bed of Fern then a layer of Bark then a layer of Fern again and so on interchangeably and so let it lie for the space of ten or twelve days in which time it will rot and turn to a slimy matter Then pound it in a large Morter till it come to be one uniform substance or paste that may be wrought with the hand like dough without discerning any part of the Bark or other substance Which done take it out of the Morter and carry it to a swift running stream and there wash it exceedingly not leaving any mote or filth in it Then put it up in a close earthen pot and let it stand and purge for divers days together three or four at least not omitting to skum it as any foulness arises and when no more will rise put it into a clean Vessel and cover it close and keep it for use Now when you have occasion to use it take thereof what quantity you shall think sit and putting it into an earthen Pipkin with a third part of Hogs grease or which is better Capons grease or Goose grease set it on a very gentle fire and there let them melt together and stir them continually till they be both incorporated together and become one entire substance Then take it from the fire and cool it stirring it till it be cold When it is well cooled take your Rods and warming them a little over the fire wind about the tops of them some of it so prepared then draw the Rods one from another closing them again do this several times continually plying and working them together till by smearing one upon another you have bestowed upon every Rod a like quantity of Lime keeping the full breadth of your hand at least free and without any Lime at all ever and anon warming the Rods before the fire to make the Lime spread on them the better and to make it lie smoother and plainer that the Fowl may not perceive it and take affright at it As for the liming of straws it must be done when the Lime is very hot and in such manner as the Rods are done before the fire only you must not do a few but a great heap together as big as you can well gripe in your hands for so
as she kills her self 7. That whereas for the most part she hatches two young ones she brings up but one casting out the other to ease her self of the toil of nursing and feeding it 8. That she would not at all hatch her Young did she not bring the Eagles stone Aëtites into her Nest which is of wonderful vertue in promoting exclusion 9. That when the Young are sick and cannot concoct more solid food by reason of the weakness of their stomachs the old ones suck the bloud out of their prey and feed them therewith 10. That in extreme old age when their Beaks by reason of their driness are grown so crooked that they cannot feed they sustain themselves for some time by drinking 11. That the old ones when they see their young fledged and ready to fly do carry them up a height and then let them go admonishing them as it were by their own peril to make use of their Wings and by flying through the Air to save themselves from falling If after they have let them go they fall down to the ground up they take them again often repeating this kind of exercise 12. That she hath an extraordinary care of her Talons lest by any means they should be blunted Hereupon in walking she always draws them up and turns them inwards refuses to walk in stony places lest perchance she should wear their points And if she happens to sit or walk upon Rocks she spreads under her feet the skins of such Animals as she hath kill'd lest her Talons should be hurt Yea so careful is she of them that where ever she sits unless she eyes the Sun or her prey she is always looking at them fearing lest they should grow too crooked And if by chance they be blunted she sharpens them with her Bill or whets them upon stones to render them fitter for preying 13. That when she is enfeebled with old age she flies as high as ever she can above the Clouds till the dimness of her eye-sight be consumed by the heat of the Sun then presently descending with all her force while she is yet in the extremity of heat she drenches her self three times in the coldest water she can find and rising up thence streightway betakes her self to her Nest where among her young now fit for preying falling into a kind of Fever with a sweat she casts her feathers and is by them carefully nursed up and fed till she recover her plumage again 14. Whereas the greatest part of Birds either of fear or wonder fly after the Owl she not thinking such carriage to become a Kingly bird is nothing moved with that spectacle Of the latter kind are these 1. That she doth so excel in quick-sightedness that soaring so high in the air that she can very hardly be discerned by us in all that light yet she can espy a Hare lying under a bush or a little Fish swimming in the water Though I grant that both the Eagle and other Rapacious birds are very sharp-sighted yet do I not think that their eyes can reach objects at such distances 2. That she is indocile and uncapable of Discipline and not to be tamed by any humane endeavour But is only carried on headlong by her natural inclination and impetus This is not universally true For we have heard of Eagles that have been reclaimed and trained up for fowling Though it he rarely done 3. That her breath smells very ill so that by reason of the pestiferous stench thereof the bodies that are blown upon by her do easily putrefic and corrupt 4. That she is very greedy and almost unsatiable and therefore if at any time she endures hunger of which she is most patient she recompenses her long fasting by abundant eating and gorging her self And if her prey be so great and copious that any thing remains when she is satiated she leaves that to the other birds which use to follow her in expectation thereof 5. That almost all Birds of prey live without ever drinking yet is their belly always loose and their Excrements fluid For the bloud of the Animals they kill affords them liquor enough for the concoction and digestion of their meat 6. That it is very venereous For the Female being trodden thirteen times a day yet if the Male doth but call runs to him again Now whereas all salacious creatures are thought to be short-lived one may justly wonder that the Eagle should be the most lustful and yet withal the most vivacious of Birds 7. When their young ones are grown up and come to that age and strength that that they can without the help of their Parents get themselves meat they drive them far away from their Nests nay they will not suffer them to abide so much as in the same Country 8. Nature hath given the Eagle very thick hard and almost solid bones and in which there is but very little marrow All these things we have transcribed out of Aldrovandus his Ornithology where occur more such like which are common to other Rapacious Birds For besides its eminent Magnitude we do not acknowledge any Characteristic note whereby Eagles may be distinguished from Hawks How they are differenced from Vultures shall be shewn when we come to treat of Vultures As for the names of the Eagles it is called Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to rush on or be carried forwards violently with great force and swiftness because of the swiftness of its flight By the Latines it is named Aquila either ab acumine visus from the sharpness of its sight or from the colour called Aquilus that is blackish or dusky so denominated from water Aqua CHAP. III. Of the several kinds of Eagles §. I. * THE GOLDEN EAGLE CHYSAETOS Aldrovandi Ornithologiae lib. 2. cap. 2. Aquila fulva sen aurea BEing put in the balance statera we found it to weigh twelve pounds From point of Beak to tip of Tail it was full three feet and nine Inches long The length from the Bill to the Talons was four spans and an half The breadth from tip to tip of the Wings extended eight spans The Beak was one Palm hand-breadth and one inch long For the hooked part alone hung down beyond the lower Chap a full Inch. The breadth of the Bill especially about the middle was more than two Inches The hooked part or point was blacker the rest of the Bill of a horn-colour inclining to a pale blue and spotted with dusky The wideness of the Mouth gaping rictus was one Palm and an Inch. The Tongue was like a Mans broad round and blunt at the tip toward the root on both sides armed with two hooked horny Appendices tied down in the middle to the lower mandible by a thin Membrane The Palate perforate in the middle The lower Chap of the Bill channelled the edges whereof standing up on both sides
with transverse reddish spots the utmost tips being whitish The Legs and Feet were yellow The middle and outmost Toes connected as in others of this kind to the first joynt The Talons as black as Jet It had a great Gall The length of the Guts was two foot lacking an inch The Appendices or blind Guts short besides which it had another single Appendix or process which was we suppose the remainder of the Ductus intestinalis shrunk up The Hobby is a bird of passage yet breeds with us in England It s Game is chiefly Larks for the catching of which Birds our Fowlers make use of it thus The Spaniels range the field to find the birds The Hobby they let off and accustom to soar aloft in the Air over them The Larks espying their capital enemy dare by no means make use of their Wings but lie as close and flat upon the ground as they can and so are easily taken in the Nets they draw over them This kind of sport is called Daring of Larks To catch these Hawks the Fowlers take a Lark and having blinded her and fastned Lime-twigs to her Legs let her fly where they see the Hobby is which striking at the Lark is entangled with the Lime-twigs The Bird is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the lesser 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Buteo which Pliny renders in Latine Subbuteo It is called in English Hobby after the French name §. XV. The Kestrel Stannel or Stonegall in Latine Tinnunculus or Cenchris THe Female is about the bigness of a Pigeon That we described weighed nine ounces It s length from the point of the Beak to the end of the Train was fourteen inches and a quarter Its breadth or the distance between the tips of the Wings extended two foot and an half The Beak short prominent hooked and sharp-pointed The Base of the upper Chap covered with a skin or membrane in which are the Nosthrils The middle part of the Beak next the Sear is white the rest of a dark blue Where it begins to bend it hath a Tooth or Angle which is received in a dent or cavity in the lower Chap. The Nosthrils round The Tongue cleft The Eye-lids yellow the Eyes defended by prominent brows It hath a wide mouth and the Palate blue The Head is great the Crown broad and flat inclining to an ash-colour and marked with narrow black lines along the shaft of each feather The back shoulders and covert-feathers of the upper side of the Wings ferrugineous marked with black spots viz. each feather being reddish hath a black spot toward the tip The Rump is cinereous having the like transverse black spots The lower or nether side of the body that is the Breast and Belly was of a paler red or ferrugineous varied with black lines drawn downwards along the shafts of the feathers The Chin and lower belly without spots The flag-feathers of the Wing are in number twenty four The exteriour of which are of a brown or dusky colour but their interiour Vanes are partly of a reddish white indented with the brown like the teeth of a Saw The six or seven next to the body are red having their interiour Vanes marked with transverse brown stroaks The inner or under side of the Wing is white with black spots The Train made up of twelve feathers was above seven inches long The outmost feathers shortest the rest in order gradually longer to the middlemost The utmost tips of the feathers were of a rusty white Then succeeds a black bar or ring of an inch broad the rest of the feather being of a rusty ash-colour marked with transverse black spots The Legs and Feet are of a lovely yellow and the Talons black It had a Gall. In the stomach we found Beetles and fur of Mice The length of the Guts was twenty eight Inches The single blind gut Appendix intestinalis was twice as long as the lower Appendices or blind Guts The Male or Tarcel differs from the Female chiefly in being less and having the head and back of an ash-colour Kestrels are wont commonly with us in England to be reclaimed and trained up for fowling after the manner of other Rapacious birds They catch not only small birds but also young Partridge They build in hollow Oaks and other trees and that not after the manner of Crows upon the boughs but after the manner of Jackdaws always in holes as Turner saith he himself observed Aristotle makes the Kestrel the most fruitful or best breeder among Birds of prey yet neither doth she saith he lay more Eggs than four at once Her Eggs are whitish all over stained very thick with red spots whence Aristotle and Pliny write that they are red like Vermilion Indeed they deserve rather to be called red than white It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying Millet as if one should say the Millet-bird for the same reason as Gesner thinks that a kind of Tetter the Swine-pox is called Herpes miliaris because it is marked or motled with specks like Millet seed This Bird is by some called the Wind-hover of which name we have elsewhere given an account §. XVI The Merlin called in Latine Aesalon BEllonius hath recorded that the Merlin is the least of all those birds our Falconers use for hawking and truly if we except only the Matagesse or great Butcher-bird which is sometimes reclaimed for small birds so it is It is not much bigger than a Black bird The length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail in that we described was fourteen Inches to the end of the Toes twelve and an half The Beak was blue and had an angular Appendix or tooth on each side The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel colour The back and upper part were particoloured of a dark blue and a ferrugineous The shaft and middle part of the feathers of the Head and Wings were black the edges blue The flag-feathers of the Wings black with ferrugineous spots The Train sive inches long of a dark brown or blackish with transverse white bars Of these black and white spaces were fourteen in all in the Female in the Male or Tarcel but ten The Breast and Belly were of a rusty white with brown spots not transverse but tending downwards from the Head toward the Tail The Legs were long slender and yellow The Talons black Below the Head it had a ring of yellowish white encircling the Head like a Coronet In the older Birds the back grows bluer as in other Falcons In the Males the feathers on the Rump next the Tail are bluer By which note and their bigness Falconers discern the Sex For the Female in this as in other birds of prey is greater than the Male being for colour less red with a certain mixture of
of elegant black feathers covers the Head The white points or spots round the whole body are variegated as it were with a shade §. VII Macucagua of the Brasilians a bird of the Hen-kind Marggrave IT is of the bigness of our Country Hen or bigger hath a black Bill more than an inch and half long forward a little crooked like a Partridges In the middle of the Bill are two large holes for Nosthrils The Eyes are black and behind them at a little distance are the Ears as in Hens The body thick and great wherewith the Wings end for it hath no Tail The lower Legs are bare two inches and an half long It hath in its Feet three Toes standing forward thick with short and blunt Claws a round heel like an Ostrich and a little above that a short Toe toward the inside of the Leg with a blunt Talon The whole Head and Neck is speckled with a dark yellow and black Under the Throat it is white The Breast Belly and Back are of a dark ash-colour The Wings are all over of an Umber-colour waved with black except the prime feathers which are wholly black The upper Legs are clothed with feathers of the same colour with the Belly the lower together with the Feet are blue The Claws grey It is a very fleshy bird and hath so much flesh as scarce two ordinary Hens have and that also well tasted Under the outer skin which is thick and fat it hath another membrane wherewith the flesh is covered It lives upon divers fruits that fall from wild trees I found in its stomach wild Beans the Seeds of Araticu c. It runs upon the ground for its Feet are unfit to climb trees It lays Eggs a little bigger than Hens Eggs of a bluish green colour This might have been put in the next Chapter among the wild birds CHAP. XI Wild Birds of the Poultry-kind and first of all the Granivorous §. I. The Pheasant Phasianus THis Bird is supposed to be so called from Phasis a River in Colchis from whence it was first brought ito Europe Aldrovandus not improbably takes this word to be rather derived from the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same sound and as he supposes signification They differ much in weight according as they are fatter or leaner One Cock we made trial in weighed fifty ounces another but forty five a Hen thirty three It s length from the point of the Bill to the end of the Tail was thirty six inches to the end of the Claws twenty four The distance between the tips of the Wings extended thirty three inches The Bill like to that of other granivorous birds from the tip to the angles of the mouth an inch three quarters long in old birds whitish It hath on both sides a fleshy and tuberous membrane by which it is above joyned to the Head under which the Nosthrils are as it were hid The Irides of the Eyes are yellow A red or Scarlet colour according to Aldrovandus powdered with black specks compasses the Eye round for a good breadth In the forepart of the Head at the Basis of the upper Chap of the Bill the feathers are black with a kind of purple gloss The Crown of the Head and upper part of the Neck are tinctured with a dark green shining like silk which colour yet is more dilute on the Crown of the Head Aldrovandus writes that the Crown commonly is of a very elegant shining ash-colour at the sides and near the Bill being green and either in Sun or shade very changeable Which most beautiful colour doth also take up the whole Neck above Mr. Willughby makes the Crown of the Head to be of a shining blue with a certain mixture of red and as well the Head as the upper part of the Neck to appear sometimes blue sometimes green It hath moreover on both sides the Head about the Ears feathers sticking out which Pliny calls horns There grow also to the Ears in their lower angle black feathers longer than the rest The sides of the Neck and the Throat are of a shining purple colour Note that as well the green as the purple colour inheres only in the exteriour part or borders of the feathers the rest i. e. the middle and lower part of the feather being on the top of the Head dusky on the Neck black The feathers under the Chin and at the angles of the Mouth are black with green edges or borders Below the green the rest of the Neck the Breast Shoulders middle of the Back and sides under the Wings are clothed with most beautiful feathers having their bottoms black their edges tincted with a most beautiful colour which as it is diversly objected to the light appears either black or purple Next to the purple in each feather is a cross line or bed of a most splendid gold colour Below the gold a fulvous which reaches as low as the black bottom we mentioned Howbeit the gold colour is not immediately contiguous to the fulvous but divided by an intermediate narrow line of a shining purplish On the underside of the Neck the extremities tops of the feathers are painted with a black spot of the figure of a Parabola The shafts of all are fulvous The feathers themselves about the shaft in the lower part of the under side of the Neck are marked with an Oval white spot in the black bottom we spoke of The feathers on the shoulders and middle of the Back are variegated with these colours First their edges are fulvous next succeeds a narrow purplish line then a pretty broad black line running parallel to the edges of the feathers wherein is included another broad white line This Aldrovandus calls an Oval line The space comprehended within this line and the rest of the feather to the very bottom are black Yet in the middle of the Back the space comprehended is various of dusky and black The shafts of the feathers are fulvous or yellow The lower feathers of the Back are almost wholly ferrugineous inclining to a Fox colour want that white spot are longer than others and end as it were in small filaments Yet they have this common with the fore-mentioned that in the light about their middles they seem to have an appearance of that green colour which else is not seen in them that their shafts approach to a gold colour and that their bottoms or lower parts are all dusky The Tail if you measure the middle feathers which are much longer than the rest is full twenty six inches long almost of the figure of an Organ for as in that the Pipes on each side are gradually longer and longer or bigger and bigger the biggest being the middlemost so is it in this Tail Those two middlemost feathers which as we said are the longest of all have on each side them eight all of different magnitude the exteriour shorter and lesser than the interiour in order to the outmost They
little gravel in their Cages all times of the year for the reason before intimated THE FIRST MEMBER OR SUBSECTION Of small Birds with slender Birds OF these there are many sorts All besides Swallows may conveniently enough be divided into such as have the feathers of their Tails all of one colour and such as have a particoloured Tail We will first treat of Larks and Swallows by themselves then we will reduce the rest to the now mentioned heads CHAP. I. OF LARKS §. I. Of Larks in general A Lark called by the Grecians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying a Helmet by the Latines also Cassita and Galerita from Cassis and Galea or Galerus of like signification which names do yet properly agree to the crested Lark is distinguished from other sorts of Birds 1. By its long Heel or Claw of the back-toe which is the characteristic mark of this bird 2. By the testaceous or earthy colour of its feathers Which note is not common to all the Birds we comprehend under this title nor proper to this kind fith it agrees to Sparrows and other Birds 3. By its singing as it flies mounting up in the air We have in England observed four sorts of Larks 1. The most common one 2. The Wood-Lark 3. The lesser crested Lark 4. The Tit-Lark §. II. The common Skie-Lark Alauda vulgaris IT is not much bigger than a House-Sparrow yet longer bodied of an ounce and half weight from the tip of the Bill to the Claws or Tail-end for they are equally extended six inches and a quarter The ends of the great feathers in the Wings stretched out were ten inches and a quarter distant The Bill measuring from the tip to the angles of the Mouth was three quarters of an inch long The upper Mandible black or horn-coloured the lower commonly whitish The Tongue broad cloven hard The Nosthrils round It sometimes ruffles up the feathers of its head almost in fashion of a Crest A cinereous Ring or Crown compasses the hind part of the Head from Eye to Eye but more sordid and less conspicuous than in the Wood-Lark The Head is of a testaceous or reddish ash-colour the middle parts of the feathers being black The Back is of the same colour with the Head The Chin whitish The Throat yellow with brown spots The sides of a reddish yellow Each Wing hath eighteen quil-feathers Of these all betwixt the sixth and seventeenth have blunt indented white tips The edges of the four or five outmost are white of those next the body cinereous of the rest reddish The Tail is three inches long consisting of twelve feathers of which the outmost on each side hath both its upper half and also the exteriour Vane of the lower white The next to this hath only its outer Web white the inner being black The three following on each side are black The two middlemost are sharp-pointed of which that that lies undermost when the Tail is shut hath ash-coloured edges That which covers it lying uppermost towards the tip is cinereous toward the bottom blackish The Feet and Legs are dusky The Claws black with white tips The outer toe grows to the middle below as in other small birds The Liver is divided into two Lobes the left much less than the right that there may be room for the Gizzard which in this bird is fleshy and great for the bigness of the bird The flesh is very sweet and delicate In mild Winters it feeds wondrous fat And there are then taken an innumerable number with us in England for the furnishing and adorning of our Tables as Polydore Virgil truly writes It builds upon the ground and lays four or five Eggs at once A late Writer saith three or four and that to his knowledge he never found five in all his life This Bird builds saith Olina in plain open ground under some clod of Earth others say in Corn or thick high grass in Meadows And though in Winter we see great flocks of them yet we find the fewest of their Nests of any birds that are so plentiful He makes his Nest of dried herbs and strings and breeds thrice a year in May July and August rearing his young very suddenly So that if you have a Nest you must take them as soon as they are spoon-feathered or else you run the risco of losing them for they will get them gone of a sudden This bird breeds much later than the Wood-Lark by almost two months for she seldom hath young ones before the middle of May. Young Nestlings may be brought up almost with any meat but if you give them sheeps Heart and Egg chopt together till they are about three weeks old it will not be amiss And when they come to eat alone give them Oatmeal Hemp-seed and bread mixed together with a little Egg. Olina saith to save charges you may feed them with Wheat Oats and Millet These birds that are so young may be brought up to any thing one bird learning another birds Song You must always observe to give them sand at the bottom of the Cage and let them have a new Turf every week placed in a dish of water in their Cage which must be as large as two of the Wood-Larks Cage They need have no Pearches in their Cages The Cock may be known from the Hen according to Olina by having his heel so long that it reaches beyond his knee and having two black spots on his Neck one on each side somewhat in fashion of a Ring or Collar his breast darker and more speckled with black and a grosser body My English Author saith that those you intend to keep for singing were best be taken in October or November and then they will sing a little after Christmas and advises to chuse the streightest largest and loftiest bird and he that hath most white in his Tail for these saith he are the usual marks for a Cock If you find him very wild and buckish tie his Wings for two or three weeks till he is become both acquainted and tame also and then when you perceive him pretty orderly untie his Wings still letting him hang in the same place he did You must feed this old bird with Hemp-seed Bread and a few white Oats for he takes great delight to husk the Oats And when he begins to sing once in a week you may give him a hard Egg or shred him a little boyled Mutton or Veal or Sheeps heart You must observe in this bird as in all others that you give it no salt meat nor bread that is any thing salt §. III. The Woodlark called at Rome Tottovilla THe Cock we made trial in weighed an ounce and a quarter Its length from Bill to Tail was six inches and an half The distance between the ends of the Wings spread twelve inches and an half It is lesser than the common Lark and shorter bodied It s Bill as in the rest of this kind
to that of the middle Toe The Tongue is cloven The mouth within yellow The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel colour The Eyes are furnished with nictating membranes It feeds upon Beetles and other Insects and comes to us in Summer-time It weighs half an ounce is five inches long and nine broad This bird saith a late English Writer is of a very dogged sullen temper For if taken old and ordered as formerly directed in the Nightingale he will be sometimes so dogged as in ten days time never to look toward the meat and when he feeds himself to continue a whole month without singing This is also the shiest of all birds for if she perceive you to mind her when she is building she will forsake what she hath begun and if you touch an Egg she never comes to her Nest more And if you touch her young ones she will either starve them or throw them out of the Nest and break their necks as I found by experience more than once The Young are to be taken at ten days old and to be fed and ordered as the Nightingales Keep them warm in Winter and they will sing as well in the night as the day and will learn to whistle and imitate other birds Taken young and brought up they become gentle and very tame Besides this common Redstart Gesner and Aldrovand describe several other kinds as 1. That which Aldrovandus makes his third which Gesner describes thus Its forehead is marked with a white spot The feathers under the Bill are black The Head and Back are of a cinereous or dusky colour The Wing-feathers are dusky moderately inclining to red The Breast Belly and Tail are red but the lower Belly whitish The Tail consists of eight feathers For bigness this bird is inferiour to the great Titmouse or Ox-eye equal to the Robin-red-breast It s Bill is black slender long and streight The fourth of Aldrovand is in all points like this save that the white spot on the forehead is changed into a long line The Breast also seems to be more cinereous and the lower belly not white 2. The Rotschwentzel of Gesner so called from the redness of the Tail the description whereof he took from a Picture sent him from Strasburgh Therefore we shall add no more concerning it esteeming such Pictures less exact and not much to be relied upon who will may see the description in Gesner or Aldrovand out of him 3. The Bird called Wegflecklin about Strasburgh Gesn It s Breast was blue the part between the Breast and Belly of a pale or yellowish red which colour also the upper side of the Tail feathers but not to the end and those about the Rump were of The Bill is short the Belly cinereous not white as the Strasburgh Picture represents it the Legs dusky not red as in that Picture and the feathers under the Bill not blue but dusky and particoloured The German name is imposed upon it partly from the ways for it is much conversant about high ways roads and fields and thence as we guess picks up worms and seeds that it finds on the ground partly from the blue spot on its Breast as I conjecture The Redstart saith Aldrovandus abides with us all the Summer but in the end of the Autumn it either flies away or hides it self and in the Spring-time returns to us again It feeds upon the same things the Robin-red-breast doth to wit flies crums of bread Ants Eggs and if I be not deceived Spiders too It builds its Nest in hollow trees CHAP. VIII The Robin-red-breast or Ruddock Rubecula sive Erithacus Aldrov 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ THis bird denominated from its red breast is so well known in almost all Countries that it needs no long description It weighs about half an ounce being from Bill to Tail half a foot long and between the tips of the Wings spread about nine inches broad The Breast is of a red or deep Orange colour which colour compasses also the Eyes and upper part of the Bill The Belly is white the Head Neck Back and Tail of a dirty green or yellow as in Thrushes rather cinereous with a tincture of green A line of blue divides between the red colour and the cinereous on the Head and Neck Under the Wings is also seen something of Orange-tawny The exteriour borders of the Wings are almost of the same colour with the back the interiour are something yellow The Tail is two inches and an half long and made up of twelve feathers The Bill is slender of a dusky colour more than half an inch long The Tongue cloven and jagged The Irides of the Eyes of a hazel colour The Legs Feet and Claws of a dusky or blackish The outer foretoe joyned to the middlemost at bottom as in the rest of this kind In Winter-time to seek food it enters into houses with much confidence being a very bold bird sociable and familiar with man In the Summer-time as Turner saith when there is plenty of food in the Woods and it is not pinched with cold it withdraws it self with its Brood into the most desert places It is a solitary bird and feeds singly whence the Proverb took its rise Unum arbustum non alit duos Erithacos Of the manner of building its Nest thus Turner from ocular inspection It makes its Nest among the thickest thorns and shrubs in Spineys where it finds many Oaken leaves and when it is built covereth it with leaves not leaving it open every way but only one passage to it On that side also where the entrance is it builds a long porch of leaves before the aperture the outmost end whereof when it goes forth to seek meat it shuts or stops up with leaves What I now write I observed when I was very young howbeit I will not deny but it may build also after another manner If any have observed another manner of building let them declare it and they will very much gratifie such as are studious of these things and my self especially What I have seen I have candidly imparted The Male saith Olina may be known and distinguished from the Female by the colour of his Legs which are blacker and by certain hairs or beards which grow on each side his Bill It feeds upon Worms and other Insects Ants Eggs Crums of bread c. For a Song-bird it is by some esteemed little inferiour to the Nightingale They build commonly three times a year in April May and June Seldom have above five young ones and not under four You may take them at ten days old if you let them lie too long they will be sullen Feed them with sheeps heart and Egg minced small in all points like the Nightingale give them but little at once and pretty often for if you give them too much they are apt to throw it up again Be sure they lie warm for they are tender birds When they begin to be strong cage them
brought over from the Canary Islands in a certain Ship bound for Ligorn that was cast away near this Island and after the shipwrack escaped and saved themselves in this Island and afterwards propagated their kind here breeding and multiplying greatly But the difference of place hath wrought some change in the external figure of this Bird. For these spurious Birds have black Feet and are more yellow under the Chin than the genuine Canary-Birds Additions to the History of the Canary bird out of a late English Writer concerning singing Birds CAnary birds he saith of late years have been brought abundantly out of Germany and are therefore now called German birds And these German birds in handsomness and song excel those brought out of the Canaries The Cock of this kind is never subject to be fat For his high mettle and lavish singing will hardly suffer him to maintain flesh on his back much less fat How to chuse a Canary-bird Let him be a long bird standing streight and not crouching but sprightly like unto a Sparrow-hawk standing with life and boldness and not subject to be scareful Before you buy him hear him sing in a single Cage so you may be sure not to be cheated with a Hen for a Cock and may please your fancy in his singing He that hath most variety of notes and is the longest song-bird is by most accounted the best How to know if he be in health when you buy him If he stands up boldly without crouching or shrinking his feathers if his Eyes look chearful and not drowsie and he be not apt to clap his head under his Wing these are good signs of a healthful bird But the surest is to observe his dung which when he is in perfect health lies round and hard with a fine white on the outside and dark within and will quickly be dry The larger the birds dung is I hold it the better so it be long round and hard A Seed-bird very seldom dungs too hard except it be very young If he bolts his tail like a Nightingale after he hath dunged or if his dung be very thin or if it have only a slimy white with no blackness in it the bird is not healthful Of the ordering of Canary-birds which you intend for breeding in building and breeding First make a convenient Cage or prepare a room fit for that purpose You must be sure to let it have an out-let toward the rising of the Sun where you must have a piece of wire that they may have egress and regress at their pleasure When you have prepared a convenient Room then set up in the corners of it some Besoms either Heath or Frail opening them in the middle If the Room be pretty high you may set two or three brooms one under another but then you must set partitions with boards over every broom otherwise the birds will dung upon one anothers heads and also they will not endure to see one another so near each others Nest for the Cock or Hen will be apt to fly upon a Hen that is not matcht to them when they see them just under their Nest which many times causes the spoiling of their Eggs and young ones 2. You must cause something to be made so convenient and of such bigness as may hold meat for some considerable time that you may not be disturbing of them continually and a convenient Vessel for water also Let your place where you intend to put your seeds be so ordered that it may hang out of the reach of the Mice for they will destroy all the Canary seeds and so consequently way starve your birds 3. You must prepare some stuff to build withall of several sorts of things as Cotton-wool small dead grass Elks hair this is hard to get in England and earth-moss You must dry it before you put them together Then mingle them all and put them up in a little Net like a Cabbage-net hanging of it so that they may with conveniency pull it out You must set Pearches all about the Room and if big enough set a tree in the middle that so they may take the more pleasure You must proportion your birds according to the bigness of your Room Rather let it be under-stocked than over for they are birds that love liberty 4. When you perceive them begin to build and carry stuff give them once a day or in two days at least a little greens and some Loaf-sugar for that will cause a slipperiness in the body that so the Eggs may come forth without injuring the birds for many times the Hen dies in laying her first Egg Which will be a great loss both in losing the first brood and unpairing the Cock If this happens and you have but few pairs in your breeding place take out the single Cock and match him and put him in again If many it is advisable to let your Cock alone till you draw all your birds out to part them because it will be hard to find out the single Cock and as hard to take him when found 5. When you find that they have built take away the Nets that have the breedingstuff in them They breed most usually three times in a year begin in April and breed in May and June and sometimes in August which is not very usual neither here nor in Germany How they breed them in Germany First they prepare a large Room and build it in the likeness of a Barn being much longer than broad with a square place at each end and several holes at each end to go into those square places In those out-lets they plant several sorts of trees which grow pretty thick for they will take much delight both to sing and breed in them And the bottom of the place they strow with a fine sort of sand and upon it cast seeds of Rape Chickweed and Groundsil which the old bird doth eat both at time of laying and also when they have young ones They put in the house all sorts of stuff for the building of their Nests and Brooms up and down the corners one under another and to the height of the place that is built for the purpose and make partitions between every Nest to make them breed the quieter without disturbing one another And in the middle of the Room they will set a board edge-ways to darken the light on each side for no bird almost doth naturally love to have much light come to his Nest They plant a tree or two if the house be big enough one at each end with many Pearches also along each side of the house and all along where they make their Nests The place also that is in the air is full of Pearches They hang their stuff for building all up and down the house that the rain come not at it and strow some on the ground also Some have fine fountains in those places that are out-lets for the birds to go at pleasure into the air
taken or time spent in exactly describing this bird For the singular figure of its Bill reflected upwards is sufficient alone to characterise and distinguish it from all other birds we have hitherto seen or heard of BOOK III. PART III. Of WHOLE-FOOTED BIRDS with shorter Legs WHole-footed birds with shorter Legs we distinguish into such as want the back-toe and such as have it These latter into such as have all four toes web'd together and such as have the back-toe loose or separate from the rest These latter again we subdivide into narrow-bill'd and broad-bill'd The narrow-bill'd have their Bills either hooked at the end or streighter and sharp-pointed The hook-bill'd have their Bills either even or toothed on the sides Those that have streighter and sharp-pointed Bills are either short-winged and divers called Douckers and Loons or long-winged and much upon the Wing called Gulls The broad-bill'd are divided into the Goose-kind and the Duck-kind The Duck-kind are either Sea-ducks or Pond-ducks The general marks of whole-footed birds are 1. Short Legs Here we must except the Phoenicoptter Corrira and Avosetta 2. Legs feathered down to the Knees 3. Short hind-toes 4. The outmost fore-toe shorter than the inmost 5. Their Rumps less erect than other birds 6. Most of the broad-bill'd kind have a kind of hooked narrow plate at the end of the upper Chap of their Bills their bodies flat or depressed N. B. Under the name of whole or web-footed we comprise some birds which have indeed their Toes divided but membranes appendant on each side such are some of the Divers or Loons These might more properly be denominated sin-toed or sin-footed than whole-footed SECTION I. Whole-footed Birds that want the Back-toe CHAP. I. The Bird called Penguin by our Seamen which seems to be Hoiers Goifugel IN bigness it comes near to a tame Goose The colour of the upper side is black of the under white Its Wings are very small and seem to be altogether unsit for flight It s Bill is like the Auks but longer and broader compressed sideways graven in with seven or eight furrows in the upper mandible with ten in the lower The lower Mandible also bunches out into an angle downward like a Gulls Bill It differs from the Auks Bill in that it hath no white lines From the Bill to the Eyes on each side is extended a line or spot of white It wants the back-toe and hath a very short tail I saw and described it dried in the Repository of the Royal Society I saw it also in Tradescants Cabinet at Lambeth near London The Penguin of the Hollanders or Magellanic Goose of Clusius The Birds of this kind found in the Islands of the strait of Magellane the Hollanders from their fatness called Penguins I find in Mr. Terries Voyage to the East Indies mention made of this Bird. He describes it to be a great lazy bird with a white Head and coal-black body Now seeing Penguin in the Welsh Tongue signifies a white head I rather think the Bird was so called from its white head though I confess that our Penguin hath not a white Head but only some white about the Eyes This saith Clusius is a Sea-fowl of the Goose-kind though unlike in its Bill It lives in the Sea is very fat and of the bigness of a large Goose for the old ones in this kind are found to weigh thirteen fourteen yea sometimes sixteen pounds the younger eight ten and twelve The upper side of the body is covered with black feathers the under side with white The Neck which in some is short and thick hath as it were a ring or collar of white feathers Their skin is thick like a Swines They want Wings but instead thereof they have two small skinny sins hanging down by their sides like two little arms covered on the upper side with short narrow stiff feathers thick-set on the under side with lesser and stiffer and those white wherewith in some places there are black ones intermixt altogether unfit for flight but such as by their help the birds swim swiftly I understood that they abide for the most part in the water and go to land only in breeding time and for the most part lie three or four in one hole They have a Bill bigger than a Ravens but not so high and a very short Tail black flat Feet of the form of Geesefeet but not so broad They walk erect with their heads on high their fin-like Wings hanging down by their sides like arms so that to them who see them afar off they appear like so many diminutive men or Pigmies I find in the Diaries or Journals of that Voyage that they feed only upon fish yet is not their flesh of any ungrateful relish nor doth it taste of fish They dig deep holes in the shore like Cony-burroughs making all the ground sometimes so hollow that the Seamen walking over it would often sink up to the knees in those vaults These perchance are those Geese which Gomora saith are without feathers never come out of the Sea and instead of feathers are covered with long hair Thus far Clusius whose description agrees well enough to our Penguin but his figure is false in that it is drawn with four toes in each foot Olaus Wormius treating of this bird to Clusius his description adds of his own observation as followeth This Bird was brought me from the Ferroyer Islands I kept it alive for some months at my house It was a young one for it had not arrived to that bigness as to exceed a common Goose It would swallow an entire Herring at once and sometimes three successively before it was satisfied The feathers on its back were so soft and even that they resembled black Velvet It s Belly was of a pure white Above the Eyes it had a round white spot of the bigness of a Dollar that you would have sworn it were a pair of Spectacles which Clusius observed not neither were its Wings of that figure he expresses but a little broader with a border of white Whether it hath or wants the back-toe neither Clusius nor Wormius in their descriptions make any mention In Wormius his figure there are no back-toes drawn This Bird exceeding the rest of this kind in bigness justly challenges the first place among them CHAP. II. The Bird called the Razor-bill in the West of England the Auk in the North the Murre in Cornwal Alka Hoieri in Epist ad Clusium Worm mus THis is less by half than the Penguin being not so big as a tame Duck Between the tips of the Wings spread it was twenty seven inches broad It s Head Neck Back and Tail in general its whole upper side is black It s Belly and Brest as far as the middle of the Throat white The upper part of the Throat under the Chin hath something of a dusky or purplish black Each Wing hath twenty eight quil-feathers the tips of all to the
and wash them in two waters and if you give her Hares flesh or Beef let it be washed in three waters On the morrow give her the Leg of a Hen very hot and at Noon meat temperately warm a good gorge then let her fast until it be late in the Evening and if she have put over her meat then give her a little warm meat as you did in the Morning and thus let her be dieted till it be time to give her Plumage Which you shall know by three tokens 1. By the tenderness and softness of the flesh at the end of the pinion of the Wing above what it was before she eat washt meat 2. By the mewts being clean and white the black thereof being right black and not mingled with any foul thing or colour 3. If she be sharp-set and plume eagerly You may give her casting of a Hares or Conies foot as was before prescribed or the small feathers on the pinion of an old Hens Wing Having set her on the Pearch sweep clean underneath that you may see whether the mewt be full of streaks or skins or slimy If it be then continue this sort of casting three or four nights together but if you find the feathers digested and soft and that her casting is great then take the Neck of an old Hen and cut it between the joynts then lay it in cold water and give it your Falcon three nights together In the day-time give her washt meat after this casting or plumage as you shall see requisite And this will bear all down into the pannel When you have drawn your Falcon out of the Mew and her principal feathers be not yet full summed but some in the quill do not give her washt meat but quick birds and good gorges thereof and set her as much as may be in open places for otherwise her feathers may chance to shrink in the quil and come to nothing When you feed your Falcon call and lure as if you called her to the Lure and every day profer her water and every night give her castings accordingly as she endeweth Take off her hood frequently in company that you may hinder her from bating holding the hood always ready by the Tassel in your hand In the Evening by Candle-light take off her hood among company till she rowze and mewt then set her on the Pearch and not before setting a light before her Every Falcon ought to have a Make-Hawk to teach her to hold in the head If that will not do cut off some part of her two principal feathers in each Wing the long one and that next to it which will force her to hold in Be sure to reward your Hawk well at the beginning and let he feed well on the Quarry which will so encourage her that she will have no fancy to go out to the Check When she is well in bloud and well quarried then let her fly with other Hawks If you would make your Falcon to the Crane her Lure should be a counterfeit Crane If you would make her to the Hare her Lure should be then a Hares Skin stuft with some light matter When she is well lur'd and you would enter her tie the Hares Skin so stuft to the end of a Creance and fasten it to your Saddle-pummel by which means when you gallop it will resemble a running Hare Then unhood your Hawk and cry Back with the Dogs Back with the Dogs When you find she hath seized it let go your Creance and suffer her to fasten thereon then instantly reward her upon it and encourage her as much as is possible When she is well entred after this manner take a living Hare and break one of her hinder Legs and having before well acquainted your Falcon with your Dogs by coutinual feeding among them I say then put your Hare out in some fair place with your Dogs and the Falcon will stoop and ruff her until the Dogs may take her then take the Hare from the Dogs and cast her out to the Falcon crying Back back there If you would make your Hawk flying to the Partridge or Pheasant after she is reclaimed and made then every time you lure her cast your Lure into some low Tree or Bush that she may learn to take the Tree or Stand If she take the Stand before she sees the Lure let her stand a while and afterwards draw the Lure out before her and cry with what words you have acquainted her to understand you by and then reward her well After this manner she will learn to take stand Feed her always on the ground or in some thick place for in such places she must incounter with the Pheasant at Pearch At first fly with her at young Pheasant or Partridge to encourage her by advantage and afterwards at the old If a Falcon will not take stand but keep on the Wing then must you fly her in plain places where you may always see her upon you Draw your Falcon out of the Mew twenty days before you enseam her If she truss and carry the remedy is to cope her Talons her Powlse and petty-single Never reward your Hawk upon River-fowl but upon the Lure that she may the better know love and esteem thereof The Crane ought to be flown at before Sun-rising for she is a slothful Bird and you may cast off to her a Cast or Lease of Falcons or a Goshawk from the Fist without Dogs You must fly but once a day at the Crane after which you must reward your Hawk very well ever succouring her with the Greyhound which is the best of Dogs for that purpose Give your Falcon a Beaching very early in the Morning and it will make her very eager to fly when it is time for it If you would have her a high-flying Hawk you must not feed her highly but she should be fed nine days together before Sun-rising and at night late in the cool of the Evening The Falcon will kill the Hern naturally if she be a Peregrin or Traveller Yet you will do well to give her Trains A Falcon may fly ten times in a day at a River if the Season be not extreme but more is inconvenient A Hawk ought to have forty Castings before she be perfectly made And indeed all Hawks ought to have Castings every night if you would have them clean and sound For Hawks which have not this continual nocturnal Casting will be surcharged with abundance of superfluous Humours which ascending to the Brain breed so great a disturbance that they cannot fly so high as otherwise they would And it is good to give them Tiring or Plumage at night especially Field-Hawks but not River-Hawks for fear of weakning their Backs When your Hawk hath flown or bated feed her not so long as she panteth but let her be first in breath again otherwise you may bring her into a disease called the Pantas If a Falcon or other Hawk will not seise nor
at her first entring you ought to have but few Dogs and they such as be both cool and gentle till she be well entred and acquainted For if she should chance to take any sudden fright with a Dog she would never abide them again And so she will be for ever married for being able to carry away her prey whenever she shall have a Patridge in her foot she will suffer neither Man nor Dog to come near her but carry it away and prey upon it Which if she do but once it is as good as an hundred times for she will never be reclaimed from it Of the Merlin She is a couragious and hardy Hawk flying with greater fierceness and more hotly than any other bird of prey so that she will venture to fly the Partridge Heathpowt and other birds bigger than her self and pursue them eagerly even into Villages and Towns They are such busie and unruly things as oftentimes they eat off their own Feet and Talons very unnaturally so as they die of which is the true cause why you shall seldom or never see an entermew'd Merlin For that in the Mew they so spoil themselves A Merlin may be made both to the Fist and to the Lure When you have made her to the Lure in manner before described make her a train with a Partridge or other livebird If she foot and kill it reward her suffering her to take her pleasure on it This done fly her at the wild Partridge if she take it at the first flight or if she take it at the second flight being retrived by the Spaniels feed her upon it with a reasonable Gorge chearing her with your voice that so she may know it If she prove not hardy at the first train prove her with another before you fly her at wild Game If at the second train she prove not hard it is a sign she is nothing worth It is very good sport to fly with a cast of Merlins at the Lark or Linnet for besides that they love to fly in company it is pleasant to see the one climbing to the mountee above the Lark and the other lying low for her best advantage the one striking the bird at the stooping the other at her down-come When you have found the birds go as near as you can into the wind to the bird and as soon as the bird riseth from the ground unhood your cast of Merlins and cast them to fly until they have beaten down the Lark or Linnet and let them feed on her for their labour indifferently He advises not to fly your Merlin at Cut-Larks because they not mounting upward but flying streight foward they afford you but little sport and besides endanger the loss of your Hawk CHAP. IX Of the reclaiming and manning of short-winged Hawks and first of the Goshawk §. I. Of the Goshawk in general HAwks of all Creatures are most fearful of man and the Goshawk as coy nice and hard to be dealt with as any She may be won by gentle usage and will as soon perceive and unkindly resent any rough or harsh behaviour The Ostringer must bring his Hawk to love and be familiar with the Spaniel Some Goshawks are swift of flight which in pursuing and catching their prey trust to the swiftness of their Wings others fly slow and win what they get by policy None of them but by industry may be trained up to and made good for somewhat The Goshawk is of a hotter temper and stronger constitution than any other Hawk the first appears in that her mutings are always liquid the second in that she is seldom troubled with those diseases which be incident to most other Hawks viz. to be liver-shotten and to the Filanders And though the Lanner be accounted the hardiest Hawk in use among us and longest-lived yet the reason is not the firmness of her constitution above the Goshawks but because the Goshawk in time of her pride and fulness is a froward and unruly bird and when she is inseamed very prone to extreme bating wherefore she requires more labour and attendance of her Keeper than any other Hawk and by these extremes she often shortens her days Whereas the Lanner is a meek and gentle Creature and will seldom bate or be unruly in the time of her inseaming which is the reason she lasts longer §. II. How to order a Goshawk taken from the Mew BEcause it is likely that she will be fat and full in the highest degree with rest and frank feeding in the Mew therefore it is necessary that she be fed in the Mew twice every day with clean drest and washt meat for sixteen or twenty days before the intended time of her drawing that she may be well inseamed of her body and have scoured forth of her pannel and guts all glut and fatness and so she will be in no danger through her bating strugling or other forcible motion of her body at the time of her drawing Then draw her having a rufter-hood in readiness very sit for her from which time she must be continually fed on the Fist and have casting every night This course with continual carriage on horse-back and on foot must be taken with her in her rufter-hood some eight or ten days longer and then take it off when you shall find her to be well reclaimed and inseamed and free from all danger and ready to be called and with diligence and pains she will be next week as ready to fly And after two or three flights at her first entring may be put to hard flying and she will receive no harm thereby c. §. III. How to reclaim and order a Goshawk taken from the Cage FEw of these are so fat or full-bodied as to take harm by any reasonable bating Give your Hawk sweet meat clean drest and reasonably washt and moderate gorges of the same By this diet you must bring her to a good stomach before you profer her casting and then she will not be nice or curious in taking it Let it be no more than she may well and easily swallow and when she hath done so presently put on her Hood then suddenly give her one bit or two of meat to please her withal then make a little stay until you perceive assuredly that she hath put it down into her Pannel which being perceived put on her Hood again and give her a reasonable supper By this course taken the Hawk will soon come to be in love with her casting hasting to take it without niceness in expectation of her supper For my own part saith my Author when my Hawk is well inseamed and in flying I give her Plumage every night when I feed her up When she rests I feed her very clean without any casting at all and so set her up to rest and in the morning very early give a woollen casting fashioned and soak'd all night in fair water which she will willingly take being used to it And
remember it and look for the same order and without it will not fly towards the latter end of the year but if the Partridge be sprung far from her will make as if she saw it not and fly to the next tree she meets with Some Hawks have an ill property that when they have flown a Partridge hard to any covert and take it not at the first flight there will they sit still on the ground and not get up to any stand for their better advantage To amend which fault when your Hawk hath flown a Partridge make after her with all the speed you can taking your Dogs with you by your command and when you have found her be sure to take her up but not on your Fist by any means if there be either hedge or tree near hand but take her by the body or shoulders suddenly with both your hands and throw her upon either hedg bush or tree and then beat for the Partridge when as it is impossible but she must see it if it doth spring then and she fly after and kill it well This course being well followed will certainly reclaim her from that fault and teach her to rise her self for she will quickly understand that else she shall be caught and tost up and also that thereby she shall enjoy some pleasure and content This is a common and lasting fault of the Eyas Hawk or brancher seldom of the Haggard and therefore you need not fear frighting or angring her by so doing It is in my opinion the most commendable and safe way after one of these Hawks is first entred and only knows a Partridge then immediately to teach her and use her to fly from forth the Hood Often bating at Partridges sprung to other Hawks discomforts and discourages her Besides she will if carried bare-fac'd be very stirring and unquiet on the Fist not a Dog can stir or bird rise but she will offer to be gone Let her also sit and weather in the Hood and never take it off but when she shall either fly feed bathe or is to take her rest at night §. VII How to enter your Goshawk to the Covert NO man is fit to order and manage a Goshawk to the covert but he that hath a strong and able body and a good spirit and courage to follow her for in this sport and with this Hawk he must altogether trust to his feet Here because the man cannot follow by view to succour the Hawk you ought to be chary of what place you enter her in especially that she may be there well guarded and kept from taking any mislike or offence at the Dogs the which if she should do at the beginning she will never indure them again For it is the sudden rushing of the Spaniels upon her their sight by means of the covert being obscured that breeds this offence The best time to enter her is early before the leaf do stir for then the Pheasant flies not far Also afterwards the nature of them is to leave the young shoots and small groves and draw to the high and thickest woods Having made good choice of your place and let your Hawk go unto her flight you must be sure to command your Dogs to you till you have found her then if she have killed you have your desire if not and that you chance to find her on the ground as it may well be you may for many of them at their first entring will be very hot and eager of that sport and oftentimes seeking for it on the ground if there be any tree near hand that she may well see from it put her up into the same otherwise keep her on your Fist and beat for it again Then if she do fly and kill it you must be sure to make stay of the Dogs till you have found her Which done you shall get gently in to her and if you dislike the place for the uneasiness or thickness draw her gently to another more open where she may with more ease and quiet enjoy her prey and there suffer her to plume and take her pleasure on it a while Then call your Dogs to you and walk and stir gently about her with some moderate rusling and bustling in the bushes the better to acquaint her with the same noise Then when you see it convenient stoop to it on your knees and rending the Chaps give her bloud in the throat where it will issue abundantly to her great content Then covering the body with your hat pluck of the head and give it her in her foot to eat on the ground And having your Spaniels close by you when she hath done and beginneth to look about her throw the Pheasant as it were in their very mouths that she may together with some words of rebuke from your self make them give way with fear unto her yet drawing them into her sight again so long to remain as she is on the ground and till you make ready her supper And when you see she hath taken her sufficient pleasure exchange that artificially with her and let her eat it on the ground where the quarry lay only reserving some little thing to take her to your Fist withal And then put on her Hood not forgetting to bestow some reward on her afterward which she will be well pleased withal To make your Goshawk with boldness take a Pheasant from the Pearch before you offer to fly her thereto provide a young Capon or brown Pullet and take it with you to the Wood and when you call her to her supper as she is drawing and attending after you having a Pole fit for the purpose provided call your Spaniels about you to make them bay and suddenly breaking the neck of the Poultry lift it up on a bough so high as the Hawk may well have sight of it there stirring it and withal crying Abay abay to her At which noise and seeing it flutter no doubt she will come in and pull it down Which if she shall do be sure that the Dogs may with some rebuke from your self make way for her descending and then suffer her to plume and take her pleasure thereon c. as was before directed And in using this course but a while she will become so bold and venturous as that the Pheasant shall no sooner go to Pearch but she will have him by the ears and pull him down By threatning words and blows with reason you may bring your Spaniels into such subjection as to trust them alone with your Hawk in your absence taking care there be no strange Dogs among them For one strange unruly Dog is sufficient to mar all the rest and the Hawk too Be careful to enter your Goshawk first to the Cock-Pheasant for the veriest dastard that is will kill the Hen which if you enter her first to it may be afterward with all your Art and Skill you shall never force her to fly at the Cock If you
an Ell or an Ell long wherewith they pierce them through and draw them out They do not usually take the Dam her self except she be sometimes hurt with the hook that she cannot live If they cannot get the young one with their hook or by thrusting their arm into the birds Nest by reason of the many turnings they dig a hole down to it as near as they can guess and then thrust about with their hooks till they can get it Which hole they must again stop so close that not one drop of water can come into it for else she will forsake her hole and never come thither more which otherwise she doth every year in the wonted place so that the Inhabitants know where under the earth to find that Birds Nest yearly The Lunde so called also by Hoier in his Epistle to Clusius and by Clusius Anas Arctica by us Coulterneb and Mullet hath a strong crooked Beak so that if it biteth a man by the hand it teareth off the flesh It wageth war with the Raven that cometh to take it away and its young ones It being a wonderful spectacle to see their fight for as soon as the Raven cometh near the Lunde catcheth it under the Throat with its Beak and graspeth it about the Breast with its Claws so that the Raven cannot hurt it but must fly away with a great crying The Lunde holds it fast in the mean time without letting it go till they come into the Sea where slipping it is drown'd Yet the Raven doth often take the Lunde at unawares rusheth into its hole takes and eats it up I suspect there is something of fabulous in this Narration The said Bird the Lunde buildeth its Nest sometimes on the Continent far from houses digging it self two or three yards according to the nature of the place under ground sometimes in Ures that are places under high Cliffs full of great and small stones that fall from the Cliffs and by length of time are filled between with earth and covered with grass in which places they dig themselves into the earth or build where there is no earth their Nest under and between stones where they can come to breed their Young with most security The most part being taken in such places so that a man may often take above a hundred Lundes in one Ure Some of them build on the side of Promontories where they find great tufts of earth in flat places and when they fly from their Nests they first make them clean scraping all the dirt and old roots out of the holes and putting fresh grass in them again The Lundes that make their Nests in the fields are taken as is said above of the Skrabe But for such as are under those many stones they let run unto them some little Dogs that are so taught as to bring out both Bird and Egg to their Masters But when the Birds are flown the men take them flying which is done in this manner They have a long pole at the end of which there is a Hoop drawn over with a Net whereof the Mashes are almost are almost as big as the quarries of a glass-window being like the Net wherwith they take Shrimps in some places and this they call a Stang or Staff with this Staff the Fowler sitteth on the Cliff or in the Ures among the great stones where he knoweth most Fowl to come which they call flight-places and when the Lunde cometh flying either from or to the Land he lifts up the Staff and the Net against the Fowl and when he hath got it into the Net he turneth the Staff about that it may entangle it self the better therein A man being sometimes able to take two hundred Lundes in that manner in a very short time The Lumwifve that is Hoiers Lomwia and our Guillem or Skout layeth her Eggs on the bare Points and Cliffs of high Rocks and Promontories there lying on these Cliffs some hundred Eggs according as the place is large but three fingers breadth from one another and when the Birds fly away the Eggs rowl often down into the Sea But laying but one Egg she sitteth streight thereon and continueth so a months time never stirring from the place till her young one be hatcht in the mean time the Cock bringeth her to eat They lay in this manner sitting close one to another Bird by Bird all over the place so that the Cliff seemeth quite black and the young one being hatch'd she remains yet three weeks with it and then taketh it on her back and carrieth it to Sea When the Fowler cometh to that place if there have not often been men there before it hapneth sometimes that the old will not leave their young ones and therefore are taken with the hand as many as they are and killed but where they are grown wild by reason of mens continual hunting after them they fly away the young ones running together in a flock and when the Hen cometh again she seeks the same place where she sate before and clacketh so long till her young one cometh to her being very well able to discern its own Dam though they be all shaped alike and when she giveth her Young to eat she putteth her head back under her Wing giving it so to eat backwards The Daw that is Hoiers Alka and our Awk whence I guess the Author was mistaken in the name hatcheth its young ones in holes and chinks of high Promontories That Hoier was not mistaken in the name of this Bird I conclude because it is called by the very same name viz. Auk in the North of England so that it is manifest either our Northern men borrowed it of the Ferroese or the Ferroese of them it being very unlikely that by chance they should impose the same name upon it But that ours borrowed this name of the Ferroese seems to me more probable because in other parts of England farther distant from the Ferroyer Islands this Bird is called by other names And yet possibly it may be also called a Daw in those Islands as either it or the Guillem is in Cornwall Why they should call it a Daw I cannot imagine unless from its bigness and the colour of its back It cannot be exprest with what pains and danger they take these Birds in those high and steep Cliffs whereof many are above two hundred fathoms high there being men apt by nature and fit for that work called Fowlers who take them usually in two manners For either they climb from below up into these high Promontories that are as steep as a wall or they let themselves down into them from above with a thick strong hemp-rope when they climb from below they have then a pole five or six Ells long with an iron hook at the end which they that are below in the Boat or on the Clift fasten unto the mans Girdle or another Rope that the Fowler hath about him
man her well you should watch all the night keeping her continually on your Fist You must teach her to feed seel'd and having a great and easie Rufter-hood you must hood and unhood her often seel'd as she is handling her gently about the Head coying her always when you unhood her to the intent she may not be displeased with her Keeper Let her plume and tire sometimes upon a Wing on your Fist keeping her so day and night without perching until she be weary and will suffer you to hood her without stirring If your Hawk be so rammage that she will not leave her snapping or biting then take a little Aloes socotrina and when she offers to snap give it her to bite the bitterness whereof will quickly make her leave that ill quality Garlick I have heard will do the like the strong sent thereof being equally offensive §. III. How to hood a Hawk HAving seel'd your Hawk fit her with a large easie Hood which you must take off and put on very often watching her a night or two handling her frequently and gently about the Head as aforesaid When you perceive she hath no aversion to the Hood unseel her in an evening by Candle-light continue handling her softly often hooding and unhooding her until she takes no offence at the Hood and will patiently endure handling Take this Observation by the way that it is the duty of a Falconer to be endowed with a great deal of Patience and in the next place he ought to have a natural love and inclination to Hawks without these two qualifications all the Professors of this Art will prove Mar-Hawks instead of good Falconers But to return where I left off If your seeled Hawk feeds well abides the Hood and handling without striking or biting then by Candle-light in an Evening unseel her and with your finger and spittle anoint the place where the Seeling-thread was drawn through then hood her and hold her on your Fist all night often hooding unhooding and handling her stroaking her gently about the Wings and Body giving her sometimes a bit or two also Tiring or Plumage Being well reclaimed from striking and biting at your hand let her sit upon a Pearch but every night keep her on the Fist three or four hours stroaking hooding and unhooding c. as aforesaid And thus you may do in the day-time but in a Chamber apart where she may see no great light till she feed surely and eagerly without dread §. IV. How to make a Hawk know your Voice and her own Feeding HAving mann'd your Hawk so that she feeds boldly acquaint her with your Voice Whistle and such words as Falconers use You may do it by frequently repeating them to her as she is feeding on your Fist c. But I think the best way of making her acquainted with them is by your experience and practice If your Hawk be not eager or sharp-set wash her meat sometimes in fair water and other whiles in Urine wringing it a little and feeding her with it for two or three gorges intermitting a day or two When she feeds boldly and knows your Voice and Whistle then teach her to know her Feeding and to bate at it in this manner Shew her some meat with your right hand crying and luring to her aloud if she bate or strike at it then let her quickly and neatly foot it and feed on it for four or five bits Do thus often and she will know her Feeding the better After this give her every night some Casting either of Feathers or Cotton with Cloves or Aloes wrapt up therein c. These Castings make a Hawk clean and eager §. V. How to make your Hawk bold and venturous IN the first place to make her hardy you must permit her to plume a Pullet or large Chicken in a place where there is not much light Her Hood in a readiness you must have either of the aforesaid alive in your hand then kneeling on the ground luring and crying aloud to her make her plume and pull the Pullet a little then with your teeth drawing the Strings unhood her softly suffering her to pluck it with her Beak three or four times more then throw out the Pullet on the ground and encourage her to seise it When you perceive she breaks it and takes bloud you must lure and cry aloud to her encouraging her all the wayes imaginable Then hood her gently and give her Tiring of the Wing or Foot of the said Pullet §. VI. How to make a Hawk know the Lure YOur Hawk having three or four times thus killed a Pullet or large Chicken in some secret place then thus teach her to know the Lure Having fastned a Pullet unto your Lure go apart giving your Hawk unto another who must draw loose the strings of her Hood in readiness Being gone a little way take half the length of the String and cast it about your Head luring with your voice at the same time then let your Hawk be unhooded as you are throwing your Lure a little way from her not ceasing luring all the while If she stoop to the Lure and seize suffer her to plume the Pullet still coying and luring with your voice then let her feed on the Pullet upon the Lure After that take her on your Fist together with her meat then hood her and let her tire as aforesaid And thus you may teach her to come by degrees to a very great distance §. VII How to make a Hawk flying WHen your Hawk or Haggard-Falcon will come and stoop to the Lure roundly without any fear or coyness you must put her on a great pair of Luring-bells the like you must do to a Soar-Hawk By so much greater must the Bells be by how much your Hawk is giddy-headed and apt to rake out at Check That being done and she sharp set go in a fair morning into some large Field on Horseback which Field must be very little incumbred with Wood or Trees Having your Hawk on your Fist ride up into the wind and having loosned her Hood whistle softly to provoke her to fly and then you will observe she will begin to bate or at least to slap with her Flags and Sails and to raise her self on your Fist Then suffer her until she rouze or mewt When she hath done either of them unhood her and let her fly with her Head into the wind for thereby she will be the better able to get upon the Wing then will she naturally climb upwards flying in a circle When she hath flown three or four Turns then cry and lure with your voice casting the Lure about your head unto which you must first tie a Pullet And if your Falcon come in and approacheth near you then cast out the Lure into the wind and if she stoop to it reward her as before There is one great fault you will often find in the making of a Hawk flying and that is when she
flieth from the Fist she will not get up but take stand on the ground a frequent fault in Soar-Falcons You must then fright her up with your Wand riding in to her and when you have forced her to make a Turn or two take her down and feed her But if this do no good find out some Chough Starling or such like bird and making ready your Hawks Hood draw as near them as you may till they rise Then unhood your Hawk and no doubt if she will fly them they will train her well upwards Then you must have in readiness a Duck seel'd so that she may see no way but backwards and that will make her mount the higher This Duck you must hold by one of the Wings near the body in your right hand then lure with your voice to make your Falcon turn the head When she is at a reasonable pitch cast up your Duck just under her that she may perceive it If she strike stoop or truss the Duck permit her to kill it and reward her giving her a reasonable Gorge Use this custom twice or thrice and your Hawk will leave the Stand delighting on the Wing and will become very obedient Here note that for the first or second time it is not convenient to shew your Hawk great or large Fowl for it often happens that they slip from the Hawk into the wind the Hawk not recovering them raketh after them which puts the Falconer to much trouble and frequently occasions the loss of his Hawk But if it so chance that your Hawk so rake out with a Fowl that she cannot recover it but gives it over and comes in again directly upon you then cast out a seeled Duck and if she stoop and truss it cross the Wings and permit her to take her pleasure rewarding her also with the Heart Brains Tongue and Liver For want of a quick Duck take her down with the dry Lure and let her plume a Pullet and feed her upon it By so doing your Hawk will learn to give over a Fowl that rakes out and hearing the Lure of the Falconer will make back again to the River and know the better to hold in the Head §. VIII A flight for a Haggard WHen you intend a Flight for a Haggard for the first second and third time make choice of such a place where there are no Crows Rooks or the like to take away all occasion of her raking out after such Check Let her not fly out too far on head at the first but run after and cry Why lo why lo to make her turn Head When she is come in take her down with the Lure unto which must be fastned a live Pullet and let her tire plume and feed as aforesaid Sometimes a Haggard out of pride and a gadding humour will rangle out from her Keeper Then clog her with great Luring-bells and make her a Train or two with a Duck seel'd to teach her to hold in and know her Keeper Take her down often with the dry Lure and reward her bountifully and let her be ever well in bloud or you may whoop for your Hawk to no purpose §. IX How to make a Soar-Falcon or Haggard kill her Game at the very first IF she be well lured flieth a good Gate and stoopeth well then cast off a well quarried Hawk and let her stoop a Fowl on Brook or Plash and watch her till she put it to the plunge then take down your Make-Hawk reward her hood her and set her So you may make use of her if need require Then take your Hawk unentred and going up the wind half a Bow-shot loose her Hood and softly whistle her off your Fist until she have rouzed or mewted Then let her fly with her Head into the wind having first given notice or warning to the company to be in readiness against the Hawk be in a good Gate and to shew water and to lay out the Fowl When she is at a good pitch and covering the Fowl then notifie that all the company make in at once to the Brook upon the Fowl to land her If your Falcon strike stoop or truss her Game run in to help her and crossing the Fowls Wings let her take her pleasure thereon If she kill not the Fowl at first stooping give her then respite to recover her Gate When she hath got it and her Head in then lay out the Fowl as aforesaid until you land it at last not forgetting to help her as soon as she hath seized it giving also her due Reward You shall do well always to have a quick Duck in readiness that if the Hawk kill not the Fowl stooped you may seel and throw it up to her being at her pitch §. X. Remedy for a Hawks taking Stand in a Tree IN the first place you must chuse such places where are no Wood or Trees or as little as may be If you cannot avoid it then have two or three live Trains and give them to as many men placing them conveniently for to use them When therefore your Hawk hath stooped and endeavours to go to Stand let him to whom the Hawk most bends cast out his Train-Duck seel'd If the Hawk kill her reward her therewith If this course will not remedy that fault in her by twice or thrice so doing my advice is then to part with the Buzzard §. XI How to help a Hawk forward and coy through pride of grease THere is a scurvy quality in some Hawks proceeding from pride of grease or being high kept which is a disdainful Coyness Such a Hawk therefore must not be rewarded although she kill Yet give her leave to plume a little and then let the Falconer take a Sheeps Heart cold or the Leg of a Pullet and whilst the Hawk is busie in pluming let either of them be conveyed into the body of the Fowl that it may savour thereof and when the Hawk hath eaten the Brains Heart and Tongue of the Fowl then take out your Inclosure and call your Hawk with it to your Fist and feed her therewith After this give her some Feathers of the Neck of the Fowl to scour and make her cast §. XII What must be done when a Hawk will not hold in the Head IF you find your Hawk rake after Checks and lean out so far that neither Whooping Luring nor casting of the Hawks Glove is any way available but she rather gads out more and more and at last flies away I know not how to advise otherways than to follow after with Whooping and Luring If she turn and come to the Lure shew her all the kindness imaginable This fault is frequently found in Soar-Hawks or Hawks of the first Coat §. XIII How to keep a Hawk high-flying IF your Hawk be a stately high-flying Hawk you ought not to ingage her in more Flights than one in a morning For often flying brings her off from her stately pitch If she be well made for