Selected quad for the lemma: water_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
water_n	boil_v	let_v	little_a	6,333	5	5.4008	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34843	The gentleman's recreation in four parts, viz. hunting, hawking, fowling, fishing : wherein these generous exercises are largely treated of, and the terms of art for hunting and hawking more amply enlarged than heretofore : whereto is prefixt a large sculpture, giving easie directions for blowing the horn, and other sculptures inserted proper to each recreation : with an abstract at the end of each subject of such laws as relate to the same.	Cox, Nicholas, fl. 1673-1721.; Langbaine, Gerard, 1656-1692. Hunter, a discourse in horsemanship.	1686 (1686)	Wing C6705; ESTC R33687	308,510	564

dog with this portion Take an ounce and a half of Cassia fistularis well cleansed two drams and a half of Stavesacre pulverized and the like quantity of Scammony prepared in White-wine-vinegar and four ounces of Oyl-olive temper these and warm them over the Fire and give it your dog In the morning put him into this bath fasting as followeth Put into six pails full of water ten handfuls of Mugwort of Rosemary of red-Sage of the roots or leaves of Marsh-mallows of the roots or leaves of Wall-wort of the roots or stalks of Fennel of the leaves or stalks of Elecampane Baulm and Rue Sorrel Bugloss and Mellilot let these boil together in two thirds of water and the other Wine until one third be consumed the bath being no hotter than your dog can endure it bathe him therein for the space of an hour then taking him out put him in some warm place for sear of catching cold Do this four or five times in the same bath and it will cure Of the Sleeping Madness The fourth Madness is called the Sleeping Madness and is caused by some little Worms breeding in the mouth of the Stomack from corrupt Humours the vapours and sumes whereof ascending into the head make the dog sleep continually and frequently he dieth sleeping For the cure you must take five ounces of the juice of Wormwood with two ounces of the powder of Harts-horn burned and two drams of Agarick mingle these together and if they be too thick thin them with White-wine and give it your dog to drink Of the Rhcumatick or Slavering Madness This Madness is called so because when a dog hath got it his head swelleth his eyes are as yellow as a Kite's-foot and he commonly slavereth at the mouth The Cure is thus Take six ounces of the juice of Fennel-roots and the like quantity of the juice of Misseltoe four ounces of the juice of lvy four ounces of the powder of the roots of Polypodie boil these in White-wine and give it your dog to drink as hot as he can suffer it Here note that when a dog hath any of these kinds of Madnesses he will have no desire to eat fasting frequently eight or nine days and so starving to death Nay if they are troubled with any distemper they will refuse their meat nay the daintiest bit you can give them until they have eaten grass and have cleared their stomack of what did offend it and then they will eat Concerning the Madness of Dogs and their Venomous Bitings I think no reasonable man ought to question why the teeth of a mad dog should do more harm than those of a sound one because in rage and anger the teeth of every beast and creature receive venome and poison from the head whereby when they bite at that time they do much more harm Against the simple biting of a dog take the urine of a dog which is sufficient since there is but little venome in those wounds To lay the hair of the same dog thereon though so much talkt on I look upon as a meer foppery Or being bit by a dog take vinegar and with your hand rub the wound very well then pour into it vinegar mixed with water or Nitre then wet a spunge in the same liquids and so let it remain bound up three days then take Pellitory of the wall mingled and beaten with Salt or any other plaister for green wounds Divers are the cures and remedies for biting of mad dogs which I omit in this place as belonging not to my subject but to Physick A Remedy against the common Mange This distemper befalls a dog frequently for want of fresh water to drink when he desires it and sometimes by foul kennelling and sometimes by foundering and melting his greace You may cure it in this manner Take two handfuls of wild Cresses two handfuls of Elecampane and as much of the leaves and roots of Roerb and Sorrel and two pound of the roots of Frodels make them all boil well in lye and vinegar having strained the decoction put therein two pound of gray soap and when it is melted therein then rub your degs with it four or five days together and it will cure them A brief Discourse of the Cure of Maladies belonging to Spaniels with other accidents happening HOw necessary a thing a Spaniel is to Faulconry and for those that delight in that noble recreation keeping Hawks for their pastime and pleasure I think no body need question as well to spring and retrive a fowl being flown to the mark as also divers other ways to help and assist Faulcons and Goshawks Now since they are subject to many diseases and casualties I shall endeavour to propound a suitable cure for them and first I shall begin with the Mange as the capital enemy to the quiet and beauty of a brave Spaniel wherewith poor creatures they are often grievously tormented and as frequently infect others For the cure of this distemper take a pound of Barrow-flick common Oil three ounces Brimstone well pulverized foar ounces Salt well beaten to powder Ashes well sifted and searced of each two ounces boil all these in a kettle or earthen-pot and when they are all well incorporated together anoint your Spaniel with this thrice every other day either against the Sun or Fire having so done wash him all over with good strong Lye and this will kill the Mange Remember you shift his kennel and litter often If the Spaniel lose its Hair as it often happens then bathe your Spaniel in the water of Lupines or Hops and anoint him with stale Barrows-flick This ointment besides the cure maketh his skin look slick and beautiful and kills the fleas the dogs disquieters and enemies to his ease If this be not strong enough to destroy this malady then take two quarts of strong vinegar common oil six ounces brimstone three ounces soot six ounces brayd salt and searced two handfuls boil all these together in the vineger and anoint your dog as aforesaid This receipt must not be administred in cold weather for it may hazard his life in so doing If a Spaniel be not much troubled with the Mange then it is easie to cure him thus Make bread with wheaten-bran with the roots leaves and fruit of Agrimony beating them well in a mortar and making it into a paste or dough bake it in an oven and so made give thereof to your Spaniel giving him no other bread for some time letting him eat as long as he will Cure of the Formica In the summer-time there is a scurvy malady which very much afflicts a Spaniel's ears and is accasioned by flies and their own scratching with their feet We term it a Mange the Italians Formica and the French Fourmier For the cure take Gum-dragaganth four ounces infused in the strongest Vinegar may be gotten for the space of eight days and afterwards bruised on a marble-stone as painters do their colours adding unto it Roch-allum and Galls

longer than if they fed upon Hearts The brownest and largest of the young Wrens are the Cocks Of the WOOD-LARK SOme prefer the Wood-lark before the Nightingale but it is of this bird as all others some are more excellent in length and sweetness of Song This bird breeds the soonest of any we have by reason of his extraordinary mettlesomeness and therefore if they are not taken in the beginning of February at least they grow so rank that they will prove good for nothing The places this bird most delights in are gravelly grounds and Hills lying towards the Orient and in Oat-stubs Their building is in your Laiers grounds where the Grass is rank and russet making their Nests of Bennet-grass or dead Grass of the field under some large Tuffet to shelter them from the injury of the weather This Bird hath very excellent pleasant Notes with great variety insomuch that I have observed some have had almost thirty several Notes which if they sing lavish is a most ravishing melody or harmony if the Nightingale joyn in consort These Birds are never bred from the Nests as ever I could hear I have several times attempted it but to no purpose for notwithstanding my greatest care they died in a Week either of the Cramp or Scowring The times of the year to take them are June July August and then they are called young Branchers having not yet moulted They are taken likewise at the latter end of September but having then moulted the young and old are not distinguishable Lastly they are taken from the beginning of January to the latter end of February at which time they are all coupled and returned to their Breeding-places The way to take them in June July and August is with an Hobby after this manner get out in a dewy Morning and go to the sides of some Hills which lie to the rising of the Sun where they most usually frequent and having sprung them observe where they fall then surround them twice or thrice with your Hobby on your Fist causing him to hover when you draw near by which means they will lie still till you clap a Net over them which you carry on the point of a Stick If three or four go together take a Net like one made for Partridges when you go with a Setting-dog onely the Mesh must be smaller that is a Lark-mesh and then your Hobby to the Lark is like a Setting-dog to Partridges and with your Net at one draught you may take the whole flock The Wood-lark that is taken in June July and August will sing presently but will not last long by reason of their moulting That which is taken in January and February will sing in five or six days or sooner and these are the best being taken in full stomack and are more perfect in their Song than those taken at other seasons If in the Cage you find him grow poor at the beginning of the Spring give him every two or three days a Turff of Three-leav'd-grass as is used to the Skie-lark and boil him a Sheeps-heart and mince it small mingling it among his Bread Egg and Hemp-seed which will cause him to thrive extraordinarily If he be troubled with Lice a Distemper he is commonly afflicted withal take him out of the Cage and smoak him with Tobacco give him fresh gravel and set him in a hot place where the Sun shines and this will cure him if he have strength to bask in the Sand. If you would have him sing lavish feed him with Sheeps-heart Egg Bread and Hemp-seed mixt together and put into his water a little Liquorish white Sugar-candy and Saffron Let this be done once a week Upon the first taking of your Wood-lark thus must you do you must put into your Cage two Pans one for minc'd meat and another for Oat-meal and whole Hemp-seed Then having boil'd an Egg hard take the crums of white Bread the like quantity of Hemp-seed pounded in a Mortar and mingle your Bread and it with your Egg minc'd very small and give it him Let there be at the bottom of the Cage fine red Gravel and let it be shifted every week at farthest for he delights to bask in the Sand which will not be convenient if foul'd with his Dung. Let the pearch of the Cage be lin'd with green Bays or which is better make a pearch of a Mat and lest they should not find the Pan so soon as they should do to prevent famine strew upon the Sand some Oat-meal and Hemp-seed How to know the Cock is thus first the largeness and length of his Call Secondly his tall walking Thirdly at Evenings the doubling of his Note which Artists call Cuddling but if you hear him sing strong you cannot be deceived Here note that if a Bird sings not that is taken in February and January within one month after you may conclude him not worth the keeping or else is an Hen infallibly The Wood-lark as it is naturally endewed with incomparable notes so it is a tender Bird and difficult to be kept but if rightly ordered and well look'd to will be a most delightful Songster to its Master growing better and better every year even to the very last These Birds are very subject to the Cramp Giddiness in the Head and to Louziness The best remedy to prevent the Cramp is to shift the Cage often with fresh Gravel otherwise the Dung will clog to their feet which causeth the Cramp The giddiness of the Head proceedeth from feeding upon much Hemp-seed perceiving this distemper give him some Gentles the common Bait for Fisher-men Hog-lice Emmets and their Eggs with Liquorish all put into water we serve in their stead and will cure immediately Louziness which causeth leanness in this bird is cured as said before by smoaking Tobacco Of the SKIE-LARK The several ways to take them and when taken how to order them THere is a great difference between one Skie-lark and another for one may not be worth two pence when another shall be worth two pounds This Bird is very hardy and will live upon any food in a manner so that he have but once a weeks Turff of Three-leav'd-grass As the Wood-lark hath young ones in March the Skie-lark hath rarely any till the middle of May. They commonly build in Corr or thick high grass Meadows and seldom have more than four take them at a fortnight old and at fir●● give them minced sheeps-heart with a chopt hard Egg mingled when they can feed alone give them Bread Hemp-seed and Oat-meal let the Bread be mingled with Egg and the Hemp-seed bruised Let them have Sand in the bottom of their Cage Pearches therein are to no purpose As the Wood-lark is taken with Net and Hobby so may the Skie-lark be taken also They are taken likewise in dark nights with a Trammel this Net is about six and thirty yards long and six yards over run through with six ribs of Pack-thread which ribs at the

twist them over again Some intermingle Silk in the twisting but I cannot approve of it but a Line of all Silk is not amiss also a Line made of the smallest Lute-string is very good but that it will soon rot by the Water The best colour for Lines is the sorrel white and grey the two last for clear waters and the grey for muddy Rivers neither is the pale wacry green to be contemned which colour you may make after this manner Take a pint of strong Ale half a pound of Soot a small quantity of the juice of Walnut-leaves with the like quantity of Alum put these into a Pipkin and boil them together about half an hour Having so done take it off the fire and when it is cold put in your Hair Or thus Take a pottle of alum-Alum-water somewhat more than a handful of Marigold-flowers boil them till a yellow scum arise then take half a pound of green Copperas with as much Verdegreece and beat them together to a fine powder put these with the Hair into the alum-Alum-Water and let it lie ten hours or more then take the Hair out and let it dry In the making your Line leave a Bought at both ends the one to put it to and take it srom the Rod the other to hang your lowest link upon to which your Hook is fastned and so you may change your Hook as often as you please Of the Hook Flote and other things worth the Observation YOur Hook ought to be long in the shank somewhat round in its circumference the point standing even and straight and let the bending be in the shank Use strong but small Silk in the setting on of your Hook laying the Hair on the inside of your Hook for if it be on the outside the Silk will fret and cut it a sunder As for the Flotes there are divers way of making them Some use your Muscovy-Duck-quills which are the best for still Waters but for strong streams take good sound Cork without flaws or holes and bore it through with a hot Iron then put into it a Quill of a fit proportion then pare your Cork into a Pyramidal form of what bigness you think fit after this grind it smooth To plum your Ground you must carry with you a Musquet-bullet with a hole made through it or any other sort of Plummet tying this to a strong twist hang it on your Hook and so you will find the depth of the Water And that you may not incommode your Tackle it will be very requisite to make several partitions in pieces of Parchment sowed together by which each Utensil may have a place by it self In any wise forget not to carry a little Whetstone with you to sharpen your Hooks if you find them blunt and dull I need not advise you how to carry your BOB and PALMER or put you in mind of having several Boxes of divers sizes for your Hooks Corks Silk Thread Lead Flies c. or admonish you not to forget your Linnen and Wollen Bags for all sorts os Baits but let me forwarn you not to have a PAUNDER that is heavy for it can never be light enough those which are made of Osiers I think are the best Lastly forget not carry with you a small Pole with a Loop at the end thereof to which you may fasten a small Net to land great Fish withal There is another way much better and that is by the Landing-hook which hath a Screw at the end of it to screw it into the Socket of a Pole to which Socket may be fitted also two other Hooks the one to pull out Wood and the other sharp to our away Weeds Of Flies Natural and Artificial and how to use them NAtural Flies are innumerable there being as many kinds as there are different sorts of Fruits to avoid prolixity I shall onely name some of them viz. the Dun-fly the Stone or May-fly the Red Fly the Moor-fly the Tawny-fly the Shel-fly the Cloudy or Blackish-fly the Flag-fly the Vine-fly also Caterpillers Canker-flies and Bear-flies with Thousands more which frequent Meadows and Rivers for the contemplation of all but particularly the recreation of Anglers These come in sooner or later according to the season of the year that is sooner or later according to the forwardness or backwardness of the Spring for Flies being bred of Putrefaction commence their being according as the Heat doth further their seminal vertue unto animation I cannot prescribe you Rules to know when each Fly cometh in and is most grateful to every sort of Fish and therefore I shall leave the knowledge hereof to your own observation Moreover there are several sorts of Flies according to the several natures of divers Soils and Rivers or diversity of Plants yet some there are common to all although but few All Flies are very good in their seasons for such Fish as rise at the Fly but some more peculiarly good as being better beloved by some sort of fish Fish generally rise at these Flies most eagerly when most sorts of Flies resort to the Water-side hanging in a manner in clusters on Trees and Bushes delighting themselves to skip thence and play upon the water and then do the fish shew their craft in catching them To the intent you may the better know what kind of Fly the Fish then most covet observe thus to do coming in the Morning to the River-side beat the Bushes with your Rod and take up what variety you may of all sorts of Flies and try them all by which means you will quickly know which are in greatest estimation among them Not but that they will change their Fly sometimes but then it is when they have glutted themselves there with for five or six days together which is commonly upon the going out of that Fly for Fish never covet that Fly more than when there is greatest plenty contemning them at their first coming in There are two ways to fish with these natural Flies either on the surface of the water or a little underneath it Now when you angle for Chevin Roach or Dace with the natural Fly move it not swiftly when you see the Fish make at it but rather let it glide spontaneously towards it with the Stream If it be in a still and slow water draw the Fly slowly sideways by him that will make him eager in pursuit of it whereas if you should move it swiftly they will not follow it being a lazy fish and slow of motion These fish delight to shew themselves in a Sun-shiny-day almost on the very surface of the Water by which means you may pick and choose The Artificial Fly is seldome used but in blustering weather when by the Winds the Waters are so troubled that the Natural Fly cannot be seen nor rest upon them There are according to the opinion of Mr. Walton a very ingenious man and an excellent Angler twelve sorts of Artificial Flies to angle with on the top of the Water

onely made of the crums of sine White-bread moulded with a little water and the labour of your hands into a tough Paste colour'd not very deep with Red-Lead with which you may mix a little sine Cotten or Lint and a little Butter these last will make it hold on and not wash off your Hook With which you must fish with much circumspection or you lose your bait In like manner in Winter you may angle for Roach with Paste but Gentles are then the better bait Take these next Observations experimentally tried by some of us viz. There is another excellent bait either so Winter or Summer and that is this Take an handful of well dried Malt and put it into a Dish of Water and then having grubbed and washed it betwixt our hands till it be clean and free from Husks put that water from it and having put it into a little fresh water set it over a gentle Fire and let it boil till it be pretty fest then pour the Water from it and with a sharp Knife turning the sprout-end of the Corn upward take off the back-part of the Husk with the point of your Knife leaving a kind of inward Husk on the Corn or else you spoil all then cut off a little of the sprout-end that the white may appear and also a very little of the other end for the Hook to enter When you make use of this bait cast now and then a little of it into the water and then if your Hook be small and good you will find it an excellent bait either for Roach or Dace Another good bait is the young brood of Wasps or Bees if you dip their Heads in Blood So is the thick blood of a Sheep being half dried on a Trencher and then cut into such small pieces as will best fit your Hook a little Salt will keep it from turning black and make it the better Or you may take a handful or two of the largest and best Wheat you can get boil it in a little Milk till it be soft then fry it gently with Honey and a little beaten Saffron dissolved in Milk The Roach spawns about the middle of May and the general baits by which he is caught are these small white Snails Bobs Cad-baits Sheeps blood all sorts of Worms Gnats Wasps Paste and Cherries The way of fishing for Roach at London-Bridge is after this manner In the Moneths of June and July there is great resort of those Fish to that place where those that make a trade of it take a strong Cord at the end whereof is fastned a three-pound weight a foot above the Lead they fasten a Packthread of twelve foot long to the Cord and unto the Packthread at convenient distances they add a dozen strong Links of Hair with Roach-Hooks at them baited with a white Snail of Perriwinkle then holding the Cord in their Hands the biting of the Fish draweth the Packthread and the Packthread the Cord which admonisheth them them what to do whereby sometimes they draw up half a dozen sometimes less but commonly two or three at one draught Of the STICKLEBAG THis fish is small prickly and without Scales and not worth the consideration but that he is an excellent bait for Trouts especially if his Tail on the Hook be turned round at which a Trout will bite more eagerly than at Penk Roach or Minnow The Loach is every whit as good a bait as the Sticklebag provided you place either aright on the Hook To the intent you may do it take this observation the nimble turning of the Penk Minnow Loach or Sticklebag is the perfection of that sort of fishing That you may attain thereunto note that you must put your Hook into the Mouth of any the aforesaid Baits and out at his Tail tying him fast with white thread a little above it in such manner that he may turn after this sow up his mouth and your design is accomplished This way of baiting is very tempting for large Trouts and seldome fails the Angler's expectation This fish in some places is called a Banstickle Of the SALMON THE Salmons evermore breed in Rivers that are not brackish yet discharge themselves into the Sea and spawn commonly in August which become Samlets in the Spring following The Melter and Spawner having both performed their natural duty they then betake themselves to the Sea I have known that when they have been obstructed in their passage they have grown so impatient that clapping their Tails to their Mouths with a sudden spring they have leapt clear over Wear or any other obstacle which stood in their way Some having leapt short have been taken by that means If they are so obstructed that they cannot find their way to the Sea they become sick lean and pine away and die in two years If they spawn in the mean time from thence proceeds a small Salmon called a Skegger which will never grow great It is the Sea that makes them grow big but it is the fresh Rivers that makes them grow fat and so much the farther they are from the Sea up in the River the fatter they grow and the better their food From a Samlet which is but little bigger than a Minnow he grows to be a Salmon in as short time as a Goslin will grow to be a Goose. A Salmon biteth best at three of the clock in the Afternoon in the Moneths of May June July and August if the water be clear and some little breeze of Wind stirring especially if the Wind bloweth against the Stream and near the Sea Where note that he hath not his constant residence like a Trout but removes often coveting to be as near the Spring-head as he may swimming generally in the deepest and broadest parts of the River near the ground and he is caught like a Trout with Worm Fly or Minnow The Garden-worm is an Excellent bait for the Salmon if it be well scoured and kept in Moss about twenty days after which time those Worms will be very clear tough and lively There is a way of fishing for Salmon with a Ring of Wyre on the top of the Rod through which the Line may run to what length is thought convenient having a Wheel also near the hand I have been told that there is no bait more attractive of and eagerly pursued by the Salmon and most other fish than Lob-worms scented with the Oil of Ivy-berries or the Oil of Polypodie of the Oak mixt with Turpentine nay Assa Foetida they say is incomparably good The Artificial Fly is a good bait for a Salmon but you must then use a Trowl as for the Pike he being a strong fish As the Salmon is a large fish to must your Flies be larger than for any other with Wings and Tails very long You shall observe when you strike him that he will plunge and bounce but doth not usually endeavour to run to the length of the Line as the Trout will

she hath cunningly deluded them they fall instantly on her Companion who hath been before-hand with them and revenge themselves on him by depriving him of his life which verifies the proverb Never Wolf yet ever saw his Sire Their Whelps are able to ingender at twelve months end at which age they part with their Dam that is when those Teeth are grown which they cast the first half year and being grown they never shed them again and here see their gratitude though bloody cruel creatures after they have preyed for themselves if they chance to meet their Dam or Sire for Turbervile doth not believe the aforesaid story they will fawn upon them and lick them rejoycing at the sight of them The Dog will never bring any of his Prey to his whelps till he hath filled his own belly whereas the Bitch will not eat a bit till she hath served them first they go nine weeks with whelp and sometimes a little longer and grow salt but once a year As to number of whelps they have more or less as Dogs have for doubtless both the Wolf and the Fox are but a kind of wild Mastiffs and wild Curs They prey upon all kind of things and will feed on Carrion Vermin c. They will kill a Cow or a Bullock and as for a Sheep Goat or good Porket they will roundly carry him off in their Mouths not touching ground with it and will run so fast away notwithstanding the load that they are hardly to be stopped but by Mastiffs or Horse-men There is no Beast which runneth faster than the Wolf and holdeth wonderfully also When he is hunted with Hounds he flieth not far before them and unless he be coursed with Grey-hounds or Mastiffs he keepeth the Covert like the Bear or Boar and especially the bearen ways therein Night is the usual time of his preying though hunger will force him to prey by day They are more subtile and crafty if more can be than the Fox or any other beast When they are hunted they will take all their advantages at other times they will never run over-hastily but keep themselves in breath and force always A Wolf will stand up a whole day before a good Kennel of Hounds unless that Grey-hounds or Wolf-dogs course him If he stand at bay have a care of being bitten by him for being then mad the wound is desperate and hard to be cured When a Wolf falls into a flock of Sheep with his good will he would kill them all before he feed upon any of them and therefore all means should be used to destroy them as by hunting at force or with Greyhounds or Mastiffs or caught in Gins and Snares but they had need be strong For encouragement to the meaner sort in Ireland whosoever took a sucking-Whelp or preying Cub a Dog or a Bitch Wolf and brought but the heads of either to the next Justice of Peace for reward for the first he received twenty shillings for the second forty for the third five pound and for the last six pounds which late encouragement hath in a manner cleared that Kindom of them They bark and howl like unto Dogs and if there be but two of them together they make such a terrible hideous noise that you would think there could be no less than twenty of them in a body When any one would hunt the Wolf he must train him by these means First let him look out some fair place a mile or more from the great woods where there is some close standing to place a brace of good Grey-hounds in if need be the which should be closely environed and some pond of water by it there he must kill a Horse that is worth little and take the four legs thereof and carry them into the Woods and Forests adjoyning then let four men take every man a leg of the beast and draw it at his Horse-tail all along the paths and ways in the Woods until they come back again to the place where the Carcass of the said Beast lieth there let them lay down their trains Now when the Wolves go out in the night to prey they will follow the scent of the train till they come to the carcass where it lieth Then let those who love the sport with their Huntsmen come early and privately near the place and if they are discernable as they are seeding in the first place let them consider which way will be the fairest course for the Greyhounds and place them accordingly and as near as they can let them forestal with their Grey-hounds the same way that the Wolves did or are flying either then or the night before but if the Wolves be in the coverts near the carrien that was laid for them to feed upon then let there be hewers set round the coverts to make a noise on every side but onely that where the Greyhounds do stand and let them stand thick together making what noise they can to force them to the Greyhounds Then let the Huntseman go with his Leam-hound and draw from the carrion to the thickets-sides where the Wolves have gone in and there the Huntsman shall cast off the third part of their best Hounds for a Wolf will sometimes hold a covert a long time before he will come out The Huntsmen must hold near in to the Hounds blowing hard and encouraging them with their voice for many Hounds will strain courtesie at this chase although they are strong and fit for all other chases When the Wolf cometh to the Grey-hounds they who hold them will do well to suffer the Wolf to pass by the first rank until he come further and let the last Rank let slip their Grey-hounds full in the face of the Wolf and at the same instant let all the other Ranks let slip also so that the first Rank staying him but ever so little he may be assaulted on all sides at once and by that means they shall the more easily take him It is best entring of Hounds at young Wolves which are not yet past half a year or a year old for a Hound will hunt such more willing and with less fear than an old Wolf or you may take Wolves alive in Engines and breaking their Teeth enter your Hounds at them A man may know a Dog Wolf from a Bitch by the tracks of his Feet for the Dog hath a greater Heel a greater Toe greater Nails and a rounder Foot Besides the Bitch casteth her Fiaunts commonly in the midst of an High-way whereas the Dog casteth them either on the one side or the other of the Path. The Reward of the Dogs is thus when they have bit and shaked the dead Wolf let the Huntsman then open his Belly straight along and taking out his bowels let him throw in Bread Cheese and other Scraps and so let the Dogs feed therein Wild-Goat-Hunting I Never could read or hear that there was ever any such Chase in England as the Hunting of the

cold When your Lime is cold take your Rods and warm them a little over the fire then take your Lime and wind it about the tops of your Rods then draw your Rods a sunder one from the other and close them again continually plying and working them together till by smearing one upon another you have equally bestowed on each Rod a sufficient proportion of Lime If you lime any Strings do it when the Lime is very hot and at the thinnest besmearing the Strings on all sides by folding them together and unfolding them again If you lime Straws it must be done likewise when the Lime is very hot doing a great quantity together as many as you can well grasp in your hand tossing and working them before the fire till they are all besmear'd every Straw having his due proportion of Lime having so done put them up in cases of Leather till you have occasion to use them Now to prevent the freezing of your Lime either as it is on Twigs Bushes or Straws you must adde a quarter as much of the Oyl called Petroleum as of your Capons-grease mix them well together and then work it on your Rods c. and so it will ever keep supple tough and gentle and will not be prejudiced should it freeze never so hard The best and most Experienced way of making Water Bird-lime BUy what quantity you think fit of the strongest Bird-lime you can procure and wash it as long in a clear Spring-water till you find it very pliable and the hardness thereof removed then beat out the water extraordinary well till you cannot perceive a drop to appear then dry it well after this put it into a Pot made of Earth and mingle therewith Capons-grease unsalted so much as will make it run then adde thereto two spoonfuls of strong Vinegar a spoonful of the best Sallet-Oyl and a small quantity of Venice-Turpentine This is the allowance of these Ingredients which must be added to every pound of strong Bird-lime as aforesaid Having thus mingled them boil them all gently together over a small fire stirring it continually then take it from the fire and let it cool When at any time you have occasion to use it warm it and then anoint your Twigs or Straws or any other small things and no Water will take away the strength thereof This sort of Bird-lime is the best especially for Snipes and Felfares In what manner a man may take Snipes with this Bird-lime TAke what number you shall think most expedient for your purpose of Birch-twigs and lime fifty or sixty of them very well together After this go and seek out those places where Snipes do usually frequent which you may know by their Dung In very hard frosty or snowy Weather where the Water lies open they will lie very thick Having observed the place where they most feed set two hundred of your Twigs more or less as you please at a yard distance one from the other and let them stand sloaping some one way and some another then retire a convenient distance from the place and you shall find 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 light 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 means to entice them down to him When you see the Coast clear and but few that are not taken you may then take up your Birds fastning one or two of them that the other flying over may light at the same place If there be any other open place near to that where your Twigs are planted you must beat them up The reason why they delight to haunt open places and where Springs do gently run is because they cannot feed by reason of their Bills in places that are hard and stony and about these Plashes in snowy Weather they very much resort The manner of taking Felfares by Water-Bird-lime ABout Michaelmas or when the cold Weather begins to come in take your Gun and kill some Felfares then take a couple of them or one may serve and fasten them to the top of a Tree in such manner that they may seem to be alive Having so done prepare two or three hundred Twigs take a great Birchen-bough and therein place your Twigs having first cut off all the small Twigs then set a Felfare upon the top of the bough making of him fast and let this bough be planted where the Felfares do resort in a Morning to feed for they keep a constant place to feed in till there is no more food left By this means others flying but neer will quickly espie the top-bird and fall in whole flocks to him I have seen at one fall three dozen taken How to take Pigeons with Lime-twigs PIgeons are great devourers and destroyers of Corn wherefore when you find any ground much frequented by them get a couple of Pigeons either dead or alive if dead put them in such a stiff posture as if they were living and feeding then at Sun-rising take a quantity of Twigs as many as you think fit let them be small but I judge Wheaten-straws are better for this purpose and lay them up and down where your Pigeons are placed and you shall find such sport at every fall that is made that you may quickly be rid of them without offending the Statute If there come good flights you may easily take four or five dozen of them in a morning How to take Mag-pies Crows and Gleads with Lime-twigs WHen you have found any Carrion on which Crows Pies Kites c. are preying upon over night set your Lime-twigs every where about the Carrion but let them be small and not set too thick if otherwise being subtile Birds they will suspect some danger or mischief designed against them When you perceive one to be fast advance not to him presently for most commonly when they are surely caught they are not sensible thereof You may take them another way and that is by joyning to a Packthread several Nooses of Hair up and down the Packthread and peg it down about a yard from the Carrion for many times when they have gotten a piece of Flesh they will be apt to run away to feed by themselves and if your Nooses be thick it is two to one but some of the Nooses catch him by the Legs How to take Rooks when they pull up the Corn by the Roots 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 threescore or more of them up and down the ground lay them as near as you can under some clod of Earth and early in the Morning before they

come to feed and then stand at a distance and you will see most excellent sport for as soon as Rooks Crows or Pigeons come to peck out any of the Corn it will hang upon his head and he will immediately fly bolt upright so high that he shall soar almost out of sight and when he is spent come tumbling down as if he had been shot in the Air. You may take them at Ploughing-time when the Rooks and Crows follow the Plough but then you must put in Worms and Maggots of the largest size How to take Birds with BAITS either Land or Water-fowl IF you have a desire to take House-doves Stock-doves Rooks Coughs or any other-like Birds then take Wheat Barley Fetches Tares or other Grain and boil them very well with good store of Nux vomica in ordinary running water when they are almost boil'd dry and ready to burst take them off the fire and set them by till they be throughly cold Having so done scatter this Grain in the Haunts of those Birds you have a mind to take and as soon as they have tasted hereof they will fall down into a dead swound and shall not be able to recover themselves in a good while And as you take these great Land-fowl with this drunken device so you may take the middle and smaller sort of Birds if you observe to boil with what food they delight in a quantity of this Nux vomica Some instead of Nux vomica use the Lees of Wine the sharper and quicker they are the better boiling their Grains in these Lees also Seeds or any other food and strewing them in the Haunts of those Birds you would surprize These do as effectually as Nux vomica and it 's the cleanlier and neater way there being not that poysonous quality in them You may chuse whether you will boil your Grain or Seed in the aforesaid Lees for they will be every whit as effectual if onely steeped a considerable while therein giving them leave to drink in the Lees till they are ready to burst before you use them Others having neither Nux vomica nor Wine-lees take the Juice of Hemlock and steep their Grains therein adding thereto some Henbane-seed or Poppy-seed causing them to be infused therein four or five days then draining the Grain or Seed from the Liquor strew them as aforesaid The Birds having tasted hereof are immediately taken with a dizziness which will continue some hours so that they cannot flie but they will recover again if you kill them not If you intend them for food let them be first recovered Thus much for the Land now let us speak of the Water-fowl The ready way by Bait to take such Fowl as receive part of their food by land and part by water as Wild-geese Barnacle Grey-plover Mallard Curlew Shoveler Bitter Bustard with many more I say the best way my experience hath found out is to take Bellengeleaves Roots and all and having cleansed them very well put them into a Vessel of clear running Water and there let them lie in steep twenty four hours then never shift them from the Water but boil them together till the Water be almost consumed then take it off and set it a cooling Then take a quantity hereof and go to the Haunts of any of the aforesaid Fowl and there spread of this Bait in sundry and divers places and those that shall taste hereof will be taken with the like drunken dizziness as the former To make this Confection the more effectual it will be requisite to adde a quantity of Brimstone thereunto in its boiling How to recover Fowl thus entranced If you would restore any of these entranced Fowl to their former health take a little quantity of Sallet-oyl according to the strength and bigness of the Fowl and drop it down the Throat of the Fowl then chafe the head with a little strong White-wine-Vinegar and the Fowl will presently recover and be as well as ever And thus much for taking Fowl of all sorts by Baits A most excellent and approved way how to take the HERN A Hern is as great a devourer of Fish as any is nay some dare affirm ten times as much as an Otter and shall do more mischief in one week than an Otter shall do in three months for I have been told by one that hath seen a Hern that hath been shot at a Pond to have had seventeen Carps at once in his Belly which he will digest in six or seven hours and then betake himself to fishing again I have been informed by another that he saw a Carp taken out of a Hern's Belly which was nine Inches and an half long Several Gentlemen that have kept Herns tame have put Fish in a Tub and tried the Hern how many small Roaches and Dace he would eat in a day and they have found him to eat about fifty in a day one day with another One Hern that haunts a Pond in a Twelvemonths time shall destroy a thousand Store Carps and when Gentlemen sue their Ponds they think their Neighbours have robbed them not in the least considering an Hern is able to devour them in half a years time if he put in half as many more Now since this ravenous Fowl is so destructive to Ponds and Fish of the River it will be very necessary to find out a way to destroy that that destroys so many which may be done in this manner Having found out his haunt get three or four small Roaches or Dace and have a strong Hook with Wyre to it draw the Wyre just within the skin of the said Fish beginning without side of the Gills running of it to the Tail and then the Fish will live five or six days Now if the Fish be dead the Hern will not meddle with him Let not your Hook bee too rank then having a strong Line with Silk and Wyre about two yards and a half long if you twist not Wyre with your Silk the sharpness of his Bill will bite it in two immediately and tye a round Stone 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 Pond Lay not your Hooks in the water so deep that the Hern cannot wade unto them Colour your Line of a dark green for an Hern is a subtile Bird. There are several other Fowl devourers of Fish as Kings-fisher More-hens Balcoots Cormorant c. but none like the Hern for Ponds and small Rivers How to take PHEASANTS several ways THe taking of Pheasants is to be performed three several ways by Nets by Lime-bush or else by other particular Engines which shall be discours'd of hereafter The taking of Pheasants with Nets is done either generally or particularly generally when the whole Eye of Pheasants is taken that is the old Cock and old Hen with all their Powts as they run together in the obscure Woods or particularly

of which these are the principal The first is to use his own words the Dun-fly in March made of dun Wool and the Feathers of a Partridge's Wing The second is a Dun-fly too and made of black Wool and the Feathers of a black Drake the Body made of the first and the Wings of the latter The third is the Stone-fly in April the Body is made of black Wool made yellow under the Wings and Tail The fourth is the Ruddy-fly in the beginning of May the Body being made of red Wool and bound about with black Silk with the Feathers of a red Capon which hang dangling on his sides next his Tail The fifth is the Yellow or Greenish Fly in June the Body is made of black Wool with a yellow List on either side and the Wings taken off the Wings of a Buzzard bound with black braked Hemp. The sixth is the Moorish-fly the Body made of duskish Wool and the Wings made of the blackish Mail of the Drake The seventh is the Tawny-fly good until the middle of June the Body made of tawny Wool the Wings made contrary one against another of the whitish Mail of the white Drake The eighth is the Wasp-fly in July the Body made of black Wool lapt about with yellow Silk the Wings made of Drake-feathers The ninth is the Shel-fly good in the middle of July the Body made of greenish Wool lapt about wirh the Herle of a Peacock's Tail and the Wings made of Buzzards Wings The tenth and last is the Drake-fly good in August the Body made of black Wool lapt about with black Silk his Wings of the Mail of the black Drake with a black head And then having named two more he concludes wittily Thus have you a Jury of Flies likely to betray and condemn all the Trouts in the River This in my opinion seems a tedious and difficult way I should rather think it better to find the Fly proper for every season and that which the Fish at that time most eagerly covet and make one as like it as possibly you may in colour shape and proportion and for your better imitation lay the natural Fly before you There are several ways of making these artificial Flies which I shall forbear here to relate thinking it more proper to leave it to the ingenuity of every particular person which will be very much help'd by seeing and observing the Artist's method in their composition The best Observations I can collect for artificial Fly-fishing are these First Observe to fish in a River somewhat disturbed by Rain or in a cloudy day when the Waters are moved by a gentle breez the South-wind is best the West indifferent but the East is stark naught But as to this I give not much credit for let the Sky be cloudy and the Season not too cold I 'le bid defiance to any Wind that blows not too hard If it blow high yet not so high but that you may conveniently guide your Tackle they will rise in plain Deeps where you shall kill the best Fish but if the Wind be small then is the best angling in swift Screams and be sure to keep your Fly in continual motion Secondly Keep as far from the Water-side as you can whether you fish with a Fly or Worm and fish down rhe Stream having the Sun on your back not suffering your Line to touch the Water but your Fly onely Here note that the light Fly makes most sport in a dark night and the darkest or least Fly in a clear dry Thirdly In clear Rivers ever Angle with a small Fly with slender Wings but in such as are muddied by Rain use a Fly that is larger bodied than ordinary Fourthly When the water beginneth to clear after Rain and becomes brownish then use a Red or Orange Fly if the day be clear a light-coloured Fly and a dark Fly for dark Waters if the Water be of a wheyish complexion then use a black or brown Fly I will not say these Directions or Rules are without exceptions Fifthly Let your Line for Fly-fishing be twice as long as your Rod unless the River be cumbred with Wood. Sixthly For every sort of Fly have several of the same differing in colour to sute with the different complexions of several waters and weathers Seventhly You must have a nimble eye and an active hand to strike presently with the rising of the fish or else he will be apt to spew out the Hook finding his mistake Eighthly Let your Fly fall first into the Water for if your Line fall first it scares the fish and therefore you must draw again and cast Ninthly When you angle in slow Rivers or still places with your Artificial Fly cast it over cross the River and let it sink a little in the water and draw it gently back again so as you raise no Circles nor break the Water and let the Fly float gently with the Current and hereby you will find excellent sport Lastly Take notice that your Salmon-flies must be made with their Wings standing one behind the other whether two or four He delights in the finest gawdiest colours you can choose in the Wings chiefly which must be long and so must the Tail Of Ground Angling IF you fish under the Water for a Trout it must be without a Float onely with a Plumb of Lead or a Bullet which is better because it will fowl on the ground And this way of fishing is very good in cold weather when the Fish swim very low you must place this Bullet about nine Inches from the baited Hook your Top must be very gentle that the Fish may more easily run away with the Bait and not be scared with the stifness of the Rod. You must not strike as soon as you feel the Fish bite but slack your Line a little that he may the better swallow the Bait and Hook When you strike do it gently for the least matter does it Let your Tackle be fine and slender for that is better than your big and strong Lines which serve onely to fright the Fish You will find it a better way of Angling to do it without Float or Lead onely making use of a Garden-worm drawing it up and down the Stream by which you will take more Trouts than any other way especially if it be in a clear day The Morning and Evening are the chiefest seasons for the Ground-Line for Trout but if the day prove Cloudy or the Water muddy you may Angle at Ground all the day Of Night-Angling GReat Fish especially Trouts are like Bucks wary and circumspect in their self-preservation and know the seasons most fit for them to feed without danger and that is the Night as they suppose thinking then they may most securely range abroad In your Night-angling take two great Garden-worms of an equal length and place them on your Hook then cast them a good distance and draw them to you again upon the superficies of the Water not

Journey for you must come through Germany which is a long way aud the same charges attending it I mean your Groom and Farrier who must be careful that they entrust no Persons whatsoever with the care of him but themselves especially in shooing of him For t is the common practice beyond Sea as well as here where they discover a fine Horse to hire a Farrier to prick him that they may buy him for a Stallion But some People chuse to buy Horses at Smyrna in Anatolia and from thence as likewise srom Constantinople transport them to England by Sea which if the Wind serve right arrive in England in a month though generally the Merchants make their Voyages little less than a Quarter of a year The Barb is little inferior to any of the former in beauty only he is accounted by our Modern Breeders too slender and Lady-like to breed on and therefore in the North at this instant they prefer the Spanish Horse and Turk before him He is so lazy and negligent in his walk that he will stumble on Carpet-ground His Trot is like that of a Cow his Gallop low and with much ease to himself But he is for the most part sinewy and nervous excellently winded and good for a Course is he be not over-weighted The Mountain-Barbs are accounted tbe best because they are the strongest and largest They belong to the Allarbes who value them as much themselves as they are priz'd by any other Nations and therefore they will not part with them to any Persons except to the Prince of the Band to which they belong who can at any time at his pleasure command them for his own use But for the other more ordinary sort they are to be met with pretty common in the hands of several of our Nobility and Gentry or if you send into Languedoc and Provence in France they may be there bought for forty or fifty Pistols a Horse Or if you will send into Barbary you may have one for Thirty Pounds or thereabouts But here too the charges and journey will be great for though from Tunis to Marselles in France be no great Voyage yet from Marselles to Callais by Land measures the length of all Franee and from thence they are shipt for England The next thing of course to be treated of is the choice of your Mares and the fittest Mare to breed out of according to the Duke of Newcastle's opinion is one that has been bred of an English Mare and a Stallion of either of these Races but if such a Mare be not to be got then make choice of a right bred English Mare by Sire and Dam that is well fore-handed well underlaid and strong put together in general and in particular see that she have a lean Head wide Nostrils open Chaul a big Weasand and the Windpipe straight and loose and chuse her about five or six year old and be sure that the Stallion be not too old Now for the Food of the Stallion I would have you keep him as high as possible for four or five months before the time of Covering with old clean Oats and split Beans well hull'd to which you may add if you please Bread such as in this Book shall be hereafter directed and now and then for variety you may give him an handful of clean Wheat or Oats washt in strong Ale but as for Bay-salt and Anniseeds which Mr. Morgan in his Perfection of Horsemanship advises should be scatter'd amongst his Provender I hold them superfluous whilst the Horse is in health but be sure let him have plenty of good old sweet Hay well cleansed from Dust and good Wheat-straw to lie on and let him be watred twice every day at some fair running Spring or else a clear standing Pond-water where the other is not to be had near some Meadow or level piece of Ground where you may gallop him after he hath drunk When you have brought him to the water do not suffer him to drink his Fill at the first but after he has taken his first draught gallop and scope him up and down a little to warm it and then bring him to the water again and let him drink what he please and after that gallop him as you did before never leaving the Water till you find he will drink no more By this means you will prevent raw Crudities which the Coldness of the Water would produce to the detriment of the Stomach if you had permitted him to drink his fill at first whereas you allowing him his fill though by degrees at last you keep his Body from drying too fast And this I take to be much better for your Horses than according to the forecited Morgan to incourage his Water with Whitewine to qualifie the cold quality thereof for Nature it self is the best Directress for the expulsion of her Enemies especially in Brutes where usually she can command the Appetite and therefore I esteem his own natural heat for warming his water to be better than that which proceeds from any other Now as to Morgan's Direction of Sweating him every day early in the Morning which he says will not only perfect disgestion and exhaust the moisture from his Seed but also strengthen and cleanse his Blood and Body from all raw and imperfect humors I am of opinion t will both dry up the radical Moisture too fast and likewise instead of heightning his Pride and Lust which he alledges weaken him too much Other Rules might be given as to the ordering of them after Water and the Hours of Feeding with the quantity c. but these will be fitter to be handled in another place and therefore no more of them here Now when your Stallion is in Lust and the Time for Covering is come which is best to be in May that the Foles may fall in April following otherwise they will have little or no Grass if they should be put together according to Markham's opinion in the middle of March tho he holds that one Fole falling in March is worth two falling in May because saith he he possesseth as it were two Winters in a year and is thereby so hardened that nothing can almost after impair him The time I say being come to put your Stallion and Mares together pull off his hinder Shoes and lead him to the place where the Stud of Mares are which you intend for covering which place ought to be close well fenc'd and in it a little Hutt for a Man to lie in and a larger Shed with a Manger to feed your Stallion with Breud and Corn during his Abode with the Mares and to shelter him in the heat of the Day and in Rainy weather and this Close ought to be of sufficient langeness to keep your Mares well for two months Before you pull of his Bridle let him cover a Mare or two in hand then turn him loose amongst them and put all your Mares to him as well those which

committed in the Forest by grubbing up the Woods Coverts and Thickets and making them plain as Arable Land or the like Minoverie is a Trespass or Offence committed by some Engine set up in the Forest to catch Deer or the like Tritis is a freedom that one hath from holding a Grey-hound in ones hand when the Lord of the Forest is hunting there or to be amerced for his default Protoforestarius was a great Officer heretofore in Windsor Forest. Stablestand is when one is found standing in the Forest with his Bow ready bent to shoot at any Deer or with his Grey-hound in a Lease ready to slip Swainmote or Swannimote is a Court appointed to be held thrice in a year within a Forest the first 15 days before Michaelmas the second about Martinmas and the third 15 days before St. John Baptist Chiminage is taken by Foresters in fee throughout their Bailiwick for Bushes Timber c. and signifies the same with Toll Afforest is to turn Land into Forest. Disafforest is to turn Land from being Forest to other uses Let what hath been said be sufficient for an Introduction and let us conclude it with a perswasion to all generous Souls not to slight this noble and worthy Exercise wherein is contained so much health and pleasure for the besotting Sensualities and wicked Debaucheries of a City in which the course of Nature seems to be inverted Day turn'd into Night and Night into Day where there is little other Recreation but what Women Wine and a Bawdy Play can afford them whereby for want of Labour and Exercise Mens Bodies contain as many Diseases as are in a sickly Hospital Of DOGS in general AS there is no Country in the World wherein there is not plenty of Dogs so no Animal can boast of greater variety both in shape and kind Some Dogs are very great as the Wolf-dog which is shaped like a Grey-hound but by much taller longer and thicker some are for the Buck others for the Boar Bear and Bull some for the Hare Coney and Hedge-hog some are both for Water and Land and they are called Spaniels other are called Lurchers Tumblers Brachers Beagles c. As for Shepherds Dogs foisting Curs and such whom some fond Ladies make their daily nay nightly Companions too I shall pass over being neither worthy to be inserted in this Subject nor agreeable thereunto wherefore I shall onely treat of such whose natures do incline them to Game for mans Pastime and Recreation In the first place let us consider the Nature of Dogs in general wherein they agree and their common properties of Nature such as are not destroyed in the distinction of kinds but remain like infallible Truths and invariable in every kind and Country through the Universe Dogs as it is to be observed are generally rough and their Hair indifferently long which in Winter they lose every year is a signe of a good constitution but if it grow over-long the Mange will follow The outward proportion of the Head altereth as the kind altereth having no commissure or seam in the Skull being a continued bone without separation The best Dogs in Pliny's Opinion have flat Nostrils yet round solid and blunt Their Teeth are like Saws which they change in the fourth month of their age and by them is their age discerned for while they are white and sharp it discovers the youth of a Dog but when they grow blackish or dusky broken and torn they demonstrate the elder age The Breast of a Dog is narrow so is his Ventricle for which cause he is always in pain in the discharging his Excrements After they have run a Course they relieve themselves by tumbling and rowling to and fro When they lie down they turn round in a circle two or three times together which they do for no other cause but that they may the more commodiously lie round and from the Wind. In their sleep they often dream as may appear by their barking Here observe that they who love to keep Dogs must have a special care that they let them not sleep too much especially after their Meat when they are young for as they are very hot so in their sleep doth their heat draw much pain into their Stomack and Ventricle The time of their Copulation is for the most part at a year old yet the Females will lust after it sooner but they should be restrained from it because it debilitates their Body and dulls their Generofity After the expiration of a year they may be permitted to copulate it matters not whether in Winter or Summer but it is best in the beginning of the Spring but with this caution that Whelps of a Litter or of one and the same Bitch be never suffered to couple for Nature delights in variety In antient time for the more ennobling of their race of Dogs they would not permit them to ingender till the Male was four year old and the Female three for by that means the Whelps would prove more strong and lively By Hunting Labour and Travel the Males are made more fit for Generation and they prove best which have their Siers of equal age When they grow proud give them Leaven mingled with Milk and Salt and they will not stray and ramble abroad It is not good to preserve the first or second Litter but the third and after they have littered it is good to give the Bitch Whey and Barley-bread for that will comfort her and increase her Milk or take the Bones of broken Meat and seeth them in Goats-Milk which nutriment will strengthen very much both Dam and Whelps There is no great regard to be had as to the Food of a Dog for he will eat any thing but the Flesh of his own kinde for that cannot be so dressed by the art of Man but they find it out by their Nose and avoid it It is good to let the Whelps suck two Months before they be weaned and that of their own Dam. Put Cummin now and then in their bread it will cure or prevent Wind in their bellies and if Oyl be mingled with that Water they lap they will prove more able and swift to run If he refuse and loath his Meat give him a little hot Bread or dip brown Bread in Vinegar and sqeeze the liquor thereof into his Nose and it will ease him There is some difficulty to chuse a Whelp under the Dam that will prove the best of the Litter Some observe that which seeth last and take that for the best others remove the Whelps from the Kennel and lay them several and apart one from the other then watch they which of them the Bitch first taketh and carrieth into her Kennel again and that they take for the best or else that which vomiteth last of all Some again give for a certain rule to know the best that the same which weigheth least while it sucketh will prove the best according to the Verses of Nemesian

will never suffer any strange Hare to sit by them and therefore it is proverbially said The more you hunt the more Hares you shall have because when you have killed one Hare another will come and possess his Form An Hare hath greater Scent and is more eagerly hunted by the Hounds when she feeds and relieveth upon green Corn than at any other time in the year and yet there are some Hares which naturally give a greater Scent than others as the great Wood Hares and such as are foul and measled and keep near to the Waters But the little red Hare which is not much bigger than a Coney is neither of so strong a Scent nor so eagerly hunted Such as feed upon the small branches of wild Time or such-like Herbs are commonly very swist and will stand long up before the Hounds In like manner you have some Hares more subtile and cunning than others Young Hares which have not been hunted are foolish and are neither of force nor capacity to use such subtleties and crafts but hold on end-ways before the Hounds most commonly and do squat and start again oftentimes which doth much encourage the Hounds and enters them better than if the Hare flies and-ways as sometimes they will five or six mile an end The Females are more crafty and politick than the Bucks for they double and turn shorter than they which is displeasant to the Hounds for it is troublesome for them to turn often delighting more in an end-way-chase running with all their force for such Hares as double and cross so often it is requisite at default to cast the greater compass about when you beat to make it out for so you will find all her subtilties and yet need to stick upon none of them but onely where she went on forwards By this means you will abate her force and compel her to leave doubling and crossing How to Enter Hounds to the Hare Let the Huntsinan be sure in the first place to make his Hounds very well acquainted with him and his Voice and let them understand the Horn and to this end let him never blow his Horn or hallow but when there is good cause for so doing and let him be sure that his Hounds want no encouragement Here by the way observe two remarkable things The first is if you intend to enter a young Kennel of Hounds you must take notice of the Country where you will make your first Quarry and whereof you make it For according to the places wherein they are first entred and the nature of the Quarry given them they will prove accordingly for the future Thus if they are first entred in the Plains and Champain-countries they will ever after more delight to hunt there than in any other place and so it is the same with the Coverts But say some of our Huntsmen all strange Countries that differ from that to which Hounds are accustomed causes them at first to be at seek But good Hounds will soon be master of any Country and therefore he that would have the best Hounds must use them to all kinds of Hunting And it is easie to bring Hounds to enjoy a Scent from a bleak Down to a fresh Pasture And therefore many of us love to enter in the worst Countries Do not accustom your Hounds to hunt in the Morning because of the Dew and moisture of the Earth and besides you will find by experience that if afterwards you hunt them in the heat of the day they will soon give over the chase neither will they call on willingly or chearfully but seek out the shades to sleep in Yet many of us agree that to hunt both early and late in the morning by Trayling advantageth the Hounds to use their Noses and by keeping them sometimes in the heat of the day or till night moves them to stoutness The best season to enter your young Hounds is in September and October for then the weather is temperate neither too hot nor too cold and then is the time to find young Hares which have never been hunted which are foolish and ignorant of the politick crossings doublings c. of their Sires running commonly end-ways frequently squatting and as often starting by which encouragement the Hounds are the better entered A Hare hath greater Scent and is more eagerly hunted by the Hounds when she feedeth and relieveth on green Corn than at any other time of the year Moreover some Hares have naturally a greater scent than others as the great Wood Hares and such as are foul and measled having their greatest resort near the Water and Plashes The little small red Hare not much bigger than a Coney is very feeble and not much covered by the Hounds having a bad scent but such as feed on the small branches of wilde Time are commonly very swift and will stand up a long time before the Hounds The Does are much craftier than the Bucks doubling and turning oftner and shorter which is very vexatious and troublesome to the Hounds Now for such Hares as double and cross so often it is requisite at a default to cast the greater compass about when you draw to make it out so shall you find all their subtilties though it is needless to stick upon any but where they went onwards by so doing you will abate the force of a Hare and force her from crossing and doubling Some Hares hold the high beaten ways onely where the Hounds can have no scent wherefore when the Huntsman finds his Hounds at a default in the High-way let him hunt on until he find where the Hare hath broken from the High-way or hath found some Dale or fresh place where the Hounds may recover scent looking narrowly on the ground as he goeth if he can find the Footing or Pricking of the Hare There are other places wherein a Hound can finde no scent and that is in fat and rotten ground and it sticketh to the Foot of the Hare which is called Carrying and so consequently she leaves no scent behinde her So likewise there are certain Months wherein a Hound can find no scent and that is in the Spring-time by reason of the fragrant smell of Flowers and the like Shun as much as you can hunting in hard frosty weather for so you will surbate or founder your Hounds and make them lose their Claws besides at that time a Hare runneth better than at any other time the Soals of her feet being hairy To conclude the best way of entring your young Hounds is by the help of old Staunch-Hounds so will they the better learn to cast for it at a doubling or default What time of the year is best for Hare-Hunting How to find her start her and chase her The best time to begin Hare-Hunting is about the middle of September ending towards the latter end of February lest you destroy the early brood of Leverets Moreover upon the approach of Winter the moistness and coolness of the Earth

it is impossible for them to come at them They are taken for their skins tails and cods and that many ways First when their caves are found in which are several chambers built one over another by the water-side to ascend or descend according as the water riseth or falleth I say their abode being found they make a breach therein wherein is put a little dog which the Beaver perceiving flies instantly to the end of her cave and there defendeth her self with her teeth till all her building be raised and she laid open to her enemies who kill her with instruments for that purpose These dogs for the Beaver are the same which hunt Otters They cannot dive long time under water but must put up their heads for breath which being seen by those who are hunting them they kill them with gunshot or Otter-spears His nature is if he hear any noise to put up his head above water whereby he is discovered and so loseth life Those skins are best which are blackest Of the Elk. THis beast is twice as big as a Hart whose upper-lip is so great and hangeth over the nether so far that he cannot eat going forward but as he eateth he goeth backward and so gathereth up his sustenance His mane is divers both on the top of his neck and underneath his throat which buncheth like a beard or curled lock of hair his neck is very short disproportionable to his body He hath two very large horns bending towards the back in a plain edge and the spires stand forward to the face both males and females have them they are solid at the root and round but afterwards branched they are broader than a Hart 's and are very heavy being not above two foot long and these horns they mew every year He is colour'd for the most part like a Heart and hath cloven feet but without joynts like an Elephant in his fore-legs and therefore sleepeth leaning to posts or trees and fighteth not with his horns but fore-feet It is a most timorous creature not desiring to stir much unless provok'd thereunto by hunting There is no danger in hunting this beast except a man come right before him for if this beast fasten his fore-feet on him he cannot escape alive but if it receive any small wound it instantly dies They are taken by nets and toils or as Elephants are taken for when they have found the trees where-unto they lean they so cut and saw them that when the Elk cometh he overthroweth the tree and falleth with it and being not able to rise is so taken alive When they are chased eagerly and can find no place to rest themselves in and lie secret they run to the waters and therein stand taking up waters into their mouths and in a little time do so heat it that squirting it out upon the dogs the heat thereof so scaldeth them that they dare not come nigh or approach them any more Many more exotick beasts I might here insert describing their natures and the manner of their Forrain hunting but since they are not to be found in England let these suffice which I have already described Dogs Diseases Remedied and their Hurts Healed according to the best Prescriptions of Ancient and Modern Huntsmen Of a Five-fold Madness in a Dog the Symptoms of the Maladies and their CVRE THe ancients have derived Rabies Madness from Ravies hoarseness of voice for mad dogs have no perfect voice but it is more probable that Rabies cometh à Rapiendo because when a dog beginneth to go mad he biteth runneth snatcheth and roves to and fro to his own perdition A mad dog is most dangerous in the Dog-days for at that time the very foam or spittle falling on a man breeds danger There are properly seven sorts of Madnesses which afflict a dog whereof two of them are incurable and therefore I shall speak little of them onely so much as may give you warning to shift them from your other dogs because their disease is infectious and that you may beware of them your self lest they injure you for their biting is dangerous The first of these incurable Madnesses is called the Hot burning Madness and is known by these symptoms First when they run they raise their tails bolt-upright and run upon any thing that stands before them having no respect where nor which way they run also their mouths will be very black having no foam in nor about them They will not continue thus above three or four days after which time they die their pain being so intolerable Where note that all those dogs they have bitten and drew blood from will be mad in like manner The second is called the running Madness and is less dangerous however incurable The dogs that are troubled with this madness run not on men but dogs and on no other beasts The symptoms are they will smell on other dogs and having smelt them will shake and bite them yet shaking their tails and seeming to offer no harm with other tokens I omit for brevity sake Of the Dumb Madness The five Madnesses or rather Sicknesses which are curable are these The first is called the Dumb madness and is thus known the dog that is troubled therewith will not feed but holds his mouth wide open continually putting his feet to his mouth frequently as if he had a bone in his throat The cure is thus Take four ounces of the juice of Spathula putrida and put it into a pot then take the like quantity of the juice of black Hellebore and as much of the juice of Rue having strained them all well through a fine cloath put them into a glass then take two drams of Scammony unprepared and having mingled it with the former juices put it into a horn or funnel and convey it down his throat keeping his head up straight lest he cast it up again then bleed him in the mouth cutting three or four veins in his gums that he may bleed the better and in a short time you will find amendment Or you may onely take eight drams of the juice of an herb called Harts-horn or Dogs-tooth and you will find it a most excellent receipt against any madness whatsoever Of the Falling Madness The second is called the Falling Madness the disease lieth in their heads which maketh them reel as they go and fall The cure is thus Take four ounces of the juice of Piony with the like quantity of the juice of Briony the like of the juice of Cruciata and four drams of Staves-acre pulverized mingle these together and give it your hound or dog as aforesaid then let him blood in the cars or the two veins which come down the shoulders and if he is not cured at first give it him a second or third time Of the Lank Madness The third kind of madness is called the Lank Madness by reason of the leanness of their bodies occasioned by skummering The cure is thus First purge your

and pull out of your Hawking-bag at your conveniency when you find your Hawk apt to go out shew your Pidgeon I would not have you use it often for it draws a Hawk from her place if well flown How to continue and keep a Hawk in her high-flying If your Hawk be a stately high-flying Hawk you ought not to engage 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 the River fly her not above twice in a morning yet feed her up though she kill not When a high-flying Hawk being whistled to gathers upwards to a great gate you must continue her therein never flying her but upon broad Waters and open Rivers and when she is at the highest take her down with your Lure where when she hath plumed and broken the Fowl a little then feed her up and by that means you shall maintain your Faulcon high-flying inwards and very fond of the Lure Some will have this high-flying Faulcon seldom to kill and not to stoop yet if she kill every day although she stoop from a high Gate yet if she be not rebuked or hurt therewith she will I can assure you become a higher flier every day than other but she will grow less fond of the Lure Wherefore your high-flying Hawks should be made inwards it being a commendable quality in them to make in and turn head at the second or third toss of the Lure and when she poureth down upon it as if she had killed And as the teaching of a Faulcon or any other Hawk to come readily to and love the Lure is an art highly commendable because it is the effect of great labour and industry so it is the cause of saving many a Hawk which otherways would be lost irrecoverably Mark this by the way that some naturally high-flying Hawks will be long before they be made upwards still fishing and playing the slugs and when they should get up to cover the Fowl they will stoop before the Fowl be put out And this may proceed from two causes In the first place she may be too sharp set and in the next place it may be she is flown untimely either too soon or too late When you see a Hawk use those evil Tatches without any visible cause cast her out a dead Fowl for a dead Quarry and hood her up instantly without Reward to discourage her from practising the like another time half an hour afterwards call her to the Lure and feed her and serve her after this manner as often as she fisheth in that fashion Besides to correct this errour the Faulconer ought to consult the natures and dispositions of his Hawks and should carefully observe which fly high when in good plight and which best when they are kept low which when sharpest set and which on the contrary in a mean between both which early at Sun-rising which when the Sun is but two hours high which sooner and which later in an evening For know that the natures of Hawks are different so are the time to fly each one for to fly a Hawk in her proper times and to fly her out of it is as disagreeable as the flight of a Gerfaulcon and a Buzzard Therefore the Ostrager must fly his Hawks according to their natures and dispositions keeping them always in good order Where by the by take notice all Hawks as well Soar-hawks as Mew'd-hawks and Haggards should be set out in the Evening two or three hours some more some less having respect to their nature as it is stronger or weaker and in the morning also according as they cast hooding them first and then setting them abroad a weathering until you get on Horseback to prosecute your Recreation A Flight for the Hern. This Flight hath less of Art in it than Pleasure to the beholders and to say the truth the Flight is stately and most noble As it is less difficult to teach a Hawk to fly at Fowl than it is to come unto and love the Lure the first being natural and not the last so there is less industry to be used in making a Hawk fly the Hern than Water-fowl To the first she is instigated by a natural propensity and inclination to the latter she is brought with art pains and much diligence At the beginning of March Herns begin to make their Passage if therefore you will adapt your Faulcons for the Hern you must not let them fly longer at the River and withal you must pull them down to make them light which is done by giving them Hearts and flesh of Lambs and Calves also Chickens but give them no wild meats To the intent you may acquaint them one with the other so that they may the better fly the Hern and help one another you must call a cast of them to the Lure at once but have a care they crab not together for so they may endanger one another in their flight When your Hawk is scowred and clean and sharp set you must then get a live Hern upon the upper part of whose long sharp Bill you must place a joynt of a hollow Cane which will prevent her from hurting the Hawk that being done tie the Hern in a Creance then setting her on the ground unhood your Hawk who will fly the Hern as soon as shee sees her If she seize her make in apace to succour her and let her plume and take bloud of the Hern then take the Brains the Marrow of the Bones and the Heart and laying it on your Hawking-glove give it your Faulcon After this rip her Breast and let your Hawk feed thereon till she be well gorged this being done hood her up upon the Hern permitting her to plume at her pleasure then take her on your Fist and let her tire on the Foot or Pinion Because Herns are not very plentiful you may preserve one for a Train three or four times by arming Bill Head and Neck and painting it of the same colour that the Hern is of and when the Faulcon seizeth her you must be very nimble to make in and deceive her by a live Pidgeon clapt under the Wing of the Hern for the Faulcon which must be her Reward The Hawk having thus several times taken her Train without discovery of the delusion you may then let the Hern loose in some fair Field without a Greance or without arming her when she is up of a reasonable height you may cast off your Faulcon who if she bind with the Hern and bring her down then make in apace to rescue her thrusting the Hern's Bill into the ground and breaking his Wings and Legs that the Hawk may with more ease plume and foot him Then reward her as before with the Brains Marrow of the Bones and Heart making thereof an Italian Soppa Thus much of a Train-Hern Now to fly the wild Hern it is thus If you find a wild Hern at Siege win

them at Source make in to her quickly and cross the Fowl's Wings so that she may foot and plume it at her pleasure rewarding her as before After this take her on your Fist and let her tire and plume the Leg or Wing of the Fowl aforesaid When your Goshawk is throughly nouzled and well in bloud you may fly her twice a day or oftner rewarding her as before An excellent way to preserve a Goshawk in the time of her flying especially in hot weather Take a pint of red-rose-Red-rose-Water put it into a Bottle bruise one stick or two of green Liquorish and put in it likewise a little Mace and the quantity of a Wallnut of Sugar-candy and draw her meat through it twice or thrice a week as you shall find occasion It prevents the Phantass and several Diseases they are subject to besides it gives a huge Breath and gently scoureth her How to fly the Wild-goose or Crane with the Goshawk Having mann'd your Goshawk brought her to the Fist and train'd her with a Goose in the Field then seek out where Wild-geese Cranes or other large Wild-fowl lie having found them afar off alight and carry your Hawk unhooded behind your Horse stalking towards them until you have got pretty nigh them holding down your Hawk covert under the Horse's Neck or Body yet so that she may see the Fowl then you must raise them and casting off your Hawk if she kill reward her And thus she may kill four or five in a day In like manner you may make her to the Crane and may stalk to Fowl which lie in Ponds or Pits as aforesaid Here note that if you can fly at great slight the lesser Flights which will make your Hawk the bolder How to mew a Goshawk and draw her out of the Mew and make her Flying Having flown with a Goshawk Tiercel Soar or Haggard till March give her some good Quarry in her Foot and having seen her clean from Lice cut off the Buttons of her Jesses and throw her into the Mew which Room should be on the ground and scituated towards the North if possible Let the Pearches therein be lined with Canvas or Cotton for otherwise by hurting her Foot she may get the Gout or Pynn Let the Mew have also a Window towards the East and another Northward There must be also a Bason of Water in the Mew for bathing which must be shifted every three days Feed your Hawk with Pigeons or else with the hot Flesh of Weather-Mutton About the beginning of October if you find your Goshawk fair mew'd and hard penn'd then give her Chickens Lambs-hearts or Calves-hearts for about twenty days together to scour her and make her slise out the slimy substance and glitt out of her Pannel and enseam her Having done thus some Evening draw her out of the Mew and new furnish her with Jesses Bells Bewets and all other things needful for her then keep her seel'd two or three days till she will endure the Hood patiently for mewed Hawks are as impatient of the Hood as those newly taken When you have won her to endure the Hood then in an Evening by Candle-light you may unseel her and the next day shew her the Fist and Glove making her to tire and plume morning and evening giving her sometimes in the morning when her Gorge is empty a little Sugar-candy which will help her in an excellent manner to endew When you find your Goshawk feed eagerly and that you think in your judgement she is enseamed and that you may boldly fly with her then go with her into the Field she will then bate if empty and fly of her own accord if she kill feed and reward her but if she fly to the mark with a Partridge then must you retrive it and serve her as afore declared Some general Observations for an Ostrager or Falconer in Keeping and Reclaiming a GOSHAWK It frequently happens that a Goshawk or Tiercel where good in their Soarage become worse after they are mewed and the reason may be because she was not cherished nor encouraged to make her take delight in her Soarage For in a manner the major part of a Faulconer's skill consists in coying and kind usage of his Hawk so cherishing her that she may take delight in her Flight At the first entring of his Hawk he ought always to have a Train-Partridge in his Bag to serve her with when need requires to purchase her love and let him take such observations which may keep his Hawk always in good order As first he must know naturally all Goshawks are full of moist humours especially in the Head and therefore let him ply them with Tiring and Pluming morning and evening for that will open them in the Head and make them cast water thereat Let the Goshawk's tiring be a Rum of Beef a Pinion or the Leg of a Chicken given by the fire or in the warm Sun this not onely opens her Head but keeps her from slothfulness in good exercise Give her every night Casting of Feathers or Cotton and in the morning mark whether it be wrought round or not whether sweet or not whether moist or dry and of what colour the water is that drops out of the Casting by these means he shall know what condition his Hawk is in He also ought to regard her Mewts to see whether they be clean or not and give remedies accordingly He ought also to consider the season for in cold weather he must set his Hawk in some warm place where fire is made he must line the Pearch with Canvas or Cotton and must set it so far from the Wall that the Hawk hurt not her Feathers when she bateth If the weather be temperate he may then set her in the Sun-shine for an hour or two in the morning Let no Hens or Poultry come near the place where your Hawk doth Pearch and in the Spring offer her water every week or else she will soar away from you when she flieth and you may go look her If your Hawk bathe her self spontaneously in cold weather after her flight go presently to the next house and weather her with her Back to the fire and not her Gorge for that will make her sick and dry your Hawk if you have carried her in the Rain A good Faulconer will always keep his Hawk high and lusty yet so that she may be always in a condition to fly best Also he must keep his Hawk clean and her Feathers whole and if a Feather be broken or bruised he must presently imp it and to that end he must have his Imping-needles his Semond with other Instruments always in readiness The first year it is most requisite to fly your Goshawk to the Field and not to the Covert for so they will learn to hold out and not turn tail in the midst of their slight and when they are mewed Hawks you may make them do what you will and it is better to

your Hawks the quantity of a Bean thereof with their meat If they will not take it so put it into a Hens Gut tied at both ends and let him stand empty an hour after Of the Formica This is a Distemper which commonly seizeth on the Horn of Hawks Beaks which will eat the Beak away and this is occasioned by a Worm as most men are of opinion You may perceive it by this the Beak will grow rugged and it will begin to separate from the Head To remedy this Malady you must take the Gall of a Bull and break it into a Dish and adde thereto the powder of Aloes-Succatrine mingle these well together and anoint the Clap or Beak of your Hawk therewith and the very place where the Formica grows twice a day but touch not her Eyes or Nares continue thus doing till your Hawk be perfectly cured and bathe her with Orpiment and Pepper to keep her from other Vermin Of the Frownce The Frownce proceedeth from moist and cold Humours which descend from the Hawk's Head to the Palate and root of the Tongue by means whereof they lose their appetite and cannot close their Clap. This by some is called the Eagles-bane for she seldom dieth of age but of the over-growing of her Beak You may know if your Hawk be troubled with this Distemper by opening her Beak and seeing whether her Tongue be swoln or no if it be she hath it There are several ways to cure this Distemper but the best that ever yet I could find for it is onely to take the powder of Alume reduced to a Salve with strong wine-vinegar and wash the Hawk's Mouth therewith To cure the dry Frownce Take a Quill and cut it in the shape of a Pen and at the other end tie a fine little Rag with one end scrape off the white Skin which you will see in the Mouth or Throat of your Hawk until it bleedeth then with the other end wash it with the juice of Lemon or White-wine-Vinegar very clean then take a little burnt Alume and some of a Shoe-soal burnt upon Wood-coals and beaten to powder mix them and lay them on the place or places but let your Hawk have no meat above nor be ready to be fed by this I have cured many Of the Pip. The Pip frequently troubleth Hawks as it doth Chickens and proceedeth from cold and moistness of the Head or from feeding on gross meat not well washt in warm Water in the Winter and cold Water in the Summer The Symptoms of this Distemper are the Hawk's frequent Sniting and making a noise twice or thrice in her Sniting For the Cure hereof you must cast your Hawk gently and look upon the tip of her Tongue and if you find the Pip there you must scour her with a Pill made of Agarick and Hiera picra given two or three days together with her Casting at night this will cleanse her Head and the sooner if she be made to tire against the Sun in the Morning Then bind a little Cotton to the end of a Stick and dipping it in good Rose-water wash her Tongue therewith after this anoint it three or four days with Oyl of sweet Almonds and Oyl-olive well washed as aforesaid Having so done you will find the Pip all white and soft then take an Awl and with the point thereof lift up the Pip softly and remove it as Women pip ther Chickens but remove it not till it be throughly ripe and wet her Tongue and Palate twice or thrice a day with the aforesaid Oyl till she be throughly cured How to remedy that Hawk which Endeweth not nor Putteth over as she should do This happens either by being foul within or by a Surfeit or else when she was low and poor her Keeper over-gorged her by being too hasty to set her up and she being weak was not able to put over and endew and surfeited thereupon The Cure whereof is this You must feed her with light meats and a little at once as with young Rats and and Mice Chickens or Mutton dipt in Goats-milk or otherwise or give her a quarter of a Gorge of the yolk of an Egg. If you feed her with the flesh of any living Fowl first steep it well in the blood of the same Fowl so shall your Hawk mount her flesh apace if you also scour her with Pills made of Lard Marrow of Beef Sugar and Saffron mixed together and given her three mornings together giving her also a reasonable Gorge two hours after How to make a Hawk feed eagerly that hath lost her Appetite without bringing her low A Hawk may lose her Appetite by taking too great Gorges in the Evening which she cannot well endew or by being foul in the Pannel or sometimes by Colds To remedy which take Aloes Succotrina boil'd Sugar and Beef marrow of each alike onely less of the Aloes incorporate these and make them into Balls or Pills as big as Beans and give of them to your Hawk and hold her in the Sun till she hath cast up the filth and slime within her then feed her not till noon at which time give her good meat and three days after for the same Disease it is good tiring on Stock-doves small Birds Rats or Mice How to raise a Hawk that is low and poor The Poverty of a Hawk happens several ways either by the ignorance of the Faulconer of some latent lurking Distemper or by her soaring away and so being lost four or five days in which time finding little or no Prey she becomes poor and lean To set her up you must feed her a little at once and often with good meat and of light digestion as small Birds Rats Mice c. Or thus take two spoonfuls of Honey four of fresh Butter and boil them together in a new earthen pot of Water then take Pork well washed and steep it in that Water giving your Hawk a reasonable Gorge thereof twice a day warming the said Water when you intend to feed your Hawk and get some Snails that breed in running Waters and give them her in the morning and they will not onely scour away the gross slimy humours which are within but also nourish her exceedingly How to remedy a Hawk that is slothful and is averse to flying A Hawk frequently hath no minde to fly either by reason of her ill keeping that is when she is kept by those who know not how to give her her Rights as bouzing bathing c. or because the Hawk is too high and full of grease or too poor and low by the first she becomes proud and coy and by the latter so weak that she wants strength and spirit to perform it For the curing of which Distemper she ought to be thoroughly view'd by some skilful Faulconer by whom such Remedies should be administred to her as are needful for her but above all there is nothing like giving her in a morning three or four Pills of

cool and so stop up the holes Whilst you are casting your Shot another person may catch some of the Shot with another Ladle placed four or five inches underneath the bottom of the plate in the water and by that means you may discern if there are any defects in your process and rectifie them The chief business is to keep your Lead in a just degree of heat that it be not so cold as to fill up the holes nor so hot as to make the Shot crack To remedy the coolness of your Lead and plate you must blow your Coals to remedy the beat you must refrain working till it be cool enough observing that the cooler your Lead the larger your Shot the hotter the smaller When you have cast your Shot take them out of the water and dry them over the fire with a gentle heat and be sure to keep them continually stirred that they melt not When they are dry you are to separate the great Shot from the small by the help of Sieves made on purpose according to their several sizes If you would have very large Shot you may with a stick force the Lead to trickle out of your Ladle into the water without the plate If it stop on the plate and yet the plate be not too cool give but the plate a little knock and it will run again Take care that none of your Instruments be greasie When you have separated your Shot if any prove too large for your purpose or any ways imperfect 't is only your pains lost and it will serve again at your next operation In shooting observe always to shoot with the wind if possible and not against it and rather side-ways or behind the Fowl than full in their faces Next observe to chuse the most convenient shelter you can find as either Hedge Bank Tree or any thing else which may abscond you from the view of the Fowl Be sure to have your Dog at your heels under good command not daring to stir till you bid him having first discharged your Piece for some ill-taught Dogs will upon the snap of the Cock presently rush out and spoil all the sport Now if you have not shelter enough by reason of the nakedness of the Banks and want of Trees you must creep upon your hands and knees under the Banks and lying even flat upon your Belly put the nose of your Piece over the Bank and so take your level for a Fowl is so fearful of man that though an Hawk were soaring over her head yet at the sight of a man she would betake her self to her wing and run the risque of that danger But sometime it so happeneth that the Fowl are so shie there is no getting a shoot at them without a Stalking-horse which must be some old Jade trained up for that purpose who will gently and as you will have him walk up and down in the water which way you please flodding and eating on the Grass that grows therein You must shelter your self and Gun behind his foreshoulder bending your body down low by his side and keeping his body still full between you and the Fowl being within shot take your level from before the forepart of the Horse shooting as it were between the horses Neck and the water which is much better than shooting under his Belly being more secure and less perceiveable Now to supply the want of a Stalking-horse which will take up a great deal of time to instruct and make fit for this exercise you may make one of any pieces of old Canyas which you must shape into the form of an Horse with the head bending downwards as if he grazed You may stuff it with any light matter and do not forget to paint it of the colour of an horse of which the brown is the best and in the midst let it be fix'd to a Staff with a sharp Iron at the end to stick into the ground as you shall see occasion standing fast whilst you take your level It must be made so portable that you may bear it with ease in one hand moving it so as it may seem to graze as you go Let the stature of your artificial Stalking-horse be neither too low nor too high for the one will not abscond your body and the other will be apt to frighten the Fowl Instead of this Stalking-horse you may fashion out of Canvas painted an Ox or Cow and this change is necessary when you have so beaten the Fowl with your Stalking-horse that they begin to find your deceit and will no longer endure it as it frequently falls out Then you may stalk with an Ox or Cow till the Stalking-horse be forgotten and by this means make your sport lasting and continual Some there are that stalk with Stags or Red-Deer form'd out of painted Canvas with the natural Horns of Stags fixt thereon and the colour so lively painted that the Fowl cannot discern the fallacy and these are very useful in low Fenny grounds where any such Deer do usually feed and are more familiar with the Fowl and so feed nearer them than Ox Horse or Cow by which means you shall come within a far nearer distance There are other dead Engines to stalk withal as an artificial Tree Shrub or Bush which may be made of small Wands and with painted Canvas made into the shape of a Willow Poplar or such Trees as grow by Rivers and Water-sides for these are the best If you stalk with a Shrub or Bush let them not be so tall as your Tree but much thicker which you may make either of one entire Bush or of divers Bushes interwoven one with another either with small Withy-wands Cord or Pack-thread that may not be discerned and let not your Bush exceed the height of a man but be thicker than four or five with a Spike at the bottom to stick into the ground whilst you take your level How to take all manner of Land fowl by day or night SInce the dissolution and spoil of Paradise no man hath either seen or can give the names of all Land-fowl whatever there being such great variety every Country producing some particular sorts which are unknown to other Nations To avoid prolixity I shall rank them under two heads The first are such who are either fit for Food or Pleasure either for eating or singing for eating Pigeons of all sorts Rook Pheasant Partridge Quails Rail Felfares c. and for eating or singing the Blackbird Throstle Nightingale Linnet Lark and Bull-finch Secondly such as are for Pleasure onely and they are all manner of birds of Prey as Castrels Ring-tails Buzzards c. The general way of taking these Land-fowl of several sorts together is either by day or by night If by day it is done with the great Net commonly called the Crow-net and not at all differs in length depth bigness of Mesh manner of laying c. from the Plovernet onely it will not be amiss if

their own Feather to stoop but but also Hawks and Birds of Prey to swoop into your Nets Remember to keep the first half dozen you take alive for Stales and to that end have a Cage or Linnen-bag to put them in The rest squeez in the hinder-part of the head and so kill them And thus do every day Of taking small Birds which use Hedges and Bushes with Lime-twigs THe great Lime-bush is best for this use which you must make after this manner Cut down the main Arm or chief Bough of any bushy Tree whose branches or Twigs are long thick smooth and straight without either pricks or knots of which the Willow or Birch-tree are the best when you have pickt it and trimm'd it from all superfluity making the Twigs neat and clean take then of the best Bird-lime well mixed and wrought together with Goose-greace or Capon's-greace which being warmed lime every Twig therewith within four fingers of the bottom The body from whence the branches have their rise must be untouch'd with Lime Be sure you do not dawb you Twigs with too much Lime for that will give distaste to the Birds yet let none want its proportion or have any part left bare which ought to be toucht for as too much will deter them from coming so too little will not hold them when they are there Having so done place your Bush on some Quick-set or dead Hedge neer unto Towns-ends back-yards old houses or the like for these are the resort of small Birds in the Spring-time in the Summer and Harvest in Groves Bushes White-thorn-trees Quick-set-hedges neer Corn-fields Fruit-trees Flax and Hemp-lands and in the winter about Houses Hovels Barns Stacks or those places where stand ricks of Corn or scattered Chaff c. As near as you can to any of these haunts plant your Lime-bush and plant your self also at a convenient distance undiscovered imitating with your mouth the several Notes of Birds which you must learn by frequent practice walking the Fields for that very purpose often observing the variety of several birds sounds especially such as they call one another by I have known some so expert herein that they could imitate the Notes of twenty several sorts of Birds at least by which they have caught ten Birds to anothers one that was ignorant therein But if you cannot attain to it by your industry you must then buy a Bird-call of which there are several sorts and easie to be framed some of Wood some of Horn some of Cane and the like Having first learned how to use this Call you shall sit and call the Birds unto you and as any of them light on your Bush step not to them till you see them sufficiently entangled Neither is it requisite to run for every single Bird but let them alone till more come for their fluttering is as good as a Stale to entice more This Exercise you may use from Sun-Rising till ten a clock in the Morning and from one till almost Sun-set You may take these small Birds with Lime-twigs onely without the Bush. When I was a boy I have taken two or three hundred small Twigs about the bigness of Rushes and about three Inches long and have gone with them into a field where were Hemp-cocks upon the tops of half a score lying all round together I have stuck my Twigs and then have gone and beat that field or the next to it where I saw any Birds and commonly in such fields there are infinite numbers of Linnets and Green-birds which are great lovers of Hemp-seed I say they fly in such vast flocks I have caught at one fall of them upon the Cocks eight dozen at a time But to return there is a pretty way of taking Birds with Lime-twigs by placing near them a Stale or two made of living Night-baits placing them aloft that they may be visible to the Birds thereabouts which will no sooner be perceived but every Bird will come and gaze wondering at the strangeness of the sight then they having no other convenient lighting-place but where the Lime-twigs are you may take what number you list of them But the Owl is a far better Stale than the Bat being bigger and more easily to be perceived besides he is never seen abroad but he is followed and persecuted by all the birds near adjacent If you have not a living Bat or Owl their skins will serve as well being stuffed and will last you twenty years There are some have used an Owl cut in Wood and naturally painted with wonderful success It is strange to me that this Bird above all others should be so persecuted by all Birds whatsoever especially by the Goose and therefore some arch Cracks in Lincoln-shire and other places where are great quantities of Geese observing their tempers have made great advantage of them for by only throwing a live Owl among a flock of Geese they got as many Quills as they knew what to do with for the Geese endeavouring to beat the Owl with their wings never left till they did beat the Quills out of their wings and commonly the best which are Seconds How to make the best sort of Bird-lime and how to use it TAke at Midsummer the bark of Holly and pill it from the Tree so much as will fill a reasonable big Vessel then put to it running Water and set it over the fire and boil it till the grey and white bark rise from the green which will take up sixteen hours in the boiling then take it from the fire and separate the barks after the water is very well drain'd away then take all the green bark and lay it on the ground in a close place and moist floor and cover it over with all manner of green Weeds as Hemlock Docks Thistles and the like thus let it lie ten or twelve days in which time it will rot and turn to a filthy slimy matter Then take it and put it into a Mortar and there beat it till it become universally thick and tough without the discerning of any part of the bark or other substance then take it out of the Mortar and carry it to a running Stream and there wash it exceedingly not leaving any more or foulness within it then put it up in a very close Earthen pot and let it stand and purge for divers days together scumming it as often as any foulness arises for four or five days when you perceive no more Scum you shall then take it out of that Pot and put it into another clean Earthen Vessel cover it close and keep it for your use When you are about to use your Lime take what quantity you think fit and put it into a Pipkin adding thereto a third part of Goose-greace or Capons-greace finely clarified and set them over a gentle fire and there let them melt together and stir them continually till they are well incorporated then take it from the fire and stir it till it be

You must also use words of cherishing to give him encouragement when he does well and in all these words you must be constant and let them be attended with spitting in his mouth or cherishing of the hand There is also a word of Advice instructing him when he does amiss Having made him understand these several words you must next teach him to lead in a string or Collar orderly not running too forward nor hanging backward After this you must teach him to come close at your heels without leading for he must not range by any means unless it be to beat Fowl from their Covert or to fetch the wounded In the next place you must teach him to fetch and carry any thing you throw out of your hands And first try him with the Glove shaking it over his Head and making him snap at it and sometimes let him hold it in his mouth and strive to pull it from him and at last throw it a little way and let him worry it on the ground and so by degrees make him bring it you where-ever you throw it From the Glove you may teach him to fetch Cudgels Bags Nets c. If you use him to carry dead Fowl it will not be amiss for by that means he will not tear or bruise what Fowl you shoot Having perfected this Lesson drop something behind you which the Dog doth not see and being gone a little way from it send him back to seek it by saying Back I have lost If he seem amazed point with your Finger urging him to seek out and leave him not till he hath done it Then drop something at a greater distance and make him find out that too till you have brought him to go back a mile Now may you train him up for your Gun making him stalk after you step by step or else couch and lie close till you have shot Many more necessary Rules there are which for brevity sake I must omit The last use of the Water-dog is in moulting-time when Wild-fowl cast their Feathers and are unable to fly which is between Summer and Autumn at this time bring your Dog to their Coverts and hunt them out into the stream and there with your Nets surprize them driving them into them for at this time sheep will not drive more easily And though some may object that this sickly time is unseasonable yet if they consider what excellent food these Fowl will prove when cramm'd the taking of them may be very excusable I have eaten of them after they have been fed a while with Livers of Beast Whey Curds Barley Paste scalded Bran and such-like they have proved exceeding fat and have tasted not so fishy as they do by their natural feeding but exceeding sweet and deserve to be preferred before any Fowl whatever How to take preserve and keep all sorts of Singing-birds that are commonly known in England Giving also an account of their Nature Breeding Feeding Diseases of the same with their Remedies IN the preceeding Discourse I have given you a Summary account of the several ways and artifices which are used to take either Land-fowl or Fowl properly belonging to the Water Upon second thoughts I look upon this Third part of the Gentlemans Recreation called a Treatise of Fowling imperfect if I add not now what I omitted before a small Essay as to the Taking Preserving and Keeping all sorts of Singing-birds commonly known in these his Majesties three Kingdoms They are thus called The Nightingal The Black-bird The Wood-lark The Linnet The Chaff-finch The Rob. Red-breast The Starling The Tit-lark The Bull-finch The Canary-bird The Throstle The Skie-lark The Gold-finch The Green-finch The Wren The Red-start The Hedgesparrow Lastly their Diseases and Cures Of the NIGHTINGAL ACcording to the judgment of most men the Nightingale carries the Bell from all other Singing-birds opening her charming Mouth not onely sweetly but with much variety of pleasant Notes It is but a small Bird yet hath a loud voice which made the Poet call her ----- Vox praeterea nihil They are so well known a description of them would be needless and are not onely esteemed of here but in Italy and other parts They appear to us at the latter end of March or beginning of April and very few know where they inhabit all the Winter some think they sleep all that season She makes her Nest commonly about two foot above ground either in thick Quick-set-hedges or in Beds of Nettles where old Quick-set hath been thrown together She hatcheth her young ones about the beginning of May and naturally delights to frequent cool places where small Brooks are garnished with pleasant Groves and Quick-set-hedges are not far distant That Nightingale which in my opinion is the best to keep is he that is the earliest Bird of the Spring for he will sing the better having more time to hear the Old one sing than those that are hatched later The young Nightingales must be taken out of their Nests when they are indifferently well fledg'd in a mediocrity for if well feathered they will become sullen and if too little they are so tender the cold will kill them For their meat give them lean Beef Sheeps-heart or Bullocks-heart taking away first the fat Skin that covereth it and take away the Sinews after this soak the like quantity of white Bread in water and squeeze out some of the water then mince it small then feed them with a Stick taking upon the point thereof the quantity of a Grey Pea and give every one of them three or four such gobbets in an hour as long as they shall endure to be in the Nest when they are able to flie out of the Nest then put them into a Cage with several Pearches for them to sit upon and line them with some green Bays for they are very subject to the Cramp at first and at the bottom of the Cage put in some Moss or Hey as well for other Birds as the Nightingale it is safe to line their Cages against Winter or keep them in some warm place When they are first Caged continue for a while to put some of their Meat by them mingled with Ants which will induce them to feed themselves In the Summer you must feed them every day with fresh Meat otherwise it will quickly grow stale or stink When they begin to moult give them half Egg hard boiled and half Sheeps-heart mingled with Saffron and Water Here note Duck-eggs will kill them you may give them sometimes red Worms Caterpillars and Hog-lice Meal-worms make them familiar suffering them to take them out of your hand The way of taking Old and Young is thus For the Young observe where the Cock sings and if he sings long the Hen is not far from that place who oftentimes betrays her Off-spring by being too careful for when you come near her Nest she will Sweet and Cur if notwithstanding this you cannot find her Nest stick a

to their Diseases and Cures observe this that at the latter end of August they grow very fat either abroad or in a Cage when it begins to abate when they do not sing it is a dangerous signe wherefore to remedy this keep them very warm giving them Saffron in their meat or water when you perceive the growth of their fat purge them thrice a Week for a Month either with a Worm which is found in Pigeon-houses or with a speckled Spider which you may find plentifully about Vines Currans or Goose-berry-bushes in August and at no time else If they are melancholy put into their Drinking-pot some Liquorish with a little white Sugar-candy giving them to feed on Sheeps-heart shred small some Meal-worms and Eggs mingled with Pismires It is strange that some of these Birds when fat will fast three weeks which I have known but it is better when they eat Nightingales kept in a Cage two or three years are subject to the Gout for their Cure take fresh Butter and anoint their Feet four or five days and they will be well again Here note that for want of keeping them clean their Feet are clog'd and then their Claws will rot off and are subject to Gout and Cramp and will take no delight in themselves to prevent these mischiefs put dry Sand into the bottom of their Cages They are likewise troubled with Aposthumes and breaking out about their Eyes and Neb for which use Gapons-grease And thus much of the Diseases of the Nightingale Of the CANARY-BIRD THough many of these Birds are lately brought from Germany and therefore are called by the name of that Country yet undoubtedly their Original proceeded from the Canary-Islands They are in colour much like our Green-birds but differ much in their Song and Nature and in this they differ from all Birds For as others are subject to be fat the Cocks of these never are by reason of the greatness of their mettle and their lavish singing either of these will not suffer him to keep hardly flesh upon his back The best of them are shaped long standing straight and boldly Before you buy either these German or Canary-birds hear them sing and then you will know how to please your Ear or fancy either with Sweet-song Lavish-note or Long-song which is best having most variety of Notes Some like those that whisk and chew like unto a Tit-lark others are for those that begin like a Skie-lark and so continue their Song with a long yet sweet Note a third sort are for those that begin their Song with the Skie-lark and then run upon the Notes of the Nightingale which is very pleasant if he does it well The last is for a loud Note and lavish regarding no more in it than a noise If you would know whether your Canary-bird be in health before you purchase him take him out of the Store-cage and put him into a clean Cage alone where if he stand boldly without crouching without shrinking Feathers and his Eyes looking brisk and chearfully these are good signes of a healthy Bird But now observe if he bolts his Tail like a Nightingale after he hath dunged if shews he is not well though he seem lively for the present there is some Distemper near attending likewise if he either dung very thin and watry or of a slimy white and no blackness in it these are dangerous signes of death approaching These Birds are subject to many Diseases as Imposthumes which afflict their head and are of a yellow colour causing a great heaviness and withal a falling from the Pearch and death ensuing if this Malady be not speedily cured The most approved Cure is to make an Ointment of fresh Butter and Capons-grease melted together and anoint therewith the Bird's Imposthume three or four days together if it become soft open it gently and let out the matter then anoint the place with some of the same Ointment and this will immediately cure him during the Cure give him Figs and Liquorish and white Sugar-candy in his Water Canary-birds above three years old are called Runts at two years old they are called Eriffs and those of the first year are called Branchers when they are new flown and cannot feed themselves they are called Pushers and those that are brought up by hand Nestlings Now since there are but few Canary-birds which breed in England it being so great a trouble to look after them I shall here insert nothing concerning the ordering when they intend or begin to build what things are necessary for them when they begin to breed how to order them when they have young ones or how to breed the young ones when taken out of the Nest Those who intend to be informed of every thing hereunto belonging may easily be instructed by applying themselves to several Germans in and about the City who make it their business to breed Canary-birds after the best German fashion Of the BLACK-BIRD AS some do esteem the Nightingale to be the best Singing-bird in the World so in my opinion the Black-bird is the worst yet they are as frequently kept as their betters and are in great estimation amongst the Vulgar for no other reason that I know than for the loudness and coarseness of his Song as they are Borish in their Speech and have little but rusticity in their Conditions To be short he is better to be eaten than kept and is much sweeter to the Palate when dead than to the Ear when living She builds her Nest upon old Stumps of Trees by Ditch-sides or in thick Hedges As they begin betimes that is in the beginning of March when many times the Woods are full of Snow so they breed often that is three or four times a year according as they lose their Nest. The young Black-birds are brought up almost with any meat whatsoever but above all they love Ground-worms Sheeps-heart hard Eggs and white Bread and Milk mixt together This Bird sings somewhat more than three months in the year his Note as I said is harsh therefore to adde a value to him let him be taught to whistle yet put Song and Whistle together in my judgment it is fitter for a large Inne than a Lady's Chamber Of the THROSTLE OF Throstles there be five kinds the Mistle-throstle the Northern-throstle or Felfare the Wind-throstle the Wood-song-throstle and the Heath-throstle The first is the largest of all the five and the most beautiful it feeds for the most part on the Berries of Mistletoe and since that they are so good against the Falling-sickness and Convulsions these Throstles when dried and pulverized and drank in the water of Mistletoe or black-cherry-Black-cherry-water are much more effectual against those two Distempers He sings but little and therefore though the young ones are easie to be brought up being hardy yet he is not worth the keeping for his Notes are rambling and confused yet not lavish neither The second is the Felfare who comes into England before

suffering them to sink to which end you must not use a Plummet You may easily hear the Fish rise and therefore give him some time to swallow your Bait then strike him gently If he will not take it at the top sink your Bait by adding some Lead and order your self as at Day-angling on the Ground I have frequently experienced it that the best Trouts bite in the Night rising most commonly in the still Deeps but unusually in the Streams Instead of these Garden-worms you may use a black Snail or a piece of Velvet in its likeness this is a most excellent Night-bait for a Trout and nothing like the black Snail for a Chub in the Morning early You may bait your Hook with a Minnow for a Trout thus put your Hook through the point of his lower Chap and draw it through then put your Hook in at his Mouth and bring the point to his Tail then draw your Line straight and it will bring him into a round compass But be sure you so order his Mouth that the Water get not in What times are seasonable and what unseasonable to Angle in CAlm and clear weather is very good to angle in but cool cloudy weather in Summer is best but it must not be so boisterously windy as that you cannot guide your Tackle The cooler the weather is in hottest Months the better it is and if a sudden violent shour hath disturbed and muddied the River then is your time to angle in the Stream at the ground with a red Worm Likewise a little before the Fish spawn is a very good time for Angling for then their Bellies being full they come into sandy Fords and there rub their Bellies to loosen them at which time they will bite very freely If you intend to fish for Carp and Tench you must commence your sport early in the Morning fishing from Sun-rising till eight of the Clock and from four in the Afternoon till Night and in hot Months till it be very late In the heat of Summer Carps will shew themselves on the very Rim of the water at which time if you fish with a Lob-worm as you do with a Fly natural you will have excellent sport especially if it be among Reeds In March April September and all the Winter in which season Fish swim deep very near the Ground I say in those Months it is best fishing in a clear serene warm day for then they bite fastest But all the Summer-time Mornings Evenings and cool cloudy weather are the best times for Angling Here note that by experience you will find that Fish rise best at the Fly after a shour of Rain that have onely beaten the Gnats and Flies into the River without muddying them The proper Moneths and times of the day for the Fly are March April May and the beginning of June in which Months let your times be in the Morning about nine and between three and four in the Afternoon A warm Evening is very seasonable if the Gnats play much After a clear Moon shiny-night if the day succeeding prove cloudy it is a very good time for Angling for having abstained from food all the night for they will not stir for fear in bright nights the next day they become hungry and eager and the gloominess of the day makes them bite boldly At the opening of Sluces or Mill-dams go along with the course of the water and you will find Trouts and other fish will then come out to seek for what food the water brings down with it Having shewn you what seasons are most proper and profitable to Angle in I will demonstrate to you such as are not And First In the extremity of Heat when the Earth is parched with Drought there is little sport to be obtained especially in muddy or clear shallow Rivers Secondly In the Winter or Spring-time when there happeneth any hoary Frost then will not the fish bite kindly all that day unless it be in the Evening and if that prove serene and pleasant but it is not convenient to fish at any time when the Wind bloweth so high that you cannot manage your Tools to advantage Thirdly Sheep-shearing time is an an Enemy to the Angler for then the Fish glut themselves with what is washt off the Sheep and will scarcely bite till that season be over Likewise sharp East and North nipping-winds do very much prejudice the Anglers Recreation neither is it good to fish immediately after Spawning-time for at that time their appetite is much abated It is a very strange thing to consider the natural instinct in Fish in foreknowing the approach of a showr of Rain for I have tried that upon the rise of a Gloud that threatned a sudden Showr they would not bite from which observation I have often sav'd my self from being wet to the Skin Lastly If the preceding night prove dark and cloudy the succeeding day will prove ineffectual for fishing unless for small fish for at such times the great ones prey abroad for the lesser who by instinct knowing the danger hide themselves till the Morning and having fasted all night become then very hungry whilst the great ones having gorg'd themselves lie absconded all the day long The next thing we shall insist on is the way of taking several sorts of fish as they are here alphabetically set down with several proper Baits according to the best of experiences Of the BARBEL THE Barbel is so called by reason of the Barb which is under his Nose or Chaps He is a leather-mouth'd-fish that is such a one as will not break his hold when hook d but will frequently break if big both Rod and Line They swim together in great Shoals and are at worst in April though not very good at any time The places where he loves most to resort are where Weeds grow or in a gravelly rising ground wherein he will dig and root like a Hog with his Nose not but that he frequents the strongest swifts of water sometimes as deep Bridges or Wears where he will so settle himself among the Piles and hollow places or amongst Moss or Weeds that let the Water be never so swift he will remain immoveable This is his custome in the Summer-time after which times he retires into deep waters and there helps the Female to dig a hole in the Sand for her to hide her Spawn from being devoured by other Fish This Fish is of a delicate Cast and handsome shape with small Scales placed after a most curious manner and as his shape is curious so is his palate for he will not eat any thing but what is clean and therefore if you intend to make any sport with him your Bait must be very well scowred The best for him is a Lob-worm at which he will bite boldly if you bait your ground the night before with big worms cut in pieces For him you can never bait the Ground too much nor can you fish for him too

is nothing else but taking in the day-time a strong Line and Hook baited with a Lob or Garden-worm and marking such Holes and places where the Eels use to abscond themselves in the day-time near Wears Mills or Flood-gates and gently by the help of a Stick putting your bait into such holes where you imagine Eels are and if there be any you shall be sure to have a bite but then have a care you pull not too hard lest you spoil all Here note that the Top of your Stick must be cleft wherein you must put a strong Hook but of a narrow compass which Stick must guide the Bait into the Hole where the Eel is by which means if your Tackling hold you may get as large Eels as any are in the River Mill-pond or Flood-gate c. And as this way of fishing is called Sniggling so it is called Broggling for Eels Bobbing fot Eels is done after another manner that is Take very large Lobs scowr them well and with a Needle run some strong-twisted Silk through them from end to end take so many as that you may wrap them about a board a dozen times at least then tie them fast with the two ends of the Silk that they may hang in so many Hanks then fasten all to a strong Cord and about a handful and a half above the Worms fasten a Plumb of three quarters of a pound in weight and fasten your Cord to a strong Pole having so done fish in muddy Water and you will feel the Eels tug lustily at them When you think they have swallowed them as far as they can gently draw up your Line till you have brought your Eels to the top of the water and then bring them ashore as fast as you can The Gentleman and an experienced Angler from whom I received this Instruction told me he hath taken six or seven large Eels at a time this very way There is another way also for taking of Eels though it be somewhat laborious and for that reason is best to be made use of in cold weather and that is by an Instrument called an Eel-spear it is made for the most part with three Forks or Teeth jagged on the sides but those are better that have four This you are to strike into the Mud at the bottom of the River and if you chance to light where they lie you need not fear taking them if your Instrument be good If you would take verv large Eels indeed bait your Night-hooks with small Roaches und let the Hooks lie in the Mouth of the Fish Of the FLOUNDER I shall not go about to tell you the nature of a Flounder or give you his description since he is a Fish so well known to every one In April May June and July you may fish for the Flounder all day long either in a swift Stream or in the still Deep but best in the Stream Your most proper Baits are all sorts of red Worms Wasps and Gentles Of the GRAILING WHen you angle for the Grailing you must head your Hook upon the Shank with a very slender narrow plate of Lead and let it be slenderest at the bent of the Hook that the Bait which must be a large Grashoper may with more facility come over it At the point let there be a Cad bait and keep the bait in continual Motion and forget not to pull off the Grashopper's Wings which are uppermost In the Months of March and April there is an excellent Bait for the Grailing which is called a Tag-tail This worm is of a pale Flesh-colour with a yellow Tag on his Tail somewhat less then half an Inch long which is to be found in Marled Grounds and Meadows in fair weather but not to be seen in cold weather or after a showre of Rain Of the GUDGEON THe Gudgeon though small is a fish of so pleasant a taste that in my opinion it is very little inferiour to the Smelt I need not describe him he is so well known He spawns three or four times in the Summer season His feeding is much like the Barbel's in sharp Streams and on Gravel slighting all manner of Flies He is easily taken with a small red Worm fishing near the ground This Fish is Leather-mouthed and will not easily be lost off the Hook when struck You may fish for him with Float your Hook being on the ground or by hand with a running line on the ground without either Cork or Float Wasps Gentles and Cad-baits are good baits for the Gudgeon but the small Red worm the best you may fish for them with two or three hooks at once and find very pleasant sport where they rise any thing large When you Angle for them stir up the Sand or Gravel with a long Pole which will make them gather to that place and bite faster and with more eagerness Of the GUINIAD I Cannot say much of this Fish only that it is excellent food and therefore I shall conclude my discourse of the Guiniad with a very strange observation and that is This Fish is not found any where but in a large Water called Pemble-Mere but that which is most remarkable is this That the River which runs by Chester hath its Head or Fountain in Merionith shire and in its course runs through this Pemble-Mere which abounds as much with Guiniads as the River Dee doth with Salmon of each both affording great plenty and yet it was never known that any Salmon was ever caught in the Mere nor ever any Guiniads taken in the River When d ee that in his course fain in her lap would lie Commixtion with her store his stream she doth deny By his complexion prov'd as he through her doth glide Her Wealth again from his she likewise doth divide Those white fish that in her do wondrously abound Are never seen in him nor are his Salmons found At any time in her but as she him disdains So he again from her as wilfully abstains Draytons Polyolb Song 9. Of the LOACH THe Loach though a small yet a dainty fish his breeding and feeding is in little and clear swift Brooks or Rivulets here and in sharp Streams Gravel is his usual food He is small and slender seldom exceeding three Inches in length he is bearded like a Barbel having two Fins at his sides four at his Belly and onely one at his Tail and is freckled with many black or brown spots This Loach is commonly full of Spawn which is with the flesh a very grateful food to weak Stomacks affording great Nourishment He is to be taken with a very small Worm neer the ground for he delights to be neer the Gravel and therefore is seldom seen on the top of the water Of the MINNOW THe Minnow is a fish without Scales and one of the least of the watry Inhabitants but for excellency of meat he may in my opinion be compared to any fish of greatest value and largest size and little things

end leave about a yard either to tie a bunch of Flags or a Bladder to buoy up the Fish and to carry it from the ground The Bait must be a live fish either Dace Gudgeon Roach or small Trout The forked stick must have a slit in the one side of the Fork to put in the Line that he may set his live fish to swim at a gage that when a Pike taketh the Bait he may have the full liberty of the line for his feed He may turn these loose either in Pond or River in the Pond with the Wind all day long the more the better at night let him set some small weight that he may stay the Buoy till the Fish taketh it For the River he must turn all loose with the Stream the Hooks must be double the Shanks must be somewhat shorter then ordinary for the shorter the Hook is off the Shank without doubt it will less hurt the fish and it must be armed with small Wyre well softned but certainly a hook armed with twisted Silk is better If you arm your hook with Wyre the Needle must be made with an Eye then must he take one of those living Baits and with one of his Needles enter within a Straws breadth of the Gill of the Fish so pull the Needle betwixt the Skin and the Fish then pull the Needle out at the hindmost Fin and draw the Arming thorough the Fish until the Hook come to lie close to the Fishes Body having so done let him put off in Meere or pond with the Wind in the River with the Stream the more that he pulls off in Meere or Pond he is the likelier to have the greater Pastime There is a time when Pikes go a Frogging in Ditches and in the River to Sun them as in May June and July at these times you shall hardly miss one in twenty and thus must the Angler deal with them Let him take a Line of Seven or Eight foot and let him arm a large Hook of the largest size that is made and arm it to his Line let him lead the shank of his Hook neatly of such a weight that he may guide the Hook at his pleasure He may strike the Pike that he sees with the bare Hook where he pleases This Line and Hook doth far exceed Snaring In the taking of a Carp either in Pond or River if the Angler intends to add Profit to his Pleasure he must take a Peck of Ale-Grains and a good quantity of any Blood and mix the Grains together with which let him bait the Ground wherein he intends to Angle This feed will wonderfully attract the Scale-fish as Carp Tench Roach Dace and Bream In the Morning early let him prosecute his pastime plumbing his ground and Angling for a Carp with a strong Line the bait must be either paste or a knotted red Worm by this means he shall find sport enough In the Taking of a Trout with Ground-baits thus must the Angler do In the first place he must have a neat taper Rod light before with a tender Hazle top He may Angle with a single hair of five lengths one tied to the other for the bottom of the Line and a Line of three hair'd links for the upper part and so if he have room enough he may take the largest Trout that swims in the River He that angles with a line made of three hair'd links at the bottom and more at the top may take Trouts but he that Angles with one Hair shall take five Trouts to the others one For this Fish is very quick sighted therefore the Angler both day Night must keep out of sight He must Angle with the point of his Rod down the Stream He must begin to Angle in March with the Ground-baits all day long but if it prove clear and bright he must take the Morning and Evening or else his labour will be in vain He that Angles with Ground-baits must fit his Tackle to his Rod and begin at the upper end of the Stream carrying his Line with an upright hand feeling the Plummet running on the ground some ten Inches from the Hook plumbing his Line according to the swiftness of the Stream that he Angles in for one Plummet will not serve for all Streams For his Bait let him take the red knotted Worm which is very good where Brandlings are not to be had The Minnow or as some call it a Penk is a singular Bait for a Trout for he will come as boldly at it as a Mastiff-dog at a Bear It will be advantageous to him in his angling to use a Line made of three Silks and three Hairs twisted for the upper most part of the Line and two Silks and two Hairs twisted for the bottom next the Hook with a Swivel nigh to the middle of his Line with an indifferent large hook Let him bait his hook with a Minnow putting the hook through the lowermost part of his mouth so draw the Hook through then put the hook in at the mouth again and let the point of the hook come out at the hindmost Fin then let him draw his Line and the Minnows mouth will close that no Water will get into his Belly As I said before he must angle with the point of his Rod down the Stream drawing the Minnow up the Stream by little and little nigh the top of the Water the Trout seeing the bait will come most fiercely at it but the Angler must not then presently strike this is a true way without Lead for many times they will come to the Lead and forsake the Minnow The next direction is how to angle with a Fly for a Trout In the first place let the Angler fit himself with a Hazle of one piece or two set conveniently together light and pliable The lower part of his Line next the Fly must be of three or four hair'd Links but if he can attain as aforesaid to angle with a single Hair he shall meet with more profit and pleasure Before he begin to angle having the wind on his back let him try how far he can cast his Line or at what length his Fly and let him be careful that the Fly fall first on the Water for if any of the Line light upon the Water he had better to have stood still than to have thrown at all He must always cast down the Stream with the Wind behind and the Sun before him it is a great advantage to have either Sun or Moon before him March is the moneth for him to begin to angle with the Fly but if the Weather prove windy or cloudy there are several sorts of Palmers that are good at that time The first is a black Palmer ribbed with Silver The second a black Palmer with an Orange-tawny Body Thirdly a Palmer whose body is all black Lastly there is a red Palmer ribbed with Gold and a red Hackle mixed with Orange Cruel These Flies serve all the

Spade which is useful to dig amongst Roots having very sharp edges the flat broad Spade to dig withal when the Trench is better opened and the ground softer Mattocks and Pick-axes to dig in hard ground where a Spade will do but little service the Coal-rake to cleanse the Hole and to keep it from stopping up the Clamps whereby you may take a Fox or Badger out alive to make sport therewith afterwards And it would not be amiss to have a Pail of Water to refresh your Terriers after they are come out of the Earth to take breath In this order you may besiege a Fox or Badger in their strongest Holes or Castles and may break their Casmats Platforms Parapets and work to them with Mines and Counter-mines until you have obtained your satisfaction But there is a shorter method than this which by reason of its commonness I shall forbear to mention Of the Otter IT is supposed by some that the Otter is of the kind of Beavers being it is an amphibious creature living both in the Water and on the Land besides the outward form of the parts beareth a similitude of that beast Some say were his tail off he were in all parts like a Beaver differing in nothing but habitation For the Beaver frequenteth both the Salt-water and the Fresh but the Otter never goeth to the Salt Though the Otter live in the Water yet it doth not breath like Fishes through the benefit of the Water it doth breath like other four-footed beasts yet it will remain a long time underneath the Water without respiration If he want prey in the Waters then will he quit them for the Land and if by painful hunting ashore he cannot fill his belly he will feed on Herbs Snails or Frogs neither will he take less pains in the water to satisfie hunger for he will swim two miles together against the stream that so when his belly is full the current of the stream may carry him down again to his designed Lodging which is near the water very artificially built with boughs sprigs and sticks couching together in excellent order wherein he sitteth to keep him from the wet In the hunting of Fish he often pops his Nose above water to take breath It is a creature of wonderful swistness and nimbleness in taking his prey and for greediness takes more than he knows what to do with It is a very subtile and crafty beast and indowed with a wonderful sagacity and sense of smelling insomuch that he can directly wind the Fishes in the waters a mile or two off The flesh of this beast is both cold and filthy because it feedeth on stinking Fish and therefore not fit to be eaten yet it is eaten in Germany and the Carthusian Fryers who are forbidden to eat all manner of flesh of other four-footed beasts yet they are not prohibited the eating of Otters There are those in England who lately have highly valued an Otter-pie much good may it do them with it These Otters must be hunted by special Dogs such as are called Otter hounds and also with special Instruments called Otter-spears When they find themselves wounded with a spear they then come to Land where they fight with the Dogs furiously and except they be first wounded they forsake not the Water for they are not ignorant how safe a refuge the Waters are un to them and how unequal a combat they shall sustain with Men and Dogs upon the Land yet because the cold Water annoyeth their green wounds therefore they spin out their lives to the length of the thread chusing rather to die in torments among Dogs than to die in the Waters The Food of an Otter as I said is Fish and her abode is commonly under the Root of some Tree near Rivers Brooks Pools Meers or Fish-ponds and sometimes she will lie in a hollow Tree four or five foot above ground and no Vermin can be more destructive to a Warren than the Otter is to a Fish-pond for she diveth and hunteth under water after that most wonderful manner that few fish escape her unless they are very swift and great An Otter and Ferret grow salt much about the same time and bring forth their young much after the same manner neither having their constant number There is much craft and cunning in the hunting them yet with pains-taking you may ensnare them under the water and by River-sides as you may a Hare with Hare-pipes and such-like Gins. They bite sore and venomously and when occasion serves they will desend themselves stoutly If after their ensnaring they chance to abide there long they will soon enlarge themselves with their teeth These creatures are footed like your water-Fowl having a web between their claws and have no heel but a round ball under the soal of their Feet and their Track is called their Mark as the Slot of a Hart and their Excrements are called Spraints An Otter will not abide long in a place for he is apt to be afraid and take distasle having an excellent Ear and Nose for hearing and smelling and then he will forsake his Couch and shift a mile or two up or down the River and this he will do according as he findes scarcity of fishing In hunting of the Otter observe this to send some to one side of the River whilst you are on the other and so beat on the banks with your Dogs and so you will soon find if there be an Otter in that quarter for an Otter cannot endure long in the water but must come forth to make his Spraints and in the night sometimes to feed on Grass and such Herbs as the fields afford If any of the Hounds find out an Otter then look in the soft grounds and moist places to see which way he bent his head if the marks make no discovery you may partly perceive it by the spraints and so follow the Hounds and lodge him as a Hart or Deer If you find not the Otter quickly you may then imagine he is gone to couch somewhere farther off from the River for sometimes he will seek his food a mile from the place of his rest chusing rather to go up the River than down because upwards he meets with better scent of Fish and bearing his nose into the wind he shall the sooner finde any fault that is above him Remember in the Hunting of the Otter that you and your friends carry your Otter-spears to watch his Vents for that is the chief advantage and if you perceive where the Otter swims under water then strive to get to a stand before him where he would vent and there endeavour to strike him with your spear but if you miss pursue him with the Hounds which if they be good Otter-hounds and perfectly entred will come chaunting and trailing along by the River-side and will beat every Tree-root every Osier-bed and tuft of Bull-rushes nay sometimes they will take the Water and beat it like a Spaniel And

by these means the Otter can hardly escape you Of the Squirrel THe first Author that ever wrote of this little Animal was Oppianus who liv'd in the days of Antonius Caesar and wrote a Book also of Hunting A Squirrel is greater in compass than a Weasle but the latter is longer than the other the back-parts and all the body is reddish except the belly which is white In Helvetia they are black and branded and they are hunted at the fall of the Leaf when the Trees grow naked for they run and leap from bough to bough in a most admirable and agile manner and when the Leaves are on they cannot be so well discerned They are of three colours in the first age black in the second of a rusty Iron-colour and lastly when old they are full of white hoar Hairs Their Teeth are like the Teeth of Mice having the two under-Teeth very long and sharp Their Tail is always as big as their Body and it lieth continually on their back when they sleep or sit still and it seemeth to be given them for a covering In the Summer-time they build them Nests which by some are called Drays in the Tops of the Trees very artificially with Sticks and Moss with other things the Woods afford and then they fill it with Nuts for Winter-provision and do sleep like the Alpine Mouse most part thereof very soundly in such sort that the beating of the outside of their Drays will not wake them When they leap from Tree to Tree they use their Tail instead of VVings leaping a great distance and are supported without sinking to any one's appearance nay they will frequently leap from a very high Tree down to the ground and receive no harm Many must go together to hunt them and must carry Dogs with them and the fittest place for the exercise of this sport is in little and small slender Woods such as may be shaken by the hand Bows are requisite to remove them when they rest in the twists of Trees for they will not be much terrified with all the hallowing except they be struck now and then by one means or other VVell do they know what harbour a high Oak is unto them and how secure they can lodge therein from Men and Dogs wherefore since it is too troublesome to climb every Tree that labour must be supplied with Bows and Bolts that when the Squirrel resteth presently he may be thumpt by the blow of an Arrow the Archer need not fear to do her much harm except he hit her on the head for by reason of a strong back-bone and fleshy parts she will abide as great a stroak as a Dog If they be driven to the ground from the trees and they creep into Hedges it is a sign of their weariness for such is the lofty mind of this little beast that while her strength lasteth she saveth her self in the tops of high trees but being wearied she descendeth and falls into the mouths of the yelping curs that attend her The admirable wit of the Squirrel appeareth if it be true in her swimming or passing over a River for when hunger constraineth her so to do she seeks out some rind or small bark of a tree which she setteth upon the water and then goeth into it and holding up her Tail like a Sail letteth the wind drive her to the other side and carry meat in their mouths to prevent famine whatsoever should befal them Of the Martern and Wild Cat. A Martern is about the bigness of a Cat having a longer body but shorter legs with head and tail like a Fox its skin is commonly brown white on the throat and somewhat yellowish on the back Their teeth are exceeding white and unequal being above measure sharp the canine teeth both above and below hang out very long This and the wild Cat are a sort of Virmine which we use here in England commonly to Hunt and as necessary to be hunted as any Virmin can be For the question may be doubtful whether either Fox or Badger do more hurt than the wild Cat doth since there are so many Warrens every where throughout the Kingdom of England which are very much infested by the wild Cat. It is the opinion of long-experienced Huntsmen that she leaveth as great scent and maketh as good a cry for the time as any Vermin that is Hunted especially the Martern passeth all other Vermin for sweetness of scent and her Case is a noble Fur. The wild Cat 's Case is not so good but it is very warm and medicinable for several Aches and Pains in the bones and joynts also her Grease is very good for Sinews that are shrunk These two Chases are not to be sought purposely unless the Huntsman do see them where they prey and can go readily to them but if a Hound chance to cross them he will hunt it as soon as any Chase and they make a noble cry as long as they stand up when they can do it no longer they will take a tree and so deceive the Hounds but if the Hounds hold in to them and will not give it over so then they will leap from one tree to another and make great shift for their lives with much pastime to the Huntsmen When they are killed you must hold them up upon a piked staff and hallow in all your Hounds and then reward them with some meat for the flesh of these Vermin is naught for Hounds A short Account of some particular Beasts that are not Hunted in England but in Forrain Countries The Nature and Properties of a Wolf and the manner of its Hunting HEretofore I read that there were many Wolves in England but now there are none however they are still in Ireland but their number is very much decreased within these thirty years and that they may more and more decrease being so pernicious to all sorts of Cattle I thought good to publish the nature and manner of their Hunting First as to their Nature they go a Clicketing in February and continue in that manner ten or twelve days Where many Wolves are many will follow one Bitch as Dogs will follow a Bitch that is salt but she will be onely lined with one A notable story I have heard when I was in Ireland and attested for a truth by the Inhabitants That a Bitch Wolf proud will suffer a great many of the Male to follow her and will carry them after her sometimes eight or ten days without Meat Drink or Rest and when they are so tired that they cannot travel farther she will first lie down then will the rest follow her example when she perceives that they are all asleep and through weariness snore then will she arise and awake that Wolf which she observed to follow her most and having so done entice him with her far from the rest and suffer him to line her the rest awaking and finding her missing pursue her by the scent and finding how

may let him lie almost a quarter of an hour before you strike and then have a care you do it not too fiercely lest you endanger your Tackle and lose the Fish to boot If you fish at Snap you must give him leave to run a little then strike striking the contrary way to which he runneth For this way of Angling a Spring hook is best and your Tackle must be much stronger than that for the Trowl because you must strike with greater force Here note that a large Bait more invites the Pike to bite but the lesser takes him more infallibly either at Snap or Trowl If you fish with a dead bait for a Pike this is a most excellent bait Take a Minnow Frog that is yellow Dace or Roach and having dissolved Gum of Ivy in Oil of Spike anoint your baith therewith and cast it where Pikes frequent Having lain a little while at bottom draw it to the top and so up the Stream and you will quickly perceive a Pike follow it with much eagerness A Pike will bite at all baits excepting the Fly and bites best about three in the afternoon in clear water with a gentle gale from the middle of Summer to the latter end of Autumm he then bites best in still places or a gentle Stream but in Winter he bites all the day long In the latter end and beginning of the Spring he bites most eagerly early in the morning and late in the evening Of the PEARCH THE Pearch is a fish that is hook-backt somewhat bow'd like a Hog and armed with stiff Gristles and his sides with dry thick Scales He is a bold biter which appears by his daring to adventure on one of his own kind with more courage than the Pike by much Some say there are two sorts of Pearches the one salt-water and the other fresh the first hath but one Fin on his Back the latter two which is more than most Fishes have He spawns but once a year and that is in February or March and seldome grows longer than two foot His best time of biting is when the Spring is far spent at which time you may take at one standing all that are in one hole be they never so many His Baits are a Minnow or little Frog but a Worm called a Brandling is best if well scoured When he bites give him time enough and that can hardly be too much The Pearch biteth well all the day long in cool cloudy weather but chiefly from eight in the Morning till ten and from three till almost six You may angle for him with Lob-worms well scoured Bobs Oak-worms Gentles Colewort-worms Minnows Dors Wasps and Cad-baits He will not bite at all the seasons of the year especially in Winter for then he is very abstemious yet if it be warm he will bite then in the midst of the day for in Winter all fish bite best about the heat of the day If you rove for a Pearch with a Minnow which of all baits yields the most delightful recreation to the Angler it must be alive sticking your Hook through his upper Lip or back Fin and letting him swim about mid-water or somewhat lower for which purpose you must have an indifferent large Cork with a Quill on your Line I always make use of a good strong Silk-Line and a good Hook arm'd with Wyre so that if a Pike do come I may be provided for him and have by this means taken several I use also to carry a Tin-pot of about two quarts or three pints in which to keep my Minnows or Gudgeons alive the Lid of the Pot is full of little holes so that I can give them fresh Water without opening it which ought to be about every quarter of an hour lest they die If you take a small Casting-net with you you may at a cast or two take baits enough to serve you all day without farther trouble When you fish with a Frog you must fasten the Hook through the skin of his Leg towards the upper part thereof The Pearch is none of the Leather-mouth'd sort of fishes and therefore when he bites give him time enough to pouch his bait lest when you think all sure his hold break out and you lose your fish and your patience too The best place to fish for Pearches is in the turning of the Water or Edwing in a good Gravel Scoure where you will not fail of them and Ruffs before spoke of He that will take a Pearch must first take notice that this fish feeds well and bites freely Let the Angler over-night bait his ground with Lob-worms chopt in pieces and in the morning let him come to the place where he must first plumb his ground then gage his Line and bait his hook with a red knotted worm or a Minnow which is better in my opinion the hook must be put in at the back of the Minnow betwixt the fish and the skin that the Minnow may swim up and down alive being buoyed up with a Cork or Quill that the Minnow may have liberty to swim a foot off the ground Let these directions be carefully observed and followed and the Angler need not fear the frustration of his expectations Of the RUD. THE Rud hath a forked Tail and is small of size some say he is bred of the Roach and Bream and is found in Ponds in some they are in a manner innumerable There is little less difference between the Rud and Roach than there is between the Herring and Pilchard their shape being much alike onely differing in bulk or bigness Since the Rud is but a Bastard Roach I shall speak no more on him but discourse of the genuine Roach onely Of the ROACH THE Roach is not looked on as any delicate Fish at all if there be any thing prizable it is his Spawn The Roach is a very silly fish being every whit as simple as the Carp is crafty They are more to be esteemed which are found in Rivers than in Ponds although those that breed in the latter are of a much larger size yet the Thames below Bridge abounds with very large fat Roach such as I may confidently affirm exceed in magnitude all others either in Ponds or Rivers The Roach is a Leather-mouth'd-fish having his Teeth as I said before in his Throat as all Leather-mouth'd Fish have In April the Cads or Worms are proper Baits to angle for Roaches in Summer fish for them with small white Snails or Flies but note they must be under water for he will not bite at the top Or take a May-fly and with a Plumb sink it where you imagine Roaches lie whether in deep water or near the Posts and Piles either or Bridge or Wear having so done do not hastily but gently pull your Fly up and you will see the Roach if any there pu sue and take it near the rim of the water lest by flight it should escape In Autumn you may fish for them with Paste