Wooden frames are also mounted with wire snares and cross strings, as shown in the illustration on page 677, and prepared for sinking, by the aid of stones, through holes in the ice, until they are about 3ft. or 5ft. beneath the surface. The ducks congregate in these holes, and in diving after food become entangled in the snares, and are drowned. The frames are hauled up once or twice during the day, for the purpose of removing the dead birds. Small-sized fish hooks, fastened to stout line or twine, and baited with bits of unio, pond mussel, or other fresh-water molluscs, removed from the shell, make good traps for ducks. Herons, storks, egrets, and other wader birds, can be caught by hooks baited with small fish. Sea-fowl are caught in considerable numbers by baiting ordinary fishing hooks and lines with bits of pork rind or fish offal.
Ducks and other wildfowl are captured by the natives of Australia by the aid of a long rod or wand, to which a fine strong noose of twisted bark is attached. Furnished with this contrivance, the native proceeds to make for himself a head dress or crown of river weeds, and then, wand in hand, swims and wades out to where the unsuspecting fowl are feeding and disporting themselves; here, with the rod resting on the surface of the water, and pushed forward, duck after duck is first noosed by the neck, and then drawn under the surface to the duck-catcher, who quickly attaches the victims to his belt by slip-loops fastened to it for the purpose. Both the Chinese and Indians take wildfowl on ponds or lakes by the aid of a gourd shell placed on the head. A few real gourds or pumpkins are first launched well to windward, and allowed to float amongst the birds in order to allay suspicion. The fowler then, with his gourd-shell cap (in which two small peepholes are cut) on his head and neck, enters the water at some spot where a clump of reeds or rushes can be found as a concealment, and then swiftly swims or wades, as the depth of the water may render necessary, out amongst the birds. Here he proceeds to draw as many as he requires down by the feet, securing his game just as the Australians fasten theirs. The shooting or trapping of wildfowl by the white hunter or explorer is often much facilitated by the use of false or decoy birds. These may be either solid blocks of carved wood, painted so as to imitate the plumage of real birds (the heads and necks of these should be made to take off), stuffed skins mounted on wooden or bark floats, sheet metal, or gutta-percha models; many of these are beautifully made, but are rather costly and troublesome to carry. We prefer, when making use of a few decoys, to employ duck, goose, or widgeon skins stuffed with bark chips, and balanced with lead attached to a loop fastened to the breast. Bits of lead pipe make good weights. Each decoy bird should have an anchor weight and cable string attached to it, so that it may remain in its proper place until picked up from the canoe by the aid of a long forked pole. Ambushes are often made use of in marshes, on the borders of lakes, or the banks of tidal rivers, for the purpose of concealing the sportsman from the quick eyes of the passing fowl. A good sized cask sunk in the ooze, and then well furnished with straw, makes a good lurking place. On flats, where the tide flows, it is a good plan to plant four stout posts in a square. Bore sets of auger holes up each post in such a way that four stout iron or hard wood pins may be passed completely through the holes in the posts, and project about six inches towards the interior of the square. On these projecting ends a light platform or stage of boards is fixed for the sportsman to stand on; a few bundles of marsh reeds, fastened to the frame, are so spread out as to form an effectual screen. A narrow board to sit on is supported on two bars run through each pair of end posts. When shooting ducks on the marshes of Southern Russia we used to form a sort of screen by cutting a bundle of marsh reeds, fastening their tops together with a piece of twine, spreading the lower ends out like a large extinguisher or the hat of a beehive, and then placing the whole arrangement on the head. When seated thus arrayed on a good thick pile of reeds, with your legs encased in well-greased boots, and your gun placed well under cover, the ducks, geese, widgeon, and other fowl, come fearlessly by on whistling wing, and are knocked over and bagged accordingly. A contrivance, known as the “crinoline stalker,” may be used with advantage in approaching many descriptions of wildfowl; this contrivance is made from four bars of wood nailed together in a square, as a picture frame is made. At each corner a leg is placed, about knee high. A string serves to sling the arrangement over the shoulders of the sportsman, just as a falconer’s hawk stand used to be carried. A number of short lengths of cord or ropeyarn attached to the frame serve as lashings for bundles of reeds or long green branches, so that, when the stalker is adjusted properly, the sportsman walks as though in a very large and high topped crinoline. When he wishes to remain stationary, he drops his frame so that the legs may rest on the ground. He can then sit down on the hind bar and remain well concealed. The gun is usually carried slung until required for use, in order that the hands may be free to manage the crinoline.
Calls.
Calls of different kinds are generally made use of to attract deer, wildfowl, rails, plover, and partridges. The moose deer is called with a trumpet formed from birch bark. Duck and goose calls vary in form with the locality in which they are used. The natural windpipe and larynx, freshly stripped from the bird, are, in the hands of a skilled performer, the best that can be devised. Landrails can be brought close to the sportsman by the use of a small thin flat bone (beef-rib bone is as good as any), cut into teeth, like those of a saw. Over these a thin flat strip of bone is drawn sharply and repeatedly until the answering bird is within shot. Partridge calls are made by stretching a bit of stout parchment or moistened vellum over the mouth of a common bottle neck, broken off short. When the stretched membrane is dry, a small pin hole is made in its centre, and through this a knotted horsehair is passed, until the knot is drawn against the inside of the drum-head. A little powdered resin is placed on the fingers, and the hair is drawn sharply through in such a way that the voice of the real bird is closely imitated.
Woodpigeon, plover, and weasel calls can be purchased for a small sum from any respectable gunmaker, and are far better than most amateurs could hope to make. They occupy a small space, and can be easily stowed away in the gun case. Much might be said on the subject of wildfowl punts, sunk flats, fowling canoes, &c., but a consideration of such appliances can be scarcely entered on in this work.
Birdlime.
The use of birdlime may be often had recourse to for the capture of a great variety of birds, particularly such as assemble in large flocks about the neighbourhood of springs or water holes. The most expeditious and best mode of preparing birdlime is to place about a pint of linseed oil in an earthen pot or other vessel, which should be set upright in the hot ashes of the camp fire, and boiled slowly and steadily until reduced to about a third in quantity, when, instead of oil, birdlime will be left in the vessel. The inner bark of the holly, some kinds of elm, a parasitical plant like a mistletoe which grows from the mango tree, the straight upright shoots of the common elder, and several creepers or vine-like plants found in tropical countries, produce birdlime. To prepare it, the bark, after being scraped free from the outer shell, must be boiled in rain-water for at least ten hours; throw it then in a mass out on a cloth to drain; dig a pit in the earth in a cool place, put a flat stone in the bottom of the pit, throw your bark in on the stone, letting it rest as a pile or heap. Now place another flat stone on the top of the pile, throw in grass round the edges to keep any earth from getting in, fill up your pit with earth so as to leave a slight depression in the middle; throw a little water into this every other day for three weeks, when the bark will have become stringy and tough. Lay it now little by little between two rough stones, and grind it into a paste. Work the paste with clean hands in a clear running stream, until all impurities and foreign substances are washed away, and then place it in a clean earthen pot, covered with a tile or flat stone for a week, when the lime will be fit for use. When intended for the capture of small birds, it should be smeared on sets of twigs or branches, so set that the birds may settle easily on them. When used for crow catching, it is placed in a thick coat on the inside of paper cones, which are made as though intended for silkworms to spin in; each cone is baited by placing a piece of raw meat in its narrow end, and then thrusting a thorn or sharp splinter of wood through both it and the paper. The crow, in attempting to get at the bait, thrusts its head into the cone, which remains fixed on like an extinguisher. Birds thus caught either flap about helplessly or keep mounting in the air until, becoming exhausted, they fall to the earth, and are easily taken. On some of the islands of the Pacific vast quantities of dragon flies are taken for food by boys, who, armed with long wands tipped with birdlime, lightly touch the insect, which is at once secured, and placed in a basket carried suspended from the shoulders.
Poison.