The hoopoe (upupa epops). Not breeding in Scotland, we shall set it down as a winter bird of passage. They come from Italy and Germany, are desultory in their motions, and observe no stated times in their appearance, indeed few are to be met with in this country at any season. We have seen only two here, one which the late Mr Weir found near Edinburgh, and had afterwards preserved in his museum, and another which was sent us from the east nook of Fife, by a gentleman who had shot it there. The hoopoe is near the size of the lapwing, but does not weigh one half so much. The head is adorned with a fine crest, of two inches high, reach ing from the bill to the nape of the neck ; both the plumage and the figure are truly elegant, and many take it to be one of the most beautiful birds in Europe. Its appearance used formerly to be reckon ed by the vulgar as a presage, of some direful cala why. A few of the aims and mergus genera, who breed during summer in the retired lakes and swamps of Lapland, Norway and Finland, arrive here early in the winter.
Before leaving this article, we have to regret, that such a desideratum as a thorough knowledge of the migration of birds should have been so little studied, and so long neglected. Indeed, until it is more sought for in the fields than in the closet, any farther insight into this divine impulse cannot well be ex pected. What excellent opportunities have our ch..r gymen, sportsmen, and travellers, to inform themselves and the world of the curious particulars which attend this wonderful subject ! They might easily, by ta king observations, which are so often within their reach, soon remove the various doubts and uncertain ties that still hang upon this most interesting branch of our natural history. (A. u ) BIRD -CATCl/ING, denotes the art of taking birds or wild fowl ; and is performed in various ways, ac cording to the season of the year, or the species of bird intended to be caught.
If the flame of sulphur be held under the trees, en which birds are observed to perch during the night, they soon become suffocated, and fall down in a state of insensibility : In this manner pheasants are fre quently caught.
If a portion of wheat, or any other grain, be steap ed in a mixture of wine lees and hemlock juice, and then scattered in those places where birds are known to resort, they will speedily he inebriated by eating it, and drop down upon the ground, or become un able to escape.
When the ground is covered with snow, choose a spot within 20 or 30 yards of a window, door, or any other shelter, by which you may be concealed from the birds ; and clear away the snow from a space about six or seven feet square. In the middle of this space place a wooden table or board ; fasten to its sides several pieces of pipe staves, about six inches long and one broad, in such a manner that it may easily turn upon the nails; and under the four ends, which are not nailed, put four pieces of tile or slate, that they may not penetrate the ground, so as that the table may fall down upon the slightest jog. Make a small notch in the end of the table, in order to put into it the end staff, which should be seven inches long and one broad, and let the other end rest upon a piece of slate or tile. Arrange the whole in such a manner, that the board would be ready to fall to wards the place where you stand, if it were not sup ported by the end staff; and to the middle of this staff let one end of a small cord be fastened, while the other end is conveyed to your station. To make the board fall more readily, a little earth, or any other material least likely to frighten the birds, may be laid upon it ; the whole is then to be covered with straw, and sonic grain scattered underneath and round about the board. When the birds perceive the ground free from snow and covered with straw, they will readily fly to pick up the corn round the board, and will gradually proceed to that which lies under it ; the cord is then to be pulled, and the stick being thus drawn out, the board will fall down and secure the biids underneath.
The smaller kinds of birds are frequently taken with bird-lime, which is one of the most eligible modes in frost or snow, when all sorts of small birds assemble in floe' , and which may be used in various ways. Put the bird-lime into an earthen dish, with
the addition of one ounce of fresh lard to every quar ter of a pound, and melt the whole gently over the fire. Take a quantity of wheat ears, with a foot of the straw attached to each, and having warmed the lime that it may spread the thinner, lime about six inches of the straw from the bottom of the ears. Scatter a little chaff and threshed ears over a compass of 20 yards ; stick the limed straws into the ground with the ears inclining downwards, or even touching the surface ; traverse the adjoining places, in order to disturb the birds, and make them fly towards the snare ; and by pecking at the ears of corn, they will become so entangled with the limed straws as to be easily taken with the hand. The lime may also be applied to cords, rods, and twigs, especially when it is intended to entangle the larger birds, such as snipes and field fares ; and for this purpose the fol lowing mode may be adopted. Take the main branch of any bushy tree with long straight and smooth twigs, such as the willow or birch ; clear. the twigs from every notch and prickle ; lime the branches to with in four fingers of the bottom, leaving the main bough, from which the others rise, untouched with the com position ; and then place the bush, where the birds resort. For small birds, two or three hundred sin gle twigs, about the thickness of a rush, and three inches in length, may be stuck in sheaves of flax and corn. In hot and dry weather the twigs may be placed around the rivulets, ditches, and pools, to which the birds come for drink ; covering the waters at the same time with brushwood, so that they can have no access to quench their thirst, except at the spot where the twigs are fixed. For this purpose, the rods or twigs should be about a foot in length, limed to within two inches of the thickest end, which is stuck into the bank in such a manner, as that they may lie within two fingers breadth of the ground ; and as the birds do not alight at once upon the place where they are to drink, but gradually descend from the higher trees to the lower, thence to the bushes, and lastly to the bank, it is useful to fix a few branch es about a fathom from the water, in a sloping direc tion, with a few lime twigs fastened upon them, on which the birds will as frequently be caught as on those which are placed nearer to the water. The best time for this sport is from ten to eleven in the forenoon, from two to three in the afternoon, and about an hour before sun-set, when the birds come to the watering places in flocks before they retire to roost. Spallanzani descnbes, in the 6th volume of his Travels, the following mode of taking swallows by means of bird-lime, (at the time when they are build ing their nests,) with which he amused himself in his younger years. He took a slip of birch wood about an inch in length, covered it with bird-lime, and fas tened it across a light feather. He then ascended the roof of the out-houses, around which the swallows were flying ; blew the feather to a little distance with his mouth, and as it was carried away by the wind, or fell slowly downwards, it was seized by the birds, a.td entangling their wings by the bird-lime, made them fall suddenly to the ground. Various means are employ ed to collect the birds together, and draw them towards the spot where the lime twigs are fixed. They may be attracted by imitating their notes with the mouth, or a bird call; by living bats or owls, which will be followed and gazed at by the other birds, and even by having their skins well stuffed, or their figures carved and painted in wood ; by a bird of the same kind with those which are to be caught placed in a cage upon forked sticks, a few inches from the ground, at a fa thom's distance from the twigs ; or by fastening some of the birds that have been taken to a packthread ex tended between two sticks, allowing them so much freedom that they can stand easily on the ground, and when the string is pulled can fly up to a small height, in order to attract those which are hovering in the air.