In the first volume of Vaillant's Travels in Africa, is described the following ingenious method of pro curing birds alive, and without injuring their plu Jr:age. He put into his fusee a larger or smaller quantity of powder, as circumstances required. A hove the powder he placed the end of a candle, ram- ' ming it well down ; and then filled the barrel with I water. With the musket loaded, in this manner he fired at the birds which he wished to procure ; and they were so stunned and wetted by the water, as to be brought to the ground, and easily picked up be fore they could injure their feathers by struggling, or recover themselves to fly away.
Jays, blackbirds, and magpies, hut particularly the former, may be taken in the following ludicrous .manner : Take a tame jay into the woods where others of that species are known to resort, lay the bird upon the ground on his back, and, with two pegs, pin down his wings in such a manner, as to keep him fast without hurting him. Retire to your station, and watch the issue. The cries of the jay, while struggling for liberty, will attract all of his own species in the neigbourhood ; and, as they are fluttering and leaping around him, he will not fail, in his desperation, to seize with his bill and claws any one that may come within his reach, and to hold at fast till you approach to seize the prey. The jays will return repeatedly to the spot ; and thus, with the same bird, many captures may be successively secured.
In the Orkney Isles, eggs and young birds are col lected by the inhabitants, in a most daring and hazar dous ,manner. They climb up rocky precipices, more than 50 fathoms above the sea, where the shelves or ledges are scarcely broad enough for the birds to rest, or to form their nests ; and, passing from one 'ledge to another, collect the eggs and birds, and descend again with the greatest ease and indifference. In most cases, however, they make the attempt from above ; and are let down by a rope frequently made of. straw or hogs bristles, which are less apt than those made of hemp, to be cut by the sharpness of the rocks. A single assist ant lets down his companion in this manner, and shifts the rope from place to place, according to the signals which he receives. His associate, in the mean time, " hovering in mid air," springs from the ' face of the rock by the aid of a staff, to avoid the projecting cliffs, and thus conveys himself along from place to place, rifling the nests as he proceeds.
A similar method is practised in the Feroe Islands, where the cliffs are in many places 200 fathoms high. The fowlers provide themselves with a rope about -100 fathoms in length, which is fastened round the waist of one of their number, who isthen lowered down the precipice by six associates ; and a piece of board is laid on the margin of the rock to prevent the rope from being cut by the friction. The adventurer 'is, -at the same time, furnished with a small line, by _which he gives signals for his being raised, lowered, or moved from place to place ; and with a strong thick cap to defend his head from the stones, which are frequently displaced by the shifting of the rope. With inconceivable dexterity he pushes himself with his feet several fathoms from the front of the preci pice, surveys the haunts of the birds, and darts into the openings where he has discovered their nests. When these recesses are deep, lie disengages himself from the rope, which he fastens to a stone ; collects the booty at his leisure, and suspends himself as be. fore. He will sometimes even spring from the rock, and, with a fowling-net fixed to the end of a staff, catch the old birds that are flying around their re treats. At other times the party go in a boat to the foot of the precipice ; and one of the most da ring, with a rope about his middle, and a long pole, with a hook at one end, in his hand, either climbs, or is pushed by his companions, to the nearest foot ing place. By means of the rope he draws up the other adventurers in succession, each provided with his cord and fowling staff. In this manner they pro ceed upwards, till they reach the habitations of the birds ; and the booty is flung down into the boat, which is rowed along to attend their operations. They frequently divide themselves into pairs, and proceed in different directions ; and when they dis cover the nests of the birds below their station, one of them suffers himself to be let down by his compa nion, depending upon his single strength for safety. In these perilous pursuits the fowlers often spend seven or eight days at a time, and lodge during the night in the recesses of the rock.