by wild water-fowl which he adroitly pulls under water without
in the slightest disturbing the rest. Sometimes, we were told,
he drags with him a piece of double rope, twisted, with a stone
or weight fastened to it; each bird as it is caught has the neck
thrust between the twists of the rope, and thus as many as
twenty will be captured at a single trip ; some have a light cord
fastened round the loins, between which and their bodies they
thrust the neck ; in either case they kill the duck almost instantaneously
by a sharp twist of the neck. I never myself saw the
ducks thus caught, but a man put on the Pelican helmet and
made it sail about before me in such wise that, even when quite
close, it was difficult to believe that it was not a living bird."
In every case the object is to use something which the birds
are accustomed to see moving about harmlessly amongst them,
and for this purpose, where earthen pots, gourds, &c, are used,
a number of these, precisely similar to the one used, are turned
adrift in the water a week at least before catching commences,
and kept afloat all the season. It is usual, too, in order to
facilitate captures, to throw grain daily on the water in a
particular spot, where the fowler can most easily work so
as to ensure his being able to find birds where there are no
dangerous holes and where the water is neither too deep
nor too shallow.
Of course a great deal of practice is necessary. Gourds and
the like, impelled by the wind, only move in a certain, slow,
deliberate manner, and this must be exactly imitated. Any
abnormal movement of the helmet would at once excite suspicion,
and cause the fowl to disperse. It is difficult too so
to pull the birds under, that their fellows do not notice their
disappearance. The retreat must be as careful as the advance,
and the man, both in getting into and out of the water, must
be effectually concealed from view.
Large numbers are captured in this way. One man, a Mahomcdan
Bcngali, told me that, visiting four tanks on successive
clays, he caught one day, with another, about a dozen ducks daily
throughout the season, and he caught before me every one of a
party of seven Gad wall, and that although the last two were obviously
getting suspicious, probably on account of the disappearance
of their comrades. I have tried this plan myself two or
three times, but the cold is trying, and moving as slowly as one
has to do, the work is most wearisome ; and I only once succeeded
in capturing a duck (an old Shoveller), and that made
such a fuss going under, that it put up all the other fowl, so I
very soon gave up the personal practice of this system.
Not so the second plan of the standing net which I worked for
years. You make nets of moderately thick English twine, two inch
meshes, in pieces, fourteen feet wide, and a hundred yards long.
You have, perhaps, six such pieces, and you use one, two, four
six, as you require. A thin English cord is run through the upper
margin of the net, tied at every fifteen feet, and where tied, it is
made into a small loop to receive the head of the pole. For each
piece you have twenty-one light, but strong, bamboos, about
sixteen feet long. Selecting some large shallow jhil, where fowl
are comparatively scarce during the day, but to which they resort
in numbers at night to feed, you run your net about 10 A.M. across
part of the water. A little judgment is here required. You have
to see where the fowl usually congregate, and in what direction it
will be easiest to drive them. You must so plant the net that it
shall be invisible at night from that part of the water over which
you intend driving the fowl ; and it must, therefore, have a dark
background, trees, or a high bank. It must be at least eighty
yards in from the further shore, or the fowl would (finding they
were being driven in too near the shore), rise before they got near
the net. The water ought not to be above two feet deep, so that
there may be twelve feet of the net above the water. The bamboos
should be painted dull lead color, the net {will tanned first,)
should be dyed with a weak solution of indigo. You run out the
one, two, three, or more pieces in a straight line ; with six practised
men, and a heavy crowbar to make the holes for the butts
of the bamboo poles, each piece can be put up in about twentyfive
minutes. There are a few yards of spare rope at each end of
the net, and this is pegged down about four yards beyond the last
pole, with a strong peg, so as to keep the whole line taut. As
each piece is set, the net is thrown up over its upper margin,
so that, during the day, any fowl there are can swim under it
backwards and forwards without even noticing it, as, when properly
done, no part hangs down within eight feet of the water.
Just at dusk before the fowl arrive, the men silently pull the net
down. Then about 8 or 9 P.M., when the fowl have thoroughly
settled themselves, and have fed heartily, so that they are averse
to flying, you go into the water, and gently drive the fowl towards
the net. It is best for every man to be accompanied by a
buffalo ; in that case you can walk within ten yards of the
fowl, and see exactly what there is, and how best to drive them.
But this is not necessary. I have often driven fowl without buffaloes,
and the only difference is, that you cannot approach the fowl
so closely, that you require more men, that the drive takes
twice as long, and that you cannot be equally sure of making
the best of the haul. You walk backwards and forwards slowly,
at right angles to the direction in which the fowl are to go,
approaching nearer at each turn, they, all the while, slowly
swimming towards the net. The number of men must depend
first upon the width of water you have to drive, and upon
whether you have cows, buffaloes or ponies with you or not.
When the bulk of the fowl are about ten yards from the net, you
fire a gun ; all the beaters shout, splash, and rush towards the net;
the fowl spring up, and many failing to clear the net get entangled
in it in the most extraordinary manner, and you rush