How to enrich and make Barren, Mossy, Spi­ry Medows become Rich, and bear Knot­grass, that so one Acre shall be worth three.

WHen you intend to undertake this profitable Labour and Improve­ment; consider the Meadow how it lies, low or high, upon a level or descending, and whether any River or Ditch lie convenient to water it or not; and if it be by a River, if you can convey the Water out again ha­ving once turned it over the Meadow, then be mind­ful of the burden it bears, whether Spiry, or Rushy, or Clean, being only over-topped with abundance of Moss; if the Medow lie descending, you have a great deal the advantage of a flat Medow, by reason the Water having over-flowed the Meadow some certain time, leaves a great soyl after a sudden Rain, [Page 4] and upon the fall of the Water sinks from the Mea­dow, and so the Meadow becomes dry with little or no trouble, and so the Water not lying long up­on the Meadow (without it runs) makes the Mea­dow become very fruitful; which if it lay some certain time without draining, would so chill the Ground, that it would not be one farthing advan­tage for the watering. Now the flat Meadow that lies lower than the River must be ordered thus; You must make one large Drain through the middle of the Meadow, and several leading Drains to it, then the River lying higher, the Meadow will over-flow with little trouble: But then the chief Work and Labour will be how to drain this Meadow dry, that so the Water may not lie sugging upon the Ground; it not only makes the Ground breed Mos­sy and Spiry Grass, but also it will prove so rotten, that it will not bear a Cart to carry off its Burden, therfore order it thus: Having made your Trenches, and a large one in the lowest part of the Meadow, if any be, then having a large Trench made to car­ry about a foot Water, if you can make it out of a whole piece of Wood or Timber, for it is much bet­ter than Planks, and will last far longer; when you have hewed your piece of Timber, made it with what Current you can, then clap a good Plank to­gether at top with Pitch and Tow, then nail him while it is warm, and it will lie many years before it decay; having thus fitted your Current to con­vey the Water from your flat Meadow, lay him cross that River two foot lower than the bottom of the Meadow, and then the Water will drain under the River into the next Ground, where you must make a large Drain or small Ditch to convey it fur­ther, [Page 5] where you may have more conveniency to dis­pose of your Water; these low Meadows which are commonly the worst by reason the Water lies on till the heat of the Sun dries it off, which if the Water could be conveyed off quickly, would be extraor­dinary rich, which I never could see a better way in all my Travels than this, to perform with speed and cheapness; they throw out the Water of flat Mea­dows in Poland and Sprusia over the Banks with certain Wind-mills, which is a great deal of trouble and charge. Having now finished this Work, to lay your Meadow dry when your pleasure is, without it be extraordinary Rainy Weather, the next thing is to destroy your Moss, Rushes and Spiery Grass, which most Meadows that lie low are subject to: Towards the latter end of February scour all your Drains both great and small, and lay it as dry as possibly may be, (mending the Banks of the River, if any be wanting against March, which very seldom proves otherwise than a very dry windy month; when you have layed it dry for some certain time, and you shall then begin to perceive the Moss and Rowel to grow Russet and Dry, then observing your time to be dry and windy, carry down a bun­dle of Straw or Fern, strew it upon one side, that so having set it on fire the Wind may drive it quite through the Meadow; and where you perceive the Moss any thing damp or wet, strew some Straw or Fern upon it, and set it on Fire, and you will find in a short time your Meadows to be burnt as smooth as a Bowling-Green. Having thus devoured by fire your Moss and course Grass, then with a Har­row, harrow your Meadow over once or twice, then take some Hay-Seeds and sow up and down [Page 6] the Meadow, then with the Mold that comes out of the cleansing of the Ditches, spread all over the Meadow, that so the Hay-Seeds may be covered; and when you find the Hay-Seeds sprung up and settled, if the weather be very dry, you may turn the Water over for a night, and turn it out again, and be sure you leave no standing Water, for that will presently kill the young Grass. Observing these Rules, the next year you will find that Improve­ment, that one Acre will be worth two, and a dou­ble burthen with much better Grass; for the Moss being burnt away with the heat of the fire, which will so purifie the Mold, and also Hay-Seeds being sown, will spring up with the tender Grass, which before the Moss would never suffer to spring up: This truly managed, hath proved beyond what se­veral have expected.

How to destroy Moles, being the quickest and best way at present discovered.

IN the first place you must have a Paddle, which must be put upon a Stick five or six foot long; I need not describe which way to make a Paddle, for there be but few which do not know how to give directions to have them made according to their minds, for there be several fashions, but they tend all to one thing, which is the discovery of the Moles haunts; Taking your Paddle, go out in a morn­ing and walk round your Grounds, and see what Haunts be towards the Ditches and Banks, and when you have discovered the Trenches with your Paddle, tread them down, but not too hard; then look into the middle of your Grounds, and view if [Page 7] no Hills be new raised; which when you find, and the principal Trench leading to it; having digged with your Paddle the Earth into the Trench, tread it down with your foot indifferent hard, and so go over all your Ground after the same manner, looking very well the Ditches and Bank-sides, for if it be a small Ground, though he have many Hills in the middle, yet it is ten to one but he hath a main Trench leading to the Bank or Hedg: Having thus prepared your Grounds, get Weathy or any other Wood, as Alder, boared the bigness of a Mole, and the length of a Mole, (they are bought for eighteen­pence a dozen ready made); but being a pleasure to make them in the Winter nights, I shall endeavour to give you the plainest directions I can; Having some Alder or Weathy about the bigness of the small of ones Leg, saw them into pieces about five inches long, then bore them through with an Auger, one bigger than another, till you think he may be the bigness of a Mole, then saw him half through, leaving an inch and half at each end, so the piece that comes out will be two inches, you may cleave it off with a Chissel; with your Piercer bore a hole just in the middle and at each end. When your Traps are finished, hang them up in the Chimney corner that so they may grow dry and tough; you must at each end at the inside of the Trap, about half an inch from the end, make a round Ring about half a quarter of an inch deep, that the Hair may lie in the Hollow at each end, that so the Mole coming in may not slide or drive the Hair before him: Then go into some young Cops, and cut twenty or thirty Taper-Hasle or Dogwood-benders, such as are used to be set in Springes for Woodcocks or Snipes, then [Page 8] twist fifty or sixty Horse-hairs together, about half a yard long, then tie a strong piece of Packthread to both the links of Hair, that so the Benders may strike both at one time; in the Holes at each end of the Trap that was made with the Piercer, you must put in each link of Hair, and fit them to the Circle that was made hollow at each end, that so the Mole passing through the Hair may not put it out of or­der. When the Hair is exactly in, fill up the hol­low Circle with a little Earth or Clay, that so the Mole may not draw the Hair out with his Claws as he passes by.

The Hole that is in the middle of the Trap, serves to keep the Benders streight; you must put in one end of the Packthread that is fastned to the Bender; you must leave an inch of Packthread to go through the Hole, and you must fasten it with a forked stick, about two inches long, the Fork an inch long, and the other streight part an inch more; the Fork must stand within the side of the Trap, exactly perpen­dicular when it is set: It is the Nature of a Mole to turn any thing out of the way with his Nose and Feet that lies in his Trench; so as soon as ever the Mole finds a stop, he works out the Stake with his Nose and Feet; and before ever he is able to retreat backwards, the Benders strike and very seldom fails to hang him by the Middle, and never by the Neck, (as some have written); You must be sure to make the Trap fast into the Ground, otherwise the Bender will be subject to put the Trap out; you may fasten it with Stones put at each side of the Trap, or small Turfs, or forked Sticks; cover it very close that no light may come to it to make the Mole fearful. After you have thus planted a dozen [Page 9] or more, according as your Grounds are infected, once a day you may look over them, and see what execution is done; they will stand four or five days without altering if the Benders be good. It hap­pens now and then, through the rottenness of the Hair-grins, that a Mole when he hath been hanged, with much strugling breaks the Hair-grin; and then he grows so cunning that he will hardly ever come through again, but continually heave up the Trap out of the Ground: I have seen set in a Gar­den three Traps, in his Trench, one within a yard of another, and he hath heaved them all out of the ground; Therefore I would advise you to have a Spike Trap or two, that so when a Mole hath been bauked with one of these Box Traps, the Spiked one will not fail to have him; these Spike Traps are so generally known and made, that there needs no description: only by the way, have six Spikes to a Trap, and let them stand triangular at each end, and you will not fail of him; let your Spikes be round and not square, and they will go into the Ground easier and quicker than your square.

Another way of taking Moles in March time.

AFter you have taken a Doe-Mole, which you cannot fail once in two or three days, then get a good handsom earthen Pot about twenty inches deep, and having made a hole in the middle of a main Trench, plant the Pot that the top may be just even with the bottom of the Trench, then fill it half full of Mold, and put some great Worms in, then put in the Doe-Mole, (if you should not put in Earth and Worms, the Mole would work [Page 10] her self to death in twelve hours, as I have often tryed) but first rub her about the top of the Pot, and let her run of each side of the Trench, then force her into the Pot; those that know the nature of your Buck-Moles, that at March they will run a quarter of a mile after a Doe, and you will find in a short time, that not one Buck-Mole will be left in the Ground where the Pots are set; you must cover the Pot very close that no light comes in, for if any light appears, it will so startle the Mole that he will be very cautious to venture; the Doe-Mole will live all the month of March if you now and then be­stow a few Worms upon her; every time you give her Worms, you may search the Pot to see what company she hath got: This is an approved Re­ceit.

An approved way to make any Tulip of what Colour you please, never before now Printed.

THere must be several things observed before you undertake this Work.

• 1. Consider the Nature of your Tulips.
• 2. The time when they blow, some blow early, some late, to joyn them is to no purpose.
• 3. To have them exact of a bigness.
• 4. Not one forwarder than another.
• 5. It must be done at a warm time, or in a close Room where little Air comes.
• 6. The Moon must be encreasing.
• 7. With an exact hand.
• 8. With a great deal of Speed, otherwise your labour will be lost.

But observing these Rules, and my further Dire­ctions, [Page 11] you will not fail of your expectation; I assure you I have seen it experimented.

Now to perform this, you must have a very sharp thin Knife, and some Cruel, Yarn or Worsted, which must be to binde the Tulips when cut; then get some of your finest sort of Clay, and mix it well with Cow-Dung, let it be of an exact temper, neither too limber nor too thick. Now having all your things ready, being two of you together, match out certain Roots of Tulips which are of one Nature, their Leaves coming alike, and blow at the same time and season; and as near as you can guess, of one forwardness and one bigness. I shall only instance two sorts of Tulips, which are your Yellow Crown or Fools-Coat and White Crown, which are of one Nature, that is, the make of the Tulip is alike, and come always together. Having now chose out certain Roots of one bigness, length and forwardness of each sort, take your Knife and cut the Tulip as exactly as can be possi­ble just in the midst of both your Roots, and slit the very Spindle of each; then immediately clap them up together, that is, one half of the Yellow Crown, and the other half of the White Crown; do not leave them open when you have slit them, but hold them together till you have all your things ready, for if the least Wind take them they will not joyn; then when all is ready, take you half the Yellow Crown, and give your Companion half the White Crown; then having regard to the Spin­dle, be sure to clap or joyn them exactly; then with your Cruel, or Yarn, or Worsted, tie the Root ve­ry firm together; then clay them up very well all over, and lay them by for a weak or ten days; then [Page 12] cut the Clay from the bottom and top, that so the Roots may shoot out, and the Spindle also, for the Roots and the Spindle will be very faint for the first year; as soon as you have cut the Clay from the top and bottom, set them into the Ground, and co­ver the Earth, so that the Frost may not frieze the Earth about them; for if they be frozen all your la­bour is lost, they seldom come up with more than one Leaf, for the first year, for very little more than the Spindle of your Root joyns together, without the Roots match very exactly; but we never regard only the Spindle joyning, which causes the altera­tion of the Flower; you will find the Roots not like other of sets, for these will be long like a Date­stone; when you have taken them out of the Ground, put them into Sand, that so the Wind may not come at them to shrink them.

Concerning Fish and Fish-Ponds, how to improve them.

IN the first place you must consider the scituation of your Pond, and what feed will arise by any Cur­rant of Water to it; then whether it be a Breeder or not: Now if your Pond be a Breeder, then you must expect to have no large Carps, for the multi­tude of their young will over-stock the Pond, there­fore a Store Pond is ever accounted better than a Breeder; but observing this Rule, you may make a Breeding Pond become a Store Pond, when you cannot make a Store Pond become a Breeding one, and you shall have a gallanter grown Fish out of your Breeding Pond, than out of your Store: When you sue your Pond, consider how many hun­dred [Page 13] of Carps it will keep; then put in all Milters or all Spawners, so you will have in a short time, large, well-grown fat Fish, far above your expecta­tion; for putting all Milters, or all Spawners, there will be no encrease of Carps, but of other Fish they may abundantly multiply, which is a Fish cal­led a Roach: Therefore I would advise all Gentle­men that have Breeding Ponds, to sue them once in two or three years for fear of Roaches, though ne­ver any were put in, which may seem a Riddle, but I shall quickly unfold it; There be several Ponds which are haunted by your Wild-Ducks which usu­ally come at Nights to feed with the Tame ones that belong to the Ponds, now these Roches are brought by the Wild-Ducks, for the feeding amongst your Weeds in Rivers, the Spawn of your Roaches will hang about their Feathers and Feet; and they using to come at night to the Ponds to feed, washeth off the Spawn from their Feathers and Feet, that so in a few years (though you put not one Roch in) you may find multitudes of them, and lean starved Carps; therefore if you have any such suspition that your Pond is infected, immediately cause it to be sued, for the longer you carry, the worse your Carps will prove. I shall relate a very true thing that I was an eye witness of; A Gentleman not far from London, had a good handsom large Pond of about three or four Acres of Ground, which I was present at the suing, and I never saw better grown Fish every way than he had, being betwixt two and three hundred; I advised him to put in two or three hundred of stores of Carp about three or four years growth out of a Pond that was over-stocked, and to put sixty of those he had taken out, which [Page 14] accordingly I saw done, for I did fancy to have stately Carps the next suing. Now after four years was expired, I advised him to sue his Pond to see what Monsters four years addition to their growth would produce, those sixty Carps were from Eye to Fork from fifteen inches to eighteen inches when he put them in; now having sued his Pond, he found almost the whole number of his Carps, but they were in such a lean condition that he did not know them, for they were Monsters in Nature, for their Heads were bigger than their whole Bodies, and I think almost as heavy; and all this came by his own folly, by putting in but twenty Roches; and when the Pond was sued, there were bushels of small Roches, and these Roches cat up all the sweet Feed from the Carps, for Roches are like Sheep to great Cattel, which eat up and devour all the sweet Feed. The Gentleman was very much frustrated in his expectation, and the Fishmonger which came from London to buy a penny-worth; as soon as he percei­ved the Monsters, got up his Horse as one frighted with a strange Apparition, and never bid the Gen­tleman farewel. Now pray observe one thing by the way, That Ponds which will not breed one Carp, Roches in one year will multiply by thou­sands; therefore there is a care to be taken every year to view your Pond, and observe if any small Fry appears, least when you come to sue your Pond, you be deceived in your expectation.

How to make Carps grow to an extraordinary bigness and length.

WHen you find your Pond begin to grow low in Water, which is commonly about April, then take an Iron Rake and rake all the sides of your Pond where the Water is fallen away; then sow your Hay-Seeds and rake it well, and you shall find by the latter end of Summer there will be a very great growth of Grass; which when Winter comes, and the Pond being raised by Rain to the top, will over-flow all that Grass; and then the Carps ha­ving Water to carry themselves to the feed, will fill themselves, and in a short time become as fat as Hogs that are put up a fatting; so serve it every Summer till you sue your Pond, and you will find no River Carp to surpass them in fatness and sweet­ness, and then I am confident you shall have no rea­son to complain of your charge and trouble; I will prove, that ordering your Ponds thus, that two years shall be as good as four. This is an approved way to make Carps thrive.

An approved way how to take Carps or Tench in a Muddy Pond.

I Do not write this ensuing Secret to teach Men how to Rob Gentlemens Ponds, but that Masters of their own Ponds may be able upon cases of ne­cessity to supply themselves with Fish, without be­ing put to so much trouble and charge as to sue their Ponds: In the first place you must provide your self with a very large good Casting-Net, well [Page 16] leaded, let not the Meshes from the Crown to a full yard and a half be too small, for then if the Pond be any thing of a depth, the Fish will strike away before the Net comes to ground; the whole Net ought to have a very large Meash, well Leaded, and deep Tucked.

The second thing required, is to make the place clean from Stakes and Bushes, and try with your Net before you intend for the Sport: If your Net hang, then all your labour is spent in vain; there­fore clean it very well with a Rake before you cast your Net, once or twice, that there may be no ob­struction: Then proceed as to the baiting of them, for you must not imagine that Carps or Tench will come to that place more than another, except you do use to feed them; which order thus: Take a quarter of a peck of Wheat, baking it well in an Oven, putting in two quarts of Water at least; when it is well baked, take two or three quarts of Blood, and mix this Wheat and Blood together, then put in as much Bran as will make it into a Paist; then to make it hold together, put some Clay to it, and so mold it well together with a quart of your Lob-Worms chopped in pieces and worked in­to the Past; then roll it in pretty handsom Balls, and throw it into the Pond within the compass of your Casting-Net; but between whiles throw in some Grains; and when you think the Fish hath found out the baiting-place, when you intend to fish, bait it with these Ingredients made up into a Past that I have directed; bait them in the morning betimes, then come in the dusk of the evening, and cast your Net over the place where you baited; then take a long Pole with a large Fork made for the pur­pose, [Page 17] and the Net still lying, stir all about the Net, for the Carps and Tench are struck up to the Ears in Mud, and stand exactly upon their Heads; let the Net lie a quarter of an hour at least, still stirring with your Pole, if the place be not too deep; when you have covered the Fish, you may go into the Pond and take them all out with your hands, which I have several times seen done; but if it be, when you find the Carps begin to stir, (for they cannot lie long in the Mud) then lift up the Crown of your Net bolt up-right with a long Staff, that so the Fish may play into the tuck of the Net. If you should draw up your Net presently after you had cast it in, it were a hundred to one if you had a Carp; but letting the Net lie, the Mud will choak them in half an hours time; and likewise you must keep stirring them up with your long Staff, till you find them struck into your Tuck, which you must keep lifted up after your stirring them. I shall re­late a short Story of what I see done; A Gentleman had special Carps in his Pond, but knew not which way to take one, but by chance with Hook and Line; I did desire him we might eat two or three of his Carps; he answered, with all his heart if I could tell how to take them; I prepared some In­gredients, and having baited a place convenient in the morning very betimes, and in the dusk of the evening we came with our Casting-Net, and at the throw covered a very great parcel of Fish, as by the sequel of the Story will appear, but not one seemed to stir or wag under the Net, being all struck in­to the Mud; The Gentleman laughed, and said he was like to have but a slender Supper of Fish, and that he was afraid he should have been forced to [Page 18] send out for Butter to make Sauce; I desired him he would have patience, for the Fish were a-sleep, but I did not question but to awake them half an hour hence: so the Gentleman having smoaked a Pipe of Tobacco, a Carp began to play in the Net; I think, says he, they have been a-sleep indeed, that could not understand there was a Net over them all this while; then I began to stir with my long Pole to awaken them, and before you could tell an hun­dred they began to dance in the Net; then I lifted up the Crown for them to play into the Tuck; and when I thought they were all out of the Mud I be­gan to draw, and at one draught drew up in the Net seventy odd Carps great and small, to the ad­miration and great satisfaction of the owner and the rest of the company, having in all their life-time not seen the like before. Probatum est.

An approved way to take a Hern.

A Hern being as great a devourer of Fish as any is, I will affirm ten times as much as the Ot­ter, and shall destroy a Pond more in one week, than an Otter shall do in three months, for I have seen a Hern that hath been shot at a Pond to have seventeen Carps at once in his Belly, which he will digest in six or seven hours, and to fishing again: (I see a Carp taken out of a Herns Belly nine inches and a half long); for several Gentlemen that have kept them tame, have put Fish in a Tub, and tryed the Hern how many small Roches and Dace he would eat in a day, and they have found him to eat above 50 a day one day with another. One Hern that haunts a Pond, in a year shall destroy a thousand [Page 19] store-Carps, and when Gentlemen sue their Ponds; think their Neighbours have robbed them, not in the least considering a Hern is able to devour them in half a years time, if he put in 1500 Stores. Now the best way to take this grand Enemy to Fish, is thus; Having found out his haunt, get three or four small Roches or Dace, and have a strong Hook with a Wire to it; draw the Wire just within-side the Skin of the Fish, beginning without-side of the Guills running of it to the Tail, and then the Fish will lie five or six days alive, for if the Fish be dead, the Hern will not touch him; let not your Hook be too rank; then having a strong Line with Silk and Wire, about two yards and a half long, (if you twist not Wire with your Silk, his sharp Bill will bite it in two immediately) and tie 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 deep Water where the Hern can­not wade to them, for if you do, they may lie long enough before you see the effect of your pains: co­lour your Line of a dark green, for a Hern is a very subtle Bird. There are several other Devourers, as your Otter, Water-Rat, Kings-fisher, More-Hens, Balcoots, and your Cormorant; but none like the Hern for your Ponds and small Rivers.

An excellent way to take all manner of small Bird with Bird-Lime.

IN Winter, and especially in a Snow, all sorts of small Birds will begin to flock together, as Larks, Chafinches, Lennets, and Yellow-hammers; which [Page 20] when you see about the House or Field adjacent, having your Bird-lime provided of the best sort, and not too old; order it thus, Take an Earthen Dish and put your Bird-lime with some Capon's-grease or fresh Lard; put to a quarter of a pound of Bird-lime, half an ounce of Capon's-grease or Lard; then set it over the fire, and let it melt gently together; for if it boil you take away the strength of the Bird-lime. Having thus ordered it, and made it fit for use, Then go into the Barn, and chuse out an hundred of large Wheat-ears, and cut the Straw about a foot long besides the Ears; then from the bottom of the Ears to the middle of the Straw, lime it about six or seven inches; let your Lime he warm when you lime the Straw, that so it may run thin upon the Straw, and less discernable to the Birds: When you have so done, go into your Field hard by your House, and carry a little Bag of Chaff and threshed Ears, and scatter these fourteen or fifteen yards wide, (it is best in a Snow); Then take Ears that are limed, and stick them up and down in the Snow, with the Ears leaning, or at the end touching the ground; then retire from the place, and drive them from any other haunt, and you will presently see great flocks of Birds come to the place, and begin to peck the Ears of Corn, and fly away with them; which as soon as he mounts, the Straw that is Bird-limb'd laps under his Wing, and down he falls, not perceiving him­self to be hanged; for I have seen many eat their Ears when they have been fast limed under the Wing; therefore you must not go when three or four or more are taken, but let them alone till a do­zen or two are hampered; here in the Field you [Page 21] take most upon Larks; I have taken six dozen in a morning. You may lay some near home to take all manner of Finches, and especially Sparrows (which is the Farmers Enemy of all small Birds) for they will not come into the Field so far from the House; let me tell you, Every dozen of Sparrows you take in Winter, shall save you a quarter of Wheat before Harvest: therefore stick your Ears about the House­tops, and though you never have the Birds, yet the destruction of them will be a great advantage. Ha­ving had this morning-Recreation, go and bait the place with a Bag or two of more Ears and Chaff, and let them rest till next morning; then take some fresh Wheat-Ears again, and stick them as you did before. When you bait in the afternoon, take away all your limed Ears, that so the Birds may feed boldly and not be frighted against next morning.

A true and exact way to make your best Water Bird-lime to take Snipes, or any other that delighteth in the Water.

BUY a pound of the strongest Bird-lime you can get, and being washed nine times in clear spring Water till you find it very plyable, and the hardness quite extinguished, then beat out the Water extra­ordinary well till you cannot perceive a drop to ap­pear; then cause it to be well dryed; having so done, put it into an earthen Pot, and add there­to as much of the best Capon-Grease without Salt as will make it run; then add two spoon­fuls of strong Vinegar, and a Spoonful of the best Sallet-Oil, and a small quantity of Venice Tur­pentine, and boil them all gently together upon a soft fire, stirring it continually; then take it from [Page 22] the fire and let it cool; and 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: This sort of Bird-lime is the best, and especially for Snipes and Felfares.

How to take Snipes and Felfares with this Water Bird-lime.

WIth this Bird-lime so ordered, take two or three hundred of Birch-twigs, and lime for­ty or fifty of them together very well; then finding out the haunt of the Snipes, which you shall per­ceive by their Dung; and in very hard Weather, where the Water lies open, they will lie very thick; then observing the place where they most feed, set two or three hundred of your Twigs at a yard di­stance; let them stand sloping, some one way, and some another; then retire two or three hundred pa­ces 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 cause to intice them. But when you see the Coast clear, and but few that be not taken, go and take up your Birds, and fasten one or two, that the other flying over may come to the same place; if there be any other open place there by, put them off from those Haunts; they will lie where it is open and a Spring very much, for they can feed in no hard place by reason of their Bills; in a [Page 23] Snow you shall have them extraordinary thick in such a place.

How to take Felfares.

WHen time is, which is about Michaelmas, take your Gun and kill a Felfare or two, and then lay them or set them in such order that they may seem to sit alive upon a Tree; then having prepared your Twigs, about two or three hundred or more, take a great Burchen Bough, and cut off all the small Twigs; make little Holes and Clefts in all places about the Bough, and there place in your Twigs; then set the Felfare upon the top of the Bough making of him fast, that he may seem to be alive, (let this Bough of Bird-lime Twigs be set near where they come in a morning to feed, for they keep a constant place till their Food is gone) that so o­thers flying but near, will quickly espie the top-Bird, and fall in whole flocks to him; I have seen at one fall almost two dozen taken.

How to take Pidgeons with Lime-twigs.

WHen you find any Ground much used with Pi­geons, which is a very great devourer of Corn; get a couple of Pigeons dead or alive, if they be dead, order them to stand stiff as if they were living and a-feeding; then at Sun-rise take your twigs, what quantity you please, let them be very small, (Whea­ten Straws are as good or better) and place them up and down where your two Pigeons are set, and you shall find that sport at every fall that is made, that you may quickly be rid of them without offen­ding [Page 24] the Statute; two or three dozen is nothing to take in a morning, if there comes good flights.

How to take Crows, Pyes and Gleads with Lime-twigs.

WHen you have a Horse or any other Cartion that is dead and stripped, and when you have found that Crows, Pyes, and Kites have found out their Prey, over-night set your Lime-twigs up and down the Carrion, let them be very small and not set too thick, for they are very subtle Birds; when you perceive one to be fast, stir not, for many times they have been caught, and have not been sensible of it: Likewise you may join 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, 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 Crows and 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 fifty or sixty of them up and down the Ground, lay them as much 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 [Page 25] excellent sport, for as soon as Rook, Crow, or Pi­geon comes to peck out any of the Corn, it will hang upon his Head, and he will immediately fly bolt up-right so high, that he shall seem like a small Bird, and when he is spent, come tumbling as if he was shot in the Air: You may take them at plow­ing-time when the Rooks and Crows follow the Plow, but then you must put in Worms and great Maggots.

How to make Hogs Thrive.

IT is always observed among Country-Men, that a Hog never thrives when his Hair stares and looks rugged like a Bear, therefore observe this Rule once a month, and you shall have the best Hogs in the Country. Take half a peck of Ashes or a Peck, and boil them into a Lie; then having an old Curry-Comb ready, lay the Hog upon a fourm, then wet him well with the Lye, then Curry him with your Comb till you find all his Scurff wasted from his Skin, then with Water wash him as clean as a Porket, and strew him full of dry Ashes, and this will kill all the Lice, and make them thrive ex­traordinary. If you do not believe what I write, try one or two and you shall easily perceive a very great difference in a months time; the greatest thing that I know which hinders the thriving of Hogs, is to let them lie too long in Straw, for if they have but a dry house, and a dry place to lie up­on; never trouble your self for Straw, for it makes them Lousie and full of a dry Scurf which hinders their growth.

How to make Cabbage-Plants grow great Cab­bages in very Barren Ground.

THere be several poor People in this Kingdom which are ready to be starved, which live near Heaths, (were it not for the convenience of Firing, which they have at a cheap rate) by reason the ground is so barren, that they know not which way to make any thing grow or thrive; for having plan­ted the best sort of your Cabbage-Plants, they turn all into pittiful Coleworts, and so reap little benefit or none at all, though they lay a load of Dung up­on every Pole, the Ground is so dryed and so bar­ren. Now I shall direct you how with half a load of Dung allowed to every Pole, to have as large and big Cabbages, as if you laid six load upon a Pole; Having got two or three hundred of good short-knotted, and well-stocked Plants, for other­wise they will turn to Coleworts in the best of Grounds; then consider how many Plants a Pole of Ground will take up to set them at a convenient distance; then set them out, and dig as many holes about half a yard wide as you intend to set Plants; then fill up the Holes with Dung, and put some Earth into every Hole, and mix it well together with the Dung, let three quarters of it be Dung, then plant the Cabbage in the midst of the Hole, (let there be half a foot of Dung and Mold below the Root of the Plant) and then water it very well three or four times in a week, if need require, that so the Plant may take good root; upon any dry time, you must give him water, that so the Cabbage may not be at a stand; and when you see him begin to turn in his Leaves, for leafing, heave [Page 27] up the Earth to the Cabbage; set them not too thick, that so they may have room to spread; thir­ty in a Pole will be sufficient, for the richest Ground, if the stand too close, produce little thing else but Coleworts: In setting of these thirty Plants half a load of good Dung will do it to every Pole; so every year the Ground will be inriched with lit­tle or no charge considering the Crop it will bear; I have my self, Dung being scarce, (as always it is in barren places) with two load planted four Pole of ground, which was very barren, being upon a gravelly Heath, and several of my Neighbours com­ing by in the interim, laughed to see me plant Cab­bage-Plants in so barren gravelly Soil; for they not seeing the Dung put into the Holes, never imagined that I had set my Cabbage-plants in almost all Dung and fine Mold; but when they came towards Win­ter to see the fruits of my Labour, they stood like Men amazed, and would not believe their own eyes, but thought the Plants enchanted, (there was eighty odd leafed Cabbages, and very many weighed above 20 pound a Cabbage); which to satisfie their curiosity, and being willing to further them what I could, I pulled up one and shewed them exactly which way it was performed; and since hundreds have learnt it, to their great improvement of their little ground.

Many of your poor People by all these Heath-sides keep a Cow, which makes them two or three load of Dung in a year; which being laid upon five or six Pole of Ground, and spread abroad, and spiked in, only refreshes the Ground and that is all, for the barren Ground being only sprinkled, eats out the heart of the Dung and produceth no crop; [Page 28] but this way in time will make the Ground good with no charge, considering the profits as you will find by experience to arise.

To make Garden-Beans grow in a Barren-Soyl.

TAke your largest sort of Garden-Beans, and lay them twelve hours in the strongest Brine: Then having digged your Ground very well where your Cabbages grew last year, observe the Rows where the Cabbages stood; then hew a Trench through these rows pretty deep, but not wide, and cast in four or five shovels full of good Dung, and mix the Earth and Dung together; then lay your Beans a foot apart, and cover them over not too deep in the Ground, for I have seen by experience one sort of Bean in the same Ground, and being set deep, hath not thrived half so well as those that have been shal­lower, for I am of opinion that they spend much of their strength before they get out of the Ground, ex­cept the Ground be extraordinary good and deep; for you must take notice that a Bean hath a down­right Root, and if it be set deep, and the Ground poor that it roots into, how can you expect any thing of a crop again? You that live in barren Soils, observe this way of planting your Beans, and with little charge you shall find an extraordinary crop crown your Labours beyond what you can i­magine or think; and in time your Ground will become good, and you will be never sensible of the charge thereof: If it should happen to be a dry time, keep them watred three or four times a week, and you shall at last find the benefit of a little trou­ble.

An approved way to destroy all manner of Field-Mice.

I Know not a greater Enemy than your Field-Mice to your Garden Beans and Pease, as many poor People and others have found by experience; having found their Beans and Pease, dug them up when they have been an inch above-ground. Now to destroy these Vermine, get an earthen Pot about two foot deep, and at the bottom put Wheat-Ears and Hemp-seeds, with a few Pease, and have a Board that may play into the Pot, being baited at one end with Oatmeal and Lard, that so those that will not venture in, may be deceived by the Board; lay some Pease-haume over this Pot, set it upon sticks that so it may lie hollow, that the Mice may not be afraid to play about it: This is one way of destroying them, but none of the best, for they lie scattered up and down the Fields, and never venture far from the Hedge-side.

Another approved way which is the best I ever saw to destroy Field-Mice.

FIeld-Mice is one of the greatest Enemies the poor Gardiner hath, for he is worse than a Mole, for he will scratch up Beans and Pease when they are in inch or more above the Ground, which hath pro­ved a very great loss to him, being disappointed in his early Crop: I have seen in one night whole rows of Beans and Pease so destroyed with these Field-Mice, as if a Hog had been amongst them; and the Gardiner making a lamentable complaint to [Page 30] me, told me how he was deceived in his Crop, I am forced to plant them near the Hedg for warmth, and these Mice if they find them not at first, yet they never fail them when they appear above-ground: I told him for his first half bushel of Pease I would direct him such a way, that in five or six nights time should destroy all his Enemies: He be­ing content thus, I instructed him, I bid him get a piece of Deal-board and cut it into thin slices, and make them pretty smooth, and cut twenty pieces of six inches long, twenty pieces of two inches, and twenty of three inches long; then cut a notch in the side of that piece which is six inches, about two inches from the end, and a cross notch upon the flat side within half an inch of the end; then the other of two inches to cut it taper at one end, and a cross notch on the flat side made within half an inch of the end; then the Stick that is two in­ches and a half must be taper at one end, that so the cross notch may in the stick of two inches, rest upon the top of the two inches and a half; and then the two inches must at the taper end go into the Stick that is six inches, and the notch of the side will be a stay to hold up the Tiles; then take forty Tiles and they will serve for twenty Traps, and fit them as near as you can to fall close toge­ther: Then take your three Sticks, your six inches, three and two inch sticks, and place your three inch stick to the edge of your undermost bottom Tile; then take your two inch stick, and place the notch of it upon the taper end of your three notchtstick; then take your six inches stick, and set the taper end of the two inch stick, in the notch that is at the end of the six inch stick; then the notch of the side [Page 31] of the six inches, must hook into the side of the three inch stick, otherwise the weight of the Tile will make the sticks fly all apart; if it stand when it is set exactly like a figure of four, you shall see every part exactly in the Frontice-piece; you must bait the end of your six inch stick with Lard, and dip it into Oatmeal, bait but your uppermost side; then having set them all along the Hedg-sides, you will find such a destruction, according to the num­ber you set, that is not imaginable, for the Trap very seldom misses: And when you go in the mor­ning to see your Traps, take a little Lard and Oat­meal to refresh them where the Mice are caught: the Traps will stand a month without baiting or new setting, except some body throw it down, or many times the Wind, if it be very high, may be the occasion of its fall: I have taken abundance of little Birds called your Titmice, which is a very mischie­vous Bird to Buds of Trees. The Gardiner with fifty Traps destroyed, in four nights, about one hundred and twenty Mice, and continued less for eight days together; he had not a Bean nor a Pea tucked after he set these Traps. I will undertake to destroy five hundred Field-Mice in less than a fortnights time, with a hundred of these Traps: You will find this Trap the greatest destroyer of these Mice that ever was made; you may make twenty of them in an hour, and set them in an hour more; do but experience what I have writ, if you be troubled with them, and you shall find every tittle thereof true; your six inch stick must be very thin, otherwise it will cause the Tiles to lie hollow and then the Mouse will make his escape; but if thin, and the Tiles fall close, you shall find him as flat as a Flounder.

A new way to make Arbours to become Green and Shady in one Year.

FIrst, Set out the proportion of your Arbour for Length, or Breadth, and Height; then imploy some of your Servants or Country-men to gather the streightest and smoothest white-Weathy Rods, without knots, three or four inches about; then make holes with a Crow of Iron, and place your Rods about a foot and a half distance, more or less, according to the fancy that best pleases the Planter, and at least two foot into the Ground: when you have so done, let your cross Rods which makes the square be of the durablest Wood you can get; and at every cross Joint bind them fast with your weathy Bark and not with Wire, because those that stand in the Ground should grow and not be cut into with the Wire: let your Rods which stand in the Ground be taper at one end, and then your Arbour will come over with an Arch at the top; I would advise you to let your Rods which stand in the Ground be of your white sort of Weathy, and then they will not decay in a short time, for they will grow, and be some addition of shade; but for your cross Rods, the durablest wood is the best: If your Arbour should be made of Rods, which will not grow in three years time or less, all your Labour is lost, which hath been too much the indiscretion of Gardiners for many years; if the cross Rods fail in two or three years, you may quickly supply them without any prejudice to the Arbour. After your Arbour is thus made, then imploy some of your Servants or Labouring-Men to go into the Fields, [Page 33] and take up ten or twelve of your wild Vines or Brionies, every Country-man almost knows them, they usually grow by Hedg-sides or in Ditches; they bear a Leaf like a Vine, and the Roots are com­monly as big as a Man's Thigh; they that take them up must do it with a deal of care, for the Roots are very brickly, and will break off if they be not care­ful: Now having gotten ten or twelve Roots, cut them smooth at all the little ends, and set them about two foot distance or less, according as you will have the Arbour shadowed; and if it be a very dry time, water them three or four times the first year, but very well when you set them, and in three months time you will have an Arbour so thick and so plea­sant, for the shadow and sweetness of the Flowers it bears, that People will hardly believe their own eyes, but think it an Apparition; which the other sort of Arbours made all of dead Rods, in two or three years will decay and all come to nothing; but this way will continue many years, being every way beneficial.

How to Water an Orchard after a new fashion.

HEre I shall shew you how to water several Or­chards for very little cost; but no Body is so ignorant to imagine that every one can be so, except they lie convenient; If your Orchard lies upon the side of a Hill near any High-way, and the High-way lie somewhat higher than the Orchard; then pro­vide against any good shower of Rain, (which in April we commonly have enough) make one great Trench through the Hedg, and from that Trench make several small ones which may lead to every [Page 34] Tree, to conduct the Water from one Tree to ano­ther throughout the Orchard, one such watering shall enliven your Trees more than ten showers of Rain. When you go to turn the Water into the Orchard, you must make a Dam cross the High-way, otherwise your Trees may be parched for want of Water: If your Orchard lies drooping upon the side of a Hill, and the next adjoining Ground higher, though no High-way lie near it, yet taking your opportunity, may do thus; View round your Orchard, and consider which end lies most conveni­ent to carry your Water throughout your whole Orchard, for you must begin with the highest part first; when you have thus taken the level of your Orchard, see where the greatest Current of Water may fall, and from that place begin your main Trench, and let it go through your Orchard; and from this large Drain cause another less to water the first row of Trees, and so to the second; if you find your Water prove scanty, and you cannot wa­ter all your Orchard at once, order it for twice, thus; Make a side Trench that may carry the Water to the third or fourth row, and never spend any upon the first row at all; Now if you have no High-way, nor convenient Lane nor Ditch that carries any course of Water, that may prove any way beneficial to the watering of your Orchard; yet if your Orchard lean any way, with Trenches made to the Trees upon any sudden shower, a great deal of Water may be conveyed to them, that falls in the Ground where they stand; so let any Orchard stand almost how it will, with skill, care, and di­ligence, and small charge, you will be able to cause your Orchard to return treble profit for the first [Page 35] years expence: But suppose your Orchard lies up­on an exact Flat, yet if the Country-Man bestowed a small Tub of Water to every Tree, (especially if old and big Trees) he would find the profit of it at the years end; for you must observe, when any Trees grows and spreads, it keeps the Rain from the Roots.

I shall now faithfully relate what was the event of this kind of watering. There was a Farmer that took a small Farm in Oxfordshire, about twenty pound a year, not far from Reading, he took a Lease of five years, and lived two years in it, and recei­ved no benefit worth mentioning of his Orchard; I riding that way, with a Friend which was his ac­quaintance, he called in to see the Farmer; and having a little refreshed our selves, we walked out in see his Ground, which was very poor; and at last going into his Orchard, the poor Farmer fetched a great sigh: O, says he, would all these Trees were chopped up by the Roots, for this Or­chard is special good Ground, but I have no benefit of it; for if I sow it, the shade of the Trees and Birds devour all my Corn, and I have not had twen­ty Bushels of Apples this two years off from it, and I took it for the benefit of the Orchard, which was between three and four Acres of Ground: Country-Man (says I) you know not what Riches you have near you, for I will direct you a way to make this Orchard pay all your Rent, give me but a Hogshead of Sider; But (says he) my Orchard must first find Apples: I perswaded him to take a Lease of one and [...] years, for I told him he had the best penny-worth in Oxford-shire; but his answer was, I wish I was well rid of this: Well, if it be so, observe my [Page 36] Directions, and you need not fear but your Or­chard will pay your Rent; so having viewed his Orchard round, within a little space distant from his Orchard went the High-way; I told him the convenience of this High-way would pay his Rent; How can that be when I sell neither Beer nor Ale? I desired him immediately to get me two or three Labourers and I would direct them; I brought the Water from the High-way, by making of a Dam through the middle of the small Ground into the Orchard; then from that Trench I caused them to cut out several other Trenches, leading to every row of Trees, and made them dig a yard round every Tree that the Water may have time to soak into the Ground, having good compass round the Tree: Notwithstanding all this, he had not so much Faith to take a new Lease, but first desired to see the event of this new Invention: This was about the middle of February; I directed him also to smoother his Orchard with Muck and Fern, (which way to order is treated of in another place) and continue it so long as the Wind should hold any way Easterly or Northerly. At the latter end of September, Business calling me that way, I called upon the Farmer to know how his Orchard thri­ved; with a merry countenance he replyed, I have Apples enough to pay my Rent, and punctually performed his promise with an over-plus; I advised him now to take a new Lease, which then was too late, for his Landlord had been there and seen the Improvement, and would not let him a new Lease under 30 l. per Annum; for he was of an opinion, this way would not fail in causing the Orchard to bear; the Lease being expired, the Landlord keeps [Page 37] the Orchard, and lets the Ground for 15 l. per Annum. The Orchard is duly worth to him twen­ty pound a year more; that year when the im­provement was made he had about sixty quarters of Apples; he fatted his Hogs with the worst, and sold the best at a good rate; All his charges amoun­ted but to 18 s. and 9 d.

How to order old decayed Trees, to make them bear as well as ever.

ABout the end of October, or beginning of No­vember, or later, until the rising of the Sap, cut such superfluous Branches as seem too thick in the middle of the Tree, or those which through extraor­dinary high Winds have been bruised or broken; then having a scraping-Knife, scrape off the Moss that grows about the principal Limbs of the Tree, which with a Knife made convenient for the pur­pose, a Man will cleanse forty or fifty in a days time; for this Moss is full as bad for the Apple-Trees as Ivy is for the Oak; this being performed, dig the Earth a yard round every Tree, and a spit deep, which let lie open all the Winter till the mid­dle of March; then give your Orchard a good wa­tering, and if you cannot conveniently, then get a small Cart with a Barrel, and bestow a Barrel of Water to a Tree and fill it up with Dung, and lay the Mold upon the Dung; then about the latter end of May give each Tree a Barrel full of Water, and you shall find the Trees shall flourish and shoot out Cienes to admiration, and shall bear again as well as if it was in its prime; some may say, The Re­medy is worse than the Disease, thinking it too [Page 38] great a charge: To which I Answer, I will hire a Man by the great, shall at any time undertake the performance of all that belongs to dressing and or­dering of them for fourpence a Tree; and I que­stion not but every Tree will afford ten times as much advantage in the first years bearing.

How to order an Orchard that it shall never miss Bearing.

I Have seen several Orchards that have been blown as white as a sheet, but when the Blossoms have been gone, there hath been no appearance of Fruit; therefore follow these Directions, and your Trees shall not fail to be extraordinary well hung, for I can assure you of my own knowledg, and several others Experience, that when most Orchards have miscarried, their Trees could not stand under their burden: When you perceive there is an Easterly or North-easterly red Wind, which was ever accoun­ted a bliting Wind, if you live near any Heathy Ground, then in Summer dry three or four hundred of Turfs; but if you are not near any Heathy Ground, then take three or four good arms full of muckle Straw, Hay, or Fern, not too wet, nor too dry, and observing which side of the Orchard the Wind blows on; then laying a good arm-full of Muckle in three or four places, according to the bigness of your Orchard, get some dry Sticks, and having kindled them, put an arm-full of Muc­kle upon the Fire, and it will smoak and smoother, and the Wind will drive the Smoak through the whole Orchard; continue it till the Wind turn out of the Easterly quarter, and it will preserve the [Page 39] Trees and Fruit from Blites, and all manner of Flies and Caterpillars, which those sorts of bliting Winds usually bring; when you find the Wind changed to West, North-West, South, or South-West, you may forbear making any smoother, for those Winds never hurt; observing this, you shall find that not once in ten times you shall ever miscarry; but on the contrary, have your Trees so furnished with Fruits, in the worst of years, according to your hearts desire. After the same manner you may pre­serve your Wall-Fruit from Frosts.

A true way to make Watrish Fruit become firm, sound, and sweet.

WHen you find that your Apples are watrish, puffie, or hollow, and will not keep, which if the Ground lie low or near a River, all sorts of Apples will be subject to, and then they eat very unpleasant and will not keep, though it appear a fair handsom beautiful fruit to the eye: Now to cause your Fruit to eat firm and pleasant, observe these directions; About the latter end of October, or beginning of November, dig round every Tree, about a yard and a half from the Body, and a full Spit deep or more; then fill up the place with the best Chalk, and let it lie open all Winter, that the Frost may chasten it, that so it may incorporate with the Earth, and about the end of March throw the Earth upon the Chalk, and water the Orchard if you can, and you will find in one year so great a change, and extraordinary benefit accrue to the Fruit of your Orchard, that you shall hardly be­lieve your own taste, and the Apples will be whol­somer, [Page 40] pleasanter, and keep several months longer than usually they were accustomed to do: if you will not serve all your Orchard, experiment three or four Trees, and you shall quickly find the diffe­rence of the Fruit.

The true way of Planting and Ordering of Melons, Cucumbers, Pompions, and Colliflowers.

I Shall begin with the Melon; First, I shall tell you the reason why we make Hot Beds; and that is this, To get them forward against Summer comes, that so the Fruit may have time to ripen: In Spain and France they never make a Hot Bed, by reason their Summer is long and hot; Melons that grow in those Countries far surpass ours in Taste and Colour. Now your Cucumbers ripen far sooner, and Pompions in half the time, though they be an extraordinary large sort of Fruit; for they are commonly set in May, and ripe in August: Now for your Melon and Cucumber, you must be­gin to make your Hot Bed in the middle of February, or latter end, (which I ever found soon enough); having provided your self of a warm place, being fenced about with a close Pale, Wall, or Hedg, a­bout six or seven foot high, and being at such a di­stance from the Bed that the Sun may shine over any time in the day, and especially in the morning; Now the inclosed being finished, you must bring six or seven load of Horse-dung, six or seven days old; and thus you must raise your Bed, and set up Stakes the length and breadth of your Bed; then take your Dung and shake it, that it may not lie harder in one place than another; six or seven Load [Page 41] will make a Bed 7 or 8 foot long, 3 foot high, and 3 foot over; tread it not extraordinary hard, let it as near as you can be all over of an equal hardness, for else one Seed will be up before another; having raised your Bed to the highest, get a load of pure Horse-Dung, without Straw, and lay it at the top, and wet the Horse-Dung, and beat it very smooth with your Spade; then sift some pure Mold, being last years Dung rotted; for if it have any Earth in it, the Melons will not thrive kindly, but most part will be subject to pine away; therefore get the richest Mold you can have, sifted on, about four in­ches or five thick; your Melons and Cucumber-Seed being steeped in Milk twenty four hours, put them in at two or three inches distance with your finger, and about an inch and a half deep; then having some Melon-Glasses ready, cover them, to draw up the heat to the top of the Herbs; Glasses are the best of things to bring up early Melons, for they keep out Wind and Weather, and let in the Sun to comfort them. But as some have directed to place Forks, and lay Sticks upon the Forks, then cover them with Straw, it avails little; for a good shower of Rain, or a small Frost, puts an end to your trouble: your Mat-covering is far better, and cover the Mat over with Straw; no early Melons are to be brought up without Glasses; those that cannot go to the charge of all Glass, make them thus, Make three parts of them Wood, and one part Glass, and let the glassy-side always stand to the Sun; when you open them, when you perceive them to peep above-ground, cover them again a­bout a quarter of an inch with warm Mold from the bottom of the Bed; and when they are shot [Page 42] above-ground, cover up the Stakes close to the Leaves, and when the Sun appears, give them some about ten of the Clock till eleven, and cover your Glass over with some Straw that the Sun prove not too hot; open that again about two till four; ob­serve still as the Plants rise, to raise up the Earth to the Leaves: When you find the Bed begin to de­cay, immediately remove your Plants into another Bed, otherwise your labour and former pains will be lost, for you shall find the Roots in a short time to perish and decay for want of heat; which when they come into a fresh Bed, they will mount away and grow more in one day than in six before in the other Bed: If you find the Bed to grow dry, steep some Water in Sheeps-Dung, and having made it Blood-warm, water them once in twelve hours or more, according as you shall find occasion: Now having taken out all your best Plants, and planted them about four inches distance in your new Bed, then stir all your Mold of your old Bed, and if it be too dry wet it, and then rake the Earth very even, and sow your Colli-flower Seeds in rows, not too thick; if you should sow them with the Me­lons and Cucumbers, they would run up such a height with the heat of the Bed, that they would never flower worth a farthing, but being sowed when the Bed is almost cold, they will come up green and be brave stocky Plants; when they have three Leaves or more, plant them out into the other Melon, (which will be then time to remove the Me­lon-Plants to stand all the year) and plant the Col­ly-flowers up to the Leaves, and water them with Water wherein Sheep or Pigeon-Dung hath been soaked, and you shall find them thrive abundantly. [Page 43] Thus much for the Colly-flower. Now to Plant the Melons where they shall stand all the year; dig a large Trench about four foot deep, and three foot over, and place therein some Dung that will heat; about three foot deep let the Dung be, then make a square hole about a foot deep, and half a yard square, and put some very rich Mold in about half full; then taking up your Melons very carefully, set three Melons to a Hole, (or two and a Cucumber) and place them triangular, and set deep with some of their warm Mold, that the tops of the Leaves may be level with the top of the Bed; then set your Glasses upon them and cover them very warm, and water them with Dung-water for two or three days after you have set them, let the Water be Blood-warm; if it should prove a backward Spring, you must keep them very warm, and not leave them un­covered till all the Frosts be gone; you must serve your forward Cucumbers after the same manner: But for your latter Cucumbers order them thus; About the latter end of March or beginning of April, dig a Trench as you did for the Melons, and fill it with new Horse-Dung; your Trench may be from 3 yards to 20, fill it up with new Horse-Dung, and make square holes as when you planted the Melons, and fill the Holes with rich Mold, and set the Seed two inches deep into the Mold; you may set a dozen Seeds into a Hole, and cut the worst away; when they come up, cover them with Straw or Cabbage-leaves to shelter them from Wind and Weather till they have got four or five leaves, and then you may trust them, and not fail of Cu­cumbers in abundance. Plant your Pompion upon a Dunghil if you can, if not, dig a large Trench [Page 44] and fill it with Dung that may a little heat, and make square Holes, and plant three in a Hole (tri­angular) in Mold, and when you perceive them above-ground, water them very well with Dung-water, and they will thrive exceeding well; when you see a Pompion kernel'd and grown to the big­ness of a Goose Egg, and the Runner shoot for­ward, and produce another a yard beyond him, lay the Runner half a foot or more in the Ground, and it will shoot out Roots and nourish the other Pom­pion, for that next the Root intercepts all the Sap from the other, and in two or three days will pine to nothing; observing this direction, you may have nine or ten upon a Root, otherwise very seldom above three, I have seen nine very large ones upon a Root. Now your Colly-flowers having six or se­ven Leaves are ready to be planted, and order them thus; Dig as many Holes about a foot square and deep, and a yard apart, and make a Hole between every four, then put a shovelful or two of good rot­ten Dung into every Hole, and mix it well together; then taking up your Plants very carefully with the Mold, set them in so deep that the tops of the Leaves may not be so high as the Ground, and water them very well, then lay a Cabbage-leaf over every hole to keep the hot Sun and cold Air from them; if it be a very dry time, water them often, or else you will be deceived in the flowering of them.

How to order Goose-berries and Currans.

WHen you go about to plant your Goose-berry and Curran-Garden, chuse out those Trees that are streight and without knots, and plant them in Ground well dunged, they thrive best in a sandy Mold; after they have stood one year, if there be any young Shoots; cut them all off very close to the Body, and suffer not a bushy head, but let it be very thin kept, and then the Sun shall ripen him and he will grow extraordinary large: Order your Currans after the same manner, and Rose also, and your Garden shall look comely and handsome, and bear far better than if they were three-times as big; every two years you must refresh them with Dung, if you intend to have them very large: If you keep your Goose-berries and Currans to one Head, the shadow of them will do no injury, but you may plant any sort of Flowers or Herbs under them, and they shall prosper and thrive as well as if there were no Trees standing.

How to Preserve and Increase all sorts of Carna­tions and Auriculasses.

SEveral People that love and delight in Flowers, and those of the best sort, as Carnations and Auriculasses, yet through ignorance and want of care they very seldom live above two years, so are almost tired and disheartned to renew their former delights; and the reason is, because they have not the true way of preserving and increasing them: First, How to preserve them; It hath been an usual [Page 46] way to set them in several Pots, and in hard Wea­ther to remove them into the House, which hath proved so troublesome and chargeable (for they must have a little House on purpose) that most are weary of it, except them that make it their lively­hood: Now observe this way, and you shall have better Flowers and lose few; When you have bought your Layers of the best Flowers, set them in a Bed of pure Mold, rooted from Horse-Dung and not Cow-Dung, because it encreaseth Worms which will devour the Flowers; when it draws near Winter, take some short new Horse-Dung, and lay it at least a foot thick all over the Bed between the Flowers, and have some Earthen Pots about a foot deep with their bottoms out to stand over the Flowers to keep the Dung from them, and when it is very hard, cover the top of your Pot with a Tile, and it will keep your Flowers from Frost and weat Weather, which is the destruction of a thousand in a year; when it is a fine day give them Air and Sun-shine, and cover them again at Night, this way shall save you a great deal of trouble to re­move them into your House in hard Weather: Now to increase them, about July or August, if you have Slips upon your Flowers, take a sharp Knife, and at a Knot cut it half in two, let the Knot be an inch or more from the Stem, then with a little hooked Stick peg it close to the Ground, and cover it over with Earth like a little Mole-hill; and when you perceive that the Layer hath taken Root, cut it off with a sharp Knife, and take it up Mold and all and plant it out, and so you may encrease your Stock; these great sort of Flowers will not grow with slipping as your Clove-Gilly-Flowers: you must [Page 47] slip your Auriculasses, and preserve them after the same manner as I directed for the Carnation.

An excellent way to recover any Horse or Cow that is stiff with Cold, being Mired in a Ditch.

I Have seen several Beasts that have happened by some miscarriage to fall into a Ditch or Pond, and having stayed some considerable time, they have been so stiff as though they had been dead. Now to recover these deadish stiff Limbs, order him thus; If he be so stiff that he is not in a capacity to go, get a Cart and carry him home, then give him half an ounce of Mithridate in a quart of strong Ale, where a handful of Rue, Angelica and Balm hath been boiled; then put him into a hot Dunghil, and chafe his Joints very well with the Oil of St. John's-Wort and Rue mixed together, and by the next morning you shall find him recovered; but keep anointing of his Legs for three or four days after, and if occasion require, put him another night in the Dung and give him the like quantity again.

How to order all Physical Herbs growing here, to thrive and prosper.

VEry many People of all sorts have been making of your Physick-Gardens, not for any great use they have made of them, but most out of curi­osity to see the variety of Plants, which not knowing rightly to order, have had the greatest part of them (for want of some instructions) been dead and de­cayed in two years time; therefore I have here set down some certain approved Rules for their preser­vation: [Page 48] First, When you have made your Garden, then consider how many sorts of Earth, and the several shady places for Herbs that love it, for you must consider the nature of the Herb what it de­lights in. I shall give six or seven Examples which I hope will be sufficient for all; as first, For your Adder-tongue it grows in moist low Grounds and Meadows; if this Herb be planted in a hot Ground, it may flourish a little for the first year, but you may look for it in the Meadows the next, therefore plant him in some moist place of the Garden: An­gelica is an Herb hot and dry, if you plant it in a cold moist Ground, it pines away and comes not to any thing, therefore the richest Ground is best: Liver-wort is a Herb that delights to grow in moist shady places, as by the heads of Springs and Ponds; and insides of Wells, and is green all the year; this Herb must be planted by some moist Wall or shady Bank, where it sees very little of the Sun, for any heat or dryth kills it: Rosemary is a hot and dry Herb, delights to grow in the Sun, and near a Wall, if that be planted in a cold springy place, it pines a­way to nothing; if your Ground be very cold, and Rosemary subject to die, mingle half your Mold with Lime and it will thrive and prosper extraordi­nary: Observe one thing, There is no Herb that grows, if it doth not delight in the Sun; that is good for the Heart. Harts-tongue delights by High-way sides in Banks of Ditches, and not in the bottoms; plant him upon the Bank of some Ditch. Penny-royal delights in a hot and moist place; plant it where it may only have the morning Sun, keep it low, and suffer it not to grow into long Branches, for then it usually dies in the end: Take notice al­wayes, [Page 49] That what Herbs you plant, order the place where you set it, to be of the nature of your Plant; that is, thus; If your Herb be hot and dry, a hot and dry place in your Garden; if cold and dry, a cold and dry place; so hot and moist, and cold and moist; you may know the tempera­ture of any Herb almost by the place where you find him naturally to grow; for it's contrary to Sense and Reason, that cold and moist Herbs should thrive in hot and dry places.

How to gather Herbs, and a true way to dry them.

THey that intend to dry Herbs to have them good, must observe their Times and Sea­sons: Gather your Herbs where they naturally grow, as your Betony it delights in Woods; ga­ther him when it begins to bud out for flowering; tie them up in small Bunches, and hang it cross the Lines in the Wind and Sun; the quicker you dry any Herbs, the far better it is; gather always in a dry day, and let it not hang where it can rain up­on it, for that will make it look black, and also take away the scent; when you have dryed them, put them in Brown-Paper-Bags, and before Win­ter, lay them two or three hours in the Sun, and that will very much refresh them; hang them in a warm dry place but not too hot, for then the heat will draw out the Spirits of them.

Here is but three things to be observed to have extraordinary good dryed Herbs; Gather them in [Page 50] the Prime, pick them clean from withered rotten Leaves, and dry them quick in the Sun and Wind, to preserve them, keeping them neither too hot nor too cold, and air them in the Sun three or four times in a Winter.

Thus I have in short shewed the Planting, Ga­thering, and Drying of Herbs.

Of the Nightingale.

NOW every Man hath almost a several phansie, some make choice of one Bird, some of ano­ther; but in my choice and opinion, the Nightingal hath the superiority above all others, and almost ac­cording to the judgment and consent of every one, she singeth with so much variety the sweetest and melodiest of all others. I need not much describe the Bird, by reason she is sufficiently known to most People, by reason of her plentifulness and tameness, and far more kept in Italy than in any other parts of the World, though in most Countries I have been they keep them little or much. They appear to us at the beginning of April, (none as yet know­ing where their Habitation is during all the Win­ter); I have made several tryals in the beginning, middle, and latter end of August, of several Nightin­gals that I have taken, being so extream fat, that they being turned loose, could not fly forty yards, and when down, was not able to rise again, which makes most believe that they take up their dwelling here all the Winter, and think them to sleep; for I have had several, when fat, to be three weeks and not eat one bit of meat, which in some short time begins to make her Nest; usually she makes it about a foot and a half or two foot above Ground, either in thick Quick-set Hedges, or in Beds of Nettles, where old Quick-set hath been thrown together, and Nettles grown through, and makes it of such materials as the place affords; she hath commonly young ones at the beginning of the Month of May, [Page 54] when all the Earth is beset and spangled with the curious varieties of all odoriferous Flowers, and pleasant greenness; and in Groves and thick Bushes formed in the likeness of a Wilderness, upon which the Sun in the morning doth cast his cool and tem­perate Beams, from noon till the setting thereof she naturally delights to haunt cool places, where small Rivolets, Fountains, and Brooks are accommo­dated, with Groves, Shades, thick Quick-set Hedges, and other well-shadowed places not far distant. I told afore how I found their Nests made, but some have affirmed to me, That they have found them upon the Ground, at the bottom of Hedges, and amongst wast Grounds; and some of them that have found them upon Banks that have been raised, and then overgrown with thick Grass, in which they have built their Nests; I never found any built in such places, yet I cannot say but other Countries may make the Birds to differ in their Building, though not in their Songs. As for the number of their Eggs it's uncertain, some three or four, and some five, according to the strength of their Bodies. Now the Nightingale which I would advise you to keep, let him be of the earliest Birds that is brod in the Spring, for the earlier the better, by reason she will become more perfect in her Songs, for the old one hath more time to sing over, or continues longer in singing than those that are bred later, and you may have better hope and assurance of long living, and being brought up and kept with more ease and safety; for having the Summer before them, they throw off and mue, and cast their Fea­thers much sooner and quicker than later in the year; for if she cast her Feathers at the end of the [Page 55] year, she is subject to be over run with certain Ver­min which hinders the growth of Feathers, which the cold coming, and finding her bare of Feathers causeth her to die; which happeneth to several that [...] latter Birds at the end of Summer, and com­monly prove most to be Hens, and if Cocks, sel­dom worth keeping. The young Nightingals must be taken out of their Nests when they are indifferent well feathered, and not too little nor too much; if too much, they will be sullen; and if too little, if you keep them not very warm they will die with cold; and then also they will be much longer a bringing up. Their Meat may be made of Lean Beef, Sheeps-Heart, or Bullocks-Heart; you shall first pull off the fat Skin that covereth the Heart, and take out the Sinews as clean as you can, then [...] the quantity of White-Bread in Water, and squeeze out some of the Water; then chop it small as if it were for minced Meat; so with a Stick take up the quantity of a Gray Pea, and give every one three or four such Goblets in an hours time, as long as they shall endure to abide in the Nests; when they begin to grow strong, and fly out of the Nest when you feed them, 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 some fine Moss or Hay for them to sit on when they please; always observing to keep them as clean as may be possible, for if you bring them up nasty they will always be so; and so in all other Birds, it will be convenient to line their Cages against Winter, or else to keep them in some warm place: When you cage them up from [Page 56] the Nest, put always some of their Meat by them, with a few Ants in it, to teach them to feed them­selves. You must keep them a little hungryer than ordinary when you cage them, and then they will sooner take to their Meat to feed alone; and when he doth feed, be sure to give four or five times a day, a Gobbet or two at a time, for they will not feed enough at first to satisfie themselves; you must make fresh Meat every day in the Summer, other­wise if it stand longer, it will be very subject to stink and turn sower; when they begin to Moult, or cast their Feathers, give them half an Egg, and the other half Sheeps-Heart, with a little Saffron mixed in the Water, for you must make it not too stiff nor too limber, let the Egg be boiled very hard, and not too stale; Give them no Duck-Eggs, for I had 6 Nightingales killed one Night with a Duck-Egg: For want of this Meat (using them to it) you may give them some Wood-Larks Meat, which will be shewed the way of making when I come to treat of that Bird: You may use your Nightingal to several sorts of Meats, so that for three or four days, if you can get no Flesh you may keep them alive. I shall shew you hereafter to make a Paste which shall serve upon all occasions, if you can get no Flesh, I have fed them two or three days with your Red-Worms and Caterpillars and Hog-lice, and a few Meal-Worms; to give them now and then a Meal-Worm makes them familiar, so you let them take it out of your hands, but too many spoils them, without they are very poor and droop­ing.

How to find the Nightingals Nest, and to take Branchers.

NOw I have shewed where they Build, and how to Feed and Order them, I shall shew you the way of taking Young and Old. For taking of Young Birds, observe where the Cock sings, and if you find him to sing long in a place, then the Hen sits not far off; but if he hath young ones, he will ever now and then be missing, and then the Hen when you come near her Nest will sweet and cur; and if you have searched long and cannot find them, stick a Meal-Worm or two upon a Thorn, and observe which way he carried it, and stand still, or lie down, and you will hear them when she feeds them, (they make a great noise for so small a Bird); when you have found the Nest, if they be not fledged enough, touch them not, for if you do, they will never tarry in the Nest, and then it will be lost labour, to be deprived of it when you have found it: Now for to take your Branches, which is young ones that have been bred up by the old ones in the Field, You must go to such places that are most likely for Food, for the Old ones when they have pushed the Young ones out of the Nest, (which we call Pushers) leads them from the place they were bred in, to a place more plentiful of Food, for they commonly destroy all the Food that is near in bringing them up, so are forced to seek out further to preserve their young ones: When you have found where they be, which you shall know by their curring and sweeting; for if you call true, they will answer you immediately; then [Page 58] making observation where they most delight, as you shall perceive by their Dung, and if they be disturbed from the place, to make to it again; Now having all your Tackle by you, scrape in the Ditch or Bank-side (about half a yard or more square) the Earth that it may look fresh, then take a Bird-Trap, or a Net-Trap, which is thus made; Take a Net made of Green Thread or Silk about the compass of a yard, made after the fashion of a Shove-Net to catch Fish, or a Cabbage-Net; then get some of your large sort of Wire, bending of it round, and joyn both ends, which you must put into a short stick about an inch and a half long; then you must have a piece of Iron with two Cheeks, and a hole of each side, which you must put some Cats-gut or fine Whip-cord three or four times double, that so it may hold the piece of Wood the better that the ends of the Wire is put into, and with a Button of each side of the Iron twist the Whip-cord, that so the Net may play the quic­ker, you must fasten the Net to the Wire, as they do a Shove-Nec to the Hoop, then get a Board of the Compass of your Wire, and joyn your [...] Cheeks of Iron at the handle of your Board; then make a Hole in the middle of your Board, and put a piece of Stick about two inches long, and a Hole at the top of your Stick, which you must have a Peg to put in with two Wires, an inch and half, to stick your Meal-Worm upon, then tie a string in the middle of the top of your Net, drawing the [...] up, having an eye at the end of the handle to put your Thread through, pull it till it stands upright, then pull it through the Hole of the stick that stands in the middle of your Board, and put your Peg in the [Page 59] Hole, and that will hold the String that the Net cannot fall down; you must put two Worms upon the Wires before you put it into the Hole, and set it as gently as you can, that the Bird may throw it down with the first touch; when you have your Net and Worm ready, after you scraped the place, then put some Ants in your Trap-Cage, and upon your Board, put some Worms upon Thorns, and set them at the bottom of your Trap-Cage, little Holes being made for the same purpose to stick in the ends of your Thorns; then plant your Trap near to the place where you heard them call, either in the Ditch or by the Bank-side, or corner of a Hedg, and then walk away, and in a short time you will find them taken; you may set three or four Traps according to your pleasure.

How to Order them when taken.

SO soon as you have taken the Nightingal in July or August, Tie the end of his Wing with some brown Thread, that so he may not have strength to beat himself against the top and Wires of the Cage, for by this order he will grow tame sooner, and be more apt to eat his Meat, whereas otherwise he will be hard to tame; for seeing himself deprived of his liberty, he becometh not tame till some time after. You shall shut him up in a Cage covered above half with green Bays or brown Paper, or else turn the Cage to the light in some private place, that so at first he be not disturbed, to make him wilder than he would be, for it is convenient for three or four days not to let him see much Company; in the mean time have regard to feed him five or six times at the [Page 60] least every day: You must feed him with the Sheeps. Heart and Egg shred small and fine, mingling a­mongst the same some Red Ants, and three or four Red Earth-Worms mixed with it; ordering of him thus, for you are to take notice that no Nightingal at the first taking wil eat any Sheeps-Heart, or Paste, or hard Egg, but live-Meat, as Worms, Ants, Ca­terpillars, or Flies; therefore taking of him out in your hand, you must open his Bill with a Stick made thin at one end, and holding of it open, give him a gobbet about the bigness of a Gray Pea, then when he hath swallowed that, open his Bill and give him another, till he hath had four or five such Bits; then set him some Meat mingled with store of Ants, that when he goes to pick up the Ants, he may eat some of the Sheeps-Heart and Egg with it, put also good store of Ants at the bottom of the Cage to keep him eating, and from being melancholy; at the first you may shred three or four Meal-Worms in his Meat, the better to entice him, that so he may therewith eat some of the Sheeps-Heart by little and little; at last when you perceive him to eat, give him the less Ants in his Meat, and at last give him nothing but the Sheeps-Heart and Egg; if you perceive him to eat it wil­lingly, which thing is easie to be discerned of any Man of Judgment: These Nightingals that are ta­ken at this time of the year, will not sing till the middle of October, and then they will hold in Song till the middle of June.

To bring up Nightingals that are taken, from the first of April till the twentieth day.

THe Nightingals that are taken after the first of April until the latter end, are the only Birds in the World for Song, and fit to be brought up; you may go out in the Morning and Evening; and having heard several Birds, make choice of them that have best variety of Song; and hold out their Song without breaking off in several quirks, and is most lavish, throwing of it out at pleasure; you must plant your Trap-Cages or Trap-Nets, as you did formerly for the Bran­chers which were taken in June, July, or August; When you go ataking, carry a Bottom-bag with you, and some Meat in a Gally-Pot to feed him a­broad, for if they be over-fasted they seldom live, which at that time in the year they require to be fed every hour, for when you have set your Trap for others, you may sit and refresh them you have in your Bag; be sure to tie their Wings at the end as soon as taken, and put or cut their Feathers from their vent, otherwise they will be subject to clog and bake up their vent, which is present death; when you come home, cram them as I directed in the Branchers, and in the bottom of the Cage put Dirt and Ants, and set some Meat made with Sheeps-Heart and Egg, and mingled with Ants, and two or three Meal-Worms cut in pieces put in­to his Pan, and set him in a place that he may see no Body to fright him till he is wonted to the Cage, and hath forgot his former liberty; be sure to feed him seven or eight times a day, with three or four pieces of Meat as big as a Pea, opening his [Page 62] Bill with a thin Stick, as I directed before, for at this time of the year they are apter to die for want of Food by one half than in July or August; when you perceive him to eat the Meat with the Ants and Meal-Worms, for usually at first for two or three days they will pick out all the Ants and Meal-Worms, and eat not one bit of the Sheeps-Heart and Egg, and the reason is, That they feeding on­ly upon live-Meat, do not know that any thing is for Food but what stirs; when you perceive cer­tainly that she eats of the Meat as well as Ants and Meal-Worms, put but a few Ants in, and in a day or two none at all, then by degrees shew him more openly to peoples sight: but if you find he is sul­len, as many will be, you must have the more pa­tience, (for there is very great difference in the hu­mors of them, as shall be shewed hereafter) and get some Gentles or Maggots, and take your Paste and roll it up in pieces like unto little Worms about half an inch long, and put amongst them some Ants, and put your Maggots at the bottom of your Pan; then put your Paste rolled like Worms upon the Maggots, and them stirring at the bottom will make the Paste move as if it were alive, which will cause the Nightingal to eat it more readily than or­dinary; and when he hath tasted the Past or Meat made of Sheeps-Heart two or three times, he then is not apt to forsake it: but if you find him at first eating to eat sparingly, cram him two or three times a day, and give him store of Ants and their Eggs, for there are some Old ones that do as far exceed their Young as Gold is beyond Silver; for I have for many years observed, That Nestlings nor Branchers, except they have an old Bird to sing over [Page 63] them, have not the true Song for the first year; on­ly that this can be said for them, They are a bold [...]h Bird, and so many do approve of them be­cause of their familiarness.

To know whether the Nightingal eats, and is likely to prove good.

WHen you have accustomed him that he begins to be tame, and hear him to cur and sweet with chearfulness, and record safely to himself, it is a certain sign he eateth, and you need not further trouble your self about cramming of him; some will sing before they feed, and them commonly prove very good Birds; also your Birds that are long a-feeding, and make no curring nor sweeting for the space of eight or ten days, seldom prove good, for they are Hens, or Birds not worth keep­ing, or continue a whole month without singing: But on the contrary, They give great hope of pro­ving well, when they take their Meat kindly, and are familiar, and not buckish, and sing quickly, and learn to eat of themselves without much trouble, it's a sure token of their proving excellent Birds, for I have had some Birds feed in twelve hours after [...]king of them, and sing in two or three days, and [...] never have proved bad. And again, I had a Bird that was fourteen days and would not eat, but when he did, was not worth the Meat he eat: If you have a Bird that will flutter and bolt up his Head against the top of the Cage in the night, ne­ver keep him, for he is never good, but doth a far greater mischief, he causeth all the other, by his evil example, to beat themselves also; for nothing [Page 64] can be more prejudicial to a Bird than to bruise himself, which is a sign he takes no pleasure in his Habitation; therefore either turn him loose with a mark to be known, or wring off his head that no Body may further be troubled with his ill qualities, than which none can be worse.

How to know the Cock-Nightingal from the Hen.

THe Opinions and several Judgments of Men concerning Nightingals, (that is) namely, to have any perfect rule to know one Sex from ano­ther, are very sundry and divers, you must under­stand those are for old Birds taken in the Spring; I shall give you several Mens Opinions, and then my own at last, (for it is a very great vexation to keep your Hens four or five months instead of Cocks, and not only the trouble and charge, but to be frustrated in our expectation, at last expecting a great deal of pleasure, it proves a vexation). First, Some do undertake to distinguish the Cock from the Hen, by their grossness, saying, That the Cock is much the larger and fuller Bird, both in length and big­ness: Others are of Opinion, That the Cock hath a greater Eye, a longer Beak, and a reddisher Tail: Others again distinguish by the Pinnion of the Wing, and the Feathers upon the Head: All which Opinions and Judgments I have found very deceit­ful, and far wide of the true and perfect knowledg of the Truth, for I have had perfect brave Cocks, Song-Nightingals, and that a great number of them, that have been very small and little, having all the marks ascribed to them to be Hens, and Hens with several Marks that have been assigned to the Cocks: [Page 65] Wherefore for a more sure and certain sign, you shall be put out of doubt, and trust to these follow­ing Observations: First, As concerning your Nest­lings that are taken out from the Old ones in the Nest before they can feed; observe this Rule, and mark it well, That if any of the young Birds or Nestlings (before they can feed themselves) do re­cord something of Song to themselves; and if you mark them well, you shall perceive their Throats to wag when they record: Mark, those Birds for your use, for it's a certain sign, as I have experi­mented it, that they are all Cocks; but when they come to feed themselves, the Hen will Record as well as the Cock; therefore give him some mark when they are young, for it is very difficult to di­stinguish afterward. In the next place, is your Brancher, which the old Bird hath brought up to feed himself before you take him; when you have taken this Bird, and he feeds himself, he will pre­sently begin to Record, both Cocks and Hens; but the Cock is much differing from the Hen, for the Cock continues his recording much longer than the Hen, and louder, and much oftner in the day-time; and also you shall perceive the Cock to sweet and our much oftner than the Hen, and also with more Spirit and much louder, and usually you will find him standing upon one Leg, and holding on his warbling notes, which you shall perceive by the motion of his Brest, with a long continuance, which is not to be found in the Hen, for she goeth hopping and whistling up and down the Cage, making a Noise more like than a Song, that is very much interrupted and short.

To order the Nightingal which eateth alone and singeth.

WHen you shall find that the Nitingal that eats well by himself, and that sings often, with­out seeming to be disturbed at every little noise, you shall by little and little put back the Green-Bayes wherewith the fore-side of the Cage is covered (for those Cages are most convenient for Nightingals, that have the Wire only afore, and all the other parts made up; though I have many times kept them in Wood-Lark Cages, but I do not find them so con­venient, by reason of the warmth; and then the Nightingal being a buckish Bird, is apt to strike his Head against the top-Wires, which very often proves his death, for no Nitingal is fit to be put in one of those open Cages, but those that are very tame and familiar; and most People are deficient in lining the other Nightingal-Cages at top, which is very necessa­ry, for many Birds have beat out their brains (against the top-Board for want of lining) every day a lit­tle in such fort that the Bird may not perceive it; and as you uncover him, set him by little and little more in the sight of People, that so he may grow bolder, and not be frightned with the light and mo­tions of People, nor with any sudden noise; the best way is to hang him towards the top of the Cieling upon a Nail, for they do not delight to hang low; for if he be full in Song, and you hang him upon a sudden amongst much Company, and open, or put back the Green-Bays, and give him too much light all at once, he will immediately break off singing, and ten to one if he sings till [Page 67] next October following; then you must take great care that you do all things by degrees; for not­withstanding I have read in Natural Histories, That it is very hard and difficult to bring him to singing, if you breed him not up from the Nest, which Opinion of the Ancient Philosophers hath proved very ridiculous and false, by many hundred ordina­ry Experiments; for it is very often seen (and I have often proved) that old Nightingals are far perfecter and far excellenter in their Songs than any Nestling or Brancher whatsoever, and will come to sing as lavish and as often, and with care and a lit­tle trouble will know you and be as familiar also. I will not deny, notwithstanding what I have said, but some that have been curious observers of Marks, may if they take them together; but this is that I affirm, That several have been mightily deceived by those Marks before mentioned; but by the singing, the Nightingals taken in August are most certainly and evidently apparent to be discerned. And as for those which are taken in April, your knowledg resteth in these several Observations; First, When you have taken the Bird that you think you heard sing, call again, and if the Cock answers and sings again, then you have taken the Hen and not the Cock; but if you find the Cock not to sing, then be assured you have the Male; for if you take the Hen at first, and he missing of his Hen will sing ex­traordinarily, also in lower parts of the Sex which the Cocks put forth, which the Hens do not; but if you take a Bird about the middle of May, or be­ginning of June, you may perceive the Hen very apparently from the Cock, by reason all the Breast of the Hen will be bare with Sitting, and all full of [Page 68] scurf, when the Cock's Brest is all well-feathered, without any bareness or scurf: These therefore are the most certain Rules and Observations that ever I could find in all my Experience, whereunto you may trust and betake your self.

How to make the Paste which the Nightingals eat, be­ing likewise good for the Wren, Robin-Red-Brest, Wood-Lark, Skie-Lark, Black-Bird, and Thro­stles, and many other Birds.

TO make this Paste for several sorts of Birds, which before in several Chapters we have men­tioned, Take half a peck of your finest Horse-beans being very dry, and let them be ground very fine, and boulted diligently through a very fine Boulter, as is used for Wheaten-Meal; do so much in quan­tity as may be convenient for your turn, or accor­ding to your stock of Birds you keep. For Exam­ple; Let your quantity of Meal be two pound, with one pound of the best Sweet-Almonds blan­ched; which afterwards must be very well beat in a Morter, rather finer than those Almonds that are beat for March-panes; then take four ounces of fresh Butter, I mean, without any Salt, which But­ter you must put in a Copper-Pan well tinned, and mix them very well together, the said Flower, and Almonds, and Butter: when you have done this, set the Pan upon a Charcole-fire, that it may not smell of Smoke, continually stirring of it whilst it stands upon the Fire with a Wooden Spoon, that so it may boil by degrees, and not burn to; then take four Yolks of Eggs, and a little Saffron; when you perceive the Butter to be all melted, then having [Page 69] some live Virgins-Hony, drop in so much by degrees continually stirring of it, that it may incorporate all the things in one, if you do not keep it continu­ally stirring, it will be very subject to burn to: When you have so done, you shall take a Cullen­der made with such Holes as will let pass all that is small and lies not in knobs; then take the remain­der of the Paste and beat it in a Morter again; if you find it will not pass through the Holes of the Cullender, then set it upon the fire again and boil it gently; then try again to force it through the Cul­lender, till it come in such quantity and quality as is requisite for the necessity of what store of Birds you do intend to keep: if there remains still some of the Paste which would not pass through the Holes of the Cullender, set it upon the fire to boil very well, and make a further essay to force it all through, so far forth as it may all be brought to a just consistency: And for the keeping of it, you must pour Hony above; let your Hony be melted first, and a little clarified, and so you have store of Provision for many Months: this Paste may be mixed with your Sheeps-Heart, or with your Wood-Larks Meat, or any other Birds Meat whatsoever, for it is a brave strengthening, cleansing Diet, for all sorts of soft-beaked Birds. This is the only Meat that is used in Italy, by all the Country-Peo­ple for the preserving of Nightingals, and is made by the Apothecaries, and sold out by the penny-worth, as frequently as Mithridate or Diascordium is here: This is ready at all times, when once made, and will continue seven or eight months.

The several sorts of Diseases the Nightingal is subject to, and how to relieve them.

THe Nightingal, as I have before observed, a­bout the latter end of August, grows extraor­dinary fat, both abroad in the Fields, and also in Houses where they are caged up, which most do look upon to be very dangerous when it begins to abate if they do not sing; but to help this, They must be kept very warm upon the falling of their fat, and also given some Saffron in their Meat or Water; but when they are perceived to grow fat, they must be purged two or three times a-week with some Worms that are taken out of a Pigeon-House, for the space of four or five weeks toge­ther, and also you shall find very frequent about the beginning of August about your Vines, or Currans, or Goose-berry Bushes, a sort of speckled Spider (which is to be found at no time of the year else) they are very plentiful; so you may give them two or three in a day as long as they last, for this will purge and cleanse them extraordinary: if they grow melancholy, put into their Water or Drinking-Pot some White Sugar-Candy, with a slice or two of Liquorish; and if this doth not help them, but they still complain, put into their Water-Pot six or eight chives of Saffron, or there-about, continuing withal to give them the Paste and Sheeps-Heart shred very fine, and also give them three or four Meal-Worms a day, and a few Ants and their Eggs; and also boil a new laid Egg very hard, and chop it small and strew it amongst the Ants and their Eggs, for I have had them, when very fat, to fast seven­teen [Page 71] or eighteen days together, but it is far better when they eat. Nightingals that have been kept two or three years in a Cage, are very subject to the Gout; now when you shall perceive it, take them out of their Cage and anoint their Feet with fresh Butter or Capons-Grease; do so three or four days together, and it is a certain Cure for them. I had almost forgot the principal thing that causes the most of Diseases in your Nightingal; which is this, That for want of keeping them clean and neat they clog their feet, which causes several to have their Claws to rot off, and it brings the Cramp and Gout, and makes them never thrive nor delight in themselves; therfore be sure to let them have twice a week Gravel at the bottom of the Cage, and let it be very dry when you put it in, for then it will not be subject to clog, for I look upon a Bird as good as dead, when they are continually clogged; for if they be in heart, they will pick and clean their Feet, and prune their Feathers; no Bird can be kept too clean nor too neat, for that causes them to take delight in themselves. The next thing the Nightingal is subject to, Is Apostems, and breaking out about their Eyes and Neb, for which you shall likewise use your fresh Butter or Capons-Grease. I shall now shew you a great secret to raise Nigh­tingals that are very bare, When you see an abso­lute necessity for it, give them new Figs chopped very small amongst their Sheeps-Heart and Paste, or hard Eggs, and when they are recovered, bring them again to their ordinary Diet, that may conti­nue to maintain them in their former plight, for as soon as ever you perceive they are growing fat, give them no more Figs. There also happeneth unto the [Page 72] Nightingal another Disease, called the Straitness or strangling of the Breast, which comes very often for want of care in making of their Meat, by min­cing fat Meat therewith; and you may perceive it by the beating pain not afore accustomed, which he abideth in this place; and also by this, when he is given very often to gape, and opening his Bill. This Disease also happeneth, by reason of some Sinew or Thread of the Sheeps-Heart (for want of well shreding with a sharp Knife) to hang in his Throat, or many times it will clasp about his Tongue, which causeth him to forsake his Meat, and grow very poor in a short time, especially if it be in the Spring-time, or when he is in Song: Now as soon as you shall perceive him to gape, or shaking open his Bill, take him gently out of his Cage, and open his Bill with a Quill or Pin, and unloosen any string or loose piece of Flesh that may hang about his Tongue or Throat; I have seen very many that have been killed with some of the Sinew or loose Flesh hanging about the Tongue and Throat; after you have taken it away, give him some white Su­gar-Candy in his Water, or else dissolve it and moi­sten his Meat, which is a present Remedy to cure any thing that is amiss; for in brief I must tell you, All Birds that eat Sheaps-Heart, or other Heart, if the Keeper and Maker be not careful to mince it very fine, are very subject to be troubled with the Dis­ease afore mentioned, and are seldom good after­wards.

Now I shall give you a brief Observation of what Birds are like to prove best.

THose Nightingals that inhabit by High-Ways and Orchards, and sing close by Houses, and are us'd to the company of People, are far beyond those that are bred in Copices and more remote places; for I have many times observed, That Birds taken where People have much frequented, will feed much sooner, and sing also, and come to be familiar in a short time, when others that are taken farther off, are long before they come to feed, and for the most part are very subject to fright, and upon the least dislike will give off singing; for when you have taken any Bird, and find him stubborn and not take his Meat kindly, and beat himself against the Cage, set him flying again for he will never prove worth keeping. Be careful not to untie the Wing of your Nightingal till they are very tame and familiar, for if you do, when they find them­selves free, they will fall immediately a-beating themselves, so you must be forced to new-tie, or else your Bird will quickly beat himself to death, or if not, he will make himself uncapable of singing that year.

Now concerning the Wood-Lark.

THis Bird very many hold not much inferior in Song to the Nightingal; nay, a great many do prefer him before it; but it is of this Bird as of all other, some are far excellenter than others, both in length and sweetness of Song; I have known [Page 74] some Wood-Larks to have a great part of the Nigh­tingal, for that being bred by Coppice-sides, and other places where the Nightingals Haunts may be. Now this Bird is a very tender Bird, and yet he breeds the soonest of any Bird we have in England, I had a Nest of young Birds ready to fly by the 16th of March. This Bird is a very hot mettlesome Creature, for if they be not taken in January, or the beginning of February, they grow so extraor­dinary rank, that in a short time they pine away, by reason of the rankness of the Stones, which we find extraordinary swelled when dead. This Bird delights mightily upon gravelly Grounds and Hills that lie to the rising of the Sun, and in Oat Stubbs: This Bird is coupled with his Mate at the begin­ning of February, (and then they part with all their last years Brood) and immediately go to Nest: they build most commonly in your Laiers Grounds, where the Grass hath been pretty rank, and is grown Russet; they build with some Bennet-Grass, or some of the dead Grass of the Field, and make it always under some large Tuffet to shelter them from the Wind and Weather, which commonly at that time of the year is very cold; they feed their Young with a small kind of Worm; I have taken several of their Nests, with a resolution to bring them up, (we not understanding the way of taking them by Net in the Country, as they do here about London) but could never do it, (though I have brought up all sorts of other Birds) for this reason, They either had the Cramp, or else turn'd into a Scouring, in less than a weeks time after I had taken them from the Old Ones; several that have been perhaps dili­genter than I, have brought them up to feed, but I [Page 75] could never hear of any that kept them so long till they sung, and made them the least part of a­mends for their trouble and charge they had been it. This Bird hath a most curious melodious plea­sant Song, carrying of it through with so much sweetness and curiosity, and abundance of variety, that I have had very many that have had almost thirty several sorts of Notes; which if they sing lavish, is a most ravishing Melody, and especially when the Nightingal and they sing both together, each other striving to outvie the other; for I have seen a hot-mettled Wood-Lark to strain his Note so much, that he hath dropt down dead off from the Pearch, in striving to exceed his Antagonist: These Birds are, as I told you before, never bred from the Nest, as I could ever understand. They are taken at three months of the year, in June, July, and August, which we term young Branchers, having not moulted their Nestling-Feathers; I shall shew you here after that, how at this time of the year you may take them, with a Hauk called a Hobby. The next season of taking, is the general flight-time, which is the latter end of September, for then they rove from one Country to another, and then the Branchers are all moulted off, and then you can hardly distinguish an Old Bird from a Young One; it this time of the year they take them in great quantities, compared with other times. The next Season is the beginning of January, till the latter end of February, at which time they are all coupled and returned to their Laires or Breeding-places: The Birds that are taken in June, July, and at the beginning of August, are commonly taken with a Hobby adoring; which is this, Get out in a dewy [Page 76] morning, and go to the side 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 two or three, times with your Hauk upon your Fist, making of him hover when you come indifferent near, and they will he till you clap a little Net upon them, that you carry upon the end of a Stick; or else if three or four of you go together, take a Net made after the manner of them used for Partridges, when you go with a Setting-Dog only, the Meash must be smaller; let it be a Lark-Meash, and then your Hauk to the Larkis like a Setting-Dog to Partridges, so with such a Diet you may take all the whole Company at one draught: In like manner you may take your Sky-Larks, but they seldom are above two together; but your Wood-Larks keep compa­ny with their young ones till flight-time, and then they part.

How to know which are best, the Bird taken in June, July, or August, or at Flight-Time; or in January or February.

THe Birds taken in June, July, or August sing presently, but last but a little time in Song, for they immediately fall to Moulting; which if they withstand, commonly prove very sweet Song-Birds, but not so lavish as those that are taken in Spring; they are commonly very familiar Birds, by reason they are taken young, the Birds that are ta­ken at flight, are brave strong handsome sprightly strait Birds, and do prove well at Spring, if they be well kept all Winter; if not, they will be lousie [Page 77] and come to nothing, as I shall shew you hereafter, when I come to the order and feeding of the Bird; these usually do not sing till after Christmas. Those that are taken in January and February, sing within two or three days, or a week at farthest (if they be good-conditioned Birds, and will soon become tame; but your fearful wild buckish Birds seldom prove good, for upon every turn they bolt against the Wires of the Cage and bruife themselves, and so are not to leave off singing; therefore if you have a Bird that is a good Bird and wild, have a Net knit French Meash, and so put it in the inside of the Cage, sowing of it close to the sides, and strait; that when he boults or flirts up he may take no harm. I do hold the Birds taken in January and February for the most part do prove the best, by rea­son they are taken in full Stomach, and sing in a very short time after, and are more perfect in their song than those taken at other Seasons; and the only way to preserve him and help him of these Distempers, is first to give him fresh Gravel twice or thrice a week, and-let it be sifted fine, otherwise it will bruise his Feathers basking in the Sand if you leave gravelly Stones. Secondly, Be sure to let him have such Meat that is not too stale, for if it be mouldy and dry, the vertue is almost gone out; so he shall never thrive upon it. Thirdly, Have a [...]eat care to shift his Water three times a week, for stinks sooner than any Birds Water; and the rea­son is, That the Bird by throwing about his Meat, [...]me falls into the Water, which causes it immedi­atly to stink, and then it is not at all healthful for him to drink of it; if the Bird be very poor, you must, at the beginning of Spring, give him every [Page 78] two or three days, a Turf of Three-leaved Grass, as is used to the Sky-Lark, and boyl him a Sheeps-Heart, and mince it small, and mingle it amongst his Bread, and Egg, and Hemp-seeed, which will cause him to thrive extraordinarily. To kill his Lice, Take him out of the Cage (if it be not a very good Bird it is not worth while) and smoak his Feathers with some Tobacco, and give him fresh Gravel, and set him in a hot place where the Sunshines, and he will immediately rid himself of the Vermin, if he hath strength to busk in the Sand; for the Truth is, These Diseases almost happen through keeping of them nasty, and not giving of them good Diet: If you would have your Bird sing very lavish, feed him all his time of Song with some Sheeps-Heart mixed with his Egg, and Bread, and Hemp-Seed; and put in his Water two or three slices of Liquorish, and a little white Sugar-Candy, with two or three Blades of Saffron; do so once in a week, and it will cause him to be long­winded, and extraordinary lavish in his Song, car­rying it out also at a far greater length than at other times; and I hold some Wood-Larks not to be in­ferior to the Nightingal; but the bad keeping, and ill-ordering makes them sing so dully as if they were asleep, which otherwise he is a very chearful Bird; for observe them when they sing in the Fields, with what ravishing melodious Songs they charm your ears, which if well-ordered, would prove the same being kept in a Cage.

Of the Wood-Lark and Nightingal.

I Shall tell you a small Story, I and another Gen­tleman riding in the Country in an evening hard by a Coppice or Wood-side, heard a Nightingal sing so sweetly, as to my thinking, I never heard the like in all my life, although I have heard a hun­dred in my time; for the place being in a Valley, and the Coppice on the side of it; made all the Notes of the Nightingal seem double with the Ec­cho; we had not stay'd long, but comes a Wood-Lark and lights upon a dead Twig of an Oak, and there they sang, each out-vying the other; in a short space more, about an hundred paces off, lights another Wood-Lark, distant from the first, and un­der him, as near as we could judg, was another Nightingal; these four Birds sang with so melodi­ous Harmony, warbling out their pleasant Notes for above a whole hour, that never any Musick came in competition with it, to the pleasing of our Ears; as soon as the Wood-larks were gone, the Nightingals, we supposed, went a little to refresh Nature, having play'd their parts so well, that every Bird in the highest degree strove for mastery, each striving to out-vie the other. My Friend and I having stood a full hour to hear these Songsters charming our Ears, at our going, I perswaded him to sing a merry Catch under the Wood-side; which he had no sooner began, but one of the Nightingals came and bore his Part, and in a minutes time came me other to bear his Part, still keeping of their sta­tions, and my Friend and I standing between them, for it is observed by all that know the nature of the [Page 80] Nightingal, that he will suffer no Competitor, if he be able to master him, (if not, they will some­times rather die than give place) and so he sang three or four merry Songs, and the Birds singing with him all the time, and as he raised his Notes so did they, that he did protest, He never enjoyed more pleasure in so short a time in all his life, for the Coppice or Wood being upon the side of a Hill, and a Valley in the Bottom, so doubled all their Notes, with such a sweet and pleasant Eccho, that I am confident none could think the time long in the hearing so sweet and delightful pleasant Harmony.

The next Song-Bird as I esteemed best, is the Skie-Lark; his place of Breeding and Feeding.

IT is a Bird that is very common in all parts of England, so is not so much regarded and taken notice of; but I do esteem some of them to be very fine pleasant Song-Birds, for in all Birds of the same kind, there is as much difference as between skim'd Milk-Cheese and Cream, both being Cheese; so that in the Lark, both Skie-Lark, the one not worth 3 d. and the other worth 40 s. This Bird is a very hardy Bird, living almost upon any Food, if he hath but a green Turff of Three-Leav'd Grass once in a week. This Bird is much later than the Wood-Lark by almost two months, for he seldom hath young Ones until the middle of May, when the Wood-Lark hath in March. This Bird, though in Winter we see great flocks, almost in every Country throughout England, yet we find the fewest of their Nests of any Birds I know that are so plentiful; they most commonly Build in [Page 81] your Corn or thick high Grass Meadows, and have usually three or four in a Nest, to my knowledg, I never found five in all my life-time; they may be taken at a fortnight old, and will be brought up al­most with any Meat; but if you give them at first Sheeps-Heart and Egg chopped together, till they are about three weeks old, or till they come to feed themselves it will not be amiss; and when they come to eat alone, give them Oat-Meal, Hemp-Seed, and Bread, mixed together with a little Egg, bruise the Hemp-Seed, and they will eat the better: at first, Be sure to chuse Hemp-Seed that hath a good Kernel and sweet, otherwise you will but de­ceive your self and the Bird too: These Birds that are so young, may be brought up to any thing, as I shall shew you when I come to treat, one Bird learning another Birds Song; you must always ob­serve to give these Birds Sand at the bottom of the Cage, and let them have a new Turff every week; these Larks must have no Pearches in their Cages as the Wood-Larks had, for these are Field-Larks.

How to order a Wood-Lark when taken.

IN the first place you must have a Cage with two Pans, one for mix'd Meat, and another for Oat-Meal and whole Hemp-Seed. First, Boyl and Egg hard, then take the Crum of a half-penny White-Loaf, and as much Hemp-Seed as the Bread; chop your Egg very small, and crumble your Bread and it together; then bruise your Hemp Seed very small with a Rolling-Pin, or pound it in a Morter; then mingle all together and give it him. You must have fine red Gravel at the bottom of your Cage, [Page 82] and shift it every week at farthest, otherwise he will be subject to clog his Feet with his Dung, and will not take half that delight in himself, for he delights to bask himself in Sand; which I find, if he hath not pretty often he proves lousie, and then seldom or never comes to any thing, for they neither are handsome to the Eye, nor give any melody to the Ear, therefore be sure to keep them clean and neat, and they will answer your expectation; you must line your Pearch in the Cage with some green Bays, or else make a Pearch of a Mat, which I have found them so very much delight in: If you find him very wild when he is taken, keep him three or four days from Company till he begins to eat his Meat; strew some of the Hemp-Seed and Oat-Meal upon the Sand, and some of his mixed Meat also, for sometimes they do not find the Pan till they be al­most famished, and then seldom are recovered to their former strength.

How to know a Cock from a Hen.

I May say of these Birds as of the Nightingal, That several have pretended to distinguish the Male from the Female by several Marks, one by the smallness of his Head, and another by the lightest colour, and another by the streightness of his going, and some by the White of each side of his Head, and others by the largeness of the Bird, and some by the Pinnion of his Wing; all these I have found to be deceitful and fraudulent, which is very great perplexity, if we keep Hens instead of Cocks. Now the truest way that ever I could find to be certain at all times, is first the largeness and length of his Call: [Page 83] Secondly, The tall walking of the Bird about the Cage. And thirdly, At Evenings the double of his Note, which we call Cudling as if they were going to Roost; but if you hear him sing strong, you cannot be deceived, for Hens will sing a little; this is chiefly to know those Birds that are taken at flight-time, for I hold it not worth ones time and trouble to keep them round the year, without it be an extraordinary choice Bird; for if a Bird sings not that is taken in January and February, within one month after, you may conclude him not worth keeping, or else for certain it is a Hen. But our chief aim is, to know those Birds that are taken at the latter end of September, for many of them prove excellent Birds, and will begin to sing after Christmas, and hold on until the latter end of July.

Concerning the Diseases of the Wood-Lark, and his Cure.

THis Bird is of a curious Song, and a tender Bird to be kept if not rightly ordered; but if well ordered, I have known him been kept six or seven years, with great pleasure to the Keeper, ha­ving been better and better every year that he hath been kept, and at last hath sung such varieties of Notes, even to admiration of understanding Ears, that are able to judg between the goodness in Song in one Bird and another. These Birds are very sub­ject to the Cramp, giddiness in the Head, and to be very lousie. Many People admire how they can be cold in a House, when others that are abroad suffer much more, and are never subject to the Cramp; the reason is this, That abroad they have [Page 84] variety of Motion, as flying and running, which in a Cage they have not; but being confined to a narrow compass, have very little or no motion at all, which if the Cage be not often shifted with Gravel, the Dung clogs to their Feet, and makes them numb, which causes the Cramp; and another thing causes it also, When they hang them out a­broad and it rains, and so clogs and wets the Sand, that they sitting all Night upon it, very often causes it so; if you hang them out, and the Sun shine not to dry it, they ought to have fresh Sand to be given them, and the Pearch lined that they may take a delight to sit upon it, keeps them very neat, and are not subject to clog, and sings with far more pleasure, then when he lies at the bottom of the Cage, and is not seen sitting upon the Pearch, also causes their Song to seem more lavish, for the bot­tom of the Cage takes off the life of the Song. Next is the giddiness of the Head, which is occasioned by feeding upon much Hemp-Seed; which when at first you perceive, give him of your Gentles that you fish withal, if you can get them; if not, give him some Hog-Lice, or some Emets and their Eggs, and put in his Water three or four slices of Licorish, and it will immediately help him. The third Dis­ease is Lousiness and Scurf, which causes a poorness of the Bird.

How to take the Old Skie-Lark several ways, and the way of ordering when taken.

I Shewed you when I treated of the Wood-Lark, how he was taken with a Hobby and Nets, by which this Lark may be taken also, which is not [Page 85] needful to repeat again; but we have some more ways for taking of this Skie-Lark, as I shall direct you according to my best ability. This Lark is ta­ken in dark Nights with a Net called a Trammel, it is a Net of 36 yards long, and six yards over, run through with six ribs of Pack-thread; which Ribs are at the ends put upon two Poles 16 foot long, made taper at each end, and so is carried between two Men half a yard from the Ground, every six steps touching the Ground to cause the Birds to fly up, otherwise you may carry the Net over them without disturbing of them; so when you hear them fly against the Net, clap the Net down and they are safe under it: All in the Vale there is hard­ly a Farmer without one of the Nets; this is a very murdering Net, taking all sorts of Birds that it comes near, as Partridges, Quales, Wood-Cocks, Snipes, Felfares, and what not, almost in every dark Night; I know them that have taken 20 do­zen of Larks in a Night. The next way is taking of them with a pair of Day-Nets, and a Glass, which indeed is very fine sport in a clear frosty Morning; these Nets are commonly seven foot deep, and fifteen foot long, knit with your French Mease, and very fine Thread; I think it not conve­nient to describe them, being I would not seem to be tedious; you can hardly ever set them right, ex­cept you be at first shewed by an Artist at it: These Nets take all sorts of small Birds that come within the compass of the Nets, as Linnets in abundance, and your Bunting-Lark, which hath a short sort of Bill like to a Bull-Finch. The next way of ta­king these Birds, is by a Bell named a Loo-Bell; with a great Light carried in a Tub; this is a plea­sant [Page 86] Sport by reason of its Light; but this Bell is carried by one Man, and the Tub and Candle also, and the Net by another: This Bell and the Light so amazeth them, that they lie for dead; they toss a little Net over them. They take all sorts of Fowls and Birds with this Bell, as Partridg, Phea­sant, (and if a very deep Bell, Duck, Mallard, Wood-Cock, and Snipe); This way of birding hath a great conveniency before the Trammel-Net, for with this Bell they go amongst Bushes, and by Ri­vers, and shaw-sides, where commonly your Snipes and Wood-Cocks lie; it is a sure way for taking a Covey of Partridges. The last way of taking your Lark, is in a great Snow; You must take of Pack-thread 100 or 200 yards, and at every six in­ches fasten a noose made with Horse-Hair, (two Hairs twisted together is sufficient) the more Line the better, for it will reach the greater length, and consequently have the more Sport; at every twenty yards you must have a little stick to thrust into the Ground, and so go on till it be all set, (I know them that have a thousand yards); then a­mongst the Nooses scatter some white Oats from one end to the other, and you will find the Larks flock extraordinary; and when three or four are ta­ken (for you will have them by the Neck, Leg, or very Claw) see and take them out, for else they may make the others shie; and when you are at one end, they will be at the other end a-feeding, so you need not fear scaring of them away, for it makes them more eager at their Food; if it be after Christmass before the Snow fall, those Birds seldom or never prove good for singing; but take them that you in­tend to keep for singing in Octob. or Nov. and then [Page 87] they will sing a little after Christmass; chuse out the streightest, largest, and loftiest Bird, and he that hath most white in his Tail, for these are the usual Marks for a Cock: You must provide him a Cage as large as two of the Wood-Lark Cages, and let there be a Dish in the middle of the Cage, or at one end, according to your fancy, and put always some Water in when you place the Turf in it, for the Water causeth the Turf to grow in the Cage; if you find him very wild and buckish, tie his Wings for two or three weeks, till he is become both ac­quainted and tame also; then when you perceive him pretty orderly, untie his Wings, still letting him hang in the same place he did. You must feed this old Bird with Hemp-Seed, Bread, and a few white Oats, for he takes great delight to husk the Oats; and when he begins to sing, once in a week you may give him a hard Egg, or shred him a little boiled Mutton, or Veal, or Sheeps-Heart. You must observe in this Bird, as in all others, That you give no Salt Meat, nor no Bread that is any thing Salt.

Concerning the Throstle, and the several kinds.

THere be five sorts or kinds of Throstles, ac­cording as I have observed. The first sort, and largest of them, is your Mistle-Throstle, which is far bigger and larger than of the other sorts, and his Food is far different from all the other kinds, and very few to be seen; he is the beautifullest Bird of all the five, but sings the least, except he al­ways breeds near where store of Mistletoe is, and if he can possible, in a very thick place, or in some [Page 88] Pit, for he is a very melancholy sort of Bird; he makes as large a Nest as a Jay, and lays as big an Egg; He builds commonly with rotten Twigs the out-side of his Nest, and the in-side is dead Grass, Hey, or Moss that he pulls from Trees, (this Bird delights mightily in old Orchards, where common­ly is much Feed upon the Apple-Trees) she seldom lays above five Eggs, but four most commonly; she breeds but twice a year, and hath three young ones, never above four as I could find; she feeds all her young ones with the Berries of the Misseltoe, and nothing else as ever I could perceive, having diligently watched them two or three hours toge­ther.

Many Writers are of opinion, That this Bird is an excellent Remedy against Convulsions and Fal­ling-Sickness; for this reason, That the Misseltoe is so good (and he continually feeding upon nothing else) a Remedy againstit, and is an approved ex­cellent Medicine: The way of using it is, To kill him, and dry him to a Pouder, and take the quan­tity of a peny-weight every morning, in six spoon­fuls of the distilled Water of Misletoe-Berries, or Black-Cherry Water, fasting an hour after; and they say one Bird taking will certainly effect the Cure; I never did experiment the truth of it, but in my opinion it stands to a great deal of reason: It's no chargeable Medicine, only finding of a Nest, or shooting an old Bird, and make tryal.

The young Birds taken about fourteen days old, are easie to be brought up, being a very hardy Bird; but I think it will not answer your expecta­tion if you breed him for Song, for he hath a con­fused rambling Song, and not lavish neither; the [Page 89] young ones are fed with Bread and Hemp-Seed, and a little Sheeps-Heart between whiles; it's a hand­som Bird for a voletie, and will breed like Pigeons if rightly ordered.

The next is your Felfare or Northern Throstle, which comes to us after Michaelmass, and tarries here all the Winter, and departs the first of March; Their Feed with us is Hips and Haws in hard Wea­ther, and in open Weather Worms and young Grass, lieing altogether upon Meadow or Pasture-Grounds; they come in very great numbers, and go away also in Flocks. They breed upon certain Rocks near the Sea-side, in Scotland, where they are in abundance, and have Young three or four times every year; I have taken them in great num­bers at Winter with your Bird-Lime, as I have be­fore directed you in the last Addition; I have for curiosity kept one in a Cage to see if they had any Song, but I found it not worth my labour, for when Spring came, he made nothing but a chatter­ing, so that I found him far better for a Spit than a Cage, they being excellent Meat when they are ve­ry Fat, which is commonly in hard Weather; in open Weather they are very bitter, and not worth eating.

The next is your Wind-Throstle, which comes along with this Felfare or Northern-Throstle, but is much smaller, with a dark red under his Wing; This Bird breeds in Woods and Shawes, as your Song-Throstles in Scotland, and hath an indifferent Song, far exceeding the two former: In February, in fine Weather, the Sun shining, they will get ve­ry many together upon a Tree, and sing two or three hours; some do fancy their Song, by reason [Page 90] it is not harsh, but a pretty kind of sweet chattering Note like unto the Swallow, only a little louder. I think them not worth ones pains to keep them, for they will not sing above three months, and so give off.

The next is the Wood-Song Throstle, which is a very rare Song-Bird; first, For the great variety of his Notes; and secondly, For the lavishness in his Song; this, as in all other Birds, one far exceed­ing another in Song, though Birds of the same kind. Thirdly, He continues longer than any Bird in Song, continuing at least nine months in a year. This Bird is so well known to most Coun­try-men, that it needs no Description; He is very good for Man's Food, but I never could endure to kill them, by reason they are so fine Song-Birds. The Hen makes her Nest in the beginning of March (which Frost and Snow, and ve­ry hard Weather) upon the stump of an old Tree, or side of the Coppice by a Ditch, according as she finds food and stuff most convenient for. her Build­ing, and Food for her young ones. She maketh her Nest of Moss that grows upon old stumps of Trees that are in the Woods; she fashions her Nest round and deep with Moss, and some dry Grass; when she hath compleated the first part, she won­derfully, and after a most exact and cunning way, daubs the in-side with a sort of Earth called your Loam, that the poor People in the Country Plaister their Walls with; she doth it so smooth and even, and all with her Bill, that it goes beyond the Art of Man to perform with any Tools; and the Bird common­ly leaves a Hole in the middle of the bottom of her Nest, which I suppose may be to this end, That it [Page 91] may not be drowned upon any sudden violent Showers, or long continuance of Rain, which by this Hole at the bottom, she preserves both her Eggs and Young Ones from being killed and drowned, which if not so provided, might prove to the destruction of both: They breed commonly three times in a year, if they meet with no distur­bance or casualties by the way; if the Weather be fine and warm, they go very soon to Nest; the first commonly is hatched in April, and now and then at the latter end of March, the second in May, and the third in June; but the first Birds prove most usually the best and stoutest Birds. The Throstle taken in the Nest, may be at fourteen days old, and must be kept pretty warm and neat, not suffering them to sit upon their Dung if it fall into the Nest, but so contrive it, that they may dung over the Nest whilst they are young and small; you must feed them with raw Meat, and some Bread mixed and chopped together with some bruised Hemp-Seed, wet your Bread and mix it with your Meat: When they begin to be well-feathered, put them in a large Cage, and put some dry Moss at the bottom, and let them have two or three Pearches, that so they may sit or lie at their pleasure, for you must know that the Throstle, if not clean kept, is subject to the Cramp, and will neither sing nor take plea­sure in himself: you may by degrees give him no Heart at all, for Bread and Hemp-Seed is as good Meat for him, as the best Sheeps-Heart and Egg is for a Nightingal: be sure to give him fresh Water twice in a week, that so he may bath himself and prune himself, otherwise he will not thrive; take [Page 92] that Nest where you find the old Bird to sing well, for he always sings near the Nest.

The fifth is your Heath-Throstle, which is the smallest of three sorts that we have in England, you shall know him by his dark Breast; some Coun­treys call them Mevisses, for they differ in their Co­lour, Song, and way of Breeding. This Bird, in my Opinion, far exceeds that which we generally call the Song-Throstle, being far sweeter in his Notes than the other, and a neater Bird in his Plume. The Hen builds by the Heath-side, either in a Frus­bush, or by a Ditch-side in the stump of an old Haw-Thorn, and seldom haunts the Woods and Shawes as the other doth. This Bird's Nest is more difficult to be found than the other, and I be­lieve ten Nests of the other for one of this. She builds with a long green Ground-Moss, and makes her Nest much deeper than the former and less, and begins not to breed till the middle of April, and breeds but twice in a year, and is a fine tame neat Bird, and will sing nine months in the year, if well fed, and kept clean, both from Dung and Vermin. You must breed up these young ones af­ter the same manner that the other was ordered in all things.

How to know a Cock-Throstle from a Hen, in Young and Old.

THis is a very difficult Bird to know both when Young and Old; I shall give you the Opinion and Judgment of several others, and my own at last: The ancient Rule amongst Country-People, was, to chuse the top-Bird of the Nest, as they term it, that is the largest and most feathered stoutest Bird, which commonly lies uppermost, for they say it is the Nature of the Cock, from the very Nest, to get on top of the Hens Back. Another chuses him to be the Male Bird that hath the fullest Eye, and most Speckles upon his Breast, and deeper down to his Belly. A third makes choice of a Cock, for the largeness of his Spots, and darkest, and a white Gullet, with two black streaks on each side. Another chuses him by the Pinion of his Wing, if it hath a very dark black that goes a-cross it. Now at last I shall give you my own Judgment; First, I take notice of his Gullet to be very white, with black Streaks on each side; and then to have his Spots upon his Breast to be large and black, and the colour of his Head to be of a light shining brown, with black streaks under each Eye, and up­on the Pinion of the Wing; these are the Marks I most commonly chuse them by: But if you will be sure not to fail, observe my Counsel; Bring up a whole Nest, and in a short time after they teed themselves, you will find them Record to themselves. ☞ Note, The Hens will Record as well as the Cocks, but it is with short catches and jerks, and not continues it long; but the Cock is full, and you [Page 94] will perceive his Gullet to extend it self much more than the others, and to sing much oftner than the Hen; when you have observed them two or three times, take him out of the Cage and mark him, and put him in again; then observe again, and see if it be the same Bird you marked, and ob­serving this way you shall never fail; but in the other sometimes you may, for every Country alters the Plumes of the Birds, which must of necessity cause your Judgment and Marks to err.

Of the King of Birds, or the little King, called the Robin Red-Breast.

THe next, in my opinion, for a Song-Bird, is the little Robin Red-Breast; he singeth very sweetly, and I have heard many to esteem him lit­tle inferior to the Nightingal: I must tell you, That were he as hard to be had as the Nightingal, I do not know but that he might have as great an esteem as him; but plenty of any Bird, or of any thing else, makes them not set by nor valued, though never so good in its Kind. This Bird is known to every little Boy, by reason they are seen at Winter upon the Tops and Roofs of Houses, and upon all sorts of old Ruins, on that side most commonly that the Sun riseth and shineth in the morning, or under some Covert, where the Cold and Wind may not pinch him, for he is but a tender Bird, and hath most usually his Cage lined and made after the form of a Nightingal-Cage; they breed very early in the Spring, and commonly three times in a year, in April, May, and June: They make their Nests with a dry greenish Moss, and quilt it within with [Page 95] a little Wood and Hair; they seldom have above five young ones, and not under four: They build in some old Hay-House, or Barn, or Reek of Hey or Corn; and when they are about ten days old, you may take them from the old ones, and keep them in a little Basket or Box; if you let them tarry too long in the Nest, they will be sullen, and so consequently much more trouble, and not so fit to be brought up under another Bird, that whistled to; you must feed them with Sheep-Heart and Egg minced small, in all points as you feed the Nightingals, and but a little at once, and pretty of­ten, by reason of his bad digestion, for if you give him too much at a time, he is very apt to throw it up again, which is a sign that he is not long-lived. Be sure he lie warm, and especially in the Night: When you find them begin to be strong, you may Cage them, and let them have some Moss at the bottom of the Cage and stand warm; put the Meat in a Pan or Box, both of the Sheeps-Heart and Egg, and the Paste that you were formerly directed to make; and let him also have some of the Wood-Larks mixed Meat by them, for those I brought up with Sheeps-Heart and Egg, when they came to feed themselves, would rather eat the Paste and Wood-Larks Meat, than the Sheeps-Heart and Egg; you may give him, which you will, according to your conveniency; every Boy knows almost how to take Robin with a Pit-Fall; but with a Trap-Cage and a Meal-Worm you may take a dozen in a day: And if you hear one Bird to excel another, take the Bird you have most mind to, and Cage him, and he will sing in a short time, provided he be not an old Bird. If you take a Bird, and do not hear [Page 96] him sing, by this Mark you shall know whether he be a Cock or Hen; if a Cock, his Breast will be of a darker red, a greater matter than the Hen, and his red will go up farther upon the Head.

What Diseases are subject to the Robin Red-Breast, and how to Cure them.

FIrst, He is very subject to the Cramp, and gid­diness of the Head, which makes him many times fall off the Pearch upon his Back, and then is present death, without some help be speedily used for him. The best Remedy to prevent him from having the Cramp, is, To keep him warm and clean in his Cage, that his Feet be not clogged, which many times do eat the Joints off his Feet, with the Dung being bound on so fast, that it makes his Feet and Nails to rot off, which takes off the Life and Spirit of the Bird; if you find him droop, and is sickish, give him three or four Meal-Worms and Spiders, and it will mightily refresh him: but for the giddiness in the Head, give him six or se­ven Ear-Wigs in a week, and he shall never be troubled with it, which is very subject to your Ro­bins above all other Birds, except the Bull-finch: If you find he hath little appetite to eat, give him now and then six or seven Hog-Lice, which you may find in any piece of old rotten Wood: be sure he never wants Water that is fresh two or three times a week. And to make him chearful and long-win­ded, give him once in a week, in his Water, a blade or two of Saffron, and a slice of Licorish, which will advantage his Song or Whistling very much.

Concerning the Jenny-Wren.

I Hold the little Creature to be a curious fine Song-Bird, so not unworthy to be taken notice of a­mongst the little Birds of the Cage: He is of a fine chearful Nature, and singeth sweetly and delight­somly, none exceeding him for the nature of the Song he sings; he is a pretty speckled coloured Bird, very pleasing to the sight, and when he sings, cocks up his Tayl, and throws out his Notes with such pleasure and chearfulness, that for his bigness none exceeds him. This Bird breeds twice a year, first, About the latter end of April, and makes her Nest with dry Moss and Leaves, and doth it so artifici­ally, that it is a very hard matter to discover it, be­ing it is amongst Shrubs or Hedges where Ivy grows very thick; they will build in old Hovels and Barns, but them are those that are not used to the Hedges; they close their Nest round, leaving but one little Hole to go in and out at; she lays a­bundance of Eggs, I have had eighteen out of one Nest, which would seem very strange, if it were not a thing so generally common; I have had six­teen young ones out of a Nest: It's to admiration how so small a little-bodied Bird can cover so great a company of Eggs; I am perswaded the Cock and Hen sits both together; but when they have hatched, to feed so great a company and not to miss the Bird, and in the dark also, 'tis a very curious thing to consider. Their second time of breeding is in the middle of June, for by that time the other Nest will be brought up and shift for themselves; But if you intend to keep any of them, take them [Page 98] out at twelve or fourteen days old from the Nest: You shall give them Sheeps-Heart and Egg minced very small, taking away the Fat and the Sinews, or else of Calves or Heifers-Heart. Observe in all Meat-Birds, to cleanse the Meat or Heart of all the Fat and Sinews; and if it be Beef, let it be well bea­ten, and shred very small, because of digestion. You shall feed them in their Nest very often in a day, giv­ing them one or two morsels at a time and no more, lest they should cast it up again, by receiving more than they can bear or digest, and so die: You must feed them with a little Stick, and take up the Meat at the end about the bigness of a white Pea; when you perceive them to pick it from the Stick them­selves, then put them into a Cage, and having a Pan or two, put some of the same Meat in it, and about the sides of the Cage also to entice her to eat; notwithstanding you must feed them five or six times in a day for better security, lest they should neglect themselves and die, when all your trouble is almost past. After they have found the way to feed alone, give them by degrees of your Paste now and then, and if you perceive them to eat heartily, and like it very well, you may forbear giving them any more Heart, when you find they are accustomed to eat the Paste with delight. Furthermore, You must, once in two or three days, give them a Spi­der or two. If you have a desire he should learn to whistle Tunes, take the pains to teach him and he will answer your expectation, for it is a Bird that is easily taught. If they be fed only with Paste, they will live longer than if they have Sheeps-heart.

How to know the Cocks from the Hens.

WHen you have got a whole Nest, observe which are brownest Birds, and those which are largest, and mark them: And to be sure that they are what you expect them to be, observe their Recording, for such of them that shall record to themselves in the Nest before they can feed them­selves; and observe, if their Throats grow big as they Record, they are certainly Cocks, this is the surest way to know them: When they can feed themselves, both Hens and Cocks will Record.

Concerning the Tit-Lark.

THis Bird is very much fancied amongst many Men for his whisking, turring, and chewing, singing most like the Canary-Bird of any Bird what­soever; but I have not so great a fancy for him, by reason he is so very short in his Song, and hath no variety with it. This Bird is a Companion of the Nightingal, for he appears at that time of the year when the Nightingal comes, which is the begin­ning of April, and leaves us the third or fourth of September; they are fed after the same manner is the Nightingal when they are first taken. There is to taking of the old Ones but with a Net, such as you take all other small Birds; you must cram him as you did the Nightingal, for he will not feed him­self, by reason he always feeds upon live Meat in the Field, so he is not acquainted with the Meat that we offer him; but when he will feed of him­self, he will eat your Wood-Larks Meat, or almost [Page 100] any other Meat. This Bird is much of the nature of the Nightingal, for he grows exceeding fat, even as the Nightingal doth a little before his going away, and so continues for some time; but they will not fast as the Nightingal doth, but eats his Meat though he be never so fat.

This Bird makes her Nest about the latter end of April, and hath young by the middle of May; she always breeds in the Ground by some Pond-side, or Ditch-side, or in a Garden in high Grass; she makes her Nest of dead-Grass, and a few small Roots, and commonly lays six Eggs, or five at least, and feeds her young ones with Caterpillars and Flies; they are Birds very easily brought up, being they are hardy, and are not subject to Colds and Cramps as other Birds are, but live long if preserved with care. If you breed this Bird up young and cleanly, he is a very pretty tame singing-Bird, and to a great many hath a very pleasing Song, according to the old Pro­verb, Short and sweet.

Concerning the Red-Start.

THis Bird is of a very dogged sullen temper, for I know the Nature of him, that when I have declared, you will judg the same by his effects; for if taken old, and not out of the Nest, he is very hard to be tamed; he will be so vexed sometimes, as is a wonderful thing, almost incredible, if I had not tryed it my self; for being taken in a Cage, and ordered as we formerly directed you in the Nigh­tingal, he hath been so dogged, that in ten days time he would never look towards the Meat, and when he fed himself, hath been a whole month [Page 101] without singing, may, I have known them never sing at all, till they were brought to their accustom­ed place. This Bird is a fore-runner of the Nigh­tingal, and comes four or five days before we gene­rally hear him, and is of a chearful temper, and hath a very pretty melodious kind of Whistling-Song. The Cock is very fair and beautifully colou­red, and is exceeding pleasant to the Eye. She breeds three times in a year, the latter end of April, in May, and towards the latter end of June; this is their ordinary course without some-body spoil or touch their Eggs, and then they may come sooner or later. They build most usually in holes of hollow Trees, or under House-Eves, and make their Nest with all sorts of things, as dry Grass, small Roots of Herbs and Leaves, Horse-Hair and Wool, according as the place affords them. Of all Birds that I know, this is one of the shiest, for if she perceive you to mind her when she is Building, she will forsake it, and if you touch an Egg, she never comes to her Nest more; for you can very hardly go to it, but she will immediately spie you, and if she chance to have young ones, she will either starve them, or break their Necks, with throwing them out of the Nest; for I can speak it of my own knowledg, That I having found a Nest in a hole of a hollow Tree, took one out of the Nest to see how fledg'd they were, and immediately put it in again; and having occasion to come that way the next morning, I found them all dead under the Tree, which made me admire; but since I have tryed two or three more, and they are all of one nature for doggedness; but if you bring them up young, they alter their Nature and become very [Page 102] tame and pleasant to their Keeper. You must take them out of the Nest about ten days old, for if you let them be too long in the Nest, they are apt to learn some of the old Birds temper, and be very sullen. These Birds are fed with Sheeps-Heart and Egg minced and chopped very small, and given at the end of a Stick, when they open their Mouths, about the quantity of three white Peas; for if you clog their Stomachs too much, they will presently cast their Meat, and in a short time die. When you perceive him to eat off the Meat from the Stick, Cage them up, and put their Meat in a Pan, and a­bout the sides of the Cage; not ceasing, though he feeds of himself, to give him three or four times a day a bit or two, for he will hardly eat his fill for the first three or four days he begins to feed alone; but when you have accustomed him to eat five or six days without feeding, give him some of the Nigh­tingals Paste, and you will find him very much de­light in it: You may keep him in what Cage you please, only let him be warm in Winter, and he will sing in the Night as well as in the Day. There is few People know this Bird when they see him: He is a very lovely Bird to the Eye, and very plea­sant to the Ear.

Concerning the Hedg-Sparrow.

THis is a pretty Song-Bird, and singeth very early in the Spring, though little taken no­tice of; he hath a very pleasant Song, with a great deal of variety; old or young become tame very quickly, and will sing in a short space after they are taken; if you take them in the latter end of Janu­ary, or beginning of February: They feed upon Wood-Larks Meat, or any thing else you will give them. They build their Nests in a White-Thorn or private-Hedg, and make it of dead Grass and fine Moss, and Leaves, with a little Wool: She lays an Egg much different from other Birds, being of a very fine blew colour, and hath commonly five Eggs, and brings up her young ones with all sorts of Food she can get. This is a very tractable Bird, and will take any Birds Song almost if taken young out of the Nest. This Bird I verily believe would be taught to whistle and speak; but more of this when I come to speak of Whistling-Birds in their order.

Concerning the Solitary-Sparrow.

THis Bird is naturally given to Melancholy; he loveth solitary and by-places, and from thence at first came his name; they do much delight to live by old decayed and uninhabited places, as being far removed from the company of all sorts of Birds. She is very jealous, both of her Eggs and young Ones; she maketh her Nest in Holes, and chiefly of old Banks, or in the holes of old hollow Trees: [Page 104] she builds with any Materials which lies next to her Habitation, and most nigh and convenient to her Nest; for she is a very idle Bird, and now and then doth not lay together stuff enough to keep her young warm. She breeds three times a year, in April, May, and June, and hath her young at no certainty. If you will bring up any young, chuse out the fairest of the Nest, and biggest also, and let them be pretty well covered with Feathers before you take them out, for they are not given to be sul­len, without you let them alone so long till they are just ready to fly; and if they will not open their Bills, take them and open them, and give them the quantity of two grey Peas at three or four times, and in a short time you will perceive them to eat of themselves; you may put in their Pan or Trough some of the Sheeps-Heart or Egg as you feed the young ones withal; notwithstanding they do feed themselves, put two or three pieces in their Mouths, until such time that you perceive them to eat enough to satisfie themselves. Cage them as soon as ever you perceive them to eat off from the stick, and put some fine dry Moss at the bottom of the Cage, keeping them as neat and as clean as pos­sibly you can; for if you do not, they will become lame, and die in a short time, wherefore observe these directions until they be moulted; and then keep Sand at the bottom of the Cage in the Sum­mer, and Moss or Hey all Winter, feeding them with Sheeps-Heart and Egg minced small, and now and then some Nightingals Paste; and if you please, a little Wood-Larks Meat also.

Concerning the Black-Bird.

VEry many may wonder why I should preserve this Bird till last; my reason is, Because I value him the worst of all the singing Birds I have treated of; and as least is kept of Nightingals, which is the best Song-Bird in the World, so I think this may be accounted the worst of those that are termed singing Birds, and more kept of them than any Birds I know; the Country-Man and Woman being melancholy without their brave gol­den-beaked Black-Bird, for your Country-People value no Bird in comparison of him, and all is for being loud and coarse in his Song, as they are clow­nish in their Speech and Conditions. This Bird is known to every one, and is better to be eaten than kept, and is much sweeter to the Palat being dead and well-roasted, than to the Ear when they are li­ving, for they are delicate Meat if very fat. She maketh her Nest many times when the Woods are full of Snow, which happeneth very often in the beginning of March. She builds her Nest upon old stumps of Trees, by Ditch-sides or in a thick Hedg, they are at no certainty like other Birds; She makes the out-sides of her Nest with dry Grass and Moss, and little dry Sticks and Roots of Trees, and daubs all the inside of the Nest with a kind of Clay-Earth, fashioning it so round, and forms it so handsome and smooth that Man cannot mend it; they breed three or four times a year, according as they lose their Nest, for if their Nests be taken away they breed the sooner. The young Black-Birds are brought up almost with any Meat whatsoever, they [Page 106] seeding of them with Curds and Bran, or brown-Bread, or skim'd-Cheese in the Country; not fee­ding them as we do here, with good Sheeps-Heart, or hard Egg, and White-Bread and Milk. This Bird sings about three months in the year, or four at most, therefore I esteemed him not worth any thing for his Song; but if he be learned to Whistle, he is of some value; but in my mind his Whistle is very coarse, though it be very loud; so he is fit only for a large Inn, and not for a Ladies Cham­ber; so this Bird brings up the rear of all your soft-beaked singing-Birds that we have common in Eng­land. But in every Country there is variety, accor­ding to the nature of the place, which if I thought might be desired, I would give a description of most singing-Birds in the World.

Concerning the Canary-Bird.

THis Bird we had formerly brought over from the Canaries and no-where else, and so is gene­rally known by that name; but of late years we have had abundance of their kind come out of Ger­many, so we call them by the name of the Country, German-Birds; but I believe the first Original were brought from the Canary-Islands. The Birds brought from the Canaries are not so much in esteem with us as formerly, for the Birds brought out of Germany far excel them in handsomness and Songs, the Ger­man-Birds having very many fine Jerks and Notes of the Nightingals, which in its place I shall de­clare how they came to have. Many Country-Peo­ple cannot distinguish a Canary from one of our common Green-Birds; but if they would diligent­ly observe how the passages of his Throat heaves when he is singing, they might quickly distinguish him from any other Bird, let him be of any manner of colour; and besides, he is lustier by much, and hath a longer Tail. Note, Those Canaries that have the motion of turning their Heads backward, are seldom or never good. The Nature of the Ca­nary is quite contrary to other Birds, for as others are subject to be fat they never are, (I mean the Cocks) for the great mettle of the Bird, and his lavish singing, will hardly suffer him to maintain flesh upon his back, much less fat.

How to chuse a Canary-Bird, and to know when he hath good Song.

IN the first place let him be a long Bird, standing streight, and not crouching, but spritely like unto a Sparrow-Hauk, standing with life and boldness, and not subject to be fearful; I would advise all People that intend to buy your Canary-Island Birds, or German-Canaries, so lately called, first to hear them sing, and then they shall be sure not to be co­zened one way, to buy Hens for Cocks. And then also in the second place, they shall please their Ears, for one fancies a sweet Song-Bird, and another a ve­ry lavish Bird if he be not sweet; and all phansie, I think, a long Song-Bird, and you chuse what pleases you best, and I'le assure you one shilling is very ill-saved, to buy them as they run out of the Store-Cage, for if you have but one Hen in twelve, your shilling in a Bird is quickly lost; and ten to one but some of the Cocks too hath little or no Song to be taken notice of, therefore be advised to hear him in a single Cage, that you may be able to judg some­thing of his Song before you part with your Mony. Now most are of Opinion, that your Canary that hath most variety of Notes, and is the longest Song-Bird, is the best; but Mens Opinions vary as the Birds Songs.

First, Some approve of your Canary, that whisk and chew like unto your Tit-Lark, by rea­son it is a spritely Note.

A second is for a Canary that begins like unto a Skie-Lark, and so continues his Song much after the [Page 109] rate of his singing, having a long Note and sweet but I think not much variety in it.

A third approves of the Canary that begins the Skie-Lark, and runs upon the Notes of the Nightin­gals Song; which I do think, if he doth it well, is one of the pleasantest Birds in the World.

A fourth likes a Bird that hath a loud lavish Note, not at all respecting either variety or length, so he makes but a noise in his ears.

So some phansie the way of singing after the Tit-Lark, some after the Skie-Lark, and almost all after the Nightingal, and few or none after the way of the Chaff-Finch.

How to know if your Canary-Bird be in health or not when you buy him.

WHen you take him out of the Store-Cage, put him in another Cage single, and let the Cage be very clean, that so you may see his Dung; if he stands up boldly without crouching, and have no signs of shrinking in his Feathers, and his Eyes look chearful and not drousie, and that he is not subject to clap his Head under his Wing, these are good signs, and yet he may be an unhealthy Bird still; but the greatest matter is, to observe his Dunging, if he bolts his Tail like a Nightingal af­ter he hath dunged, it is a great sign he is not in per­fect health, though he may sing at present and look pretty brisk, assure your self it will not be long be­fore he be sick. The next is, if he dung very thin like Water, with no thickening, he is not right. And last of all, if he dung with a slimy white, and no blackness in it, it is a dangerous sign that Death [Page 110] is approaching, and he will not continue long with you. But when in perfect health, his Dung lies round and hard, with a fine white on the out-side, and dark within, and will quickly be dry; and the larger the Birds Dung is, I hold it the better, so it be long, round, and hard. A Seed-Bird very sel­dom dungs too hard, except very young.

Concerning the ordering of Canary-Birds when they begin to build, or them they in­tend for breeding.

IN the first place, You must make a convenient Cage, or else prepare a Room that may be fit for such a business; you must be sure to let it have an out-let towards the rising of the Sun, where you must have a piece of Wire, that they may have egress and regress at their pleasure: When you have prepared a convenient Room, then set up in the corners of it some Brooms, either Heath or Frail, opening them in the middle; if the Room be pretty high, you may set two or three Brooms under one another; but then you must set Partitions with Boards over the top of every Broom, otherwise they will dung upon one anothers Heads; and also they will not suffer to see one another so near each others Nest, for the Cock or Hen will be apt to fly upon a Hen that is not matched to them, when they see them just under their Nest, which many times causes the spoiling of their Eggs and Young Ones. In the next place, you must cause something to be made so convenient, and of such a bigness, that may hold Meat for some considerable time, that you may not be disturbing of them continually, and a [Page 111] convenient Vessel for Water also; let your place where you intend to put your Seeds, be so ordered, that it may hang out of the reach of the Mice, for they will destroy all the Canary-Seeds, and so con­sequently may starve your Canary-Birds. You must likewise prepare some stuff to build withal of seve­ral sorts of things, as Cotton-Wool, small dead Grass, your Elks-Hair, and your long sort of Moss that grows along upon the Ground by your Ditch-sides, or in the Woods; you must dry it before you put them together, then mingle them all, and put them up into a little Net like unto a Cabbage-Net, hanging of it so that they may with conveniency pull it out. You must set Pearches all about your Room, and if big enough, set a Tree in the middle of it, that so they may take the more pleasure. You must proportion your Birds according to the bigness of your Room, rather let it be under-stocked than over, for they are Birds that love their liberty.

What things are most needful when they begin to breed.

IN the first place, when you perceive them begin to build and carry stuff, give them once a day, or in two days at least, a little Greens, and some Loaf-Sugar, for that will cause a slipperiness in the Body, that so the Eggs may come forth without in­juring the Birds, for many times the Bird dies in laying her first Egg, which is a great loss to the breeder several ways: As first, to the loss of his first breed; then next, to the unpairing of the Cock, to which you should put in another Hen, whether he will pair or no; so that Cock would be far better [Page 112] taken out, than suffered to tarry in your Breeding-Place, especially if it be a small place; but with pairs in a large place he cannot do that injury; and it will be very hard to distinguish which Hens Cock that dyed, and as hard to take him in a large place, without doing more injury than the Bird comes to; therefore let him rest till the end of the year, when you draw them out to part them. If you have but two or three pair together, it will be the best way to take him out and match him with another Hen, and then put him in again: And also when you find that they have built their Nests, you may take away the Nets that have their breeding­stuff in them, for they will be subject to build upon their Eggs with new stuff, if they do not lay pre­sently.

They do breed most usually three times in a year, begin in April, and breed May and June, and some­times in August, which is not very usual neither here nor in Germany.

How they breed them in Germany.

I Shall shew you every thing exactly how they breed them in Germany, according to the best information that I have received of those that have seen them and bred them also. In the first place, Prepare a large Room, and build it in the likeness of a Barn, being much longer than broad; and at each end there is a square place, and several holes at each end to go into those square places; in those Out-lets they plant several sorts of fine Trees, which grow pretty thick, (for they will take much delight both to sing and breed in them); and at the bottom [Page 113] of the place they strew it with a fine sort of Sand, with which they strew seeds of Rape, Chick-weed, and Groundsell; which the Old Bird doth eat both at time of laying, and also when they have young ones: they put in the House all sorts of stuff for the building of their Nests, they put Brooms up and down all the corners, one under another, and to the highth of the place that is built for the purpose; and make partitions between every Nest, to make them breed the quieter, without disturbing one an­other; and in the middle of the Room they will set a board edge-ways to darken the light of each side: for no Bird almost doth naturally love to have much light come to his Nest. They plant a Tree or two, if the House be big enough, one at each end, with many perches also along each side of the House, and all along where they make their Nests; and in the place that is the Air, it is also full of perches, they hang their stuff for building all up and down the House, that the rain cannot come at it, and strew some in the ground also; they make places very convenient every one according to his fancy, and for their Water also, some having fine Fountains in those places, that are the out-lets for the Birds, to go at pleasure into the Air, in which the Birds take very much delight to wash and prune them­selves, and it makes the Seeds to grow up that are thrown in upon the Sand.

How to order them when they have young ones.

THey seldom take their Nests away to bring them up by hand, as we do here, but they let the old Birds always bring them up; and when [Page 114] they are pretty stout, and can crack hard Seeds, they have small places for the young to come to feed, and they give them of all sorts of Green-Seeds to feed upon, and have a kind of clap-door to take them: they say, if they do not soak Seeds for the Young ones, that very few will live, by reason the Hen is apt to forsake them, (and the Seeds being very hard, they pine away and die) and go to Nest again. This Man also did truly affirm, they never came to any perfection till they came to have Birds of their own breeding in their own Countrey, and then being seasoned to the Countrey they breed in abundance, furnishing all Poland, Germany, and France, and of late years England, where they vent as many as any place in the World.

How to breed the Young ones that are taken out of the Nest.

THese Birds must not be left too long in the Nest, for if you do, they are very apt to grow sullen, and will not feed kindly: therefore take them out about 9 or 10 days old, and put them in a little Basket, and cover them over with a Net, else they will be very subject to jump out upon the first opening of the Basket; and if they fall to the ground they will be bruised, and in a short time consequent­ly die. You must keep them very warm for the first week, for they will be very tender, subject to the Cramp, and not digest their Meat if they take cold.

When you take them from the Old Canaries, take them in the Evening; and if you can possibly let the old Birds be out of sight, otherwise they will be very apt to take distast when they sit again, and [Page 115] have young ones; and will be apt at every fright to forsake both their Young and Eggs. When you have taken them out and put them in a Basket covered at top: Make their Meat after this manner; Take some of your largest Rape-Seeds, and soak them in water 24 hours or less, if the Water be a little warm, I think 12 hours will serve: drain the Water from the Seeds, and put a third part of white Bread to the Seeds, and a little Canary-Seed in flower, and so mix them all together; then hav­ing a small stick, take up a little at the end, and give every Bird some 2 or 3 times over; give them but a little at first, and often, for if you over-charge their Stomachs at the first, they seldom thrive after it; and also they will cast up their Meat, which is a sure sign they will not live long after it: There­fore take a great care at first to feed them by degrees, that so their Stomachs may be able to digest it; for you must understand that the Old ones give them a little at a time, and the Meat they receive from them, is warmed in the Stomach before they give it them; and then all the Rape is huld, which lies not so hard at the Stomach as those Seeds which have the skins on. Therefore much care must be used at the first, to preserve their Stomachs and keep them in health. You must not make the Meat too dry, for then they will be apt to be vent-burnt, by reason all the Seeds are hot; for I have observed that the Old-Birds do constantly drink after they have eaten Seeds, and a little before they feed their Young ones; and they commonly after feeding of them, sit a quarter of an Hour or more, to keep them warm, that the Meat may better nourish them; therefore when you have fed them, cover them up [Page 116] very warm, that their Meat may the better digest with them.

Diseases of the Canary-Bird.

THE Nature of the Canary-Bird is never to be fat, nor to maintain or keep her Flesh well, by reason of her great heat and lavishness in sing­ing. She's subject to several Distempers, as Im­postumes, which happen upon her Head, and these are of a yellow colour, and cause a great heaviness in the Head, and many times the Birds drop from their Perch and die within a short time, if it be not cured at the first appearance. The best approved thing that I know of, is to make an Ointment of Fresh Butter and Capons-Grease melted together, and anoint the Top of the Birds Head for 2 or 3 days, and 'twill dissolve it, and cure him; but if you let him alone too long, then after you have anointed him 3 or 4 times, see whether it be soft upon his Head; if it be, open it gently, and let out the Matter which will be like unto the Yolk of an Egg, then anoint the Place with some of the Ointment, and it will immediatly cure him with­out any further trouble: if you do perceive the Impostume at any time to return, do as you are be­fore directed; you must give him Figgs, and in his Water let him have a slice or two of Liquorish, and some Sugar-candy.

The Old Birds above three years old are called Runts, and those about two years old are called E­riffes, and those of the first year that the old ones bring up, are Branches: When they can crack hard Seeds, and they call them that are new-flown and cannot feed themselves, Pushers; and those that are bred up by hand, Nestlings; which I do approve [Page 117] far better than any of the first, by reason of his tameness and familiarity with his Keeper, which is the chief pleasure of a Bird: For if a Bird be ex­traordinary, and not tame, but wild or buckish, there is no pleasure in feeding or hearing of him sing, being apt upon all occasions to bruise himself and to forsake his Singing when most desired.

Concerning the Linnet.

THey make their Nests in black Thorns and white-Thorns Bushes, and in furs-Bushes upon Heaths more than any-where else: They build their Nests with very small Roots, and other sort of stuff like unto Feathers, those that build in the Heaths; Those that build in the Hedges, build with Moss the out-side of their Nest, and line it within according as the Place will afford: Some hot-metled Birds will have young ones four times in a year, especially if they be taken from them be­fore they fly out of their Nests. The hotter the Bird is in mettle, the sooner he breeds in the Spring. You may take the Young ones out at four days old, if you intend they shall learn to whistle, or hear any other Birds Song; for then they being so young, have not the Old Birds Song, and are more apt to take any thing, than if you suffer them to be in the Nest till they are almost quite fledged. You must be sure when you take them out so young, to keep them very warm, and to feed them but a little at a time. Your Meat must be soaked Rape-Seeds, and then bruise them, and put full asmuch soaked white-Bread as the Seeds: you must make fresh every day, for if it be sower, it immediately makes them scour, and not long after die. You must not [Page 118] give them their Meat too dry, for if you do, it will make them vent-burned, and that's as bad as if they scoured. If you intend to whistle to them, do it when you feed them: For they will learn very much before they can crack hard Seeds; so hang them under any Bird that you intend, the Linnet shall learn his Song. The Linnet is a very apt Bird for any Tune or Song, if taken out of the Nest very young: I have known several that have learnt to speak, for there is nothing so hard, but labour and diligence will overcome. You may know the Cock- Linnets from the Hens by these two Marks: First, by the Colour of the Back of the Birds; if it be of your dark-coloured Linnets, the Cocks are much browner than the Hens on the Back and Pin­nion of the Wing; and so of the White-thorn Lin­net, the Hens being much lighter-coloured than the Cocks. But observe this, that a Hen Linnet of the dark-Coloured Cock, is darker than the Cock of the light-Coloured Linnet. But the surest way of all is, to know him by the White in his Wing.

This Bird is likewise troubled sometimes with Melancholy, and then you will find the end of his Rump to be very much swelled, which you must prick with a Needle and let out all the Corruption, squeesing of it out very well with the Point of the Needle; then anoint him with the Ointment made of fresh Butter and Capon-Grease, and feed him with some of these Herbs for two or three days; your Lettice and Beets-Seeds, and the Leaves also, and you may also give him the Seeds of Mellons chopped in pieces, which he will eat very greedily; and when you find him mend, take the Mellon-Seeds away, and give him of his old dyet again; [Page 119] put into his Water two or three blades of Saffron and white Sugar-candy, for a week or more, till you perceive the Bird to be wholly recovered. The next Disease that this Bird is most troubled with, is a Scouring, which some are not so dangerous as others: The first sort of Scouring, which I count not very hurtful, is very thin and with a black or white Substance in the middle: this is not very dangerous, for I have known very many sing very strong and lavish, when they have had this Scour­ing in a very violent manner, and not been in the least hurtful. The next sort of Scouring is between a black and a white, but not so thin as the other, but is very clammy and sticking, which is never very good in a Bird; this is recovered by giving your Bird at the first some Mellon-Seed shred, and Lettice-Seeds and Beet-Seeds bruised, and so give him in his Water some Liquorish and white Sugar-candy, with a little flower of Oat-Meal in the Wa­ter. You must be diligent at the first to observe him when he is sick, that so he may have a stomach to eat, for in two or three days his Stomach will be quite gone, and then it will be hard recovering of him again. The next and worst sort of Scouring of all the three, is the white clamming Scouring; which is very bad and mortal, if it be not well looked after at the first: This is occasioned by bad Seeds, and many times for want of Water, Seeds that have taken any dammage at Sea, or have been over-heated, or lain in the wet too long before they have been housed, is a very great occasion of this Distemper. If they be not taken at the first appea­rance, it immediately takes away his Stomach, and causeth him to droop & fall from his Meat immedi­ately: [Page 120] Therefore observe this cure for him; In the first place give him Flax-Seeds, taking away all his other Seeds; then give him of your Plantain-Seed if it be green, otherwise it will do him no good; if you cannot get Plantain-Seeds, give him some of the Leaves shred very small, and some Oat-Meal bruised with a few crums of Bread; and in his Water give him some white Sugar-candy and Li­quorish, with a Blade or two of Saffron; You must observe, if you can possible, the first beginning of this Distemper, otherwise when his Stomach is lost, all these Medicines signifie nothing.

How to know a Cock from a Hen.

THis Bird is a very good and melodious Bird in his kind, those which are bred out of the Nest proving much better than the Wild ones. There be two sorts of Linnets, your black-Thorn and white-Thorn Linnet, or your black-Maled or white-Maled Bird, one being of a brown Plume, and the other of a light Grey: most do account the blacked Male the hardier Bird, and the hotter-metled Bird also. But I am of opinion that they all take after the Old ones, let the old ones be high-metled Birds, let them be Brown or Grey, the young Birds take after them, which is thus: Take your young Linnet when the Wing-Feathers are grown, and stretch out his Wing, holding of his Body fast with the other hand (otherwise I have known them upon a sudden jerk to break their Wings) and then ob­serve the white upon the Feathers of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Feather, if it cast a glistning white, and the white goes close to the Quil; this is a sure [Page 112] sign of a Cock: Take a Hen and a Cock together, and you shall perceive it better. This is the cer­tainest way not to be deceived, to keep a Hen instead of a Cock, for it is not so much the cost in keeping of the Bird, but our disappointment in the expecta­tion, of having some pleasure after our trouble and care, especially to them that take delight to whistle to him Tunes.

The several Diseases that the Linnet is Subject to.

FIrst, She is subject unto the Disease called the Pthisick, which may easily be perceived by see­ing him pant, and to heave his Belly fast, and sit melancholy, with his Feathers standing big and sta­ring, and by the Belly when it shews it self more puffed up than ordinary, full of reddish veins, and his Breast very lean and sharp, and seeing him spill and cast his Seeds about the Cage, not caring to eat at all. This Disease comes to the Linnet many times for want of Water, and having your Char­lack-Seeds mingled amongst your Rape-Seeds, and for want of giving him a little green meat at the Spring of the Year, when you perceive the Bird to begin to be troubled with this Disease, first to cut the end of his Rump, and to give him some white Sugar-candy in his Water, with two or three slices of Liquorish; for want of Sugar-candy, let him put in fine Sugar: And for his Meat you shall give him Beets, Lettice, to feed upon, or some of the Herb called Mercurie, which is a very good Herb for this Distemper for any Seed-Bird: you may like­wise give her Mellon-Seeds chopped small, and at [Page 123] the bottom of the Cage put some fine Gravel with a little Powder-Sugar, and a little ground Oat-Meal; you may put also some Loom, that the Country-People do daub their Walls withal instead of Morter and Sand, every one almost knows; bruise this small, and it will bring him to a Sto­mach, if he be not too far gone and past cure. The Linnet is also subject unto the Streins or Convul­sions of the Breast, wherefore being oppressed with this Disease, you shall feed him with Lettice-Seeds, Beet-Seeds, and Mellon-Seeds bruised; and in his Water you shall dissiolve some Sugar-candy, and some of the Nightingal's Paste, with a little Li­quorish, so much that the Water may have a taste of it, and so continue it for the space of four, or five days, now and then taking of it away, and giving her Plantain-Water: be sure to give her a Beet-Leaf, or Lettice-Leaf upon the day that you give her Plantain-Water. The Linnet is also sub­ject unto a Hoarsness in his Voice, which many times comes through straining her Voice in singing, and many times she gets a Husk in her Throat, which is seldom helped to come so clear off at first: many times also if it be a strong-metled Bird, he will break something within him, that he will ne­ver come to sing again, for the hoarsness which is very often taken in his Mouth, which is thus, to keep him very hot, and upon a sudden to open his Cage to the Air, which immediately strikes a cold to his Breast and Throat, and oftentimes kills him; for if you have a Bird in the Moult, you must not carry him to the Air, but keep him at a stay till he is moulted off, and then open him by degrees, that so he may not take cold; and give him after his [Page 122] Moult something to clean se him, your Beet-leaves and some Liquorish in his Water: There is no bet­ter Remedy in the World for a hoarsness, than to put into his Water some Liquorish, and a few Annise-Seeds, and then set him in a warm place. The Linnet is also subject to a great Scouring, I gave you an account of several sorts of them in the fore­going Chapter, where I treated of the Canary-Bird.

Concerning the Gold-Finch.

THe next to the Linnet of Seed-Birds is the Golden-Finch, which is a very rare and curi­ous-coloured Bird, and were they not so plenty, they would be of very great esteem amongst us here; but plenty of any thing makes it slighted, and not regarded. This Bird is taken in great plenty about Michaelmass time, and will very soon become tame; the Beautifulness, with the pretty melodious Song that this Bird hath, causes very many to keep them: (They were formerly carried beyond Sea to several places for a very great Rarity.) These Gold-Finches differ very much in their Tunes, for some of them sing after one fashion, and some after ano­ther, which needed not further be proved but by them that have kept them, for it is in this Bird as in all others variety, one Bird surpassing another, both in goodness, variety, and lavishness of Song: They breed commonly in your Apple-Trees and Plum-Trees; and to my knowledg I never saw a Nest in a quickset-Hedge. They make their Nest of Moss that grows upon Apple-Trees and Wool, and Quilt the inside with all sorts of Hair they find [Page 124] upon the Ground: they breed three times in a year. You must take young ones with the Nest about ten days old, and they must be fed thus: Take some of your best Hemp-seed, and beat it in a Morter very fine, then sift it through a Sieve, and put as much white-Bread as Hemp-Seed, and put also a little flower of Canary-Seeds to it; so with a small stick or quill take up as much as the bignes of a white Pea, and give them three or four bits at a time: you must make it fresh every day, it is soon done when the Hemp-Seeds are bruised and sifted; if it be sower it will immediately spoil their Stomachs, and cause them to cast up their Meat, and then it is ten to one if they live. You must be sure to keep these Birds very warm till they can feed themselves, for they are very tender Birds, you may almost bring them up to any thing being a very tame Bird; be sure that in feeding of this Bird you make clean his Bill and Mouth, and if any of the Meat fall upon his Feathers take it off, otherwise they will not thrive. This Bird that eats Hemp-Seeds, shall take for a Purge the Seeds of Mellons, Succory and Mercurie, which is a principal Herb for the Linnet, but this Bird you may give Lettice and Plantain, which are excellent Herbs for this Bird to purge him; and when they have no need of purg­ing, you must give them two or three times a week a little Sugar or some Loom in their Meat, or at the bottom of their Cage; to this end they may eat some to scour their Stomachs, which for want there­of is the great destruction of our Birds that feed up­on Seeds: For nothing can be more wholesome for them than Wall or Loom-Earth and some fine Sand, and a lump or knob or two of Sugar always [Page 125] in their Cage; for all Seeds have a great oiliness in them, and if they have not something to dry up that Oiliness in the Stomach, in length of time it fouls their Stomachs, and puts them into a Flux, and nothing is worse than unsound and damaged Seeds, which in a short time destroyes them.

Concerning the Chaff-Finch.

THis Bird is a very plentiful Bird, and of some is much admired for his Song; but I have no great fancy for him, by reason he seldom varies in his Song like unto other Birds, and hath no pleas­ingness nor sweetness in his Song like unto the afore­mentioned Birds. At flight-time this Bird is very plentifully caught, but their Nests are very scanty found, as of the Gold-Finch also. This Bird breeds in hedges & Trees of all sorts, and makes his Nest of Moss and Wool, or any thing almost that he can gather up where she breeds. They have young ones two or three times a year, but they are seldom bred up from the Nest, being no Bird that is apt to take another Birds Song, nor to whistle; so they let the Old one breed them up that they may have the true Song. Your Essex-Finches are in all Men's Opini­ons accounted the Best, both for length of song, and variety, she ending with several notes, which is very pretty: I do not know but this Bird, if he were made tryal of, might not only take the notes of any other Bird, but also may be brought up to whistle any Tune, as well as the Canary or Linnet; and I am confident it is a hardier Bird than either of them, by reason he will almost live upon any Seeds, none coming amiss to him: he is very seldom subject [Page 126] to any Disease, like the Canary-Bird or Linnet: This Bird will be very Lousie, if he be not sprinkled with a little Wine two or three times a month.

Concerning the Green-Finch.

THis Bird is of a very mean Song, and yet is kept by a great many people for his cheapness and hardiness, and by most people to ring the Bells, being a good-bodied heavy Bird. This Bird is plen­tiful in every Country, and breeds the filliest of any, making commonly his Nest by the High-way­side, where every Boy finds them, and destroys them at first, till the Hedges are pretty well cover­ed with green Leaves. They breed very early in the Spring before the Hedges have leaves upon them, which causes every one to see their Nests at first, so that seldom their first Nests come to any thing. They build with Moss that is green that grows at the bottom of Hedges, and quilt their Nest very sorrily within; and many times they are so slight, that a great Wind shakes them to pieces, and drops both young ones and eggs. They breed three times in a year, and the Young is a very hardy Bird to be brought up: You may feed them with some white-Bread and Rape soaked; and he is a very apt Bird to take the Whistle, rather than another Birds Song: All that can be said of him, he is a very dull Bird, not having the Spirit of a Canary-Bird, nor a Lin­net; for he will never kill himself with singing or whistling. I have heard some have given great com­mendation of him, to learn to whistle as well as any Bird whatsoever, and that he will not be subject to take any Birds Song to put him out of his Notes. [Page 127] He is seldome subject to any Disease but to be too fat; and of Seed-Birds there is none like him for growing so excessive fat, if you give him Hemp-Seeds, then he is good for nothing but the spit, therefore give him no other but Rape-Seeds.

The way to know how many Diseases and Maladies all Singing-Birds are subject to.

FIrst, the Diseases are divers according to every Birds Food, and this diversity causeth divers ef­fects and divers signs, which being hid, the Disease to our outward apprehension is unknown, and so there is no administring of any thing, in as much as it is not known from whence is the true Ground and Original of the Disease; so that no Medicine or Remedy can with any certainty be made conve­nient for true Cure of the Distemper: wherefore it is very necessary that there should be had a good re­gard and inspection unto the outward Signs, to know the ground of the Distemper that lies and lurketh within, and that no less in the behalf of Birds, than generally of all other Creatures: there­fore I shall now endeavour briefly to gather and col­lect (according to my best skill and knowledg) in this Chapter what hath been scatteringly delivered in other places, touching the Infirmities and Dis­eases of all kind of Singing-Birds and Diseases there­of, for the benefit and instruction of such as would know the Diseases whereunto such Birds as they de­light in, and love to keep for their own pleasure, are subject to.

[Page 128] First, Birds are subject, amongst other Diseases, unto Imposthumes; which do happen unto them, and appear in the Head of a yellow Colour, as big as a Hemp-Seed, sometimes as big as a Pea; a Dis­ease commonly haunting all Birds, especially those which are of a hot Complexion.

The Second kind of Disease with which most Birds are troubled, is a subtile Disease called Pthisis; for those Birds that are troubled with this Disease, do most commonly swell in their Bodies, and you may perceive, if you make a narrow search, their Breast is beset with veins full of Blood, though at that time the Bird be very sharp and thin, and very lean upon the Breast; and those Birds that are afflicted with this Disease, cannot well digest their Meat, but are subject to cast and overturn their Meat in their Stomach, so in a short time the Bird consumes away and dies.

The third sort of Disease is the Gout, which is very common to Birds that have been kept long in the Cage, it causes a sore vexing pain in his Feet and Leggs, and causes them many times to forsake their Meat, by reason they can neither stir nor stand with any pleasure, but on the contrary a remaining Pain and vexation. This Disease is known by much roughness in the Leggs and Feet, and swellings also, which are in the Feet, and Leggs, and Knee, where most commonly it troubles them worst of all.

The fourth Disease is difficulty of Breathing, or hard and troublesome drawing of their Breath; and this is known by the Hoarsness in their Throats, that they cannot utter the Tunes and Notes with any pleasure to themselves or Keepers: for if they do, they do it so harshly and imperfectly, that it is [Page 129] as good they were silent. And furthermore, if you lay your Hand upon his Breast, or diligently mark him as he sits upon his Pearch, you shall easily per­ceive it by his extraordinary beating, as it were shewing himself that he is very much troubled with a very great oppression and difficulty of breathing; and if you lay your Hand upon his Breast, it shall beat against your Hand as if he had some live-thing in his Body: by all which Symptoms you may justly gather and conclude that he is most certainly infected with this Disease oftentimes, especially if it be a high-metled Bird, and he hear another sing, and is not able to come near him by reason of this Disease: he will cast forth lamentable noises, as if he were sensible of his own Diseases. This evi­dently declareth that he hath this Disease called Asth­ma, or shortness of Breath.

The 5th Disease subject to Singing-Birds is Blind­ness, which oftentimes happens by extraordinary singing, each Bird striving to outvie the other in Song. This must be quickly helped upon the first appearance, or they will never be cured; and this Disease is at first perceived by the trickling of tears from their Eyes, and by certain Feathers that are about their Ears, which immediatly do curl and crook by turning in again.

The 6th Disease is the Falling-Sickness, which is likewise incident unto very many Birds, whereof without diligent care & observation, theyare seldom or never cured; for I could never find any other Re­medy for it, but this; To keep the Birds which you bring up, (and especially Bull-Finches) from the heat of the Sun all the Summer long, and at the fall of the Leafe cut all the Nails of his Feet to the [Page 130] very quick, and pull 5, or 6 of his Tail-Feathers, and when he mouts, besprinkle him with a little White-Wine and Water, and set him not in the Sun, but let him dry himself all times in the Shade, and give once in a Week something to purge him.

The 7th Disease that Birds are subject to is the Pip, which may be known by the hardness of the end of their Tongue, and also by the sides of their Bills: Your small-Birds that feed upon Seeds are very seldom subject to this Disease, but most commonly your Throstles, Black-Birds, and Staires, which feed upon soft Meat. I have also known your Nightingales to be troubled with it, that have been fed too much with Eggs boild hard. For the Reme­dy of this (for the Bird will never eat his Meat kind­ly, nor sing with any Stomach so long as he hath it) take the Bird in your Hand, and having opened his Bill with a Needle, take that hardness off from the top of his Tongue, and the sides of his Bill also; then give him the Seeds of Mellons, being bruised and steeped in pure Water, let him drink thereof three or four days; then when you perceive him to grow better, and to take delight to prune and peck himself, give him a little fine Loaf-Sugar, and put into his Water also. To keep your Black-Bird and Throstle from this Distemper, give them once in a week a little painted fine-Coloured Snaile, and lay him a Stone in his Cage, and he will break him to peeces and eat him, and this will preserve those two Birds from having a Fit.

The 8th is the Disease of the Rump, which is hard to be known, and no other way that I could ever find to be a better sign, than the Bird grow­ing Melancholy, as by surceasing and abstaining [Page 131] from singing: And the best Remedy is, to cut off that sharp part which lyes upon the top of the Rump, and give him some cleansing thing in his Meat, and refreshing thing in his Water, and he shall find great good by it. This is a grief which all Birds are subject to, which are kept in Cages: for if they have their liberty and are abroad, every Bird hath his certain Medicine for every Distemper he is subject to; for I have observed it many times when Linnets feed most upon Chick-weed and plan­tain-Seeds, that they have come as duely to a Chalk­pit every morning, as they have gone to bed at night, and picked Chalk to bind them.

The last Disease Birds are subject to, is the Flux of the Belly, which is known by their making of their Dung thinner and more liquid than ordinary, and by often shaking and beating of their Tail, and keeping of it close together. The Remedy is to cut the Feathers of his Tail, and also those which are about the Fundament; anointing it with a little Capons-grease, and instead of Hemp-seeds or Rape-Seeds, give him Mellon-Seeds, and Red Beets-Seeds bruised for the space of three or four days, till you perceive his Dung altered: And you must do this at first, otherwise it will not help when the bird is wasted and poor. But for those Birds which eat not Seeds, but Sheeps-heart or paste, give them a very hard roasted Egg, in such sort as you have been before directed.

The several Diseases which happen to every particular sort of Bird.

FIrst, The Old Nightingales that are kept long in a Cage, are very subject (if not kept very clean) to the Gout, and if their Meat be not chop­ped very well, to the Convulsion of the Breast, with the Falling-Sickness and Giddiness in their Heads.

The Wood-Lark is very subject to be Lousie, and to be Melancholy, and troubled with the straitness of the Breast, which causes them to pine away in a short time if not helped, and then a Flux of the Belly, which if not immediately helped, it con­sumes them to nothing.

The Skie-Lark is also subject to all the same In­firmities of the Wood-lark, except it be Lousiness.

The Robin is subject to the Cramp, to a great Giddiness in his Head, and to have the ends of his Nails perish, if he be not kept clean in his Cage; and will be very subject to the Falling-Sickness, if it be not prevented.

Almost all your Birds that feed upon Flesh have almost all the same Distempers, except the Black-Bird and Throstle, which seldom almost die, without it be for want of Meat or Water.

The Canary-Bird hath many Diseases that he is subject to, as to the Giddiness in his Head, Falling-Sickness, Convulsion, and Oppression of Stomach and Breast, by reason of her excessive heat; and also very subject to a Flux in the Belly, which if not timely prevented, causes present death.

The Linnet, and all other Seed-Birds are subject almost to the foregoing Distempers, but none so [Page 133] apt to the Falling-Sickness as the Bull-Finch. I think these Rules and Descriptions for Diseases are sufficient for any ordinary understanding.

To know how long Birds shall live.

IF any Man be desirous to know how long these Singing-Birds may live, let him understand that amongst Nightingales some live but one year, some three, some five, others unto eight, and till twelve, and sing very well, rather better and bet­ter, for the first eighth years, but after that they do a little decline by degrees, and from that time forward are not in such a hight of perfection, but decline by little and little: They must have very good Masters and Keepers that do prolong their Lives three or four years; and where one is kept in a Cage till that Age, a hundred die; so it's the carefulness of the Keeper preserves the Life of Birds. It hath been known that Nightingales have been kept and lived till fifteen years old, and have con­tinued singing little or much for the most part of all the years; so that you may plainly perceive their Life depends much according to the good or ill ma­nagement, or else according to the good Complexi­on of the Bird.

The Wood-Lark seldom lives in a Cage above five years, by reason he is a tender Bird, and subject to many Casualties, and we are ignorant of what they eat abroad to preserve themselves.

The Robin seldom lives above seven years, by reason he is so subject to the Falling-sickness, and Cramp, and oppression of the Stomach.

[Page 134] The Skie-Lark is a very long-lived Bird, and hardy also, and there is not much fear of his Death, if you provide him a Turf once in a Week, and give him Meat and Water plentifully. All sorts of Seed-Birds live longer than any soft-beaked Birds, especially the Canary and Linnet, some having been Master of a Canary twenty years, and a Linnet also: But there are Diseases amongst Birds, as amongst all sorts of Cattle, which, if not timely prevented, make a very great slaughter.

Now I have done with all sorts of Singing-Birds, I shall give you some short directions about some Whistling-Birds: And those that have no song, that are not worth keeping for singing.

As first, The Sterling, which is most generally kept of all sorts of people, above any other Birds for whistling; and the great fault almost in all peo­ple is, that they have them too fledg'd out of the Nest, and that makes them retain so much com­monly of their own harsh notes: Therefore those that do intend to have them rare, and avoid their own squeeking notes, take them from the Old ones at two or three days old; do so in all Birds that you intend shall learn to whistle or speak, and learn an­other Birds song by hanging under him.

The next is the Bull-Finch, which hath no song of his own, nor whistle neither, but is a very apt Bird to learn if taught by the Mouth.

The next is a Black-Bird, which hath a kind of a rude Whistle, and will learn very well, if taken young enough out of the Nest; for most people to spare themselves a little more trouble than ordinary, desire to have them very fledg'd, and so they retain so much of the Old Birds Song, that most take [Page 135] treble the pains they need, and the others have them much better.

The Robin Red-breast is an excellent Bird for the Whistle, and to speak also; but this is the misery of most People, they breed so many together, that one spoils another: for a Robin is a hot-metled Bird, and must not be in the hearing of another; therefore if you breed two, have them in several rooms, that they may not hear each other, and so consequently spoil one another.

The next for whistling of Seed-Birds, is your Canary-Bird, which will learn any thing almost, if taken very young out of the Nest, otherwise not; for he is an exceeding hot-metled Bird, and will run upon his own Song do what you can.

The next is the Linnet, which will learn almost any tune if not too long and too much variety; for you must not teach any Bird after the Flaggellet, or your Mouth, that are too long or too much varie­ty: Learn them one tune first, and then proceed to another, and keep him dark and still, out of the noise of other Birds, for he is very apt to re­member any Roguery above a Tune. Take this for a general rule for all Birds, that the younger the Birds be, the better they will prove, and answer your expectation and trouble for keeping them ten days extraordinary, when they are very young.

If what I have written be accepted, it may be a further encouragement for me to seek out more of the secrets of Nature; for of all things that were cre­ated, nothing praises and sets forth the Creator, a­mongst Animal Creatures, more than these poor [Page 136] harmless birds. And it is a thing much to be observed, that of all the Animal Creatures that ever were made, none can learn, or by any means be taught to speak but the Bird.