viscid substance, prepared after different ways. The most common bird-lime among us is made from holly-bark, boiled ten or twelve hours; when the green coat being separated from the other, it is covered up a fortnight in a moist place; then pounded into a tough paste, so that no fibres of the wood are discernible, and washed in a running stream till no motes appear; put up to ferment four or five days, Bird-Lime. Skimmed as often as any thing arises, and laid up for use. To use it, a third part of nut-oil, or thin grease, must be incorporated with it over the fire.

The juice of holly-bark is a very peculiar substance. But if trials were made, it seems probable, that many other juices would be found to have the same clammy nature. The milletoe affords a juice even superior to that of the holly; and if a young shoot of the common alder be cut through, there will a stringy juice draw out in threads, and follow the knife like bird-lime or the juice of the holly. It seems in this tree to be lodged, not in the bark, but in certain veins just within the circle of the wood. The roots of all the hyacinths also afford a tough and stringy juice of the same kind; and so does the asphodel, the narcissus, and the black bryony root, in a surprising quantity.

When twigs, &c. smeared with bird-lime, are to be put in places subject to wet, the common bird-lime is apt to have its force soon taken away. It is necessary, therefore, to have recourse to a particular sort, which from its property of bearing water unhurt, is called water bird-lime; and is prepared thus: Take a pound of strong and good bird-lime; wash it thoroughly in spring-water, till the hardnels is all removed; and then beat it well, that the water may be clean separated, so as not a drop remains; then dry it well, and put it into an earthen pot; add to it as much capon's grease as will make it run. Then add two spoonfuls of strong vinegar, one spoonful of oil, and a small quantity of Venice turpentine. Let the whole boil for some minutes over a moderate fire, stirring it all the time. Then take it off: and when there is occasion to use it, warm it, and cover the sticks well with it. This is the best sort of bird-lime for snipes and other birds that love wet places.

The most successful method of using the common bird-lime is this: Cut down the main branch or bough of any bushy tree whose twigs are thick, straight, long, and smooth, and have neither knots nor prickles. The willow and the birch-tree afford the best of this kind. Let all the superfluous shoots be trimmed off, and the twigs all made neat and clean; they must all be well covered with the bird-lime, within four inches of the bottom; but the main bough from which they grow must not be touched with the lime. No part of the bark, where the lime should come, must be left bare: but it is a nice matter to lay it on properly; for if it be too thick it will give the birds a distaste, and they will not come near it; and if there be too little of it, it will not hold them when they are there. When the bush is thus prepared, it must be set up in some dead hedge, or among some growing bushes near the outskirts of a town, a farmer's back-yard, or the like, if it be in the spring; for these places are the resort of the small birds at that time. If it be used in summer, the bush must be placed in the midst of a quickset hedge, or in groves, bushes, or white thorn trees, near fields of corn, hemp, flax, and the like; and in the winter, the proper places are about stacks of corn, hovels, barns, and the like. When the lime-bush is thus planted, the sportsman must stand as near it as he can without being discovered; and with the mouth, or otherwise, make such sorts of notes as the birds do when they attack or call to one another. There are bird-calls to be bought for this use; but the most expert method is to learn the notes of call of the several bird-lime birds, and imitate them by a sort of whistling. When one bird is thus enticed to the bush, and hung fast, the business of the sportsman is not to run up to take it, but to be patient; for it will hang itself more fast by its struggling to get away; and its fluttering will bring more to the bush, so that several may be taken together. The time of the day for this sport is from sunrise to ten o'clock, and from one to sunset. Another very good method of bringing the birds together, is by a flate: a bat makes a very good stale; but it must be fastened, so as to be in fight at a distance. An owl is a still better stale; for this bird never goes abroad but it is followed by all the small birds in the neighbourhood. They will gather together in great numbers about it; and having no convenient place to sit on but the lime-bush, will be taken in great numbers. If a living owl or bat is not to be had, the skin stuffed will serve the purpose, and will last twenty years. Some have used the image of an owl carved in wood, and painted in the natural colours; and it has been found to succeed very well.

Divination by Birds. See AUGURY. Migration of Birds. See ORNITHOLOGY Index. Nidification of Birds. See ORNITHOLOGY Index.

Singing Birds are, the nightingale, blackbird, starling, thrush, linnet, lark, thrush, Canary-bird, bullfinch, goldfinch, &c. See some very curious experiments and observations on the singing of birds, Phil. Transf. vol. lxiii. part ii. No 31. Their first sound is called chirp, which is a single sound repeated at short intervals; the next call, which is a repetition of one and the same note; and the third sound is called recording, which a young bird continues to do for ten or eleven months, till he is able to execute every part of his song; and when he is perfect in his lesson, he is said to sing his song round. Their notes are no more innate than language in man; they all sing in the same key. The honourable author Daines Barrington has there attempted to reduce their comparative merits to a scale; and to explain how they first came to have particular notes. See SONG of Birds, ORNITHOLOGY Index.

Methods of preserving Birds. See ORNITHOLOGY Index.