e net. The other end is tied near the root of each
tree, and serves for the native, who is stationed there, to raise or
lower the net as it may be required. When set, the ropes are hauled
tight, and the net dangles in the air between the two trees, hanging over
the lagoon, or dry passage, as the case may be. All being ready, a native
is left holding each end of the rope, and others are stationed at
convenient places near, with little round pieces of bark in their hands
to throw at the birds, and drive them onwards as they approach the net.
The women are then sent to put the birds up, and they come flying through
the open space towards the net, not dreaming of the evil that awaits
them; as they approach nearer, the two natives at the trees utter a
shrill whistle, resembling the note of the hawk, upon which the flock,
which usually consists of ducks, lower their flight at once, and
proceeding onwards, strike full against the net, which is instantly
lowered by the men attending to it, and the birds are left struggling in
the water, or on the ground, entangled in its meshes, whilst the natives
are busy paddling in their canoes, or scampering towards the net on the
ground, to wring their necks off, and get the instrument of destruction
raised again, to be ready for the next flight that may come. Should the
birds fly too high, or be inclined to take any other direction, little
pieces of bark are thrown above them, or across their path, by the
natives stationed for that purpose. These circling through the air, make
a whirring noise like the swoop of the eagle when darting on his prey,
and the birds fancying their enemy upon them, recede from the pieces of
bark, and lowering their flight, become entangled in the net. Early in
the morning, late in the evening, and occasionally in the night, this
work is conducted, with the greatest success, though many are caught
sometimes in the day.

As many as fifty birds are taken in a single haul. I have myself, with
the aid of a native, caught thirty-three, and many more would have been
got, but that the net was old, and the birds broke through it before they
could be all killed. On other occasions, I have been out with the
natives, where a party of five or six have procured from twenty to thirty
ducks, on an average, daily, for many days successively. In these
occupations the natives make use of a peculiar shrill whistle to frighten
down the birds; it is produced by pulling out the under l