rench about
fourteen inches long, over which the two long narrow sods cut neatly out
of the turf were adjusted, grass downwards. A small opening was left at
the end for ingress, and there was room in the passage for the bird to
pass through towards the chinks of light coming from the two ends of the
cross passage. At the inner end of the passage a horse-hair springe was
set, by which the bird was caught by the neck as it passed in, but the
noose did not as a rule strangle the bird. On some of the high downs
near the coast, notably at Beachy Head, at Birling Gap, at Seaford, and
in the neighbourhood of Rottingdean, the shepherds made so many coops,
placed at small distances apart, that the Downs in some places looked as
if they had been ploughed. In September, when the season was over, the
sods were carefully put back, roots down, in the places, and the smooth
green surface was restored to the hills."

On bright clear days few birds would be caught, but in showery weather
the traps would all be full; this is because when the sun is obscured
wheatears are afraid and take refuge under stones or in whatever hole
may offer. The price of each wheatear was a penny, and it was the
custom of the persons in the neighbourhood who wanted them for dinner to
visit the traps, take out the birds and leave the money in their place.
The shepherd on returning would collect his gains and reset the traps.
Near Brighton, however, most of the shepherds caught only for dealers;
and one firm, until some twenty years ago, maintained the practice of
giving an annual supper at the end of the season, at which the shepherds
would be paid in the mass for their spoil.

[Sidenote: A RECORD BAG]

An old shepherd, who had been for years on Westside Farm near Brighton,
spoke thus, in 1882, as Mr. Borrer relates in his _Birds of
Sussex_:--"The most I ever caught in one day was thirteen dozen, but we
thought it a good day if we caught three or four dozen. We sold them to
a poulterer at Brighton, who took all we could catch in a season at
18_d._ a dozen. From what I have heard from old shepherds, it cannot be
doubted that they were caught in much greater numbers a century ago than
of late. I have heard them speak of an immense number being taken in one
day by a shepherd at East Dean, near Beachy Head. I think they said he
took nearly a hundred dozen, so many that they could not thread them on
crow-quills in the usual manner, but he took off his round frock