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 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 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 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
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 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 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 â—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 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 Sun-shines 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 long-winded 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
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 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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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 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
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 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 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 SOME Further Additions Concerning Singing-Birds WE having spoke before of some varieties for Profit and also Pleasure in ordering of several sorts of Fruit-Trees and Gardening and a small touch of Recreation for taking of Fish and Birds but now I do intend to enter into a Discourse of Taking Preserving and Keeping all sorts of Birds which sing melodiously with ravishing sweet and pleasant Songs wherewith the Master may have his Recreation and Pleasure by hearing them sing in his Closes Hedges Parks or at his Chamber-Window or otherwise shut up in some Cages Rooms or Aviaries with Out-lets for them to take the Air made for that purpose to contain the Subject of such pleasure and delightsome Melody And that we may not omit any thing before we lay down any particular Manner or Way of taking such Birds we shall take a short view of the Nature Breeding Feeding and Diseases of the same for in my Opinion it were almost labour in vain to take Birds if to the end we may not enjoy their sweet and melodious Songs for some considerable time for without you know what Meat is agreeable to them and rightly to order them and what Diseases and Infirmities they are subject unto and what Means and Remedies are necessary to be used for their Distemperatures In the mean time I intend not here to bring in Fabulous Stories and Histories of their Original Breeding which fantastical Poets have vainly imagined and invented but resolve to rest my self contented with this strong perswasion That all Birds from the beginning of the World were miraculously created by God's Almighty Power of his own meer Will and Word whereby he created all other Creatures in the beginning of the World 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 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