049v - - - - - Birds
Calandra larks and all birds taken from the nest and which have not known freedom are better, because those taken with a net never sing as well. However, wild birds give much pleasure with their chanting, but they must be taken before Michaelmas, otherwise they do not live long. All get a small impostume on the fork of their tail, sometimes, which some call “gaillardise”, which makes them sick and sometimes kills them, especially calandra larks. One can tell when they are sad and do not sing. It must be pierced, not with a pin, but very delicately by turning with the tip of a quite sharp feather. The calandra lark should not be without river sand, and grey sand, a little rough, is the best. It rubs itself against it and purges itself with it.
Grain of lead
Take a pierced playing card, pierced with a pin or needle, folded on all four sides. Hold it with the end of a small split stick and, holding the said stick by theun bout other end, put your card three or 4 fingers away from the water that you will have put in a dish or similar vessel. Then pour your lead, which should not be too hot, into the card & continually tap on the stick that holds it. And thus your lead will turn into round grains. And pass it through a large sieve to separate the largest grain from the smallest. The larger one will reach 25 to 30 paces.
Birds
Those that are caught at Michaelmas are good to keep, but those that are caught in March die, because they are starting to fall in love. Ortolans are fed oats all summer so that they eat without getting fat, to be more suitable for hunting and helping to catch others. Then, when one wants to fatten them to sell, one gives them millet. They sing at night. They must be caught after mid—July and before Michaelmas, because after the period when they have their young in this country, they leave as turtledoves do. Siskins should also be caught after All Saints’ Day and before Christmas, because afterwards they leave for the mountains to brood.
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Ortolans are ventriloquists, so that, singing without opening their beaks, they seem to be…