Birdlime

Birdlime is a viscid and adhesive substance, which is placed on twigs of trees or wire-netting, for the purpose of catching the birds which may alight thereon. A common practice is to place a decoy or tame bird in a cage near where the birdlime is spread; the wild birds, attracted to the spot by the song of the tame bird, get entangled with the birdlime. It is also extensively used for catching mice, and even rats, in houses, where poison is objectionable. The birdlime is spread on a board, some toasted cheese placed in the centre, and the trap laid on the floor. The mice in endeavouring to reach the cheese, are held fast by the feet, and may be destroyed. The substance is generally prepared from the middle bark of the holly, mistletoe, or distaff-thistle, by chopping up the bark, treating it with water, boiling for several hours, straining, and lastly exposing it to fermentation for several weeks, when a gelatinous mucilage is obtained, consisting mainly of a substance to which the name viscin has been applied. A second mode of preparing birdlime is to employ ordinary wheat-flour; place it in a piece of cotton cloth; tie up the ends, so as to form a bag; immerse the whole in a basin of water, or allow a stream of water to flow upon it; and repeatedly squeeze the bag and its contents. The result is, that the starch of the wheat-flour is pressed out of the cloth bag, and an adhesive substance named gluten is left on the cloth. This substance resembles that prepared by the previous process in its properties; but the former mode of preparing birdlime is a much cheaper plan, and is that generally followed.