Читать книгу Cassell's Book of In-door Amusements, Card Games, and Fireside Fun - Various - Страница 15

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One of the party is chosen to be the bird-catcher. The rest fix upon some particular bird whose voice they can imitate when called upon, the owl being the only bird forbidden to be chosen. Then sitting in order round the room with their hands on their knees, they listen to the story their master has to tell them. The Bird-catcher begins by relating some incident in which the feathered tribe take a very prominent position, but particularly those birds represented by the company. Each one, as the name of the bird he has chosen is mentioned, utters the cry peculiar to it, never for a moment moving his hands from his knees. Should the owl be referred to, however, every one is expected to place his hands behind him, and to keep them there until the name of another bird has been mentioned, when he must, as before, place them on his knees. During the moving of the hands, if the Bird-catcher can succeed in securing a hand, the owner of it must pay a forfeit, and also change places with the Bird-catcher.

We must not forget to observe that when the leader, or Bird-catcher, as he is called, refers in his narrative to "all the birds in the air," all the players are to utter at the same time the cries of the different birds they represent.