Birdlime

is an adhesive and a viscid substance placed on twigs of trees or wire-netting to decoy birds. It is also used for catching mice and rats in houses. It is prepared from the middle bark of the holly, mistletoe, or distaff-thistle, by chopping the bark, boiling for several hours in water, straining and exposing for a few weeks to fermentation. It can also be made from wheat-flour, tied in a bag and immersed in a basin of water. If the bag is squeezed afterwards the starch is pre ed out and gluten is left on the