lowbell

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A bell used in a certain kind of fowling by night, the birds being made to lie close by the sound of the bell and blinded by a light, so as to be easily taken by a net which is thrown over them.
• noun A bell hung on the necks of sheep or other animals.
• To serenade with noisy, rough music. See charivari.
• To scare with a lowbell, as birds in fowling.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A bell used in fowling at night, to frighten birds, and, with a sudden light, to make them fly into a net.
• noun A bell to be hung on the neck of a sheep.
• transitive verb To frighten, as with a lowbell.