Foaled in 1833 at the Brownstown Stud, in Ireland, Birdcatcher was by the Irish Thoroughbred stallion Sir Hercules, who lost only once, in the St Leger Stakes in 1829.

[1] Birdcatcher was said to have been small, only 15.3 hh, but he had an expressive head, a well-arched neck, and nicely sloping shoulder.

Birdcatcher had a large star and narrow blaze, white halfway up to the hock on the left hind.

He passed this trait onto many offspring, including Daniel O'Rourke, so often that the marking came to be called to Birdcatcher ticks.

Birdcatcher's first crop of foals did well, and he was moved to Barrow's Paddock in Newmarket for 1846 and 1847, before he was leased for 1848 and 1849 to Easby Abbey in Yorkshire.

At once a messenger was dispatched to the local police station with orders to bring back with him a constable with a loaded gun, as a horse was required to be destroyed.

The horse was placed on the brink of a sandpit situated on the flat opposite Conyngham Lodge, Curragh; without any ceremony he was shot and his carcass tumbled into the pit.