HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



51 



pipes throughout the year, so that they are always 

 ready to obey the call-note of their master, however 

 distant they may be from his station. On this 

 occasion the "decoys" were lying by the wind- 

 bound western pipe, where they had supped the night 

 before. But as soon as we had taken our new places 

 the decoy-man blew a shrill blast on his whistle, 

 which startled the whole pond, and made the drakes 

 give tongue in clamorous chorus, whilst the decoys 

 awoke to the sense that breakfast is an admirable 

 institution. 



Again the whistle sounded, and yet again, till the 

 birds comprehended whither they ought to steer ; and 

 meanwhile the lad scattered hemp seed upon the 

 water along the whole length of the pipe. 



Soon we saw the trained birds making their way 

 across the centre of the pond, accompanied by 

 some three hundred wild fowl. On they came, a 

 sight most enchanting, as they flashed in the January 

 sun, and reflected its lustre from their iridescent 

 plumage, till at last the leaders and their mingled 

 following reached the head of the pipe. 



The tame birds began to devour the seed with great 

 eagerness, for they cannot escape from the pond and 

 its immediate surroundings except by flight, which 

 they rarely attempt, and little food is to be found in 

 such an over-tenanted place. The wild birds, too, 

 began to feed, and gradually advanced up the canal 

 under the net, without any apparent fear of danger, 

 while we slowly retired before them for fear of dis- 

 covering our retreat. 



The scene was strangely picturesque, as the ciew 

 of mallard and teal, with here and there a stray 

 shoveller or pintail, pressed onwards with grace in 

 every turn and movement, a grace which seemed to 

 give the lie to their connection with the heavy farm- 

 yard louts who claim cousinship with them. But 

 while we were yet admiring their beauty, and trying 

 to fix some of their natural positions in our mind for 

 future drawings, the scene changed. Jack showed 

 himself abruptly in their rear, and the greater 

 number fluttered wildly up the pipe ; though a few 

 saved themselves by flying or diving back into the 

 pond. We followed the doomed flock at a gentle 

 pace, gesticulating violently but silently to drive on 

 the laggards when they showed any disposition to 

 return. At the end we found the tunnel net taxed to 

 its utmost strength, so jammed had the poor birds 

 become in their fearful rush. 



" Six shillings a couple for ducks, and four for teal, 

 as they're up now," murmured our old entertainer, in 

 an ecstacy of delight at his extraordinary good luck. 

 " Niver, niver, saw I owt like it i' all my born days, 

 an' shouldn't if I liv'd to be twice as old again as I 

 am, rheumatiz an' all." 



As he spoke he knelt down, and proceeded to take 

 out and dispatch the birds with great caution, his 

 grandson helping in the work, but with less skill ; 

 when, " whir, whir, whir," sounded above us from 



the rhythmical cadence of many wings, and glancing 

 up, we descried some sixty ducks on the look out for 

 any possible danger, flying round and round the tops 

 of the trees, as their custom is before alighting. The 

 Londoner, entirely forgetful of the strict injunttions 

 to taciturnity, exclaimed in excitement, " What the 

 devil's up with us! Where's a gun?" But a 

 threatening shake of the fist from the old man, 

 accompanied by a look which ought to have 

 annihilated him, brought him back to a sense of 

 decoy convefiances. 



"Doon for yer lives; lig oot at length; lig on 

 your bellies an' hide your heads." Then to the 

 stupified townsman, "Get into yon rummuck" — a 

 tangled mass of brambles and dead nettles — ^"ony- 

 where, onywhere oot o' the birds' sight." 



Such were the commands issued by the irate 

 ducker in an agonised whisper, and down he 

 dropped on his net, from which not a quarter of the 

 ducks had been extricated, with his head and 

 shoulders thrust into a bed of withered herbage, 

 despite the " rheumatiz and all." 



We skulked and crouched as best we might, trying 

 to look as unlike human beings as nature would 

 allow ; while round and round, up and down, here 

 and there, went the birds, ^often dipping till they 

 almost touched the water, yet always sheering off 

 when our desire that they should settle seemed on 

 the point of gratification. 



" They're going, they're going," ejaculated the old 

 man below his breath, with many strange inarticulate 

 gutturals expressive of impatience and expectancy. 

 "Noo, noo, they're in, I do believe. Ay, they're in 

 at last. Jack, just get up an' hev a peep, lad." 



Up got Jack forthwith to spy through the reeds on 

 "the shooting," but only to fall flat again as if 

 shot. For up and down and round about went the 

 watchful flight for some minutes longer, till at last, 

 when our patience was almost exhausted, they 

 dropped into the pond breast foremost, cleaving the 

 rtpples in the most delicate and pretty manner in the 

 world. 



The moment the last bird touched the water we 

 rose from our constrained attitudes, to indulge in a 

 quiet joke over the thorny retreat in which our 

 southern friend had ensconced himself, and to 

 congratulate ourselves on the sport we had seen. 



" These here will be fresh from the sea," observed 

 the ducker, beginning to draw the quarry from the 

 net again, and holding up a teal for our inspection. 

 " Them as th' dog got was^carcely touched wi' red, 

 but these have breasts as ru^-coloured as can be — 

 they know nowt of fresh water. I bet they cum'd in 

 this morning." 



Birds newly arrived from the ocean are far less 

 wary than the land-feeding fowl, which are generally 

 home-bred, or old stagers, acquainted with every 

 device of the fowler. Some birds visit the decoy for 

 years in succession, and are never taken ; as was the 



D 2 



