MALLARD. 



361 



being cut off by tbe appearance of the man, whom they dare 

 not pass. The decoyman then moves on to the next open- 

 ing, and the wild birds are thus driven along till they enter 

 the tunnel net and are all taken ; a twist of the net prevents 

 them getting back. The decoyman then takes the net off 

 from the end of the pipe with what fowl he may have 

 caught, takes them out one at a time, dislocates their necks., 

 hangs the tunnel on to the net again, and all is ready for 

 working afresh. 



The Author was indebted to the late Rev. Richard Lub- 

 bock for the following account of the mode of making a 

 decoy, supplied birn by a friend in Norfolk. 



In making a decoy it is necessary to have from an acre 

 and a half to three or four acres of water, in a quiet place 

 surrounded by plantation ; the water should be in the form 

 of a star, making six equal divisions of the compass ; in 

 these six recesses must be made six pipes : they are con- 

 structed by digging cuts in the land something in the form 

 of a semicircle covered over with bows, and a net gradually 

 tapering to the end, at which must be placed a tunnel net, 



VOL. IV. 3 .\ 



