188 THE WILD DUCK 
is selected, edged with reeds, and having an extent of from two to 
fifty acres or more. From the edge of this are dug, at various 
points, curved creeks, called ‘pipes’, broad at the mouth, and 
contracting till the banks meet. Over each of these pipes is thrown 
a net, supported on arches made of hoops; the first about ten 
feet high, the others diminishing in size, and the whole ending in a 
bag-net, or ‘purse’. On each bank of the pipes are erected screens 
made of reeds, high enough to conceal a man. Previously to com- 
mencing operations the decoy-man has let loose on the pond a few 
tame Ducks, closely resembling wild birds in plumage, who are 
familiar with his person and have been trained to come at his call. 
Accompanied by a little dog, ‘a piper’, he stations himself behind 
a screen, near the mouth of a pipe which faces the wind, choosing 
this position because Ducks prefer to swim against the wind and to 
feed on a lee shore. When the pond is well stocked with birds he 
throws some corn on the water near the mouth of a pipe, and makes 
a low whistle. * At the familiar sound the ‘ coy-ducks’ hasten to 
the spot, and, if all be well, are followed by a portion of the wild 
birds. The piper is then let loose, and immediately runs to the 
water’s edge. The Wild Ducks, either from curiosity, or some 
unknown motive, paddle towards him. The ruse succeeding so far, 
the piper is made to appear for a moment beyond the next screen, 
and so on until a party of Ducks have been lured so far up the pipe 
as to be out of sight of those remaining in the pond. The decoy- 
man, who has all the while been lying hid near the first screen, then 
shows himself to his intended victims, who, in their flight, hurry 
on to the ‘purse’, and are caught and dispatched at leisure. All 
this time the coy-ducks, if well trained, have remained at the mouth 
of the pipe, feeding, and unconscicusly enticing new-comers into 
the snare. 
That this method of capturing wild-fowl is effective, may be 
inferred from the fact that decoys of a precisely similar kind have 
been worked ever since the time of Willughby (1676), who describes 
them at length. A Son of the Marshes gives a fuller account 
of Duck decoys in Wild-Fowl and Sea-Fowl. 
from Holland, the following passage occurs: ‘ Piscinas hasce cum allecta- 
tricibus et reliquo suo apparatu Decoys seu Duck-coys vocant, allectatrices 
Coy-ducks.’ 
