172 ANATID.E. 



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

 and a lialf 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 constructed by 

 digging cuts in the land something in the form of a semi- 

 circle covered over with bows, and a net gradually tapering 

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

 off when the fowl are driven into it. On each side of the 

 pipe are screens made of reed to shelter the person when 

 working the decoy ; the outer side of the circle of the pipe 

 is the one on which the person walks who is decoying the 

 fowl, and in the screens on that side must be divisions for 

 the dog to pass over, and also for the man to appear at when 

 driving the fowl. 



The water forming the decoy should be surrounded with 

 a fence of reeds three or four feet high to prevent the decoy 

 ducks from getting out of it. About midsummer is the time 

 to put them into the water, and commence training them, 

 which is a very important part in the art of decoying ; they 

 should be young birds and made very tame, taught to come 

 to any pipe from all parts of the water whenever they are 

 whistled, and to prevent them flying they should be pinioned. 



In working a decoy it is best to go to that pipe at which 

 the wind blows from the tunnel net to the bend of the pipe ; 

 by doing so all scent of the person at work is carried away 

 from the fowl in the pipe, and as all wild-fowl by choice rise 

 head to wind, there are generally more taken with the wind 

 in that direction than any other. During the time the wea- 

 ther is open they are taken almost entirely by means of the 

 dog, but as soon as the frost sets in they are taken by feeding 

 them in the pipe, and keeping a piece of water constantly 

 open near it. 



