70 EQUIPMENT. 



ing over wooden decoys, to have a live duck to 

 throw in the air when wjld ones are approaching. 

 She should be secured by a light, strong line, 

 of from fifteen to twenty-five yards in length, to 

 the blind to prevent escape, and should be blind- 

 folded by a hood drawn over the eyes ; then, not 

 being able to see how far she has to fall after 

 being thrown up, she will spread her wings and 

 allow herself to drop gradually with feet extended, 

 as is the usual manner of ducks when alighting. 

 The attention of the other ducks being attracted 

 toward the decoys by her motions, they come in 

 without hesitation. In the absence of a live duck, 

 dead ones may be thrown up to attract attention, 

 but do not answer quite as well, as they fixll too 

 quickly ; for this reason should not be thrown too 

 high, but rather in a nearly level direction. 



When shooting teal or mallard in very shallow 

 water w^ith but few decoys, lumps of mud, pieces 

 of bark, or bunches of brush of the proper size 

 may be judiciously employed to deceive the ducks. 

 They should be mixed with those decoys nearest 

 the blind, but never outside the wooden ones. I 

 have known ducks to decoy all day to a little 

 rough patch of ground left bare by the melting 

 of the ice along the main shore. Of course they 



