GENERAL DIRECTIONS IN DECOYING. 53 



need to be placed so that it can be entered on every side safely, and 

 without alarming the fowl, whether they be in a pipe or on the pond. Do 

 not try to decoy in a flat calm, a little wind is always necessary to success. 

 It gathers the fowl off the centre of the pond about the sheltered pipes, 

 and by rustling the herbage conceals footfalls. Besides, as I have said, the 

 birds never drive well unless more or less heading the wind. 



However anxious to make a catch, do not press the fowl too hard with 

 your allurements — doing so only makes them suspicious. By waiting, a 

 successful drive may result later in the day. 



Eight, twelve, and four o'clock are the best times to try for a catch by 

 feeding, three o'clock for the use of the dog. 



It is not much use trying between ten and eleven o'clock in the day, 

 as the fowl are by that time becoming sluggish after their night's flighting 

 in search of food, and after a wash and drink prefer resting on the bank, 

 or sleeping on the water. 



At four o'clock they are beginning to feel hungry, as well as to move 

 off the banks into the water previous to leaving the Decoy for the night, 

 and are then more likely to feed up the pipes than at an earlier hour in the 

 afternoon. 



Avoid casting shadows on the water of the pipe between the dog- 

 jumps when in the act of Decoying. Such will certainly spoil a catch if 

 the sun is low and behind the Decoyman, as may happen late in the 

 afternoon. 



If fowl are banked on the breast-wall landing and will not take notice 

 of either dog or food, the former may be sent right among them over the 

 dog-jump between the screens that flank them, into their midst. 



The effect of this is to cause the ducks to scurry off the landing in 

 great alarm, though as soon as they get into the water they face about and 

 swim defiantly towards the dog as he disappears round the corner and 

 behind the screen again. 



They are then all on the alert, and will probably follow the dog under 

 the net, as he is sent along from one screen to the other as usual up the 

 side of the pipe. 



I have before alluded to the necessity of keeping the mouths and 

 the water outside the entrances of the pipes clear of ice in a frost, especially 



