Duck-shooting 1 7 



should be taken in the making and coloring of 

 the stool. 



The best decoys are made of cork, carefully 

 weighted and painted, sometimes provided with 

 glass eyes, the paint on cork being less liable 

 to shine and gleam in certain lights than that 

 on wood, although for most practical purposes 

 wooden decoys suffice. Many of our clubs go 

 even farther than this and employ live decoys. 

 Live ducks used with the wooden stool are always 

 very efficient and allure the wildest birds. In a 

 few Massachusetts clubs the use of live decoys 

 reaches its highest degree of proficiency. Here 

 live birds are actually let loose from coops, trained 

 to fly about the lake, and return to the stand, bring- 

 ing with them any wild relatives they happen to 

 encounter. At the first suspicion of anything do- 

 ing, a well-trained duck decoy lifts his voice and 

 quacks — the louder and more often, the better. 

 No wild fowl in the vicinity can resist. The wild 

 birds reply and are answered ; they turn, circle, 

 and alight among their own. In Massachusetts 

 ducks are not only permitted to alight, but are 

 also persuaded to huddle up and get their heads 

 together, with the result that often not a single 

 begrudged bird escapes the fusillade, — a shooting 

 custom excused on the ground that ducks are 

 few and far between. On Long Island there are 

 a few stands of live decoys, and farther south 



