WILD DUCKS FOR SPORT AND PROFIT 19 



and record a forty years' remembrance of its ways and 

 doings. • jj*434l 



"Provided you have water, and trees for shelter, and 

 the fowl are undisturbed by shooting or constant flush- 

 ing, there is no place so noisy, or so frequented by man, 

 in which the true wild duck will not breed. In the lake of 

 the city park, in the ballast pit by the ever roaring rail- 

 way junction, close by the reverberating boiler works, 

 where riveting hammers — or Nasmyth's ponderous ma- 

 chinery — are at work, where human scent is wafted to 

 them at every breeze, wild fowl nest and rear their young 

 in peace. It is not the presence of humanity that wild 

 fowl object to — it is to constant, inquisitive interference, 

 or shooting. Any place near water is good enough for 

 them where they are left alone for feeding and breeding. 

 Decoy men are quite right in keeping their waters as se- 

 cluded and quiet as possible, for the best of reasons. 

 Their native birds gather 'foreigners' into their pond 

 every night, and the slightest unusual sound or human 



allow bis dog to show Itself, at any point. The tall screens are usually 

 connected by low ones, over which the dog, commonly known as a 

 "piper," is able to jump without difficulty. . . . Ducks are enticed into 

 the pipes either by means of decoy birds or by the antics of a dog, care- 

 fully trained for the work. ... At last all the lagging fowl of the 

 gathering have entered the pipe. Then, without a sound, the decoy- 

 man darts back to the mouth of the pipe, where, unseen by other bunches 

 of duck on the decoy, he suddenly shows himself to the birds under the 

 net. At the sight of him and his waving handkerchief the trapped birds 

 rise in a cloud and fly up the narrowing pipe. The decoyman, on the bank, 

 follows them at headlong speed. A few moments later he is engaged in 

 extracting his victims, one by one, from the tunnel net and wringing 

 their necks.— "Wild Fowl."; L. H. De Visme Shaw, p. 116. 



A large number of these decoys are operated in England, Wales and 

 Ireland, and many wild ducks are procured for the market. The first 

 decoy was set up in the reign of James II. "The Land of the Broads," 

 cited by Shaw. Decoying was practiced in Holland prior to the time of 

 Sir William Wodehouse, who constructed the first English decoy. 15,000 

 fowl have been taken in a decoy in a season. — De Visme Shaw. "Wild 

 Fowl," p. 121. 



