THE ART OF CAPTURING WILD-FOWL BY DECOY. 



65 





netting-, the birds follow the course of the pipe, thinking- they can 

 get out at the other end ; the fowler continuing- to urg-e them on, by 

 simply waving his hand as he walks along- the bank outside the pipe, 

 until they reach the fatal tunnel from which there is no escape. 



The decoyer then unhooks the tunnel-net ; and, by simply twisting- 

 or making- a turn in it, they are all safely secured. He then drag-s it 

 to a g-rass-plat ; and, taking- them out one by one, the murderous pro- 

 ceeding- of neck-breaking- commences: it being- indispensably necessary 

 that the decoyer and his assistant should be expert in that unenviable 

 performance, and despatch them with all possible precision.* They 

 are then tossed, one upon another, into a wooden crate made for the 

 purpose; one of which should always be placed ag-ainst the tail of every 

 pipe; and in this confined space they gasp and strug-g-le many minutes 

 ere life is extinct ; the fowler being- careful to avoid knocking- them 

 on the head, because they are more marketable when killed in a clean 

 manner, without bruising- their bodies or ruffling- their feathers. 



* The fowlers of the island of St. Kilda kill a solan goose with great alertness, 

 by dislocating a certain joint of the neck, very near the head. The lower part of 

 the neck of the solan goose is much larger than the upper, and adapted to the pur- 

 pose by which the bu-d obtains its food ; so that, in absence of skill, it would be 

 difficult and tedious to kiU them. Vide Macaulay's History of St. Kilda ; also, jMst, 

 " Fowling in St. Kilda." 



