QQ THE WILD-FOWLER. 



Wild-fowl (especially teal) sometimes, without any other en- 

 ticement, follow the decoy-ducks far enoug'h up the pipe to suit the 

 decoyer's purpose ; and they need not follow very far — a short dis- 

 tance will often suffice. The instant he finds them within control, 

 and they ap})ear reluctant to follow farther, he signals to his assistant 

 to show himself in front of the entrance, and cut off their retreat. 

 The tame fowl, after swimming about half-way up the pipe, return 

 ag-ain, past the decoyer and his assistant, to the open water. 



It is only when the enticements of the decoy-ducks are ineffectual 

 to lead their wild companions on to destruction (and it is not very 

 often they lure them further than the entrance to the pipe), that the 

 artifices of the dog are called into requisition ; and that sprig-htly 

 deceiver, it will be seen, is far more alluring- than the feathered 

 seducers : and this, the most curious part of the performance, 

 seldom fails to succeed, though the seeds and tame ducks may be of 

 no avail. 



There is sometimes great uncertainty attending the decoyer's pro- 

 ceedings. A suspicion of alarm arises, for which the fowler is quite 

 imable to account: thoug'h there are hundreds of birds upon the 

 pond, not one can be taken : they seem to defy his efforts, and this 

 though time of day, weather, and other circumstances are favourable. 



Wild-fowl seem particularly quick in detecting" the presence of a 

 stranger behind the screens ; and when so, not a bird will pipe. 



I may mention one instance which occurred at a decoy belonging 

 to a friend of mine. A visitor was admitted to witness the opera- 

 tions of taking some wild-ducks, which had been regularly using the 

 pond during several days. The weather being bitterly cold, he was 

 wrapped in a seal-skin over-coat, the effluvium from which was sup- 

 posed to be sufficiently destroyed by carrying in his hand a piece of 

 burning turf. He kept side by side with the decoyer, who tried his 

 utmost to entice the ducks up the pipe ; but no — they ventured as far 

 as the entrance, and would go no farther. He then left the decoy, 

 in company with his friend, and insisted on his exchanging the seal- 

 skin coat for one of the fowler's jackets. Half-an-hour later, the 

 decoyer again proceeded, with his friend, to make another attempt 

 upon the ducks, and directly succeeded in taking every bird. 



Many other instances of similar tendency might be brought for- 

 ward, all proving beyond doubt the acuteness of the nasal organs of 

 the feathered occupants of the water. The fowler should, therefore, 

 be particularly guarded against strong scents, and never approacli a 



