74 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



The falcon and mooi'-bnzzard used formerly to be a g'reat nuisance 

 and constant interruption to the decoyer, thoug-h of late years the 

 species have become so scarce, that very little disturbance now arises 

 from any rapacious birds. But none of the feathered tribe cause the 

 wild-fowler so much annoyance as the heron. It is not the stalking-s 

 and walkings of this majestic bird on the banks of the decoy, at which 

 the wild-fowl take affright, but the unmistakable sig-nal of alarm which 

 it gives on extending- its powerful wing-s to leave the scene of suspected 

 security. This bird is particularly objectionable at the decoy ; its 

 senses of hearing-, smelling-, and seeing- at long- distances are so eX' 

 tremely acute, that its ever-watchful nature is almost certain to detect 

 the presence or approach of man, especially in still weather ; and 

 when the wild-fowl at a decoy are quite unconscious of d-anger, it 

 sometimes raises an alarm, and instantly every bird leaves the pond. 



There is yet another interruption to which the decoyer is liable, 

 and which sometimes baffles all his efforts : it is no other than the 

 presence of a voracious pike — 



" The pike arrests the fowl with hungry jaws, 

 And to the bottom of the river draws ; 

 Nay, as a boy in the smooth current s'vvims, 

 His teeth he fixes in their tender limbs."* 



and who would expect wild-fowl to swim at ease over the head 

 of such an ug-ly customer ? As to ducklings, a pike makes but 

 a mouthful of such delicious morsels. It is by no means un- 

 usual, particularly at mid-day, for a pike to be lying- near the 

 surface of the water at the very entrance to the decoy-pipe; 

 and the angler and troller tell us, that it is the nature and habit 

 of the pike to make use of fleet ditches and rills for the purposes of 

 spawning and lying* in ambush for his prey. No wonder, then, 

 that the pipe of a decoy should be a favoiu-ite haunt of this 

 savage and greedy monster. If the decoy be kept entii'ely clear 

 of pike and jack, it will be the better for the successful issue of the 



decoyer's art. 



There is one species of the duck tribe which has hitherto baffled all 



the efforts of capture of the most practised decoyers. The pochard, 



or dun-bird, which is a constant frequenter of decoys, much to the 



annoyance of the fowler, is by nature so g-ifted with cunning-, that it 



defies his skill, and eludes capture by diving- ; and so passing- by the 



* Trans, from Y;iniere. 



