WILD DUCKS. 273 



as they keep steadily calling to their i)assiiig companions, 

 and these being exceedingly gregarious, answer the 

 summons, only to meet their death. The domestic va- 

 riety are also useful for calling, but if they are to be 

 fastened to stakes, either on land or in the water, they 

 should be accustomed to the use of the tether for some 

 time at home before being taken into the field, otherwise 

 they will strain at the cord, and, by their sprawling and 

 squawking, scare away all the birds that see or hear 

 them. If they have been trained for their business, 

 however, they take matters easy, and seem to actually 

 delight in bringing their wild kindred within range of 

 the leaden hail, if one were to judge from their persist- 

 ent and clamorous calling. Dead ducks, when used on 

 land, ought to have their heads placed under their wings, 

 in order to give them as natural an appearance of resting 

 as possible, or the heads may be proi)ped up with corn- 

 stalks or sharp branch lets stuck in the ground. The 

 system of decoying, so common in Holland, of throw- 

 ing trained tame ducks into the air when a wild flock 

 passes by, is not practised in the "West, for turf huts are 

 not often used as blinds, and few market-hunters know 

 anything of the devices practised by the Dutch Imttiers. 

 Diving decoys, which seem to be unknown in Holland, 

 are occasionally used, however, especially in calm weath- 

 er. These are readily made and very effective. 



The only materials necessary for manufacturing them 

 are a canvas bag, capable of holding a few pounds of 

 sand or stone, a long line, and a pulley-block. The 

 latter is attached to the mouth of the bag, and the cord 

 is run through the pulley-block, and fastened under the 

 breast of the decoy by means of a screw-eye. The bag is 

 then filled with sand or stones, and dropped in the water 

 on the shooting ground ; the end of the cord is next 

 taken to the blind, and when ducks approach on the 

 wing, or alight out of range in the water, tlie string is 



