WILD DLCK. 89 



the fowl getting through is thrown across, and made 

 fast to a reed fence at the entrance, and nine or ten 

 yards up the ditch, and afterwards strongly pegged 

 to the ground. At the farther end of the pipe a 

 tunnel net, as it is called, is fixed, about four yards 

 in length, of a round form, and kept open by a 

 number of hoops about eighteen inches in diameter, 

 placed at a small distance from each other to keep it 

 distended. Supposing the circular bend of the pipe 

 to be to the right, when you stand with your back to 

 the lake, on the left-hand side a number of reed fences 

 are constructed, called shootings, for the purpose of 

 screening from sight the decoy -man, and in such a 

 manner, that the fowl in the decoy may not be 

 alarmed while he is driving those in the pipe : these 

 shootings are about four yards in length, and about 

 six feet high, and are ten in number. From the end 

 of the last shooting a person cannot see the lake, 

 owing to the bend of the pipes : there is then no 

 farther occasion for shelter. Were it not for these 

 shootings, the fowl that remain about the mouth of 

 the pipe would be alarmed, if the person driving the 

 fowl already under the net should be exposed, and 

 would become so shy as to forsake the place entirely. 

 The first thing the decoy-man does when he ap- 

 proaches the pipe is to take a piece of lighted turf 

 or peat, and hold it near his mouth, to prevent the 

 fowl smelling him. He is attended by a dog taught 

 for the purpose of assisting him : he walks very silently 

 about half-way up the shootings, where a small piece 

 of wood is thrust through the reed fence, which 

 makes an aperture just sufficient to see if any fowl 



