n8 THE DUCK IN THE DECOY 



or allow his dog to show itself, at any point. The 

 tall screens are usually connected by low ones, over 

 which the dog, commonly known as a ' piper,' is able 

 to jump without difficulty. The decoy-man keeps 

 himself aware of what is taking place by peeping 

 through the rushes covering the screens. In isolated 

 cases that of the Berkeley Castle decoys is one of 

 them a drop-net is made to fall over the mouth of 

 the pipe when the birds have entered, their retreat 

 being thus effectually cut off. This arrangement, 

 however, finds no favour in the eyes of the average 

 decoy-man. At the Fritton decoy they have, or had 

 until recently, in use a plan of hoisting a red flag 

 behind the duck as soon as they have passed into the 

 mouth of the pipe. Duck are enticed into the pipes 

 either by means of decoy-birds or by the antics of a 

 dog, carefully trained for the work. The dog is a 

 bright-coloured specimen of his tribe. 



In order to make as clear as possible the usual 

 method of working a decoy let us for a brief time 

 imagine ourselves to be on the spot. The daylight 

 has just come. From the shelter of a screen, and at 

 a point commanding a clear view of the water, the 

 decoy-man his capacious pockets filled with corn, 

 his dog close at heel makes a careful survey of the 

 different bunches of fowl upon the decoy. His 



