A MODEL DECOY. 77 



follow a dog and stamp their feet in bravado when 

 he turns from them, so will Ducks swim up a decoy 

 pipe with stretched necks and defiant inquisitive 

 gaze, so long as the little deceiver appears in front 

 as if gradually retreating. Should the dog face the 

 birds abruptly, quite close, or show behind them, 

 they will swim quickly back to the mouth of the 

 pipe in alarm. 



A decoy pool, if wildfowl frequent the neighbour- 

 hood, may be made out of a pond of no larger area 

 than 60 to 70 yards square, 4 to 5 feet deep, and 

 shelving from the centre to the sides, and with but 

 three or even two pipes, one pointing towards the 

 north-east, as from that quarter most fowl arrive, 

 and another towards the prevalent wind, which in 

 these latitudes is oftenest south-west. Duck are 

 invariably taken in the pipe the wind happens to 

 blow out of, and never in a pipe into which the 

 wind blows from the pond. Though the wind 

 need not blow exactly down a pipe, and fowl 

 may be taken if it is to one side and against the 

 screens, yet it is useless to try to decoy them up a 

 pipe unless the breeze and ripple are towards them 

 as they swim under the entrance. Whatever number 

 of pipes there may be on a decoy pond, they must 

 all curve the same way, and this is usually from left 

 to right. 



In a small decoy, such as I am endeavouring to 

 describe, several hundred fowl may be taken in a 

 season. The most successful one of its kind I ever 

 saw consisted of less than an acre of artificial 

 water, and lay 200 paces distant from a mere of 

 six or seven acres. On this mere were six pipes 



