MODE OF CAPTURE. 81 



the fowl are well inside, and dare not pass him to 

 escape by its entrance, he need but wave his hat 

 and walk along between the screens and the net. 

 This is quite sufficient ; for directly the birds see 

 him they rush forward pell-mell, till finally they are 

 taken in a helpless crowd in the movable tail-end 

 of the pipe. Absolute silence is necessary during 

 these manoeuvres, for did the decoyman make any 

 noise, he would alarm the other birds on the pool 

 that might be afterwards netted. A decoyman 

 must, on all occasions, be sure that the fowl he has 

 manoeuvred up the pipe are sufficiently far from the 

 mouth of it to give him time to run back and show 

 himself at the entrance to intercept their retreat 

 and drive them up it. For they will often start 

 and swim quickly back to the pool, when he hastens 

 from the screen through which he has been looking, 

 or when his dog no longer shows. 



Should the fowl escape, an alarm is given and 

 future capture for some time prevented. In some 

 decoys an assistant lurks near the entrance of the 

 pipe that is being worked, and on a signal from the 

 decoyman that the birds are far enough up, starts 

 into view. 



The surroundings of a decoy-pipe should be, to 

 all appearance, as rustic and unartificial as pos- 

 sible. The lighter, more open, and uncovered the 

 pipe looks, with less suspicion will the fowl regard 

 it, and the more ready will they be to enter its fatal 

 precincts. The screens should be of framework, 

 somewhat similar to hurdles, with dried reeds closely 

 woven uprightly in and out of the bars, so that 

 the most peering eye cannot discern the move- 



G 



