86 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



banks the fowl love to waddle up and bask if the 

 day be bright. I have seen small islands arranged 

 here as some protection for the tame decoys from 

 foxes, and with tolerable success ; but sooner or 

 later these cunning marauders make a meal off 

 some of the tame birds, sometimes finishing them 

 off one by one in succession. A decoyman, to my 

 knowledge, one fine morning when peeping through 

 his screens actually saw Reynard driving some of 

 his decoy birds up the pipe, that he might seize 

 them at its narrow end. The man was so astounded 

 at the sight, that he gave vent to an exclamation of 

 surprise. The startled robber at once cantered 

 back along the brink of the ditch inside the pipe to 

 its entrance, and made off. 



The tame decoy ducks must always be fed at the 

 entrances of and inside the pipes ; a very slight 

 whistle from behind the screens will bring them up 

 if well trained. The low imitation of the Wigeon's 

 "whe-oh, whe-oh," is the best call to use. They 

 will even come hurrying across the pool on seeing 

 the dog pop out from behind a screen if they are 

 too far to hear the usual signal ; they are well 

 aware his presence is always accompanied by food, 

 and this they look for in the pipe. Their regular 

 hour for receiving food must be in the twilight, 

 after the wild birds have left on flight. They will 

 then be fairly hungry, and ready to do their work 

 next day. They must not be kept too hungry, or 

 on hearing the decoyman's whistle they will flap 

 noisily across the pool, too fast for the wild birds 

 to follow them, besides creating suspicion. If too 

 well fed, they will not come at all ! They should 



