90 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



rested from their flight and exertions in procuring 

 food the previous night, and once more beginning 

 to feel the calls of hunger, are no longer heavy and 

 apathetic, as after their arrival in the morning. By 

 the evening they become restless, preparatory to 

 leaving the pool at dusk. The banks near the 

 mouth of each pipe should be the only available 

 spots in the entire pool where fowl can walk up, 

 and this they delight in doing. They will then be 

 in a favourable position for the decoyman's allure- 

 ments, and as they always choose the banks on the 

 sheltered side of the decoy, they will be conveni- 

 ently posed for the pipe near them, and which the 

 wind will probably then allow to be worked. 



To shut foxes out of a decoy, which they are sure 

 to discover and use if unguarded, a wire netting 

 should be erected, all round both the pool and pipes. 

 It should not be placed close to the water, but fifty 

 yards distant, and must be hidden from view. It 

 will also be useful in keeping the tame decoys from 

 wandering. 



I have purposely avoided using technical terms in 

 these notes, as being liable to confuse the uninitiated. 



It is scarcely necessary to add that all work, such 

 as mending nets, breaking ice, &c., must without 

 fail be done at night by light of lantern, or the 

 decoy would at once be untenanted, and, what is 

 more, remain so for some time. I will here give 

 plans of the whole concern, and show how to work 

 it, in short detail, and these general instructions will, 

 I trust, make its management still plainer. 



In the plan given of a decoy pipe (p. 83) we see 

 the act of decoying in operation. The decoyman is 



