DECOY IN OPERATION. 91 



supposed to be peering through his peephole in the 

 fifth screen, and perceiving he has so far enticed the 

 fowl up the pipe, is sending his dog round one 

 more screen to lure the birds yet a little further. 

 In another instant he will dodge between the two 

 long back screens Y and Z at their opening C, 

 where they overlap. He will raise his hand as a 

 signal to the assistant (if he has one), who is. hiding 

 behind the pond end of the long screen Y, well out 

 of sight of the pipe. This man now shows himself 

 with all speed at X. When the wild birds at G, 

 that have been enticed so far up the pipe, see him 

 between them and its entrance, and walking along 

 between the screens and the pipe, they dare not 

 pass him to escape back to the pool by the way 

 they came.* Though the tame decoys take no 

 notice of his presence, the wild birds are greatly 

 alarmed, and rush up the pipe to its extreme end 

 beyond H, in the hope of escaping by following 

 the course of the curve. H is the spot where the 

 ditch and the fixed part of the pipe ends, and at 

 this spot the tunnel-net unhooks. The dotted lines 

 under the netting show the banks of the ditch. 



If the decoyman has no assistant and he will 

 do as well alone he himself hastens through the 

 opening C, and round the back of the screen Y, to 

 X, and there suddenly appearing, frightens the sur- 

 prised fowl up the net. Were he to run behind the 

 shorter screens, the birds might see him hurrying 

 past through the openings, and fly back to the pool; 

 when moving along the pipe the other way, as 



* The decoy ducks often swim up with the wild birds, as the sight 

 of the dog brings the hope of food to their minds. 



