190 FACT AGAINST FICTION, 



CHAPTER IX. 



DECOYS FOR WILD FOWL. 



Two Kinds of Decoy— Description of tlie Ancient Decoy, for 

 Taking — Decoys at Berkeley Castle — Birds do not distinguish 

 Friend from Foe by Scent — Their Keen Discrimination of 

 Sound — Modern Decoy for the L'se of the Gun — Decoys at 

 Alderney Manor — Ducks Taught to Obey the Word of Command 

 — Method of Forming and Sheltering the Decoy Ponds — Bearing 

 from Wild Ducks' Eggs — How to Proceed with the Old and the 

 Young Birds — Curious Incident — Decoy Ducks — Attachment 

 to Place — Feeding — Friendsliip with Birds — My Friend the 

 Black Cock — Wire-Fenced Pool for Teal — Extermination of 

 House Bats — Creatures most Destructive to Wild Fowl — Poison 

 should Never be L^sed. 



The decoy, tlioiigli in former times an appendage 

 to most large domains, lias been for many years 

 almost entirely neglected, save in some few comities, 

 where it has still been retained or flirmed for the 

 supply of the public market. Wander where you 

 will over most of the English counties, you 

 frequently stumble on the remaining marks of 

 an ancient decoy, the same as you do on the 



