193 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



venience of cost attending tliem ; but the full-sized 

 old decoy liad generally the four pipes, for the 

 reason I have stated. 



The entrance to each pipe was commanded by 

 the broad water, so that the collected fowl should 

 be able to see the decoy dog, as he passed through 

 the several holes along the small bank, or sitting 

 that was made for that purpose within the fence 

 of the decoy. Each time that the dog came 

 through one of the lioles and went out again at 

 another, and so on, he got nearer to the entrance 

 of the net, and at last within or beneath the front 

 entrance to tlie pipe, when, if the ducks followed 

 him out of curiosity, or from an inclination 

 inherent in all birds to ^^ mob a vermin," the 

 deco3^man '' showed " behind them, through oblique 

 gaps made for the purpose in the screen of tlie 

 decoy, and by a suddenly created panic drove 

 the scared birds completely up the ^'pipe," till, by 

 the decrease of the hoops that supported the net, 

 tliey all fluttered in a helpless mass, one upon 

 the other, in a termination not much more 

 extensive at tlie end than a very large cabbage- 

 net. Extracted one by one at the end, their 

 necks were broken without the displacement of 



