DECOY« roll WILD FOWL. 217 



the sig'lit and call of my pinioned birds in tlie 

 home 2^ond, and occasionally drop in to pay 

 them a passing visit, began to use the new- 

 made pools, where they were for some time 

 never disturbed. At first that most objectionable 

 jiopping at the distant rifle-range, when tlio 

 wind set towards the l)irds, annoyed them ; but 

 they very soon got used to it, and now care 

 nothing for the distant noise. Teal, duck, and 

 widgeon began to drojD in the moment the breed- 

 ing season was over, and very soon '' a lead," 

 as decoy men call it, was established. All this 

 time, too, I took such wild ducks' nests as I 

 could find, however near to my pools, and reared 

 them sometimes under their mothers, when they 

 could be caught and put into coops, or under 

 hens. 



When I first commenced rearing fowl for the 

 decoy, of course it was necessary to take as 

 many wild ducks' eggs as possible, and breed 

 them up under hens, and this led to a fact 

 which, in succeeding seasons, puzzled me for some 



time. 



It was this. About the second or third season, 



being short of hens for pheasants and ducks, I 



