WATER BIRDS. 



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Method of Capturing Wild Ducks in the Fens of Lincolnshire. 



net should be exposed, and would become so shy as entirely to forsake the place. The first thing the 

 decoy-man does when he approaches the pipe is to take a piece of lighted turf, or peat, and hold it near his 

 mouth, to prevent the birds from smelling him. He is attended by a dog, trained for the purpose of 

 rendering him assistance. He walks very silently about half-way up the shootings, where a small piece 

 of wood is thrust through the reed fence, which makes an aperture just large enough to enable him to see 

 if any fowl are in; if not, he walks forward to see if any are about the entrance of the pipe. If there 

 are, he stops and makes a motion to his dog, and gives him a piece of cheese, or something else, to eat; 

 and, having received this, the animal goes directly to a hole through the reed fence, and the birds imme- 

 diately fly off the bank into the water. The dog returns along the bank between the reed fences, and 

 comes out to his master at another hole. The man then gives him something to reward and encourage 

 him, and the animal repeats his round until the birds are attracted by his motions, and follow him into the 

 mouth of the pipe. This operation is called "Avorking" them. The man now retreats farther back, 

 working the dog at different holes until the Ducks are sufficiently under the net. He then commands his 

 dog to lie down behind the fence, and going himself forward to the end of the pipe next the lake, he takes 

 off his hat and gives it a wave between the shooting. All the birds that are under the net can then see 

 him ; but none that are in the lake can. The former fly forward, and the man then runs to the next 

 shooting and waves his hat, and so on, driving them along until they come to the tunnel-net, .'nto which 

 they creep. When they are all in, the man gives the net a twist, so as to prevent them from getting back. 

 He then takes the net off from the end of the pipe, and taking out, one by one, the ducks that are in it, 

 dislocates their necks. This is the scene represented in the cut at the head of this page. The net is after- 

 wards hung on again for the repetition of the process ; and in this manner five or six dozen have some 

 times been taken at one drift. 

 (309) 



