300 Till', MALLARD. 



are placed in the following 

 manner 



From the end of the last shooting, a person cannot see the lake, 

 owing to the bend of the pipe: there is then no farther occasion 

 for shelter. Were it not for those shootings, the fowl that re- 

 main about the mouth of the pipe would be alarmed, if the per- 

 son driving the fowl already under the net should be exposed, 

 and would become so shy as to forsake the place entirely. 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 fowl smelling him. He is attended by a dog 

 taught for the purpose of assisting him: 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 

 sufficient to see if any fowl are in; if not, he walks forward to 

 see if any are about the mouth of the pipe. If there are, he 

 stops and makes a motion to his dog, and gives him a piece of 

 cheese or something to eat; upon receiving it he goes directly 

 to a hole through the reed fence, (No. 1.) and the fowl imme- 

 diately fly off the bank into the water; the dog returns along the 

 bank between the reed fences and the pipe, and comes out to 

 his master at the hole (No. 2.) The man now gives him an- 

 other reward, and he repeats his round again, till the fowl are 

 attracted by the motions of the dog, and follow him into the 

 mouth of the pipe. This operation is called working them. The 

 man now retreats farther back, working the dog at different 

 holes till the fowl are sufficiently under the net: he now com- 

 mands his dog to lay down still behind the fence, and goes for- 

 ward to the end of the pipe next the lake, where he takes off 

 his hat and gives it a wave between the shooting; all the fowl 

 under the net can see him, but none that are in the lake can. 

 The fowl that are in sight fly forward; and the man runs for- 

 ward to the next shooting and waves his hat, and so on, driv- 



