350 WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



Thus the reader will notice that mallard decoys do- 

 for nearly every kind, while a sprinkling of blue-bills 

 and red-heads make the kind required complete. The 

 way to set them out has been fully shown in preceding 

 articles. 



It is a very simple thing to make wooden decoys, 

 and any one with moderate ingenuity can do so. 

 Should the beginner wish to make them rather than to 

 buy, let him select white pine or cedar. Take a piece of 

 2x6, and having a good decoy for a model, fashion it as 

 nearly as possible to the original. The head and neck 

 should be of one piece and fastened securely to the 

 body. Fast oil colors are to be used, so that they will 

 retain their colors. On the bottom drive in a staple 

 and ring to fasten the cord, and put a long lead weight 

 full length of bottom. This acts as ballast, and the 

 decoys always retain their upright position, even when 

 thrown into the water. If you buy decoys and they 

 do not have this ballast on, put it on yourself ; it will 

 pay for the labor. I knew a friend to go blue-bill 

 shooting with decoys devoid of this ballast, and he had 

 to give up using the decoys because they kept tipping 

 over. They were the ordinary cheap wooden ones 

 sold cheap. They were blue-bills and red-heads - 

 that is what he bought them for. The blue-bills 

 had several marks showing what they were in- 

 tended for. But the red-heads ! Oh, my ! they 

 would have as readily passed for mallards. I looked 

 them over, and to the best of my knowledge they were 

 wooden hybrids. They were such as I once saw in a 

 wholesale store. 1 saw two different lots ; one could 

 buy from these two boxes whichever he desired, red- 

 heads or mallards. They looked like neither, but were 



