CHAPTER XXIII 

 DECOY ANIMALS 



AMONG the surviving industries of dogs is one dating 

 from an age when the observation of animal idiosyn- 

 crasies was sharpened by the keenest sense of their 

 value as aids to man. The decoy-man's dog is the 

 creature which holds this unique position. There 

 are not more than thirty decoys remaining in England, 

 and in these we may assume that there are not more 

 than the same number of trained decoy-men's dogs. 

 Consequently, of the animals brought up to this once 

 flourishing business, this country does not possess more 

 than enough to supply the ordinary demand for pets 

 in the families of a suburban street. 



The work which the dog has to do has often been 

 described in books of sport. He appears from 

 behind the screens at the mouth of the little canal 

 or " pipe " leading from the main pool on which 

 the ducks alight, and runs up along the side of 

 the pipe, jumping in and out from behind the 

 screens. The ducks swim after him, " attracted 

 by curiosity," as the authorities on wild-fowling 

 say ; and the dog, well trained by his master, leads 

 the dance up the pipe until the birds are driven 



under the netting. A custom still prevailing at one 



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