1 66 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



of the two last of the Yorkshire duck-decoys suggests 

 a more probable explanation of this use of the dog, 

 and of the odd attraction which its appearance has for 

 the ducks. This particular decoy has preserved appar- 

 ently a very primitive tradition of decoy-dog training. 

 Before being sent out to show itself to the ducks and 

 to pop in and out from between the screens, the dog 

 is dressed up like a fox. It is fitted with a fox's skin 

 and a fox's brush, and then, arrayed as the arch- 

 enemy of all ducks since the Creation, it appears at the 

 mouth of the pipe, and the ducks follow it as gaily as 

 the rats did the Pied Piper of Hamelin. It is usual, 

 by tradition, to use red or liver-coloured dogs for this 

 work. But the use and practice of the Yorkshire 

 decoy shows its origin. It is well known that birds 

 of many kinds which can fly will always " mob " a 

 fox, and plovers will often " mob " a red dog by 

 mistake. But for ducks the fox's presence has a 

 perfect fascination. They cannot help watching it 

 when in sight, and when it is moving away, as the 

 supposed fox does, up the pipe, they swim after it 

 to see where it is going and to take care that it does 

 not steal a march on them. 1 



The decoy-ducks which lie out on the lake itself 

 are only tamed wild-ducks, which the others join from 

 the gregarious instinct so strong in birds. The ad- 

 vantage taken of instinct in this case is far less ingenious 



1 There is little doubt that dogs could be employed to decoy cattle in much 

 the same way as ducks. If a strange dog is taken into a pasture where a herd 

 of unhandled steers or heifers are running, they invariably " mob " it, and will 

 follow wherever it goes. 



