DECOYS AND HOW TO USE THEM 47 



wind, the wild birds would drop to the apparent harbour of 

 refuge without fear or mistrust. Or if placed on a stubble or 

 clover field, some should be picking, others looking up, and 

 their positions varied. If, on the other hand, all are sitting up, 

 alarm is indicated. 



The above remarks apply equally to all decoying with 

 stales;* and although they may appear at first sight to be 

 minor details, it is just these trivial points which make all the 

 difference between partial and complete success. 



A device for constructing temporary decoys may, perhaps, 

 be worthy of attention. Before departure for the happy 

 hunting-grounds the sportsman provides himself with some 

 stoutish wire netting and a pair of nippers. On killing his 

 first bird he fashions a simple framework from a small 

 portion of the netting, fitting the neck, head and breast, and, 

 with the aid of a few props, has as life-like 

 a decoy as heart could desire. Upon another 

 kill the same performance can be repeated, 

 until the requisite number has been procured. 



A similar plan is the wire-stake trident, 

 with the central tine convex, the latter 

 being firmly fixed into the under bill of 

 the bird, with one of the side prongs under each wing ; the 

 position being varied by the different curve of the central 

 tine. 



When stales are intended for use on water, it is entirely 

 different, and " floats " constitute the main consideration. 



In Fig. I. will be noticed a good overlap, and an absence 

 of lead on the keel, the balance being, effected through a 

 weighted dead-line. This one is drawn from a model which 

 we saw in use in the southern part of Sweden, and it took 

 some time learning the whys and wherefores from the 

 Scandinavian duck hunter, who spoke in the broadest patois 

 imaginable. The object of the overlap seems to be for the 

 protection of the bird, which it effected in some measure, both 

 in transportation and otherwise. 



* Artificial decoys. 



