52 BROADLAND SPORT 



to comment, but a semicross between the wild duck and our 

 domesticated species is always a good draw, when properly 

 managed, although it goes against the grain to fasten them to 

 the stake or anchor, at which they are so often wounded, and 

 perhaps killed, when dummies answer almost equally as well. 

 The following anecdote, which was told to the author by a 

 native wildf owler on the banks of the Tagus, better exemplifies 

 the existence of live decoy birds, doomed to temporary and 

 involuntary martyrdom : 



In the sunny land of Spain, one auspicious wildf owl ing 

 morning, a sportsman, evidently meaning business, proceeded 

 up the Esteira Furado Creek, near Moita, with craft wisely 

 and yet too well provisioned and found. Not only was he 

 provided with shot and shell, but also enticing lures in the 

 form of live decoy ducks, with the assistance of which he 

 hoped to secure better results than had ever fallen to the lot 

 of sportsman before. Arrived at his destination, he inserted 

 in the mud a long pole, about thirty yards distant from his 

 proposed ambush, to the top of which a swivelled slip was 

 attached. From this, with not more than two feet play-line 

 between each bird, were secured by the leg his unfortunate 

 victims, the top of the aforesaid pole being level with high- 

 water mark ; the tide, it must be added, being then on the 

 turn. Having arranged everything to his satisfaction, with 

 a smile of approval at his own cuteness, he pushed his craft 

 into ambush to await events. Now, whether this well- 

 intending sportsman was so much engrossed in the anticipated 

 fruits of his stratagem, or whether it was the soothing influence 

 of the native grape that made him oblivious to the fact of 

 the magnitude of the rise and fall of tide in these parts, 

 tradition relates not, but he fell asleep. What his dreams 

 may have been are best known to himself ; suffice it to say 

 that, hearing the cries of ducks in his immediate vicinity, 

 he awoke with a start and grasped his gun, thinking that 

 the supreme moment was at hand. Imagine the gunner's 

 feelings on finding his boat high and dry, whilst from the 

 top of his too well-fixed pole depended the fluttering decoy 



