64 BROADLAND SPORT 



if everything is in order and as it should be. They will often 

 disappear entirely from sight for an hour or more, and yet 

 come back, affording an easy chance. Their memories are far 

 better than the majority of people give them credit for. Do 

 they not return year after year to the same nesting haunts ? 

 and do they not well remember and avoid those places where 

 they have been persecuted ? Veteran, experienced decoy- 

 piping men can narrate many instructive, amusing and in- 

 teresting yarns to support this theory, and will often go so far 

 as to point out certain birds which are known to them 

 by sight, in order to more effectively illustrate a particular 

 narrative. 



Bearing all this in mind, the natural reasoning will ensue 

 that your decoy birds looking and behaving as though real, 

 and yourself well concealed, the wildfowl are almost certain 

 to return, sooner or later, bringing, perhaps, others with them, 

 when your patience will be amply and substantially rewarded. 



WATER FOWL 



From a. painting in tempora by Jan Weenix, 1640-1719 



