302 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



grain are thrown to the ducks by to them invisible hands to 

 attract the decoys first and draw the wild birds after them 

 towards the screen end of the pipe. Here, for the space of 

 about twelve yards, the bamboo jungle has been cleared away 

 from the vicinity of both sides of the narrow pipe, the water in 

 which comes to within 2 feet of the level of the ground, being 

 further screened, however, by an embankment which runs on 

 either side of it the whole length of the cleared ground. At 

 each end of the pond, and overlooking it, is a screen placed 

 on a low hillock, from which, through slits, the ducks on the 

 water could be watched as they lay lazily about, or moved rest- 

 lessly to and fro, undecided yet whether to follow the decoys, as 

 these boldly enter the mouths of the various pipes. An island 

 occupies the centre of the pond, and was covered on our arrival 

 by dozens of decoys, while the wild birds kept to themselves in 

 parties on the water, and were mostly asleep teals, mandarin, 

 mallard, &c. 



It was an unfortunate day, however, for very few wild ducks 

 were about. A falcon had taken up his quarters in the sur- 

 rounding woods, and fed regularly and plentifully on the birds 

 of the lake, frightening others away. Since the arrival of this 

 uninvited guest the lake had been almost bare of ducks ; he ter- 

 rorised the whole place, and catches had been very poor. The 

 seemingly natural and simple cure, the shooting of the falcon, 

 was not considered with favour; the keepers said that a shot 

 would frighten away all the ducks, hardly a good reason, one 

 would think, as the robber's death would surely be followed, 

 especially now during the migratory season, by the advent of 

 hundreds of birds certain to make, as before, the pond their 

 resting-place. But now, instead in their usual hundreds, we 

 saw, alas ! but a few dozen. 



The only decoy pond in Japan, at all events near Tokyo, is 

 one belonging to the Emperor and that which I visited ; it is an 

 expensive toy, which, however, affords a good deal of amusement 

 to the guests of a very novel kind. Mornings following stormy 

 nights are likely to show most sport, for then the ducks are 

 hungry and more likely to go into the pipes for the food floating 

 on the water ; but during full moon the birds go away to feed 

 elsewhere, and on return are too sleepy and replete to wish for 

 anything but undisturbed rest. Many other things affect the 



