S62 FOREST, FIELD, AND PRAIRIE. 



►et accustomed to it. Then bait the place from twenty-five to forty 

 yards in front of each blind, with two or three bushels of corn or 

 grain. Sooner or later a bunch of ducks will find this out, and will 

 communicate it to every duck for miles around. By once every two 

 or three weeks putting out another bushel you will have ducks until 

 they leave for their feeding-grounds. When the river freezes over, 

 break a space in the ice forty or sixty yards square for your decoys." 



Decoys. — Select a clear stick of timber of cedar or pine (cedar 

 is the best), about five by seven inches. Cut it in pieces twelve 

 inches long ; make a pattern of pasteboard the shape of a duck, 

 viewing it from above. Mark out the pieces of wood by the pattern, 

 and rough them out with a hatchet. Make another pattern of the 

 side view of a duck's head and neck when shortened or drawn in, 

 and mark out some heads on a piece of inch and a half board, so 

 the grain of the wood will come lengthwise of the duck's bill. Saw 

 them out with a keyhole saw. Cut a square place in the body of the 

 decoy about three-quarters of an inch deep to receive the base of 

 the neck. Fit a neck to each body, and bore a hole lengthwise 

 through the head and neck into the body ; make the joint of the 

 neck with glue, and fasten the heads on the decoys by driving a 

 pointed, tight-fitting piece of wire through the hole already made. 

 When the heads have been fastened, shave them in form with a 

 draw knife, rasp them off smooth, put the finishing touch on the 

 heads and crook of the necks with a jack-knife, and sandpaper 

 them thoroughly. Buy some white lead, boiled oil, and dry colors, 

 and paint them as near as possible like the ducks that are to be 

 hunted. They may be made to look more natural by putting glass 

 eyes in the head, set in holes in plaster. When used, anchor them 

 from a staple driven into the fore part of the body, so the ducks 

 will always head to windward, as live ones are in the habit of doing. 



Dead Ducks as Decoys. — Having killed the duck and secured 

 him, take a stick, a reed or the stalk of a strong weed that is stout 

 and strong, sharpen one end to a point, which insert under the 

 skin of the duck's breast and along up the neck just beneath the 

 skin, into the head. Do this so that the head will hold a natural 

 position to the body and the neck is not awry. Then wade out 

 and plant the other end of the stick in the mud over which there 

 is a foot of water or a little more. The body of the duck must 



