1 88 tHE WILD DUCK 



is selected, edged with reeds, and having an extent of from two to 

 fifty acres or more. From the edge of this are dug, at various 

 points, curved creeks, called ' pipes ', broad at the mouth, and 

 contracting till the banks meet. Over each of these pipes is thrown 

 a net, supported on arches made of hoops ; the first about ten 

 feet high, the others diminishing in size, and the whole ending in a 

 bag-net, or ' purse '. On each bank of the pipes are erected screens 

 made of reeds, high enough to conceal a man. Previously to com- 

 mencing operations the decoy-man has let loose on the pond a few 

 tame Ducks, closely resembling wild birds in plumage, who are 

 familiar with his person and have been trained to come at his call. 

 Accompanied by a Uttle dog, ' a piper ', he stations himself behind 

 a screen, near the mouth of a pipe which faces the wind, choosing 

 this position because Ducks prefer to swim against the wind and to 

 feed on a lee shore. When the pond is well stocked with birds he 

 throws some com on the water near the mouth of a pipe, and makes 

 a low whistle. •'^ At the familiar sound the ' coy-ducks ' hasten to 

 the spot, and, if all be well, are followed by a portion of the wild 

 birds. The piper is then let loose, and immediately runs to the 

 water's edge. The Wild Ducks, either from curiosity, or some 

 unknown motive, paddle towards him. The ruse succeeding so far, 

 the piper is made to appear for a moment beyond the next screen, 

 and so on until a party of Ducks have been lured so far up the pipe 

 as to be out of sight of those remaining in the pond. The decoy- 

 man, who has all the whUe been lying hid near the first screen, then 

 shows himself to his intended victims, who, in their flight, hurry 

 on to the ' purse ', and are caught and dispatched at leisure. All 

 this time the coy-ducks, if well trained, have remained at the mouth 

 of the pipe, feeding, and unconsciously enticing new-comers into 

 the snare. 



That this method of capturing wild-fowl is effective, may be 

 inferred from the fact that decoys of a precisely similar kind have 

 been worked ever since the time of WUlughby (1676), who describes 

 them at length. A Son of the Marshes gives a fuUer account 

 of Duck decoys in Wild-Fowl and Sea-Fowl. 



from Holland, the following passage occurs : ' Piscinas hasce cum allecta- 

 tricibus et reliquo sue apparatu Decoys seu Duck-coys vocant, allectatrices 

 Coy-ducks,' 



