144 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



their ability to detect subterranean gases. 

 Cages containing the tiny songsters hung in dug- 

 outs and trenches, at any point where the enemy 

 gas might penetrate, and thousands of canaries 

 succumbed in order that the soldiers might live 

 to carry on. 



Birds as Decoys 



The proverb that "a bird in the hand is worth 

 "two in the bush" is a truism to the trapper. No 

 one realizes better than he that it is one thing to 

 have a bird already locked in a cage and a wholly 

 different thing to persuade another to enter 

 a.fter it. Thoughts of the same character flash 

 through the brain of the sportsman who crouches 

 gun in hand at the edge of a slough while a flock 

 of teal or black duck whistles by out of gunshot. 

 He is bitterly aware that, but for one thing, 

 several of those birds would have been his; a 

 solemn vow is then and there registered that he 

 will never go duck-shooting again without that 

 valuable article. The failure of his hopes rests 

 upon the lack of live decoy-ducks. 



The inestimable worth of decoys for luring 

 water-fowl into snares was early recognized by 

 the ancients, who made a practice of netting 

 ducks in large numbers. Many centuries later, 

 with the entrance of the fowling-piece into the 



