DUCKS AND WESTERN DUCK-SHOOTING. 189 



decoys, painted to represent ducks, are used by 

 many people, but I prefer something different, 

 more natural than the joiner and painter can turn 

 out. I have killed hundreds of dozens of ducks 

 shooting over decoys, and the best I ever used 

 were tame ducks of the color of the mallard. 

 Three of these, a drake and two ducks, I used 

 to fit with a piece of leather on the leg, and a 

 string five or six yards long for each. I then 

 staked them out in shallow water, so that they 

 could not come nearer than four or five feet of 

 the bank, and lay down. They were, in my 

 opinion, much better than any dead decoy, whe- 

 ther duck or wood. After being used as decoys 

 for some time these ducks seemed to under- 

 stand what was required of them, and to enter 

 into the business with interest. They would swim 

 about and play, and I had one pair that would 

 call to the wild mallards when they saw them, 

 going over. 



The next best thing to these tamo live decoys 

 for the waters of which I am writing is the 

 dead mallard itself. As soon as I got a couple, 

 when not employing the tame ducks, I put • them 

 out, and sometimes I have had as many as fif- 

 teen dead ducks out as decoys together. Sue- 



