Fox-Hunting 293 



can drop his prey and escape with a whole 

 skin. 



Human wild fowlers have taken Reynard's 

 example to heart. Hence decoy dogs — small, 

 reddish, supple fellows, much like a fox in 

 looks, which are painfully trained to swim 

 up and down, and in and out, of creeks and 

 marshy estuaries, the haunts of web-foot 

 things, splash water, play up and down, and 

 move, half swimming, half wading, in the 

 direction of the blinds, sure that the feathered 

 flocks are swimming after. In the vernacular 

 this is, " toling ducks." The dogs are known 

 familiarly as " the toler breed." The breed 

 and the practice are said to have originated 

 along the English broads, whence they have 

 been brought with so much else that is Eng- 

 lish to American shallows both seaboard and 

 inland. 



When wild turkeys are the game, Reynard 

 lies down in a drift of leaves, rolls lightly, 

 and kicks the leaves about at first, but only 

 moves his tail after the birds begin to approach. 

 He is careful not to lie down to windward of 

 them — whether because he suspects them of 

 noses to match his own, or because he knows 

 they generally feed down wind, nobody can 

 say. Some ways wild turkeys are as shrewdly 

 waiy as in others they are simple. If Rey- 

 nard barked ever so low, they would be ofF 



