DUCK DECOYS IN PIKE COUNTY. 



191 



under another duck and tip him over. 

 Then there would be a tremendous quack- 

 ing by all the rest, although all the time 

 they were making a good deal of a racket. 



"Keep a good eye on them," said Joe. 

 Presently away in the distance I heard a 

 quack. Instantly our ducks were at atten- 

 tion, showing they had also heard it. A 

 duck's ears are small, but they can hear the 

 slightest sound. 



They began moving around as if they 

 were just ordinarily feeding, but at a second 



they took it. They had divided out, 2 of 

 them going to each of the ducks we had 

 killed, and actually pushing them along to 

 the boat, racing as to which should reach us 

 first. The successful ones were patted on 

 the back, the game put in the boat, Joe gave 

 the signal and all our decoys swam away 

 again. I said, 



"I thought you were not going to shoot 

 any more." 



"All - right," said Joe. "Put away /our 

 gun, but the show isn't over yet." We sat 



info — — - =— - _ 



PUSHING THEM ALONG TO THE BOAT. 



signal from the coming flock some of them 

 made answer by saying, 



"There's lots of good feed here ; come 

 and join us." The flock came down, but 

 before they reached the water Joe had let 

 go with both barrels and so had I. Four 

 ducks fell. 



"Joe," said I, "it's a shame to take ad- 

 vantage of an unsuspecting traveler like 

 that." 



"Well," said Joe, "I think so too, and 

 we won't shoot any more, but I just wanted 

 you to see how it was done." 



I glanced out at our ducks to see how 



awhile in silence, when another distant 

 signal was heard and another flock came 

 near. The same performance was gone 

 through by the decoys, but that time the 

 wild birds lighted on the water and our 

 birds began with what might be "How de 

 do," and "how's all the folks," and "where 

 you been;" a kind of a general handshaking 

 all round, as it were. I kept a close watch 

 on them, for I was much interested, and 

 tried to follow the movements of our birds. 

 It was difficult as they were so much like 

 the wild ones. I made out. though, that 

 our crowd seemed to be swimming by 2's 



