50 PRACTICAL TAXIDEEMY. 



usual amusing style, by tlie once-renowned Col. Hawker. A 

 more singular way still, of decoying tliese birds to tlie gun 

 is by the American fasliion of "toling," a lucid description 

 of which. I append, culled from the pages of Folkard's "Wild- 

 fowler :" 



There is one Fystem of fowling practised in America which is as curioii=i 

 in performance as it is interesting. It is probably one of the most 

 remarkable methods ever invented, and approaches the nearest to the 

 Fystem of decoy as practised in England of any of the arts employed by 

 the people of a foreign country for the capture of wildfowl. The 

 method alluded to is termed " toling." I am unable to trace the origin 

 of the term, unless it simply implies a death knell, for such it assuredly 

 assumes to those birds which approach within range of the secreted 

 sportsman.* This singular proceeding is said to have been first introduced 

 upwards of fifty years ago near Havre-de- Grace, in Maryland ; and, 

 according to traditional testimony, the art was accidentally discovered 

 by a sportsman whilst patiently lying in ambush watching a paddling of 

 wild ducks, which were a little beyond the range of his gun. Whilst in 

 a state of doubt and anxiety as to whether they would approach near 

 enough to be shot, he suddenly observed them raise their heads and swim 

 towards the shore apart from his ambuscade ; and, whilst wondering at 

 the cause of so strange a proceeding, his attention was directed to a fox 

 which was skipping about on the shore, and evidently enticing the ducks 

 to approach. This accidental discovery of eo weak a point in the nature 

 of the feathered tribe led the sportsman to turn it to advantage, and 

 thence arose the curious art of "toling." To practise it successfully 

 the sportsman requires simply the services of a dog, which he uses in a 

 similar way to that of a '" piper," employed at an English decoy. 



For the purpose of " toling," the American sportsman erects blinds or 

 screens on the margin of some lake, the resort of wildfowl ; when any 

 birds are in sight upon the water, he, with his dog, takes up a position 

 behind the screens, and by throwing small bits of wood or pebbles up and 

 down the shore, he keeps the dog in active motion so as to attract the 

 attention of the birds, and induce them to swim towards the shore within 

 a few yards of the screens, when, if they do, the sportsman immediately 

 discharges his fowling piece at them, and sometimes kills large numbers 

 at a shot. The principal things to be observed are, a strict silence, and 

 to keep the dog constantly in motion, and all the time in sight of the 



* The word *' tolins " may be explained as a corruption of " tolling," i.e., enticing. 



