300 
THE MALLARD. 
are placed in the following 
manner — 
From the end of the last shooting, a person cannot seethe lake, 
owing to the bend of the pipe: there is then no farther occasion 
for shelter. Were it not for those shootings, the fowl that re- 
main about the mouth of the pipe would he alarmed, if the per- 
son driving the fowl already under the net should be exposed, 
and would become so shy as to forsake the place entirely. The 
first thing the decoy-man does when he approaches the pipe, is 
to take a piece of lighted turf or peat and hold it near his mouth, 
to prevent the fowl smelling him. He is attended by a dog 
taught for the purpose of assisting him: he walks very silently 
about half way up the shootings, where a small piece of wood 
is thrust through the reed fence, which makes an aperture just 
sufficient to see if any fowl are in ; if not, he walks forward to 
see if any are about the mouth of the pipe. If there are, he 
stops and makes a motion to his dog, and gives him a piece of 
cheese or something to eat; upon receiving it he goes directly 
to a hole through the reed fence, (No. 1.) and the fowl imme- 
diately fly off the bank into the water; the dog returns along the 
bank between the reed fences and the pipe, and comes out to 
his master at the hole (No. 2.) The man now gives him an- 
other reward, and he repeats his round again, till the fowl are 
attracted by the motions of the dog, and follow him into the 
mouth of the pipe. This operation is called working them. The 
man now retreats farther back, working the dog at different 
holes till the fowl are sufficiently under the net: he now com- 
mands his dog to lay down still behind the fence, and goes for- 
ward to the end of the pipe next the lake, where he takes off 
his hat and gives it a wave between the shooting; all the fowl 
under the net can see him, but none that are in the lake can. 
The fowl that are in sight fly forward; and the man runs for- 
ward to the next shooting and waves his hat, and so on, driv- 
