144 
THE MALLARD. 
much for the first ten yards. The banks of the lake, for about 
ten yards on each side of this ditch, (or pipe, as it is called,) 
are kept clear from reeds, coarse herbage, &c., in order that 
the fowl may get on them to sit and dress themselves. Across 
this ditch, poles on each side, close to the edge of the ditch, 
are driven into the ground, and the tops bent to each other and 
tied fast. These poles at the entrance form an arch, from the 
top of which to the water is about ten feet. This arch is made 
to decrease in height, as the ditch decreases in width, till the 
farther end is not more than eighteen inches in height. The 
poles are placed about six feet from each other, and connected 
together by poles laid lengthwise across the arch and tied to- 
gether. Over them a net, with meshes sufficiently small to 
prevent the fowl getting through, is thrown across, and made 
fast to a reed fence at the entrance, and nine or ten yards up 
the ditch, and afterwards strongly pegged to the ground. At 
the farther end of the pipe, a tunnel net, as it is called, is fixed, 
about four yards in length, of a round form, and kept open by 
a number of hoops about eighteen inches in diameter, placed 
at a small distance from each other, to keep it distended. Sup- 
posing the circular bend of the pipe to be to the right, when 
you stand with your back to the lake, on the left hand side a 
number of reed fences are constructed, called shootings, for 
the purpose of screening from sight the decoy-man, and in 
such a manner, that the fowl in the decoy may not be alarmed 
while he is driving those in the pipe : these shootings are about 
four yards in length, and about six feet high, and are ten in 
number. They are placed in the following manner : — 
