THE MALLARD. 
145 
From the end of the last shooting, a person cannot see the lake, 
owing to the bend of the pipe : there is then no farther occa- 
sion for shelter. Were it not for those shootings, the fowl 
that remain about the mouth of the pipe would be alarmed, if 
the person driving the fowl already under the net should be 
exposed, and would become so shy as to forsake the place en- 
tirely. 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 immediately 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 another reward, and he 
repeats his round again, till the fowl are attracted by the mo- 
tions 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 commands his dog to 
lie down still behind the fence, and goes forward 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 forward to the next shoot- 
ing and waves his hat, and so on, driving them along till they 
come to the tunnel net, where they creep in : when they are 
all in, he gives the net a twist, so as to prevent their getting 
back : he then takes the net off from the end of the pipe with 
what fowl he may have caught, and takes them out, one at a 
VOL. III. 
K 
