DUCK-DECOYS. 
205 
profit and supply with respect to wild-fowl; and with 
an account of them we shall conclude the history of 
Ducks. A decoy is generally situated , in a marsh, 
so as to he surrounded with wood or reeds, and if 
possible, with both, to keep the water quiet, and 
that the repose of the wild-fowl may not be inter- 
rupted. A certain number of Decoy-Ducks is 
then provided, consisting of wild ones, which are 
bred for the purpose, and which, although they fly 
abroad, regularly return for food to the decoy- waters, 
and of tame ones, which never quit the water, and 
are regularly trained to act their part. Their food 
consists of hemp-seed, oats, and buck-wheat. In 
what is called working the decoy, the hemp-seed is 
thrown in small quantities over screens, made of 
reeds, to allure the birds forwards towards the pipes, 
or wicker channels, of which there are several, 
leading up a narrow ditch, closing at last wdth a 
funnel-net. Over these pipes, which grow narrower 
from the first entrance, is a continued arch of net- 
ting suspended on hoops ; it is necessary to have a 
pipe for almost every wind that can blow, as upon 
this circumstance it depends which pipe the Ducks 
will take to; and the decoy-man always keeps to 
leeward of the flock, taking the additional precaution 
of keeping a piece of turf burning to prevent their 
scenting him. 
Along each pipe, at certain intervals, are placed the 
reed screens, which hide the decoy-man, until the 
moment when it is necessary for him to show him- 
self, namely, when the birds have passed up the pipe 
to which they are led by the trained birds, who know 
the whistle of the decoy-man, or are enticed by the 
