t, THE NATURAL HISTORY 
this pipe, «until they get under the net; then they 
are taken. ‘The decoy-ducks immediately dive 
“under water, and go back again into the pool, 
In China, they throw upon the water a num. 
ber of gourds; the wild Ducks being ufed to fee : 
them, are not afraid, but fwim near them. The 
Chinefe, in order to take the Ducks, fcoop eit | 
the infide of other gourds, and make a few holes 
to fee and breathe through ; they then put them 
over their heads and faces, and go into the water, 
Nothing appears above the water but the gourds: 
as the Ducks do not at all regard them, the man 
eafily gets amongft the flock, and pulls them un- | 
der water, by the legs, one after another, until he | 
be fatisfied, | { 
The wild Ducks are very artful birds, and do 
not always make their nefts clofe to the water, 
but frequently at a good diftance from it; the 
old Ducks will then carry their young between 
their beaks or their legs. Sometimes ducks will 
lay their eggs in a high tree, in a Magpie’s ora 
Crow’s neft that has been deferted. And there 
has been an inftance of a Duck fitting upon nine 
eggs in an oak-tree twenty-five feet from the | 
ground: the eggs were laid upon {mall twigs, 
placed crofsways. 
be 
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