THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS. | |
| The dog-jumps have four laths, two to each side, nailed to the posts of the screens they connect (see Plate 4 after page 34), and these are lashed just as are the lathes of the taller screens. When making the screens the back or thin laths are tied loosely at first on to the fixed rails, and as the reeds are wedged in between they are secured by the two sets of rails being lashed tight together at 1 ft. intervals. The reeds are placed as level as possible at the top of the screen when | |
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| it is being made, and then tapped down in line with a flat board the size and shape of a tennis racquet, but larger. The Decoyman or assistant, if the screens are well arranged in "echelon," should be able to pass from the tail end of the pipe to its entrance, or visit any particular screen to take a survey down the pipe | |
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| without being perceived by any fowl below him in it, or on the pond. He should also be able to show himself to, and so drive up, any fowl in the pipe without his action being perceived by other birds on the main pond. For this reason the screen at the head show projects over the water.* For arrangement of screens see zigzag lines, p, p, p, on folding plan 2 before page 57. *The reeds should be cut and stored in March when dead and dry. They are about 6 ft. high, round and feathered, and grow in the fen country in profusion. If reeds cannot be obtained, straw may be substituted, but it is never so satisfactory. | |