Page 49 THE DECOY DOG.

THE DECOY DOG.

    A coloured cloth round the dog will sometimes move them when nothing else will.
    So will a fox's skin strapped round him, with a trailing brush. But a dog will seldom work well with these additions. He feels he is made a show of.
    I have tried a cat, a ferret, and a rabbit. They all attract, but are next to impossible to manage.
    I once bribed an organ-grinder to lend me his monkey. The fowl absolutely flew after him when first shown, but when he turned round and grinned at them they fled. When he sprang atop a screen and cracked the nuts I had tried to bribe him into acquiescence with, ending by scampering along the top of the pipe, every bird left the Decoy for the day. And no wonder.
    Finally, the monkey tumbled into the Decoy, and nearly died from fright and cold, and I narrowly escaped having to replace him.
    If a dog is shown very often, the wild ducks will get to know him too well, especially the old habitués of the Decoy, the latter then taking but little notice of him. It is always the new-comers who are easiest taken in by a dog and his tricks; for to them he is an unusual sight. I know a friend who in vain tried his ordinary Decoy dogs, but without effect, as the fowl had become what Decoymen call-stale ;^* that is, they knew all about it, and refused to listen to the voice of the charmer.
    As good luck would have it, a lady friend to whom the Decoy was being shown, had brought her pug with her. The pug was started near the mouth of the pipe, whilst his mistress signalled to him from near the tunnel net. By mere chance the dog, untutored in the ways of Decoying, started gamely over a couple of jumps, and round a screen or two. The wild ducks tore after him up the pipe at once, and a good catch was the result. Whether it was the curl of the pug's tail, or a very large black spot near it, or his quaint, well-fed appearance, can be only conjecture. At all events, the ducks evinced neither discretion nor hesitation on viewing him.

^* Stale birds are those that have been a long time in a Decoy without being caught, and have grown cunning and cautious. Fowl fresh from the coast are easiest taken, and can be distinguished by the "high-water mark " to be seen on their breasts left by the salt water, and soon washes off on their arrival in a Decoy.