Page 52 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.

THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.

    They start the right way at once, and that is up the pipe. If the wind blow into a pipe's mouth, the ducks Will fly against it when they first rise, and so often come out of the pipe, unless the ditch be so low and narrow as to be quite sheltered. Should such be the case, however, the pipe is a bad one in every way, both for enticing the birds up it, or for driving them when in it.
    Ducks always swim head to wind if they can, as then their feathers do not ruffle as when they drift with it.
    They also rest head to wind when on land for the same reason.
    Hence, outside the pipe that the wind blows downwards and partly across, the birds are more or less facing its entrance. They are then near at hand to the Decoyman, and so readily perceive the dog when he appears, or food is thrown into the pipe.
    This is the case whether they be the tame Decoys or the wild ducks.     On some occasions, such as in a strong breeze, the fowl will be seen resting just inside the pipe under its net on the landing opposite the screens.
    Many a good catch is made by finding them there, and suddenly surprising them up the pipe by appearing behind them at the head show place.
    For this chance always approach and reconnoitre a pipe carefully on first entering a Decoy, looking through the furthest screen from the pipe's mouth in the first instance, as then, if any fowl are in the ditch, they can be driven up by the Decoyman running round to the head show or one of the dog-jumps, and so getting behind them.
    It should be carefully arranged in all Decoys that the wind can blow unchecked slantingly down the pipes from their offsides, opposite the screens-I mean the wind that is suitable to each pipe when it is worked.
    If a bank of high trees are standing thickly over the screens, the wind recoils from them in a current, and so whirls into the pipe's mouth and pond. It will then, of course, carry your scent with it to the fowl, and quite spoil for the time any chance of a catch.
    This is a frequent, though often unsuspected, cause of the failure of what may otherwise be an excellently planned pipe.
    When approaching a Decoy, be careful to enter its precincts so as not to get any fowl dead to leeward of you; for this reason four hand-gates need to be placed so that it can be entered on every side safely, and without alarming the fowl, whether they be in a pipe or on the pond.