Page 56 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.

THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.

    But such immense Congregations of fowl are not to be seen in these days anywhere in our islands.
    Five-pipe Decoy. This is the Decoy I strongly recommend for any place where fowl are numerous. It is a most convenient size, and very workable. Its pipes will suit every wind that blows. (See plan facing page 58.)
    A Four-pipe Decoy (facing page '74). A very good one too, but I consider a three-pipe Decoy is just as good. Four pipes are not nearly so good as five if fowl be plentiful, and there is one pipe too many if birds are scarce.
    I am now speaking of making a Decoy where nothing of the kind exists.     If the pool of water is ready to hand, then it may be easier and not more expensive to put four pipes to it than three, especially if it be a square pond, with corners adapted for the four pipes ready formed. The plan facing page 93 is also a good shape for a four-pipe Decoy, and has proved a very successful one too. It is of course an object to fit pipes to an existing pool to suit its present shape, and so save expense and labour as much as possible.
    A Three-pipe Decoy (facing page 55). This is a capital plan, and more generally suitable than any other for a place where fowl are comparatively few.
    It is inexpensive to make and work.
    The pipes will suit almost every wind, quite enough so to catch several hundred fowl in the season, or several thousand for that matter if they were very abundant, as in days gone by. I therefore give a large plan of a three-pipe Decoy, by studying which, as well as the folding plan of a Decoy pipe on the next page, such a Decoy can easily be constructed.
    A Two-pipe or One-pipe Decoy usually consists of a pond or lake with a pipe or pipes attached to it, and placed at its most favourable corner or end; that is, the one oftenest haunted by the birds. In this case the rest of the pond is little interfered with or remodelled, being merely kept quiet and secluded.
    These plans are taken from some of our best Decoys, and which latter were made by the cleverest Decoymen who ever lived, and who knew more about Decoys, their working and construction, than any one before or after them.