Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 March 1905 — USE OF LIVE DECOYS [ARTICLE]

USE OF LIVE DECOYS

THE METHODS OF TRAPPERS WITH ANIMATED LURES; AH Kinds of Animr.ls Trained to In the Capture of Their Own Spe-cies—-Odd Scheme Ihy Which Cro.wa anti Jays Are Snared. One of the curious ways in which man has utilized the animals about him is as living decoys t.> a^sist-Jiiiuin the. Spture of wild animals. This is done a number of ways am! with animals of all kinds, from butterflies and fishes to elephants. It is something quite different fr«>m teaching animals to capture their prey far the benefit not of ‘thOfi’selvos, bti't Of riieir. masters, as do trained ■cheetahs, falcons, cormorants. otters,and other predatory creatures, .since what 1 now . have in view is the attraction of game within the hunter's reach, not its ? chase. European bird catchers have immemorially practiced hanging live sung birds in.cages beneath or aiming their shines or tymg them to perches in order to attract strangers by their voices. >The Japanese kimw low to d > this to perfection. In catching larks and other cage fblrds in England the principal reliance •Is placed upon flat nets s > arranged ithat when a Y shaped cord is pulled ■they will fall down together, confining anything between them. Several stuffled birds are usually planted in the epace between the nets as if feeding, while a live one, known as a “jockey,” Is fastened to a hinged perch that is made t>> sway up and down by pulling 4 cord whenever any larks come near. •The Jockeys are trained to sit contentedly on these perches and sing, and they seem to understand what is expected of them. The best call birds at the beginning of the season are worth from $3 to $5 apiece, and a bullfinch, is on record which was the means of encaging 350 captives in four seasons. By a similar method the Maoris of New Zealand obtain their kaka parrots. This large, handsome and intelligent parrot was at one time a pet in many households. | The commonest method of catching kakas was by means of a trained decoy kaka, which called wild parrots to perches skillfully arranged around the concealed trapper, who had only to )jull a string in order to capture his bird. These perches were often elaborately ornamented, and the birds manifested “extreme fastidiousness” in choosing some and avoiding others. In view of tliis it is curious to read in Ogllby’s quaint “America,” published in 1072,. how natives of Cuba originally captured a like sort of bird: “The parrots which breed here used to be taken by the natives after a strange manner. A boy holding a bundle of herbs about his head climbs up to the top of a tree, holding a parrot over his head, which by gripping he forces to make a noise and thereby draws others to come flying about him, upon which, being expert in this art, he throws a string with a noose made fast to a stick about them and pulls them to him.” A part of the pleasure of falconry in India, where this sport is so cleverly enjoyed and practiced by the nobles, is the catching of the hawks, which are used only for a single season and then set free. Some, such as the laggar, are taken by smearing a long twig ’ with birdlime and arching it over an unhappy sparrow tied to a peg, but the cherrug must be caught more skillfully. The one thing the high spirited chevrug cannot endure is to see a laggar in peaceful possession of some food or enjoyment that he has not, and the invariable result of the discovery is for the cherrug to pounce upon it and rob the poor laggar, if possible. It is through this jealousy that the hawk catchers obtain their prized clierrugs. They fasten to the feet of a laggar a bundle of very strong horsehair nooses garnished with feathers, then paste bits of parchment over his eyes and turn him loose, whereupon, being blind, he “rings,” or circles, straight up. This ■has been done because a cherrug had been perceived as a mere dot in the sky, and when that jealous and covetous cherrug sees this laggar, apparently carrying a rich prize, coming straight up he thanks his stars for his luck and swoops upon the intruder into his airy domain. The result is that two surprised and indignant hawks come tumbling to the ground, screaming and scratching. Yarrell tells us that the European shrike got its familiar specific name, excubitor (sentinel), from its use by the continental falconers during the autumn and winter when trapping falcons. “The shrike is fastened to the ground and, screaming aloud, gives notice to the falconer (who is concealed) of the approach of a hawk.” A curious variation of this, where an unwilling bird becomes both lure and ’ trap, was described by Alexander Wilson in his great "American Ornithology-" , Wilson says that “crows have been employed to catch crows by the the following stratagem: A live crow is pinned by the wings down to the ground on his back by means of two sharp forked sticks. Thus situated, bis cries are loud and incessant, particularly if any other crows are in view. These sweeping down upon him are instantly grappled and held fast by the prostrate prisoner, with the same instinctive Impulse that urges a drown,ing person to grasp at everything within his reach. The game being disengaged from Ids clutches, the trap is again ready, and, by pinning down each captive successively as soon as taken, in a abort time you will probably hnve a largo flock streaming •above In concert with the outrageous prisoners below.” I hnve seen It stated that jays have

been made to catch jays in England !u the same fashion. ' ■ ■ A similar utilization of live trained decoys in otlaining wild fowl has long I beetmfap.ilTiar to tin; Japanese and is now pursued l iy’Wealthy, men in tlh t country as a . sport, and a lively one it • must be. A typical arrangement for ■the purpose, amoue the rice tie! Is near Tokyo, consists of a pond some 1Q1! yards long by SO yards bt’bad. surrounded by a dtfgh-bank covered with _-a - dense growth - t>f bushes. A dozen narrow, irregular trenches or channels lead from the pond through the bank, each ending abruptly :tt a bush con coaled watch but. Two tiny windows in each hut give a view of tile channel, and there is also a low chute down xvffidi. i.Alli t..s<y.’d .is.shot.xm to the water as a .bait, Besides these, ail observation hoiist commanding the whole p >nd> is hidden among the Iw’-os ott top of the bank. At a suitable time a number _o£ tame .ducks were brought frohr'the owner’s aviary ;ind set afloat upon the pond, whore there is sooncollected a clamor ous host. of mallards, widgeons, teals and eihe” waterfowl. ..-These arc o.b . served through peepholes by iLiuttiLia. • the lookout,. win.) has beside him. electric buttons governing signal wires that run to a hut behind the bank where the sportsmen await information as to which channel the birds are entering. The attendants in the watchhouses also can telegraph a signal when .the decoy ducks have brought the wild fowl itfto their trenches. Meanwhile, warming themselves in the early morning around a glowing brazier of coals, and their pipes alight, the sportsmen sit with their eyes on i the annunciator. At the door are standing a number of nets, with eight foot handles, each a deep bag of large mesh suspended in an open fork, giving an opening of two feet or so across. Close beside them crouches one or more servants, each holding on his gloved hand a hawk, alert and perfectly aware that it will have a share in the fun. How this fun begins is brightly told by a correspondent of the' London Field: “For some moments past we had noticed a gamekeeper stooping down with his eye to the loophole in one of the butt banks, when suddenly a sharp click was heard, and the number of the watchhouse where he was standing dropped into view on the signal board, and if that had not been sufficient we should have known where the wild fowl were from the frantic way in which the man -was waving his arms and dancing about with excitement. There was only room for three people on each side of the trench, so six of us, hurrying down the path, got into position as silently as possible behind the banks at the edge of the channel and stood with our nets ready for action. “The man who had signaled ran quickly round to the thicket end of the putting and dropped a net across the water.- As he did go there were a flutter and splashing in the trench, and with a sudden rush and a confused whirring of wings the wild fowl rose toward the bank from the water. Now was the moment when a quick eye and steady hand were necessary, and with a circular swing of the nets three of us had caught a duck apiece before it had gone’ the length of tile net handles. One of the birds managed to run the gantlet by dodging between two nets and got away over the mound at the end of the channel; but, like an arrow from a bow, the hawk was slipped from the falconer’s finger and. rising over the mallard, struck it and brought it to the ground. The dcoy ducks remained floating on the water.” The use of the little dog to assist the decoy man reminds one of an old fashioned method of procuring canvasback ducks in Chesapeake bay, known as “tolling” them inshore by means of a dog. Wilson gave a description of it, as he saw it done about 1810, which can scarcely be improved upon. “The dog if properly trained,” he says, “plays backward and fprward along the margin of the water, ducks, observing his maneuvers, enticed perhaps by curiosity, gradually approach the shore until thej* are sometimes within twenty or thirty yards of the spot where the gunner lies concealed and from which he rakes them, first on the water and then as they rise. If the ducks seem difficult to decoy, any glaring object, such as a red handkerchief, is fixed round the dog's middle or to his tail, and this rarely fails to attract them.”—New York Bost.