Decoy

Person, device, or event designed as a distraction Carved wooden duck decoys A decoy (derived from the Dutch de kooi, literally "the cage" or possibly eenden kooi, "duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lure them. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes. Illustration demonstrating the use of a dog in a duck decoy tunnel (1886) Hunting In hunting wildfowl, the term decoy may refer to two distinct devices. One, the duck decoy (structure), is a long cone-shaped wickerwork tunnel installed on a small pond to catch wild ducks. After the ducks settled on the pond, a small, trained dog would herd the birds into the tunnel. The catch was formerly sent to market for food, but now these are used only by ornithologists to catch ducks to be ringed and released. The word decoy, also originally found in English as "coy", derives from the Dutch de Kooi (the cage) and dates back to the early 17th century, when this type of duck trap was introduced to England from the Netherlands. As "decoy" came more commo