PLATE 4.—PIGEON DECOY HUT.Used in snaring wild pigeon.Page 133.First you build a small sugar-loaf (conical) hut (called bumbun) in a carefully
selected spot in the jungle. This hut may be from four to five feet high, is
strongly built of stakes converging to a point at the top, and is thickly thatched
with leaves and branches. The reason for making it strong is that there is always
an off-chance that you may receive a visit from a tiger. At the back of the hut
you must leave a small square opening (it can hardly be dignified with the name
of a door), about two feet high and with a flap to it, through which you can creep
into the hut on your hands and knees. [I may remark, parenthetically, that you
will find the hut very damp, very dark, and very full of mosquitoes, and that if
you are wise you will take with you a small stock of cigarettes.] In front of the
hut, that is to say, on the side away from the door, if you want to proceed in the
orthodox way, you will have to clear a small rectangular space, and put up round
it on three sides (right, left, and front opposite the hut) a low railing consisting of
a single bar about 18 inches from the ground. This is to rail off what is called