Inside Decoys from Shelburne Museum

Gadgets and Gizmos

Decoy carvers not only strive to make realistic representations of birds, they also worked to make them as light-weight and easy to transport as possible. These goals lead some makers to innovate, either using light-weight materials like painted canvas, printed cardboard, or aluminum or by altering the form of the decoy to reduce the chance that the decoy would be damaged when carried into the field. 

One of the most fragile parts of a wood decoy is the bill or beak, and commonly makers would design the decoy so that the heads could be detached or tucked into the body. One such example of this kind of innovation are the dowitcher shorebirds with dovetailed heads, by an unknown maker c. 1900. Another is the black duck with a movable head by Roland Clark.

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