Diary of John Adams, volume 3

Fryday September 13. 1776.

Fryday September 13. 1776.

To William Tudor

“So! The Fishers have set a Seine, and a whole Schull,4 a whole Shoal of Fishes, have swam into it and been caught. The Fowlers have set a Net, and a whole flock of Pidgeons have alighted on the bed, and the Net has been drawn over them.... But the most insolent Thing of all, is sending one of those very Pidgeons, as a Flutterer to Philadelphia, in order to decoy the great flock of all.... Did you ever see a decoy-Duck? or a Decoy Brant?”...