121 



EXTRACTS FROM 

 CORRESPONDENCE WITH A BROTHER NATURAL 



BY F. M. BURTON, ESQ. 

 ( Continued from page 232, vol. v. J 



As you have no duck decoys in your neighbourhood, the following 

 account of one of the few left in the fens of Lincolnshire may not prove 

 uninteresting. Imagine a fine winter's morning, with a brisk wind and 

 sharp frost, but not too cold to congeal the water, and all just ready to start, 

 the Flapper having previously ascertained that a flight of Ducks came in 

 over-night. About three or four hundred yards from the house is a tall thick 

 plantation, in the centre of which lies the decoy — a narrow winding sheet of 

 water covering about seven acres, in shape something like a curved kidney- 

 bean, with one end divided into five points. Leading to this pond are several 

 very narrow winding foot paths through the plantation, capable of admitting 

 only one person at a time. Down one of these paths the whole party 

 starts, preceded by the P'lapper or Driver as he is sometimes called, dressed 

 from top to toe in scarlet, with huge flaps of cloth of the same colour 

 depending from his arras. Each person carries a piece of lighted turf to his 

 nose, to keep the Ducks from scenting him, so accurate is their sense of smell. 



On approaching the brink of the pond, which is enclosed all round 

 with a thick barrier of rushes, the Flapper, having cautiously ascertained 

 whereabouts the birds are lying, rolls over the bank a piece of bread, 

 which is immediately followed by a little dog trained for the purpose; and 

 as soon as the decoy Ducks see him they make straight for him, leading 

 on the wild birds to a concealed net at the head of the pond. The Flapper 

 having by this method once or twice repeated, according to the distance 

 of the birds from the netting, drawn them up to one of the heads of the 

 water, goes quickly to a place a little distance down, where he can see 

 the Ducks and be seen by them, and commences jumping and shaking his 

 large red flaps about like a madman. The decoys immediately on the 

 given signal dive, and leave their unfortunate dupes alone, with their 

 heads turned towards the mouth of the netting, into which they invariably 

 fly, not being able to turn round quick enough to make their escape, on 

 account of the shortness of their tails.* 



The owner of this decoy has a peculiar method of catching Rabbits, by 

 a broad plank of wood placed over a pit, on which turnips are laid for 

 the animals to feed on; and when a sufiicient number is collected on the 

 top, a man concealed in a thicket near, pulls away the wood from the 

 mouth of the hole by a rope, and the Rabbits fall in. This plan is 



* The correctness of this suggestion is, I think, prohlematical. — F. 0. Mokris. 

 VOL. VI. E 



