DECOYS. 



443 



destroyed the avocation of this and other Decoys by reclaim- 

 ing from the wild fowl their old feeding grounds. The marshes 

 or Carrs extended from Beverley to near Barmston and 

 Bridlington, and comprised 11,000 acres. The outline of the 

 Meaux Decoy and its pipes was plainly visible some fifteen 

 years ago. A plan of this Decoy shews a peculiarity in the 

 west pipes, which turn towards each other like the arms of 

 a pair of calipers. Another interesting feature consists in 



the small promontories in the centre of each side ; their use 

 is not quite clear, but they may have been const ucted to give 

 the decoyman some slight advantage in driving the ducks 

 nearer to the mouth of the pipes.* 



Watton. — This Decoy was alluded to by A. Strickland, 

 who remarked that it had an area of 1,000 acres of marsh and 

 water round it, and was very productive, yielding as many 

 as four hundred ducks daily before drainage sealed its fate. 



It is situate seven miles north of Beverley, between the 

 high road from Beverley to Driffield and the river Hull, and, 

 like Scorborough Decoy, from which it is distant four miles in 

 a northerly direction, it also lies in the valley of the Hull river. 



Scorborough. — This, like the Watton Decoy, was once 

 very noted. It is situate two and a half miles N.N.E. of 

 Beverley, on the west bank of the river Hull, and in the 

 low-lying land between the river and the high road from 



* See " Old Wild Duck Decoys of Lincolnshire and the East Riding 

 of Yorkshire," by T. Audas. Trans. Hull Sci. and Field Nat. Club, 

 vol. i. No. 3, 1900, pp. 91-97 (with illustrations). 



