Q2 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 
Parke was at this time stored with numerous flocks of 
severall sorts of ordinary and extraordinary wild fowle 
breeding about the decoy, which for being neere ¢0 great a 
citty and among such a concourse of soldiers and people is a 
singular and diverting thing.””’ Cunningham’s ‘‘ Handbook to 
London” gives details of the cost of making this decoy, and 
also the name of the Dutchman who constructed it, Sydrach 
Hilcus. It was situated on an island at the west end of the 
lake in St. James’s Park, but there appears to be no record as 
to how long the decoy was worked, or with what success. 
We only know that the island on which the decoy stood 
was destroyed at the end of the last century, and the decoy 
some time previously. Pennant states that in 1790 it had 
lately ceased to exist. 
From the middle of the last century to the beginning of 
the present one seems to have been the period in which 
decoys flourished in the greatest numbers, from 140 to 150 
being known to have existed, whilst there are between 30 and 
40 only now remaining. The eastern counties, owing to the 
large tracts of fenland, were naturally the favoured localities, 
and Lincolnshire alone could once boast of 38, followed by 
Essex and Norfolk, with 29 and 26 respectively. 
Lincolnshire has been styled by one writer ‘‘the*home 
of decoys and decoymen.” It is so no longer. Its last 
remaining decoy has fallen into decay, and the probability is 
that it will never be repaired. The decoy of Ashby was in use 
during last winter (189g-1g00), but it was so grown up and 
delapidated that unless a considerable sum of money is spent 
in its repair (which is improbable), it will not be used again. 
It seems a great pity that this decoy has to go, and without 
apparent reason, as the surroundings have not changed, and 
the birds would still come. It can only be accounted for by 
the fact that it has not been well maintained, or skilfully 
worked of late years. It would now cost from £400 to £500 
to be put into order. 
Lhe great decoying district of Lincolnshire was, as might 
be expected, in the southern portion, particularly near 
Sleaford and Crowland, and between Wainfleet and Boston. 
I have heard old people in the parish of Friskney say they 
could see from one point as many as twelve decoys. ‘These, 
with one exception, all fell into disuse in the early years of 
the present century, one only surviving. This was the old 
decoy at Friskney, which was worked up to 1878. 
The Friskney decoy was the home of the celebrated Skelton 
family, from which migrated many members skilled in the art 
