166 



birds of lancashire. 

 Ducks Taken at Hale Decoy. 



There is conclusive evidence to prove that this decoy 

 has been in existence for at any rate 150 years, but in 

 1754 it was much improved by the then Mr. Blackburne, 

 who came to settle at Hale, from Orford Hall near War- 

 rington, where there had long been a decoy, though since 

 abandoned. The season lasts from September to the 

 15th of February, and the variations in the numl)ers 

 caught in different years may be attributed to special 

 and local causes rather than to an increase or decrease 

 in the birds frequenting the locality. 



[Mr. Howard sends the following : — " 9th Jan. 1885. 



* [" Col. Ireland-Blackburne writes me that on the 23rd January, 

 1886, they killed at one catch, 4 Mallard and 119 Teal, the largest 

 catch ever chronicled at Hale." — R. J. H.] 



