170 



BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



defined streaks over the eye before alluded to, would not 

 only be reproduced in its offspring even to the second 

 generation, but also reappear year after year in its own 

 plumage after every moult. Supposing it, however, to 

 be really a hybrid, the question as to its parentage is 

 one of no little difficulty, but if the teal and the wild 

 duck have consorted together (see Bimaculated duck), 

 why not also the latter with the garganey ? " This sin- 

 gular bird was stolen from Mr. Kerrison in December, 

 1865, after having lived in captivity eleven years. Two 

 of the young ones in the down, hatched in 1857, were 

 long in Mr. Stevenson's collection, and were sold at his 

 second auction on 21st March, 1889. They showed the 

 light eye-stripe very distinctly. 



On the 7th February, 1883, a female wild duck 

 died at Northrepps, aged twenty-nine years ; it was 

 hatched there in 1854, and was blind for several months 

 before its death. For about eight years it had been in 

 nearly complete drake's plumage, the exception being 

 a few brown feathers mingled with the green on the 

 side of the head and neck, and a few normal feathers 

 on the flanks. 



Mr. Norgate tells me that the parasites which he 

 found infesting the plumage of the wild duck, in 

 I^orfolk, were identified by the Rev. C. R. N. Burrows 

 as Docophorus icterodes. 



DECOYS IN NORFOLK. 



Sir Thomas Browne, writing about the year 1663, 

 refers to " the condition of the county [of Norfolk] and 

 the very many decoys, especially between Norwich and 

 the sea, making this place very much to abound in wild 

 fowl." It may seem strange to speak of the decoy, 

 j)erhaps the most deadly engine ever invented for the 

 purpose of luring wild-fowl to their destruction, as being 

 at the same time favourable to their abundance, but it 

 is strictly in accordance with fact. The great attrac- 

 tion of the decoy-pond is its absolute seclusion ; here the 

 fowl which return in the early morning from their noc- 

 turnal feeding-grounds find perfect rest, and pass their 



