54 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



stretched a tarred net upon wooden Iioops, closely fastened down to the ground, 

 except for a small distance on one side of the pipe, near the pond, which is left 

 open for the evolutions of the dog, to be mentioned presently. At the pond end 

 the net is about 12 feet from the water, but tiie hoops gradually taper away to a 

 height of only half a yard. At the small end is fixed a circular tunnel net, about 

 12ft. by 2ft., which can be easily detached and closed, and in which, eventually, 

 the ill-fated birds are secured ; the whole effect of the pipe resembling at 'a 

 little distance the tail of a huge serpent, whose body is hid in tiie rushes and 

 trees around the pond. From the mouth of each pipe is fixed, along the outer 

 side, a series of screens to hide the decoyman and his operations from the birds 

 in the pond. These screens, twelve or fourteen in number, are made of reeds in 

 fixed wooden frames. Each screen is about 12ft. long by 6^ft. high, and they 

 are arranged to overlap one another like the folds of a perpendicular Venetian 

 blind, with spaces between each at which the decoyman may show himself to 

 the birds in the pipe when the time comes to drive them into the tunnel net. 

 These openings are closed towards tlie ground by a smaller screen of 2ft. in 

 height, for the purpose of hiding the decoyman's dog, and over which he is 

 taught to jump in and out at a given sign. By means of these screens, and the 

 reeds which grow thickly round the pond in the intermediate spaces between the 

 pipes, the decoyman is able to approach the water from any quarter unsten. 

 Small wooden wedges are purp..sely left in the screens, and by moving these 

 from right to left a sufficient peep-hole is made to enable him to watch the move- 

 ments of the birds, and to command from different points a complete view of 

 the whole pond. 



Most interesting and instructive is the view from this peep-hole when the 

 pond is fairly full of birds, not only to the anxious decoyman or the inquiring 

 naturalist, but the least curious visitor can hardly fail to be struck by the sight 

 of a thousand or fifteen hundred birds, many of them of surpassing beauty of 

 plumage, dotted over the surface of the water, swimming, sleeping, playing, and 

 feeding, unconscious of danger, and in their most natural manner, within a few 

 feet of him. Many of them will be asleep on the water with their heads tucked 

 under their wings, and on a stormy day he may see them, while in this position, 

 blow-n about, and turned round and round, by each gust of wind. On another 

 and sunnier day he may watch a hen Widgeon receiving with perfect equanimity 

 the attentions of five or six cock birds who swim about her, bowing and showing 

 off. each striving in the most unmistakable manner tu eclipse his rivals and prove 

 himself the most eligible />«;■// of the flock ; and when the lady indicates by some 

 sign her preference for one particular suitor, he may ob-erve the favoured indi- 

 vidual proudly take his place at her side, driving away the others as if by 

 right, and jealously swimming round to interpose himself if one of them ap- 

 proaches on the other side to whisper a parting compliment in her ear. He will 

 notice on one side rows of birds asleep or basking on the banks, and on another 

 the Widgeon eagerly cropping the short grass. He will hardly tire of gazing on 

 the beauty of the Mallard, and he will laugh_^over the pert little Ttal and the pug- 

 nacious Tuke, or at the Dunbird diving for it's food, which the impudent Widgton 

 close by seizes from its hill, and makes off with the moment its head apjears above 

 water again. He will notice the golden crests of the cock Widgeon as they glance 

 backwards and forwards in the sun, and he will marvel at the wonderful airange- 

 ment of nature by which their light and downy plumage is rendered impervious to 

 the water they are floating in for hours at a time. The longer he looks the more 

 will he find to admire, till at last he almost envies the decoyman his 

 solitary life, with such beauties of nature constantly to study and wonder at. 



Wild Duck, Widgeon, and Teal are the chief frequenters of decoys, but the 

 pond is seldom full without a few couple of Pintail or Uunbirds being in it, while 

 occasionall}' a pair of the rarer Gadwall or Tufted Duck are seen among the other 

 birds. Tukes also collect in it and take possession of the landings, and a few Coot 

 are regular inhabitants. The latter are very watchful birds, and the wild- fowl, 

 which sleep a great part ol the day, are supposed to feel more confidence in a pond 

 where they are present. The Duck and Mallard begin to congregate in the pond 

 soon after midsummer ; but these are the birds bred in the neighbourhood. The 

 curliest foreign fowl to arri\e are the Teal, which come in the first week in Sep- 



