58 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



invade their retreat, he disappears at the next opening-, but in another 

 second is seen a few yards higher up the pipe. Prompted by curiosity, and 

 talcing courage from numbers, they advance towards the dog, exactly in the 

 same manner as a flock of sheep will do in a field when disturbed by the same 

 visitor ; but again he has vanished, and they stop, wondering. He appears 

 again still a little higher up the pipe, and they follow more confidently, perhaps 

 believing that they are driving him away ; but at last he vanishes altogether, 

 and while they are looking for bis reappearance they are startled by the figure of 

 the decoyman between them and the pond, waving his hat as in the previous 

 case. Completely frightened, they follow their instincts, fly up the pipe, and are 

 all soon secured in the tunnel net. Should the dog by any accident mistake the 

 screen at which he has to show, and appear behind the birds in the pipe, they 

 will at once become alarmed, and swim back into the pond. 



The number of birds caught at each attempt varies according to the numbers 

 in the pond and the state of the birds themselves, the younger birds being, of 

 course, the most easily enticed into the pipe. In favourable seasons from one to 

 two hundred are sometimes caught in a day, while on other days few are taken 

 at all. The number in each drive is usually between ten and fifty, but occasion- 

 ally considerably exceeds the latter number. After making catches in a pipe by 

 both feeding and the dog, the decovman has to leave the remainder alone till a 

 later period in the day, when the birds having altered their position in the pond 

 some are again near the mouth of the pipe. There is usually only one pipe at 

 which they can be caught by feeding, but the dog may often be successful at 

 another, perhaps two others, if the wind lies between them. On some days the 

 birds are much more sluggish than at others, and will hardly take any notice 

 of either ihe dog or food. At such times the decoyman will send his dog sud- 

 denly into the midst of those '' banking," and they scramble frightened into the 

 pond ; but before they have recovered their senses the dog has disappeared, and 

 they only see him again presently in the mouth of the pipe. The numbers taken 

 by means of the dog are more than those by feeding, but it is a curious fact that 

 the hen birds are the most ready to follow the dog. and the males to be caught 

 by the food — so much so, that the birds in one catch are nearly all of the same sex. 



Wild Duck, Widgeon, and Teal rise when alarmed, but there is one variety of 

 the Duck-tribe — the Pochard or Dunbird — which is by habit a diver, and in a 

 pond of this description escapes the fate of the others by swimming back under 

 water from the pipe into the open. In places where their numbers render it 

 worth while, a paiticular arrangement of the pond is made, and they are taken 

 by an ingenious net, wliich is suddenly placed in their line of flight as they leave 

 the pond at dusk. The net, which is very large, is stretched between two poles, 

 laid horizontally near the side of the ponds, but fixed on pivots, and so weighied 

 that by severing a rope the decoyman can cause them to spring up suddenly into 

 the perpendicular. Tliis he does the moment the birds rise to leave the pond 

 (there being several nets to suit the different winds, as in the case of the pipes), 

 and the flock, striking the net, fall into baskets or pens placed underneath, from 

 which they are unable to rise before the decoyman has time to secure them. 

 Great numbers have been cnught in this manner, but the plan is only adopted 

 for Dunbirds ; and at ponds where other kinds of wildfowl are more numerous 

 there is a difficulty in using the nets without frightening away more than are 

 caught. The best known pond of this description is in the island of Mersea, at 

 the mouth of the Blackwater. 



Day by day the spoil of the pond is sent up to Leadenhall Market. The 

 prices, of course, vary much during the season, and depend upon th.- se.erity of 

 the weather, as in a hard winter vast quantities of wild-fowl are sent from abroad. 



The following information regarding Essex Decoys, past and 

 present, is mainly condensed from Sir R. P. Gallwey's remarks 

 (49. 76-92), but I am also greatly indebted to Mr. E. A. P'itch, who 

 has been indefatigable in hunting up scraps of half-forgotten informa- 

 tion relating to our ancient decoys. 



