2 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS. 



alarming- the ducks. He rented a considerable extent of land, mostly 

 marsh and low wet meadow, in the vicinity of his Decoy, so as to keep off 

 curious trespassers and to assist the natural solitude of its surroundings. 

 He helped to support his home by grazing" a few sheep or cattle on the 

 dryer portions of the small oasis of fenland he occupied. 



In the summer he cleaned out his Decoy, mended the banks and 

 screens, and put his nets and pipes in order. His harvest of birds began 

 in October and ended in March. During this period he was ever on the 

 watch both outside and inside his De:oy ; he lived, as it were, in a glass 

 house, so that he could see on all sides and at all times what was going on. 

 He matched his brains and experience against the cunning and wildness 

 of the fowl he sought, and he usually won the contest. 



When he died all he knew was handed down to his assistant in the 

 Decoy, most likely a near relative. 



All his successor learnt was vivci voce, or by watching his manoeuvres 

 as he attended him in the Decoy from year to year. 



So from father to son were the Decoymen of past generations. Is it, 

 then, to be wondered that, under these circumstances, so little is now 

 generally known of ancient Decoys and Decoying ? 



We do not expect a conjurer to divulge his tricks, yet as loth would 

 an old Decoyman be to disclose his artifices of Decoying. 



The Derivation ok the Word Decoy. 



Sir Henry Spelman, who died in 1641, says, "Sir W. Wodehouse 

 (who lived in the reign of James I., 1603-25) made among us the first 

 device for catching Ducks, known by the foreign name of a koye." 



Though the statement that Sir W. Wodehouse made the first Decoy 

 in England is without other authorization, it is a very probable one as 

 regards its truth, and it is one that has been frequently copied from that 

 day to this. 



Although the name Decoy had been previously long in use in England, 

 it was applied only to the tunnels of net resembling cages or pipes used for 

 driving fowl into as afterwards described, 



