66 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS. 



the name of the " Decoy Farm." The site of the Decoy itself has been 

 ploughed up, though its general outline may still be traced. In one of the 

 rooms of the Decoy farm house there are several panels that were moved 

 from the old Decoy house when it was pulled down. These are very 

 interesting, as they indicate the shape of and the method of working the 

 Decoy. The father of the present tenant of the Decoy Farm, who was 

 born in 1773, knew the last man who worked the Decoy, so that it has 

 probably not been in use for 100 years. The last owner of this old 

 Decoy was a Mr. Nares, and he is reported to have been so successful, as 

 to have purchased a farm out of the profits of working it. 



The present owner of the land is the Rev. F. Jackson, of Parson 

 Drove Vicarage, Wisbeach. 



Chatteris Decoy. 



Four miles SE. of Chatteris and 3^^ miles NE. of Somersham in 

 North Fen. 



Watson, in his History of Wisbeach, as also Wells in his History 

 of the Fens, mentions a Decoy here of which no trace now remains. The 

 land, however, is still called " Decoy Ground," and on an old parish map I 

 find it alluded to as follows : — 



" Site of Decoy erected by Colonel Valentine Warton destroyed by 

 the populace at the restoration." 



Whittlesey Decoy. 



One-and-a-half miles NE. of the village of Whittlesey and long 

 disused. 



The Bedford Level. 



As this county contains so large a proportion of the celebrated 

 " Bedford Level," it may be as well to give here a brief description of a 

 district so unique, as also of the process by which it has been gradually 

 converted from a watery waste to its present state of fertility. 



A glance at the map shows the great " level " of the F"ens comprised 

 an area of 1,306 square miles, and formed part of the counties of Lincoln, 

 Northampton, Huntingdon, Cambridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk, and extended 



