90 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS. 



the Decoy pipes being made in the usual fashion all round the pond, so as 

 to be worked according to the wind The largest take of ducks he ever 

 remembers in one season was 700 dozen ; but, he added, I mean 700 dozen 

 luhole fowl. Now, if we suppose that 300 dozen out of the 700 dozen were 

 Teal and Wigeon, of which there were large quantities in those days, we 

 have in reality these figures : — viz., 400 dozen whole fowl and 600 dozen half 

 fowl, four half fowl, as you are aware, counting as one couple of ducks ; in 

 other words, you have this result of one season's catch on one acre of 

 water : — 



400 dozen whole fowl = 4,800 ducks. 



600 dozen half fowl = 7,200 Teal, Wigeon, Divers, &c. 



Total . 1 2,000 birds. 



This certainly is an enormous take off one acre of water, and beats my 

 remembrance of our old Decoyman at Fritton Lake, John Fiske, — taking 

 600 ducks in one night, as I have known him do on several occasions. 

 Still, as my father's aunt, Mrs. Merry, who lived at our Decoy at Herring- 

 fleet Hall, on Fritton Lake, about sixty years ago, never made more than 

 ^300 a year clear by the ducks, I don't think our success was ever equal 

 to that at Oakley Hall, especially when you consider how very small the 

 water of the latter place was. 



" Mr. Smith states : 'We usually took the ducks at sunset and sunrise, 

 and used liver-coloured fox-terriers if they could be got, and were handy 

 ones. We used liver-coloured because the brighter the colour of the dogs 

 the better the ducks worked to them. A piece of burning turf was an 

 essential, the nose of the duck being so acute. We fed the Decoys 

 with the following : — Oats, buckwheat, and hempseed oil, the latter being 

 sprinkled over the former to give it flavour, and at times we also used 

 malt coombs with a dash of oil of aniseed over them, this latter concoction 

 ducks being very fond of. I never remembered,' adds Mr. Smith, ' more 

 than eighteen dozen ducks taken in one drive, namely, 212.' Now I 

 remember," says Colonel Leathes, " about ten years ago 300 ducks being 

 taken on Fritton Decoy in one drive. Old Smith narrates, ' My father and 

 I had a good deal of trouble in keeping the Decoy open on very cold, 

 frosty nights ; but we would break the ice as well as we could till the ducks 



