HISTORY OF DECOYS. 



183 



given therein as to the taking of " Swans " to fatten " from my carrs of 

 Arrom," in which carrs, by the way, the Scorborough Decoy was situated. 

 So that if the Decoy existed in those days some reference would surely 

 have been made to it, for its locality and the surrounding marshes then 

 belonged to the Earl of Northumberland, especially as all the minutiae are so 

 carefully entered in the Book, such as the prices of the various wildfowl, 

 and even a copy of the warrant sent to the swanherd. I make the above 

 remarks because it is popularly supposed that the Meaux and Watton Decoys 

 were either monastical belongings, or existed at the time of the monks, 

 and so were contemporary with the Northumberland Household Book. 



W ATTO N DECOY 



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Redshanks and one or two pairs of Garganeys still breed in these 

 carrs. Ruff, too, have been obtained several times in the breeding sea- 

 son about them, also Gadwall and other of our rarer Ducks. 



Waiton. — Mr. H. W. F. Ellis of Crowle, who has made careful re- 

 searches, informs me that this Decoy had an area of i ,000 acres of marsh 

 and water round it, and was very productive, yielding at times as many as 

 400 ducks daily before drainage sealed its fate. 



The Decoy is situated 7 miles north of Beverley, between the high 

 road from Beverley to Driffield and the River Hull, and like Scorborough 

 Decoy, from which it is distant 4 miles in a northerly direction, it also lies 

 in the valley of the Hull river. The Watton Decoy exactly resembles the 



