197 



HISTORY OF Y^-ECOYS-iconfiniied). 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Decoys in Holland. 



As we are supposed to have originally derived our knowledge of 

 Decoys, and the art of Decoying, from Holland, it may be considered 

 within my province to allude to Dutch Decoys, — as well as to those in 

 the neighbouring state of Schleswig. 



Decoys, as may be surmised, are very successful in Holland, in 

 consequence of the unlimited feeding-grounds that country and its shores 

 and estuaries offer them. 



Besides this the Dutch preserve and protect wildfowl to a far greater 

 degree than is the case in our islands ; no one for instance on their coasts 

 being allowed to fire a gun within a thousand yards of a Decoy. The 

 law of Holland regards a Decoy as an established system of trade 

 engaged in by its owner or occupier, and so encourages and protects him 

 in his avocation of Decoying. 



I have not, it is true, made it a special study to learn the positions of 

 all the Dutch Decoys or obtain notes of their successes ; the latter feat 

 would be a difficult task, for in Holland Decoys are more or less shrouded 

 in secrecy and their doings concealed from inquirers on the subject. 



What information I have obtained, and am therefore able to lay before 

 my readers, has been either through personal visits or through sources that 

 can be relied on. Such as it is, I can vouch for its accuracy. 



From the examination of Government statistics, as well as by reason 

 of careful researches I have made, it is probable that there are in Holland 

 and its islands fully 70 to 80 Decoys now in active use. The immense total 

 of fowl they take can therefore readily be conjectured. 



Decoys abound in all parts of Holland, notabl_\- in Fricsland, North 



