4 DECOYS AND SWAN MARKS. 



description. As Willoughby makes no mention of a dog, which is 

 now generally used, it may be presumed its services were not 

 employed at this early stage of improved decoys, and that the 

 birds were allured simply by food and by tame ducks. Stukeley in 

 his " Itinerarium Curiosum" (1776) gives a detailed account 

 of a decoy with five pipes at Holbeck, Lincolnshire, which is 

 precisely similar to those now in use, except that the pipes have an 

 angular instead of a curved bend. The object, however, is the 

 same namely, to render the pipe at its posterior end and the 

 tunnel-net invisible at the mouth. Pennant (1776) speaks of 31,000 

 ducks, teals, and widgeons, which had been sold in London from 

 ten decoys near Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, on one occasion. Daniel 

 also in his " Rural Sports" (1802) gives a description of decoys which 

 prevailed in his time. He says that 2,646 " mallards" were 

 taken in ten days at Spalding, in Lincolnshire. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders describes, in a most interesting and exhaustive account 

 of English decoys, the remarkable change of plumage the 

 male of the wild duck undergoes at the close of the breeding 

 season, commencing about the 24th of May, when the breast and 

 back first show the appearance of a change ; on the 23rd of June 

 the green feathers of the head and neck disappear, and by the 

 6th of July its plumage resembles that of the female, only 

 somewhat darker. Willoughby says the moult of the male takes 

 place about a month before that of the female an important 

 provision of nature for the protection of the young birds, which 

 are incapable of flight until towards the end of June. 



A decoy consists of a sheet of water in a quiet and secluded 

 spot surrounded by trees and shrubs, fi-om which radiate curved 

 pipes or ditches, varying in number from two to eight ; these are 

 covered with a net supported by bowed sticks or rods, 

 about 15 feet high at first, and gradually diminishing towards 

 the end, to which the tunnel net is attached, and which 

 is removed when the wild fowl are driven into it. Screens 

 in echelon, overlapping each other, are placed near the edge 

 of the bank to enable the decoyman to follow the ducks up 



