COOKERY 261 



of Holkham or Netherby. But they are within 

 sight and easy reach of the shore, and for that very 

 reason the wild-fowl are oscillating hither and thither, 

 regardless of correct dieting. Drawn to the inland 

 decoys in East Anglia, they put themselves into 

 gastronomic training like Alsatian geese, though under 

 no compulsion. But what with drainage and recla- 

 mation, and financial reasons, the decoy has been dis- 

 appearing. Railways have been driven through marsh 

 and fen, and guns have been multiplied and cheapened. 

 A hundred years ago there were thirty-nine decoys in 

 Lincolnshire, nearly as many in Essex, and about 

 thirty in Norfolk. Now there are but nine in the 

 three counties. The Grange in Essex even now gives 

 good returns, but not so very long ago it used to net 

 thrice the number. Perhaps the most famous of all 

 was that of Canvey Marsh, near Maldon in Essex. It 

 was formed about the time of the Scottish Rebel- 

 lion of the '15. The first day sixty-two birds were 

 taken. In the four months of the flighting season 

 for the first year the total takings were over six 

 thousand. The enterprising speculator made a good 

 thing of it, and netted ii5/. clear. The most of 

 the captures were the choicest of ducks mallards, 

 widgeons, and teals; yet owing, doubtless, to diffi- 

 culty of transport, they went cheap, and teal and 



