Wild Ducks and Duck Decoying. 2 1 7 



in them. As many as 31,200 duck, teal, and 

 widgeon were captured near Wainfleet in a 

 single season, and 2,646 mallards in two days. 

 In these early times it is said that a flock of 

 wild ducks has been observed passing over the 

 Fens in a continuous stream for eight hours 

 together. 



Lincolnshire is pre-eminently the land of wild- 

 fowl, and at one of the smallest decoys that at 

 Ashby where the records have been carefully 

 kept, it is seen that from 1833 to 1868, 48,664 

 ducks were captured in the pipes ; 4,287 being 

 the best take for any one year. Both now and 

 in times past the ducks have always been sent 

 to the London markets, and constitute an im- 

 portant food supply. The waters of the decoys 

 are, of course, always fresh, and, being mostly 

 frequented by the surface -fee ding ducks, the 

 great majority of the birds taken are held in 

 estimation at table. It is true that widgeon and 

 other of the diving ducks are sometimes driven 

 to the decoys by rough sea weather, but these 

 are too wary to enter the pipes, nor do they stay 

 after the storms have abated. The ducks which 

 constitute the commercial supply are mostly 

 mallard and teal, with a few widgeon and a sprink- 

 ling of the rarer or marine forms according to 

 season and the severity of the weather. I have 

 before me a complete record of the fowl taken 

 at one decoy for nearly a century, and this is 



