24 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



The numbers now bred annually in the English fens are too insig- 

 nificant to make it worth while resorting to such unsportsmanlike 

 proceedings as those just described ; and setting aside the undignified 

 nature of the pursuit, it is one not very likely to be revived in this 

 country, the few wild-fowl which now stay and breed with us during 

 summer, having become of too rare a curiosity to be destroyed when in 

 a helpless condition by any person aspiring to the character or posi- 

 tion of an English sportsman. 



There can be little doubt but this ancient system of driving wild- 

 fowl up tunnel-nets when unable to fly, as already described, was 

 directly, or indirectly a means which suggested the contrivance of 

 the decoy ; and which is by far the more laudable pursuit. 



