34 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



The sources from which the author of that work compiled his dis- 

 sertation upon the decoy were evidently loose, scanty, and inaccurate. 

 The whole space devoted to the subject occupies barely one page in 

 the volume. Nevertheless, from that time (1678) to the present, 

 there has been no attempt by subsequent writers to explain the errors 

 of their predecessors. 



Bewick's* description of a decoy and method of using 1 it is wild, 

 theoretical, and erroneous : he speaks of the operations being always 

 conducted by night I thus proving 1 at once that he knew nothing of 

 the art, the operations of capturing wild-fowl at the decoy being 

 always performed by daylight ; and, indeed, there are seldom any 

 wild-fowl in decoys at night. They generally leave at twilight, and 

 repair to fens and meadows, where they remain until morning ; and if 

 it so happens (as it does sometimes) that a few birds remain all night 

 in the pond, the decoyer could not see to perform his operations, which 

 of necessity require broad daylight for being put in practice. 



Wilson, in his " American Ornithology," copies all his informa- 

 tion on decoys from Bewick : consequently, adopts all his errors ; 

 and he likewise alludes to the operations of the decoyer as being 

 conducted in the evening. 



It is possible, though, it is hoped, not probable, that some persons, 

 having constructed decoys on their estates, and being unacquainted 

 with the decoyer's art of capturing wild-fowl, may have adopted the 

 erroneous instructions of Bewick or Wilson, by attempting to take 

 the birds by night ; and have found the attempt so utterly useless 

 that they have abandoned the pursuit without venturing to differ 

 from those authorities, or thinking for a moment that daylight must 

 be the proper time to work a decoy. 



The editor of the " Encyclopaedia Metropolitana" is also wrong in 

 stating, that " towards evening the decoy-man prepares for working 

 the pipe and driving the wild-fowl." 



Brande, in his " Dictionary of Science," falls into the same error. 

 Under the head " Decoy," he states that the fowl are driven up the 

 net by the dogs. 



Several other writers have followed the text of these authors ; and 

 no one has yet ventured to contradict their fallacious theory. 



The erroneous assertion that the fowl were driven into the decoy- 

 pipe has thus become lamentably mischievous, as writers one after 



* Bewick's Ornithology. 



