42 



THE WILD-FOWLER. 



fowl caught in ten decoys in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, it 

 appears that 31,200 were taken in one season. 



The Rev. F. 0. Morris, in his " History of British Birds," says 

 " I am informed that, at the decoy of Wat-ton only, nearly four hun- 

 dred ducks have been known to be taken in one day." 



It is not many years ago since the fowler might fairly reckon on a 

 few " good days " even in the mildest winters, and he has been able 

 to take from 200 to 300 fowl in one day ; and often several of these 

 lucky days intervened during every season. And this has been done 

 repeatedly, within memory of many an emeritus old fowler of 

 the present day, in Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Essex, Norfolk, and 

 Suffolk. 



Mr. Wells, who wrote in 1830, speaks of three decoys as then 

 existing in the vicinity of the Great Bedford Level, namely, one in 

 Borough Fen, near Thorney, then the property of Sir Culling Smith, 

 Bart. ; another in Holme Fen, near Stilton, then the property 

 of the trustees of the late Captain Wells ; and a third at Laken- 

 heath, in the county of Suffolk, the property of William Eagle, 

 Esq. 



The same author also speaks of another decoy which was originally 

 formed on the borders of the fen at Chatteris ; but adds, that " no 

 vestige of it now remains, except the wood by which it was sur- 

 rounded, and which is called e Coy Wood ' to this day." 



The decoy at Oakley Hall, in Essex, may also be mentioned as one 

 which was formerly very lucrative, and yielded the late proprietor 

 many hundreds of pounds' annual profit ; but is now not attended as 

 a decoy, so few are the birds which visit that immediate locality in 

 comparison with the traditions of old times. 



There was also a decoy at Beaumont-cum-Moze, Essex, which has 

 attained an historical notoriety, through being the subject of a law- 

 suit in the year 1809 ; when, at the hearing of the case before Lord 

 Macdonald, C.B., the plaintiff (proprietor of the decoy) obtained a 

 verdict, with 40s. damages, against the defendant (a punter) for 

 wilful disturbance to the decoy, in shooting wild-fowl within two 

 hundred yards of the plaintiff's pond.* 



There are two very attractive decoys at Purdies Hall, Nacton, in 

 the county of Suffolk, which are kept up at considerable expense, and 



* This case is well known among members of the legal profession, as that of 

 " Carrington versus Taylor ;" and is reported in 11 East, p. 571, and 2 Camp., 

 258. Vide post, " Laws of Decoys." 



