THE HISTORY OF DECOYS. 43 



in as perfect order as any in the county. They are now in the occu- 

 pation of Mr. Hillen. 



There is also another in equally perfect condition in the same 

 neighbourhood, on the estate of George Tomline, Esq., on the banks 

 of the river Orwell. 



In Ireland there are several decoys, though they are supported with 

 less vigour than formerly, for the same reasons as those suggested by 

 experiences in England, viz., the system of land-draining and the un- 

 precedented succession of mild winters with which we have been 

 visited, and consequent scarcity of birds. The decoys at Lismullen 

 and Mountainstown, in the county of Meath, and Ballynakill, in Kil- 

 dare, are fair specimens of Irish decoys. 



To attempt giving a description of all the decoys which are known 

 to the author would occupy far too much space in these pages ; suffice 

 it to say, there are more decoys, both in this country and Ireland, 

 than many would suppose ; and, where expense is no object to the 

 proprietor, the agreeable and peculiar pleasures attached to the pur- 

 suits of the decoy are generally of too interesting and attractive a 

 character to induce country gentlemen to abandon them, or permit 

 them to fall into ruin ; for although several mild, and consequently 

 unfavourable, winters may follow in succession after a hard and 

 severe one, the latter never fails to compensate the modern decoy er 

 according to the fashion of olden times. 



