73 THE WILD-FOWLER. 



absence of the birds ; and the ice-breaking- must be regulated accord- 

 ing to the wind, so as to keep those pipes open which, regarding- such 

 circumstances, are most favourable for working 1 . The " rising-" of 

 the decoy, as it is termed, takes place at twilight, when the wild-fowl 

 leave to take their evening flight to the marshes, or places of nightly 

 resort. 



Formerly the decoy season reckoned from the 1st October till 

 the 1st June: the statute 10 Geo. II., cap. 32, prohibited the 

 taking of any wild-fowl by "hays tunnels or other nets," earlier 

 or later, under a penalty of five shillings for every bird ; but that act 

 having been repealed, the season is not now subject to any statutory 

 regulation, custom alone being the guide. 



A few ducks and mallards visit decoys about July and August ; 

 but an experienced fowler does not often attempt taking these, as 

 they are birds bred in the neighbourhood ; and should be spared as 

 leaders to the thousands of strangers which come later in the season. 



Long before the customary decoy season commences for taking 

 ducks, widgeon, and such like, there is generally good practice with 

 teal; which visit the decoys about the first week in September, 

 and often afford excellent sport to the fowler, with considerable re- 

 muneration. They come into the decoy in small broods, and are the 

 least difficult to take of any of the wild-fowl species. If the decoy- 

 ducks fail to entice them into the pipe, the dog, if properly trained 

 and directed, never fails to excite their curiosity, and lure them on to 

 certain destruction. Teal are as well worth taking as any wild-fowl 

 that flies ; and when plump and fat, as they generally are in early 

 season, there are none of the duck tribe so delicious eating. 



There is sometimes a separate pipe for teal at decoys, and not in- 

 frequently a separate pond ; and when so, it is always called " the 

 teal pipe," or " the teal pond." In the same manner there is often a 

 widgeon pipe, kept exclusively for widgeon. 



The Essex decoys are still famous for their supplies of teal. A 

 few years ago a spring of four hundred visited a small pond at 

 Mersea, in Essex ; the greater number of which were taken within a 

 few hours. Lubbock mentions an instance which occurred at a Nor- 

 folk decoy, of " two hundred and twenty teal being taken at once." 



The first flight of wild-fowl from the Netherlands may be expected 

 about the beginning of October ; and, if easterly winds prevail, large 

 flights generally arrive ; but if there be no easterly wind about this 

 time, or but little, they come in small numbers only. The prin- 



