THE FLIGHT-POND. 83 



for any novice to arrive at the faintest idea of the true principles 

 upon which the flig-ht-pond was constructed ; much less of the fowler's 

 contrivances for taking 1 the birds. 



Besides a very attractive, and formerly well-conducted, flight- 

 pond at Mersea, in Essex, which I have been in the habit of 

 visiting 1 , I am also familiarly acquainted with another on the 

 banks of the Stour, at Brantham, in Suffolk ; where thousands of 

 dun-birds have been captured. But, as the Eastern Union line 

 of railway intrudes within a few yards of the very grounds of 

 this pond, the chances of decoy in that retired and picturesque 

 locality are now nearly entirely destroyed. The Brantham pond 

 was used both for purposes of flight and decoy. It had but 

 three decoy-pipes east, west, and north ; the whole of the south 

 and south-west sides being 1 occupied with the poles and appa- 

 ratus for taking 1 dun-birds. But not a vestig'e now remains of the 

 fowler's pipes, poles, nets, and machinery : what was formerly the 

 dun-bird yard is now a cultivated field ; and carp, tench, eels, and 

 moor-fowl are almost the sole occupants of the deep waters of this 

 once-renowned decoy and fligiit-pond. So favourably situated is this 

 pond as a receptacle for wild-fowl, that to the present day (notwith- 

 standing 1 the railroad) a winter never passes but numbers of birds 

 visit it, more or less, according to the severity or mildness of the 

 season, in little trips of from two to twenty ; when they are generally 

 shot by the venerable and worthy old cottager who inhabits the 

 decoy-house on the farm. 



Before proceeding to explain the cumbrous machinery employed 

 for taking dun-birds at the flight-pond, it is well worth while to in- 

 quire into the reasons which must have suggested so successful a 

 trap. The dun-bird, it is well known, cannot rise suddenly in the air 

 as a wild-duck ; but in consequence of its legs being so far back, and 

 its wings so short, it skims the surface, and proceeds many yards at 

 an exceedingly low flight ere it can make an ascent ; and so gradually 

 rising higher in the air as the distance increases from the spot whence 

 it first took flight. The formation of the dun-bird is adapted by 

 nature for diving and holding itself under water, but it is ill-suited 

 for rising quickly or making a rapid or very lengthened course in 

 the air. With these facts daily before him, the inventor must have 

 felt pretty certain of the success of his project when he first reared 

 the flight poles ; and thus spread a net which carried certain destruc- 

 tion to every pochard which chanced to strike against it. 



