206 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



says, that Sir William Woodhouse, who lived in the reign of 

 James I., made amongst us (primum apud nos institutit) the 

 first decoy for ducks (decipulum anatarium), called by the 

 foreign name of " a koye," apparently introducing a new- 

 word ; and although he may not have actually been the first 

 to take ducks by means of nets artificially arranged for that 

 purpose in the form of a modern decoy, it is highly probable 

 that he did introduce some important improvements, possibly 

 the use of decoy ducks and dogs, of both of which he speaks. 

 Mr. Thomas Wise, in " A History of Paganism in Caledonia," 

 tells us that decoy birds for taking ducks were used by the 

 most ancient tribes of the Pictish race, but he says nothing 

 of the method. 



The wild duck, in its many species, lends itself to the 

 ingenious devices of many fowlers, who pursue and entrap it 

 remorselessly, whether they be fur-wrapped Esquimaux 011 

 the Greenland Fjelds, wandering Tartars, mild but cunning 

 Hindoos, gentle and persevering children of the Flowery 

 Land, or, it is safe to say, the " sportsmen " of any other 

 nation under the sun. 



Speaking of the Chinese recalls one picturesque method 

 they have of taking the beautiful painted teal of their wood- 

 land lakes. It is an aristocratic pastime, and requires 

 specially prepared canals and embankments for its enjoy- 

 ment. The gardens surrounding the palaces and great 

 houses are always well watered by numbers of small streams, 

 natural or artificial. Those which it is intended to devote to 

 duck hunting are led by very tortuous courses through deep 

 channels, with almost perpendicular sides, hither and thither 

 amongst the mulberries and crimson-flowered rhododendrons 

 of the extensive gardens. Ducks of several varieties every- 

 where numerous in China frequent these winding water- 

 courses in considerable numbers, and when the mandarin or 

 his high official determine on a teal catching expedition they 

 go forth each armed with a thirty-foot bamboo, at the end of 

 which is a stout and deep net. With these they cautiously 



