380 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
exhaustively treated. The personal experience gained by the 
author in the construction and management of a decoy of his 
own, as well as the inspection of others, has enabled him to 
give not only an accurate description of the way in which wild- 
fowl decoys are worked, but careful details and plans which will 
be very useful to any one who may care to follow out his 
instructions for making one. 
Many persons seem to be of opinion that decoys in England 
are amongst things of the past, but, so far from this being the 
case, there are at the present time about forty still in use in 
different parts of the country; while as many as one hundred 
and forty others are known to have formerly existed. The 
counties in which the greatest number of decoys were to be 
found are, as might be expected from their proximity to the 
sea, Essex (29), Lincolnshire (89), and Norfolk (26). For the 
fourth place Somersetshire vies with Yorkshire, each having 
at one time possessed fourteen. In Ireland there are very few; 
in Scotland none. 
The drainage of the fens, the reclamation and cultivation of 
waste lands, the formation of railways, and the great increase 
in the number of shooters have each and all contributed to ruin 
decoys. Moreover, the large numbers of wildfowl which are 
brought by steamer and rail from Holland and other parts of 
the Continent every winter render it less than ever necessary for 
the owners of decoys in this country to incur the expense of 
maintaining them. Again, in counties where game abounds, and 
is strictly preserved for the purpose of being killed by large 
shooting parties during the winter months, ‘‘decoying”’ is out 
of the question unless absolute quiet is allowed to prevail within 
sight and sound of the decoy pond, for otherwise no ducks will 
visit it, or remain to be caught. 
So far as can be judged from imperfect descriptions, the form 
of decoy introduced into England, it is said by Sir William 
Wodehouse, in the reign of James I., was probably much the 
same as that used at the present day, allowing for such modi- 
fications and improvements as time would be likely to develop. 
Most writers who have referred to the subject agree in attributing 
the invention to the Dutch, the word “decoy” being, it is said, 
a corruption or abbreviation of the Dutch eende-koot, i.e., 
duck-cage. 
