262 MALLARD. Class IL 



reeds, nearer and nearer to the purse-net ; till 

 at last, perhaps, the decoy-man appears behind 

 a skreen, and the wild fowl not daring to pass 

 by him in return, nor being able to escape up- 

 wards on account of the net-coverino;, rush on 

 into the purse-net. Sometimes the dog will not 

 attract their attention, if a red handkerchief, 

 or something very singular, is not put about 

 him. 



The general season for catching fowl in de- 

 coys, is from the latter end of October till Fe- 

 hruary ; the taking of them earlier is prohibited 

 by an act 10. George IL c. 32. which forbids 

 it from Ju7ie 1, to October 1, under the penalty 

 of five shillings for each bird destroyed within 

 that period. 



The Lincolmhire decoys are commonly set 

 at a certain annual rent, from five pounds to 

 twenty pounds a year : and we have heard of 

 one in Somersetshire that pays thirty. The 

 former contribute principally to supply the 

 markets of London. Amazing; numbers of 

 ducks, wigeons, and teal are talcen : by an ac- 

 count sent us of the number caught, a few win- 

 ters past, in one season, and in only ten decoys, 

 in the neighborhood of JVahifleet, it appeared to 

 amount to thirty-one thousand two hundred, in 

 w^hich are included several other species of 



