454 APPENDIX. 



adds, that iu the season of 1849-50 he was not at Longueville, and no 

 wild-fowl were taken, but he understood that the numbers on the 

 decoy were greater than had been seen for some years ; — the winter 

 was unusually severe. 



March 23, 1850. I visited (accompanied by Mi-. J. E. Garrett) a 

 decoy constructed foui* years previously in the demesne at Caledon 

 (the seat of the Earl of Caledon in the county of Tyrone). This is a 

 decoy of the first class, and was made under the superintendence of 

 Mr. Skelton, sen., who came from Lincolnshire for the purpose. It 

 is one of the best and most extensive extant, as to the number of 

 pipes, there being eight of them ; the largest in England has ten. 

 There is much more water to some of them there, but 2 English acres, 

 2 roods, and 23 perches were considered quite sufficient in extent ; the 

 water is from two to three feet in depth. This decoy having only been 

 worked for three seasons, no idea can yet be formed of its value, but I 

 was much pleased to hear from Mr. Skelton, jun., who has the manage- 

 ment of it, that there are as many wild-fowl in the demesne at Cale- 

 don as he ever saw in connexion with any one decoy in Lincolnshire, 

 or other part of England. Not more than about a thousand birds 

 have yet been taken in it any season, though many more might have 

 been, but it was considered unwise for the first few years, or until the 

 wild-fowl had made a regular haunt of the place, to capture many. 

 The gi'eatest immber of birds taken on one day was 140, viz., 76 

 ducks, 54 wigeon, and 10 teal; — all obtained in three of the pipes. 

 In addition to these three species, which are the staple of the decoy, 

 there are taken, occasionally, shovellers (commonly called " spoon- 

 bills "), of which about ten or twelve couple were here during the 

 present season, and the half of which still remain (23rd of March) j 

 they were first caught in November, in the winters of 1848 and 1849 — 

 pochards (called "pokers") — tufted ducks (called "white-sided divers") 

 — three or four couple of pintails are taken during a season — one 

 scaup (a female) was obtained in the last three winters. The golden- 

 eye duck is not known to Mr. Skelton; nor has he seen the shell- 

 duck here, but it has been captured in the Lincolushii'e decoys near 

 the sea. 



In Caledon demesne he considers that about a hundred pair of wild 

 ducks breed, and at least twenty pair of teal. Frequently during the 

 summer of 1849 he saw an old pair of wigeon, and very early in the 



