2i6 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



shovelars. After dinner went to see Gabriel 

 Direkson's 'coy, a rich boor in the country, who 

 dwells beyond Shippley (a few miles south-west of 

 Delft). He is 'coyman himself. His 'coy is seated 

 near his own and some other houses, and the high- 

 ways and navigable rivers on both sides, nearer by 

 much than Dodleston Bridge or Findloes House is to 

 my 'coy (i.e., two miles from Dodleston Bridge). 

 His'coy hath five pipes as mine,hut better compassed, 

 and two of them almost meet. Much wood, reed 

 grass, and thicket, within " [which is] " the hut, so as 

 the fowl on one end cannot discern the dog show- 

 ing elsewhere. Abundance of quince trees herein 

 planted, which prosper very well. 



" He hath about 200 ducks, 20 drakes. He hath 

 fowl bred betwixt pellstarts (pintails) and ducks, 

 about twenty.^ I saw some of them. Many grey 

 ducks (gadwalls), which are best. 'Coy dogs are 

 best that are either white or red, and the more hairy 

 the better. These ducks are as tame and familiar 

 about his house as any tame ones can be. 



" Smeathes (wigeon) he keeps in a hut near his 

 house, covered with a net " (p. 23). 



On June 5, Sir William Brereton reached the 

 Hague, where he wrote : — 



"In the morning I went to see some 'coys, 

 whereof here are abundance. Six in my view, two 

 whereof I saw, the former rented for 250 gilders, 

 the other for 225 gilders a year. Six here are 

 within half a Dutch mile. They had both three 



1 Perhaps the earliest case on record of a cross between 

 pintail and mallard. 



