SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY DECOYS 221 



decoy impracticable. He does not mention the 

 number of pipes, but Sir William Brereton tells us 

 that there were five, as in his own decoy. He adds : — 



" The seatings within the 'coy are overgrown 

 with wood ; abundance here is of tame fowl, drake 

 pellstarts, and smeathes (pintail and wigeon) I saw, 

 but no ducks. The 'coy house is larger than mine, 

 both higher and longer. . . . The owner advised 

 me, if it were possible, to bring a spring into my 

 'coy : by the means hereof they took good store of 

 fowl last storm. I observed most part of the 

 ground betwixt the pipes planted with withens 

 (willows), except one orchard of cherry trees. 

 Here were three dogs of different colours, none so 

 little, nor seeming so nimble, as my 'coy dogs. 

 Here much oats is used, as in my 'coy. Very few 

 ducks bred here this summer came to good." 



In these few extracts from the little-known 

 journal of a famous General, we have a substantial 

 addition to the history of decoys in this country, 

 and while on this subject, it may be well to remark 

 that, since Sir R. Payne Gallwey published his 

 authoritative work, another important discovery 

 has been made by Mr Southwell, who, in the sixth 

 volume of the Transactions of the Norfolk 

 Naturalists Society (1897, PP- 352-359), has 

 published an interesting account of an old decoy 

 at Feltwell, in Norfolk, concerning which no infor- 

 mation was available when Sir R. Payne Gallwey 

 was collecting material for the volume in question. 

 In any new issue of the work, these important 

 additions should not be overlooked. 



