A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



be no resting-place for the ducks except on the 

 chairs. 



Inside the decoy are two small wooden huts, 

 one used for keeping the food for the ducks, the 

 other for the boat, which has to be used in hard 

 weather when it is necessary to break the ice 

 on the pool. A certain number of tame duck, 

 the offspring of wild duck which have been 

 hatched out under hens, are kept on the pool. 

 They are useful for decoying their wild brethren 

 into the pipes, as they come to the decoy-man's 

 whistle to be fed ; these birds, however, are 

 rarely caught in the pipes. 



It was on an extremely wild day in February 

 that the present writer was allowed, through 

 the courtesy of Colonel Blackburne, to visit the 

 Hale decoy and witness a catch. The birds 

 on the pool had been a good deal disturbed by 

 large branches of trees which had been blown 

 on to the water ; the hour was four in the after- 

 noon — generally the best time for a catch. The 

 head keeper, who also acts as decoy-man, met 

 us at the footbridge ; and having swung this 

 across, we cautiously entered the decoy. The 

 first pipe we visited was drawn nearly blank, as 

 we could see on looking through the slits in the 

 paling only seven birds resting on the chairs, 

 and none in the pipe itself. There were, how- 

 ever, between five and six hundred birds on the 

 pool, the majority of these being teal, with a 

 few mallard and wild duck, and about half a 

 dozen pintail. It was pretty to see these 

 wild-fowl swimming about and chasing each 

 other, in blissful ignorance of the proximity of 

 their inveterate enemy, man. When we visited 

 the second pipe, the keeper had no sooner 

 looked through the slit than he at once ran to 

 the first show place and began to wave his arms. 

 Several small birds were to be seen flying up the 

 pipe towards the tunnel-net, which the keeper 

 had previously fastened to the end of it. The 

 birds were smaller than teal and larger than 

 snipe. While they were flying it was difficult 

 to determine what they were, but our doubts 

 were quickly settled when they were all in 

 the tunnel-net, which was then taken off the 

 end of the pipe and turned over at the last hoop, 

 while we proceeded to examine the catch. There 

 were nine birds in the net ; at first the keeper 

 said they were 'yellow-legs,' meaning, of course, 

 yellow-shanks, which are very rare now in 

 Lancashire ; but having quickly killed them, 

 and taken them from the net, we saw that they 

 were dunlin, the only difference between them 

 and the yellow-shank being in the feet, the 

 former having a small web between the toes. 

 Strangelv enough, the keeper then produced 

 a dunlin from his pocket, saying that he had 

 brought it to show us, as he had caught 

 sixteen of these birds the day before, but 

 never previously in his four and twenty years' 

 experience at the decoy had he caught any in 



the nets. Having again fastened the tunnel-net, 

 we went to the next pipe ; but that and the 

 next two were drawn blank. These two latter 

 the keeper visited by himself, as he feared if we 

 both went the birds on the pool might wind us 

 and fly off. It was accordingly determined to 

 try the first pipe, where we had seen a few birds 

 on the chairs, and to try with the dog. This 

 animal, which was now to do the work for us, 

 is a sort of Irish terrier, some eight years old, 

 with a short tail, contrary to the received theory 

 that the dog should be of a reddish colour with 

 a long bushy tail. Having arrived at the pipe, 

 we were bidden to wait about half-way down 

 and look through the slit in the paling. Tl.e 

 keeper meanwhile went back nearly to the 

 pool, and raising the shutter in the barrier l.e 

 put the dog in. The scene was immediately 

 changed : confusion and terror reigned. The 

 birds which had been sitting quietly on the chairs 

 hastily flew to the water, and those swimming 

 near the mouth of the pipe scuttled away as fast 

 as they could. The dog, however, took not the 

 slightest notice of all the excitement he was 

 causing, but trotted quietly along the path away 

 from the birds till he came to an opening in the 

 barrier, which had been prepared for him ; 

 through this he passed, and returned to tiie 

 keeper. 



After the first shock of this rude breaking into 

 their quiet retreat the wild-fowl soon observed that 

 the dog did not take any notice of them as he trotted 

 away from them up the path ; curiosity over- 

 came their terror, and birds from all parts of the 

 pool came swimming fast as if to see what this 

 strange creature might be. From the peep- 

 holes we could see about a hundred wild fowl 

 swimming up the pipe ; on the dog's disappear- 

 ance, however, they turned back and began to 

 swim back to the pool out of the pipe. The 

 dog was put in once again at the same place as 

 before. This time there was not the same dis- 

 turbance, and on the dog pursuing the same 

 tactics, the birds came more boldly after him. 

 There were now about sixty birds of all sorts 

 some little way up the pipe, and the dog was 

 put in at another opening in front of the birds 

 farther up the pipe. The birds swam farther 

 up, following him, until the keeper thought they 

 were far enough up for a take. He then 

 showed himself at the first show place and 

 waved his arms ; the birds at once rose, and 

 some of them flew up the pipe, though to our 

 surprise the greater number flew past him out of 

 the pipe. The remainder continued flying on 

 straight into the tunnel-net, where they were 

 quickly secured. All, with the exception of a 

 mallard, were noiselessly killed. The mallard the 

 keeper took from the net, and having pinioned 

 his wings, put him into a sack, telling us that 

 he had orders to take all mallard alive, as they 

 were to be sent away to another part of the 



486 



