MALLARD. Crass II. 
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-covering, 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. 3 | 
The general season for catching fowl in de- 
coys, is from the latter end of October till Fe- 
bruary ; the taking of them earlier is prohibited 
by an act 10. George II. c. 32. which forbids 
it from June 1, to October 1, under the penalty 
of five shillings for each bird destroyed within 
that period. 
The Lincolnshire 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 taken: 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 /Vainfleet, it appeared to 
amount to thirty-one thousand two hundred, in 
which are included several other species of 
