duck. 289 



by what is is termed driving,* practised on the young Ducks before 

 they took wing ; at other times when the old birds were in moult; in 

 this case a number of persons assembled, who beat a vast tract, and 

 forced the birds into nets properly placed ; when in this state they 

 are unable to take wing, and driven by men in boats, who by splashing 

 the water frighten the birds into the places intended; and by such 

 means 150 dozen have been taken ; but this practice, being thought 

 injurious, has been discontinued ; f various other ways are resorted 

 to; but the most singular mode is by means of a floating calabash, 

 said to be put in practice on the River Ganges, and at Ceylon: J 

 a person wades into the water up to the chin, having his head 

 covered with an empty calabash, by which he is enabled to approach 

 the place where the Ducks are, without alarming them, suffering the 

 man to mix freely with the flock ; on which he has only to pull them 

 by the leg under water one after another till he is satisfied, returning 

 as unsuspected by the remainder, as when he first came among them ; 

 for this purpose the earthen vessels of the Gentoos, called Kutcharee 

 Pots,§ are often used instead of calabashes; and Sir Geo. Staunton 

 affirms, that this, or a similar method, is practised in China to the 

 present day; || and some authors tell us that a hollow wooden vessel 

 is used, with holes to see through.^ 



* In the Bill. Top. Galean. No. ii. part i. p. 359, I find an extract from the Antiqua- 

 rian Society of Spalding, concerning the taking of Ducks — " At the Ducking on Thursday 

 " last, were taken 174 dozen of Mallards or Drakes, moulting ; and on Monday 46 dozen 

 " and a half, in all 2646 bird." Also at Crovvland in the same county, 3000 are said to 

 have been driven into nets by dogs, aided by Decoy Ducks, at one time. 



•f For every Fowl so taken, between the 1st of June and the 1st of October, five shil- 

 lings forfeit, and the nets seized and destroyed.- — 10 Geo. II. c. 32, 



% MS. in Br. Mus. 3324. 



§ The earthen pots used by the Gentoos for cooking are so called, and after being once 

 used, are discarded : a dish for the table, made in them, is called a Kutcharee. 



|| Embassy to China, ii. p. 400. 



% Symson's Voyage to the East Indies. See Naval Chronicle, ii. 473, with a plate of 

 the same. Also Zool. Ind. p. 21.; and Indian Zoology, p. 12. Pococke mentions the 

 circumstance, but does not credit it.— Trav. i. 210. 



VOL. X. P p 



