BIRD FOWLING lxxxv 



inquiries have only brought to light the fact that decoys existed 

 at Muncaster Castle, and at Lowther Castle, probably as lately as 

 the close of the eighteenth century. The names are all that 

 now linger, but some of the stakes of the Lowther decoy were 

 still standing in the water a few years ago. The decoy pond at 

 Lowther no doubt attracted the Wildfowl of Haweswater and 

 those of the Eden valley. The decoy pond at Muncaster must 

 at one time have proved fatal to many of the Wigeon that 

 annually haunt the rivers which discharge the over-flowing 

 waters of the becks and springs of the mountains into the Irish 

 Sea at Eavenglass. The original decoy pond at Muncaster is 

 now grown over with vegetation. Tall trees, not less than a 

 century old, have rooted in the basin of the former lakelet. A 

 casual inspection suffices to show that once upon a time the 

 accumulated waters of this decoy burst the dam which pent 

 them in, and pouring away to the low grounds, left the decoy a 

 natural hollow watered by a little stream. Judging that this 

 disaster was fatal to |the success of the decoy, the lord of 

 Muncaster constructed a smaller sheet of water, and there his 

 new ' pipe ' was laid. This held water, but it must have been 

 too small for practical purposes, and local tradition affirms that 

 it was recognised to be a failure. In the neighbourhood of 

 Allonby a large number of Wild Duck used to be taken in the 

 1 wile,' represented in the following woodcut. A quiet, slow- 

 running watercourse was generally chosen for the operations of 

 the country folks who used ' wiles/ a brook that possessed 

 sufficient depth of water to enable the Ducks to feed with their 

 heads beneath the surface. The i cross-piece ' of the ' wile ' was 

 forced into the bank side on a level with the water. The horse- 

 hair nooses, shown in the diagram, were then arranged in such 

 a manner that they floated on the water, or at least hung over 

 it. A few handfuls of wheat or barley were then scattered 

 on the mud immediately beneath the 'wile.' It was in the 

 endeavour to reach the grain that the Ducks were caught. The 

 tall peg shewn upon the bank was driven firmly into the ground, 

 in order to anticipate the contingency of a noosed Duck flying 

 away with a 'wile.' Mr. Eichard Mann, from whom I had 

 first the pleasure of hearing of this method of fowling, tells me 



