Paes TE €XXIY. 
Wild Ducks abound in this country, but are no where more 
plenty than in the fens of Lincolnfhire*. ‘The means of taking 
thefe birds are various, and ‘have been defcribed with minutenefs by 
many authors. The method in common ufe in England is to fet 
‘arge decoy nets in the places they frequent, and by means of a 
trained bird entice them into its labyrinths {, The inhabitants of 
other countries have alfo various and peculiar contrivances to entrap 
thefe, and others of the water fowl. Thefe birds breed in marfhy 
places, and lay from ten to fixteen eggs. Dr. Latham fays they 
are fometimes known to lay the eggs in a high tree, in a deferted 
Magpie, or Crow’s neft, and mentions an inftance of one being 
found at Erchingham in Suffex, fitting upon nine eggs, in an Oak, 
twenty-five feet from the ground: the eggs were fupported by twigs 
: 
laid crofsways {. 
Length of this fpecies near two feet ; weight, two pounds and an 
half. 
* In only ten decoys, in the neighbourhood of Wainfleet, thirty-one thoufand two 
hundred have been taken in one feafon.—Britifh Zoslogy. 
T The decoy nets are generally placed on a piece of water nearly furrounded with 
wood, that the birds may not be frightened or difturbed. They are fo contrived, that 
different pipes iead to it from feveral dire€tions; thefe pipes are fo many avenues of 
net-work fupported by hoops, which become gradually narrower from the opening, and 
lead up a ditch, at the end of which the funnel net is placed. Along thefe pipes, at 
proper intervals, are fcreens of reeds, behind which the decoy man conceals himfe!f 
from the birds. ‘The Ducks trained for decoys are fed on hemp feed, which being 
light, floats on the furface of the water. When the evening fets in, the decoy man 
throws fome of the feeds from behind one of the fcreens to the trained bird; this en- 
tices him into the pipe, and the wild fowl follow. When they arrive at a certain part 
of the avenue, the decoy bird dives under the water, and the reft pafs on till they enter 
the purfe net, where they are taken.—Brit. Zool. Bc. Ge, 
J Lath. Gen. Syn, 
INDEX 
