22G 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
only ponds on which a few decoy ducks were kept to 
attract the wild birds for shooting. Two such ponds are 
in existence at Longparish, one being on Colonel Peter 
Hawker's old estate, just opposite Longparish House, and 
the other at Middleton, a short distance lower down the 
Test. There is also one at Mottisfont. 
Between 1802 and 1853 Hawker shot 441 of this species. 
In his "Diary" of October 28th, 1822, he writes: — "Our 
duck shooting . . . {i.e.^ at Longparish) ... is nearly 
annihilated, owing to the breaking up for water-meadows 
of Lord Portsmouth's bogs, called the Parkses." However, 
in the present day the duck have returned to their original 
haunts, for on the Hurstbourne estate there is always an 
extraordinary quantity of them, and a number in most 
remarkable varieties of plumage. The locality is now a 
great sanctuary for them, and they are carefully preserved 
by the present Earl. 
The river in front of Longparish House is another 
favoured spot, and they resort to the Avon at Ibsley and 
at Bisterne in great numbers. 
There is nothing unusual in finding the nests of wild 
ducks at a great distance from water, as well as in hollow 
trees, and in the forks of trees at some distance above the 
ground. One has been known to lay in a rook's nest in 
a rookery near Stockbridge, in May, 1884.^ 
As the birds pair early in February, and even lay later 
in the month, the close time should commence on February 
2nd, and if this suggested close time were also extended to 
many of the other ducks which visit us in winter, no doubt 
an increasing number of species would be induced to 
remain to nest within our borders. 
* "Zoologist." June, 1884, 
