December 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEE. 
191 
liacl oliargo of the place for the last twenty-two years, and 
who lives in a cottage close by. Furnished with an ignited 
piece of peat, that the birds may not, by scent, be made 
aware of any human approach, you enter through a rustic 
gate, overhung with foliage, and after winding your way for 
a short distance, amid gloom and underwood, emerge upon 
the edge of a beautiful expanse of water—a miniatm'e lake, 
in which the shadows of the surrounding trees are retlected, 
and their branches dipping. A more lovely and sequestered 
scene can scarcely be conceived. Upon the water are wild¬ 
fowl, dixing, sporting, or preening their feathers; these are 
the decoy-ducks, and this is the decoy-pond. A rivulet 
enters the glen at one end, and has been stopped up 
at the other; this occasions the water to overflow its 
banks and form into a basin; and the water can be 
raised or lowered at pleasure by means of the sluice-gate. 
But to render the pond complete for the purpose of taking 
wild or water-fowl (the terms are indifierently used), it is 
necessai’y to have an outlet at each of the four points of the 
compass, for the birds to pass up, as they will only enter 
that one down which the wind is blowing. The outlet or 
pipe, as it is called, is formed by making a cutting about 
eight or ten feet wide leading from the pond, and gradually 
diminishing in size as it curves to a point. It is crescent 
shaped, or resembles in form the blade of a common scythe. 
Over this arches are fixed, by means of hoops and upright 
stakes, leaving within the pipe, on each side, a bank of about 
two feet wide. The arches, or arch, for it is a continued 
series, tapering to the end, is covered with netting, and when 
finished exhibits a tube or tunnel. The earth which is dug 
out of the cutting is placed on tlie outer or convex side of 
the pipe, and forms a bank, behind which the decoy-man 
can pass without being noticed by the birds inside. Along 
the inner or concave side of the pipe, screens made of reeds 
are placed at an angle of about forty-five, inclining towards 
the pond, so that a person standing where these screens 
converge towards a point can see between them, and com¬ 
mand a view of the whole length of the tunnel. There are 
five of these pipes in this decoy, and these, with a few minor 
appliances, and a rustic shed or two for holding baskets, 
tools, &c., complete the establishment. 
Water-fowls are winter visitors, and usually begin to arrive 
in the first or second week of October, and leave at the end 
of March. Unlike other birds, they feed at night, and 
resort to the Ifecoy-pond for rest and security during the 
day. They are very timid and watchful; nevertheless, their 
vigilance is overmatched by human stratagem; and their 
place of safety becomes a trap. The birds principally 
caught in this pond are. Wild Ducks, Teal, and Widgeon. 
The Teal and Widgeon prefer deeper water, and frequent a 
pond near by. 5911 Wild Ducks, beside other fowl, was the 
number which the decoy-man informed me that he had taken 
in the last of what he called the good seasons, seven years 
ago; since which the birds have greatly decreased, and he 
seldom captures now more than one-third or one-fourth of 
that number. He attributes this falling off to the mildness 
of our winters, and the eggs, feathers, and flesh of the birds 
being more sought after in their native haunts. 
Birds rise at dusk, that is, they leave the pond for their 
feeding places; and it is a beautiful sight to stand at a 
distance, at sun-set, and see hundreds of them emerge from 
the centre of the wood like steam of a cauldron ; they 
return again at break of day in small flocks. For the first 
month after their arrival, the birds are allowed to pass to 
I and fro, and remain in the pond undisturbed: during this 
I time and a little before, the half-domesticated decoy-ducks, 
I which have catered for themselves in the pond during the 
1 summer, are fed in and about the pipes, to induce them 
the more readily to enter them. In the morning, after 
noticing the direction of the wind, and lighting his piece of 
ireat, the decoy-man proceeds cautiously to reconnoitre the 
pond, and, if all is favourable for his pm-pose, he com¬ 
mences the work of capturing: this is usually effected 
by tempting one of the decoy-ducks up one of the pipes 
by means of hemp-seed, small portions of which are 
thrown, from time to time, before them as they advance; 
the decoy-man, the meanwhile, being concealed behind the 
outer-bank, or inner-screens. The wild fowl accompany 
the decoy ducks, and when a sufficient number have 
entered the pipe, and passed far enough up it, the decoy- 
man suddenly shews himself behind them, and the birds 
rush pell-mell to the smaller end, where they are taken 
off in a hoop-net, and killed upon the land. Sliould, how¬ 
ever, the birds appear dull and inclined to sleep, recourse 
is had to the dog, not to drive, but to allure them, lie is 
sent to the edge of the pond nearest to where the greatest 
number of birds are situated, suitable for working; he 
there snuffs about, and being regarded by the birds as an 
intruder, they rush towards him to drive him awa}’—he 
knows his business, and leads on to the mouth of the pipe, 
which he enters, continuing along one of its banks, and, 
by a series of mameuvres, entices them onwards until they 
are secured and taken as before. Easy as it may seem to 
write about these birds, it is not so easy to catch them. 
Much skill, patience, and perseverance are needed; many 
disappointments are undergone, and exposure to wet, cold, 
and fatigue, and that for hours together, in the severest 
weather, have often to be endured by the decoy-man before 
ho nccomphshes his object. 
The man, his dog, his cottage, and his haunts, have a 
wild look aljoirt them, and particularly the former when 
seen stealthily moving amid the dark shadows of the wood, 
with his fur cap on, and which is made to resemble an 
animal when he is peering over the top of a bank, or fence. 
In winter, the man is paid by the dozen for all the fowl he 
takes; and in summer, by the week, for repairing the nets 
and keeping the place in order. 
Wild ducks are fond of f'reqixenting creeks, bays, harbours, 
and tidal rivers ; they hunt along the margins of them for 
eels, small fish, and crustacere; pick up the offal from 
vessels, and such as is brought down by the ebb-tide from 
towns. IVhen the weather is mild and open they return to 
the decoy-ponds, well-fed, dull, and inactive, and are not so 
easily captured; but in severe weather, ancl during frosts, 
their supplies are diminished ; fish lie deeper in the water, 
and crustacese deeper in the mud; shallow places are frozen, 
and the scarcity is often aggravated by an increase of birds. ■ 
In this state of things they may often be seen upon the : 
decoy pond, sitting on the ice by hundreds, and they are ' 
then more active, and are easier taken. The severer the i 
season, the richer is the decoy-man’s harvest. It is not 
cold, but hunger which drives wild-fowl from their northern ! 
homes. Cold stops their supply of food, and sends it, at the ! 
■ same time, along our shores, whither the birds come in quest 
of it. In political economy supply follows demand : in the 
animal economy demand follows the supply; and it will pro¬ 
bably be found that tlie migration of birds and fish are simul- 
t.aneous, hunger being the motive power, .and instinct the 
governing one. Water-fowl are an index to our fisheries; 
each species of birds has a prediliction for a particular kind 
of fish; a knowledge of this, coupled with their presence 
in greater or lesser numbers, may enable us to form a com¬ 
parative estimate of the state of our supply. What a wide ’ 
and interesting field for study do the habits of these birds 
offer to the careful observer of nature who resides upon the 
sea-coast! They are living barometers, and prognosticate 
wind and rain, calm and tempest; in short, they are a ' 
beautiful link in the great chain of animal creation ; tliey * 
have a mission to execute, and they fulfil it with fidelity , 
and precision; and does man, it may lie asked, aided by the 
superior lights of reason and revelation, perform his part ^ 
better? S. B.— liiislimcrf. \ 
THE DOEKING FOWL. 
WH.4T IT WAS, IS, AND SHOULD BE. 
I VERY much doubt if our Dorking fowls were ever a dis¬ 
tinct breed. It is certain that very few birds bearing this 
name have much claim to purity. The Greeks and Romans 
tell of a famed five-toed breed; and so our Dorkings may 
have been originally derived from that source. 
Some years ago, a breed of fowls thus named, bred at 
Dorking and in that neighbourhood, to supply the London 
markets, were much esteemed, as are now the large Surrey 
fowls, which still seem to command the best prices in those 
markets, as table fowls. Our old Dorkings were a rather 
small breed of fowls, colour white, sometimes with a few 
grey or cuckoo-dun feathers sparingly interspersed; they 
