166 WILD-FOWL DECOYS IN ESSEX.
mouthful as the grain drifts by them or towards them, gradually dis-
cover that the nearer they swim towards the mouth of a pipe the
mors plentiful does food become. Unsuspectingly they enter the
wide mouth, so wide as to convey no suggestion of a trap; and then
the decoyman's little dog comes into play. Taught to dodge in and
out of the reed screens to fetch a piece of bread or biscuit, he shows
himself momentarily to the ducks in the pipe, and disappears when
returning to his master. Wild-fowl are eminently curious, and their
curiosity proves fatal to them. They behave towards the dog exactly
as cattle would do—as long as he retreats from them they follow him.
Perhaps from his colour they take him for a fox, their common enemy,
and fancy they are driving him away. At any rate they follow him
up the pipe until, having passed the first reed screen, they are virtually
cut off from the rest of the flock. At this juncture the decoyman
shows himself to the ducks in the pipe, though not to those on the
pool, He makes no noise, but merely waves his arms, and the
frightened fowl, afraid to return past him to the open water, instantly
rise on the wing and fly up the pipe, following its curve in the vain
hope that it will lead to freedom. Instead of that, however, it leads
to the bag net; and the reason of there being no "hereafter" for
wild ducks is explained by their having their necks twirled in this!
Such, briefly speaking, is the modus operandi. The whole business
is conducted so quietly that the wild-fowl on the main water are never
alarmed, and time after time the bag net is filled and emptied.
In hard winters when there may be several hundred ducks upon the
pool in a day, great execution take place if the decoyman knows his
work and has a good dog. At a celebrated decoy at Ashby, in Lincoln-
shire, which I visited in 1886, as many as 113 ducks have been taken
at one time, and altogether 248 were taken there the same day.
At the present time, as above stated, there are existing in different
parts of England about forty decoys which are still used, while as
many as 140 others are known to have existed formerly, and to be
now dismantled or out of repair. The counties in which the greatest
number of decoys existed are, as might be expected from their situa-
tion, Lincolnshire (39), Norfolk (26), and Essex (29).
The position of those in Essex may be seen on referring to the map
which I have prepared to illustrate these remarks (see Plate I.); the
sites of former decoys being marked by a red spot, and the only three
now existing being indicated by a small cross.5
5 We are indebted to Mr. Hurting for a contribution towards the cost of this map, and also
for having the red dots inserted at his own expense.—Ed.