194
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
ducks it was almost impossible to take them in pipes. Goldhanger
(No. 1) and West Mersea Decoys were at some time in their
history Pochard Ponds, and it is on descriptions of these Essex
ponds that my remarks are based. Instead of pipes Pochard
Ponds had flight-poles. Spring nets were attached to long stout
poles, having the appearance of the masts and topmasts of a
ship, weighted at one end so that by the removal of a peg they
flew up and extended the net at a height of about ten to twenty-
five feet. The flight of poles in the direction of the wind having
been sprung the Pochards rising against the wind struck the net
and fell into the pockets and were then secured. Very large
numbers of Pochards were sometimes taken, as an example it
may be mentioned that at Goldhanger one waggon-load and
two cart-loads of Dunbirds, i.e. Pochards, were taken. It would
appear that the ponds were fitted with a series of flight-poles,
facing different points of the compass.
Teal Ponds were apparently small pipe-decoys, about which
there are few details. Old Hall Decoy (No. 2) was used for
taking Teal and is described as a small square pond with four
pipes. Four hundred Teal were taken at a small pond at Mersea,
and it may be that a Teal Pond was in existence on this island.
Pipe Decoys were used almost entirely in Essex. Old Hall
(No. 2) was the only one not in this category, for although
Goldhanger (No. 1) and West Mersea Decoys were previously
Pochard Ponds they eventually had pipes added. Of the thirty-
six pipe decoys five had eight, six had six and two had five pipes,
and it is not known how many the remaining twenty-three had.
Most of the ducks taken in this class of decoy were said to be
Wigeon, but we have knowledge of what was taken from only
four of them, namely: Grange, Marsh House, Steeple and
Great Oakley Hall Decoys, but Mallard and Teal chiefly, with
very few Wigeon, were caught at Old Hall (No. J). The fullest
information, regarding what was taken, comes from Steeple
Decoy, for which the actual numbers were recorded annually
for thirteen years, 1714-1726, during which period 50,787 ducks,
averaging about 3,907 annually, were taken. This total included
44,677 Wigeon, 4,576 Ducks, 1,396 Teal and 138 Pintail. At
Marsh House Decoy £800 clear profit was made in 1795; 10,000
Wigeon, Teal and Wild Duck were taken in 1799; from 1852-53
to 1856-57 a total of 11,041, averaging 2,208 per annum, was taken,
these being the actual figures and not an estimate; from 1859-60
to 1864-65 the average annual catch was 3,500, then dropped to
about 2,500 and about 1890 the numbers had fallen to about
2,000. At Grange 1,500 to 2,000 were taken annually about
1886, and it was stated in 1890 that even recently 10,000 had been
taken in a year. Fortunately we have for comparison the