202 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
of dog or food. At such times the decoyman will send his dog
suddenly into the midst of those "banking" and they take to
the pond; the dog disappears during the alarm to reappear
presently in the mouth of the pipe. More are taken by the
dog than by feeding and it is curious that the females follow the
dog most readily, while more males are caught by the food, so
much so that the birds in one catch are nearly all of the same
sex. Thus concludes a graphic description of decoying.
Decoying has been steadily decreasing in the British Isles for
many years. J. Whitaker states that early in 1800 it was estimated
that in England, Wales and Ireland there were quite two hundred
decoys in use, but when Payne-Gallwey published his book in
1886 he wrote that the number had come down to forty-seven.
J. Whitaker records that when he visited all the decoys being
used in 1918 there were twenty-eight; of this number twenty were
pipe-decoys, including Marsh House, which was temporarily
out of use. It is stated in the "International Wildfowl Inquiry,"
vol. I, that in 1936 there were five in use (including Grange)
and six partly in use (including Marsh House) and that the
average number of ducks caught in the ten years ending with
1935 was 11,767 per annum. For many years the present writer
had hoped that an Essex decoy might be used to obtain knowledge
of migration, by ringing and liberating the birds instead of
killing them. This hope has not materialised, but it is satisfactory
to know that four decoys in other counties are being used in
this manner.
The course of decoying in Essex is obscure and it cannot
be stated with certainty what was the optimum period, but it
would seem to have been covered by the eighteenth century.
The Rev. T. Cox, in his Magna Britannia, vol. i, p. 722, published
in 1720, writing about Essex, states: "by the sea-side there are
divers decoys, which bring in great profit to the owners in the
winter seasons." It will be noticed that ten decoys were
marked on Chapman and Andre's map (1777) and the same
number on Greenwood's map, dated 1824, and although we do
not know that all these decoys were in use when they were
indicated on the maps yet it is probable that the figures bear some
relation to the numbers of decoys in use at the time. There
was still considerable activity at the beginning of the nineteenth
century, for Daniel (Rural Sports, vol. ii, p. 482) records that
in 1800 "the several proprietors and occupiers of decoys, on
and in the neighbourhood of the river Blackwater "founded
an association with the object of prosecuting gunners and
puntsmen, who might disturb the wild-fowl in or near the decoys.
An advertisement dated "Maldon, September 11th, 1800,"
and signed by "Wm. Lawrence, Solicitor to the Association,"