cxiv Journal of Proceedings.
In the short discussion which followed Dr. Laver's interesting
address, Mr. W. Cole remarked that, according to Mr. Stopes, the red
hills were always on the London Clay, and that the mud above it was
invariably removed. Would the makers have taken so much trouble
merely to place heaps of debris there ; or was it not more likely that
these hills were formed at an early period before the mud had been de-
posited ? Dr. Laver said that he could not decide this. He knew of one
case where the mud had accumulated over one of the hills, a small one.
The sea had been kept off, and the hill had been cultivated. The stetches
or ridges over it were of the character generally seen in Saxon pictures
of farming, scenes in MSS., &c. In reply to an observation by Mr. Fitch
as to the age of the sea-walls as compared with the red hills, Dr. Laver
said that at Paglesham and Tollesbury the sea-wall was over part of the
red hills.*
A walk along the shore for about a mile and a-half then brought the
party to the site of the West Mersea Decoy for Wildfowl, which was
found to be almost concealed by the luxuriant vegetation which had
grown over it since its disuse 15 or 16 years ago. Dr. Laver gave
an interesting account of the construction and mode of working the
decoy, which he had seen when it was in use. [See Mr. J. E. Harting's
paper on " Wild-fowl Decoys in Essex," in ' Essex Naturalist,' vol. ii.,
pp. 159-169 ; and the chapter on the same subject in Christy's " Birds of
Essex," E.F.C. ' Special Memoirs,' vol. ii.] During his explanations,
Dr. Laver said that there was one thing with regard to the decoy which
he had always looked upon as a "fad." The ducks were supposed to
smell anyone near. He did not know that the ducks had a very keen
scent, but it was a fancy of the decoy-men that this was so. Therefore,
when a visitor was admitted, which was very seldom—he (Mr. Laver)
tried for some years before he was allowed to look on—the decoy-man
would always give the visitor a lighted piece of peat, the ducks being
supposed to be used to the smell of peat in the Lincolnshire fens. The
visitor had to hold this peat before his nose lest the ducks should smell
his breath, and the result was that at any rate he took away with him
the remembrance of a very unpleasant smell. It was a very extraordin-
ary thing to see the expression of the birds when they all turned round
and suddenly caught sight of the man. Sometimes a very large number
of the ducks were taken. He (Mr. Laver) had seen the man pack off two
carts as full as possible of ducks.
In reply to a question as to how long the decoy had been disused, Mr.
Laver said that it was worked for some time after he came to Colchester.
It was given up because it was practically destroyed by the gunners out-
side. It was supposed that there used to be some law against firing a
* This observation agrees with Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell's opinion that the sea and
river walls are comparatively modern, probably all post-Roman; vide his paper on
" Early Sites and Embankments on the Margins of the Thames Estuary" in
'Archaeological Journal,' vol. xlii., p. 209.— Ed. (1991).