54
THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
stretched a tarred net upon wooden hoops, closely fastened down to the ground,
except for a small distance on one side of the pipe, near the pond, which is left
open for the evolutions of the dog, to be mentioned presently. At the pond end
the net is about 12 feet from the water, but the hoops gradually taper away to a
height of only half a yard. At the small end is fixed a circular tunnel net, about
12ft. by 2ft., which can be easily detached and closed, and in which, eventually,
the ill-fated birds are secured ; the whole effect of the pipe resembling at a
little distance the tail of a huge serpent, whose body is hid in the rushes and
trees around the pond. From the mouth of each pipe is fixed, along the outer
side, a series of screens to hide the decoyman and his operations from the birds
in the pond. These screens, twelve or fourteen in number, are made of reeds in
fixed wooden frames. Each screen is about 12ft. long by 61/2ft. high, and they
are arranged to overlap one another like the folds of a perpendicular Venetian
blind, with spaces between each at which the decoyman may show himself to
the birds in the pipe when the time comes to drive them into the tunnel net.
These openings are closed towards the ground by a smaller screen of 2ft. in
height, for the purpose of hiding the decoyman's dog, and over which he is
taught to jump in and out at a given sign. By means of these screens, and the
reeds which grow thickly round the pond in the intermediate spaces between the
pipes, the decoyman is able to approach the water from any quarter unseen.
Small wooden wedges are purposely left in the screens, and by moving these
from right to left a sufficient peep-hole is made to enable him to watch the move-
ments of the birds, and to command from different points a complete view of
the whole pond.
Most interesting and instructive is the view from this peep-hole when the
pond is fairly full of birds, not only to the anxious decoyman or the inquiring
naturalist, but the least curious visitor can hardly fail to be struck by the sight
of a thousand or fifteen hundred birds, many of them of surpassing beauty of
plumage, dotted over the surface of the water, swimming, sleeping, playing, and
feeding, unconscious of danger, and in their most natural manner, within a few
feet of him. Many of them will be asleep on the water with their heads tucked
under their wings, and on a stormy day he may see them, while in this position,
blown about, and turned round and round, by each gust of wind. On another
and sunnier day he may watch a hen Widgeon receiving with perfect equanimity
the attentions of five or six cock birds who swim about her, bowing and showing
off. each striving in the most unmistakable manner to eclipse his rivals and prove
himself the most eligible parti of the flock ; and when the lady indicates by some
sign her preference for one particular suitor, he may observe the favoured indi-
vidual proudly take his place at her side, driving away the others as if by
right, and jealously swimming round to interpose himself if one of them ap-
proaches on the other side to whisper a parting compliment in her ear. He will
notice on one side rows of birds asleep or basking on the banks, and on another
the Widgeon eagerly cropping the short grass. He will hardly tire of gazing on
the beauty of the Mallard, and he will laugh over the pert little Teal and the pug-
nacious Tuke, or at the Dunbird diving for its food, which the impudent Widgeon
close by seizes from its bill, and makes off with the moment its head appears above
water again. He will notice the golden crests of the cock Widgeon as they glance
backwards and forwards in the sun, and he will marvel at the wonderful arrange-
ment of nature by which their light and downy plumage is rendered impervious to
the water they are floating in for hours at a time. The longer he looks the more
will he find to admire, till at last he almost envies the decoyman his
solitary life, with such beauties of nature constantly to study and wonder at.
Wild Duck, Widgeon, and Teal are the chief frequenters of decoys, but the
pond is seldom full without a few couple of Pintail or Dunbirds being in it, while
occasionally a pair of the rarer Gadwall or Tufted Duck are seen among the other
birds. Tukes also collect in it and take possession of the landings, and a few Coot
are regular inhabitants. The latter are very watchful birds, and the wild-fowl,
which sleep a great part of the day, are supposed to feel more confidence in a pond
where they are present. The Duck and Mallard begin to congregate in the pond
soon after midsummer ; but these are the birds bred in the neighbourhood. The
earliest foreign fowl to arrive are the Teal, which come in the first week in Sep-